Assessing the Impact of Digital Trade on Enterprise Competitiveness: Evidence from Chinese A-Share Listed Companies

Digital trade is an advanced form of digital transformation in the field of trade. China has made significant strides in the realm of digital trade, particularly in the domain of cross-border e-commerce. It is worthwhile to consider whether the dividend of digital trade benefits enterprises and fosters new competitive advantages at the micro level. This study constructs a framework for analyzing enterprise competitiveness under the background of digital trade. The digital trade development index is measured comprehensively across five dimensions with entropy weight method and TOPSIS, reflecting China’s regional diversity. A two-way fixed effects (TWFE) model is utilized to verify the influence of digital trade on enterprise competitiveness based on panel data from Chinese A-share listed companies from 2011 to 2020. The study finds that digital trade has a positive effect on enterprise competitiveness, mainly strengthening the scale factor. Furthermore, the influence of digital trade on enterprises exhibits heterogeneous characteristics. Through moderation effect testing, it is found that the positive effect of digital trade is stronger for enterprises with high participation in digital trade and market competition, while it is weakened for enterprises with high proportion of overseas business. Enterprises in China that participate in and benefit from the digital trade are mainly from non-technology-intensive industries and located in regions with better digital innovation environments, where they are more likely to adapt to the development of digital trade. Both state-owned and non-state-owned enterprises are equally affected by digital trade. Through mechanism testing, the study finds that digital trade promotes enterprise competitiveness mainly through three channels: asset expansion, cost reduction, and efficiency improvement. This research analyzes the micro-level impact effects of digital trade development on individual entities, expanding research perspectives into this field.