The Determinants Of The Adoption Of Advanced Manufacturing Technology |
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Authors: | Spyros Arvanitis |
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Affiliation: | Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Institute for Business Cycle Research , Zurich, Weinbergstrasse 35, CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland |
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Abstract: | The paper investigates empirically the decision of firms to adopt ‘Advanced Manufacturing Technologies’ (AMT) based on a comprehensive specification of a ‘rank model’ of technology adoption using firm-level data for Swiss manufacturing. The explanatory variables include numerous dimensions of (anticipated) benefits from and costs of technology adoption allowing for uncertainty as well as for information and adjustment costs. Moreover, the effect of complementarities between various functional groups of AMT (design, fabrication, communication, etc.) as well as of learning from the use of previous technology vintages within such functional groups is analyzed, Finally, the size-dependence of the adoption decision is studied in detail. The model yields a quite robust pattern of explanation across estimates with different adoption variables (time period of introduction of AMT, intensity of use of AMT, etc.) with plausible differences of the results based on the alternative adoption measures used. |
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Keywords: | Technology adoption Advanced Manufacturing Technologies (AMT) ‘rank model’ of technology adoption technological complementarities learning from technology use size-dependency of adoption decisions |
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