{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,25]],"date-time":"2026-01-25T02:34:06Z","timestamp":1769308446807,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":51,"publisher":"Emerald","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,21]],"date-time":"2025-01-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1737417600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/site-policies"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IMDS"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,24]]},"abstract":"Purpose<\/jats:title>This paper aims to explore the relationship between digital transformation, international competition and productivity progress by examining the dual margins of export, thereby identifying the digital development pathway for key industrial chains within the context of regional medical and health cooperation.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>Design\/methodology\/approach<\/jats:title>By constructing models incorporating both the extensive margin and intensive margin, this paper delves into the reasons underlying changes in product trade value and variety within international market competition. Utilizing export data for medical products from China to Belt and Road Initiative partner countries spanning from 2007 to 2020, an industry\u2013destination\u2013time panel benchmark model is established to assess the impact of digital transformation on product expansion and international competition.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>Findings<\/jats:title>The findings reveal the following insights. First, digital transformation positively impacts the intensive margin of medical products, whereas it does not exert a positive influence on the extensive margin. Second, the impact mechanism test indicates that digital transformation fosters the intensive export margin by enhancing the technical efficiency of exports but exhibits an inverted U-shaped effect on technological progress. Third, digital transformation demonstrates a notable non-linear characteristic, with a substantial increase in the lifting effect once a certain threshold is surpassed.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>Originality\/value<\/jats:title>While previous research has extensively explored the effects of digital transformation on export trade, this study uniquely integrates the concepts of the intensive and extensive margins of export, thereby enriching the research insights derived from existing literature. It focuses on the nonlinear effects and threshold dynamics of digital transformation, particularly in relation to total factor productivity. Additionally, the paper makes a contribution to the understanding of the Health Silk Road by incorporating the health index.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1108\/imds-04-2024-0350","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,20]],"date-time":"2025-01-20T07:08:11Z","timestamp":1737356891000},"page":"945-968","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Digital transformation, international competition and productivity progress: evidence from Health Silk Road"],"prefix":"10.1108","volume":"125","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6862-7596","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lu","family":"Wan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8030-1812","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yanqi","family":"Fang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9352-0042","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nannan","family":"Ban","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0004-0786-8061","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Guo","family":"Cheng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0000-2731-0971","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Guohua","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]}],"member":"140","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,21]]},"reference":[{"issue":"3","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref001","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"691","DOI":"10.1257\/0022051042177649","article-title":"Trade costs","volume":"42","year":"2004","journal-title":"Journal of Economic Literature"},{"issue":"1","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref002","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"35","DOI":"10.1016\/j.telpol.2016.11.001","article-title":"Digital technology and international trade: is it the quantity of subscriptions or the quality of data speed that matters?","volume":"41","year":"2017","journal-title":"Telecommunications Policy"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref003","first-page":"64","article-title":"The impact of data elements on high-quality development and constraints on data flow","year":"2021","journal-title":"The Journal of Quantitative and Technical Economics"},{"issue":"4","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref004","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1707","DOI":"10.1257\/aer.98.4.1707","article-title":"Distorted gravity: the intensive and extensive margins of international trade","volume":"98","year":"2008","journal-title":"The American Economic Review"},{"issue":"8","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref005","first-page":"84","article-title":"Does Confucius Institute promote Chinese enterprises\u2019 foreign direct investment\u2014\u2014analysis based on panel data of countries along the \u2018the Belt and Road\u2019","year":"2017","journal-title":"International Trade Issues"},{"key":"key2025022108512519700_ref006","unstructured":"China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) (2022), \u201cThe strong desire of people from all countries for peace, development, and cooperation, the firm will for national unity and self-improvement, and the broader opportunities brought by the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation\u201d, available at: http:\/\/www.cidca.gov.cn\/2022-06\/25\/c_1211660616.htm (accessed 22nd December 2024)."},{"issue":"6","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref007","first-page":"32","article-title":"Manufacturing digital transformation and its export technological sophistication","year":"2021","journal-title":"Journal of International Trade"},{"key":"key2025022108512519700_ref043","first-page":"3","article-title":"Decomposition of China\u2019s industrial environmental total factor productivity: an analysis based on factor inputs and pollution control","volume":"2","year":"2012","journal-title":"Quantity and Technical Economics Research"},{"key":"key2025022108512519700_ref008","first-page":"1","article-title":"Digital economy and the technical complexity of China\u2019s manufacturing exports: evidence based on mediating and threshold effects","volume":"12","year":"2021","journal-title":"Southern Economic Journal"},{"key":"key2025022108512519700_ref051","first-page":"81","volume-title":"The Measurement of Productive Efficiency\u202f: Techniques and Applications","year":"1993"},{"issue":"1","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref009","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3","DOI":"10.1257\/jel.20171452","article-title":"Digital economics","volume":"57","year":"2019","journal-title":"Journal of Economic Literature"},{"key":"key2025022108512519700_ref010","article-title":"Is US economic growth over? Faltering innovation confronts the six headwinds","year":"2012"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref011","first-page":"1","article-title":"Digital transformation, innovation and the improvement of enterprises' export quality","year":"2022","journal-title":"Journal of International Trade"},{"issue":"8","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref012","first-page":"5","article-title":"Internet development and the enhancement of manufacturing productivity: internal mechanisms and Chinese experience","year":"2019","journal-title":"China Industrial Economics"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref013","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"704","DOI":"10.1257\/0002828054201396","article-title":"The variety and quality of a nation's exports","volume":"95","year":"2005","journal-title":"The American Economic Review"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref053","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"21","DOI":"10.54097\/fbem.v5i3.1898","article-title":"Digital transformation: a review and research framework","volume":"5","year":"2022","journal-title":"Frontiers in Business, Economics and Management"},{"issue":"8","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref044","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1374","DOI":"10.1016\/j.indmarman.2013.07.018","article-title":"Non-linear relationship between industrial service offering and sales growth: the moderating role of network capabilities","volume":"42","year":"2013","journal-title":"Industrial Marketing Management"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref014","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"409","DOI":"10.1080\/09638199.2014.881906","article-title":"Estimating the effect of the Internet on international trade","volume":"24","year":"2015","journal-title":"Journal of International Trade and Economic Development"},{"issue":"1","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref015","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"109","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1468-0084.2009.00569.x","article-title":"With or without U? The appropriate test for a U-shaped relationship","volume":"72","year":"2010","journal-title":"Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics"},{"issue":"12","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref016","first-page":"143","article-title":"Heterogeneous export propensity, learning effect and the \u2018low markup trap\u2019","year":"2015","journal-title":"Economic Research"},{"issue":"9","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref017","first-page":"59","article-title":"The servitization of manufacturing input and the dual margins of enterprise export: an empirical study based on micro-level enterprise data in China","year":"2016","journal-title":"China Industrial Economics"},{"issue":"6","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref018","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1695","DOI":"10.1111\/1468-0262.00467","article-title":"The impact of trade on intra-industry reallocations and aggregate industry productivity","volume":"71","year":"2003","journal-title":"Econometrica"},{"key":"key2025022108512519700_ref019","volume-title":"The 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People\u2019s Republic of China and the Outline of Long-Range Objectives through the Year 2035","author":"National Development and Reform Commission","year":"2021"},{"key":"key2025022108512519700_ref020","unstructured":"National Health and Family Planning Commission of China (2015), \u201cThree-year implementation plan for promoting health exchange and cooperation under the \u2018Belt and Road\u2019 initiative\u201d, 2015-2017available at: http:\/\/www.nhc.gov.cn\/zwgk\/zxgzjh\/201510\/ce634f7fed834992849e9611099bd7cc.shtml (accessed 21 December 2024)."},{"issue":"7","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref021","first-page":"159","article-title":"Where does the innovation drive for China\u2019s enterprise \u2018going global\u2019 come from? Theoretical explanation and empirical evidence from the service-oriented transformation of manufacturing inputs","year":"2022","journal-title":"International Trade Issues"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref022","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"183","DOI":"10.1007\/s11123-010-0178-y","article-title":"A global Malmquist-Luenberger productivity index","volume":"34","year":"2010","journal-title":"Journal of Productivity Analysis"},{"issue":"9","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref023","first-page":"105","article-title":"The impact of digital economy penetration on global value chain position\u2014transnational empirical research based on industrial heterogeneity","year":"2021","journal-title":"Journal of International Trade"},{"issue":"1","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref024","first-page":"65","article-title":"The dual margins of China's export growth and their determinants","year":"2010","journal-title":"Economic Research"},{"issue":"1","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref046","first-page":"17","article-title":"The impact of infrastructure on the export behavior of Chinese enterprises: \u2018intensive margin\u2019 or \u2018extended margin\u2019","volume":"34","year":"2011","journal-title":"The Journal of World Economy"},{"issue":"7","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref025","first-page":"50","article-title":"How does trade grow? \u2014based on the decomposition of extensive margin, price and quantity","year":"2010","journal-title":"South China Journal of Economics"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref026","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"312","DOI":"10.2307\/1926047","article-title":"Technical change and the aggregate production function","volume":"39","year":"1957","journal-title":"The Review of Economics and Statistics"},{"issue":"2","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref027","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"326","DOI":"10.1257\/jel.49.2.326","article-title":"What determines productivity?","volume":"49","year":"2011","journal-title":"Journal of Economic Literature"},{"issue":"2","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref028","first-page":"3","article-title":"The trade potential and its influencing factors of the \u2018maritime silk road\u2019 in the 21st century: an empirical study based on the stochastic Frontier gravity model","year":"2015","journal-title":"International Trade Issues"},{"issue":"1","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref029","first-page":"4","article-title":"Digital economy, search cost of destination country and export quality of China's enterprises","volume":"38","year":"2022","journal-title":"International Economics and Trade Research"},{"issue":"9","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref030","first-page":"40","article-title":"Research on the mechanism path and policy recommendations of digital transformation of foreign trade enterprises","year":"2019","journal-title":"Intertrade"},{"key":"key2025022108512519700_ref031","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1246","DOI":"10.1016\/j.iref.2024.04.041","article-title":"An inquiry into the effect of trade facilitation on China's digital product exports to countries along the \u2018Belt and Road\u2019","volume":"93","year":"2024","journal-title":"International Review of Economics and Finance"},{"key":"key2025022108512519700_ref032","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"4","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ribaf.2023.102140","article-title":"The digital silk road and trade growth\u2014\u2014a quasi-natural experiment based on silk road E-commerce","volume":"67","year":"2024","journal-title":"Research in International Business and Finance"},{"key":"key2025022108512519700_ref055","unstructured":"World Customs Organization (WCO) (1992), \u201cHarmonized commodity description and coding system (HS)\u201d, available at: https:\/\/www.trade.gov\/harmonized-system-hs-codes (accessed 10 January 2025)."},{"issue":"10","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref033","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1857","DOI":"10.4236\/ajibm.2020.1012116","article-title":"The interaction between productivity and export behavior: evidence from Chinese electronics firms","volume":"10","year":"2020","journal-title":"American Journal of Industrial and Business Management"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref034","first-page":"53","article-title":"The effect of servitization on export dual margins in the perspective of intra-product specialization","year":"2020","journal-title":"South China Journal of Economics"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref035","first-page":"161","article-title":"Information technology driving the transformation and upgrading of Chinese manufacturing: a vertical case study of Midea\u2019s leapfrog strategic change in intelligent manufacturing","year":"2021","journal-title":"Management World"},{"issue":"5","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref036","first-page":"1","article-title":"Analysis of health resource allocation in countries along the 'the Belt and Road","year":"2022","journal-title":"Medicine in Society"},{"key":"key2025022108512519700_ref052","first-page":"6","article-title":"Data-driven organizational adaptation and innovation in the digital economy (Part Three)","volume":"3","year":"2020","journal-title":"Journal of Beijing Jiaotong University (Social Sciences Edition)"},{"issue":"5","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref037","first-page":"23","article-title":"Research on the scale measurement of China\u2019s digital economy\u2014based on the perspective of international comparison","year":"2020","journal-title":"China Industrial Economics"},{"issue":"8","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref038","first-page":"87","article-title":"Export effect of Chinese enterprises\u2019 foreign direct investment: an empirical study based on the perspective of firm heterogeneity","year":"2019","journal-title":"Statistical Research"},{"key":"key2025022108512519700_ref045","first-page":"94","article-title":"Research on the impact of digital transformation on enterprise exports","volume":"3","year":"2021","journal-title":"China Soft Science"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref048","article-title":"Does the belt and road initiative facilitate China\u2019s corporate overseas investment: based on a sustainable development perspective","volume":"36","year":"2023","journal-title":"Economic Research-Ekonomska Istra\u017eivanja"},{"issue":"12","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref049","first-page":"34","article-title":"The current situation, challenges and countermeasures of China\u2019s health governance mechanism construction under the background of belt and road","volume":"5","year":"2023","journal-title":"International Journal of Frontiers in Sociology"},{"key":"key2025022108512519700_ref040","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"21","DOI":"10.1016\/j.irfa.2024.103582","article-title":"The impact of digital transformation on enterprises\u2019 export stability: evidence from listed companies in China","volume":"96","year":"2024","journal-title":"International Review of Financial Analysis"},{"issue":"6","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref039","first-page":"72","article-title":"Input digitization and climbing global value chain: micro evidence from Chinese manufacturing enterprises","year":"2020","journal-title":"Economic Review"},{"issue":"3","key":"key2025022108512519700_ref041","first-page":"17","article-title":"The significance of the Health Silk Road under the Belt and Road initiative","year":"2021","journal-title":"Regional and Global Development"}],"container-title":["Industrial Management & Data Systems"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/content\/doi\/10.1108\/IMDS-04-2024-0350\/full\/xml","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/content\/doi\/10.1108\/IMDS-04-2024-0350\/full\/html","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,24]],"date-time":"2025-07-24T21:52:03Z","timestamp":1753393923000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"http:\/\/www.emerald.com\/imds\/article\/125\/3\/945-968\/1240298"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,21]]},"references-count":51,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,21]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,24]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1108\/IMDS-04-2024-0350"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1108\/imds-04-2024-0350","relation":{},"ISSN":["0263-5577","1758-5783"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0263-5577","type":"print"},{"value":"1758-5783","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,21]]}}}