Research on the influence of the digital economy on the development of China’s small household appliance industry and enhancement countermeasures

Purpose The implementation of the digital economy has had a considerable influence on the manufacturing industry, and this paper aims to address the important issues of how to capture the opportunities presented by digital innovation and promote the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry, as well as the improvement of quality and efficiency. Design/methodology/approach Using panel data from 30 Chinese provinces and cities between 2010 and 2021, this study establishes the panel vector autoregression (PVAR) model and uses impulse response function analysis to evaluate the influence of the digital economy on the high-quality transformation and upgrading of China's small home appliance industry across five dimensions under the digital economy. Findings The development of digital infrastructure has not demonstrated a noteworthy capacity for advancing the transformation and upgrading of the small home appliance industry. Furthermore, digital industrialization has exerted a minimal restraining influence on this process. Nevertheless, digital governance has consistently exhibited a substantial impact on facilitating the transformation and upgrading of the small home appliance industry. While both industrial digitization and digital innovation hold significant potential for promoting the transformation and upgrading of the small home appliance industry, their sustainability remains limited. Practical implications The organization should logically join independent innovation and open innovation, construct an industrial ecosystem for the profound convergence of the digital economy and compact household appliances, use digital-wise science and technology to empower the establishment of brand effects, strengthen the portrayal of the digital standard framework for the intelligent compact household appliance industry, advance the development of a public stage for computerized administrations in the compact household appliance industry and develop a strategy ecosystem for computerized assets in the compact household appliance industry. Originality/value This study offers systematic evidence of the relationship between the digital economy and the development of the small home appliance industry. The results of this research contribute to the literature on the impact of the digital economy on the manufacturing sector and provide a logical explanation for the transformation and upgrading of the small home appliance industry within the context of the digital economy.