How Digital Transformation Enables Organizational Agility for Sustainable Manufacturing: A Longitudinal Single-Case Study of CATL

Digital transformation has become a critical pathway for manufacturing firms seeking to improve responsiveness, resource efficiency, and long-term sustainability. However, existing studies have paid limited attention to how digital transformation strategies generate organizational agility across different stages of sustainable manufacturing transformation. Drawing on dynamic capability theory, this study develops a stage-contingent Strategy–Ambidexterity–Agility framework and conducts a longitudinal single-case study of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) from 2011 to 2023. The findings show that organizational agility develops cumulatively through three transformation stages. In the initial stage, a lean-oriented strategy supports balanced ambidexterity and cultivates customer agility through production optimization. In the development stage, an enhancement-oriented strategy enables exploitation-dominant combined ambidexterity and builds market agility through cross-functional integration and closed-loop business logic. In the industry-leading stage, a leap-oriented strategy supports exploration-dominant combined ambidexterity and fosters value chain agility through ecosystem orchestration, intelligent operations, and circular value creation. This study contributes to the literature on digital transformation and sustainable manufacturing by showing how stage-contingent digital strategies shape ambidexterity configurations, generate layered agility capabilities, and support sustainability-oriented manufacturing outcomes.