Research On The Impact Of Digital Transformation On The Export Competitiveness Of Chinese Manufacturing Industry

Traditional manufacturing industry is an important industry supporting China’s national economy,and "Made in China" has become one of the most recognized labels in the world.However,compared with the developed countries in the world,China’s manufacturing industry is still facing problems such as overcapacity and weak independent innovation capacity.In the current background of intensifying international competition,enhancing the export competitiveness of manufacturing industry has become the key to China’s high-quality economic development.At the same time,blockchain,cloud computing and big data and other new generation of information technology began to popularize and apply to various industries,and the new crown epidemic that swept the world in 2020 accelerated the digital transformation process in China.Under the current rapid development of digital technology,the traditional manufacturing industry is facing unprecedented competitive pressure.In this context,clarifying how digital transformation specifically affects the competitiveness of the manufacturing industry and finding the appropriate path for digital transformation of the manufacturing industry to improve its export competitiveness is a topic worthy of in-depth study.In this thesis,we firstly discuss the mechanism of digital transformation affecting the export competitiveness of manufacturing industry from transaction cost theory,competitive advantage theory and social learning theory by combing the existing literature;secondly,we measure and analyze the digital transformation level and export competitiveness of Chinese manufacturing industries;next,we empirically test the direct impact of digital transformation level of Chinese manufacturing industries from 2011 to 2020 on their export competitiveness.Next,the direct impact of the digital transformation level of each manufacturing industry in China from 2011 to 2021 on its export competitiveness is empirically tested,and robustness test,mechanism test and heterogeneity analysis are also conducted.Finally,corresponding countermeasures are proposed based on the results of the previous study.After the study,the following conclusions are obtained: first,the digital transformation of China’s manufacturing industry can promote its export competitiveness,where the specific impact mechanisms include cost-saving effect,innovation incentive effect and cohort effect;second,the measurement of the digital transformation level of manufacturing industry and export competitiveness finds that the digital transformation level of manufacturing industries is slowly increasing,while the export competitiveness of China’s manufacturing industry Third,the empirical tests using FE,RE and FGLS models all show that the digital transformation of China’s manufacturing industry shows a significant contribution to the improvement of its export competitiveness.The mechanism test proves that the previous theoretical analysis is correct,and digital transformation improves manufacturing export competitiveness by reducing transaction costs,increasing innovation and enhancing the digitalization of the same group;the industry heterogeneity analysis shows that the impact of digital transformation on the export competitiveness of low-and medium-technology industries is a significant positive promotion,while the impact on the export competitiveness of high-technology industries is not significant.Fourth,this thesis integrates the current development of China’s manufacturing industry and the results of theoretical and empirical analysis,and gives corresponding policy suggestions: to strengthen the digital infrastructure construction of manufacturing industry by targeting digital productivity;to stimulate the innovation vitality of manufacturing industry by targeting industrial digitization;to narrow the digital transformation gap between industries by targeting digital radiation power.