Search Results (236)

We investigate whether China’s Value-Added Tax (VAT) Credit Refund policy influences firms’ sustainable development capability (SDC), which reflects innovation-driven growth and green development. Exploiting the 2018 implementation of the VAT Credit Refund policy as a quasi-natural experiment, we employ a difference-in-differences (DID) approach and find causal evidence that the policy significantly enhances firms’ SDC. This suggests that fiscal instruments like VAT refunds are valued by firms as drivers of long-term sustainable and high-quality development. Our mediating analyses further reveal that the policy promotes firms’ SDC by strengthening artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities and facilitating intelligent transformation. This mechanism “AI Capability Building—Intelligent Transformation” aligns with the socio-technical systems theory (STST), highlighting the interactive evolution of technological and social subsystems in shaping firm capabilities. The heterogeneity analyses indicate that the positive effect of VAT Credit Refund policy on SDC is more pronounced among small-scale and non-high-tech firms, firms with lower perceived economic policy uncertainty, higher operational diversification, lower reputational capital, and those located in regions with a higher level of marketization. We also find that the policy has persistent long-term effects, with improved SDC associated with enhanced ESG performance and green innovation outcomes. Our findings have important implications for understanding the SDC through the lens of STST and offer policy insights for deepening VAT reform and promoting intelligent and green transformation in China’s enterprises. Full article

As China enters a high-quality development stage, balancing economic growth and environmental sustainability is essential. Can industrial intelligence reconcile these goals? Using theoretical modeling, this paper integrates production decisions, pollution emissions, and environmental regulations to construct a micro-level analytical framework incorporating technology choice and emission reduction investment. It theoretically explores how robot adoption affects firms’ emission reduction behaviors and empirically tests the model using data from Chinese listed companies (2011–2022). Results indicate that industrial robots significantly reduce firms’ pollution emission intensity through productivity boost, technological progress, and emission reduction effects. Additionally, heterogeneity analyses show that robots have stronger pollution-reducing impacts in heavily polluting industries, state-owned enterprises, and regions with stringent environmental regulations. Therefore, policymakers should encourage robot adoption based on local contexts, formulate differentiated environmental regulations, and implement targeted strategies to maximize robots’ emission reduction potential. Accelerating green and intelligent transformation of enterprises will further align ecological protection with sustainable economic and social development. Full article

This article examines the land-use politics of recreation development in rural China. Extending the lens of spatial informality, it analyzes how the appropriation and acquisition of space by small suburban leisure enterprises have constituted a de facto vehicle for rural spatial reconfiguration amidst land-use constraints. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and case studies, we illuminate emerging scenarios in which inbound businesses burgeoned through the production of informal spaces, which were subsequently formalized or tolerated by local governments geared towards social economic growth. More so, we reveal the potential and limitations of such an informal-to-formal approach for rural spatial reconfiguration by showing how its sustainability and survival depend upon the enterprises’ ability to enter into a tacit alliance of interests with local authorities. This article casts new light on emerging bottom-up processes of spatial reconfiguration, alongside its repercussions for local suburbs, in the development of rural tourism and suburban leisure. It further suggests that, as an analytical approach, a nuanced understanding of rural restructuring under the recent national rural revitalization strategy can benefit from moving beyond the sole emphasis on formal institutions to analyze the role played by ordinary market actors and their spatial practices that shape rural territories and spatial relationships. Full article

With the rapid advancement of information technology and the increasing maturity of online shopping platforms, cross-border shopping has experienced rapid growth. Online consumer reviews, as an essential part of the online shopping process, have become a vital way for merchants to obtain user feedback and gain insights into market demands. The research employs Python tools (Jupyter Notebook 7.0.8) to analyze the 14,078 pieces of review text data from the top four best-selling products in a certain product category on a certain cross-border e-commerce platform. By applying social network analysis, constructing LDA (Latent Dirichlet Allocation) topic models, and establishing LSTM (Long Short-Term Memory) sentiment classification models, the topics and sentiment distribution of the review set are obtained, and the evolution trends of topics and sentiments are analyzed according to different periods. The research finds that in the overall review set, consumers’ focus is concentrated on five aspects: functional features, quality and cost-effectiveness, usage effectiveness, post-purchase support, and design and assembly. In terms of changes in review sentiments, the negative proportion of the topics of functional features and usage effects is still relatively high. Given the above, this study integrates the 4P and 4C theories to propose strategies for enhancing the marketing capabilities of cross-border e-commerce in the context of digital cross-border operations, providing theoretical and practical marketing insights for cross-border e-commerce enterprises. Full article

Green innovation has emerged as a key catalyst for the sustainable growth of logistics enterprises. Green innovation not only helps logistics enterprises reduce operating costs but also enhances their competitiveness and promotes the entire industry’s transformation towards environmental protection and efficiency. However, logistics enterprises encounter technical bottlenecks, capital shortages, and insufficient talent and infrastructure when implementing green innovation. Collaboration between universities and industries serves as a crucial method for logistics companies to access external resources and plays a significant role in promoting technological progress, knowledge transfer, and innovation capability enhancement of enterprises. This research, grounded in the theories of social capital and dynamic capabilities, explores the mechanism from the perspective of resources and capabilities, and examines how university–industry collaboration affects green innovation. This research employs a hierarchical regression model to evaluate the proposed hypotheses. The research results show that university–industry collaboration has a positive impact on social capital, slack resources, and dynamic capabilities, and social capital, slack resources, and dynamic capabilities positively influence green innovation. The research results have certain reference value for logistics enterprises to promote green innovation. Full article

In today’s evolving society, meaningful development cannot be fully realized without acknowledging the vital role of the electronics sector, especially as it functions within informal markets. These markets have become more than just centers of commerce; they serve as informal learning grounds where many young people acquire entrepreneurial skills, develop resilience, and find alternatives to social vices. For many, informal entrepreneurship is not just an option but a means of survival and self-empowerment. Despite their growing relevance, the link between the entrepreneurial abilities nurtured in these informal markets and actual business performance has not been adequately examined. This study, therefore, aimed to explore how informal electronics entrepreneurs in a developing economy navigate their environment, overcome challenges, and create wealth through vision, innovation, and calculated risk-taking. Anchored in institutional theory, the research employed a qualitative approach, using cluster, purposive, and simple random sampling to select participants from key informal business units. Interviews were conducted, transcribed, and analyzed using QSR NVivo 12, allowing for deep insight into the lived experiences of the entrepreneurs. Findings revealed that 78% of participants emphasized practical suggestions that aid informal business survival, such as customer-driven innovations, adaptive strategies, and avoiding confrontations with regulatory agencies. Key attributes such as foresight, adaptability, and risk management accounted for 66% of the variance in corporate success. Strategic and innovative approaches are enabling informal firms to endure and prosper, since 61% of respondents associated these competencies with organizational success. The new BSP framework, which integrates institutional and contingency theories, illustrates how informal enterprises endure by conforming to or opposing institutional pressures and adjusting to environmental changes. The results indicate that, when properly understood and supported, the informal electronics sector may develop sustainably. This study demonstrates that informal entrepreneurship is influenced by formal regulations, informal norms, and local enforcement mechanisms, therefore enhancing institutional theory and elucidating business behavior in developing nations. The Business Survival Paradigm [BSP] illustrates how informal enterprises navigate institutional obstacles to endure. It advocates for policies that integrate the official and informal sectors while fostering sustainable development. The paper advocates for ongoing market research to assist informal firms in remaining up-to-date. It implores authorities to acknowledge the innovative potential of the informal sector and to provide supportive frameworks for sustainable growth and formal transition where feasible. Full article

Corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance has become an increasingly critical driver of sustainable development. Investigating the impact of ESG performance on corporate green development is of great significance for achieving green transformation and sustainability goals. This study examines the effects and underlying mechanisms of ESG performance on the green development of Chinese A-share listed companies in the agricultural and forestry sectors from 2013 to 2023. The empirical results show that higher ESG performance significantly promotes corporate green development. Further heterogeneity analysis reveals that this effect varies markedly across ownership structures, geographic regions, and levels of ESG rating uncertainty. Mechanism testing indicates that ESG performance fosters green development primarily through three pathways: stimulating green innovation, improving resource allocation efficiency, and enhancing the structure of human capital. In addition, by decomposing green total factor productivity, this study further quantifies the contribution of ESG performance to green growth. These findings offer new insights into the ESG–green development nexus and provide valuable policy implications for the green transformation and sustainable development of agricultural and forestry enterprises. Full article

Corporate sustainable development, as a critical component of Chinese-style modernization, is essential for achieving high-quality economic growth, yet the influence of institutional cross-ownership—a prevalent phenomenon in stock markets—on corporate sustainability performance remains contested. Using a sample of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2012 to 2023, this study innovatively employs micro-level data on the degree of the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to measure corporate sustainability performance and investigate the influence of institutional cross-ownership on corporate sustainability performance. This study presents the following findings: (1) Institutional cross-ownership undermines corporate sustainability performance, a finding that remains robust to a series of endogeneity and robustness tests. (2) Mechanism analysis reveals a triple erosion effect: short-termism driven by institutional investors’ preference for immediate financial returns, market power through cross-ownership that dampens competitive pressures, and reduced green innovation investments that weaken sustainability. (3) This negative effect is more pronounced in firms located in high-productivity regions or central and eastern China, in firms facing lax environmental regulations, and in state-owned enterprises. (4) The impact of cross-ownership on sustainability performance varies across dimensions, with the negative effects concentrated in the economic and social dimensions. This study enriches the literature on the factors influencing corporate sustainability performance, providing new empirical evidence for governments to guide institutional investors in long-term value investment and firms to implement effective sustainable development strategies. Full article

In light of the frequent occurrence of uncertain events, supply chain resilience has emerged as a critical issue for the survival and development of enterprises. This study empirically examines the impact of corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance on supply chain resilience, utilizing data from A-share listed companies in China from 2015 to 2023. The findings reveal that strong ESG performance positively influences supply chain resilience. The concept of “new quality productive forces” provides a novel perspective for understanding corporate sustainable development. Mechanism tests indicate that new quality productive forces play a significant mediating role between ESG performance and supply chain resilience. Specifically, by enhancing ESG performance, enterprises indirectly promote the growth of new quality productive forces, thereby further strengthening supply chain resilience. The robustness of these results is confirmed through tests involving the replacement of core explanatory variables, expansion of sample size, inclusion of additional control variables, and Hausman Tests. Furthermore, heterogeneity analysis demonstrates that state-owned enterprises exhibit a more pronounced effect of ESG performance on supply chain resilience compared to private enterprises. Full article

Cities’ role as major hubs of human activity and economic development is essential in attaining sustainable development, fostering a balance between economic, social, and environmental development, especially in light of the growing concern over Anthropocene-induced environmental issues like global warming and climate change. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represent a historic call for coordinated international action in this area, with SDG 11 specifically identifying “Sustainable Cities and Communities” as a primary objective. Therefore, it is clear that a paradigm shift in our approach to these challenges in terms of our thinking, sensibility, behavior, and responses is necessary. Implicitly, in view of their pivotal role in environmental sustainability, development of “smart” cities as healthy, citizen-friendly, economically viable, and sustainable cities for our future generations in today’s globally integrated world, as predominant centers of human settlement and activity with multinational enterprises driving economic growth, gains the immediate attention of researchers. In this light, this study aims to identify and thereafter prioritize key indicators of a smart city using the structured and consistency-focused best–worst multi-criteria decision-making (BWM) method, suitable for expert-driven decision-making with limited comparisons. While the UN’s SDG 11 promotes safe and resilient cities, our findings suggest a disparity in how local officials prioritize certain dimensions such as safety or recreation. This disconnect warrants closer examination of localized policy drivers. The findings of this study indicate that according to experts, among others, the priority themes are, in order, water and sanitation, wastewater, health, the environment, and the economy. Thus, these represent a key take-away for multinational enterprises for identifying and assessing significant thrust domains and areas of opportunity for intervention and contribution to the UN SDGs. It also enables a replicable framework for synergy between the public and private sectors towards contrastive intervention in other cities across the globe. Full article

Amid global economic transformation, a persistent productivity gap exists between developed and developing nations in agriculture sector, shaped by technological advancements and shifting resource allocation patterns. Agricultural socialized services (ASS), defined as organized systems providing technical support, mechanization assistance, information services, market linkages, and resource optimization to farmers, have emerged as critical mechanisms for agricultural development. In developing economies, these services catalyze gains in agricultural labor productivity through the integration of advanced technologies and the mechanization of farming practices. Using panel data from 30 Chinese provinces during 2011 to 2022, this study investigates the relationship between ASS and ALP, focusing on regional heterogeneity, threshold effects, and spatial spillovers. The combination of spatial econometric methods and threshold analysis was selected for its unique capacity to capture both the geographic interdependencies and nonlinear relationships that characterize agricultural development processes. These thresholds at 5.254 and 8.478 represent critical points where the impact of ASS on ALP significantly changes in magnitude, revealing a nonlinear relationship that evolves across different stages of agricultural development. The study highlights notable regional disparities in the impact of ASS. Specifically, ASS is more effective on ALP in eastern, central and key food-producing regions, while its impact is relatively weak in western and non-food-producing regions. Spatial spillover analysis indicates that advancements in ASS create positive externalities, extending beyond their immediate implementation zones and facilitating inter-provincial agricultural cooperation and development. These findings provide crucial guidance for policymakers and agricultural service providers to optimize resource allocation and service delivery strategies. By identifying critical development thresholds and regional variations, this research offers evidence-based support for government officials designing targeted agricultural policies and enterprises developing region-specific service models to foster sustainable agricultural growth across diverse regional landscapes. Full article

The overvaluation of merger and acquisition (M&A) assets can lead to a decline in the performance of listed firms, an increase in the risk of goodwill impairment, and harm to the rights of minority shareholders, as well as to the sustainable development of firms. Based on stakeholder theory, this article constructs models to examine the impact of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices on the valuation of related party M&A assets and conducts an empirical analysis. We find that ESG practices significantly inhibit the overvaluation of related party M&A assets, and the digital economy can enhance this negative relationship. Mechanism analysis shows that this negative relationship is mediated through setting up stock performance compensation, reducing performance commitment growth rate, selecting reputable asset appraisal institutions and financial advisors, increasing analyst following and social media discussions, and reducing agency costs. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the inhibitory effect of ESG practices on the overvaluation of related party M&A assets is more obvious in non-horizontal M&A and non-state-owned enterprises. Furthermore, ESG practices can alleviate the stock price crash risk by reducing the overvaluation of related party M&A assets. The research conclusions provide a reference for ESG practices to better serve M&A activities and alleviate asset overvaluation in the digital economy era. Full article

This study examines the transformative potential of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in enhancing the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance of Chinese companies, carrying significant implications for global sustainable development. Using data from Chinese listed companies from 2009 to 2022, we employ a difference-in-differences approach to rigorously assess the impact of the BRI on corporate ESG performance and elucidate the underlying mechanisms. Our findings indicate that the BRI significantly enhances corporate ESG performance, with these results robustly validated through robustness checks. The analysis identifies two primary channels through which the BRI affects ESG performance: internal mechanisms, such as fostering technological innovation and enhancing environmental disclosure, and external mechanisms, including increased analyst attention and the expansion of digital infrastructure. Additionally, we observe significant variation in the BRI’s impact across different industries and firm characteristics. Specifically, non-state-owned enterprises, high-growth companies, large corporations, and those located in economically advanced regions exhibit the most pronounced positive effects. This research not only deepens the understanding of the BRI’s influence on sustainable business practices but also provides valuable insights for policymakers and corporate leaders. By leveraging the BRI, companies can significantly enhance their ESG performance, thus contributing to broader sustainability objectives. Our findings underscore the importance of strategic engagement with global initiatives like the BRI in achieving improvements in corporate sustainability such as enhanced environmental performance and social responsibility. Full article

In recent years, China has actively advanced the new energy vehicle industry to achieve its “dual carbon” objectives via a green revolution. The growth of green technical innovation by new energy vehicle enterprises has emerged as a significant national support project, and it has implemented a number of new energy vehicle promotion policies. Therefore, it is essential to investigate if promotional policies encourage the development of green technologies in businesses. China’s 2016 “New Energy Vehicle Promotion Catalogue” serves as the policy’s temporal shock point, and data from Chinese-listed new energy vehicle companies from 2011 to 2022 are used in this study. The effect and mechanism of the new energy vehicle promotion strategy on developing green technologies in businesses are investigated using a double difference model. As per the research, the promotion policy substantially enhances the green technological innovation of new energy vehicle firms. It can augment the level of R&D investment and alleviate financing constraints for enterprises, and enterprises’ social responsibility can act as a positive moderator for the promotion policy and enterprise green technological innovation. Finally, it has a more apparent positive impact on the green technological innovation of major companies and non-state-owned enterprises compared to state-owned firms. Additionally, it is more evident that enterprises are raising green technology innovation in the eastern and central regions. Full article

Today, the digital economy has pursued the required social and economic development, and enterprises can achieve green transition and long-term sustainability by relying on the digital platform ecosystem. However, the development of the digital economy and the rapid growth of platform governance have also generated some problems. This study’s purpose was to explore the issue of green governance of the digital platform ecosystem and to find effective methods of such governance under different life cycle stages based on multiple parties. This study used the tripartite evolutionary game method and analyzed the changes and effects of platform green governance under different development stages from the perspectives of government, platforms, and enterprises. The results indicate that in the early stages, digital platforms primarily relied on the government’s obligation to regulate. With the digital platform ecosystem’s evolution, the platform organization green governance and settled enterprises’ green transition effects gradually appeared, establishing the three common constraints of governance mode. Finally, when the digital platform ecosystem is in its self-renewal period, the government effect is reduced, with the platform itself and settled enterprises taking primary roles. The goal of this study is to enrich the theoretical basis of platform green governance and enlighten the management of different governance subjects. Full article