Impact of Services Trade Innovation Pilots on Corporate Digital Transformation

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Guided by the strategic goal of high-level open economy, the Pilot Policies for the Innovative Development of Trade in Services have driven enterprise digital transformation and China's high-quality economic development through institutional innovation and opening-up measures. Using 2011-2022 panel data of Chinese A-share listed companies and a staggered difference-in-differences model, this research empirically investigates the policy's impact on corporate digital transformation. Results show the policy significantly facilitates corporate digital transformation, with mechanisms of technology absorption, digital management talent agglomeration and competitive escape. Heterogeneity analysis reveals the driving effect is more pronounced for non-state-owned enterprises, firms with lower absorption capacity, coastal regions and firms with higher analyst coverage. This study regards corporate digital transformation as crisis adaptability and organizational resilience, and the findings provide empirical evidence and policy implications for understanding how institutional openness enhances firms' shock-absorbing ability and how pilot policies contribute to resilient regional economy construction in volatile global environment.