Alibaba’s Distribution-Centered Approach Towards the Industrial Internet: A Chinese Version of Industry 4.0?

In this chapter, we discuss the emergence of new business models based on the industrial internet as a potential game changer in manufacturing sectors and their effects on production processes and work. We observe an increased relevance of data for manufacturing and identify industrial internet platforms as an important infrastructure to analyze and make use of such data. We differentiate industrial internet platforms according to the question of whether their main function concerns the optimization of production processes (production-centered platforms) or a more effective distribution of products (distribution-centered platforms). The empirical analysis focuses on the often-overlooked distribution-centered platform type and Alibaba’s industrial internet platform Tao-factory, in particular. We find that Alibaba is restructuring the subcontracting arrangements in China’s domestic light industries, which has some positive effects on work in terms of defragmentation of the work process and higher wages for skilled garment workers. However, informal work arrangements continue to undermine decent work and the observed positive tendencies could be undercut by a race to the bottom in the long run.