关键词: 对外直接投资, 数字化优势, 海外经营成本, 全要素生产率

Abstract: With the deep integration of digital technology and the real economy, digitalization has become a new advantage for enterprises development. This paper uses a sample of China’s A-share listed industrial enterprises in 2009—2021 matching representative outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) data to study the impact of digitalization advantage on Chinese enterprises’ OFDI activities as well as its potential mechanism. It finds that enterprises’ digitalization advantage has a significantly and robustly positive effect on OFDI decisions, breadth and depth, which will enhance the vitality and resilience of Chinese OFDI. And the explanation strength of digitalization advantage to multinational investment activities is as high as 48.3%~53.8% of the traditional advantage R&D. The increase of total factor productivity and reduction of overseas operating costs are the two potential mechanisms. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the improvement effect is particularly pronounced in greenfield investments, traditional industries and highly competitive industries. In addition, the competitive effect between the digitalization advantage of multinational companies and the digitalization advantage of the host country is greater than the complementary effect in the process of Chinese OFDI entering into the host country. Then the positive effect of digitalization advantage on OFDI activities is suppressed in the samples of host countries with high digitalization levels. The conclusion of this paper is of great enlightenment on how to use digitalization advantages to promote high-level opening-up and establish a new development paradigm with domestic circulation as the mainstay and domestic and international circulations reinforcing each other.

Key words: Outward Foreign Direct Investment, Digitalization Advantage, Overseas Operating Costs, Total Factor Productivity