How does the Application of Industrial Robots Affect the Operational Efficiency of Enterprises: An Empirical Study on China's Listed Manufacturing Firms

Abstract

Abstract: As intelligent flexible production equipment, industrial robots can flexibly adjust the output scale, which can effectively help enterprises cope with demand uncertainty and unpredictable external shocks, improve enterprise operation efficiency, and obtain competitive advantages. In this paper, the stock data of industrial robots in different industries from 2014 to 2019 released by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) Industrial Robots Report and the microdata of 1,710 listed Chinese manufacturing companies are used. The "penetration degree of industrial robots at the Chinese enterprise level" index is used to measure the application degree of industrial robots in Chinese enterprises, and the instrumental variable method is used to alleviate the endogeneity problem. This paper empirically tests the role of industrial robot applications in improving the operational efficiency of listed manufacturing companies in China. This paper further investigates the moderating effects of enterprise characteristics on the effect of "industrial robots improving operational efficiency" from three dimensions:whether they are state-owned enterprises, ownership concentration, and technological level. It is found that in state-owned enterprises and enterprises at lower technological levels, the improvement of enterprise robot penetration has a more significant effect on enterprise operation efficiency. In the end, this paper puts forward feasible suggestions for the government and enterprises on "how to improve the application effect of industrial robots" and provides certain guiding ideas for Chinese manufacturing enterprises to improve their own operational efficiency.

Key words: industrial robots, industrial robot penetration, operational efficiency

Liu Jun, Gong Yi, Liu Taoxiong. How does the Application of Industrial Robots Affect the Operational Efficiency of Enterprises: An Empirical Study on China's Listed Manufacturing Firms[J]. Management Review, 2023, 35(5): 243-253,291.

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