Does Artificial Intelligence Improve the Operational Resilience of Enterprises? Evidence from the AI Innovative Application Pioneer Zone Policy in China

Whether artificial intelligence (AI) can effectively enhance the operational resilience (OR) of enterprises is of great significance for the manufacturing industry to resist risks and achieve sustainable development. Employing a staggered difference-in-differences (DID) model, this paper utilizes data from Chinese A-share listed manufacturing companies from 2012 to 2023 and takes the National Artificial Intelligence Innovative Application Pioneer Zone (AIIAPZ) policy as a quasi-natural experiment to examine the impact of AI applications on the OR of enterprises. The results indicate that AI significantly enhances corporate OR. Mechanism tests reveal that AI promotes OR by reducing management agency conflicts and optimizing supply chain allocation performance. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the enabling effect of AI is more pronounced for enterprises located in the coastal eastern region, those in the growth stage, and those that are technology-intensive and capital-intensive. Further analysis indicates that the improvement in OR effectively reduces corporate operational risk and enhances their capacity for sustainable development. This study provides crucial insights for enterprises to explore synergistic pathways integrating intelligentization and promoting OR under the AIIAPZ framework.