The Development of the Modern Logistics Industry and Its Role in Promoting Regional Economic Growth in China’s Underdeveloped Northwest, Driven by the Digital Economy

Jiang Lu (), Soo-Cheng Chuah, Dong-Mei Xia () and Joston Gary
Additional contact information
Jiang Lu: Faculty of Business and Management, Shah Alam Campus, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam 40450, Malaysia
Soo-Cheng Chuah: Faculty of Business and Management, Puncak Alam Campus, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam 42300, Malaysia
Dong-Mei Xia: Center for Career Capability Development, Chongqing Institute of Engineering, Ban’an District, Chongqing 400056, China
Joston Gary: GOVCOPP—Research Unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies, DEGEIT—Department of Economics, Management, Industrial Engineering and Tourism, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal

Economies, 2025, vol. 13, issue 9, 1-32

Abstract: The digital economy is a key driver of industrial upgrading and regional growth. Focusing on Gansu Province—an under-represented, less-developed region in northwest China—this study constructs a multidimensional digital economy index (DEI) for 2009–2023 under a unified normalisation and weighting scheme. Two complementary MCDA approaches—entropy-weighted TOPSIS and SESP-SPOTIS—are implemented on the same 0–1 normalised indicators. Robustness is assessed using COMSAM sensitivity analysis and is benchmarked against a PCA reference. The empirical analysis then estimates log-elasticity models linking modern logistics production (MLP) and the DEI to the provincial GDP and sectoral value added, with inferences based on White heteroskedasticity–robust standard errors and bootstrap confidence intervals. Results show a steady rise in the DEI with a temporary dip in 2021 and recovery thereafter. MLP is positively and significantly associated with GDP and value added in the primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors. The DEI is positively and significantly associated with GDP, the primary sector, and the tertiary sector, but its effect is not statistically significant for the secondary sector, indicating a manufacturing digitalisation gap relative to services. Cross-method agreement and narrow sensitivity bands support the stability of these findings. Policy implications include continued investment in digital infrastructure and accessibility, targeted acceleration of manufacturing digitalisation, and the development of a “digital agriculture–smart logistics–green development” pathway to foster high-quality, sustainable regional growth.

Keywords: digital economy; modern logistics industry; regional economic growth; entropy-weighted TOPSIS; SESP-SPOTIS; log-elasticity regression (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E F I J O Q (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/13/9/261/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/13/9/261/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jecomi:v:13:y:2025:i:9:p:261-:d:1743738

Access Statistics for this article

Economies is currently edited by Ms. Hongyan Zhang

More articles in Economies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().