Cooperative experimental governance in left-behind border regions: Digital transformation of imported fresh fruit distribution in Pingxiang city, China

Research on left-behind regions increasingly emphasizes place-based and neo-endogenous development, yet how digital platforms as extra-regional actors trigger and the subsequent regional transformation in left-behind border regions of emerging economies remains underexplored. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork conducted between 2023 and 2025, this paper examines the digital transformation of imported fresh fruit distribution in Pingxiang, a county-level city in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China along the border with Vietnam. It traces three phases of transformation of Pingxiang: platform-triggered grassroots adaptation, in which flexible border-trade arrangements enabled small traders to exploit digital platform-based market access; cooperative institutional experimentation, in which local authorities selectively incorporated extra-regional wholesale capabilities to stabilize distribution; and state-led infrastructural recentering, in which digital trade and distribution became increasingly organized through locally anchored, state-backed infrastructure under tighter border regulation. To explain these shifts, the paper develops cooperative experimental governance as a territorially embedded mode of governance through which state actors selectively coordinate with heterogeneous market actors to stabilize and redirect digital platform-triggered transformation in left-behind border regions. Digital platforms are thus understood as institutional triggers rather than stable developmental actors. The paper advances research on left-behind regions by showing that, in the digital era, regional transformation is shaped not simply by the formation of extra-regional connections, but by how these connections are organized, anchored, and reconfigured over time under specific border conditions.