Measurement, Evolution, and Market Potential Enhancement Effects of New Quality Productivity in Enterprises—A Study Based on the Three Major Eastern Urban Agglomerations

At a time when China confronts the dual challenges of intensifying international competition and urgent industrial transformation, enhancing enterprises’ new quality productivity (NQP) has become a critical pathway to strengthening market competitiveness. This study constructs a comprehensive micro-level NQP index system for enterprises, encompassing three core dimensions: revolutionary breakthroughs in science and technology, deep transformation and upgrading of industrial systems, and innovative allocation of production factors. Using panel data from listed enterprises in China’s three major eastern urban agglomerations (Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, and Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area), we systematically examine the spatiotemporal evolution patterns and market expansion effects of enterprise NQP. The results reveal that while enterprises’ NQP has shown a generally upward trend, significant regional disparities and pronounced polarization persist across the three urban agglomerations. Development is notably path-dependent and spatially correlated, being easily influenced by neighboring cities. More importantly, empirical evidence from benchmark regression and spatial Durbin models indicates that enhancing NQP significantly boosts enterprises’ market potential, with substantial positive spatial spillover effects. This study contributes to the literature by developing a novel micro-level measurement framework for new quality productivity and providing robust evidence that NQP serves as a powerful driver for expanding market potential in an era of technological and industrial transformation.