Abstract:     Digital twins build a bridge between the real and virtual worlds and are widely used in manufacturing enterprises′ production services. However, it remains underexplored how digital twins drive the creation of new value scenarios within these enterprises. This study, grounded in the embeddedness theory, employed an exploratory dual case study approach to distill the practical insights of Mino and Midea Building Technologies in the domains of intelligent manufacturing and smart buildings. The study found that: first, expanding value scenarios through digital twins relies on a fundamental logic that includes the composition of elements—assets, people and digital twins—mapped to physical space, social relations, and digital space, and their interactions. Second, two primary expansion models are identified: the process-based model and the parallel model. In the process-based model, exemplified by Mino, elements are embedded into the virtual world through production lines and processes, extending the value activities of the production line and the product lifecycle. Third, the parallel expansion, represented by Midea Building Technologies, centers on the core logic of mapping three key elements into the virtual world based on buildings, abstracting traffic flow, information flow, experience flow, energy flow, and others, thereby broadening the industrial boundaries. This study will enrich research on digital innovation, scenario creation, and embeddedness theory, and offer theoretical and practical references for the digital transformation of manufacturing enterprises.

Key words: digital twins, value scenario, embeddedness theory, case study