Using the possible synergy among geographic, size, and technological
distributions of firms in the Orbis database, we find the greatest reduction of
uncertainty at the level of the 31 provinces of China, and an additional 18.0%
at the national level. Some of the coastal provinces stand out as expected, but
the metropolitan areas of Beijing and Shanghai are (with Tianjan and Chonqing)
most pronounced at the next-lower administrative level of (339) prefectures,
since these four metropoles are administratively defined at both levels.
Focusing on high- and medium-tech manufacturing, a shift toward Beijing and
Shanghai is indicated, and the synergy is on average enhanced (as expected; but
not for all provinces). Unfortunately, the Orbis data is incomplete since it
was collected for commercial and not for administrative or governmental
purposes. However, we show a methodology that can be used by others who may
have access to higher-quality statistical data for the measurement.Comment: accepted for publication in Scientometrics (October, 2013