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The purpose of this paper is to explore how emerging market firms (EMFs), in the face of intense international competition within global value chains (GVCs), continuously accumulate the knowledge and capabilities needed to support leapfrog upgrading. Based on this, this paper aims to construct a process model of the dynamic evolution of EMFs’ control over GVC core activities.

This paper conducts a longitudinal case study of Ninestar Corporation, a leading company in the Chinese printer industry, to investigate its leapfrog upgrading practices. From the perspective of dynamic capabilities theory, the study explores the dynamic processes and intrinsic mechanisms through which EMFs achieve the evolution of their control over GVC core activities.

It is revealed that the dual-dimensional expansion of controlling the core activities of GVC from vertical functional architecture to horizontal product architecture is the pathway for manufacturing enterprises in emerging economies to achieve leapfrogging upgrades. It is also found that the dynamic capabilities of EMFs undergo iterative evolution during the upgrading process. The self-reinforcing logic and the path-creation logic of dynamic capabilities are the internal mechanisms for controlling GVC core activities to achieve the breakthrough in both the vertical functional division chain and the horizontal product division chain.

This paper provides an insightful case for how EMFs can achieve leapfrog upgrading in the new normal of global trade patterns. It explores how these firms can gain control over GVC core activities through the evolution of dynamic capabilities. The research findings extend the boundaries of the theory of firm upgrading.

Talent is a key resource for urban development, and building and disseminating urban brands have an important impact on attracting talent. This paper explores what kind of urban brand ecology (UBE) can effectively enhance urban talent attraction (UTA). We explore this question using a novel grey quantitative configuration analysis (GQCA) model.

To develop the GQCA model, grey clustering is combined with qualitative configuration analysis (QCA). We conducted comparative configuration analysis of UTA using fuzzy set QCA (fsQCA) and the proposed GQCA.

We find that the empirical results of fsQCA may contradict the facts, and that the proposed GQCA effectively solves this problem.

Based on the theory of UBE, we identify bottleneck factors for improving UTA at different stages. Seven configuration paths are described for cities to enhance UTA. Theoretically, this study expands the application boundaries of UBE.

The proposed GQCA effectively solves the problem of inconsistent analysis and facts caused by the use of a binary threshold by the fsQCA. In practical case studies, the GQCA significantly improves the reliability of configuration comparisons and the sensitivity of QCA to cases, demonstrating excellent research performance.

Nanotechnology (NT) advancements in personal protective textiles (PPT) or personal protective equipment (PPE) have alleviated spread and transmission of this highly contagious viral disease, and enabled enhancement of PPE, thereby fortifying antiviral behavior.

Review of a series of state of the art research papers on the subject matter.

This paper expounds on novel nanotechnological advancements in polymeric textile composites, emerging applications and fight against COVID-19 pandemic.

As a panacea to “public droplet prevention,” textiles have proven to be potentially effective as environmental droplet barriers (EDBs).

PPT in form of healthcare materials including surgical face masks (SFMs), gloves, goggles, respirators, gowns, uniforms, scrub-suits and other apparels play critical role in hindering the spreading of COVID-19 and other “oral-respiratory droplet contamination” both within and outside hospitals.

When used as double-layers, textiles display effectiveness as SFMs or surgical-fabrics, which reduces droplet transmission to <10 cm, within circumference of ∼0.3%.

NT advancements in textiles through nanoparticles, and sensor integration within textile materials have enhanced versatile sensory capabilities, robotics, flame retardancy, self-cleaning, electrical conductivity, flexibility and comfort, thereby availing it for health, medical, sporting, advanced engineering, pharmaceuticals, aerospace, military, automobile, food and agricultural applications, and more. Therefore, this paper expounds on recently emerging trends in nanotechnological influence in textiles for engineering and fight against COVID-19 pandemic.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of environmental risk on corporate governance through market reaction to bank loan announcements.

Using the establishment of environment court in China as a quasi-natural experiment, this paper adopt the difference-in-differences approach based on listed firms during 2003–2013 to explore the impact of environment court on corporate governance.

This paper find that the environment court would weaken the cumulative abnormal return of loan announcements. Then, this paper confirm that the potential reason is that environment court worsens the interest conflict between majority and minority shareholders. Further, cross-sectional analysis suggests that bank’s supervision, market competition and analyst coverage can alleviate the impact of environment court on corporate governance.

Environment courts intensify firms’ internal interest disputes, thus causing the decrease of corporate governance, which can be observed through the effect of bank loan announcements.

This paper provide reference for environmental policy formulation and implementation, firms’ decision-makings and improving the banking regulatory system.

This paper makes a contribution to the studies about the impact of environment court on firms’ decision-making and investors’ reaction, the impact of external factors on corporate governance and bank loan announcements effect.