School of Business, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China.
PLoS One. 2023 Oct 18;18(10):e0292904. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0292904. eCollection 2023.
Competitive strategy plays an important role in achieving superior profits, but there is still much to be explored in terms of the effect on firm growth. This study focuses on exploring the relationship between competitive strategy and firm growth in emerging economies. We focus on how the development zone policies moderate this relationship. This study uses a two-way fixed-effect model to analyze data for 527 manufacturing firms listed in China's Shanghai and Shenzhen A-shares from 2012-2021. Our empirical analysis showed that there is a significant positive relationship between low-cost strategy and firm growth and a significant negative relationship between differentiation strategy and firm growth. Compared with national development zones, firms in provincial development zones choose low-cost strategies that are more conducive to growth. Compared with provincial development zones, firms in national development zones choose differentiation strategies that are more conducive to growth. These findings contribute to understanding the mechanisms by which competitive strategy affects firm growth in different regional institutional contexts in emerging economies. The results of the study also have reference value for the government to optimize the development zone policies.
竞争战略在实现超额利润方面发挥着重要作用，但在竞争战略对企业成长的影响方面仍有许多需要探索的地方。本研究聚焦于探索竞争战略与新兴经济体企业成长之间的关系。我们重点研究了开发区政策如何调节这种关系。本研究使用双向固定效应模型，分析了 2012-2021 年中国上海和深圳 A 股 527 家制造业企业的数据。实证分析结果表明，低成本战略与企业成长之间存在显著正相关关系，差异化战略与企业成长之间存在显著负相关关系。与国家级开发区相比，省级开发区的企业选择低成本战略更有利于成长。与省级开发区相比，国家级开发区的企业选择差异化战略更有利于成长。这些发现有助于理解竞争战略在新兴经济体不同区域制度背景下对企业成长的影响机制。研究结果还为政府优化开发区政策提供了参考价值。
