How smart is a ‘smart factory’?: an organizational view
基于939家韩国制造工厂的调查，从组织视角衡量工厂智能化程度，发现智能化与生产率提升强相关，且数字技术投资需配合激励管理和CEO领导才能有效推动智能化。
Abstract This paper investigates the game-changing paradigm in modern manufacturing, known as the “smart factory,” from an organizational perspective. Factories get smarter—or smartized—by becoming more data-intensive and more tightly integrating operations with management. We design a unique survey to measure this intangible organizational capital accumulation process for 939 Korean manufacturing plants. Observing heterogeneous levels of smartization across factories, we explore their relationship with three performance dimensions: productivity, cost efficiency, and product variety. The drivers of smartization are also identified. Our analysis uncovers a strong association between smartization and heightened productivity, with varying interactions with other performance metrics based on the specific manufacturing process (e.g., lower defect rate only in assembly line process). Importantly, we find that investments in digital technologies drive smartization only when complemented by structured incentive management and proper chief executive officer (CEO) leadership.