Since the reform and opening up,China's economic construction has had tremendous achievements,with a significant increase in social productivity and a remarkable improvement in people's lives.Moreover,it has gradually moved toward the"center"of the international trade network.In recent years,with the continuous promotion of the Belt and Road initiative,the trade network density of countries along the Belt and Road has increased,gradually deepening China's trade network.However,with the rapid development of the Chinese economy,there is a widespread problem of overcapacity in its manufacturing industry.Overcapacity has gradually become a critical issue that affects microeconomic benefits and restricts stable and rapid macroeconomic growth.It has also become the root cause of prominent contradictions and many problems in the operation of the Chinese economy.In the context of the aforementioned reality and theory,this article uses data on Chinese industrial enterprises from 2000 to 2013,as well as import and export trade data from Chinese customs and the CEPII-BACI data system,to deeply study the impact and mechanism of deepening enterprise trade on enterprise capacity utilization.The contributions of this article to the literature are as follows:First,existing research mainly studies the impact of international trade on capacity utilization from the perspectives of import and export trade volume,import and export trade characteristics,and trade liberalization.Unlike the existing research,this article systematically studies the impact of deepening trade networks on enterprise capacity utilization,enriching and expanding relevant research on the determinants of enterprise capacity utilization from a social network perspective.Second,there is a wealth of literature on the impact of trade networks deepening on corporate behavior,but existing literature has mainly focused on the domestic value-added rate of exports,corporate innovation,and corporate environmental performance.This article explores the direct impact of trade network deepening on enterprises from the perspective of capacity utilization,thereby enriching and expanding relevant research on the economic impacts of trade network deepening.Third,an in-depth analysis was conducted on the mechanism through which the deepening of trade networks affects the utilization of enterprise capacity.This study found that the deepening of trade networks improves enterprise capacity utilization by reducing search costs,acquiring external knowledge,and intensifying market competition.This novel discovery provides useful policy references for Chinese enterprises to rely on trade networks to improve their capacity utilization and for policymakers to effectively formulate high-level opening-up policies to resolve overcapacity.It has important theoretical value and practical significance for promoting the high-quality development of the Chinese economy.We found that the deepening of trade networks significantly improves the capacity utilization rate of enterprises,and this conclusion remains robust after dealing with potential endogenous problems.The deepening of trade networks mainly improves enterprise capacity utilization by reducing enterprise search costs,improving external knowledge acquisition ability,and intensifying market competition channels.The heterogeneity analysis reveals that the deepening of trade networks has a stronger capacity utilization improvement effect on domestic enterprises,general trade enterprises,large-scale enterprises,and enterprises in nonlabor-intensive industries.This study also conducts in-depth research on import and export trade networks.In addition,it examines the moderating effect of digital China on the capacity reduction effect of deepening trade networks and finds that the higher the degree of development of the Internet,the stronger the capacity utilization effect of deepening trade networks.Finally,based on the industry correlation perspective,it is found that the centrality of the same industry and the downstream industry can significantly improve the capacity utilization rate.This study provides a new path for China to promote a higher level of opening-up to the outside world,improve the quality and level of international circulation,and effectively resolve the challenge of overcapacity.
万方数据
维普
