Competitive enterprises are the microfoundation of high-quality economic development. A good business environment is an important guarantee for the high-quality development of enterprises, and high-quality development of enterprises requires high-quality asset structure allocation. However, many enterprises in China have asset structure mismatch problems, which not only limit the growth and development of enterprises themselves, but also may have a negative impact on the whole economic system. Based on this, listed companies in China's Shanghai and Shenzhen markets from 2010 to 2020 are taken as the research sample, and principal component analysis and entropy weight method are used to construct evaluation indexes for high-quality development of enterprises from the five dimensions of financial performance, market competition, technological innovation, social responsibility, and institutional innovation. Based on the five dimensions of investment and financing service environment, market innovation environment, government governance environment, human consumption environment, public service environment, etc., use entropy weight TOPSIS model to measure the comprehensive evaluation index of business environment. It explores the impact of asset structure allocation bias, i.e., asset structure mismatch, on the high-quality development of enterprises, and the moderating role of the business environment on the relationship between asset structure mismatch and high-quality development of enterprises.
It is found that, first, asset structure mismatch significantly reduces the high-quality development of firms, and the inhibitory effect of asset structure mismatch on the high-quality development of firms in the central and western regions is more pronounced than that of firms in the eastern regions, and the conclusion is still robust after a series of endogeneity treatments and robustness tests. This may be due to the fact that the economic development in the eastern region of China is faster, the performance, innovation ability and core competitiveness of enterprises are more stable compared with those in the central and western regions, and the infrastructure and cutting-edge technologies in the eastern region are more mature. The central and western regions, on the other hand, have a lower level of economic development, unstable enterprise development and backward industrial development. Second, the moderating effect shows that in the eastern region, the business environment plays a significant positive moderating role between the asset structure mismatch and the high-quality development of enterprises, while the moderating role in the central and western regions is not significant. This may be due to the fact that different regions have different levels of development, differences in entrepreneurial preferences and choices, and different government measures on optimizing the business environment. Therefore, there are differences in the effects of business environment. Third, the heterogeneity study shows that asset structure mismatch significantly reduces the high quality development of firms based on different life cycles. This may be due to the fact that regardless of the life cycle stage of an enterprise, asset structure mismatch leads to lower efficiency of capital utilization, which results in higher financial risks for the enterprise, and thus affects the sound operation and long-term development of the enterprise. The positive moderating effect of the business environment on non-state-owned enterprises is more pronounced than that of state-owned enterprises. This may be due to the differences in government intervention, political affiliation, administrative efficiency, rule of law environment, market access, and entrepreneurial activity allocation, etc. The positive regulatory effect of business environment on non-state-owned enterprises is more obvious than that of state-owned enterprises. In the manufacturing sector, business environment plays a significant positive moderating role, while in the non-manufacturing sector, the moderating role is not significant. This may be because the future development of the manufacturing industry relies on technological innovation, product quality and intelligent manufacturing, etc., while the business environment helps to reduce transaction costs, stimulate enterprise creativity and market vitality, which is the key measure for the manufacturing industry to improve quality and efficiency and realize high-quality development.
In summary, the findings of the study provide empirical evidence for an in-depth understanding of the impact of asset structure mismatch on the high-quality development of enterprises, optimizing the asset structure of enterprises, optimizing the business environment, and enhancing the level of high-quality development of enterprises. For enterprises, it is important to comprehensively synergize the enterprise development strategy with the high-quality development strategy of the industrial chain, and strengthen the synergy between the asset investment strategy and the enterprise development strategy. Effectively plan the medium- and long-term asset structure allocation of enterprises, focus on the core business of industries, strengthen the asset structure allocation of emerging industries and future industries, and strengthen the integrated layout and investment guidance of asset structure allocation in key industries. For the government, strengthen regional cooperation and synergistic development as well as reform and innovation of diversified business environment. Formulate clear industrial policies and investment guidelines to guide enterprises to optimize their asset structure and avoid ineffective investment and overcapacity. Encourage enterprises to increase technological innovation and R&D investment, enhance core competitiveness, promote industrial transformation and upgrading, and promote high-quality development of enterprises.