Industrial production efficiency and its determinants: Evidence from the eastern, western, and northern regions of Guangdong

Industrial production efficiency and its determinants: Evidence from the eastern, western, and northern regions of Guangdong | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Industrial production efficiency and its determinants: Evidence from the eastern, western, and northern regions of Guangdong Kai He, Xuefang He This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7913129/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Industrial development in Guangdong Province has historically concentrated in the Pearl River Delta, while eastern, western, and northern regions (EWN) remain underdeveloped, leading to regional disparities. Promoting industrial growth in EWN Guangdong is crucial for balanced development, industrial upgrading, and sustainability. Using panel data from 2018–2022, this study applies the data envelopment analysis-slack-based measure (DEA-SBM) model and Malmquist productivity index (MPI) to measure industrial efficiency and employs Tobit regression to analyze influencing factors. The results indicate: (1) significant regional disparities, with western Guangdong achieving the highest efficiency, while eastern and northern regions show greater potential for improvement; (2) overall efficiency has improved, mainly driven by technological progress; and (3) economic development significantly influences efficiency. Accordingly, the study recommends optimizing industrial structure and strengthening policy support, increasing R&D investment and talent attraction, improving resource allocation to reduce redundancy, and enhancing environmental protection to promote green development. These measures will help improve regional efficiency and foster sustainable industrial growth in Guangdong. Industrial production efficiency Data envelopment analysis Slack-based measure Malmquist productivity index Sustainable development Figures Figure 1 Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files SupplementaryInformationTableA.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7913129","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":541426966,"identity":"8bb47b0d-0c71-4719-9634-9c908db8d825","order_by":0,"name":"Kai 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Guangdong","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Industrial production efficiency, Data envelopment analysis, Slack-based measure, Malmquist productivity index, Sustainable development","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7913129/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7913129/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eIndustrial development in Guangdong Province has historically concentrated in the Pearl River Delta, while eastern, western, and northern regions (EWN) remain underdeveloped, leading to regional disparities. Promoting industrial growth in EWN Guangdong is crucial for balanced development, industrial upgrading, and sustainability. Using panel data from 2018\u0026ndash;2022, this study applies the data envelopment analysis-slack-based measure (DEA-SBM) model and Malmquist productivity index (MPI) to measure industrial efficiency and employs Tobit regression to analyze influencing factors. The results indicate: (1) significant regional disparities, with western Guangdong achieving the highest efficiency, while eastern and northern regions show greater potential for improvement; (2) overall efficiency has improved, mainly driven by technological progress; and (3) economic development significantly influences efficiency. Accordingly, the study recommends optimizing industrial structure and strengthening policy support, increasing R\u0026amp;D investment and talent attraction, improving resource allocation to reduce redundancy, and enhancing environmental protection to promote green development. 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