外商直接投资与东道国企业数字化转型——基于中国上市企业的研究

Foreign direct investment and digital transformation of host country firms:a study based on Chinese listed firms

在数字化潮流和高水平对外开放背景下,外商直接投资(FDI)与东道国数字经济发展的关系尚未被揭示。通过研究FDI对东道国企业数字化转型的影响,发现FDI能够促进东道国企业进行数字化转型,该结论在稳健性和内生性检验后仍然成立。企业效率机制、战略决策机制、资金约束缓解机制和数字化转型风险缓解机制是FDI促进东道国企业数字化转型的四个渠道。FDI对东道国企业数字化转型的促进作用存在异质性:FDI对东道国企业数字化转型的促进作用在数字经济发展水平更高的地区更大,在外商控制权更强的企业中更明显;在区分企业数字化转型方向后发现,FDI对向线上服务类数字化转型的企业促进作用显著,但对向非线上服务类数字化转型的企业促进作用不明显。在数字化发展背景下,FDI对东道国企业仍具有积极意义,上述结论对企业在高水平对外开放背景下克服数字化转型困境具有参考价值。

There is little existing research on the relationship between FDI and the development of a host country's digital economy in the context of digitalization and a high level of openness.This paper investigates the impact of FDI on the digital transformation of host country enterprises from a micro perspective.We find that FDI can facilitate the digital transformation of host-country firms,and this finding holds after robustness and endogeneity tests.The corporate-efficiency,strategic-decision,capital-constraint-mitigation,and digital-transformation risk mitigation mechanisms are the four channels through which FDI promotes the digital transformation of host-country enterprises.There is also heterogeneity in the facilitation effect of FDI on the digital transformation of host-country firms.The facilitation effect is more influential in regions with higher levels of digital economy development and is more pronounced in firms with greater foreign control.After distinguishing the direction of digital transformation of host-country enterprises,it is found that FDI has a significant promotion effect for firms with digital transformation of online services but not for those enterprises with digital transformation of non-online services.In the context of digital development,FDI still has positive implications for host-country enterprises.The above findings are informative for enterprises attempting to overcome the digital transformation dilemma in the context of high levels of openness.