Cross-Regional Investment and Corporate Supply-Chain Resilience: Evidence from China’s A-Share Listed Companies

Cross-regional investment by firms enhances supply-chain resilience through multiple channels: risk-source diversification, supply-network restructuring, and access to strategic resources. Using panel data on China’s A-share listed companies from 2013 to 2023, we construct two core indicators: the share of cross-city investment (TRinv) to measure the intensity of cross-regional investment and an entropy-weighted index of supply-chain resilience (Tough). A two-way fixed-effects model confirms that cross-regional investment significantly strengthens supply-chain resilience. This effect operates via three main pathways: (1) geographical diversification that disperses systemic risks; (2) breaking local monopolies to secure a more diverse set of suppliers; and (3) exploiting regional policy differences to optimize resource allocation. Moreover, high-quality government–firm relations amplify this positive impact. Heterogeneity tests reveal that the effect is stronger for non-SOEs than for SOEs, significantly positive in the eastern and western regions, but negative in the central region. These findings elucidate the internal mechanisms linking cross-regional investment to supply-chain resilience and offer both firms and policymakers guidance on strategic spatial planning, risk mitigation, and coordinated regional development.