Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/284821 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Citation: 
[Journal:] International Labour Review [ISSN:] 1564-913X [Volume:] 160 [Issue:] 4 [Year:] 2021 [Pages:] 537-552
Publisher: 
Wiley, Hoboken, NJ
Abstract: 
This article uses theoretical and empirical evidence of variations in digitalized manufacturing to revisit Piore and Sabel's 1984 work on flexible specialization and to criticize the inherent one‐sidedness of the Industry 4.0 discourse. This is juxtaposed with empirical findings on platform‐mediated business‐to‐business factory networks, in which flexibility is facilitated by the digital interconnection of a far‐flung network of small‐scale manufacturers rather than by sophisticated production technology. The effects on work are equivocal; they entail the potential for a craft‐like and skill‐intensive paradigm of small‐scale manufacturing that can upgrade work, but also for a race to the bottom in price‐sensitive industries.
Subjects: 
Industry 4.0
flexible specialization
digitalization
platform
global value chains
upgrading
Alibaba
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Published Version

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