The Impact of Digital Transformation on the Embedded Position of Firms in Global Value Chains

Digitalization has become a new direction of China's current economic transformation, and digital transformation has also been an irreversible force for the world to reshape the global value chain in the post epidemic era. Based on the data of Chinese listed companies and customs data from 2007 to 2016, we empirically study the impact of firms' digital transformation on the embedded position of the global value chain and the possible mechanisms. We find that digital transformation has a significant promotion effect on the embedded position of firms' global value chain. Digital transformation contributes to the rise of GVCs position by improving supply chain synergy efficiency, reducing supply chain concentration and increasing innovation output. Furthermore, the effect of digital transformation on the embedded position of GVC varies among industries and regions. These findings provide some insights for China's strategy of achieving high-quality economic development and high-level opening-up through the digital economy, and also provide some references for firms to rise GVC embedded position through digital transformation.