Judith Nyfeler
Title
Dr.
Last Name
Nyfeler
First name
Judith
Email
judith.nyfeler@unisg.ch
Phone
+41 71 224 3506
3 results
Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
- Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Publication, The boon and bane of being inert. The case of craft digitalization(2025-03-28); Hasse, RaimundDigitalization is a grand vision as much as it is an opportunity for the improvement of profane daily tasks, but the discourse on digitalization is biased. Much attention is paid to the grand visions in sectors in which digitalization tends to replace hitherto established modes of information gathering and data processing, emphasizing the revolutionary character of digitalization which requires a reorganization from the scratch. Platform economies and finance serve as model cases in this context. Less attention, by contrast, is paid to sectors where digitalization unfolds less dramatically and in the background of public discourse and most research. Examples are agriculture and crafts. In these sectors digitalization can also have significant effects, but they have remained rather unnoticed thus far. With an empirical focus on small crafts, we focus on the ‘less dramatic’ side of digitalization. Two questions are of particular interest: first, how is the talk about digitalization, i.e., its staging, related to the way firms actually handle digitalization in their daily work processes of production and pre- and post-production? Second, to what extent can technological and organizational contingencies explain specific modes of integrating digitalization? In sum, we ask how small craft businesses react to the challenge of digitalization. Our focus is on how they employ digital technologies in their everyday practices and to what extent they utilize digitalization for presenting themselves to customers and other stakeholders. Based on case studies we find that craft businesses utilize digitalization but they do so pragmatically and with less profound impact on the organization of work processes. Oftentimes, they draw on single digital communication tools (social media, mobile phones and message systems) to be in touch with suppliers, producers or consumers, i.e. they utilize digitalization a means for collaboration. Only in few cases we found that craft firms have implemented digital technologies such as CNC milling machines or laser cutters (e.g., in carpentry) or write technical sheets and draw digital patterns which can easy be distributed (e.g., in garment making). Thus, generally, our data reveals that the core of production has remained largely untouched. The craft tools of carpenters, seamstresses or ceramists, for example, have remained close to pre-industrial times. Overall, most of these workshops look unchanged even though CNC milling mills or sewing machines nowadays are equipped with digital displays.Type:conference contribution - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Publication, - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Publication,