COVID‐19, economic crises and digitalisation: How algorithmic management became an alternative to automation
本文分析新冠疫情如何推动算法管理投资激增，并论证其作为自动化替代方案的历史逻辑，对理解危机中的企业数字化策略有参考价值。
The COVID-19 crisis witnessed a major rise in investment in software for the digital organisation and rationalisation of work, while investment in robotics is continuously lagging behind expectations. This article argues that we can understand this development as the continuation of the rise of algorithmic management as a technological fix for profitability crises. Thus, in the face of falling wage rates and a structural overaccumulation of capital since the 1970s, algorithmic management has become an alternative to automation. The article reconstructs the history of algorithmic management in connection to economic crises. This allows for periodisation of the rise of algorithmic management from 'computer-integrated manufacturing' to remote work in four waves. In times of crisis, algorithmic management functions as a substitute for investment in 'tangible capital' such as robots. Structural economic forces thus interact with labour conflicts at the company level, shaping the rise of algorithmic management.