Volume 4,Issue 2
Intelligent Manufacturing as a Driver of ESG Performance: A Multiple-Case Study of Chinese Manufacturing Firms
This study examines how intelligent manufacturing contributes to enterprise environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance through a multiple-case study of four Chinese manufacturing firms: Haier Smart Home, Midea Group, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL), and Seres. Existing studies increasingly suggest that intelligent manufacturing improves corporate sustainability outcomes, yet the literature remains more developed in identifying whether such effects exist than in explaining how they are generated within firms. Building on a mechanism-oriented qualitative design, this paper investigates four pathways through which intelligent manufacturing may affect ESG performance: information transparency, green technological innovation, financing conditions, and synergistic governance. The findings show that intelligent manufacturing enhances ESG performance not only by improving operational efficiency, but also by strengthening disclosure credibility, embedding green innovation into production systems, improving firms’ financial resilience and external assessability, and reinforcing cross-functional and supply-chain coordination. At the same time, the cases indicate that these benefits are conditional rather than automatic. Their realization depends on the depth of digital integration, managerial commitment, and the firm’s ability to convert technological upgrading into sustained organizational change. The study contributes to the literature by providing process-based evidence on how intelligent manufacturing becomes part of a firm’s broader sustainability capability in practice.
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