Current research on the relationship between digital transformation and financial performance (FP) remains inconclusive. This paper conceptualizes digital transformation as technology-based digital transformation (TDT) and market-based digital transformation (MDT), and explores their heterogeneous impacts on FP. It is further assessed how such distinctive effects are moderated by three types of entrepreneurs’ social capital, i.e. entrepreneurs’ technological social capital (ETSC), entrepreneurs’ business social capital (EBSC), and entrepreneurs’ institutional social capital (EISC). Using a carefully assembled dataset containing the relevant information of 2363 listed Chinese manufacturing firms covering the period of 2008–2018, these relationships are empirically examined, and the following is found: (1) TDT positively affects FP; (2) MDT has a time-lagged positive effect on FP; (3) ETSC positively moderates the relationship between MDT and FP; (4) EBSC positively moderates the impacts of TDT and MDT on FP. These findings enrich the understanding of the concept and application of digital transformation.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) literature in developed countries indicates that there are two types of CSR (i.e., proactive CSR and reactive CSR), and only the proactive one can boost innovation. However, recent studies from emerging economies such as China show that both types of CSR can enhance innovation. Such inconsistent results may be created by, on the one hand, the heterogeneity of innovation types, and on the other hand, the heterogeneity of mechanisms though which CSR impacts innovation in different countries. Accordingly, this paper theoretically explores the impacts of two types of CSR (i.e., proactive CSR and reactive CSR) on two of innovation types (exploratory innovation and exploitative innovation). This paper further reveals the mechanisms through which CSR impacts innovation in China by investigating the moderating role of institutional support (i.e., government support and social support) on the relationship between CSR and innovation. Using a panel dataset (2008–2016) of 286 Chinese public listed firms from research and development (R&D)-intensive industries (e.g., information technology, pharmaceutical and biological products; and chemicals, etc.), our findings show that: (1) proactive CSR promotes exploratory innovation; (2) reactive CSR promotes exploitative innovation; (3) government support strengthen the relationship between proactive CSR and exploratory innovation as well as the relationship between reactive CSR and exploitative innovation; (4) social support weaken the relationship between proactive CSR and exploratory innovation. This paper enriches our understanding on the relationship between CSR and innovation, and provides implications for practitioners and policymakers.

With the increasing public awareness of environmental issues, green production has become an important issue for supply chain management. This study proposes an analytical model to investigate the dual-channel green supply chain decisions of a retailer and a competitive supplier; the latter suffers from unreliable production yield. The retailer’s environmental responsibility is considered as a two-echelon supply chain in which the retailer promotes the green product in their marketplace through green marketing. This problem is analyzed and modeled under three available channel strategies, considered in the order in which channel selections are made: a single online channel strategy, a single retail channel strategy, and a dual-channel strategy. The results show that the wholesale price of the manufacturer and the green-marketing effect of the retailer increase with the improvement in the level of the green production technology. Interestingly, the result reveals that a retailer’s expected profit is unimodal in the production technology level under the dual-channel strategy, which suggests that the retailer may not be incentivized to encourage the manufacturer to improve its production technology once a threshold has been reached. Further, we develop the channel selection: the retailer is strictly better off in the single retail channel scenario than that in the dual-channel scenario; however, while the unreliable supplier is better off in the single online channel scenario than that in the single retail channel scenario, its best option is still the dual-channel strategy. Additionally, numerical results illustrate that the expected profits of supply chain parties decrease with the improvement in customer acceptance of the online channel.

Employee-driven innovations (EDIs) are increasingly regarded as one of main source of innovation and sustainable competitive advantage, yet many studies indicate that EDIs are often undervalued in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in China. It remains unclear what the challenges are to the promotion of EDIs in SOEs and how these challenges could be addressed with well-designed managerial practices such as a suggestion system. This study aims to address this research gap by studying two SOEs in the Chinese automotive industry using the multiple-case study method. A total of 12 respondents from the two SOEs have been interviewed as part of a four-year research project. On the basis of the analysis of two cases, it is found that SOEs that appointed a top-manager with firm-specific knowledge and long-term tenure successfully promoted EDIs with a well-designed supporting suggestion system in place. Conversely, the SOEs that appointed a top-manager with little firm-specific knowledge and short-term tenure have not successfully promoted EDIs and its suggestion system is also poorly designed. In conclusion, outsider control and short-term tenure of top manager are two major challenges to promote EDIs in SOEs. This study contributes to the literature by identifying the potential challenges of introducing EDIs and relevant practices in SOEs in China.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to extend the analysis of the distribution-free newsvendor problem in an environment of customer balking, which occurs when customers are reluctant to buy a product if its available inventory falls below a threshold level. Design/methodology/approach: We provide a new tradeoff tool as a replacement of the traditional one to weigh the holding cost and the goodwill costs segment: in addition to the shortage penalty, we also introduce the balking penalty. Furthermore, we extend our model to the case of random yield. Findings: A model is presented for determining both an optimal order quantity and a lower bound on the profit under the worst possible distribution of the demand. We also study the effects of shortage penalty and the balking penalty on the optimal order quantity, which have been largely bypassed in the existing distribution free single period models with balking. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the result. Originality/value: The incorporation of balking penalty and random yield represents an important improvement in inventory policy performance for distribution-free newsvendor problem when customer balking occurs and the distributional form of demand is unknown.