Evaluation model of the digital technology impact on the efficiency of food industry enterprises

   This paper aims to explore the mechanism of digital technology’s impact on the efficiency of food industry enterprises and to construct an evaluation model for empirical testing. The study first uses the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method to measure the technical efficiency of China’s A-share listed food industry companies from 2018 to 2024. Subsequently, the Tobit regression model is employed to analyze the impact of the level of digital technology application on enterprise efficiency. The findings indicate that the level of digital technology application has a significant positive effect on the technical efficiency of food industry enterprises, with a coefficient of 0.125, significant at the 1% level. Furthermore, firm size, R&D investment, and the degree of market competition also have important impacts on enterprise efficiency. The results of this study provide a theoretical basis and practical guidance for food industry enterprises to implement digital transformation and improve production efficiency, and also offer a decision-making reference for government industrial policy formulation. The research shows that Chinese food industry enterprises generally experience approximately 25 % efficiency loss, mainly due to insufficient management and technical capabilities rather than inappropriate production scale. Therefore, enterprises should accelerate digital transformation, strengthen R&D innovation, and optimize internal management; governments should improve digital infrastructure, introduce special incentive policies, and maintain a fair competitive environment.

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