IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v12y2025i1d10.1057_s41599-025-04601-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can supply chain digital innovation policy improve the sustainable development performance of manufacturing companies?

Author

Listed:
  • Ming Chen

    (Qingdao University of Science and Technology)

  • Xin Tan

    (Qingdao University of Science and Technology)

  • Jianhua Zhu

    (Harbin Institute of Technology (Weihai))

  • Rebecca Kechen Dong

    (University of Technology Sydney)

Abstract

As societal concerns around environmental protection, and corporate governance are increasing, entities like consumers, investors, and others are raising their expectations of companies’ corporate social responsibility. Companies that pursue sustainable development goals will receive more attention and support from these stakeholders. The pilot policy for supply chain innovation and application (SCIA) is a systemic experiment launched by the Chinese government that aims to facilitate the digitalization of supply chains and encourage companies to adopt innovative technological methods to optimize traditional supply chain management practices. Based on data from 508 manufacturing companies from 2013 to 2022, this research utilizes SCIA in the framework of a quasi-natural experiment, employing research methods DID, EM, PSM-DID, and SDID to evaluate the effect of the SCIA on SDP. Through empirical evidence, it concludes that the rollout or enforcement of the SCIA pilot policy significantly promotes SDP. SCIA impacts corporate sustainable development by increasing their intention to invest in innovation, ensuring the sustainability of corporate innovation, and reducing company cost expenditures. There is significant heterogeneity in the effectiveness of establishing pilot cities for the digitization and application of supply chain innovations: the pilot policy can significantly promote the SDP of state-owned enterprises; compared to small-scale companies, the SDP of large companies has been significantly improved due to the pilot policy; SCIA pilot policies have a greater impact on SDP of low agency cost companies than high agency cost companies; and companies located in cities with a high degree of digitalization are more favorable impacts from the pilot policy. Companies with weak monopoly power have a more significant improvement in SDP. The study enriches the research on the effectiveness of SCIA pilot policies and provides insights into how local governments can facilitate the enhancement of the SDP of manufacturing companies.

Suggested Citation

  • Ming Chen & Xin Tan & Jianhua Zhu & Rebecca Kechen Dong, 2025. "Can supply chain digital innovation policy improve the sustainable development performance of manufacturing companies?," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-15, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:12:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-025-04601-9
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-025-04601-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-025-04601-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-025-04601-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Guariglia, Alessandra & Liu, Xiaoxuan & Song, Lina, 2011. "Internal finance and growth: Microeconometric evidence on Chinese firms," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(1), pages 79-94, September.
    2. Wang, Gang & Gunasekaran, Angappa & Ngai, Eric W.T. & Papadopoulos, Thanos, 2016. "Big data analytics in logistics and supply chain management: Certain investigations for research and applications," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 98-110.
    3. Zhang, Dongyang & Mohsin, Muhammad & Rasheed, Abdul Khaliq & Chang, Youngho & Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad, 2021. "Public spending and green economic growth in BRI region: Mediating role of green finance," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    4. Sun, Guanglin & Fang, Jiming & Li, Jinning & Wang, Xiaolin, 2024. "Research on the impact of the integration of digital economy and real economy on enterprise green innovation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    5. Ahi, Payman & Searcy, Cory & Jaber, Mohamad Y., 2018. "A Quantitative Approach for Assessing Sustainability Performance of Corporations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 336-346.
    6. Shivam Gupta & Vinayak A. Drave & Surajit Bag & Zongwei Luo, 2019. "Leveraging Smart Supply Chain and Information System Agility for Supply Chain Flexibility," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 547-564, June.
    7. Kirti Nayal & Rakesh D. Raut & Vinay Surendra Yadav & Pragati Priyadarshinee & Balkrishna E. Narkhede, 2022. "RETRACTED: The impact of sustainable development strategy on sustainable supply chain firm performance in the digital transformation era," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3), pages 845-859, March.
    8. Alqahtani, Ammar Y. & Gupta, Surendra M. & Nakashima, Kenichi, 2019. "Warranty and maintenance analysis of sensor embedded products using internet of things in industry 4.0," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 483-499.
    9. Lan Gao & Liang Wan, 2023. "Does corporate environmental responsibility contribute to financial performance? A dual path analysis through operational efficiency and the cost of debt," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(1), pages 308-323, January.
    10. Lin William Cong & Danxia Xie & Longtian Zhang, 2021. "Knowledge Accumulation, Privacy, and Growth in a Data Economy," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(10), pages 6480-6492, October.
    11. Chi, Yung-Ling, 2023. "The agency costs of family ownership: Evidence from innovation performance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    12. Leona Aimée Henry & Tine Buyl & Rob J.G. Jansen, 2019. "Leading corporate sustainability: The role of top management team composition for triple bottom line performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 173-184, January.
    13. Zhu, Yan & Zhang, Zhuyun, 2024. "Supply chain digitalization and corporate ESG performance: Evidence from supply chain innovation and application pilot policy," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 67(PA).
    14. Hao, Xiaoli & Wen, Shufang & Li, Ke & Wu, Junwei & Wu, Haitao & Hao, Yu, 2023. "Environmental governance, executive incentive, and enterprise performance: Evidence from Chinese mineral enterprises," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PA).
    15. Juncheng Li & Jun Hu & Lu Yang, 2021. "Can Trade Facilitation Prevent the Formation of Zombie Firms? Evidence from the China Railway Express," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 29(1), pages 130-151, January.
    16. Jennifer Martínez‐Ferrero & José Valeriano Frías‐Aceituno, 2015. "Relationship Between Sustainable Development and Financial Performance: International Empirical Research," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(1), pages 20-39, January.
    17. Daron Acemoglu & Pascual Restrepo, 2020. "Robots and Jobs: Evidence from US Labor Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(6), pages 2188-2244.
    18. M. López & Arminda Garcia & Lazaro Rodriguez, 2007. "Sustainable Development and Corporate Performance: A Study Based on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 75(3), pages 285-300, October.
    19. Shubham Tripathi & Manish Gupta, 2020. "Transforming towards a smarter supply chain," International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 36(3), pages 319-342.
    20. Daron Acemoglu & Pascual Restrepo, 2018. "The Race between Man and Machine: Implications of Technology for Growth, Factor Shares, and Employment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(6), pages 1488-1542, June.
    21. Zhihua Cheng & Feng Wang & Christine Keung & Yongxiu Bai, 2017. "Will Corporate Political Connection Influence the Environmental Information Disclosure Level? Based on the Panel Data of A-Shares from Listed Companies in Shanghai Stock Market," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 143(1), pages 209-221, June.
    22. Chee Yew Wong & Christina W.Y. Wong & Sakun Boon-itt, 2020. "Effects of green supply chain integration and green innovation on environmental and cost performance," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(15), pages 4589-4609, July.
    23. Dmitry Ivanov & Alexandre Dolgui & Boris Sokolov, 2019. "The impact of digital technology and Industry 4.0 on the ripple effect and supply chain risk analytics," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(3), pages 829-846, February.
    24. Jiri Chod & Nikolaos Trichakis & Gerry Tsoukalas & Henry Aspegren & Mark Weber, 2020. "On the Financing Benefits of Supply Chain Transparency and Blockchain Adoption," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(10), pages 4378-4396, October.
    25. Delic, Mia & Eyers, Daniel R., 2020. "The effect of additive manufacturing adoption on supply chain flexibility and performance: An empirical analysis from the automotive industry," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    26. Jinlin Li & Litai Chen & Ying Chen & Jiawen He, 2022. "Digital economy, technological innovation, and green economic efficiency—Empirical evidence from 277 cities in China," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(3), pages 616-629, April.
    27. Rana M. Airout & Qasim A. Alawaqleh & Nashat A. Almasria & Fahd Alduais & Sonia Q. Alawaqleh, 2023. "The Moderating Role of Liquidity in the Relationship between the Expenditures and Financial Performance of SMEs: Evidence from Jordan," Economies, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-22, April.
    28. Zhao, Nanyang & Hong, Jiangtao & Lau, Kwok Hung, 2023. "Impact of supply chain digitalization on supply chain resilience and performance: A multi-mediation model," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    29. Ferreira, João J.M. & Fernandes, Cristina I. & Ferreira, Fernando A.F., 2019. "To be or not to be digital, that is the question: Firm innovation and performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 583-590.
    30. Liu, Qigui & Pan, Xiaofei & Tian, Gary Gang, 2018. "To what extent did the economic stimulus package influence bank lending and corporate investment decisions? Evidence from China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 177-193.
    31. Eduardo M. Azevedo & Jacob D. Leshno, 2016. "A Supply and Demand Framework for Two-Sided Matching Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 124(5), pages 1235-1268.
    32. Cindy Lombart & Didier Louis, 2012. "Consumer satisfaction and loyalty: Two main consequences of retailer personality," Post-Print hal-00956956, HAL.
    33. Lombart, Cindy & Louis, Didier, 2012. "Consumer satisfaction and loyalty: Two main consequences of retailer personality," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 644-652.
    34. James J. Heckman & Hidehiko Ichimura & Petra Todd, 1998. "Matching As An Econometric Evaluation Estimator," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 65(2), pages 261-294.
    35. Doh, Soogwan & Kim, Byungkyu, 2014. "Government support for SME innovations in the regional industries: The case of government financial support program in South Korea," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(9), pages 1557-1569.
    36. Petr Fiala, 2016. "Profit allocation games in supply chains," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 24(2), pages 267-281, June.
    37. Claudia Kitsikopoulos & Ute Schwaibold & Douglas Taylor, 2018. "Limited progress in sustainable development: Factors influencing the environmental management and reporting of South African JSE‐listed companies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(8), pages 1295-1301, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cirillo, Valeria & Mina, Andrea & Ricci, Andrea, 2024. "Digital technologies, labor market flows and training: Evidence from Italian employer-employee data," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    2. Luo, Shuangcheng & Xiong, Zhiqiao & Liu, Jianjiang, 2024. "How does supply chain digitization affect green innovation? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    3. Shurong Zi & Ziyuan Pan & Yanjie Chen & Xinheng Liu & Qi Ban, 2025. "Intelligent Manufacturing and Pollution Emissions from Chinese Manufacturing Firms: Theories and Mechanisms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-21, January.
    4. Vaibhav S. Narwane & Rakesh D. Raut & Sachin Kumar Mangla & Manoj Dora & Balkrishna E. Narkhede, 2023. "Risks to Big Data Analytics and Blockchain Technology Adoption in Supply Chains," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 327(1), pages 339-374, August.
    5. Fu, Tong & Qiu, Zhaoxuan & Yang, Xiangyang & Li, Zijun, 2024. "The impact of artificial intelligence on green technology cycles in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    6. Chang, Qing & Wu, Mengtao & Zhang, Longtian, 2024. "Endogenous growth and human capital accumulation in a data economy," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 298-312.
    7. Wang, Hua & Liao, Lingtao & Wu, Ji (George), 2023. "Robot adoption and firm's capacity utilization: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    8. Dennis C. Hutschenreiter & Tommaso Santini & Eugenia Vella, 2022. "Automation and sectoral reallocation," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 13(1), pages 335-362, May.
    9. Basso, Henrique S. & Jimeno, Juan F., 2021. "From secular stagnation to robocalypse? Implications of demographic and technological changes," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 833-847.
    10. Pu, Guifang & Xie, Yanxiang & Wu, Lidong & Wang, Kai, 2024. "Industrial robots and corporate risk-taking value," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    11. Daniele Angelini, 2023. "Aging Population and Technology Adoption," Working Paper Series of the Department of Economics, University of Konstanz 2023-01, Department of Economics, University of Konstanz.
    12. Liu, Shasha & Wu, Yuhuan & Kong, Gaowen, 2024. "Politics and Robots," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    13. Siliang Tong & Nan Jia & Xueming Luo & Zheng Fang, 2021. "The Janus face of artificial intelligence feedback: Deployment versus disclosure effects on employee performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(9), pages 1600-1631, September.
    14. Cristiano CODAGNONE & Giovanni LIVA & Egidijus BARCEVICIUS & Gianluca MISURACA & Luka KLIMAVICIUTE & Michele BENEDETTI & Irene VANINI & Giancarlo VECCHI & Emily RYEN GLOINSON & Katherine STEWART & Sti, 2020. "Assessing the impacts of digital government transformation in the EU: Conceptual framework and empirical case studies," JRC Research Reports JRC120865, Joint Research Centre.
    15. Enrico Maria Fenoaltea & Dario Mazzilli & Aurelio Patelli & Angelica Sbardella & Andrea Tacchella & Andrea Zaccaria & Marco Trombetti & Luciano Pietronero, 2024. "Follow the money: a startup-based measure of AI exposure across occupations, industries and regions," Papers 2412.04924, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2024.
    16. Wang, Jiaxin & Zhao, Mu & Huang, Xiang & Song, Zilong & Sun, Di, 2024. "Supply chain diffusion mechanisms for AI applications: A perspective on audit pricing," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    17. Yao, Shouyu & Pan, Yuying & Sensoy, Ahmet & Uddin, Gazi Salah & Cheng, Feiyang, 2021. "Green credit policy and firm performance: What we learn from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    18. Hua Zhang & Qiwang Zhang, 2023. "How Does Digital Transformation Facilitate Enterprise Total Factor Productivity? The Multiple Mediators of Supplier Concentration and Customer Concentration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-18, January.
    19. David E. Bloom & Klaus Prettner & Jamel Saadaoui & Mario Veruete, 2023. "Artificial intelligence and the skill premium," Papers 2311.09255, arXiv.org.
    20. Maximiliano Dvorkin & Alexander Monge-Naranjo, 2019. "Occupation Mobility, Human Capital and the Aggregate Consequences of Task-Biased Innovations," Working Papers 2019-064, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:12:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-025-04601-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.nature.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.