Environmental regulation, green innovation, and international competitiveness of manufacturing enterprises in China: From the perspective of heterogeneous regulatory tools.

Based on combined data from the China Patent Database, China Industrial Enterprise Database, and China Customs Import and Export Database for the period 2004-2010, this study investigates the impact of heterogeneous environmental regulations on the export technological sophistication of manufacturin...

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Main Authors: Yuanhong Hu, Sheng Sun, Yixin Dai
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0249169&type=printable
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author Yuanhong Hu
Sheng Sun
Yixin Dai
author_facet Yuanhong Hu
Sheng Sun
Yixin Dai
author_sort Yuanhong Hu
collection DOAJ
description Based on combined data from the China Patent Database, China Industrial Enterprise Database, and China Customs Import and Export Database for the period 2004-2010, this study investigates the impact of heterogeneous environmental regulations on the export technological sophistication of manufacturing enterprises. Given deepening international market segmentation of production and the increasing proportion of intermediate trade, and compared with the traditional method based on exports, the export technological sophistication calculated here, based on value-added, is closer to the true level. Since there has been no in-depth comparative study on the relationship between heterogeneous environmental regulation and export technological sophistication, this study fills the gap. The results show that all three regulation types bear a U-shaped impact on export technological sophistication. Command-control regulation exhibits a restraining effect on mixed trade, eastern, and foreign-funded enterprises. Market-incentive regulation promotes processing and mixed trade enterprises as well as domestic and foreign-funded enterprises. Voluntary-participation regulation promotes all enterprises with different trade patterns and ownership. The mechanism analysis shows that command-control and market-participation environmental regulations affect export technological sophistication through the green invention and green utility innovation channels, while, additionally, market-incentive environmental regulation affects export technological sophistication through the green design innovation channel. Considering the environmental governance issues, the policy implications for enhancing the entire industrial chain and enterprises' export competitiveness are clear. Due to the unclear functions and powers of competent departments and a rigid threshold, command-control regulation is not conducive to cleaner production technology and the promotion of enterprises' export competitiveness; it should thus be discouraged. Although both market-incentive and voluntary-participation regulations have promoted cleaner production technology and enterprises' competitiveness significantly, the environmental tax system requires continuous improvement. The government should continue to raise public involvement in environmental protection to enrich the channels and forms of environmental management.
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spelling doaj-art-4270291e5c8d4d0782e01fd0c3c527c42025-08-20T02:55:30ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032021-01-01163e024916910.1371/journal.pone.0249169Environmental regulation, green innovation, and international competitiveness of manufacturing enterprises in China: From the perspective of heterogeneous regulatory tools.Yuanhong HuSheng SunYixin DaiBased on combined data from the China Patent Database, China Industrial Enterprise Database, and China Customs Import and Export Database for the period 2004-2010, this study investigates the impact of heterogeneous environmental regulations on the export technological sophistication of manufacturing enterprises. Given deepening international market segmentation of production and the increasing proportion of intermediate trade, and compared with the traditional method based on exports, the export technological sophistication calculated here, based on value-added, is closer to the true level. Since there has been no in-depth comparative study on the relationship between heterogeneous environmental regulation and export technological sophistication, this study fills the gap. The results show that all three regulation types bear a U-shaped impact on export technological sophistication. Command-control regulation exhibits a restraining effect on mixed trade, eastern, and foreign-funded enterprises. Market-incentive regulation promotes processing and mixed trade enterprises as well as domestic and foreign-funded enterprises. Voluntary-participation regulation promotes all enterprises with different trade patterns and ownership. The mechanism analysis shows that command-control and market-participation environmental regulations affect export technological sophistication through the green invention and green utility innovation channels, while, additionally, market-incentive environmental regulation affects export technological sophistication through the green design innovation channel. Considering the environmental governance issues, the policy implications for enhancing the entire industrial chain and enterprises' export competitiveness are clear. Due to the unclear functions and powers of competent departments and a rigid threshold, command-control regulation is not conducive to cleaner production technology and the promotion of enterprises' export competitiveness; it should thus be discouraged. Although both market-incentive and voluntary-participation regulations have promoted cleaner production technology and enterprises' competitiveness significantly, the environmental tax system requires continuous improvement. The government should continue to raise public involvement in environmental protection to enrich the channels and forms of environmental management.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0249169&type=printable
spellingShingle Yuanhong Hu
Sheng Sun
Yixin Dai
Environmental regulation, green innovation, and international competitiveness of manufacturing enterprises in China: From the perspective of heterogeneous regulatory tools.
PLoS ONE
title Environmental regulation, green innovation, and international competitiveness of manufacturing enterprises in China: From the perspective of heterogeneous regulatory tools.
title_full Environmental regulation, green innovation, and international competitiveness of manufacturing enterprises in China: From the perspective of heterogeneous regulatory tools.
title_fullStr Environmental regulation, green innovation, and international competitiveness of manufacturing enterprises in China: From the perspective of heterogeneous regulatory tools.
title_full_unstemmed Environmental regulation, green innovation, and international competitiveness of manufacturing enterprises in China: From the perspective of heterogeneous regulatory tools.
title_short Environmental regulation, green innovation, and international competitiveness of manufacturing enterprises in China: From the perspective of heterogeneous regulatory tools.
title_sort environmental regulation green innovation and international competitiveness of manufacturing enterprises in china from the perspective of heterogeneous regulatory tools
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0249169&type=printable
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AT shengsun environmentalregulationgreeninnovationandinternationalcompetitivenessofmanufacturingenterprisesinchinafromtheperspectiveofheterogeneousregulatorytools
AT yixindai environmentalregulationgreeninnovationandinternationalcompetitivenessofmanufacturingenterprisesinchinafromtheperspectiveofheterogeneousregulatorytools