Cooperative Research Achievement by Professors Qian Xianhang and Qiu Shanyun Published in Authoritative Journal
Recently, the research achievement Inter-regional Market Segmentation and Enterprises' Off-site Supply Chain Construction by Professor Qian Xianhang from the School of Economics, Shandong University, and Postdoctoral Fellow Qiu Shanyun was published in the 1st issue of 2025 of Journal of Financial Research, an authoritative journal.
Unimpeded supply chains are the key to improving the modernization level of industrial and supply chains. However, in the process of building a unified national market, there is still obvious market segmentation, which hinders the free cross-regional flow of commodity factors. In 2022, the CPC Central Committee and State Council Opinions on Accelerating the Construction of a Unified National Market was issued, pointing out that "we should speed up the establishment of a unified national market institutional rules, break local protection and market segmentation, open up key blocking points restricting economic circulation, and promote the free flow of commodity factors in a wider range". Therefore, understanding the impact of market segmentation on industrial and supply chains is of great significance for building a unified national market and improving the modernization level of industrial and supply chains.
By sorting out the main supplier data of China's listed companies from 2007 to 2019, this study constructs a paired sample at the enterprise-supplier province-year level, empirically tests the impact of inter-regional market segmentation on enterprises' off-site supply chain construction and its internal mechanism, and further explores enterprises' countermeasures.
The study finds that the more serious the inter-regional market segmentation, the lower the procurement proportion of enterprises in the corresponding regions, and this impact is more obvious for enterprises in highly competitive industries and enterprises with high product uniqueness. The mechanism test finds that market segmentation inhibits enterprises' off-site procurement by increasing enterprises' transaction costs, improving the uncertainty of enterprises' procurement lead time, and unbalancing supply and demand between supply chains. The economic consequence test shows that the reduction of enterprises' off-site procurement caused by market segmentation will increase enterprises' operating costs and reduce enterprises' profitability and total factor productivity. This study also explores measures for enterprises to break through regional boundaries, and the results show that improving the degree of vertical integration, using digital technology, and relying on off-site chambers of commerce can weaken the negative impact of market segmentation on enterprises' off-site supply chain construction, which are effective means for enterprises to cope with market segmentation.
The research results show that at present, we should speed up the construction of a unified national market and focus on improving the modernization level of supply chains. Local government departments should strictly implement the important spirit of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on accelerating the construction of a unified national market, balance the relationship between the government and the market through institutional innovation, break regional segmentation, build a unified national market that is efficient, standardized, fair and competitive, and fully open, promote the free flow of commodity factors, and provide a fair market environment for the smooth flow of enterprise supply chains.
Qian Xianhang is a Professor and Ph.D. Supervisor at the School of Economics, Shandong University, a Young Expert of Taishan Scholar Program in Shandong Province, and a "Excellent Young Scholar in Liberal Arts" of Shandong University. His research field is corporate finance and corporate governance. He has published more than 50 papers in journals such as Economic Research Journal, Management World, China Economic Quarterly, Journal of Financial Research, China Industrial Economics, Financial Management, Journal of International Money and Finance. His research achievements have won the first Sun Yefang Financial Innovation Award, the Second Prize of the 10th National Excellent Financial Paper, the First Prize of Shandong Provincial Social Science Excellent Achievements, and the New Talent Award of Shandong Provincial Social Science Disciplines. He has presided over projects such as the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Social Science Fund of China, and the Humanities and Social Sciences Fund of the Ministry of Education.
Qiu Shanyun is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of Economics, Shandong University. His research field is corporate supply chain relationship and supply chain management. He has published more than 20 papers in journals such as Journal of Financial Research, Economic Theory and Business Management, Nankai Economic Studies, Financial Management, and Journal of International Money and Finance. His research achievements have won the Academic Encouragement Award of the 23rd "An Zijie International Trade Research Award".
ements of the team's series of research around the "five major articles" o
