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Cited by 26Digital Platforms and EconomicsGlobal trade, sustainability, and social impactDigital Transformation in Industry

Emerging positions of German firms in the industrial internet of things: A global technological ecosystem perspective

Open access
Lechowski, Grzegorz, Krzywdzinski, Martin·2022·Global Networks
DOI 10.1111/glob.12380
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Abstract

The industrial internet of things (IIoT) has created entirely new inter‐firm competitive and collaborative dynamics that focus on the supply of digital infrastructures, services and platforms for industrial users. These dynamics typically involve machinery builders, information technology suppliers and traditional technology buyers from various asset‐intensive sectors. Given the global character of IIoT technology, transnationally relevant inter‐firm arrangements have emerged for which we still lack a conceptually grounded understanding. This study addresses this research gap from the German perspective by combining the concepts of global value chains and complex technical systems. Empirically, we develop a multiple case study of established German firms that have provided IIoT technologies in the domain of ‘smart manufacturing.’ We investigate the firms’ evolving positions within the multi‐layered IIoT stack and explore their technological dependency on global cloud‐infrastructure suppliers. Second, we put the case study into the context of the recent German industrial‐policy initiatives related to the discourse of ‘digital sovereignty’, which attempt to improve the positions of domestic actors vis‐à‐vis the multi‐national tech companies. Conceptually, this study offers the framework of global technological ecosystems as a new perspective on the transnational platform economy, which highlights the enabling character of global‐scale digital infrastructures and acknowledges active involvement of non‐firm actors in ecosystem governance.

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Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • 247TailorSteel effectively implements IIoT in its fully automated factory, with 125 employees, a 30 million euro turnover in 2014, and 25-30% annual growth.

    “247Tai-lorSteel, an SME, effectively implements IIoT in its fully automated factory [28].”

    From A Critical Overview of Industrial Internet of Things Security and Privacy Issues Using a Layer-Based Hacking Scenario (2023) · cites this paper as [28]

    The passages on manufacturing-technology specialists and IIoT infrastructure discuss other firms and smart-manufacturing systems, but do not identify 247TailorSteel or describe its factory. Searches for the company name and the stated employee, turnover, and growth figures found no passage addressing those details. (LLM, conf=0.74)

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Cites

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Research works printed but not linked: 6

  1. Belton, K. B., Audretsch, D. B., Graham, J. D., & Rupp, J. A. (2019). Who will set the rules for smart factories? Issues in Science and Technology, 35(3), 70-76.
  2. Hübner, I. (2017). Große Cloud-Player und ihre Machine-Learning-Strategien von. In C. Manzei, L. Schleupner, & R. Heinze (Eds.), Industrie 4.0 im internationalen Kontext: Kernkonzepte, Ergebnisse, Trends (pp. 169-175). Beuth Verlag.
  3. Humphrey, J. (2019). Platforms, Value Chains and Governance: Do Platforms Need a New Theory? Paper presented at the SASE Conference 2019, The New School, New York City.
  4. Kenney, M., & Zysman, J. (2016). The rise of the platform economy. Issues in Science and Technology, 32(3), 61-69.
  5. Sinsel, A. (2019). Das Internet der Dinge in der Produktion: Smart Manufacturing für Anwender und Lösungsanbieter. Springer- Verlag.
  6. Soldatos, J., Kaldis, J., Teixeira, T., Gezer, V., & Malo, P. (2019). Ecosystems for digital automation solutions an overview and the edge4industry approach. In J. Soldatos, O. Lazaro, & F. Cavadini (Eds.), The digital shopfloor: industrial automation in the industry 4.0 era. Performance analysis and applications (pp. 425-446). River Publishers.

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Authors
Lechowski, G., & Krzywdzinski, M.
Affiliations
  • WZB Berlin Social Science Center (DE)
  • Helmut Schmidt University (DE)
Corresponding author
Lechowski, Grzegorz
ORCID
Krzywdzinski, Martin
Venue
Global Networks
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2022-06-25
Volume
22
Issue
4
Pages
666-683
ISSN
  • 1470-2266 (ISSN-L)
  • 1471-0374
DOI
10.1111/glob.12380
OpenAlex
W4283518225
Cited by
26
References
46
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 2
FWCI
4.48
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Global Networks (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • Econstor (Econstor) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Digital Platforms and Economics
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Global trade, sustainability, and social impact
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering › Digital Transformation in Industry
Keywords
Industrial Internet of Things, German companies, smart manufacturing, global value chains, complex technical systems, digital sovereignty, industrial policy, platform economy, ecosystem governance, inter-firm cooperation

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