传统制造业企业数字化转型路径研究--基于结构与行动者视角的三阶段演进模型

A Study on Transformation Path of Digitalization of the Traditional Manufacturing Firm:A Three-Stage Evolutionary Model Based on Structure-Agency Perspective

数字技术的进步给全球经济带来了便利,也改变着企业组织。数字化所带来的结构性变革对于传统产业中的企业影响尤其巨大。以社会学中结构与行动者争论作为研究视角切入,首先讨论了数字经济背景下传统制造业企业数字化转型的必要性,接着从结构规制性及行动者能动性二者共生共存的张力出发,解释数字化转型的动因及潜在障碍。基于此,进一步研究了企业数字化转型的实践,提出了组织适配的三阶段模型(EEI模型),即试点期(局部端数字化)、拓展期(平台数字化)及整合期(生态系统数字化)。这三个阶段各有其独立的特征,同时又是企业数字化过程中必不可少的环节,决定了其转型的延续性及完整性。基于结构与行动者视角所提出的三阶段演进模型对于企业数字化发展具有重要的理论与实践意义。

Digitalization brings convenience to people's life and changes the business landscape.However,the scope of structural change that digitalization brings about covers much broader business practices than what the current business literature carries.For example,the question that how firms in traditional industry initiate the process of digital transformation has received little attention.In this study,we introduce a framework of the debate between structure and agency in organization theory to address the question of process of digital transformation of traditional firms in a digital economy.By integrating the perspective of strategic change,we analyze the ambivalence of regulative of structure and initiative of agency and explain the drivers of organizational change and potential obstacles.Based on this view,we further separate the digitalization process into three stages,that is,experimentation stage,extension stage,and integration stage;in each stage,the focus,drivers,elements,properties,mechanisms,goals,obstacles and cores are different from others.By characterizing these differences in a three stage E-E-I model,our research highlights the dimensionality of structure and agency of organizational change in the process of digital transformation.Due to the uniqueness and interdependence among those three stages,digital transformation becomes continuous and processual.This theoretical model constitutes a guide for us to analyze the digital transformation of business groups,like Haier Group,which is an emerging market firm implementing digitalization on global scale,to provide empirical evidences to support the theoretical model.This study contributes to the existing literature by depicting the setting where one entity goes through the three stages and how this transformation is carried out.This study bears a number of implications for firms in traditional industries to foresee what will lie ahead before embarking on the journey of digital transformation.First,digital transformation is a gradual but staged process,and different stages demand different resources and focuses.Second,the switch between the stages should be carefully managed and key features of each stage should be noticed.Third,the strategic change of the organizational structure is intertwined with agencies of transformation.