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.

From the sectoral systems of innovation perspective, the windows of opportunity (hereafter referred to as WoOs) for industrial latecomers to catch-up could be opened up through abrupt changes in the technological, market, and institutional dimensions. Existing literature discusses different dimensional changes in isolation. Nevertheless, for green industries, the systemic interplay of these dimensions is of key importance; yet few studies have probed into this. These limitations in the literature are largely rooted in the lack of novel methods to detect and specify these abrupt changes, especially in a quantitative way. This paper, therefore, proposes a framework combining natural language processing methods with experts’ knowledge to detect these abrupt changes—named turbulences—by using multi-source heterogeneous data, in order to better identify the co-occurrences and interactions of turbulences across the technological, market, and institutional dimensions that have a high probability to open up WoOs. We apply this framework to analyze China’s hydropower sector as a case study. The hydropower sector is considered a “green” energy sector, in which China, as this study finds, has recently gained technological leadership. By analyzing the interactions between these multiple dimensions of WoOs, we discover that institutional turbulences proactively intertwine with other turbulences, and collectively form Green WoOs for the successful catch-up of China’s hydropower sector.

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.

Taking China’s industrial land transfer data as the data source, this study quantitatively analyzes the transfer structure and spatial distribution of China’s industrial land from 2010 to 2019. By constructing the information entropy and the equilibrium degree model of industrial land-use structure, this study evaluates the transfer characteristics of industrial land of different functional types in various provinces of China, analyzes the scale advantages of various types of transferred industrial land by using the land transfer scale advantage index, and summarizes the spatial distribution characteristics of different types of industrial land transfer in China through the spatial center of gravity analysis and cold/hot spot regional distribution mapping. The following results were obtained. (1) There are significant differences in the transfer scale of industrial land among provinces in China. The transfer scale of Eastern and Central China is large, whereas that of Western China is small. (2) From the perspective of land-use structure, the transfer scale of industrial land in the central and western regions is more balanced than that in the east. (3) From the gravity center distribution of the standard deviation ellipse, the land transfer direction of the energy industry, and the mining industry, and other types of industries is more significant than that of the culture and sports hygiene industries, modern manufacturing industry, and high-tech industry. (4) From the analysis of cold and hot spots, the mining industry, the energy industry, and other types of industries in the western region with rich mineral resources are the hot spots of industrial land transfer, and the southeast coast is the cold spot; the eastern coastal area is a hot area for land transfer of modern manufacturing, the high-tech industry, and the culture and sports hygiene industries. The results reveal the regional differences and spatial distribution characteristics of industrial transfer in China and provide a reference for authorities to formulate industrial planning and industrial land collection, storage, and transfer plans.

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.