Driving Enterprise Digital Transformation: Unveiling the Significance of E-Commerce Demonstration City in China
研究中国国家电子商务示范城市政策对企业数字化转型的影响，发现该政策通过促进区域产业结构升级和产业链协调显著推动企业数字化转型，对高技术密度、低人才密度行业及中心城市企业效果更明显。
Initiated in 2009, the National E-commerce Demonstration City (NEDC) policy is a strategic initiative by the Chinese government. Its purpose is to boost e-commerce growth and drive economic transformation. Over time, this program has expanded, serving as a catalyst for technological innovation, resource integration, and the progression of the digital economy. Given this backdrop, how should enterprises seize the development opportunities offered by the NEDC policy to promote digital transformation? Applying a multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) model and utilizing data from publicly listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2009 to 2019, we empirically examine the mechanism by which the NEDC policy influences enterprise digital transformation (EDT). The results reveal that the NEDC policy significantly promotes EDT and passes a series of robustness tests. Heterogeneity analysis reveals varied impacts on EDT, particularly in high technology-density, low talent-density industries, central cities, and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain. Further research suggests that the policy stimulates EDT by fostering transformation and upgrading in regional industrial structures, as well as by coordinating the industrial chain.