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High-speed rail, firm competition and industrial upgrading: Evidence from China

Distinguished Research Seminar Series

20231010Prof Anming ZhangEvent banner
  • Date

    10 Oct 2023

  • Organiser

    Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, PolyU

  • Time

    10:00 - 11:30

  • Venue

    DE403  

Speaker

Prof. Anming Zhang

20231010Prof Anming ZhangPoster

Summary

This study investigates the impact of high-speed rail (HSR) on industrial upgrading, using Chinese listed firms' data from 2000 to 2022. We find evidence of forced industrial upgrading driven by intensified competition. As a firm’s client city is connected to HSR, the number of competitors there increases, especially the number of small competitors faced by big firms. HSR opening in headquartered cities also benefits small firms there more, increasing their sales distance and profitability, while the effects on big firms are less positive or even negative. Big firms respond with vertical differentiation, i.e., more R&D investment. They subsequently have higher likelihood of patent ownership, own more patents, and have more external citations on their patents. At city level, HSR opening leads to higher level of innovation, which indicates industrial upgrading.

Keynote Speaker

Prof. Anming Zhang

Prof. Anming Zhang

Professor in Operations and Logistics
Vancouver International Airport Authority Chair Professor in Air Transportation, 
Sauder School of Business, 
University of British Columbia, Canada. 

Anming Zhang is a Full Professor in Operations and Logistics and holds Vancouver International Airport Authority Chair Professor in Air Transportation at Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia (UBC). He served as the Head of the Operations and Logistics Division, Sauder School of Business (2003-2005), and as the Director of UBC’s Centre for Transport Studies (2003-2004). He is the President of the World Air Transport Research Society (ATRS) and was, in 2020, the President of Transportation and Public Utilities Group (TPUG) of American Economic Association. Dr. Zhang is the recipient of the “Yokohama Special Prize for Outstanding Young Researcher” awarded at the 7th World Conference on Transportation Research (WCTR) in Sydney, Australia in 1995, and of the “WCTR-Society Prize”, awarded to the overall best paper of the 8th WCTR in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1998. Currently, he is also on the Executive Committee of WCTR. Dr. Zhang has published about 200 refereed journal papers and 30 book chapters in the areas of transportation, logistics, industrial organization, and Chinese economy. He has co-authored two books: Globalization and Strategic Alliances: The Case of the Airline Industry, 2000, Pergamon Press, Oxford; and Air Cargo in Mainland China and Hong Kong, 2004, Ashgate, London (Chinese editions published both in Hong Kong and Mainland China). He is the Associate Editor of Transportation Research Part A, co-editor-in-chief of Transport Economics and Management, and is on the editorial boards of a number of other journals.

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