Rising from the Ashes: How can Traditional Manufacturing Enterprises Build a New Niche under Digital Transformation? A Case Study of Jigang’s Transformation from “Steel” to “Intelligence”

Abstract

Abstract: Under the pressure of transformation and upgrading, the backward production capacity in traditional manufacturing enterprises can hardly persist. The question of how to realize transformation and build a new niche has become an important issue for traditional manufacturing enterprises to survive and develop. This research takes Jigang as the research object and adopts the longitudinal single case study method. By exploring the upgrading process of Jigang’s transformation from “steel” to “intelligence”, the research aims to unravel the process path and internal mechanism of the construction of traditional manufacturing enterprises’ new niches under digital transformation. The findings are as follows. (1) Traditional manufacturing enterprises construct their new niches through two niche change processes of niche compression and niche transition. (2) Under digital transformation, the internal evolutionary mechanism behind the construction of new niche is remodeling forgetting, that is, quickly realizing organizational forgetting, learning and reshaping new knowledge and new practices with digital technology. The research summarizes the process and mechanism model of new niche construction, which not only expands the existing theories and makes up for the shortcomings of the existing studies, but also provides certain reference and inspiration for traditional manufacturing enterprises to construct their new niches and realizing transformation and upgrading.

Key words: niche construction, niche compression, niche transition, remodeling forgetting, digital transformation

Wang Lin, Liu Xilu, Zhou Xinyi. Rising from the Ashes: How can Traditional Manufacturing Enterprises Build a New Niche under Digital Transformation? A Case Study of Jigang’s Transformation from “Steel” to “Intelligence”[J]. Management Review, 2025, 37(6): 276-288.

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