Using administrative universal business registration data as well as primary offline and online surveys of small businesses (including unregistered self-employments) in China, we examine (i) whether digitization helps small and medium enterprises (SMEs) better cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, and (ii) whether the pandemic has spurred digital technology adoption. We document significant economic benefits of digitization in increasing SMEs' resilience against such a large shock, as seen through mitigated demand decline, sustainable cash flow, ability to quickly reopen, and positive outlook for growth. Post the January 2020 lockdown, firm entries exhibited a V-shaped pattern, with entries of e-commerce firms experiencing a less pronounced immediate drop and a quicker rebound. Moreover, the pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation of existing firms and the industry in multiple dimensions (e.g., altering operation scope to include e-commerce, allowing remote work, and adopting electronic information systems). The effect persists more than one year after reopening, and is more pronounced for certain sectors, firms in industrial clusters, and areas with more digital inclusion but less financial efficiency, constituting initial evidence for the long-term impact of the pandemic and the supposedly transitory mitigation policies.

In the era of digital economy, innovation in industrial chain and supply chain is an important part of industrial transformation and upgrading, and also an inevitable choice for enterprises to win competitive advantages. The competition between enterprises is not only about products and services, but also about the industry chain, supply chain, and value chain; The autonomy and controllability of the supply chain and its management level determine the quality of enterprise operation and development. This paper analyzes the characteristics of Midea Group's intelligent supply chain management, discusses the supply chain financial characteristics of Haier, Sany Group and Xiaomi, and confirms the importance of industrial chain and supply chain Financial innovation for high-quality development of manufacturing industry. Pointing out the necessity and feasibility of digital technology empowering innovation in logistics and supply chain management, smart supply chain is the guarantee for large-scale personalized customization, and supply chain finance plays an important role in the development of industrial clusters.

We identify negative spillovers exerted by large, successful manufacturing plants on other local production facilities in China. A short-lived alliance between the U.S.S.R. and China led to the construction of 150 "Million-Rouble plants" in the 1950s. Our identification strategy exploits the ephemeral geopolitical context and the relative position of allied and enemy airbases to isolate exogenous variation in plant location decisions. We find a boom-and-bust pattern in hosting counties: treated counties are twice as productive as control counties in 1982, but 30% less productive in 2010. The average other establishment in treated counties is unproductive, does not innovate, and charges high markups. We find that (over)specialization limits technological spillovers. This prevents the emergence of new industrial clusters and leads to a flight of entrepreneurs.