Abstract
The influence of industrial agglomeration on corporate export behavior has been widely studied by both industry and academia. However, few studies have explored the impact of the spatial agglomeration of China’s wood processing industry on the quality of its products at the micro level. In this study, we analyzed data from the China Customs Database to determine the quality of wood processing industry products at the enterprise level. Then, we matched the China Customs Database with the data in the China Industrial Enterprise Database. Based on this, we analyzed the impact of the spatial agglomeration on the quality of wood products using panel data regression. According to our results, spatial agglomeration of the wood processing industry can significantly improve product quality. Also, private enterprises are more likely to benefit from the advantages conferred by agglomeration than state-owned enterprises. Moreover, trade method does not significantly modulate the effect of spatial agglomeration on the quality of wood products. Last but not least, the agglomeration has the most significantly positive impact on the quality of products produced by the wood chip processing industry, followed by the wood products industry and the wood panel industry. Agglomeration of the bamboo and rattan palm industry actually decreases product quality. Therefore, we encourage agglomeration of timber processing enterprises, especially privately owned wood chip, wood product, and wood panel enterprises, to fully realize the benefits of the agglomeration economy. We also make policy recommendations to improve wood product quality.
Highlights
The external effect of industrial agglomeration is an essential factor in the product quality and core competitiveness of wood processing enterprises
Chinese wood processing enterprises are well represented in global value chains, they often rely excessively on international production networks, mainly those associated with original equipment manufacturer (OEM) production, and lack technological innovation and brand leadership
Sustainability 2019, 11, 3961 quality was described in the second section; an empirical analysis of agglomeration and product quality was provided in the third section; we discussed our results in the fourth section; and we described our conclusions and the implications of this study in the fifth section
Summary
The external effect of industrial agglomeration is an essential factor in the product quality and core competitiveness of wood processing enterprises. We found that the level of spatial agglomeration of China’s wood processing industry has been deepening throughout the 2000–2013 period. The most important issue is whether there is any relationship between the level of spatial agglomeration of China’s wood processing industry and the quality of its export products. We evaluated the spatial agglomeration of China’s wood processing industry and the quality of its export products at the micro level. We carried out an empirical analysis of the impact of spatial agglomeration on the quality of wood processing industry export products. Panel data regression was used to empirically analyze the impact of spatial agglomeration on the quality of wood processing industry products according to different enterprise types, trade patterns, and three-digit industries. Sustainability 2019, 11, 3961 quality was described in the second section; an empirical analysis of agglomeration and product quality was provided in the third section; we discussed our results in the fourth section; and we described our conclusions and the implications of this study in the fifth section
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