Solitary or starry? Path options of the total factor productivity improvement in the aquatic seed industry from the configuration perspective

Abstract

As the top supplier of global aquaculture, China possesses the largest aquaculture seed industry, which is an essential contributor to promoting the sustainable development of fisheries and safeguarding global food security. This paper aims to explore the effective path to total factor productivity (TFP) enhancement. First, the paper designs a theoretical framework for multifactor (including resource, technology, talent, capital, and system) synergy driving aquatic seed industry development based on system dynamics. Then, the driven path of multifactor synergy for TFP improvement is investigated through the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis method by taking six listed enterprises in the aquatic seed industry from 2017 to 2021 as the case study. Results show that single-factor inputs, such as resource, technology, talent, capital, and system, are unnecessary conditions for improving the TFP of the enterprise. Interestingly, the sufficiency analysis shows four equivalent paths of multifactor synergy-driven enterprise TFP improvement, which are further classified into three categories denominated as resource-oriented, integrated, and technology-oriented factor configurations. Of these, resource–capital and technology–talent factor synergies are two core-driven conditions, and an equivalent substitution relationship exists between capital and system. This paper provides some recommendations for policymakers and aquatic seed entrepreneurs based on the above findings.