关键词: 中国制造业企业500强, 隶属联系模型, 核心—边缘结构, 演化特征, 国际生产折衷理论, 动力机制, 路径依赖, 流动空间

Abstract:

With the increase of economic interaction between cities, the spatial division of functions within firms has gradually become an important feature of production over the past 30 years. Meanwhile, the number of branches of China's top 500 manufacturing companies has expended rapidly, which develops into the production network of manufacturing industry in China. As the basic carrier of the elements flow, through the lens of manufacturing enterprises can objectively reflect the differences of cities' network position. However, the core-periphery structure of urban network based on the manufacturing corporate network has been rarely studied so far. Hence, this paper aims to analyze the core-periphery structure and its determinants of unban network for developing urban network theory and improving urbanization policy in China. First, data on headquarter and branch locations of China's top 500 manufacturing companies in 2020 are subjected to ownership linkage model to approximate the urban network, resulting a 290×290 valued urban network. Then the influence factors are examined by using 2 types of econometric models, i.e. pooled logit model and pooled probit model. Finally, according to the eclectic paradigm of international production, this paper tentatively put forward a new evolution characteristic of core-periphery structure under the network environment for further discussion. Four conclusions are drawn: (1) The number of core cities has expanded from 17 to 28, which are mainly constituted by municipalities, special economic zones, and capital cities in eastern and central regions of China. The core block is a cohesive subgroup composed of spatially dispersed but functionally connected cities, and the spatial distribution of structural holes is consistent with core cities; (2) The relationship between the core and periphery blocks has been strengthened, cities in the periphery block are mainly concentrated in central and western regions of China. However, the intercity linkages focus primarily on the core block, which leads to an unstable network structure; (3) Key resources, location conditions, and industrial structure are the key factors affecting the position of China's urban network. The improvement of human capital, knowledge base, infrastructure, and FDI will highly improve the odds of cities' membership in the core block; (4) Selecting superior actors, geographical proximity, and path dependence are the dynamic mechanisms in the evolution of core-periphery structure of China's urban network, which will further strengthen the network position of core cities. The results demonstrate that the network position of cities is closely related to their influence or power in the unban network, so China's urbanization policy need to be adjusted accordingly.

Key words: China's top 500 manufacturing companies, ownership linkage model, core-periphery structure, evolution characteristics, the eclectic theory of international production, dynamic mechanism, path dependence, space of flows