Search results

The purpose of this paper was to compare the electrochemical homogeneity of AZ91D after various heat treatment processes, and its influence on the growth, composition, microstructure and corrosion resistance of phosphate conversion coatings.

The electrochemical activity of different heat-treated Mg alloys was evaluated via scanning vibrational electrode technique; the characterization of the microstructure and phase composition of coatings was conducted using a scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffraction. The corrosion resistance was evaluated by electrochemical tests and accelerated neutral salt spray tests.

T6 treatment increased the electrochemical homogeneity, while T4 treatment decreased the microstructure homogeneity of AZ91D magnesium alloy, due to the existence of residual Al-Mn impurity phase. The phosphate conversion coating (PCC) on T6 heat-treated Mg alloys showed the most compact microstructure and the best corrosion resistance, while the coating on the T4 heat-treated Mg alloy exhibited the worst microstructure and corrosion resistance.

The microstructure and protectiveness of coatings are related to the homogeneousness of Mg alloy: an Mg substrate with a more heterogeneous electrochemical reactivity yields a PCC with less protectiveness, which could be explained by the difference of precipitation kinetics at the metal/electrolyte interface.

The sustainable development of the platform economy has been hindered by the absence and alienation of platform corporate social responsibility. Previous studies have mainly focused on the contents and governance models for platform corporate social responsibility. This study seeks to explore which strategy participants choose in the governance of platform corporate social responsibility and their influencing factors.

Using a platform ecosystem approach, a quadrilateral evolutionary game model was developed, and the stabilities of subjects’ behavioral strategies and their combinations in various scenarios were analyzed. Additionally, the effects of key parameters on the system’s evolutionary path were simulated.

The ideal steady state system is achieved when platform enterprises, complementors and consumers adopt positive strategies while the government adopts lax regulation. Moreover, the evolutionary strategies of the subjects are influenced by several factors, including the participation costs of governance, the rewards and punishments imposed by platform enterprises, as well as the reputational losses of platform enterprises and complementors due to media coverage.

This study offers insights into improving the governance effectiveness of platform corporate social responsibility for managers and practitioners.

This study contributes to existing literature by considering the rational orientation of platform ecosystem members and revealing the interaction mechanisms among members. Furthermore, this study combines collective action theory and reputation theory to clarify the influencing factors on members’ behaviors.

High turnover of project managers is a common phenomenon in the construction industry, which has a negative impact on the productivity and performance of construction firms. The study investigates the mechanisms of person-environment fit on turnover intention of construction project managers and the mediating role of job embeddedness. The authors also tested the moderating role of perceived organizational support in the influence of job embeddedness on turnover intention.

The data were collected from managers of 62 construction and infrastructure projects in Wuhan. Based on person-environment fit theory, job embeddedness theory and social exchange theory (SET), the authors employ structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the hypotheses.

Results show that if project managers are not well-fitted with the environment of organizations, it reduces their embeddedness in jobs, which in consequence makes them more inclined to leave. Job embeddedness mediates the relationship between person-environment fit and turnover intention. In addition, the authors validated the moderating effect of perceived organizational support, showing that the higher the employee's job embeddedness, the lower the employee's turnover intention.

Construction companies can retain project managers and stabilize management teams through effective management strategies, thus effectively reducing the separation costs of construction companies.

The proportional distribution of social labor is a general law governing human social and economic activities, also a law discovered by Marxist political economy that governs socialist economic operations and development based on public ownership.

This law draws on Marx's vision of future society, but how it is adopted is not only subject to the way a country's economy interacts but also to the influence of a country's historical and cultural traditions. Generations of the CPC and state leaders since Mao Zedong have made unremitting explorations for its application.

As socialism with Chinese characteristics enters a new era, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core adheres to the standpoints, viewpoints and methods of Marxist political economy, draws from the splendid Chinese traditional culture that values integrity, peace and harmony of all, builds on the reality of China's socialist market economy development, has summed up the features of socialist economy development with Chinese characteristics, and has proposed the five-sphere integrated plan, the four-pronged comprehensive strategy.

The new development concept of “innovation, coordination, green development, openness, and sharing” for socialism with Chinese characteristics, all reflecting the Party's deepening understanding of coordinated development, the gradual formation of the general thought and policy methods of the country's economic regulations based on the coordination and balance of economic structure, the continuous explorations to open a new chapter of contemporary Marxist political economy, China's experience and wisdom, and the Party's confidence in the theories it applies, the road it takes, its system and its culture. The coordination and balance of economic structure are a major theoretical innovation of socialist political economy with Chinese characteristics in the new era.

This paper attempts to critically question present IPE approaches and analyses that aim at assessing China’s role within the international political economy. Thus, unlike common theorizations that see the country as being integrated within US hegemony (Panitch and Gindin) or those accounts that claim that we are already witnessing the “terminal crisis” of US hegemony accompanied by a hegemonic transition toward China (Arrighi), the paper will argue that China was able to gain “relative geopolitical autonomy” as a result of the revolutionary processes it went through and eventually assert itself as a contender state, now just in the process of challenging US hegemony. Dissatisfied with existent theorizations of hegemony, I will be drawing on the critical edition of Gramsci’s Quaderni and attempt to offer a new perspective regarding the conceptualization thereof. Thus applying the elaborated framework of analysis to the current situation, I argue that unlike the US’s ability to counter the challenge of its traditional imperial rivals Germany and Japan as they developed under the grip of US hegemony, the country is facing difficulties in countering China’s ascent. However, while maintaining that China does indeed represent a challenge to US hegemony, particularly in East Asia, I will argue that the idea of a “crisis of US hegemony” is premature as China remains distant from fully realizing hegemonic relations, even at the regional level.

The paper provides an overview of material helpful in placing the subsequent papers in context, as well as a summary of the research contributions made by the individual papers themselves.

We begin with a timeline of China’s Economic Reform, including both major events that permitted the opening and expansion of the nation’s economy, and important milestones of the historical movement. We then consider the impact of philosophy and culture (particularly, Confucianism and socialism) on China’s society and government, which leads naturally to certain observations regarding the political-economic model in which state-owned enterprises play a central role. In the final section, we briefly summarize the contents of the remaining papers.

The study performs an empirical test to assess the impact of the Pakistan-China Free trade agreement (FTA) on Pakistan, China, and the World's exports under homogenous and differentiated products. This study employs the modeling with Poisson specification with Poisson Pseudo-Maximum Likelihood method for the estimations. The results of empirical test show that the effect of FTA on the FTA and Non-FTA countries is greater in the differentiated product as compared to the homogenous product. Therefore, one of the most important policy implications provided by this study is that export enterprises need to concentrate on differentiated products as compare to the homogenous products after the implementation of the Pakistan-China FTA. Moreover, the previous literature concluded that Pakistan-China FTA was more beneficial for China as compared to Pakistan. However, according to this study, if Pakistani enterprises focus more on differentiated products as compared to homogenous products, then it will be equally beneficial for both Chinese and Pakistani enterprises. This study will contribute to the literature by considering the Bertrand competition between asymmetric countries and find out the effect of the FTA on these three countries. It considers China, Pakistan, and the Rest of the World as first, second, and third countries.

A city is a spatial carrier of innovation activities. Improving the level of urban innovation can play a significant supporting role in building an innovative country. China began to implement the innovative city pilot policy in 2008 and continued to expand the policy into more areas for exploring the path of innovative urban development with Chinese characteristics and improving urban innovation.

Based on mechanism analysis, this paper used the panel data of 269 cities from 2003 to 2016 to empirically test the effect of the pilot policy on the level of urban innovation by using different methods, such as the difference-in-differences model.

The results show that the innovative city pilot policy significantly improves the level of urban innovation. However, according to the findings of the heterogeneity analysis, the effect of the pilot policy on improving the innovation level in direct-controlled municipalities, provincial capitals and sub-provincial cities is weaker than that in ordinary cities, and the effect of the pilot policy on improving the innovation level in cities with a higher quality of science and education resources is weaker than that in cities with lower quality of science and education resources.

Moreover, as the level of urban innovation increases, the effect of the pilot policy on improving the level of urban innovation is an asymmetric inverted V shape, which means the effect is first strengthened and then weakened. The research also finds that the locational heterogeneity of the pilot policy for improving the level of urban innovation is not notable. In addition, the innovative city pilot policy can strengthen the government's strategic guidance, promote the concentration of talent, incentivize corporate investment and optimize the innovation environment, having a positive impact on urban innovation. Moreover, the effect of concentration of talent and the effect of corporate investment incentive are the important reasons for the pilot policy to promote the improvement of the level of urban innovation.

In this historical analysis, Jacques Ellul’s theory of propaganda is applied to analyse the changes of China’s propaganda. It is found that China’s propaganda is undergoing structural transformations from depending on human organisation to extensive control and use of media technology. Sociological propaganda as a complement to political propaganda has significantly expanded; integration propaganda replaced agitation propaganda. International image management by the government has become a new dimension of China’s propaganda. The research is one of the first to observe such structural changes.

Large foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow is one of the most important features of China's economic reform and opening up to the outside world. Over the past 30 years, China has attracted over US$940 billion FDI inflows, making it the largest FDI recipient among the all developing countries. This chapter argues that FDI inflows into China have mostly come from developing economies, concentrated in China's east and southeast coastal regions, and biased toward the manufacturing sector. The large FDI inflows have greatly contributed to China's economic development. FDI has been playing an increasingly important role in China's economy in terms of capital formation, employment creation, export promotion, and integrating with the world economy. The global financial and economic crisis has had negative impact on FDI inflows into China. However, as compared to the large decline in FDI globally, FDI inflows into China have been resilient. China will continue to be one of the most attractive destinations for FDI in the future.