| 《The Proposal of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Formulating the 14 th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and the Visionary Goals for 2035 》 clearly proposes to "accelerate digital development,build a digital China and create new advantages in the digital economy",translating the decision and deployment of the Party Central Committee on the construction of digital China into concrete practice and practical results.With the deep development of the digital economy,digital transformation has become an important way for all enterprises to improve their competitiveness and a necessary path for the country to achieve high-quality development.As an important micro-object of the market economy,it is crucial to study the impact of digital transformation on the competitiveness of enterprises and the path of impact on the development of enterprises and the decisions of operators.At the stage of integration and development of digital technology and real economy,digital technology provides effective transformation and upgrading ideas for enterprises to enhance their competitiveness level,but at present,the digital transformation of enterprises in China is still at the primary stage,facing problems such as low strategic status,lack of forward-looking layout and inconspicuous value benefits,which seriously restrict the enhancement strength of digital transformation on enterprise competitiveness,therefore,regarding the current digital transformation in China Therefore,in view of the current situation of digital transformation in China,it is important to explore the impact of digital transformation on the competitiveness of enterprises and its mechanism of action,and further examine the effect of digital transformation on the competitiveness of enterprises under different company characteristics,which not only helps the sustainable development of enterprises themselves,but also has important significance for the development of China’s digital economy.Therefore,based on the annual reports of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2007 to 2021,this paper constructs an indicator of digital transformation of enterprises through the frequency of "digital" related key words in the annual reports of listed companies,and theoretically explores and empirically tests the impact of digital transformation on the competitiveness of enterprises based on information asymmetry theory,resource base theory and empowerment theory.The impact of digital transformation on the competitiveness of enterprises and its mechanism are theoretically explored and empirically tested.The study finds that the increase in digitalisation significantly contributes to the level of enterprise competitiveness,and the regression results after controlling for model endogeneity,replacing regression samples and changing measurement indicators consistently support this conclusion,indicating that digital transformation does enhance the level of enterprise competitiveness.The mechanism test shows that digital transformation mainly enhances the competitiveness level of enterprises by improving their technological innovation,production efficiency and operational management efficiency.The heterogeneity analysis found that the promotion effect of digital transformation on enterprise competitiveness was heterogeneous across different enterprise sizes,different enterprise ages and different financing restriction,the heterogeneity was not significant across the nature of property rights.Based on the research findings from the above analysis,this paper puts forward corresponding reference suggestions from the government level and enterprise level,taking into account the background of the era of digital economy and the importance and necessity of digital transformation for enterprises.The research in this paper enriches the research related to the digital transformation of enterprises in the context of the digital economy,and also complements the research on the influencing factors of enterprise competitiveness.The research provides empirical evidence and a basis for the government to formulate policies related to enterprise digital transformation and for enterprises to formulate digital transformation strategies,and is of great reference value and guidance for Chinese enterprises to further promote digital transformation practices. |
