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Given the complexity and increasing interdependence of supply chain networks, a broader perspective beyond a simple binary relationship is needed to analyse the impact of supply chain networks on firms. Based on social network theory, this study aims to explore the relationship between firms’ network position in the supply chain network and digital transformation, as well as the moderating effects of structural holes and network partners’ digitalisation.

This study analyses a sample of Chinese A-share companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges for the period 2011–2020 using regression analysis to test hypothesised relationships.

A firm’s centrality in the supply chain network is positively related to its digital transformation, and that the firm’s structural holes and the level of network partners’ digitalisation can both strengthen the positive influence of network centrality on digital transformation. Moreover, the heterogeneity analysis reveals that the positive effect of firms’ network centrality on digital transformation is more pronounced in non-SOEs and upstream firms.

In the pursuit of digital transformation, firms should recognise the significance of their position in the supply chain network and enhance their capability for information and resource acquisition by proactively strengthening their business cooperation with other network members. Moreover, firms should emphasise the value of open networks and their partners in supply chain networks.

This study applies social network theory to investigate the role of a firm’s external supply chain network in its digital transformation, clarifying the context and boundaries in which a firm’s position in the supply chain network influences digital transformation. The results extend the research and theoretical perspective on digital transformation and the consequences of supply chain networks.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether, when and how customer orientation may contribute to success in introduction of new products (SINP).

With a multi-phase and multi-source data collection approach, this study tested the proposed theoretical model by applying multiple regression with SPSS Process Macro.

Customer orientation positively influences cross-functional integration (CFI), which in turn facilitates SINP; a firm’s new product introduction (NPI) strategy moderates customer orientation–CFI link.

This study empirically tests whether, why and when customer orientation may contribute to SINP. By suggesting the important role of customer orientation in improving SINP, the mediating effect of CFI and the moderating effect of NPI strategy, the current study should enrich the extant literature on customer orientation, CFI and NPI.

This study aims to investigate how firms’ internationalization activities through exporting influence their organizational learning. Specifically, this study examines how the level of exporting and geographic market scope impact a firm’s exploratory and exploitative R&D investment differently.

Using a sample of 7,055 firms in Spain during the period 2006–2011, the study uses regression analysis (generalized least squares random effects) to test various hypotheses.

Although exporting improves organizational learning, learning opportunities vary for different aspects of exporting. Specifically, the level of a firm’s exporting has a significant positive effect on its exploitative R&D investment, whereas geographic market scope of a firm increases its exploratory R&D investment.

The findings can aid in shaping policies and firms’ decisions pertaining to exporting and exploratory and exploitative R&D investment. As the findings indicate that, the determinants of exploratory and exploitative R&D investment are different, managers and policymakers, who aim at a specific type of R&D investment, should understand which exporting strategy they should pursue.

Prior research suggests that exporting improves organizational learning. This study extends this knowledge by showing that different aspects of exporting, specifically, the level of exporting and geographic market scope, drive different types of organizational learning.

The authors attempt to answer the basic questions: How is imitation tied to innovation? This question is addressed in the context of China's innovation system in the 2000s where Chinese industrial firms simultaneously implement innovation and imitation strategies in their new product developments.

The authors first build on lattice theory and supermodularity theory to provide a rigorous and careful mathematical proof. The authors further conduct the empirical analyses using an original data on Chinese manufacturing firms' innovation and imitation strategies in the development of new products in 2002.

This article reveals the complementarity relation between imitation and innovation strategies and identifies external knowledge search as the boundary condition that influences the extent to which two strategies reinforce each other.

The findings of the imitation-innovation complementarity suggest that imitation is not only an indispensable strategy independent of innovation, but also is vital to the effectiveness of innovation itself.

The imitation-innovation complementarity finding provides some evidence for the contention that Chinese latecomers exploit the synergies of imitation and innovation, transforming themselves from imitators to innovators and vibrant competitors in the global market (Wu et al., 2016) and, as a result, national innovation system has evolved from a state-sponsored imitation program to the imitation-innovation mixture.

In contrast to earlier innovation studies in which innovation and imitation are unrelated, this study reveals that imitation complements innovation, and the extent of Chinese firms' external knowledge search affects the complementary relationship between imitation and innovation. These findings add important insights to the innovation management literature and contribute empirical evidence to the interplay of innovation and imitation enhancing national innovation system.

It is widely accepted that business excellence comes from firm-specific factors. However, it is still unclear how institutional relatedness – the degree of embeddedness with the dominant institutions that confer resources and legitimacy, influences the business excellence of the firm. The purpose of this study is to explore the influence of three kinds of institutional relatedness, i.e. home government ties, initial public offerings (IPOs) and alliances with foreign firms, on the business excellence of Chinese firms.

This study uses a sample of firms enlisted on the “Most Respected Companies” rank in China during the period 2002–2015 and their paired firms who are absent from the list, by means of ordinary least square regression estimator, to explore the relationship between institutional relatedness and business excellence.

The empirical results suggest that IPOs and alliances with foreign firms significantly strengthen firms’ business excellence. Furthermore, home government ties have positive effects on outbound IPOs and alliances with foreign firms but hinder business excellence.

This study extends the business excellence literature by characterizing institutional rather than firm-specific factors from an institution-based view. It also enriches research on outcomes of institutional relatedness through investigating empirically its impact on business excellence. The findings provide new insights into the dual role of home government ties in achieving business excellence.

Academic contention occurs when research evidence is amenable to more than one interpretation. China has a long tradition of Shang Que (商榷), in which authors argue for their preferred interpretation. The modern form of this tradition is the Shang Que article, which often takes the form of research papers in Chinese-language journals and which tends to be question-oriented. Shang Que articles usually take the views of a particular author or article as the focus of independent and complete criticism by another, independent, academic. This paper explains the role of Shang Que articles in Chinese scholarship and their influence on international academia.

A bibliometric analysis was used to explore the characteristics and evolution of Chinese Shang Que articles using 30,577 articles published between 1979 and 2018. Microsoft Excel and Gephi were used for data analysis and visualization.

Findings suggest a decline in the number of Shang Que articles and an increase in the number of co-authors. Shang Que articles remained particularly prominent in Philosophy and Humanities and Social Sciences, where they focused on local issues such as classical Chinese, the Sinicization of Marxism and Chinese literature. This suggests that the number of Shang Que articles is related to the degree of internationalization of a research field.

Shang Que articles, which have been influenced by academic paradigms in English, are a fusion of China's Shang Que tradition and of the modern academic system. Through considering Shang Que articles, this paper explores the benefits of local academic traditions in non-English-speaking cultures.

Herringbone groove thrust bearings are typically used in high-speed, light-load applications, such as spindle motors for hard disk drives. In the past researches, the effect of shaft misalignment was little considered. This study aims to reveal effects of shaft misalignment on the microscopic flow regime in the water-lubricated herringbone groove thrust bearing.

The liquid film in a thrust herringbone groove bearing was investigated by computational fluid dynamics. The effects of micro-grooves on the flow field were carefully explored. Two-dimensional liquid films at four different sites were examined for obtaining the rich flow field properties.

The distributions of pressure, temperature and water vapor volume fraction were obtained, the micro hydrodynamic effects were formed by the herringbone grooves and the effects of the shaft misalignment on lubrication and sealing performance could be found.

The influence of misalignment on the herringbone groove thrust bearing performance was investigated in detail. The obtained results could give the reference guideline for the bearing design.

This study aims to use fractal theory to investigate the contact mechanics of two bidirectional anisotropic surfaces, taking into account the friction coefficient of the contact interface. This study introduces a model that centers on normal contact load and contact stiffness, providing an extensive framework to elucidate the interactions between these surfaces.

The research adopts the Weierstrass–Mandelbrot (W-M) function for simulating bidirectional surface profiles. Through the application of elastic-plastic contact theory, it evaluates the contact area and load of a singular asperity across elasticity, elastoplasticity and plasticity phases. The contact load and stiffness of the rough surface are determined using a refined asperity density distribution function, and these findings are juxtaposed with extant models to validate their precision and rationality.

The study delineates the influence of fractal dimension (D), surface roughness (G), ellipse eccentricity (e) and friction coefficient (µ) on the contact area, load and stiffness. It reveals that the contact area enlarges with the fractal dimension (D) yet diminishes with increased eccentricity (e), roughness (G) and friction coefficient (µ). These elements considerably affect the contact load and stiffness, underscoring their significance in comprehending surface interactions.

This study applies fractal theory to analyze the contact mechanics of bidirectional anisotropic surfaces, considering the geometry and mechanics of ellipsoidal asperities on rough surfaces to develop a contact mechanics model. This model clarifies the deformation of an asperity in normal contact, presenting a more rational alternative to current models.

Digital transformation is essential for commercial banks to maintain long-term competitiveness in the digital economy era. This study aims to investigate the relationship between inside debt and the bank's digital transformation.

This study set up a quasi-natural experiment based on implementing the executive compensation deferral system in the Chinese banking industry. Using the annual panel data of 180 commercial banks in China from 2007 to 2021, this study employed the difference-in-differences (DID) method to conduct an empirical analysis.

This study confirms a significant statistical relationship between inside debt and the bank's digital transformation, and managerial myopia is the transmission channel of inside debt affecting the bank's digital transformation. Furthermore, the development of Internet finance and the enhancement of bankers' confidence will improve the contributions of inside debt to the bank's digital transformation.

This study contributes to the literature on inside debt and the bank's digital transformation. It has specific policy value for the scientific design of the banking compensation mechanism and accelerating banks' digital transformation.

This paper aims to deduce a set of theory computational formula, and optimize and improve the heat conductivity of vias in printed circuit boards of electrical power apparatus.

The authors adopted numerical simulation and experimental measurement to verify the reliability of this formula.

Research result showed that 0.45 mm was the optimal bore diameter of vias; the conductivity had no obvious improvement when filling material was FR4 or Rogers, but if it was filled with texture of high thermal conductivity like soldering tine, the conductivity would improve a lot; the plating thickness of vias had a greater influence on thermal conductivity.

Through the theory computational formula, this paper studied the influence of aperture of vias, filled materials and thickness of copper plated on vias on thermal conductivity.