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Article
Publication date: 21 January 2020

Nicolas Chevrollier, Jianhong Zhang, Thijs van Leeuwen and André Nijhof

Despite the scholarly attention for the integration of sustainability within business strategy and processes, little is known about how strategic orientations of companies…

2212

Abstract

Purpose

Despite the scholarly attention for the integration of sustainability within business strategy and processes, little is known about how strategic orientations of companies influence this integration. Drawing on stewardship theory, this paper aims to analyse the influence of strategic orientation of companies on their environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) performance and the moderating effect of three different political models of economy (Rhine, British and American).

Design/methodology/approach

This paper creates a measurement for strategic orientations by using a coding scheme with a five-category evaluation matrix. The main empirical analysis is done by a fixed-effect model with a panel data set covering 179 publicly traded companies over the 2009-2016 period.

Findings

The conclusions of this paper present that – consistent over time – a stronger orientation on stewardship positively associates with higher ESG performance. Additionally, the political model of economy significantly alters the relationship indicating the effect of strategic orientation on ESG performance. The relationship is significantly stronger in the Rhine model and significantly weaker in the British model, when both compared to the American model.

Originality/value

The implications of this paper are vital to understanding corporate strategic orientation and its relationship to actual corporate behaviour and long-term performance. Implementing the elements of focus, motivation, commitment, support and communication linked to a stewardship orientation is fundamental to achieve higher levels of sustainability performance.

Details

Corporate Governance: The International Journal of Business in Society, vol. 20 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1472-0701

Keywords

Available. Open Access. Open Access
Article
Publication date: 3 February 2025

Jianhong Zhang, Suzana B. Rodrigues, Jiangang Jiang and Chaohong Zhou

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of political instability at the local level on foreign firms in China. Building on the literature on political embeddedness…

75

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of political instability at the local level on foreign firms in China. Building on the literature on political embeddedness and business power, the authors propose a theoretical framework to explain how political turnover can affect foreign firms’ performance and how they respond to such challenges by leveraging their power bases.

Design/methodology/approach

To test the hypotheses, the authors apply fixed effects regression to an unbalanced panel data set comprising 13,360 foreign firms from 1998 to 2013 and the political replacement that involved changes in provincial governors.

Findings

The findings confirm that political turnover incidents have a negative impact on the performance of foreign firms in China. However, the authors also found that this negative relationship is weaker for firms that can choose various types of power sources. Specifically, the study reveals that foreign firms with large firm size, government ownership and a strong foreign direct investment community are better qualified to mitigate the negative effects of political instability.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the literature by developing the understanding of how political uncertainties and risks affect the performance of foreign firms in China and the importance of firms’ power in counterbalancing these effects. The research provides valuable insights into how multinational corporations can exploit their power to manage the effects of local political turnover, which has practical implications for the strategy and management of foreign firms operating in China.

Details

Multinational Business Review, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1525-383X

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Article
Publication date: 1 September 2007

Jianhong Zhang, Jan P.A.M. Jacobs and Arjen van Witteloostuijn

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) play a dominant role in the international business (IB) literature. Traditionally, by far the majority of IB studies deal with issues at the micro…

630

Abstract

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) play a dominant role in the international business (IB) literature. Traditionally, by far the majority of IB studies deal with issues at the micro level of the individual MNE, or at the meso level of a sample of individual MNEs in industries. This paper focuses on the impact of MNE behavior through foreign direct investment (FDI) on a country’s international trade, and vice versa. In so doing, this study responds to a recent plea for more macro‐level studies in IB into the effect of MNE behavior on the macroeconomic performance of countries as a whole, particularly developing and emerging economies. In the current study, we focus on the largest developing or emerging economy of all: China. Applying sophisticated econometric techniques, we unravel the causality and direction of FDI‐trade linkages for the Chinese economy in the 1980‐2003 period.

Details

Journal of Asia Business Studies, vol. 2 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1558-7894

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Article
Publication date: 14 April 2014

Jianhong Zhang, Jiangang Jiang and Chaohong Zhou

– The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of diplomatic activities on outward foreign direct investment (OFDI).

1428

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of diplomatic activities on outward foreign direct investment (OFDI).

Design/methodology/approach

The paper first develops a set of hypotheses drawing insights from politics, international business and institutional theory. It then tests these hypotheses by estimation of Panel Corrected Standard Error models, using the data of Chinese OFDI flow to 131 countries over the period of 2003-2010.

Findings

The main findings are: friendly bilateral diplomatic activities help OFDI in general; bilateral diplomatic activities provide effective support to some sensitive and important investments; and bilateral diplomatic activities play an important role in host countries where institutions are absent or poor in quality.

Practical implications

Friendly bilateral diplomatic activities provide strong support to multinationals investing abroad.

Originality/value

The paper incorporates a neglected but important factor, diplomacy, into a model to analyze its influences on OFDI. It investigates not only the direct impact of diplomatic activities on OFDI but also their moderating effect on other OFDI determinants, such as economic and institutional factors.

Details

International Journal of Emerging Markets, vol. 9 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-8809

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Article
Publication date: 4 October 2011

Lin Runhui, Fan Jianhong, Zhao Yang, Zhang Hongjuan and Hou Rujing

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the relationship between the corporate governance (CG) environment, governance behavior and governance performance and place it into the…

1297

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the relationship between the corporate governance (CG) environment, governance behavior and governance performance and place it into the research of the evolution and revolution of the Chinese telecommunication industry, a complex economic system.

Design/methodology/approach

On the basis of information about the Chinese telecommunication industry from 1949 to 2009 and China Mobile from 1997 to 2007, the authors analyze the Chinese telecommunication industry from two levels, namely industry level and firm level, with the combination of a critical incident method and time series method.

Findings

The results demonstrate that the evolution of the Chinese CG environment and governance behavior presents characteristics of punctuated equilibrium; governance behavior lags behind governance environment and it can cause the governance environment to evolve to benefit its development through exerting active effects; governance environment and governance performance strongly relate to and have an effect on each other; and the improvement of governance structure and mechanisms, together with the enhancement of strategic capability, can greatly contribute to the governance performance of firms.

Originality/value

This paper has divided the development of the Chinese telecommunication industry into four stages, revealing the relationship between governance environment, governance behavior and governance performance with a case study of the Chinese telecommunication industry and China Mobile.

Available. Content available
391

Abstract

Details

Journal of Asia Business Studies, vol. 6 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1558-7894

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Article
Publication date: 5 December 2016

Ou Wang, Xavier Gellynck and Wim Verbeke

The purpose of this paper is to explore Chinese consumers’ perceptions in relation to both Chinese traditional and European food.

1966

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore Chinese consumers’ perceptions in relation to both Chinese traditional and European food.

Design/methodology/approach

A web-based free word association test was administered to 302 consumers in China. They were asked to give the first three words that came into their minds when they were presented with each of two stimulus words, “traditional food” and “European food”. Three researchers grouped the elicited words into classes and then into dimensions. χ2 association tests were used to assess and identify statistically significant differences in the frequencies of classes and dimensions for the two food concepts between socio-demographic groups.

Findings

The findings show that Chinese consumers define Chinese traditional food and European food through ten similar dimensions: Sensory appeal, Health, Origin, Marketing, Safety, Variety, Heritage, Symbolic meaning, Simplicity and Mood. Additionally, they associate Chinese traditional food with the dimensions Elaboration, Celebration and Habit, as well as link European food to the dimensions Convenience and New. Although ten dimensions are the same, obvious differences can be identified by comparing the classes for the two food concepts. Further, there are significant differences in the class associations for European food between age groups and in the dimension associations for Chinese traditional food between gender groups.

Originality/value

By using an online qualitative research method, this study is one of the first to address how Chinese consumers define both European food and their own traditional food in China, the largest East Asian country. The findings are particularly useful for the future development of traditional food products and for the future export of European food products onto China and even other countries in East Asia.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 118 no. 12
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

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Article
Publication date: 14 August 2024

Lizhi Zhou, Chuan Wang, Pei Niu, Hanming Zhang, Ning Zhang, Quanyi Xie, Jianhong Wang, Xiao Zhang and Jian Liu

Laser point clouds are a 3D reconstruction method with wide range, high accuracy and strong adaptability. Therefore, the purpose is to discover a construction point cloud…

49

Abstract

Purpose

Laser point clouds are a 3D reconstruction method with wide range, high accuracy and strong adaptability. Therefore, the purpose is to discover a construction point cloud extraction method that can obtain complete information about the construction of rebar, facilitating construction quality inspection and tunnel data archiving, to reduce the cost and complexity of construction management.

Design/methodology/approach

Firstly, this paper analyzes the point cloud data of the tunnel during the construction phase, extracts the main features of the rebar data and proposes an M-E-L recognition method. Secondly, based on the actual conditions of the tunnel and the specifications of Chinese tunnel engineering, a rebar model experiment is designed to obtain experimental data. Finally, the feasibility and accuracy of the M-E-L recognition method are analyzed and tested based on the experimental data from the model.

Findings

Based on tunnel morphology characteristics, data preprocessing, Euclidean clustering and PCA shape extraction methods, a M-E-L identification algorithm is proposed for identifying secondary lining rebars in highway tunnel construction stages. The algorithm achieves 100% extraction of the first-layer rebars, allowing for the three-dimensional visualization of the on-site rebar situation. Subsequently, through data processing, rebar dimensions and spacings can be obtained. For the second-layer rebars, 55% extraction is achieved, providing information on the rebar skeleton and partial rebar details at the construction site. These extracted data can be further processed to verify compliance with construction requirements.

Originality/value

This paper introduces a laser point cloud method for double-layer rebar identification in tunnels. Current methods rely heavily on manual detection, lacking objectivity. Objective approaches for automatic rebar identification include image-based and LiDAR-based methods. Image-based methods are constrained by tunnel lighting conditions, while LiDAR focuses on straight rebar skeletons. Our research proposes a 3D point cloud recognition algorithm for tunnel lining rebar. This method can extract double-layer rebars and obtain construction rebar dimensions, enhancing management efficiency.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-9988

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Article
Publication date: 24 May 2024

Shupeng Liu, Jianhong Shen and Jing Zhang

Learning from past construction accident reports is critical to reducing their occurrence. Digital technology provides feasibility for extracting risk factors from unstructured…

107

Abstract

Purpose

Learning from past construction accident reports is critical to reducing their occurrence. Digital technology provides feasibility for extracting risk factors from unstructured reports, but there are few related studies, and there is a limitation that textual contextual information cannot be considered during extraction, which tends to miss some important factors. Meanwhile, further analysis, assessment and control for the extracted factors are lacking. This paper aims to explore an integrated model that combines the advantages of multiple digital technologies to effectively solve the above problems.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 1000 construction accident reports from Chinese government websites were used as the dataset of this paper. After text pre-processing, the risk factors related to accident causes were extracted using KeyBERT, and the accident texts were encoded into structured data. Tree-augmented naive (TAN) Bayes was used to learn the data and construct a visualized risk analysis network for construction accidents.

Findings

The use of KeyBERT successfully considered the textual contextual information, prompting the extracted risk factors to be more complete. The integrated TAN successfully further explored construction risk factors from multiple perspectives, including the identification of key risk factors, the coupling analysis of risk factors and the troubleshooting method of accident risk source. The area under curve (AUC) value of the model reaches up to 0.938 after 10-fold cross-validation, indicating good performance.

Originality/value

This paper presents a new machine-assisted integrated model for accident report mining and risk factor analysis, and the research findings can provide theoretical and practical support for accident safety management.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

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Article
Publication date: 1 February 2021

Ling Liang, Lin Tian, Jiaping Xie, Jianhong Xu and Weisi Zhang

The car-sharing market has entered the mature stage, and consumers' demand shows a diversified increasing trend. This paper considers two modes of operation and two pricing…

1741

Abstract

Purpose

The car-sharing market has entered the mature stage, and consumers' demand shows a diversified increasing trend. This paper considers two modes of operation and two pricing strategies, which are business-to-consumer and consumer-to-consumer modes, market pricing and platform pricing. Under these conditions, the platform's revenue-sharing ratio will be different. The purpose of this paper is to explore this research question, and seeks an optimal pricing mechanism that can achieve a win–win situation between platform and automobile manufacturer in the two market modes.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors design different profit functions for platform under the two contexts. Of course, the platform's function is constrained to the manufacturer's function. By introducing a revenue-sharing contract a Stackelberg game model dominated by the platform is established and the equilibrium solutions under the two pricing models are derived.

Findings

The study found that even if only market pricing is executed, the scale of the car-sharing market will continue to expand. As the car-sharing market becomes more saturated, platform pricing is better for the automobile manufacturer; in most cases, the platform prefers platform pricing, but when the number of private cars is relatively small, if the cost of car operation and maintenance for the automobile manufacturer is lower or the revenue-sharing ratio of private cars is high, then market pricing will be more favorable to the platform.

Practical implications

With the cross-border integration of car service platforms and the automobile manufacturing industry, the key to achieving win–win cooperation and sustainable development in the car-sharing market will converge on the question of how to design a suitable pricing mechanism and revenue-sharing method.

Originality/value

Authors have determined how a car-sharing platform achieves a win–win order pricing strategy with the manufacturer and private car owners, respectively. And authors combined the supply chain revenue-sharing contract with the car-sharing market to explore the application of the revenue-sharing contract in the sharing economy.

Details

Industrial Management & Data Systems, vol. 121 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-5577

Keywords

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