Spatiotemporal Analysis of New Quality Productivity and Corporate Credit in China (2012-2023)
Main Article Content
Abstract
This study presents a spatiotemporal analysis of new quality productivity and corporate credit among Chinese publicly listed firms from 2012 to 2023, focusing on the high-tech sectors as representative industries. Using 25,812 firm-year observations, the study applies panel econometric models, including fixed and random effects, IV-2SLS, and System GMM, to examine how productivity improvements influence trade credit utilization and net credit positions. Results indicate that higher new quality productivity significantly reduces reliance on trade credit, while increasing the likelihood of firms acting as net creditors, reflecting improved internal financing capability and strategic credit extension to customers. Spatial analysis reveals regional clustering and spillover effects, with high-productivity provinces such as Beijing and Guangdong demonstrating stronger credit substitution patterns. Temporal trends further highlight the effects of economic cycles, policy interventions, and external shocks on the productivity-credit relationship. Framing corporate activity as a multi-node, time-resolved information system, the study offers an engineering-oriented perspective on the dynamics of resource allocation, networked interaction, and efficiency optimization in large-scale industrial systems, providing quantitative insights for strategic financial planning and policy design.
Downloads
Article Details

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
References
X. Wang and Q. Wang, “Research on the impact of green finance on the upgrading of China’s regional industrial structure from the perspective of sustainable development,” Resources Policy, vol. 74, 102436, 2021, doi: 10.1016/j.resourpol.2021.102436.
A. Shahin, “The relationship between quality and productivity: a new perspective,” International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 206-222, 2008, doi: 10.1504/IJPQM.2008.016565.
P. F. Drucker, “The new productivity challenge,” Quality in Higher Education. NY, USA: Routledge; 2018, pp. 37-46, doi: 10.4324/9781351293563.
R. Levine, “Financial development and economic growth: views and agenda,” Journal of economic literature, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 688-726, 1997.
C. Li, Y. Wang, Z. Zhou, Z. Wang, and A. Mardani, “Digital finance and enterprise financing constraints: Structural characteristics and mechanism identification,” Journal of Business Research, vol. 165, 114074, 2023, doi: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114074.
K. Gao, H. Shen, X. Gao, and K. C. Chan, “The power of sharing: Evidence from institutional investor crossownership and corporate innovation,” International Review of Economics & Finance, vol. 63, pp. 284-296, 2019, doi: 10.1016/j.iref.2019.01.008.
G. Jiménez, J. A. Lopez, and J. Saurina, “Empirical analysis of corporate credit lines,” The Review of Financial Studies, vol. 22, no. 12, pp. 5069-5098, 2009, doi: 10.1093/rfs/hhp061.
A. Gunasekaram, S. K. Goyal, T. MArtikainen, and P. Yli-Olli, “Total quality management: a new perspective for improving quality and productivity,” International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 15, no. 8/9, pp. 947-968, 1998, doi: 10.1108/02656719810199033.
W. E. Deming, “Improvement of quality and productivity through action by management,” National productivity review, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 12-22, 1981, doi: 10.1002/npr.4040010105.
L. Bowker, “Productivity vs. quality? A pilot study on the impact of translation memory systems,” Localization Focus, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 13– 20, 2025.
A. Gunasekaran, A. R. Korukonda, I. Virtanen, and P. Yli-Olli, “Improving productivity and quality in manufacturing organizations,” International Journal of Production Economics, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 169-183, 1994, doi: 10.1016/0925-5273(94)90022-1.
T. N. Desai and R. Shrivastava, “In Six Sigma–a new direction to quality and productivity management,” Proceedings of the World Congress on Engineering and Computer Science 2008; 22-24 Oct 2008; San Francisco, USA, [Online]. Available: https://www.iaeng.org/publication/WCECS2008/WCECS2008_pp1047-1052.pdf.
T. J. Fisher, “The impact of quality management on productivity,” International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 9, no. 3, 1992, doi: 10.1108/EUM0000000001647.
J. Vörös, “The dynamics of price, quality and productivity improvement decisions,” European Journal of Operational Research, vol. 170, no. 3, pp. 809-823, 2006, doi: 10.1016/j.ejor.2004.08.001.