Spatial differences in the marine industry based on marine-related enterprises: A case study of Jiangsu Province, China

Marine-related enterprises are microcosmic elements of the marine industry. To guide the distribution of the marine industry, it is important to analyze the spatial differentiation pattern of the marine industry from the perspective of marine-related enterprises. Considering Jiangsu Province, China, for instance, this paper comprehensively uses the mean center, standard deviational ellipse, kernel density analysis and spatial autocorrelation methods to analyze the spatial differences in the marine industry. The results show that marine-related enterprises have strong spatial agglomeration in Jiangsu Province and form a dense “L”-shaped belt centered on the Lianyungang–Nantong–Nanjing region. Marine-related enterprises show significant positive spatial correlation. The high-value agglomeration areas of all marine-related enterprises are distributed within the coastal city of Yancheng, while the low-value sparse areas are mainly distributed within three inland cities and seven cities along the Yangtze River, indicating that the marine-related enterprises in noncoastal areas have a low spatial correlation. Based on the research results, we summarize three different development patterns of marine-related enterprises: the resource dependence pattern, government-driven pattern and market-oriented pattern. To promote the further agglomeration of the marine industry, the industry should fully exert the advantages of these three patterns. This paper provides a new idea for research on the marine industry from a micro perspective that can be applied to other coastal countries or areas.