Research on the Construction of Manufacturing Industry Chain Ecosystem—A Case Study of Tianjin Manufacturing Industry

Abstract

This study takes Tianjin as an example to analyze how to build the manufacturing industry chain ecosystem. Based on the ecosystem theory, the related literature of manufacturing industry chain and value chain, and combined with various action plans for the development of manufacturing industry in Tianjin, the structure chart and construction roadmap of industrial chain ecosystem were drawn. Based on the input–output data of 42 sectors in Tianjin, this study calculated and analyzed the changes in embedment degree of various manufacturing industries in Global Value Chain (GVC) and National Value Chain (NVC) in Tianjin from 2010 to 2017. It is found that the industrial chain ecosystem is mainly composed of four elements: the enterprises on the industrial chain, the information flowing among enterprises, the goods circulating among enterprises, and the external environment of enterprises. The connection of supply and demand chains, enterprise chains, space chains and value chains forms an industrial chain, and the value chain is a crucial relationship chain in the connection mechanism. In addition, 2015 is a turning point for Tianjin manufacturing industry to embed in GVC and NVC, mainly due to the industrial economic adjustment in Tianjin, the global economic turmoil, and the establishment of the manufacturing industrial park. In terms of R&D intensity, high and medium high-tech manufacturing industries tend to be embedded in GVC, but are easily affected by enterprises and environmental factors. However, low and medium low-tech manufacturing industries still have ample space to integrate into GVC, information and products are important factors to determine the upgrading of its industrial chain. Therefore, in order to better construct the industrial chain ecosystem of manufacturing industry and enhance the industrial competitiveness of Tianjin’s manufacturing industry, it is necessary to give priority to the development of high-tech manufacturing industry, expand the international openness of low-tech manufacturing industry, support regional advantageous industries, and carry out dynamic regulation of industrial ecology.

1. Introduction

In 2021, the added value of China’s manufacturing industry reached 31.4 trillion yuan, accounting for 27.4% of its GDP, ranking first in the world for 12 years in a row. However, multinational enterprises occupy most high-end markets, while the living space of local manufacturing enterprises is mostly concentrated in the neglected low-end market, that is, the middle and low value-added manufacturing links in GVC and the smile curve. The smile curve is a curve of the smile-mouth shape, with both ends facing upward, the horizontal axis from left to right is the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the industry, and the vertical axis represents the level of added value. In the industrial chain, the added value is more reflected in the research and development and sales links at both ends, and the manufacturing industry in the middle link has the lowest added value. After the COVID-19 outbreak, many countries started to build local and localized industrial chains, which greatly affected the stability of China in the global industrial chain [1]. Although the “De-Sinification” of the global industrial chain has not yet become a fact, the differentiation of foreign investment and the industrial transfer implemented by most countries indicate that the global industrial chain is changing. Establishing and improving the industrial chain ecosystem of manufacturing industry is an important measure to resist the “De-Sinification” of the world industrial chain. First of all, the global industrial chain may gradually reduce its dependence on China’s manufacturing industry after the epidemic stabilizes, but after decades of globalization, it is difficult for each country to build an independent industrial chain and industrial system in a short time. Second, as the only country in the world with complete industrial categories, China has irreplaceable advantages in the global industrial chain. Its huge market size and the expansion of the digital economy have also brought new driving forces to China’s economic development. Therefore, what China can do now is to develop the emerging industries that represent the future, and strengthen the traditional industries that represent the competitiveness gained, so as to maintain the industrial chain while establishing the industrial chain ecosystem. In the process of establishing the industrial chain ecosystem, the basic capacity and industrial chain level of the manufacturing industry can be integrated and improved, so as to enhance the core competitiveness of the manufacturing industry and prevent the industrial chain from moving out. At the same time, the construction of industrial chain ecosystem can integrate capital, technology, resources, and other factors, which can not only stabilize the domestic industrial chain and promote industrial repatriation to China, but also improve the toughness of the supply chain, ensure the normal operation of the global supply chain, and attract the return of global capital.

The concept of ecosystem is applied to enterprise strategy and management, make enterprises in the industrial ecosystem and their living environment form a whole, so that they can reach a stable state through interaction and influence, so as to cope with the impact of global uncertain environment [2]. From the holistic perspective of ecosystem thinking, after various stakeholders join the industrial cluster, they can build a value co-creation network [3] to promote the flow and integration of resources, capabilities and information between the main body and stakeholders in the industrial ecosystem [4], improve the ability of value co-creation, and achieve the overall goal of the ecosystem [5]. Therefore, this paper analyzes the construction of manufacturing industry chain ecosystem.

The remainder of this study is organized as follows: Section 2 provides a review of the relevant literature. Section 3 studies the construction route and structure of Tianjin manufacturing industry chain ecological system. Section 4 calculates and analyzes the value chain embedment degree of each manufacturing industry in Tianjin. Section 5 provides the strategy of constructing Tianjin manufacturing industry chain ecological system. Section 6 summarizes and analyzes the article.

2. Theoretical Basis and Literature Review

2.1. Ecosystem and the Application of Ecosystem Theory to Manufacturing Research

Moore, who proposed the concept of business ecosystem, pointed out that the success of enterprises is not the competition between enterprises, but the competition between ecosystems. Enterprises should pay more attention to the current situation of the ecosystem in which they live while paying attention to their own development status, and their prospects are largely influenced by the ecosystem [6]. Ecosystem is a combination of complex organisms and environments with rich types and sizes [7]. After introducing the concept of ecosystem into the field of management, scholars’ research mainly focus on four categories: innovation ecosystem, entrepreneurial ecosystem, business ecosystem, and knowledge ecosystem [8]. Innovation ecosystem is a system in which the institutions and personnel required by economic and technological development are interrelated and interact with each other, and it has the characteristics of dynamic, environmental habitat and spontaneous growth [9]. In the current process of digital transformation, digital technology integrates industrial chain, supply chain, value chain, and other chains together, forming an industrial chain group ecological system that promotes industrial organization innovation [10]. In the entrepreneurial ecosystem, the government, entrepreneurial enterprises, and users jointly promote the evolution of the ecosystem [11]. Both the knowledge ecosystem and the business ecosystem include knowledge creation and management in the process of innovation, and the transformation of the knowledge ecosystem may lead to the emergence of a business ecosystem that provides the resources needed for a company to start a business [12].

Ren [13] took digital twinning as the driving force for innovation, built the smart twinning library ecosystem, and analyzed its application scenarios, so as to improve the utilization rate and operation efficiency of library space. Zuo [14] established the Internet industrial cluster ecosystem to promote the development of industrial Internet ecology by identifying the key elements and the correlation among them. Based on the background of high-quality economic development, Sun [15] constructed an industrial ecological structure dominated by high-tech industry and promoting the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries from multiple perspectives, such as industrial chain, innovation chain and value chain. Du [16] analyzed the internal structure of the intelligent industry ecosystem from two dimensions of industry and space, summarized the structural characteristics of the system through five morphological levels, and proposed the improvement path of the ecosystem.

From the existing studies and conclusions, it can be found that the four types of ecosystem are interrelated and influenced, and the system itself is dynamic, and its development is also affected by the internal participants of the ecosystem and the external environment. Systematically sorting out the internal participants and external environment of the system and analyzing the transmission path of energy and information will help clarify the structure of the ecosystem and lay a basic framework for the construction of the ecological system of the manufacturing industry chain.

2.2. Research Status Analysis of Manufacturing Industry Chain and Value Chain

The manufacturing industry chain takes product output as the target and value-added as the guidance, uses various resources (materials, manpower, energy, equipment, information, etc.,) to transform raw materials into commodities required by the market and consumers, and forms a chain enterprise group based on specific logical relationship and spatial layout relationship between different industrial sectors [17]. China attaches great importance to the development of the industrial chain system of the manufacturing industry. In the 14th Five-Year Plan released in 2021, it is required to optimize the industrial chain layout of the regional manufacturing industry, improve the competitiveness of the whole industrial chain in advantageous areas, and guide key links in the industrial chain to stay in China, so as to improve the modernization level of the industrial and supply chains.

In the process of transformation and upgrading of manufacturing industry driven by digital economy, the bondage of geographical space on the organizational boundary of industrial chain will be broken, the transaction costs of the main division of labor in the industrial chain will be reduced, the value distribution form of the industrial chain will be reshaped, and consumers will be integrated into the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain [18]. By introducing and learning advanced manufacturing technology through “market for technology”, China has gradually embedded itself into the production link of the GVC by virtue of its open policy. In the face of the anti-globalization trend brought by the epidemic, China can adopt the development measures of “focusing on internal and external integration” to improve the independent and controllable ability of the industrial chain [19]. The improvement of industrial chain modernization level and the high-quality development of manufacturing industry complement each other, build the industrial chain ecosystem of manufacturing industry, and study the degree of embedment and annual change of manufacturing industry in GVC and NVC, which can predict the changing trend of industrial chain layout and have an insight into its impact on the construction of ecological system.

2.3. Value Chain and Value Chain Embedding

Porter [20] defined the activities of vertically integrated enterprises that can increase enterprise value as the value chain of enterprises, and analyzed the strategic links in the value chain to enhance the core competitiveness of enterprises. Kogut [21] elevated the value chain to the regional and national levels and defined it as the circular process of production factor input, product assembly and trading, laying the foundation for the construction of GVC. After connecting the theory of value chain to the global economic and industrial organizations, the relatively mature theory of Global Value Chain (GVC) was born. In 2002, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization defined GVC as “a global production network that connects the production, sale, recycling and other processes in order to realize the value of goods or services”.

China’s manufacturing industry can promote its own transformation and upgrading by embedding GVC [22]. The degree of embedding of GVC in industrial industries is increasing year by year, and the degree of embedding of high-tech industries in GVC is much higher than that of traditional industries [23]. In addition, “smile curve” is not a common situation in China’s manufacturing industry. To improve the industrial competitiveness of China’s manufacturing industry, it is important to match the location and technology of the value chain while improving the industrial framework [24]. Since 2017, as the growth momentum of global trade has weakened and the anti-globalization situation has become more prominent, Chinese scholars have begun to pay attention to the interdependence between domestic trade and production network, namely the National Value Chain (NVC). Li [25] unified GVC and NVC under a single framework and explored the bias of embedding GVC in eight regions of China from the perspective of added value. Liu [26] calculated the degree of GVC embedment in each region of China and the earnings after embedment from the dual perspectives of GVC and NVC. Zhao [27] concluded through the intermediary effect test that the GVC would promote the industrial upgrading of the manufacturing industry by improving the efficiency of resource allocation and technical efficiency.

It can be seen that value chain embedding can promote the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry, and value chain matching is the key to improving industrial competitiveness, and its embedding situation and effect are different in different regions. Taking the manufacturing industry of Tianjin as an example to explore the current situation of its industrial ecology, development trend, and the embedding of its value chain, it has a guiding role in analyzing and improving the development level of China’s manufacturing industry in the future.

3. Construction of Manufacturing Industry Chain Ecosystem: A Case Study of Tianjin

Before the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the number of factories and workers in Tianjin was second only to Shanghai in the coastal industrial cities, and the manufacturing technology of alkali making and textile making was leading in China. After the founding of New China, the manufacturing industry gained further development by virtue of its superior location and policy advantages. Entering the new era, based on its own complete industrial system, the regional strategy of “Manufacturing Municipality” was proposed, which echoed the strategy of making Tianjin a powerful region in manufacturing proposed by The State Council and provided strong support for the high-quality development of Tianjin. This section takes Tianjin as an example to clarify the needs and objectives of the construction of the industrial chain ecosystem of the manufacturing industry through policy sorting, and guide the structural and systematic implementation of the system construction actions. In addition, based on the ecosystem theory, the four elements of the ecosystem are mined and the connection relationship and energy transfer among the elements are analyzed from the four dimensions of the industrial chain, so as to construct the structure of the industrial chain ecosystem of the manufacturing industry.

3.1. Ecological System Construction Route

Ecological system construction should be combined with demand-driven and capability-driven aspects to understand the purpose, demand, development status, and available resources of ecological system construction [28]. “Made in China 2025” points out that China’s manufacturing industry is “big but not strong”. By analyzing the global environment, it puts forward the strategic objectives, tasks, and support guarantee to improve the international competitiveness of China’s manufacturing industry. In response to the national call, Tianjin has successively issued the “14th Five-Year Plan for High-quality Development of Manufacturing Industry in Tianjin (2021–2025)” and the “Three-year Action Plan for Construction of a Strong Manufacturing City in Tianjin (2021–2023)” (hereinafter referred to as the Action for a Strong Manufacturing City). Based on the development basis and current situation of the manufacturing industry in Tianjin, the paper puts forward three to five years’ development goals and key points, as well as supporting planning and implementation guarantee, to provide route guidance for Tianjin’s “Manufacturing Municipality”. While issuing the documents on the positive development of the manufacturing industry, Tianjin Bureau of Industry and Information Technology also released the “Three-year Action Plan for the High-quality Development of the Industrial Chain in Tianjin (2021–2023)” and the “Implementation Plan for the Construction of the Main Industrial Parks in Tianjin (2021–2025)”. The former planned the work objectives and key development chains of Tianjin’s manufacturing industry chain in order to implement the “Action of Making a Strong City”, while the latter promoted the spatial aggregation of Tianjin’s manufacturing industry chain and improved the manufacturing industry ecology based on the above three plans. See

Table 1. Manufacturing related document information.

File Name	Release Time	Publishing Unit	File Content
Made in China 2025	September 2015	the State Council of the People’s Republic of China	It defines the development main line, key projects, key development fields, and development strategies of China’s manufacturing industry from 2015 to 2025.
14th Five-Year Plan for High-quality Development of Manufacturing Industry in Tianjin (2021–2025)	July 2021	The People’s Government of Tianjin Municipality	The general requirements, key industries, regional layout, and action plan for the development of Tianjin manufacturing industry are specified.
Three-year Action Plan for Construction of a Strong Manufacturing City in Tianjin (2021–2023)	May 2021	State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Tianjin Municipal People’s Government	The key development fields, important tasks, and safeguard measures of Tianjin manufacturing industry during 2021–2023 are specified.
Three-year Action Plan for the High-quality Development of the Industrial Chain in Tianjin (2021–2023)	May 2021	Tianjin Industrial and Information Technology Bureau	The key industrial chain, key tasks, and safeguard measures of Tianjin from 2021 to 2023 are specified.
Implementation Plan for the Construction of the Main Industrial Parks in Tianjin (2021–2025)	September 2021	Tianjin Industrial and Information Technology Bureau	The overall objective, key tasks, workflow, and safeguard measures for the construction of industrial theme parks in Tianjin from 2021 to 2025 are specified.

for detailed explanations of the various documents mentioned in this article. The four plans and schemes provide the construction needs, objectives, core tasks, key indicators, strategic schemes, and support for the construction of Tianjin’s manufacturing industry chain ecosystem. Based on this, the road map of ecological construction of Tianjin’s manufacturing industry chain is drawn, as shown in Figure 1.

3.2. Division of Ecosystem Elements

Industrial chain refers to a logical supply and demand chain composed of industries with supply and demand relations. Industrial chain consists of industries and is an industrial supply chain. The industrial chain of manufacturing industry takes production as its core, extending backward to the supply of raw materials and research and development links, and forward to the consumption and scrap links of products. Material supply enterprises, research and development enterprises, production enterprises, consumer groups and enterprises dealing with scrap products belong to the internal main body of the ecological system. Policy environment, technological environment, economic environment, and social environment together constitute the external environment in the ecosystem. Production enterprises, raw material supply enterprises, and R&D enterprises know R&D and production needs through information exchange, and drive the development of enterprises through knowledge transfer. They are the producers of products together. The output products are circulated to the next level of enterprises for secondary processing or purchased directly by the end consumers. Both the lower-level processing enterprises and the end consumers are the consumers of the products. After products reach their useful life or undergo replacement, they are recycled or destroyed by specific scrapping enterprises, which decompose the products into materials that can be recycled. Within the ecosystem, enterprises, information, and products are the main components.

The external environment is the vane of the internal subject, and its change will lead to the transformation of the manufacturing industry. The environment, together with enterprises, information, and products, constitutes the four elements of the manufacturing industry chain ecosystem. In terms of policy environment, with the “Opinions on Accelerating the Revitalization of the Equipment Manufacturing Industry” issued by The State Council in 2006, the “Opinions on the Implementation of Made in China 2025” by 2015, and the “Opinions on Promoting the Deeply Integrated Development of Advanced Manufacturing and Modern Service Industry” by 2019, China’s manufacturing industry has entered the stage of transformation and upgrading. With the rise of information technology, production is no longer confined to the traditional manufacturing mode, and information flows in the form of data flow in each link of the whole life cycle of products, making production more efficient. In terms of economic environment, since 2010, China has entered the late stage of industrialization, and its economic growth has slowed down. The economy tends to be service-oriented and the proportion of industrial added value gradually lags behind that of the service industry. In terms of social environment, products are becoming personalized and quality oriented. Manufacturers need to grasp the new trends of the industry, update the demand information forward, and provide new products backward. In terms of technical environment, the introduction of 3D printing, cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence, and other technologies has changed the manufacturing methods of production enterprises, improved the research and development efficiency of technology R&D enterprises, and the introduction of new materials has brought new possibilities for product iteration.

3.3. Manufacturing Industry Chain Dimension Division

From a multi-dimensional perspective, the industrial chain can be divided into supply and demand chain, enterprise chain, space chain and value chain [29]. The supply and demand chain starts from the enterprise’s own needs and connects all links of product manufacturing. Elements such as materials, information, technology, capital, and products flow among the links connected in series by the supply and demand chain. Enterprises that undertake all links of manufacturing are connected together into a chain of enterprises. The flow of material and capital not only enhances the value of enterprises, but also brings more industrial cooperation for enterprises. The vitality and advantages of enterprises drive the rapid development of the whole chain of enterprises. The distribution of industrial chains in different regions forms spatial chains. According to the spatial size of the distribution regions, global spatial chains, national spatial chains, and regional spatial chains can be formed. Different spatial chains combined with enterprise chains will form industrial chains of different lengths. The value chain describes the chain relationship and distribution form among all manufacturing links from the perspective of value added [30]. The extension and upgrading of the industrial chain depend on the degree of integration of the manufacturing industries in the value chain and whether the products produced can meet the needs of consumers. The four dimensions of supply and demand chain, enterprise chain, space chain, and value chain interconnect with each other to form an industrial chain. Enterprises of different types and scales joining the industrial chain can attract and meet more production and consumption demands, establish more cooperative partnerships, improve the industrial chain level, and promote the development of regional economy.

Figure 2 shows the structure diagram of manufacturing industry chain ecosystem based on the four elements and four dimensions of manufacturing industry chain ecosystem.

4. Tianjin Manufacturing Value Chain Embedment

The “Made in China 2025” strategy requires that by 2025, the position of China’s manufacturing industry in global value should be significantly improved, and the core competitiveness of manufacturing industry should be enhanced through the integration of the industrial chain. As the docking orientation of the industrial chain, the value chain is connected with the enterprise chain, supply and demand chain, and space chain respectively. Ideally, when the “four-dimensional docking” reaches a balanced and stable state, can the industrial ecology emerge. Therefore, the value chain is the basis for the formation and smooth operation of the industrial ecological system. The industrial chain is a way to realize and add value to the industry, which provides basic guarantee for the effective operation of the value chain. Therefore, the industrial chain and the value chain influence and achieve each other [29]. As a world-class manufacturing power with a complete range of manufacturing sectors and a complete and independent industrial system, China is an important driving force for the development of GVC. Tianjin’s manufacturing industry is one of the important components of China’s manufacturing industry map, and its embedding in GVC and NVC will affect the industrial chain layout and stability of Tianjin’s manufacturing industry, and then affect the overall modernization level of China’s manufacturing industry. Therefore, in order to explore the construction path of China’s manufacturing industry ecology, first, the embedding degree and change of the manufacturing industry in NVC and GVC in Tianjin, a representative region, are analyzed.

4.1. Calculation Formula of Value Chain Embedment Degree

In this paper, the vertical disintergration index (VDI index) proposed by Hummels [31] in 2001 was adopted to measure the degree of embedment between GVC and NVC. Different from the integration of production of the production process globalization, disintegration of production is a new phenomenon emerging in the process of economic globalization. It means that in order to enhance international competitiveness, transnational corporations retain production processes with high added value and outsource production processes with low added value to other countries [32]. VDI index reflects the degree of separation of manufacturing links in non-integrated transnational production based on input–output table. Since the object of calculation in this paper was the manufacturing industry in Tianjin, the research of Du [33] was used for reference. The model is extended to measure the embedment level of regional value chain including domestic outflow and domestic inflow. The specific calculation process is as follows:

Suppose a country has $n$ industrial sectors, $M_i$ represents the intermediate input of the import part of the $i$ industrial sector, $X_i$ represents the export part of the $i$ industrial sector, and $Y_i$ represents the output part of the $i$ industrial sector. The vertical specialization quantity ($V{D}_i$) of industrial sector $i$ is the foreign value-added reflected in the export, equal to the intermediate input of import contained in the export quantity of industry $i$, which can be expressed as:

$$V{D}_i=\frac{M_i}{Y_i}*X_i=\frac{X_i}{Y_i}*M_i$$

(1)

Accordingly, the vertical specialization ratio ($v{d}_i$) of industrial sector $i$ is equal to the ratio of intermediate input of import of industry $i$ to the quantity of export of industry $i$, which can be expressed as:

$$v{d}_i=\frac{V{D}_i}{X_i}=\frac{\frac{X_i}{Y_i}*M_i}{X_i}=\frac{M_i}{Y_i}$$

(2)

Then the vertical specialization ratio ($vd$) of the whole industry is equal to the ratio of imported intermediate input of all industrial sectors to total industrial exports, which can be expressed as:

$$vd=\frac{VD}{X}=\frac{{{\displaystyle \sum }}_{i=1}^{n}V{D}_i}{{{\displaystyle \sum }}_{i=1}^n{X}_i}=\frac{{{\displaystyle \sum }}_{i=1}^n\left[\frac{V{D}_i}{X_i}*X_i\right]}{{{\displaystyle \sum }}_{i=1}^n{X}_i}={\displaystyle \sum }_{i=1}^n\left[\frac{V{D}_i}{X_i}*\frac{X_i}{{{\displaystyle \sum }}_{i=1}^n{X}_i}\right]$$

(3)

Will type (1) into type (3), the $X={\displaystyle \sum }_{i=1}^n{X}_i$,$M_i={\displaystyle \sum }_{j=1}^n{M}_{ji}$, where $M_{ji}$ represents the intermediate input amount that industry $i$ imports from industry $j$ of other countries, the amount of the type (3) can be represented as:

$$vd=\frac{1}{X}{\displaystyle \sum }_{i=1}^n{\displaystyle \sum }_{j=1}^n\left(\frac{X_i}{Y_i}*M_{ji}\right)=\frac{1}{X}{\displaystyle \sum }_{i=1}^n{\displaystyle \sum }_{j=1}^n\left(\frac{M_{ji}}{Y_i}*X_i\right)$$

(4)

If $a_{ij}=\frac{M_{ji}}{Y_i}$ represents the amount of intermediate products imported from industry $j$ for each unit of product produced by industry $i$, $A^M=\left[\begin{array}{ccc}{a}_{11}& \cdots & a_{1n}\\ ⋮& \ddots & ⋮\\ a_{n1}& \cdots & a_{nn}\end{array}\right]$ represents the import coefficient matrix of the whole industrial sector in dimension $n\times n$, $A=A^M+A^D$, where $A$ is the direct consumption coefficient matrix in the input–output table, $A^D$ is the domestic consumption coefficient matrix. $X^V=\left[\begin{array}{c}{X}_1\\ ⋮\\ X_n\end{array}\right]$ is the overall industry outlet vector of $n\times 1$ dimension. After sorting out, Equation (4) can be expressed as:

$$vd=\frac{1}{X}u{A}^M{\left(I-A^D\right)}^{-1}{X}^V$$

(5)

where $u=\left[\begin{array}{ccc}1& \cdots & 1\end{array}\right]$ represents the $1\times n$ dimension vector of 1, and ${\left(I-A^D\right)}^{-1}$ represents the Leontief inverse matrix, which is also the matrix of complete demand coefficients, reflecting the production required by each industrial sector of the national economy when each industrial sector increases its final demand by one unit. It is the induced effect of direct or indirect factor input and output between all industrial sectors.

When calculating the import coefficient matrix $A^M$, since the inter-provincial input–output data table and regional input–output data table of China compiled by China do not separately list the data of import intermediate input and domestic intermediate input, two assumptions should be made: First, the ratio of imports ($I_j^m$) to domestic production ($I_i^d$) in intermediate goods produced by the $i$ industrial sector is the same as the ratio of imports ($C_j^m$) to domestic production ($C_i^d$) in final products. Second, the proportion of imported intermediate input in the intermediate input used by each industry is the same in different industrial sectors, expressed by ${\lambda }_i$, thus, it can be obtained:

$$\frac{C_j^m}{C_i^d}=\frac{I_j^m}{I_i^d}=\frac{C_j^m+I_j^m}{C_i^d+I_i^d}\Rightarrow \frac{C_j^m}{C_j^m+C_i^d}=\frac{I_j^m}{I_j^m+I_i^d}=\frac{C_j^m+I_j^m}{C_j^m+C_i^d+I_j^m+I_i^d}$$

(6)

$${\lambda }_i=\frac{Total imports of industry i}{Total output of industry i+Import-Export} ,i=1,2\dots n$$

(7)

After calculating the ${\lambda }_i$ of each industry, we can calculate the import coefficient matrix $A^M$ by using the lines of the direct consumption coefficient matrix A in the input–output table multiplied by ${\lambda }_i$, and then we can get:

$$\{\begin{array}{l}Proportion of vertical specialization in all industries:vd=\frac{1}{X}u{A}^M{X}^V=\frac{1}{X}u{A}^M{\left(I-\left(A-A^M\right)\right)}^{-1}{X}^V\\ Vertical specialization column vector of individual industry:vds=u{A}^M=u{A}^M{\left(I-\left(A-A^M\right)\right)}^{-1}\end{array}$$

(8)

In order to measure the embeddedness of regional value chain, the terms of inward inflow and outward outflow from domestic provinces can be added on the basis of Equation (8). Then, the calculation model of regional GVC embeddedness is as follows:

The inlet coefficient matrix $A^M$ is extended to the regional inlet coefficient matrix $A_P^M$, that is, the fixed ratio ${\lambda }_i$ is extended to ${\lambda }_i^P$, ${\lambda }_i^P$ calculation method is as follows:

$${\lambda }_i^P=\frac{Imports of industry i+Inflow}{Total output of industry i+Import+Inflow-Export-Outflow}\times \frac{Imports of industry i}{Imports of industry i+Inflow}$$

(9)

The calculation formula of regional GVC embedment is as follows:

$$\{\begin{array}{l}vd value of all industries in the region:vd=\frac{1}{X}u{A}_P^M{X}^V=\frac{1}{X}u{A}_P^M{\left(I-\left(A-A_P^M\right)\right)}^{-1}{X}^V\\ The column vector formed by v{d}_j of a single industry in the region:vds=u{A}_P^M=u{A}_P^M{\left(I-\left(A-A_P^M\right)\right)}^{-1}\end{array}$$

(10)

The calculation model of regional NVC embeddedness is as follows:

The inlet coefficient matrix $A^M$ is extended into the regional inflow coefficient matrix $A_P^S$, that is, the fixed ratio ${\lambda }_i$ is extended to ${\lambda }_i^S$, ${\lambda }_i^S$ calculation method is as follows:

$${\lambda }_i^P=\frac{Imports of industry i+Inflow}{Total output of industry i+Import+Inflow-Export-Outflow}\times \frac{Inflow of industry i}{Imports of industry i+Inflow}$$

(11)

The formula for calculating the embeddedness of regional NVC is as follows:

$$\{\begin{array}{l}vd value of all industries in the region:vd=\frac{1}{X}u{A}_P^S{X}^V=\frac{1}{X}u{A}_P^S{\left(I-\left(A-A_P^S\right)\right)}^{-1}{X}^V\\ The column vector formed by v{d}_j of a single industry in the region:vds=u{A}_P^S=u{A}_P^S{\left(I-\left(A-A_P^S\right)\right)}^{-1}\end{array}$$

(12)

4.2. Data Description and Result Analysis

4.2.1. Tianjin Overall Data Research Results

The calculated data in this paper are from the input–output table of 2012 and 2017 and the input–output extension table of 2010 and 2015 released by the Tianjin Municipal Bureau of Statistics. The input–output table is compiled every five years. Because the time span is too long to guarantee the continuity of data, another year is selected to compile the input–output extension table during the five years. The input–output tables of 2010, 2012, 2015, and 2017 used in this paper are all the input–output data of 42 production sectors calculated according to the producer prices of that year, and there is no result error caused by the change in the measurement method of the statistics bureau. As can be seen from Figure 3, the overall embedding degree of the 42 departments in Tianjin is higher in NVC than in GVC, and the embedding degree of both GVC and NVC decreases year by year from 2010 to 2015, and the embedding degree quickly rises from 2015 to 2017 and exceeds the level of 2015. This shows that most of the added value used in the final product production of Tianjin’s overall industrial sector comes from domestic provinces and cities, and a small part comes from other countries in the world. In addition, GVC and NVC index decreased at the same time from 2010 to 2015, indicating that the overall industry in Tianjin tends to be “internal”. All industries are mainly driven by local demand, and the spatial chain becomes shorter and the supporting radius of the industry shrinks, which is conducive to the centralized development of the industrial chain in Tianjin. After 2015, there was an increasing trend of demand driven by other domestic regions and foreign countries, and the “extroverted” feature of industrial demand in Tianjin gradually emerged, and the industry chain taking shape began to extend to other regions outside Tianjin.

This change is related to the industrial structure adjustment carried out by Tianjin. In 2012, Tianjin gradually transformed from a manufacturing center to a service center. The structure of the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries has changed from 1.3: 50.6: 48.1 in 2013 to 1.4: 37.3: 61.3 in 2021. Problems such as weak comprehensive strength, weak innovation ability, and low resident income revealed in the process of industrial structure adjustment, as well as the global economic turmoil caused by the international financial crisis has not yet been resolved, make the overall industrial embedment of Tianjin into GVC and NVC decreased, and the industrial output is mainly digested by Tianjin. In 2015, the proportion of added value of the service industry in Tianjin exceeded 50% for the first time, which also exceeded that of the secondary industry. The effect of industrial structure adjustment gradually emerged. With the development of the manufacturing cluster, the construction of major projects, and the optimization of industrial layout, the endogenous impetus of economic development was gradually enhanced, and the overall industry in Tianjin tended to be open and international. The rise is driven by demand at home and abroad. In addition, Tianjin National Independent Innovation Demonstration Zone, which is driven by innovation and endogenous growth, was approved in 2015. Since its completion, the park has continuously introduced major industrialization projects of strategic emerging industries with international background and integration ability of upstream and downstream industries, realizing rapid expansion of economic scale. The listed operation of the Free Trade Zone (FTZ) has also promoted the steady growth of two-way investment, introduced a large number of foreign-invested enterprises, connected the resources of the two markets at home and abroad, and driven the manufacturing industry in Tianjin to climb up the NVC and GVC.

4.2.2. Tianjin Manufacturing Industry Segmentation Data Research Results

In the manufacturing industry classification standard released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 2011, the manufacturing industry was divided into four categories according to the research and development intensity, and the manufacturing sector in the input–output table of 42 departments in Tianjin was matched with the four categories of manufacturing industry divided by the OECD. Three high-tech manufacturing sectors, four medium-high tech manufacturing sectors, four medium-low tech manufacturing sectors and six low-tech manufacturing sectors are obtained.

Table 2. Value chain embeddedness of Tianjin manufacturing industry.

Manufacturing Industry Classification	2010		2012		2015		2017
	NVC	GVC	NVC	GVC	NVC	GVC	NVC	GVC
High Technology Manufacturing
Manufacture of General Equipment	0.466	0.319	0.414	0.250	0.376	0.221	0.562	0.328
Communications Equipment, Computers, and Other Electronic Equipment	0.604	0.387	0.458	0.383	0.397	0.337	0.592	0.483
Manufacture of Measuring Instrument and Meter	0.633	0.362	0.376	0.277	0.397	0.292	0.553	0.398
Medium and High Technology Manufacturing
Manufacture of Chemical Products	0.556	0.273	0.451	0.234	0.364	0.182	0.488	0.234
Manufacture of Special Equipment	0.412	0.275	0.366	0.229	0.347	0.211	0.550	0.339
Manufacture of Transport Equipment	0.498	0.413	0.431	0.466	0.359	0.386	0.533	0.498
Manufacture of Electrical Machinery and Equipment	0.610	0.359	0.443	0.285	0.408	0.259	0.596	0.353
Medium and Low Technology Manufacturing
Manufacture of Petroleum, Coking Products, and Nuclear Fuel Processing Products	0.537	0.162	0.394	0.131	0.321	0.099	0.390	0.115
Manufacture of Non-metallic Mineral Goods	0.732	0.266	0.531	0.196	0.466	0.164	0.624	0.226
Metal Smelting and Calendering Products	0.487	0.277	0.436	0.275	0.400	0.240	0.620	0.431
Manufacture of Metal Products	0.486	0.273	0.435	0.237	0.365	0.193	0.593	0.381
Low Technology Manufacturing
Manufacture of Foods and Tobacco	0.692	0.287	0.457	0.186	0.377	0.145	0.567	0.209
Manufacture of Textile	0.683	0.264	0.543	0.216	0.387	0.142	0.612	0.220
Manufacture of Leather, Fur, and Feather	0.691	0.262	0.482	0.173	0.423	0.135	0.539	0.174
Processing of Timber and Manufacture of Furniture	0.589	0.253	0.451	0.167	0.378	0.133	0.536	0.225
Manufacture of Printing, Articles for Culture, Education, and Sport Activities	0.654	0.279	0.494	0.204	0.435	0.179	0.584	0.275
Other Manufacturing Products and Waste Materials	0.009	0.006	0.456	0.238	0.418	0.208	0.508	0.303

shows the value chain embedding of four types of manufacturing sectors in Tianjin from 2010 to 2017.

From the perspective of manufacturing sector segmentation, the industry with a high degree of embedding in GVC is the transportation equipment sector in the middle and high technology manufacturing industry, followed by the communication equipment, computer, and other electronic equipment sector in the high technology manufacturing industry, with an average embedding degree of 0.441 and 0.398 respectively, and the embedding degree of NVC also reaches 0.46 and 0.51. This is related to the development of high-level modern manufacturing industry in Tianjin. During the adjustment of industrial structure, the development focus of manufacturing industry is determined, and the industrial innovation cluster with complementary advantages is established to extend the industrial chain. The medium and high-end manufacturing industry in Tianjin is in the forefront of industrial development and has won the favor of the international and domestic markets. Tianjin is located in the central core functional area of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and the coastal location. It can easily gather production factors such as natural resources, human resources, and information resources, and combine them with the development strategy of high-end equipment, information technology application, new energy vehicles and other key industrial chains, which is conducive to getting rid of the low-end dilemma of Tianjin’s medium and high-tech manufacturing industry chain. We will promote integration of the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the industrial chain and attract more high-quality enterprises to join the industrial chain ecosystem.

The data of the manufacturing sector in Tianjin, like the overall data of the industries participating in economic activities in Tianjin, shows the tendency of NVC embedding. Among them, the industries with a high degree of embedding in NVC are the non-metallic mineral products sector in the middle and low technology manufacturing industry, followed by the paper printing sector, the cultural and educational sports goods sector, and the textile sector, with an average embedding degree of 0.588, 0.556, and 0.542 respectively. It can be seen from the data in Table 2 that while strengthening the advantageous industries, Tianjin is also promoting the transformation and upgrading of traditional manufacturing industries such as metallurgy and textile. Through the green and intelligent transformation of production mode, it can prolong the industrial chain and reduce the damage to the ecology, so that traditional manufacturing enterprises can better integrate into NVC. In order to build a complete petrochemical industry chain, Tianjin has established a light textile economic zone connecting Nangang Economic Zone and living area in Binhai New Area, improved the downstream service area of the petrochemical industry in Dagang and Nangang area, and realized the green ecological development with the integration of industry and city.

4.2.3. Explanation of Research Results of Four Types of Manufacturing Data in Tianjin

Figure 4 and Figure 5 respectively show the embeddedness changes of NVC and GVC of the four types of manufacturing industries in Tianjin from 2010 to 2017. As can be seen from Figure 4, the four types of manufacturing industries have similar change trends in embeddedness, with 2015 as the inflection point, first decreasing and then increasing, and the embeddedness values of each year are close to each other. However, it can be seen from the figure that the industrial structure adjustment during 2010–2015 has a relatively large impact on the high and medium-high technology manufacturing industry and a minimal impact on the low-technology manufacturing industry. High-tech manufacturing industry needs high R&D intensity and independent innovation ability, and the innovation and entrepreneurship environment, innovative talents, resources, and technology supply will affect the value-added effect of high-tech manufacturing industry. With the effect of industrial structure adjustment, the improvement of comprehensive industrial strength, the establishment of innovation and technology parks, and the improvement of industrial innovation system promote the high-tech manufacturing industry to start to build a complete industrial chain, so that its position in the domestic market is gradually improved. It can be seen that the high and medium high-tech manufacturing industry is more susceptible to the influence of enterprises and environmental factors in the industrial chain ecosystem.

Compared with high-tech manufacturing, low-tech manufacturing has a longer existence. In the early stage of reform and opening up, China mainly developed this kind of large-scale production industry with low technical requirements and stable input of resources and equipment. Due to the characteristics of undifferentiated products and low entry threshold in this industry, and the high demand for products in this industry at home and abroad, the adjustment of industrial structure has the least impact on the low-technology manufacturing industry. However, in order to improve the competitive advantage of low-and medium-low technology manufacturing industry and enhance the industrial value, it is necessary to reflect the difference of products and obtain the cost advantage. Innovation-driven development can spread and transfer the innovation of high-tech industry to low-tech industry, and the flow and diffusion of knowledge can promote the accumulation of knowledge of low-tech industry, improve the industrial innovation ability, complete the output of low-cost and high-efficiency products, add value to the industry, and enhance the level of the industrial chain [34]. Therefore, the industrial chain development and ecological system construction of low and medium technology manufacturing industries are more susceptible to the influence of information and product factors.

As can be seen from Figure 5, the change trend of the four types of manufacturing industries’ GVC embedment also takes 2015 as the inflection point to decrease first and then increase, but the embedment values of each year are significantly different. The degree of embedding in GVC is high, medium high, medium low and low technology manufacturing industry from high to low, and high and medium high technology manufacturing industry is more involved in GVC, which is similar to the horizontal industrial stratification of China’s manufacturing industry embedded in GVC from 2001 to 2014 calculated by Liu [35]. Although the high and medium-high technology manufacturing industry has a high degree of embedding in the GVC, the strong international market competition for the high-tech industry will gradually suppress the value chain embedding of China’s high-end technology manufacturing industry, and excessive embedding in the value chain will inhibit the industrial development. Compared with high-tech manufacturing industry, low industry barriers of labor-intensive, capital-intensive low, and medium-low technology manufacturing industry make it easier to integrate into the GVC and enhance the position of industrial value [35]. A comprehensive analysis of the results shown in Figure 4 and 5 shows the dependence of the manufacturing industry on the market, that is, the high and medium-high technology manufacturing industry shows the characteristics of “extroversion”, and its products are more dependent on foreign markets, which is a reflection of the outward expansion of the industrial economy. The medium-low and low-technology manufacturing industry is more dependent on the domestic market demand, which reflects the economic characteristics of “introversion”.

5. Tianjin Manufacturing Industry Chain Ecological System Construction Strategy

5.1. Priority Will Be Given to Developing High-Tech Manufacturing

The high and medium high-tech manufacturing industry in Tianjin occupies a high proportion of the market at home and abroad and has a certain foundation for development. However, it is easily affected by the changes in enterprise factors and environmental factors and falls into the dilemma of localization of the value chain. Therefore, while under the guidance of national policies, enterprises in the industrial chain should focus on cultivating independent and controllable core capabilities and resources in the process of industrial development, reduce the risk of industrial replacement, and increase the ability to cope with environmental changes, find the value increment peak point embedded in the value chain and steadily expand the spatial radius of the industrial chain. There is still a lot of room for improvement in the integration of low and medium-low tech manufacturing in the GVC, and the nature of the industry makes the integration process easier. Therefore, while developing the high-tech manufacturing industry, it is necessary to gradually expand the international openness of the low-tech manufacturing industry. The two factors of information and product have great influence on the development of industrial chain and the construction of ecological system of low and medium-low tech manufacturing industry. Therefore, low and medium-low tech manufacturing can be further integrated into the GVC from these two aspects. On the information level, on the one hand, it is necessary to promote the manufacturing information engineering and implement the whole life cycle management of products, which is the primary strategy to realize the global allocation of manufacturing resources and form the advantageous industrial chain. On the other hand, we should attach importance to the protection of industrial intellectual property rights and the construction of credit system, reduce the institutional transaction costs for enterprises to participate in the domestic economic cycle and the division of labor in the value chain, enhance their enthusiasm to participate in market economic activities, and create prerequisites for the integration of low and medium-low tech manufacturing industries into the GVC. At the product level, the supply and distribution network of products should be integrated to connect the domestic and international markets with the domestic economic cycle as the main focus, so as to enhance the embedment degree of various industries in GVC. In addition, emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things (IOT), Virtual Reality (VR), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be introduced to promote breakthroughs and innovations in industrial technology. Attaching importance to the integration of manufacturing industry and service, so as to improve the service content of various industries, is also an important way to drive the industry to integrate into the international value chain and promote the climb of the value chain.

5.2. Give Priority to Supporting Advantageous Industries

While expanding emerging industries, we should also strengthen policy support for high-end equipment manufacturing, automobile manufacturing, aerospace manufacturing, and other advantageous industries. Compared with other manufacturing industries in Tianjin, these industries have stronger comparative and competitive advantages. The use of advanced technologies can make these industries obtain higher added value and drive the overall economic value of the manufacturing industry. At the same time, the one-sided development of dominant industries should be avoided and the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries should be taken into account. Traditional manufacturing industries such as textile industry, food and tobacco processing industry are also important guarantees for Tianjin’s economic development. Therefore, the extension development at a low level should be changed and the independent development mode should be insisted. Both emerging industries and traditional industries need to continue to learn and carry out R&D and innovation. The innate advantages of regional factor endowment will weaken with time, but knowledge accumulation and new technologies can maintain the vitality of enterprises, bring more competitive and cooperative advantages to enterprises, and help to form synergy between the upstream and downstream of the manufacturing industry and connect the industrial chain.

5.3. Dynamically Regulate the Ecology of the Industrial Chain

Imitating the self-regulation mechanism of the natural ecosystem, the manufacturing industry chain ecosystem should also cultivate the ability of dynamic regulation and system stability. Similar to the natural ecosystem, the more complex the system structure is, the stronger the ability of dynamic regulation should be. The industrial chain in the ecological system is easily affected by external policies, technologies, economy, and social environment. Therefore, manufacturing enterprises in the industrial chain should always pay attention to the changes of the environment and adjust the production scheme, technology use and material use of products to avoid the accumulation of inventory caused by production that does not match consumer demand. Accordingly, enterprises in the upstream of the industrial chain should also carry out research and development and provision of new materials and technologies, and the flow of knowledge, information, materials, and products between enterprises will also change, so as to adapt to environmental changes and meet consumer demands. The industrial chain ecosystem also follows the natural law of “natural selection, survival of the fittest”. Enterprises that cannot adapt to the rapidly changing market environment and meet market demands will gradually leave the ecosystem, leaving enterprises with stronger survival ability in the system.

6. Conclusions

The manufacturing industry is the foundation of the country, and the construction of the manufacturing industry chain ecological system from the perspective of ecosystem can effectively improve the stability and modernization of the manufacturing industry chain. It is also an effective measure to improve the stability of the industrial chain, enhance industrial economic benefits, and cope with the decline in industrial competitiveness caused by global economic uncertainties [36]. Compared with previous studies, the main contributions of this paper are as follows: First, taking Tianjin as an example, it draws the road map and structure chart of the construction of the ecological system of the manufacturing industry chain. Second, the evolution of various manufacturing industries embedded in GVC and NVC in Tianjin is investigated dynamically. It is found that in the region of value chain embedment, the high and middle-high technology manufacturing industry has the tendency of “extroversion”, while the low and middle-low technology manufacturing industry has the tendency of “introversion”. Therefore, in the future, low-technology manufacturing will be more integrated into GVC, thus improving the industrial value. The high-tech manufacturing industry relies on the cultivation of core competence and resources to counter the influence of environmental factors on the industrial chain. Finally, the paper provides three strategic suggestions for the construction of Tianjin manufacturing industry chain ecological system, providing guidance for the industrial development of Tianjin manufacturing industry and the construction of an independent and controllable ecological system.

There are some limitations in our study. First, due to the availability of data, it is only possible to accurately calculate the manufacturing value chain embedment before 2017. After 2017, it is necessary to combine the industrial and regional economic development situation to forecast. Second, the research object of this paper is the manufacturing industry in Tianjin. Due to the differences in regional industrial characteristics, it cannot provide guidance for the upgrading of manufacturing industry level in all regions. In the future, we will use updated input–output data to conduct dynamic analysis on the changes in manufacturing industry value chain in all provinces and cities in China, so as to provide more meaningful conclusions and suggestions for the modernization of China’s manufacturing industry chain.