Research on Reputation Spillover and Synergistic Effects of High-ESG-Performance Enterprises: A Case Study of Pang Dong Lai’s Assistance to Yonghui Supermarket

The Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) concept has become a core benchmark for assessing corporate sustainable development capabilities. However, existing studies predominantly focus on the economic consequences of a firm’s own ESG performance, with insufficient attention to its external spillover effects. Taking the highly publicized “Pang Dong Lai assisting Yonghui Supermarket” event as the research object, this paper employs a single-case study method and integrates reputation theory, signaling theory, and the resource-based view to deeply analyze the reputation spillover mechanisms and synergistic effects of high-ESG-performance enterprises. The findings reveal that Pang Dong Lai’s reputation spillover follows a “ripple pattern,” diffusing progressively through four hierarchical levels: embedded empowerment, precise empowerment, radiating empowerment, and linkage empowerment. However, the efficacy of this spillover is significantly constrained by the absorptive capacity of the assisted party, industry competition structure, and sustainability of the assistance model. Information resource effects and competitive learning effects constitute the core driving mechanisms of reputation spillover, yet their effectiveness depends on the interaction quality and institutional distance between the assisting and assisted parties. The study further shows that Pang Dong Lai’s reputation capital provided Yonghui Supermarket with a limited “insurance mechanism,” but this buffering effect exhibits clear temporality and conditionality. Although sales at some renovated stores achieved remarkable 5- to 14-fold growth and employee compensation increased by more than 35%, Yonghui’s overall turnaround remains challenging, and capital market reactions remain mixed. This research not only expands the research context of ESG spillover effects but also reveals the enabling conditions and boundaries of reputation spillover, offering valuable dialectical insights for distressed enterprises seeking strategic transformation through leveraging industry benchmarks.