数字化与对外直接投资新优势——基于我国A股上市工业企业的分析

Digitalization and New Advantages of OFDI:Based on Analysis of China's A-share Listed Industrial Enterprises

随着数字技术与实体经济深度融合,数字化已成为企业发展的新优势。本文基于2009—2021年我国A股上市工业企业样本,并匹配具有代表性的对外直接投资(OFDI)数据,研究数字化优势对我国企业OFDI的影响及其作用机制。研究发现,数字化能够显著且稳健地提高我国企业OFDI的可能性、投资广度和投资深度,进而提升我国OFDI的活力和韧性,并且解释力度高达企业OFDI传统优势研发密度的48.3%~53.8%。全要素生产率提升和海外经营成本降低是数字化优势促进企业OFDI的两条潜在机制。异质性分析表明,数字化优势的OFDI促进效应在绿地投资、传统行业和高竞争性行业中表现更加突出。此外,我国OFDI“走进东道国”过程中,跨国公司数字化优势与东道国数字化优势间的竞争效应大于互补效应,因而数字化优势对我国企业OFDI的正向作用在高数字化水平东道国的样本中受到抑制。本文研究结论对新形势下我国如何利用数字化优势推动高水平对外开放,构建以国内大循环为主体、国内国际双循环相互促进的新发展格局具有启示意义。

With the deep integration of digital technology and the real economy, digitalization has become a new advantage for enterprises development. This paper uses a sample of China's A-share listed industrial enterprises in 2009—2021 matching representative outward foreign direct investment(OFDI)data to study the impact of digitalization advantage on Chinese enterprises' OFDI activities as well as its potential mechanism. It finds that enterprises' digitalization advantage has a significantly and robustly positive effect on OFDI decisions, breadth and depth, which will enhance the vitality and resilience of Chinese OFDI. And the explanation strength of digitalization advantage to multinational investment activities is as high as 48.3%~53.8% of the traditional advantage R&D. The increase of total factor productivity and reduction of overseas operating costs are the two potential mechanisms. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the improvement effect is particularly pronounced in greenfield investments, traditional industries and highly competitive industries. In addition, the competitive effect between the digitalization advantage of multinational companies and the digitalization advantage of the host country is greater than the complementary effect in the process of Chinese OFDI entering into the host country. Then the positive effect of digitalization advantage on OFDI activities is suppressed in the samples of host countries with high digitalization levels. The conclusion of this paper is of great enlightenment on how to use digitalization advantages to promote high-level opening-up and establish a new development paradigm with domestic circulation as the mainstay and domestic and international circulations reinforcing each other.