The Chinese government has endeavored to accelerate the popularization and application of new-generation information technologies, promoting the development of industrial Internet, and positioning it as a key engine for new-type industrialization and a strategic foundation for the creation of new productive forces. Industrial Internet platforms, such as AeroCloud Network and Haier COSMOPlat, have empowered enterprises with digital intelligence, helping them achieve lean management, transformation and upgrading, as well as innovative development. However, with the rapid emergence of industrial Internet platforms, how to fully leverage their digital intelligence empowerment value and explore the underlying mechanisms of its realization has become a key issue to be addressed. Existing research has shown that digital intelligence empowerment can create new business logics and value paradigms, innovate manufacturing service models, and promote intelligent manufacturing and high-quality enterprise development. However, current theoretical exploration lags behind practical applications, focusing mostly on single-factor aspects. The systematic and complex nature of platform ecosystems is overlooked, with insufficient analysis of the combined effects and synergies of multiple factors. Additionally, there is a lack of quantitative assessment and systematic elaboration of the empowerment effects.
From a configurational perspective, this study develops an integrated theoretical framework that captures the essence of the digital intelligence era and the developmental requirements of platforms. Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, the study examines 49 national “dual-cross” industrial Internet platforms. It focuses on the core question of how these platforms can achieve high digital intelligence empowerment and explores the digital intelligence empowerment of industrial Internet platforms influenced by the interplay of the platforms themselves, platform-enabling enterprises, and the operational environment. By addressing these questions, this study reveals the dynamic and complex nature of the unique driving mechanisms and realization pathways of digital intelligence empowerment. It also offers precise theoretical guidance and practical solutions for formulating strategies and optimizing operations to enhance the digital intelligence empowerment of industrial Internet platforms.
The study reaches the following conclusions: (1) The valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable resources (hereinafter referred to as “VRIN resources”) are essential for achieving the digital intelligence empowerment of industrial Internet platforms. Optimizing these resources significantly enhances the platforms' empowerment effects and drives the digital intelligence transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry. (2) The digital intelligence empowerment of industrial Internet platforms follows multiple pathways and complex mechanisms. Three key factors of“ecological synergy and linkage”, “market stabilization and collaboration” and “resource decision-driven”are critical in achieving high digital intelligence empowerment. These three factors represent significant types of high digital intelligence empowerment among industrial Internet platforms. Each mode reflects the strategic actions of different platforms to achieve high digital intelligence empowerment based on their unique ecological characteristics and strengths, collectively forming a multi-dimensional strategic framework for high digital intelligence empowerment. “Ecological looseness and imbalance” and “weak market competition” are typical types of low digital intelligence empowerment among industrial Internet platforms, exhibiting asymmetric relationships with the high empowerment patterns. (3) Under specific configurations, the elements of “platform subject-platform object-platform environment” can achieve high digital intelligence empowerment through complementary interactions and equivalent substitutions. This process follows a “diverse pathways to a common goal” approach.
This study develops a theoretical framework for the digital intelligence empowerment of industrial Internet platforms from a configurational perspective, thereby enriching the theoretical understanding of digital intelligence empowerment within the digital intelligence context. Meanwhile, this study develops an evaluation framework for assessing the digital intelligence empowerment effect of industrial Internet platforms, thereby expanding the quantitative evaluation of digital intelligence empowerment. In addition, it examines the realization of digital intelligence empowerment based on platform ecosystem theory, and extends the application of platform ecosystem theory. The study emphasizes that industrial Internet platform enterprises must strategically prioritize the cultivation of VRIN resources, focus on their development, and utilize them to enhance digital intelligence empowerment. Achieving high digital intelligence empowerment is not a one-size-fits-all process. Instead, enterprises should comprehensively analyze the characteristics of platform ecosystem elements and external environmental conditions, conduct effective strategic planning, and choose appropriate empowerment pathways.