Mechanism of aquaculture competitiveness in China

Anchoring the competitiveness diamond model, this study aims to reveal how aquaculture competitiveness formed in China in the past ten years. A concept model is constructed about aquaculture competitiveness based on a literature review. The data were obtained from China Fishery Statistical Yearbook from 2010 to 2021. After that, structural equation modeling with the partial least square method is employed to examine the influence and relationship of relevant constructs by calculating each model path's factor loads or path coefficients. The competitiveness of the Chinese aquaculture industry includes resources endowment, science technology environment, economic benefit, and development potential. The empirical results show that resources endowment positively influences economic benefit and development potential. The science and technology environment positively influences economic benefit and development potential. Finally, development potential has a positive influence on economic benefit. Therefore, development potential and economic benefit positively impact the competitiveness of aquaculture. As the field data were obtained from only China, future replication of the findings to other countries should consider country-specific factors. It is one of the first empirical attempts to explore the competitiveness formation mechanism in the aquaculture industry.