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The European Union's Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) has existed for over 40 years and it aimed to promote the export growth in the developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the evolution and characteristics of the EU's GSP regime and examine the effectiveness of the EU's GSP in promoting the export growth of ten ASEAN beneficiary countries.

The authors analyse the trade flows between the EU and ASEAN beneficiary countries under the GSP scheme by referring to trade data (1990‐2007) at the aggregate level, the sectoral level and individual beneficiary country level.

The authors find that using the EU's GSP to promote the exports growth of the ASEAN countries has very limited effectiveness. Although the total EU imports from the ASEAN countries experienced a significant increase during the period 1990‐2007, the preferential imports under the GSP scheme remained stagnated at the same period. However, the least developed ASEAN members reported very high utilization rates and successfully exploited GSP preferences for pushing up their exports to the European market.

This work provides new evidence on whether the EU's GSP really works and to what extent the EU's GSP enhances the export growth of ASEAN beneficiary countries. The empirical findings may provide trade policymakers with some guidance in making EU trade policy.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the trends of antidumping actions targeting East Asia and to examine the macroeconomic determinants of European Union (EU) antidumping actions against East Asian countries including China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

A Negative Binomial Regression approach is used to estimate the macroeconomic determinants (exchange rates, gross domestic product (GDP) growth, and unemployment rates) of EU antidumping actions against East Asian countries.

The empirical estimation results suggest that the macroeconomic determinants (exchange rates, GDP growth, and unemployment rates) significantly affect antidumping initiations against a particular country in a particular year; in addition, the changing competitive structure and environment in international trade play a role in prompting antidumping actions, and the countries which are larger sources of EU imports are more likely to be hit with antidumping actions.

This is the first paper to examine the macroeconomic determinants of EU antidumping actions targeting East Asian countries and the empirical estimation results provide strong evidence. It also finds that the changing competitive structure and environment in international trade prompt antidumping actions.

Currently, most research studies focus on ownership reforms and governance reforms, while only a few research studies focus on management system innovations. Based on an evolution of state-owned enterprises’ (SOEs) performance appraisal systems, this paper investigates the influence of performance appraisal system on earnings management.

Using a natural experiment that central government-owned enterprises (CGOEs) carried out economic value-added performance appraisal (EVA-PA) in 2010, the authors adapt difference-in-difference method to analyze the relationship between EVA-PA and earnings management choice. Furthermore, the authors consider the situation which contained financial status, separation between decision-making rights and decision-control rights, separation between ownership and control and industrial characteristics.

The research finds that after carrying out EVA-PA, CGOEs prefer accrual-based earnings management to real earnings management, and there is substitution effect between the two types of earnings management. Moreover, further research studies reveal that enterprises suffering losses in the previous year and featuring higher separation between decision-making rights and decision-control rights and higher separation between ownership and control have stronger earnings management motive under EVA-PA. In contrast, enterprises achieving satisfactory financial performance in the previous year and engaging in businesses within protective industry have weaker earnings management motive under EVA-PA. After the implementation of EVA-PA, accrual-based earnings management and real earnings management both impair operating performances of CGOEs.

Theoretically, this paper enriches research studies on earnings management from the perspective of incentive mechanism and expands research studies on economic consequences of EVA-PA. In addition, it validates the relationship between the two types of earnings management. As an important mechanism of corporate management and control, performance appraisal system is an important part for establishing ownership management system and improving internal management system of SOEs.

This study aims to provide guidance for the reliability of electronic packaging. The reliability of solder joints at extremely temperature thermal shock is critical for electronic equipment operating in the field of deep space exploration. In this study, the Sn3.0Ag0.5Cu (SAC305)/Cu solder joints were prepared and thermally shocked with temperatures ranging from −110°C to 110°C, to investigate the effects of extreme temperature thermal shock on the microstructural evolution and property deterioration of the solder joints.

The interfacial intermetallic compound (IMC) stress gradient was calculated through thermal stress theory, mechanism of voids/cracks initiation was clarified, and prediction of the service life was analyzed with the energy-based model.

It is found that the Ag₃Sn, IMC and cracks/voids had evolved significantly with the increase in the cycle period. The microstructure of the IMC changed from short rod-like morphology to scallop shape, the voids in the Cu₃Sn IMC layer continued to increase and integrate, forming larger diameter voids, etc. In addition, the shear strength of SAC305/Cu solder joints decreased gradually with the increase in thermal shock cycles, the fracture mode changes from ductile fracture mode to ductile-brittle mixed fracture mode after 500 cycles. The characteristic lifetime of the SAC305/Cu solder joints under the action of extreme thermal shock is about 1427.86 cycles.

This work provides guidance for the reliability of the solder joints at extremely temperature thermal shock.

This paper aims to investigate the organisational changes (OCs) and the development of Chinese reformed township and village enterprises (RTVEs), their marketing and R&D strategies, and the impact of changes in terms of overall performance.

A case study methodology involving semi‐structured interviews is adopted. The unit chosen is the Guotai International Group (GTIG) in Zhangjiagang, Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China, in which the organisational changes over a period of over 40 years are analysed.

OCs in Chinese RTVEs are found to be driven by a combination of local government plans and market forces. Considering the hybrid nature of the organisation and ownership structures, changes in Chinese RTVEs follow a very much “top‐down” approach.

The findings imply that managers appointed by the state in RTVEs usually lack the necessary skills in marketing and business management, and can be resistant to organisational changes, such as the willingness to undertake risks. As a result, RTVEs may become stuck in a cycle of low‐cost, low‐tech products, inhibiting any breakthrough in developing their own quality brands.

This is one of few papers studying change over a long span of time to arrive at research findings that will be useful to academic researchers in their future work. The qualitative findings from this paper would also enrich the literatures on organisational change in Chinese RTVEs.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the variation of temperature field, pressure field and deformation of hydrostatic thrust bearing under different working conditions, so as to provide a theoretical basis for improving accuracy and reliability.

In this study, the double rectangular hydrostatic bearing of type Q1-224 was selected as the research object, and the simulation was carried out according to different working conditions, and the obtained data were summarized regularly.

It is found that the overall temperature of hydrostatic bearing increases with the increase of speed and load, and the increase in load will result in a larger pressure distribution which first increases and then decreases with the speed. The deformation trend of the deformation field is found, and it is found that the force deformation is larger than the thermal deformation at low rotational speed, and the thermal deformation is larger than the force deformation at high rotational speed.

In this study, the fluid-structure coupling method of conjugate heat transfer is applied to study the whole hydrostatic bearing. Most of the previous studies only studied the oil film and considered the influence of the convective heat transfer between the hydrostatic bearing and the air in heat transfer, which is rarely seen in the previous research literature.

The purpose of the paper is to construct a model that considers video purchase and then identifies the logical relationships implied by the parameters to explore video platform operation mechanisms.

The authors analyzed the video platform system using a mathematical modeling approach and numerical optimization techniques. Through pricing decisions, the authors obtained equilibrium results for the profitability of the video platforms and analyzed the favorable market factors. The authors then extended the model by analyzing the competitive strategies of the two video platforms in the market.

The authors find that advertiser profitability, ad nuisance, video sensitivity and video creator network effects are important factors influencing the pricing strategy of video platforms. During positive market conditions, video platforms tend to lower their prices until they absorb enough users. As market conditions change, the price adjustment strategies of video platforms are affected by parameter changes and inter-parameter relationships.

The study considers the network effects of video creators, which provides a realistic reference for scholars and managers. In addition, the authors consider the bargaining power of platforms when purchasing content. The authors provide a fresh perspective for scholars while filling a gap in the field as video platforms can acquire a portion of the content on the market by setting a purchase price.

This paper aims to improve the corrosion resistance performance and stability of PbO₂ electrodes in chloride wastewater.

The morphology of PbO₂-ZrO₂ nanocomposite electrodes was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The open circuit potential (OCP) curves, anodic polarization curves, electrochemical impedance spectra, accelerated life tests, weight-loss tests and reusability tests were used to study the corrosion resistance properties and stability of PbO₂-ZrO₂ nanocomposite electrodes in NaCl solution.

SEM showed that the surface morphology of PbO₂-ZrO₂ nanocomposite electrodes became compacted and smooth. Electrochemical tests showed that ZrO₂ nanoparticles could increase the OCP, corrosion potential and charge transfer resistance, and decrease the corrosion current density in 3.5 Wt. per cent NaCl electrolyte solution. Besides, PbO₂-ZrO₂ nanocomposite electrodes showed high reusability for acetamiprid degradation, the accelerated service life could reach 146 h, which was almost 3.3 times longer than that of PbO₂ electrodes (44 h), weight-loss tests showed that the corrosion resistance for PbO₂-ZrO₂ nanocomposite electrodes was 2.3 times as compared to PbO₂ electrodes.

By the codeposition of ZrO₂ nanoparticles, the corrosion resistance performance and stability of PbO₂ electrodes in NaCl electrolyte were improved.