Producer Services Trade Competitiveness and Independent Innovation of Manufacturing Enterprises: An Empirical Study Based on Samples of Chinese Listed Companies

Against rising global economic uncertainty, China’s manufacturing sector faces mounting innovation pressure. Knowledge- and technology-intensive producer services have become a key driver of global value chain upgrading. Using 2007–2020 panel data from Chinese firms, this study applies a two-way fixed effects model to examine the impact of producer services trade competitiveness on firms’ independent innovation. Results show a significant positive effect, weakened by higher industrial employment shares but strengthened by restructuring and inflation. The effect is stronger for firms in central, western, and northeastern regions, large firms, state-owned enterprises, labor-intensive sectors, competitive industries, and financially constrained firms.

Competitiveness of producer service trade; Enterprise independent innovation; Manufacturing industry; Producer service industry; Listed Companies

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