Executive Technical Backgrounds, Strategic Attention, and Digital Transformation: Evidence from a Longitudinal Case Study of Haier Smart Home

This paper investigates the strategic pathways for the digital transformation of manufacturing enterprises through a longitudinal case study of Haier Smart Home.Against the backdrop of rapid technological advancement and industrial upgrading, the study explores how the characteristics of the Top Management Team (TMT), particularly their technical backgrounds, appear to shape the direction and effectiveness of digital transformation strategies.Drawing upon Upper Echelons Theory and the attention-based perspective, the research examines the dynamic relationship between executive backgrounds, strategic attention allocation, and organizational transformation over 13 years.To achieve this objective, the study adopts a mixed-methods approach that combines TMT résumé analysis, text mining of annual reports, and financial indicator analysis.First, the study systematically analyzed senior executives'educational and professional backgrounds to identify how technical expertise evolved within the leadership structure.Second, annual reports spanning more than a decade were processed using text mining techniques to trace shifts in strategic attention toward digitalization, smart manufacturing, and innovation-related themes.Finally, financial performance indicators were examined to assess patterns in the economic outcomes that coincided with strategic transformation.The findings suggest that upper-echelon executive's technical orientation is associated with disclosed strategic emphasis.More importantly, shifts in strategic attention emerge as a potential explanatory pathway linking TMT characteristics to enterprise digital transformation strategies.The study further indicates that firms with technically oriented executives exhibit more pronounced digital transformation patterns and more marked movements in the financial indicators examined.Based on these findings, this paper proposes an evolutionary framework of "Executive Background -Strategic Attention -Strategic Transformation," suggesting the potential relevance of technical leadership in guiding manufacturing firms through digital transformation and offering practical implications for corporate governance and strategic management.As a single-case longitudinal study, these findings reflect observed patterns and exploratory inferences from one enterprise; interpret them with caution regarding generalizability to other firms, industries, or institutional contexts, and do not treat them as evidence of causal relationships.