Digital transformation (DT) is a long-term strategy for economic sustainability, particularly for manufacturing-oriented economies. This study proposes a digital ESG (DESG) theoretical framework to investigate how DT empowers ESG performance in the manufacturing industry. Using Python, we collected data from Chinese manufacturing firms from 2009 to 2020. This study used the ordinary least squares method to examine the relationships among DT, ESG performance, and manufacturing ESG heterogeneity. The results suggest that big companies and growing firms pay more attention to their ESG performance than others and that state-owned enterprises are keen on ESG performance but underperform. Additionally, DT may contribute to manufacturing ESG performance in general; labor-intensive and non-state-owned enterprises benefit more from DT than their counterparts; and manufacturers in economically developed regions show more significant ESG performance thanks to DT. These findings support the use of a DESG theoretical framework in the manufacturing industry whereby digital technologies facilitate business production and improve the business profits of manufacturing firms, so that manufacturers have sufficient profits to conduct ESG investments for sustainable development in a virtuous cycle. JEL Classification: O32, O44, Q56

urpose:This study investigates firm performance after going public and explores whether Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) contribute to it.Design/methodology/approach: This study employs comprehensive regression models to examine IPO significance to both operating performance and market performance. Findings/results: It suggests that IPO firms retain their growth over the first 3 years after going public, but the growth does not sustain after the third year in terms of profit-related indicators, which is distinguishing from prior research. IPOs may contribute to firms’ market performance only, they are insignificant to firms’ operating performance in general, whilst industry-adjusted evidence suggests that IPOs are negatively associated with operating performance in terms of return on assets, return on sales and debt to assets. Practical implications: The practical implication for managers is to spend more IPO capitals on business operations to maximise firm value. Originality/value: Market value is taken into account, whilst operating performance is considered only by prior research, and it presents some different findings from prior studies based on developed stock markets.

The carbon emissions in China contribute to around one-third of the world total. Therefore, China plays a critical role in global carbon emissions reduction. Over the last few years, the Chinese government has implemented a range of counter-measures to accelerate the green transition. In this research, we empirically investigate the relationship between carbon intensity and the green transition. Based on provincial panel data of Chinese manufacturing industries from 2008 to 2019, we measure the relationship between carbon intensity and green transition capacity in 30 provinces, employing the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) to examine their influencing mechanism and regional heterogeneity. Furthermore, we use an intermediary model to investigate the influence of financial development on the relationship between carbon intensity and manufacturing green transition. We find that a U-shaped relationship exists, where increasing carbon emissions restrain the green transition initially but improve it later, such that the transition upgrades gradually. Regarding the regional heterogeneity, the GMM results show that carbon intensity has the most significant impact on the green transition in the central provinces, followed by western provinces. Meanwhile, financial performance is an essential contributor to the relationship, as more funds flow into contamination-dominated but profitable projects, thus inhibiting the transition. Urbanization and marketization are also included into threshold models, which suggest the existence of relevant threshold effects in the relationship. These findings have a referenced value suggesting that the local governments follow the U-shaped theory to reform the local carbon reduction policies and green development target according to the regional economic performance and geographical advantages.

Based on a database of 200 listed firms from the Growth Enterprise Market of China, this paper employs regression models to investigate the significance of IPO capital expenditure to firms’ operating performance. It suggests that a vast majority of pre-IPO money is spent on business development to promote operating performance in order to meet IPO requirements. After the IPO, most of the money is transferred to equity investments in order to increase the firms’ market value quickly, which leads to operating performance decline and deterioration.