The SSDN Cultivation Policy and High-quality Development of the Supply Chain: Empirical Evidence Based on Supplier Innovation

Luo Yonggen, Yang Jinyu, Zhang Yanping

Foreign Economics & Management Vol. 48, Issue 03, pp. 117 - 134 (2026)  DOI:10.16538/j.cnki.fem.20250908.401

Summary

Innovation is the core driving force for enhancing the modernization level of industrial and supply chains, and it is of great significance for effectively resolving the “bottleneck” problems in the modernization development process of China’s industrial and supply chains, and for strengthening the independent and controllable capabilities of industrial and supply chains. From the perspective of supplier innovation, this paper uses the national-level specialized, sophisticated, distinctive, and novel (SSDN) “little giant” cultivation policy as a quasi-natural experiment, and employs a DID model to examine the impact of the SSDN cultivation policy on supplier innovation. The study finds that the policy significantly enhances the supplier innovation level. Mechanism testing shows that this positive effect is mainly achieved through the demand guidance mechanism, knowledge sharing mechanism, and information cost mechanism. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the promoting effect is more pronounced when supply chain relationships are closer—such as higher supplier concentration and longer cooperation duration—as well as when enterprises operate in the downstream or midstream of the value chain and when the geographical distance between suppliers and customers is shorter. This paper not only extends research on the economic effect of the SSDN cultivation policy from the perspective of the supply chain, but also provides important empirical evidence for promoting the high-quality development of the supply chain and thereby strengthening the modernization level of industrial and supply chains.

Keywords

SSDN; supply chain innovation; supply chain modernization; high-quality development