| Driven by the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial change,digital transformation is regarded as an important hand in occupying the global high-end value chain and constructing key new competitive advantages,and the digital transformation of real enterprises will also be the main battlefield for the practice and development of digital economy.The accelerating trend in enterprise digital transformation following the emergence of the Covid-19 is a phenomenon that has also prompted us to pay attention and think about this issue.Therefore,it is of profound theoretical and practical significance to explore how the digital transformation at the enterprise level should be carried out,what effects it can produce,and what factors will affect the transformation effect,which can not only enrich the relevant research,but also provide certain reference for the digital transformation of enterprises.Based on this,this paper takes A-share listed companies in 2010-2022 as the research object,theoretically analyses and empirically tests the economic consequences of enterprise digital transformation.On the basis of comprehensively reviewing the existing studies at home and abroad and sorting out the evolution logic of China’s corporate digital transformation,this paper constructs a theoretical framework for the impact of digital transformation on corporate value from the perspective of corporate life cycle,analyses its impact path and mechanism,and puts forward research hypotheses in combination with relevant theories,and empirically examines the impact of digital transformation on the value of the company under different life cycles by using a large-sample regression method.Specifically,this paper mainly explores the effect,impact path and mechanism of digital transformation on firm value when firms are in growth,maturity and decline respectively,and mainly answers the following three questions: first,when firms are in different life cycles,i.e.,for firms in growth,maturity and decline,what impact will digital transformation have on firm value.Secondly,when companies are in different lifecycles,through what paths does digital transformation affect enterprise value.Third,what internal and external factors affect the relationship between digital transformation and firm value when firms are in different life cycles.The paper draws the following three main conclusions:First,this paper investigates the relationship between digital transformation and enterprise value,and finds that digital transformation will have a positive effect on enterprise value,which is manifested in the fact that companies that have carried out digital transformation have higher enterprise value compared with those that have not carried out digital transformation,and with the increase of the degree of digital transformation,the enterprise value will also increase significantly.On this basis,this paper finds that digital transformation contributes to enterprise value in all cycles by reasonably quantifying the enterprise life cycle.Further research shows that,firstly,there are certain differences in the contribution of digital transformation to enterprise value under different life cycles,in which the transformation effect of mature enterprises is significantly better than that of other cycles.Second,after further subdividing digital transformation into technology innovation and business innovation,this paper finds that technology innovation is more effective for enterprises in the growth period,while business innovation is more effective for enterprises in the decline period.Third,the effects of underlying technology development and practical application of technology are also somewhat different,with growth stage firms significantly increasing their enterprise value through self-development of technology,while decline stage firms achieve digital transformation through practical application,which is more beneficial to enterprise value enhancement.Finally,this paper also shows that firms should adopt appropriate digital transformation approaches under different life cycles.In addition,this paper finds that firms may have strategic disclosure behaviours,i.e.,the phenomenon of digital transformation "talking too much and doing too little",and that this phenomenon is more likely to occur in growth stage firms.Second,this paper investigates the mediating path of digital transformation affecting enterprise value,and finds that for enterprises in the growth period,digital transformation enhances enterprise value by improving product market performance,increasing sustainable growth rate,and improving total factor productivity;for enterprises in the maturity period,digital transformation enhances enterprise value by improving operational efficiency and reducing agency costs;for enterprises in the decline period,digital transformation enhances enterprise value by improving operational efficiency and reducing agency costs;and for enterprises in the decline period,digital transformation enhances enterprise value by improving operational efficiency and reducing agency costs.For mature enterprises,digital transformation enhances enterprise value by improving operational efficiency and reducing agency costs;for declining enterprises,digital transformation enhances enterprise value by improving R&D innovation and reducing financial risks.In further research,this paper divides digital transformation into two kinds of underlying technology development and practical application of technology,and finds that for enterprises in the growth period,the practical application of technology is more conducive to improving product market advantage and total factor productivity,while the underlying technology development is more conducive to the enhancement of the sustainable growth rate of the enterprise;for enterprises in the maturity period,no matter what kind of digital transformation can produce better results.For mature enterprises,digital transformation can produce better results regardless of the method;for declining enterprises,although the underlying technology development method is more beneficial to declining enterprises,due to the constraints of various factors,declining enterprises often do not tend to carry out digital transformation through the underlying technology development method.Third,this paper examines the impact of internal and external factors on the relationship between digital transformation and firm value.From the viewpoint of internal factors,the relationship between digital transformation and enterprise value can be strengthened by the technical background of executives,and this effect is more obvious in the growing enterprises;while the increase of financing constraints will weaken the value-enhancing effect of digital transformation,and this effect exists for enterprises in different cycles.In terms of external factors,the optimisation of the external environment,such as the level of product market development,the level of intellectual property protection,and industrial policies,is conducive to the value-enhancing effect of digital transformation,and firms in the growth phase are the most sensitive to changes in these external factors.Further research shows that,on the one hand,after distinguishing between the underlying technology development and the practical application of technology for digital transformation,this paper finds that internal factors such as executives’ technical background and financing constraints have a greater impact on the practical application of technology,while external factors such as the development level of the product market,the level of intellectual property rights protection,and the industrial policy have a greater impact on the underlying technology development.On the other hand,after distinguishing whether the sample belongs to high-tech enterprises or not,this paper finds that factors such as executive technological background,financing constraints,and level of intellectual property protection have a greater impact on non-high-tech enterprises,while factors such as the level of product market development and industrial policy have a greater impact on high-tech enterprises.The innovation and contribution of this study is mainly in two aspects:The theoretical contribution of this paper lies in the following: first,based on the theory of enterprise life cycle,it reveals the development goals and digital transformation paths of enterprises under different cycles from a dynamic perspective,which enriches the related research on enterprise life cycle,further clarifies the main goals of enterprise development under different life cycles,and analyses the digital transformation methods and transformation effects of enterprises under different life cycles.Secondly,it helps to theoretically prove whether there is a "productivity paradox" in digital transformation,clarify the relationship between digital transformation and enterprise value,enrich the analysis of the economic consequences of digital transformation at the micro level,analyse the paths through which digital transformation affects enterprise value,and understand the path mechanism,so as to supplement the research on digital transformation at the micro level.micro-level related research.Thirdly,it enriches the research on the impact path and mechanism of digital transformation on enterprise value enhancement under the perspective of life cycle,which helps us to understand how digitalisation affects enterprise activities,explores the path and consequences of digitalisation on enterprises,and provides a basis for us to understand the impact path and mechanism of digital transformation from the theoretical level.The practical significance of this paper lies in the following: firstly,the research in this paper provides empirical evidence for the positive effects played by the digital transformation of enterprises,which helps enterprises to recognise the mechanism and positive effects of digital transformation,and also helps government agencies and enterprise management to further understand and weigh the costs and benefits of digitisation,so as to better guide the digital transformation of enterprises,and provides a certain amount of reference for enterprises to carry out digital transformation.Secondly,it provides evidence for the combination of enterprise lifecycle and digital transformation,and provides reference for enterprises in different lifecycles on how to carry out digital transformation,which helps enterprises in different cycles to carry out digital transformation "according to the needs of the enterprise",and helps enterprises carry out digital transformation activities with clear objectives according to their own situations and lifecycles,This will help enterprises in different cycles to carry out digital transformation "according to the needs of enterprises" and help them carry out digital transformation activities with clear objectives and paths according to their own circumstances and life cycle.Thirdly,it helps enterprises to develop in a high-quality manner,and provides assistance for quality improvement and efficiency enhancement at the enterprise level.As enterprises are the micro-main bodies of economic development,their high-quality development will inevitably provide assistance for the high-quality development of the macro-economy. |
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