Research on the Development Level and Coupling Coordination of Enterprise Business Environment in the Yangtze River Delta Region

The business environment of enterprises is a key field for development and reform in China's economy in the new era. Improving the business environment is an important guarantee for the high-quality development of China's economy. This paper divides the development index of urban business environment in the Yangtze River Delta region into five dimensions: public service, market environment, factor supply, innovation environment and ecological environment, 12 sub-indicators and 23 basic indicators. It employs the entropy method to measure the level of the business environment in the Yangtze River Delta region from 2010 to 2022 and utilizes the coupling coordination model to analyze the coupling coordination relationship of the business environment development level. The results show that: (1) The development level of the business environment in the Yangtze River Delta region exhibits a monotonically increasing trajectory with sustained high growth. The development level of each dimension exhibits a fluctuating upward trend. (2) The development level of the business environment in various cities within the Yangtze River Delta region is persistently uneven and diverging. (3) The level of coupling and coordination between the various dimensions of the business environment development in the Yangtze River Delta region and among different cities has improved marginally, yet the region remains in a state of nascent coordination. However, the gap between most cities tends to narrow, and development is becoming more balanced and stable.