Does regional integration enhance firm supply chain resilience? Evidence from China’s national urban agglomeration plans

Using data on Chinese A-share listed firms from 2010 to 2022, we exploit the staggered rollout of national-level urban agglomeration plans and employ a staggered difference-in-differences (staggered DID) framework to examine the impact of regional integration on firm supply chain resilience. The results show that regional integration significantly enhances firm supply chain resilience. This positive effect is significant across all three resilience dimensions: resistance capacity, adaptability capacity, and recovery capacity. The channel analysis provides suggestive evidence that regional integration helps reduce firms’ subsequent transaction costs, alleviate information asymmetry, and lower excessive dependence on a narrow set of major supply-chain partners. The effect of regional integration on supply chain resilience is more pronounced for firms located in megaregions and polycentric urban agglomerations, as well as for non-anchor firms. This study contributes to the literature on supply chain resilience and regional integration and offers implications for differentiated regional policies.