Buffer Mechanism Of Industrial Agglomeration In Development Zone On The Supply Chain Disruption Under Major Public Health Emergencies

The COVID-19 epidemic,a major public health emergency,has triggered a large-scale disruption of global supply chains.On the one hand,this disruption has seriously damaged the operational systems of the enterprises,leading to the loss of enterprises' operational efficiency due to the decreased revenue but increased cost.On the other hand,it will also be transmitted to the capital market through the industrial chain,supply chain,and capital chain,triggering negative emotions of external investors and negatively impacting the enterprises' short-term and long-term stock market performance.Practice reveals that many industrial agglomerations in development zone show a strong ability to resist external risks under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.Industrial agglomeration in development zone is a form of agglomeration led by the government in the context of China's economic transition,which plays a pivotal role in China's economic development.In this context,how to better rely on the industrial agglomeration in development zone to improve the ability of the supply chain to avoid risks or quickly recover to a stable state after being damaged has become a major practical issue for China to improve the modernization level of the industrial chain supply chain.At present,many studies have focused on the ability of industrial agglomeration in development zone to improve the economic performance of micro-enterprises through the release of agglomeration effect and policy effect,but the existing studies are carried out in a stable environment.Few literatures have conducted in-depth studies on how the industrial agglomeration in development zone buffers the negative effects of supply chain disruption under the extreme situation of the COVID-19 epidemic and the influencing factors of the buffering effect.Therefore,based on the influence path of “major public health emergencies-supply chain disruptions-operation efficiency and market performance”,combined with industrial agglomeration theory,resource dependence theory,signal transmission theory,and institutional theory,this study clarifies the essential process of industrial agglomeration in development zone to buffer the negative impact of supply chain disruption,as well as the impact of the institutional environment(regional conditions,government intervention,and factor market development level),market competition,and enterprise characteristics(property right nature,firm size,and firm age)on impacting the buffering effect.This study constructs a theoretical framework to study the influence of industrial agglomeration in development zone on enterprises' operation efficiency and market performance under major public health emergencies.The following three research questions are deeply discussed in this study:(1)Under the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic,how does industrial agglomeration in the development zone buffer the negative impact of supply chain disruption on enterprises' operation efficiency and market performance?(2)Under what kind of institutional environment,industrial agglomeration in the development zone has a better buffering effect on supply chain disruption?(3)Which type of enterprises can benefit more from the buffering effect of industrial agglomeration in development zone on supply chain disruption?This study adopts multiple methods such as PSM-DID,event research method and multiple regression analysis to analyze the secondary data of 2331 listed enterprises in China and finds that:(1)Hit by the COVID-19 epidemic,industrial agglomeration in development zone can buffer the negative impact of supply chain disruption on enterprise operational efficiency.More interestingly,such buffering effect is more effective in the east,the regions in which the government intervention is weak and factor market development level is low.And the enterprises with high intense market competition,non-state-owned,small-scale,and mature can be more likely to benefit.(2)Hit by the COVID-19 epidemic,the industrial agglomeration in the development zone can buffer the negative impact of supply chain disruption on enterprises' short-term and long-term performance.For short-term performance,the buffering effect is more effective in the east,west,and regions with a high level of factor market development,and large-scale and mature enterprises can be more likely to benefit.For the long-term performance,the buffering effect will be more effective in the east and regions with a high level of factor market development;however,only enterprises with high intense market competition,state-owned,small-scale,and growing can benefit more from this buffering effect,which is different from the short-term performance.In general,the research conclusions of this thesis have deepened the understanding of the basic problem of “how industrial agglomeration in development zone buffers the negative effects brought by supply chain disruption”,which can be mainly manifested in the following contributions.First of all,this thesis analyzes the essential process on how industrial agglomeration in the development zone buffers the negative impact caused by supply chain disruption,comprehensively identifies the key factors affecting the buffer effect,and systematically constructs and empirically tests the theoretical model regarding how industrial agglomeration in the development zone buffers the negative impact of the enterprise's operational efficiency and market performance caused by supply chain disruption.Besides,from the perspective of industrial agglomeration in the development zone,this thesis reveals the important role of location factors in the improvement of enterprise operation efficiency in the context of extreme situations under major public health emergencies,which greatly enriches and expands the literature related to operations management.Finally,this thesis not only reveals the signal transmission mechanism of industrial agglomeration in the development zone in the process of buffering the negative impact of supply chain disruption on the enterprise's stock market performance but also confirms the effectiveness of the signal is affected by the institutional environment,market competition,and corporate characteristics,thus broadening the application scope of signal transmission theory.Additionally,the conclusion of this study provides scientific theoretical guidance for enterprises' location selection and supply chain structure design in the “post-epidemic era” when the Chinese government relies on industrial agglomeration in development zone to improve the modernization level of the supply chain.