Carlos M.P. Sousa, Christos Tsinopoulos, Ji Yan and Gabriel R.G. Benito
The aim of this research is twofold: (1) to investigate when the effect of R&D investment on New Product Development (NPD) performance peaks – the sweet spot and (2) to analyze…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this research is twofold: (1) to investigate when the effect of R&D investment on New Product Development (NPD) performance peaks – the sweet spot and (2) to analyze the influence of firms’ export activities on where that spot is. Drawing on the knowledge-based view (KBV), we argue that export intensity and export experience lead to differential effects on how R&D investments are converted into new products.
Design/methodology/approach
We test our conceptual framework using time lagged data and optimal-level analysis. The dataset consists of an unbalanced panel of 608,891 observations and 333,516 firms.
Findings
The results support the expected inverted U-shaped relationship between R&D investment and NPD performance. They also show moderating effects of export intensity and experience. Export intensity enhances innovation processes by enabling firms to stretch the points at which R&D investments eventually taper off. In contrast, export experience improves firms’ ability to convert R&D investments into NPD performance. Our results demonstrate that, all else equal, firms with relatively higher export experience can spend less on R&D and still achieve higher levels of NPD performance.
Originality/value
We contribute to the literature by investigating how export activities provide a valuable context for understanding the theoretical mechanisms that help explain the inverted U-shaped relationship between R&D investment and innovation. We show the effects of exporting activities on the precise points where the R&D investment–NPD performance relationship peaks, thereby identifying the optimal point within this nonlinear relationship.
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Heshu Huang, Jiping Zhang, Ji Yan, Yu Gong and Liukai Wang
The purpose of this research is to investigate the R&D investment (RDI) of manufacturing firms from the perspective of supply chain network, especially the effect of firms' supply…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to investigate the R&D investment (RDI) of manufacturing firms from the perspective of supply chain network, especially the effect of firms' supply chain network structures (network power and network cohesion) on its RDI, and further to explore the contingency conditions of this effect within the context of Chinese manufacturing supply chains.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors collect a large sample of Chinese manufacturing firms over the period 2014–2019 and construct a large-scale supply chain network, and finally obtain 2,390 firms from 20,483 observations. Ordinary least squares regression was adopted to analyse how supply chain network structures affect RDI in manufacturing firms.
Findings
It is surprising that firm's supply chain network structures have a negative effect on RDI. In addition, knowledge and technology intensity (KTI) positively moderate the relationship between network cohesion and RDI.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the innovation stream from the perspectives of supply chain network, and provides the empirical findings that the negative role of a firm's supply chain network structure on its RDI for the first time. The rationale for these negative effects is straightforward according to the social capital theory that manufacturing firms with a high level of social capital that are possibly to accept established patterns of thinking and behaviour, causing them to decrease the enthusiasm of RDI.
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Liukai Wang, Ji Yan, Xiaohong Chen and Qifa Xu
The purpose of this study is to bridge the gap in the literature on supply chain finance (SCF) by exploring the relationship between network capabilities and corporate financial…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to bridge the gap in the literature on supply chain finance (SCF) by exploring the relationship between network capabilities and corporate financial performance (CFP) in financial supply chains (FSCs).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors collect panel data and adopt regression analysis to analyse the joint investment activities among 1359 manufacturing firms and 289 financial service providers in China to explore how network capabilities, both network power and network centrality, improve CFP in the FSCs.
Findings
Under the FSCs environments, network centrality (i.e. eigenvector centrality, closeness centrality and betweenness centrality) raises CFP (ROA, ROE and Tobin's Q) and network power (node degree, clustering coefficient) also improves CFP. However, node strength from the network power stream has a negative effect on Tobin's Q, indicating that when the partner of a firm has an extremely strong influence in FSCs; this weakens the bargaining ability and flexibility of the focal firm, thus reducing its long-term financial performance.
Practical implications
The joint investment activities among supply chain partners and financial service providers help managers understand the advanced financing solutions generated by internal and external network organisations as well as be aware of network capabilities' impact on CFP in FSCs.
Originality/value
This study answers the call for more empirical research on SCF to provide a broader sample to examine financial supply chain management. This is one of the earliest studies to shed light on a new perspective – how network capabilities improve CFP in the FSCs.
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Carlos M.P. Sousa, Ji Yan, Emanuel Gomes and Jorge Lengler
The paper examines the impact of export activity on productivity and how this effect is moderated by R&D investment and foreign ownership.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper examines the impact of export activity on productivity and how this effect is moderated by R&D investment and foreign ownership.
Design/methodology/approach
A time-lag effect is taken into account when examining the proposed model. Data are collected from the Annual Industrial Survey of the National Bureau of Statistics of China. A dataset containing 117,340 firms across the sample period (2001–2007) are used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The results indicate that while R&D investment plays a significant role in strengthening the positive effect of export activity on a firm's productivity, foreign ownership surprisingly has a negative moderating role.
Originality/value
Scholarly interest in the links between export activity and productivity is on the rise. However, the bulk of research has been focused on understanding the effects of export activity on productivity at the country or industry level. Little has been done at the firm level. Another gap in the literature is that the mechanism through which the impact of export activity can be leveraged to enhance the firm's productivity has been largely ignored. To address these issues, the study adopts the learning-by-exporting theory to examine the relationship between export and productivity at the firm-level and how R&D investment and foreign ownership may explain how learning can be leveraged to enhance the firm's productivity. Finally, these relationships are examined in the context of firms from an emerging market, China, which is especially relevant for the learning-by-exporting argument used in this study.
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Ji Yan, Zihao Yu, Kiran Fernandes and Yu Xiong
To explore the mechanism that shapes firms' supply chain learning (SCL) practices, this study examines the relationship between firms' knowledge network embeddedness and their SCL…
Abstract
Purpose
To explore the mechanism that shapes firms' supply chain learning (SCL) practices, this study examines the relationship between firms' knowledge network embeddedness and their SCL practice in a supply chain network, as well as the moderating role of supply chain network cohesion in this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
Using patent application data and supply chain partner information from 869 listed firms between 2011 and 2020 in China, this study uses fixed-effect regression models to reduce endogeneity problems by controlling for individual heterogeneity effects that cannot be observed over time.
Findings
Firms' knowledge network embeddedness has an inverted U-shaped effect on their SCL, and this non-linear relationship is conditional on supply chain network cohesion, which strengthens (weakens) the positive (negative) effect of knowledge network embeddedness on SCL.
Practical implications
The findings show that managers can reconcile the downsides of knowledge network embeddedness on SCL by fostering greater supply chain network cohesion.
Originality/value
Drawing from the network pluralism perspective, this study contributes to supply chain literature by extending the research context of the antecedents of SCL from a single-network setting to a dual-network setting. It extends the network pluralism perspective by showing that not only positive effects but also negative effects of network embeddedness can transfer from one network to another.
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Ji Yan, Kun Tian, Saeed Heravi and Peter Morgan
This paper aims to investigate consumers’ demand patterns for products with nutritional benefits and products with no nutritional benefits across processed healthy and unhealthy…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate consumers’ demand patterns for products with nutritional benefits and products with no nutritional benefits across processed healthy and unhealthy foods. This paper integrates price changes (i.e. increases and decreases) into a demand model and quantifies their relative impact on the quantity of food purchased. First, how demand patterns vary across processed healthy and unhealthy products is investigated; second, how demand patterns vary across nutrition-benefited (NB) products and non-nutrition-benefited (NNB) products is examined; and third, how consumers respond to price increases and decreases for NB across processed healthy and unhealthy foods is investigated.
Design/methodology/approach
Here, a demand model quantifying scenarios for price changes in consumer food choice behaviour is proposed, and controlled for heterogeneity at household, store and brand levels.
Findings
Consumers exhibit greater sensitivity to price decreases and less sensitivity to price increases across both processed healthy and unhealthy foods. Moreover, the research shows that consumers’ demand sensitivity is greater for NNB products than for NB products, supporting our prediction that NB products have higher brand equity than NNB products. Furthermore, the research shows that consumers are more responsive to price decreases than price increases for processed healthy NB foods, but more responsive to price increases than price decreases for unhealthy NB foods. The findings suggest that consumers exhibit a desirable demand pattern for products with nutritional benefits.
Originality/value
Although studies on the effects of nutritional benefits on demand have proliferated in recent years, researchers have only estimated their impact without considering the effect of price changes. This paper contributes by examining consumers’ price sensitivity for NB products across processed healthy and unhealthy foods based on consumer scanner data, considering both directionalities of price changes.
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Wei Quan, Bikun Chen and Fei Shu
The purpose of this paper is to present the landscape of the cash-per-publication reward policy in China and reveal its trend since the late 1990s.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present the landscape of the cash-per-publication reward policy in China and reveal its trend since the late 1990s.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on the analysis of 168 university documents regarding the cash-per-publication reward policy at 100 Chinese universities.
Findings
Chinese universities offer cash rewards from USD30 to USD165,000 for papers published in journals indexed by Web of Science, and the average reward amount has been increasing for the past ten years.
Originality/value
The cash-per-publication reward policy in China has never been systematically studied and investigated before except for in some case studies. This is the first paper that reveals the landscape of the cash-per-publication reward policy in China.
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Bin Liang, David Moltow and Stephanie Richey
The aim of this article is two-fold. First, it offers a unique account of San Min, the prototype of the current Chinese educational principle proposed by Yan Fu (1854–1921) that…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this article is two-fold. First, it offers a unique account of San Min, the prototype of the current Chinese educational principle proposed by Yan Fu (1854–1921) that aimed at improving people’s physical, intellectual and moral capacities. This system of educational thinking has received only marginal attention in Anglophone research literature. Second, given the influence of Yan Fu’s interpretation and promulgation of Herbert Spencer’s educational philosophy during that period, it investigates the extent to which San Min is derived from Spencer’s educational thought (the “Spencerian Triad”). This article focusses on how Yan Fu adapted the ideas of San Min from Spencer’s account.
Design/methodology/approach
This article considers Yan Fu’s principle of San Min in relation to Spencer’s educational triad through a close reading and comparison of key primary texts (including Yan Fu’s original writing). It explores the similarities and differences between each account of education’s goals and its proposed means of attainment.
Findings
Yan Fu’s principle of San Min is shown to have been adapted from the Spencerian Triad. However, using the theory of Social Organism, Yan Fu re-interpreted Spencer’s individual liberty as liberty for the nation. While Spencer’s goal was to empower individuals, Yan Fu aimed to serve collective independence, wealth and power.
Originality/value
This article addresses oversights concerning San Min’s Western origins in the Spencerian Triad and its influence on Chinese education under Yan Fu’s sway. It is significant because San Min is still at the core of the current Chinese educational policy.
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Chunli Ji, Shuang Liu, Hong-Wai Ho, Erose Sthapit and Brian Garrod
The experiencescape is a relatively new concept, and research using it remains scarce. This study contributes to the understanding of the experiencescape and its role in tourism…
Abstract
Purpose
The experiencescape is a relatively new concept, and research using it remains scarce. This study contributes to the understanding of the experiencescape and its role in tourism consumption by constructing a novel conceptual model of the experiencescape elements of a casino resort visit and their effects on its attractiveness.
Design/methodology/approach
Partial least squares structural equation modelling was employed, using data collected from 491 casino resort visitors in Macao, to establish a link between the experiencescape and visitors’ perceived overall attractiveness of the casino resort through the mediating effect of arousal.
Findings
The findings establish the relationship between experiencescapes and the perceived overall attractiveness of integrated casino resorts through the mediating effect of arousal.
Practical implications
Casino resort executives are advised to orchestrate various experience elements from the perspective of the experiencescape to trigger positive tourism experiences. Specifically, all factors related to tangible, gaming and non-gaming and social experiential stimuli need to be continually reviewed, improved and innovated.
Originality/value
This study presents novel insights into the role of emotions in an integrated casino resort context. It identifies a set of strategies through which managers can increase the attractiveness of their resorts by stimulating customers’ emotions.