Driving comparative advantage in emerging industries: The interplay of location endowments and industrial agglomeration across 290 Chinese cities

Abstract

The development of emerging industries is vital for a city’s sustainable growth and represents new momentum for urban development. Most of present researches concentrate on specific industries without addressing systematic development and targeted promotion. This study uses data mining and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to examine multiple industries and identify key resources for a city’s competitive advantage. Comparing 290 cities in China, emerging industries can be divided into natural resource endowment-based industries and non-natural resource endowment-based industries. For natural resource endowment-based industries, economic capacity and natural resources play crucial roles in enabling cities to gain high industrial comparative advantages. For non-natural resource endowment-based industries, the technology innovation entity and government support capability are more valuable in forming high industrial comparative advantage. The findings aim to provide a theoretical basis for fostering emerging industries toward sustainable urban development.

Keywords

emerging industry innovation / urban development / comparative advantage / fuzzy-set qualitative

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

Higher Education Press 2026

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