Under the leadership of China's "dual-carbon" goal, clarifying the interaction between the digital economy, artificial intelligence, and the sports industry is an important guarantee to promote the structural upgrading of China's sports industry and achieve low-carbon development. Therefore, a panel vector autoregression (PVAR) model is constructed based on the panel data of 15 provinces in China from 2014 to 2020 to investigate the interaction between the three. It is found that (1) every 1-unit increase in the level of digital economy in the lagged period can cause a 0.008-unit increase in the level of AI application in the current period at the 10% significance level, i.e., the digital economy has a short-term and weakly facilitating effect on AI. (2) Every 1 unit of digital economy level in the lagging period can cause 9.539 units of value added to the sports industry at a 1% significance level. That is, the digital economy has a short-term but strong enhancing effect on the development of the sports industry. (3) Their internal driving force mainly drives the development of digital economy and artificial intelligence, and the self-contribution rate is 72.7% and 91.5% respectively. In contrast, the self-driving force of the sports industry is weaker, and the self-contribution rate is only 68.2%. (4) The contribution rate of the digital economy and artificial intelligence to the development of the sports industry is 12.3% and 19.6% respectively, i.e., the sports industry is more affected by the degree of application of artificial intelligence than the level of development of digital economy.

To explore the spatial allocation of national fitness resources at different spatial scales in Fuzhou city to provide useful references for optimizing and enhancing the spatial allocation of national fitness resources and urban planning. The equity, spatial distribution characteristics, accessibility and supply-demand balance of national fitness resources in Fuzhou city are analysed in depth by using the two-step mobile search method of multiple travel modes, the Gini coefficient, and exploratory spatial data analysis methods. The results show that the overall spatial allocation of national fitness resources is in a balanced state, but there are serious inequities and spatial mismatches in each district (county); the spatial distribution of national fitness resources is characterized by centralized agglomeration and surface dispersion, being dense in the south and sparse in the north. Areas with insufficient resources per capita have an agglomeration-type scattering distribution; areas with sufficient resources per capita have a dispersed patch distribution. Access to national fitness resources and the relationship between their supply and demand are characterized by positive spatial concentration; however, the layout of the national fitness resources planned for the old urban areas urgently needs to be optimized, with the Chating and Antai streets serving as centres, to increase the effective supply. Finally,we suggestions that Top-level design should be strengthened, the communalization of sports public services should be promoted, the service capacity and utilization efficiency of national fitness resources should be enhanced, and the construction of national fitness resources in new urban areas and new industrial agglomerations should be accelerated.

The global manufacturing landscape is undergoing a profound shift, and the paradigm of service-led industrial evolution has taken on paramount importance. Service-oriented manufacturing has emerged as a pivotal conduit for the transformation and elevation of China’s sporting goods manufacturing sector. However, we acknowledge that the current state of service-oriented transformation in this sector is still in an embryonic phase. The nuanced interplay between the level of servitization and its consequent impact on corporate performance, along with the intricate forms of interference exerted by various factors in the process of servitization, are shrouded in ambiguity. This article, which is predicated upon the financial disclosures of China’s sporting goods manufacturing enterprises listed on the A-share and New Third Board markets, presents a rigorous investigation. Through the construction of an imbalanced panel dataset covering the period of 2007 to 2022, we embark on an empirical journey examining the intricacies of a moderated mediation model to ascertain the mechanisms underlying the influence of servitization on the performance of sporting goods manufacturing entities. Through this research, we unearth a compelling revelation: (1) Within the cohort of sampled enterprises, an elevation of servitization evokes a modest suppressive effect on corporate performance, thus resulting in the enigmatic "servitization paradox." (2) A total of 29.1% of the servitization impact on enterprise performance is achieved through marketing intensity; that is, there is a partial mediating effect of marketing intensity on the relationship between servitization and enterprise performance. (3) Market power play a negative regulatory role in this relationship, which drives the servitization paradox in sporting goods manufacturing but can also promote the positive impact of servitization on marketing intensity. In addition, with the expansion of market power, corporate servitization does not need to impact corporate performance through marketing activities. (4) R&D intensity negatively affects the relationship between marketing intensity and corporate performance, promotes the inhibitory effect of marketing intensity on corporate performance, and aggravates the inhibitory effect of servitization on corporate performance through marketing intensity.

This study explores the multifactorial and complex causal relationships affecting the performance of sporting goods manufacturing enterprises during service transformation. A fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis method was applied using 33 sporting goods manufacturing enterprises listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen A-shares and the New Third Board in China. The study developed a model using the Technology-Organization-Environment(TOE) theoretical framework, to analyse the factors driving the servitisation transformation of China’s sporting goods manufacturers. The results revealed that (1) none of the seven secondary factors such as the degree of digital transformation, innovation capability, top management level, staff knowledge structure, organisational redundancy, government support, and degree of marketization individually contribute to enhancing the servitisation performance of sporting goods manufacturing enterprises in China. (2) The four grouping paths that drive the transformation of the servitisation of sporting goods manufacturing enterprises in China are divided into three types: “talent–resource driven”, “technology–organisation driven, and “technology–talent driven”. This study reveals the role of multiple factors behind the transformation of servitisation and the upgrading of sporting goods manufacturing enterprises and provides useful insights into the structural rationalisation and advanced development of China’s sports industry.