The new quality productive forces (NQPF) constitute the fundamental driving force propelling the high-quality development of China’s economy. This paper begins from the enterprise level, the key vehicle for fostering NQPF, to analyze and compare the sensitivity factors influencing the development of NQPF across enterprises with different ownership structures under the socialist economic system. The aim is to identify more targeted measures to promote the growth of NQPF. This paper employs an indicator-based methodology to construct an evaluation framework for NQPF from three dimensions: the factor input index, the output structure index, and the enterprise development performance index. Using analysis of variance (ANOVA), the paper identifies significant differences in the development of NQPF among enterprises with different ownership structures. To validate the robustness of the indicator-based approach, a production function method is applied to test the consistency between the calculated total factor productivity (TFP) and the indicator results across ownership types. Subsequently, sensitivity analysis is conducted to identify the key factors influencing NQPF development in state-owned, private, and foreign-invested enterprises. Based on this, the paper further explores how both internal enterprise factors and external environmental conditions affect the NQPF development levels of enterprises under different ownership structures. The main findings are as follows: (1) The overall level of NQPF among Chinese enterprises continues to exhibit an upward trend. The disparities in NQPF levels across ownership types result from both intra-group heterogeneity within the same ownership category and inter-group differences among different ownership types. Notably, private enterprises have emerged as the primary contributors to NQPF development, with their contribution growing steadily and eventually surpassing that of other enterprise types. (2) The sensitivity rankings of key NQPF development factors differ across ownership types. For state-owned enterprises, the most to least sensitive factors are: new technologies, green efficiency, new means of labor, and new labor force. For private enterprises, the order is: new objects of labor, green efficiency, new means of labor, and new business formats. For foreign-invested enterprises, the ranking is: new objects of labor, new means of labor, green efficiency, and new technologies. (3) Among external environmental influences, the degree of marketization and regional location disparities exert the greatest impact on private and foreign-invested enterprises. In contrast, the degree of openness to international markets has the strongest effect on state-owned enterprises. Based on the above findings, this paper provides policy recommendations aimed at promoting the development of NQPF within enterprises.