Grzegorz Lechowski

Short profile

Grzegorz Lechowski is an economic sociologist with research interests in the processes of technological, organizational, and regulatory change in the globalized industrial economy. 

His current research topics include: the emergence of the industrial internet of things and industrial platforms in the European political economy; the EU’s policy discourse of digital and technological “sovereignty”; the transition to electromobility and its implications for the transnational divisions of labor in the automotive sector.

Prior to starting his research work at the WZB, Grzegorz studied sociology, East European studies, cultural studies, and philosophy in Germany (Freie Universität Berlin), Poland (University of Warsaw, Jagiellonian University), and Singapore (Nanyang Technological University). Starting in 2023, he works in a DFG project on the current value-chain restructuring in the European automotive industry at the HSU in Hamburg.

Recent output

2023

Lechowski, G., Krzywdzinski, M., & Pardi, T. (2022). A government-driven sectoral transformation? French and German policy responses to the COVID-crisis in the automotive industry. International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management (forthcoming).

2022

Lechowski, G., & Krzywdzinski, M. (2022). Emerging positions of German firms in the industrial internet of things: a global technological ecosystem perspective. Global Networks,  22(4), 666-683 .

Lechowski, G., Köppl-Turyna, M., & Wanka, S. (2022). Verflechtung macht verwundbar. Die EU muss ihre wirtschaftlichen Abhängigkeiten neu denken. WZB-Mitteilungen, 176, 49-52. 

Lechowski, G., & Köppl-Turyna, M. (2022). Reframing economic interdependency. WZB-Blog: War in Europe: Causes and Consequences.

Lechowski, G., & Wanka, S. (2022). Securing Supply Chains for the Low-Carbon Economy: The Case of Electric Batteries. 49security. Views on Germany's National Security Strategy.

2021

Lechowski, G. (2021). Die Industriecloud als zweite Chance. Europas neuer Anlauf in der globalen Plattformökonomie. WZB Mitteilungen, 171, 35-37.

Lechowski, G. (2021). European Policy Interventions into the Emerging Industrial Cloud: Towards a Regionalization of the Digital Economy? Paper presented at the Virtual SASE Conference 2021.

Lechowski, G., Krzywdzinski, M., & Pardi, T. (2021). Government Response to COVID-Crisis in the French and German Car Industries: A Case of State-Led Sectoral Transformation? Paper presented at the Virtual SASE Conference 2021. 

2020

Humphrey, J., & Lechowski, G. (2020). Lieferschock, Nachfragekrise, Technologiewandel. Die Pandemie kann die europäische Autoindustrie nachhaltig verändern. WZB Mitteilungen, 168, 60-62.

Humphrey, J., & Lechowski, G. (2020). COVID-19 and European Industry: Global Shocks, Local Shocks and Value-Chain Restructuring. Coronavirus and its Societal Impact – Highlights from WZB Research.

Lechowski, G., & Krzywdzinski, M. (2020). Digitalization and new technological interdependencies in the German manufacturing equipment sector. SASE Virtual Conference 2020.

2019

Lechowski, G., & Krzywdzinski, M. (2019). Governing “digital transformation” through transnational technological standards. Paper presented at the SASE conference, The New School, New York City.

Lechowski, G., & Krzywdzinski, M. (2019). Industriestrukturen im Umbruch. WZB-Mitteilungen, H. 163, Sonderausgabe zu 50 Jahre WZB: “in touch. Forschung und Gesellschaft”, pp. 64-65 (see English version here).

Krzywdzinski, M., Lechowski, G., & Mählmeyer, V. (2019). Lean work and gender inequalities: manufacturing consent at a multinational car plant in provincial Russia. Global Labour Journal, 10(2), 123-141. 

2018

Lechowski, G. (2018). Beyond “dependent development” in a high-tech industry? The interplay between domestic institutions and transnational sectoral governance in the trajectories of emerging Polish IT firms. Discussion Paper SP III 2018–302. WZB Berlin Social Science Center, Berlin, pp. 1-38.

Krzywdzinski, M., Lechowski, G., & Jürgens, U. (2018). The inevitability of change in Chinese and Indian automakers’ low cost productive models. La Nouvelle Revue du Travail, 12, pp. 1-20.

Recent projects

• Strategic Response to COVID-Crisis in the Automotive Industry: Comparing European and Global Approaches (funding: VolkswagenStiftung; duration: 03.2021-01.2023)
• Blankensee Colloquium on global digital economy (funding: Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin; event date: Fall 2022 (tbc); together with main applicants: Florian Butollo and Gale Raj-Reichert)

Teaching

• Helmut Schmidt University Hamburg, Lecturer: Globalisierung von Industrie und Arbeit (Globalization of industry and labor), Fall 2021; Einführung in die Soziologie (Introduction to Sociology), Fall 2020