Digital transformation, technological innovation, and operational resilience of port firms in case of supply chain disruption

To investigate how the digital transformation of port firms improves their operational resilience, we design methods to measure their digital transformation grade (DTG), technological innovation capacity (TIC), and port operational resilience (POR) respectively. Based on 3586 samples retrieved from 334 Chinese port firms from 2011 to 2021, their relationships are statistically described and preliminarily regressed by an ordinary leastsquares model and a fixed-effect model. After testing the effects of supply chain disruption, endogeneity, and robustness, we reveal that digital transformation improves firms' competitiveness and operational resilience by coordinating human resources, information, and technology. We confirm that TIC plays an intermediate role and an adverse event has an enhancement effect. An inverted-U curve between DTG and POR proves that port firms often suffer growing pains at the initial stage and their POR will be promoted by continuous digital inputs, but the leading port firms would gain fewer marginal benefits.

Automated summary

In order to investigate how the digital transformation of port firms improves their operational resilience, we designed methods to measure their digital transformation grade (DTG), technological innovation capacity (TIC), and port operational resilience (POR) respectively. Based on 3586 samples retrieved from 334 Chinese port firms from 2011 to 2021, their relationships were statistically described and preliminarily regressed by an ordinary least squares model and a fixed-effect model. After testing the effects of supply chain disruption, endogeneity, and robustness, it was revealed that digital transformation improves firms' competitiveness and operational resilience by coordinating human resources, information, and technology. It was confirmed that TIC plays an intermediate role and adverse events have an enhancement effect. An inverted-U curve between DTG and POR proves that port firms often suffer growing pains at the initial stage and their POR will be promoted by continuous digital inputs, but the leading port firms would gain fewer marginal benefits.