Research On The Impact Of Industrial Digitalization On The Export Competitiveness Of China’s Manufacturing Industry

In 2023,the Government Report proposed that "in 2023,China should vigorously develop digital economy,accelerate the digital transformation of traditional industries and small and medium-sized enterprises,and strive to improve the level of high-end,intelligent and green." The development of the new generation of information technologies,mainly artificial intelligence,the Internet of Things and cloud computing,has gradually penetrated into every field of the economy and society,laying the foundation for a new round of industrial reform in China.At the same time,China is in a critical period of transforming the mode of economic development,optimizing export trade structure and improving export competitiveness.The manufacturing industry is the mainstay industry of China’s national economy.To realize the transformation and upgrading of manufacturing industry in digitalization and intellectualization is an important engine to enhance China’s export competitiveness in the era of digital economy.Therefore,based on the level of manufacturing industry and from the perspective of the integration of manufacturing industry and digital economy,this paper deeply studies the impact of industrial digitalization on the export competitiveness of China’s manufacturing industry as well as the existing industry heterogeneity and technical threshold.Firstly,the input-output method is used to estimate the industrial digitalization level of China’s manufacturing industry segment from 2005 to 2018,and the results are analyzed.Secondly,the export status of China’s manufacturing industry is described.On this basis,the export competitiveness of China’s 16 manufacturing industries from 2005 to 2018 is measured by international market share,explicit comparative advantage index and trade competitive advantage index,and the export competitiveness of China’s manufacturing industry and its subsectors is analyzed.Secondly,it analyzes the influence mechanism of industrial digitalization on the export competitiveness of China’s manufacturing industry from three aspects: digital platform,data elements and digital technology.Finally,a fixed-effect model is constructed to analyze the impact of industrial digitalization on the overall export competitiveness of China’s manufacturing industry.The endogeneity problem is tested by the two-stage least square method and the endogeneity and robustness of the model are tested by the change variable method.The heterogeneity of the industry is analyzed based on the difference of factor intensity and technical level,and the threshold effect model is applied.This paper explores the threshold effect of technological level on the influence of industrial digitization on China’s manufacturing export competitiveness.The findings are as follows:first,the level of integration between China’s manufacturing industry and the basic industries of digital economy is relatively low,and the level of digitalization within the industry varies greatly;Secondly,the export competitiveness of China’s manufacturing industry is on the rise,and it is still dominated by labor-intensive industries.Thirdly,industrial digitalization has a significant effect on the overall export competitiveness of China’s manufacturing industry,and industrial digitalization has industrial heterogeneity on the export competitiveness of manufacturing industry with different intensity of factors and different technical levels.Fourthly,the influence of industrial digitalization on the export competitiveness of manufacturing industry is also affected by its own technical level,showing a threshold effect.Based on this,this paper puts forward the corresponding countermeasures and suggestions: Coordinate the domestic and foreign markets to expand the manufacturing export market;Accelerate digital technology innovation and improve the quality of manufacturing exports;Accelerate the construction of digital platforms and expand export channels for the manufacturing industry;Increase investment in human capital to provide intellectual support for manufacturing exports;Scientifically promote the digitization of manufacturing and enhance the export advantage of the manufacturing industry.