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Simple Summary: In this study, we ask whether the invasive paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera) has a competitive advantage over neighbor trees in a native area. We determined the competitive capacity of paper mulberry in three deciduous broad-leaved forests using structural indices including the mixing index, the tree–tree interval index, and the diameter/height differentiation index. It was found that the reference paper mulberry had a slight competitive advantage over neighboring trees in both the horizontal and vertical planes. Such a competitive ability may play a significant role in the ecological invasion of paper mulberry. Our findings not only help to reveal the invasion mechanism of paper mulberry, but also provide an important reference for the management and utilization of paper mulberry in invaded areas. Paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera) is currently an invasive species on several continents. However, little is known about whether paper mulberry has a competitive advantage over its surrounding trees in its native distribution range, subtropical regions of China. Here, we determined the relative intraspecific and interspecific competitive capacity of paper mulberry in three subtropical deciduous broad-leaved forests using the indices of structural diversity including the mixing index, the tree–tree interval index, and the diameter/height differentiation index. It was found that more than 80% of mingling index values were not greater than 0.25, suggesting a stronger competitiveness of paper mulberry relative to other tree species. The tree–tree interval index values ranged between 1 m and 2 m, suggesting a strong competition between paper mulberry and its neighbors. Moreover, more than 60% of the height differentiation index and diameter differentiation index values were positive, suggesting that the reference paper mulberry had a slight competitive advantage over neighboring trees in both the horizontal and vertical planes. These collectively suggest a competitive advantage over other tree species in the native distribution range, which may play a significant role in the ecological invasion of paper mulberry. Our findings not only help to reveal the invasion mechanism of paper mulberry, but also provide an important reference for the management and utilization of paper mulberry in invaded areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of All Azimuth: A Journal of Foreign Policy & Peace is the property of Ihsan Dogramaci Peace Foundation, Center for Foreign Policy & Peace Research and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper investigates the impact of increased competition at the product-market level on firms' strategic price decisions. We analyse this issue in a context of trade liberalization where only some firms benefit from the input tariff cuts. We focus on China which is characterized by a unique dual trade regime, where some imports of intermediate goods are subject to tariff (i.e., the ordinary status) whereas other (i.e., the processing status) have been exempted of tariffs for the last 30 years. The recent Chinese trade liberalization allowed ordinary importers to improve their competitiveness relative to processing firms. Facing stronger pressures in their export markets, processing firms must adjust their strategy. We find that ordinary firms took advantage of the Chinese' input trade liberalization to improve the quality of their exported products and processing firms respond to this quality sorting by decreasing their export prices and markups. This finding is more pronounced for lower-end product sold in in advanced economies, where the quality sorting of competitors is more relevant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates optimal decisions for private banking development in China under two innovative organizational structures—the big retail mode (BRM) and the independent development mode (IDM). Under the BRM, the retail and private banking divisions form a cooperative relationship wherein the former transfers high-net-worth customers to the latter. In addition, retail banking receives a share of private banking revenues. We investigate the optimal revenue-sharing ratio between the two divisions and the optimal effort by private banking to serve transferred customers within the cooperative relationship. The analytical results show that as the private banking division becomes more developed, the optimal revenue-sharing ratio decreases, and the private banking division's optimal effort to serve transferred customers decreases because it puts more effort into acquiring new customers. Under the IDM, the two divisions form a competitive relationship since they compete to acquire customers independently. We investigate customer acquisition efforts in this interdivisional competition. Optimal customer acquisition efforts by both divisions increase in potential assets and rates of return. This paper contributes to the literature by (1) analyzing financial innovation by private banks from an organizational perspective; (2) providing an economic analysis for private banking development in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As geopolitical rivalry intensifies, Western states have moved to compete with China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). However, the mobilisation of funds for global infrastructure remains paltry, suggesting that Western states cannot contest Chinese dominance here. Why? Through comparative political economy analysis of China and the United States, we argue that serious competition cannot be willed into being by state managers thinking geostrategically. States' strengths and weaknesses are rooted in structural political economy dynamics. Where state managers' plans jibe with, or express, the interests of powerful social forces and the capital and productive forces they command, a powerful impact results. This is true of China, whose BRI is principally a spatio-temporal fix for industrial overcapacity and over-accumulated capital. Conversely, where geopolitical ambitions are divorced from powerful groups' interests and material realities, results are lacklustre. This applies to the United States, characterised by infrastructural decay, industrial hollowing-out and a dominant financial sector largely disinterested in infrastructure. Although US state managers are turning towards increased state spending on domestic infrastructure, internationally, the West's continued neoliberal approach still relies on the already-failed approach of mobilising private capital into infrastructure investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By adapting a well‐known model in the literature, the current paper sharpens the theoretical predictions on how competition intensity and institutional ownership interact to influence corporate innovation decisions, and adopts data from Chinese listed firms to empirically test the validity of two potential mechanisms. The split‐share reform of 2004–2005, whose timing and speed were largely beyond the firms' control, is used as a quasi‐natural experiment to address the potential endogeneity of institutional share. Similar to the existing results, we find support for the career concern mechanism rather than the lazy manager mechanism. But in addition to the complementary effects between institutional share and competition intensity on corporate innovation documented in their work, our findings also imply that competition discourages innovation when the share of institutional investors is low but encourages innovation when the institutional share is high. The opposite effects of competition on innovation with or without institutional shares is accounted for by the negative correlation between competition and innovation success, which is an assumption in our theoretical model that departs from the existing literature, but fits the reality of China's economic transition. Additional evidence relating listed firms' managerial turnover to their institutional shares is also in support of the career concern mechanism. Combined with the substantial increase in innovation after the split‐share reform, these findings demonstrate the strong positive role of institutional investors in encouraging innovation, but also offer more insight into the complex process that determines corporate innovation, especially where ownership structure is still in flux. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a quest for economies of scale, access to technologies, and, most importantly, expansion of market share, Chinese public companies have been engaged in several consecutive waves of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) involving mostly domestically domiciled non-listed targets from the same or adjacent industries. Relying on a comprehensive panel dataset of 7,998 transactions completed between 1993 and 2020 by 2,842 publicly listed acquirers domiciled in China, the paper attempts to establish whether M&A deals allow acquirers to improve their market share and, consequently, their relative market position. We use dynamic panel regression and ordered logit models to establish and quantify the link between deal characteristics and the post-deal market share of the combined entities. Our empirical findings demonstrate that corporate consolidations exercise no significant impact on the relative competitive positioning of firms. Only acquisitions by industry leaders produce a sizeable increase in the latter's market share and lead to higher industry concentration. Most consolidations occur among outsiders exhibiting a high degree of similarity, relatively lower profitability, and stagnant market shares within the more competitive industries with higher rates of firm creation. These consolidations, often in the form of mergers, are not effective in advancing the combined entities' competitive positioning. Despite the fact that the bulk of corporate consolidations appears unlikely to constitute a threat to competition in the medium term, careful regulatory oversight may be warranted within the currently fragmented and highly commoditized industries, which appear likely to consolidate at the fastest pace. JEL Classification: G30, G32. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Adults of stoneflies have diverse mating behaviors and complex signals for communication, but they are not always able to correctly recognize their mates. With the observations from several provinces of China, we provide the first study on the erroneous mating behaviors of stoneflies from this country. Three different categories of erroneous mating attempts involving 13 species belonging to three stonefly families are reported, and information on their physical competition, the sensorial mechanisms triggering the mating, the conditions favoring the mating mistakes, and the possible consequences of interspecific mating are discussed. Hitting and pushing with the head and abdomen could be the unique method employed in the male–male physical competition. Vibrational signals are considered not a prerequisite for triggering a mating behavior, while vision and/or touch could be a sufficient condition for triggering it, but they are not always efficient for species-specific recognition. Currently, information on the biology of Plecoptera from China is scarce, particularly on mating behavior. In this paper, the existence of mating mistakes (erroneous mating attempts) involving 13 Chinese stonefly species (belonging to nine genera and three families) is reported. These erroneous mating behaviors can be included into three different categories: mating attempts between conspecific males (including the formation of erroneous mating balls), mating attempts between different taxa (including displacement attempts during copulation), and mating-related behaviors with non-living objects. From these behaviors, some aspects of stoneflies during mating, such as the physical competition between males, the sensorial mechanisms implied in triggering a mating behavior, the conditions favoring the mating mistakes, and the possible consequences of interspecific mating in the hybrid production, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The import competition literature suggests that Chinese industrial policies and technological trends have altered the nature of competition with China so that it does not take place on a level playing field anymore. Empirical evidence about firms' reactions in developed economies in competition with China is inconclusive, however. This paper studies how small, highly internationalized and specialized firms react to the growing penetration of Chinese exporters on their markets. We use a sample of Austrian manufacturing companies to explore the impact of increasing competition on changes in corporate strategy. We propose a novel indicator capturing import competition that highly internationalized companies face. We examine how firms adapt their search strategies related to technological capabilities and markets. While the exposure to Chinese competition has been on average relatively low, its impact on diversification choices has been significant. Companies exposed to growing Chinese competition are more likely to diversify their geographic markets, but less likely to diversify their product portfolio or broaden their competence base. These patterns are also reflected by changes in trade data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Contexts: The expansion of fast-growing Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis) into forests is likely further favored by climate change, creating more transitional regions within forests. Such forest-bamboo transitional zones provide windows to look at ecological processes driving bamboo's interaction with competing species across space. Objectives: We tested the hypothesis that spatial patterns at different scales of the ecotone can inform bamboo's invasive spread and its competitive engulfing strategy, with the allocation of biomass and resources within a bamboo colony being a key life-history strategy to facilitate its spatial spread. Methods: We used remote sensing imagery and field survey data to analyze the dynamics of bamboo-tree transitional boundaries in Tianmu Mountain Nature Reserve (TMNR) in southeastern China. We evaluated bamboo's spatial spread and its allocation of resources along the transitional gradient. Results: Both remote sensing and field data showed bamboo recovery and advancement into tree territories after the extensive logging of bamboo but with a slower spread compared to historical records. The spatial distributions of bamboo and tree stems were not random at their transitional interfaces and were affected by competition. Successful bamboo expansion into trees required close coordination between stems and rhizomes within a colony, as they served different functions in clonal integration. Conclusions: Our study initiates a scale-dependent analysis of shifts in bamboo-tree boundaries, which provides insights on how to accurately predict future bamboo distributions under climate change accounting for interspecific competition and bamboo's clonal integration of resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To contribute to the debate on the importance of state vis-à-vis inter-firm competition in regional development, this paper examines a representative dataset of the relocation of manufacturing firms in Guangdong province of China with multinomial logistic regression models. To improve the competitiveness of manufacturing in the Pearl River Delta, the Guangdong government implemented pro-active policies to encourage the relocation of existing manufacturing firms to their designated industrial parks during the 2000s. Although the initial results appear to support the usefulness of relocation policy, further examination reveals its effectiveness depends on the industrial sector and profiles of the relocated firms. In fact, the relocation of large-scale labor-intensive firms is not driven by local government initiatives. The physical proximity of high-technology parks to airports/ports has a bigger impact on the relocation of small-scale locally-funded high-technology firms into designated parks. In the case of locally-funded firms in polluting sectors, they are expanding rather than relocating to designated industrial parks. The empirical evidence indicates the non-binary nature of the industrial relocation policy. The nuances of relocation policy and its multi-scalar effects on relocated firms rejects any simplistic generalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Invasive exotic plant species are threats to native flora and other taxa. No effective and environmentally friendly approaches are available for controlling Solidago canadensis, an aggressively invasive plant species in China and Europe. We determined that in addition to the traditional measure of clipping, planting plants of two co-occurring and competitive species can further suppress regrowth of clipped S. canadensis plants and both the aboveground and belowground part of S. canadensis contributed to its suppression effects on planted co-occurring species. These results suggest that incorporation of utilizing biotic resistance from some highly competitive plant species and overcoming belowground priority effects of invasive species into a comprehensive management plan will substantially increase the efficiency of invasive plant control. The restoration of native plants in invaded habitats is constrained with the presence of highly competitive exotic species. Aboveground removal, such as clipping or mowing, of invasive plants is required for successful restoration. The effects of clipping an invasive plant species, Solidago canadensis, grown at five densities (1–5 plants per pot), and planting two co-occurring and competitive species, Sesbania cannabina and Imperata cylindrica, on the growth of both the invasive species and the co-occurring species were investigated in a greenhouse experiment. The established S. canadensis suppressed the growth of planted seedlings with 47.8–94.4% reduction in biomass, with stronger effects at higher densities; clipping significantly reduced 97.5–97.4% of biomass of S. canadensis and ameliorated the suppression effects (with only 8.7–52.7% reduction in biomass of the co-occurring plants), irrespective of density. Both the aboveground and belowground part of S. canadensis contributed to its suppression effects on planted co-occurring species. Seed sowing of co-occurring species reduced the belowground growth, but not the underground growth of S. canadensis. S. cannabina appeared to be more effective at reducing the growth of S. canadensis than I. cylindrica. Therefore, clipping together with planting competitive species that can overcome the belowground priority effects of S. canadensis could be a promising strategy for controlling S. canadensis invasion and restoring native plant communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Review of Policy Research is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

What does the decision to designate China as a "long-term strategic competitor" imply for U.S. defence strategy? To address this question, we draw on net assessment and competitive strategies, two complementary frameworks developed in the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) during the Cold War to understand and manage long-term competition with the Soviet Union, respectively. Net assessment and competitive strategies are tailored around specific competitors and follow a characteristically dialectical approach to strategic planning, based on complex, recursive calculations of move and countermove. We argue that the identification of China as a long-term strategic competitor has paved the way for an increasingly systematic application of net assessment and competitive strategies within DoD, even if obstacles to such application still remain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to study how state ownership influences the innovation process in terms of allocating resources toward searching for new solutions and converting these efforts into economic value. On one hand, deep pockets of the state provide slack resources that may facilitate risk taking and innovation. On the other hand, soft budgets can create incentive problems and dampen the efficient use of resources. The authors suggest how accounting for competitive context can disentangle these countervailing forces. Design/methodology/approach: The authors use a panel of over 240,000 Chinese firms over the years 2004–2008. The broad sample and period afforded substantial variability in terms of state ownership within and across firms. The authors use a two-stage model and a within-firm (i.e. fixed-effects) design, controlling for all time-invariant firm characteristics and the problematic unobserved heterogeneity that can often lead to erroneous inferences. Furthermore, the relatively short window limits the likelihood of time-varying unobserved firm characteristics biasing the empirical results. Findings: The authors found that private-sector competition has the opposite effect on the relationship between state ownership and the second step of the innovation process. In industries where there is robust private-sector competition, state ownership diminishes the firm's ability to convert R&D efforts into economic value. Private-sector competition competes away any advantages state-owned firms may have in terms of developing or accessing the complementary resources needed for commercialization. Ultimately, the inefficiencies of state ownership in terms of relatively undisciplined selection and monitoring of R&D activities outweigh any potential resource advantages derived from state ownership. Originality/value: The state remains a prominent player in many economies throughout the world. The authors explored how state ownership of firms influences the resources they expend in searching out new solutions, and their success in converting such resources into economically valuable new products and services. State ownership has potentially countervailing effects on innovation. The authors disentangle these countervailing effects through consideration of how accounting for competitive context could determine whether the beneficial effects of state ownership dominate its detrimental effects for both searching for new solutions and converting these efforts into economically valuable new products. With a focus of market competition as an external force that drives the difference in innovation between SOEs and the private-sector, this study serves as a parallel effort to Jia et al. (2019) who investigate the joint effect of public and corporate governance on SOEs' innovation performance, and Zhou et al. (2017) who concern the balance of the institution and efficiency logics on the comparative advantage of SOEs over privately owned enterprises in innovation performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) Background: The forest of Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica is an important semi-arid ecosystem in Hulunbuir sandy land that plays a key role in the carbon cycle and wind erosion control. It is crucial to explore the main factors affecting the radial growth of trees of P. sylvestris var. mongolica. (2) Methods: The study established the tree-ring chronology of P. sylvestris var. mongolica and analyzed the relationships among the radial growth, competition index, and climate variables using correlation analysis and a linear mixed effect model to explore the influence of competition and climate on radial growth of P. sylvestris var. mongolica. (3) Results: The results indicated that tree growth is mainly affected by the maximum average temperature (Tmax) and precipitation in June and July of the current year and that tree growth significantly decreased with increasing competition pressure. Analysis of the linear mixed effect model showed that tree age, competition intensity, self-calibrating Palmer drought severity index (scPDSI) from May to July, and vapor pressure deficit (VPD) have a significant impact on radial growth. (4) Conclusions: The competition plays a dominant role in radial growth of P. sylvestris var. mongolica compared to climate factors. This study helps to understand the growth mechanism of P. sylvestris var. mongolica forests under climate change and provides a scientific basis for effective management of semi-arid forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes whether competition with China displaced domestic manufacturing jobs in Chile using a panel of 4-digit ISIC manufacturing industries during 1995–2006. The study estimates empirical models for six job aggregates that are matched to occupational types that are either replaceable by technological change (routine) or not (non-routine). Results show that due to tougher competition with Chinese imports, jobs held by men in non-routine and routine manufacturing occupations contracted, whereas jobs held by women in routine manufacturing occupations increased. Only one type of non-routine occupation, managerial jobs, held by women contracted due to the competition with China. HIGHLIGHTS Import competition with China during 1995–2006 reduced men's manufacturing jobs in Chile, but had mixed results for women. Men's jobs declined in management, administrative, clerical, and custodial occupations. Women's jobs decreased in managerial positions, but increased in low-skilled positions. Low-skilled women workers may be substituting men's jobs like machines. A rise in women's routine jobs does not suggest improvement in employment conditions or wages, nor in attachment to the labor force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surge pricing has been used to coordinate supply and demand in the ride‐sharing industry, but its causal effects on driver behavior remain unclear. This motivates us to examine how surge pricing causally affects driver earnings and labor supply by leveraging a unique quasi‐experiment, in which a leading ride‐sharing company in China introduced surge pricing in two cities at different times. Using a difference‐in‐differences design with the causal forest method, we find that surge pricing led to increases in drivers' weekly revenue. Decomposing the weekly revenue into "intensive margin" and "extensive margin" factors, we discover two countervailing effects at play: a cherry‐picking effect and a competition effect, and the daily revenue decreased because the latter dominated. Consequently, the increased weekly revenue can be explained by the extensive margin: drivers worked on more days to compensate for the decreased daily revenue, a result consistent with the income targeting behavior. Finally, we examine heterogeneous treatment effects across drivers, and find that surge pricing enticed more part‐time drivers to flood the market and crowd out full‐time drivers, and that the increase in the drivers' weekly revenue was primarily driven by part‐time drivers. Therefore, the benefit of surge pricing was unevenly distributed across drivers. Highlights: While surge pricing enlarged the size of the pie by enhancing overall operational efficiency, the induced increase in the driver pool resulted in a smaller slice per driver and decreased daily revenue for all drivers.The impact of surge pricing differed significantly across driver segments: full‐time drivers became worse off and earned less due to intensified competition from part‐time drivers; part‐time drivers earned more by increasing the weekly number of working days.When designing a new policy, platforms should be mindful of participants' bounded rationality and heterogeneous responses to the policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the Indian Ocean Region has become central to the strategies of major global powers due to a series of geoeconomic and geopolitical factors. While China increased its influence in this region by opening up connections within the framework of the BRI, offering loans, and constructing infrastructures, India, with its "neighborhood first" policy, also preserved its traditional sphere of influence. Due to the rising strategic competition by powers, Indian Ocean Region was at the crossroads of great power competition, especially the strategic competition between China and India. The article was based on a comparative approach and simultaneously compared India and China's influence in each field in the Indian Ocean region. The analysis showed that competition between China and India in the context of the two countries still has many tensions, leading to each country's efforts to strengthen military control over the Indian Ocean region. However, this competition tends to serve as a balance between the two countries, motivating them to develop regional power rather than allowing a single dominant state to become a hegemon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is twofold to examine the factors that contribute to local bias of venture capital in China and to explore the relationship between local bias and performance of venture capital institutions. Design/methodology/approach: Local bias was measured in line with the model developed by Cumming and Dai (2010). Regression techniques were performed for our long-term cross-sectional data to analyse the potential determinants of local bias. This is followed by the Probit model to test the relationship between local preference and successful exit. Findings: The overall finding indicated that local bias in China increased over time. The stiff competition among venture capital institutions reduced local bias, but the enhanced innovation capabilities of a particular geographical area amplified local bias because of the knowledge spillover effect. Finally, the results suggested that venture capital institutions with less local bias enjoy a greater likelihood of making successful exits. Research limitations/implications: This study used successful venture capital exit as a proxy for venture capital institution's performance because of the unavailability of information such as internal rate of return. Future research should try to adopt other way of measuring venture capital institution's performance. Practical implications: This study sheds light on the various possible causes of local bias that the policymakers need to be aware of. Despite the rapid rise of China's venture capital market in recent years, venture capital institutions have yet to make inroads into the local high-tech industry. This study implies to the policymakers that to reverse this trend, they should formulate policies that foster the long-term performance of venture capital institutions, mitigate the severity of local bias and raise the competitiveness of the Chinese venture capital market. Originality/value: Because of data limitations, there is currently lack of prior empirical research on local bias of Chinese venture capital institutions based on large-scale data. This study intends to fill the gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to examine the impact of economic policy uncertainty and bank competition on the financial stability of the Chinese banking industry. This study answers two fundamental questions. First, does economic policy uncertainty (EPU) affects the financial stability of banks in China? Second, does competition affect the financial stability of the Chinese banking sector? Design/methodology/approach: The sample includes all commercial banks to provide a full picture of the Chinese banking sector. This study covers the time between 2011 and 2019. The sample period captures different EPU spikes and key policy changes. This study used different econometric methodologies such as the generalized method of moments and the fixed effect and ordinary least square estimation models. Furthermore, this study used the Instrumental Variable model to solve endogeneity, autocorrelation and unobserved heterogeneity concerns. Besides, alternative EPU and financial stability measures were used. Moreover, this study reestimates the model after dropping the big five state-owned banks. Findings: This study found that both EPU and competition reduce financial stability. This implies that EPU has a negative impact on financial stability. This shows that uncertainty distorts resource allocation efficiency and creates confusion, leading to financial instability in the banking sector. Besides, this study found that competition negatively affects financial stability. This result implies that high competition pushes banks toward riskier activities that ultimately lead to increased financial instability. Originality/value: This study is the first of its kind that examines the impact of EPU and competition on the financial stability of the Chinese banking sector. This study conducted several robustness tests such as the instrumental variable model, alternative measurement and sample construction methods. This study brings policy implications and lessons for the banking sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relying on the linkage and leverage theory, the paper aims at reviewing critical issues related to China's economic, cultural and political expansion in EU's Central and Eastern member states. Through the "17+1" format and "One Belt, One Road" initiative, China became an assertive competitor in Europe, acting on a "divide et impera" strategy through bilateral or multilateral negotiations, undermining the EU's cohesion. Also, the European Union is facing a movement of illiberal, nationalist or populist policies that occurred in the former Warsaw Pact countries which are trying to avoid Brussels' norms and therefore they are opened to other alternatives. In order to find out a pattern or relevant arguments for advancing a set of competing hypotheses or scenarios, a structured analytical technique will be applied, respectively "indicators or signposts of change", for the following countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. In this regard, the key indicators will refer to: economic factors, the strength of the civil society, the force of the opposition or of pro-European parties and the degree of Europeanization in the analysed states. Thereby, the article will advance three important questions: 1) Is EU in competition with China and how the confrontation takes place? 2) Which are the EU's countries more likely to strengthen the partnership with China? 3) Which are the EU's own linkages and leverages in its Eastern part and how they can be used for stopping China's advancement? The results will strengthen the idea that China became a real competitive actor, trying to expand in Europe, where the peripheral ex-communist states have been placed in the core of the confrontation. Also, the article will demonstrate that EU facing a real economic rival has the capabilities to stand up and therefore act as an international power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From a knowledge-based perspective, this paper highlights the need for a framework linking perceived competition of the industry and firms' strategic location choices of external knowledge search and examines whether the perceived competition increases the propensity of cluster firms to search more widely from extra-cluster knowledge sources than intra-cluster knowledge sources. Furthermore, we emphasise that cluster firms with varying degrees of tacitness in their knowledge base might respond to such competition differently when conducting external knowledge search activities. Using a sample of 310 cluster firms in the Zhejiang Province of China, we find that the cluster firm would increase the propensity for more geographic boundary-spanning search relative to local search while under the pressure of competition. Moreover, the positive relationship between perceived competition and the propensity towards geographic knowledge search is weaker when the tacitness of the cluster firm's knowledge base is higher. The findings contribute to the understanding of the relationship between competition and the choice of location strategies in external knowledge search. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Natural Gas Industry is the property of Natural Gas Industry Journal Agency and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose: This study investigates the interrelationships between efficiency, competition and risk in the Chinese banking industry. Design/methodology/approach: Parametric stochastic frontier analysis is used to estimate bank efficiency; the Lerner index is used as the competition indicator; accounting ratios and a translog function are used to measure different types of risk and finally, the three-stage least square estimator is used to investigate the interrelationships. Findings: The results of this study show that the impact of competition on different types of risk is significant and positive, while there is a significant and positive impact of credit risk, liquidity risk and capital risk on bank competition. In addition, the findings demonstrate that the interrelationships between efficiency and competition are significant and negative. The authors do not find any robust interrelationships between different types of risk and different types of efficiency; the authors find that diversification and higher levels of profitability reduce bank credit risk. The results suggest that a higher developed banking sector reduces the level of bank competition in China. Originality/value: This is the first piece of research that comprehensively investigates the interrelationships between different types of risk, competition and different efficiencies in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The South Pacific Ocean is emerging as an arena of U.S.-China strategic competition while the practices of the two countries in some areas suggest that the model of cooperation could benefit the regional States. It is hard to foresee whether competition or cooperation will drive the future development of the South Pacific or whether the two phenomena may co-exist. It is determined not only by policies taken by the two States themselves and their perspective engagements with both external stakeholders and regional States. Also, it is critical to understand how the regional states view the United States and China and how they are responding to U.S.-China competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The XXI is considered by major countries in the Asia-Pacific region as „the century of sea and ocean' and is accompanied by fierce competition among the nations to gain interest in the sea regions. On the basis that previously only considered the competition for military objectives, geostrategic bases and traffic channels through the straits, nowadays, countries worldwide have stepped up the competition for economic interests and marine resources. The development of military power and the competitive activities for resources at sea show clear the tendency to use the sea to contain the continent. In that context, the Indian Ocean, as the world's third largest ocean, has an important geographic location and rich and diverse natural resources; the arterial sea route is gradually becoming the center of new world geopolitics and an important area in the strategic competition between two „Asian giants' - India and China. The competition between these countries in the Indian Ocean is growing and profoundly impacts the region's stability and security. This article focuses on the position and important role of the Indian Ocean in the policies of India and China, the fierce competition between the two countries in nearly two decades of the XXI century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research aimed to examine China's economy, which has developed and become stronger throughout history within the framework of the trading state. Forming bilateral trade networks within the country and being a member of several trade networks throughout the globe, China's tradeoriented growth strategy is thought worthwhile to be assessed in this article. This study is based on the trade expectation theory, and its scope is limited to China's economic growth. Random sampling was used to acquire crosssectional data to determine the study's results. This research suggests that China's bilateral connections and interactions that prioritized economic development will strengthen its competitiveness and continue to improve and maintain the competition. The study has significance for understanding economic growth in countries based on chosen expectations and efforts. The research also presents some policy consequences of China's tendency toward trade-oriented economic growth to achieve its national, regional, and global goals. This growth trend acts as an example for other countries throughout the globe. The finding has significant implications for future investigations that will contribute to the body of knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the impact of the rivalry among the three great powers: the United States, Russia, and China in relation to a solution to the Syrian crisis and the reaching of a peaceful settlement. Each power has supported one or more sides among the regional and local actors, which has led to proxy wars among different rival parties. For example, the United States, Russia, and China are trying to maximize their own power and to increase their status in the regional and international system. However, each has different strategies and tools to achieve this goal. While Russia and the United States stress their military presence, China thinks political and economic power can be more effective, which explains why China is hesitant to get directly involved in the crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Litter plays an important role in plant invasion. Our previous studies have found that litter had two opposite effects as Spartina alterniflora invading native plant Phragmites australis community. Litter stimulated the growth of S. alterniflora on the edge of the community, while it inhibited the growth in the old community. Accordingly, we hypothesized that litter may play different roles in different stages of plant invasions. We selected three types of communities: P. australis monoculture (PAM), S. alterniflora monoculture (SAM), S. alterniflora–P. australis mixture (SPM) and conducted a comparative study by keeping and removing litter at Chongming Dongtan in the Yangtze River estuary, China. Our results revealed that litter removal significantly increased light intensity in SAM, and enhanced it in SPM, but had no significant influence on it in PAM. The effect of litter on light intensity resulted in a higher chlorophyll content and higher plant height of S. alterniflora monoculture after litter removal, which eventually led to a higher single weight and aboveground biomass for PAM and SAM after litter removal, and to a higher aboveground biomass for S. alterniflora in SPM. Litter removal significantly enhanced the dominance of S. alterniflora relative to P. australis in SPM. We concluded that the effects of invasive plants' litter on the invasion processes depend on the stem density of invasive plants relative to native plants. If an invasive species had a higher plant density, its litter may not have a shelter effect on native species, but could restrict its own growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of competition on credit risk, liquidity risk, capital risk and insolvency risk in the Chinese banking industry during the period 2003-2013.Design/methodology/approach This study uses a generalized method of moments system estimator to examine the impact of competition on risk. In particular, translog specifications are used to measure the competition and insolvency risk.Findings The results show that greater competition within each bank ownership type (state-owned commercial banks, joint-stock commercial banks and city commercial banks) leads to higher credit risk, higher liquidity risk, higher capital risk, but lower insolvency risk.Originality/value This paper is the first piece of research testing the impact of competition on different types of risk in banking industry and it further contributes to the empirical literature by using a more accurate competition indicator (efficiency-adjusted Lerner index) and a more precise insolvency risk indicator (stability inefficiency). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is often argued lately that some regional transit systems should be integrated to improve the transit services across jurisdictional borders. One of the important issues concerning this integrated transit system is how to make proper use of the competition and regulation to improve its performance and to increase relevant benefits to the authorities, the operators and the passengers. This paper deals with this problem in a new integrated transit system across jurisdictional borders. An optimization model is used to investigate the competition of transit operators in oligopolistic competition transit market (OCTM). An optimization model with nonlinear complementarity constraints is proposed to guide the competition of transit operators using transit subsidy as the regulation means in system optimum transit system (SOTM). By analyzing and comparing the performances of the integrated transit system in two markets, numerical studies show that the competition mechanism should be made full use of and transit subsidy is an important regulation means that should be valued by the transit authorities in the integrated transit system. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that an important reason why Russia's performance and China's performance under capitalism have differed dramatically is that different arrangements governing the determination of prices and work practices evolved during the transition process. In Russia, the arrangement, which conferred monopoly rights to industry groups leftover from socialism, prevented the adoption of better technology. In China, the arrangement that evolved contained no such monopoly elements. The key factor in determining which arrangement evolved was the strength of the central government. We put forth a model that implements these ideas and provide evidence in support of this theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While large herbivores are critically important components of terrestrial ecosystems and can have pronounced top‐down effects on plants, our understanding of the underlying mechanisms driving these effects remains incomplete. Large herbivores can alter plant growth, reproduction, and abundance through direct effects (predominantly consumption) and through indirect effects via altered interactions with abiotic factors and other species. We know considerably less about these indirect effects than the direct effects. Here, we integrate medium‐ and small‐scale field experiments to investigate how a large vertebrate herbivore, cattle (Bos taurus), affects the aboveground biomass of a dominant forb species, Artemisia scoparia, via diverse direct and indirect pathways in a temperate grassland in northeast China. Although cattle consumed this forb, its biomass increased significantly in response to grazing, due to multiple indirect positive effects that outweighed the direct negative effects of consumption. Cattle preferentially consumed the competing grass Leymus chinensis, and altered Artemisia microhabitats by reducing total plant cover and litter biomass and by increasing the abundance of co‐occurring ant species (e.g., Formica spp. and Lasius spp.). This led to additional indirect positive effects on A. scoparia likely due to (1) increased light availability in understory layers and other limiting resources (e.g., soil nutrients and moisture) caused by removal of competitors and plant litter at the soil surface and (2) the changes in resource availability (e.g., soil nutrients and moisture) associated with ant colonies. Our results show that large herbivores can affect plant growth not only via direct consumption, but also via multiple indirect effects. Focusing on the causes and consequences of herbivore‐induced indirect effects will not only help us to better understand the influence of these animals in ecological systems, but will also lead to more effective land management and conservation practices in the regions they inhabit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More efficient use of soil resources, such as nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), can improve plant community resistance and resilience against drought in arid and semi-arid lands. Intercropping of legume and non-legumes can be an effective practice for enhancing P mineralization uptake, and plant nutrient status. However, it remains unclear how intercropping systems using desert plant species impact soil-plant P fractions and how they affect N and water uptake capacity. Alhagi sparsifolia (a legume) and Karelinia caspia (a non-legume) are dominant plant species in the Taklamakan Desert in Xinjiang Province, China. However, there is a lack of knowledge of whether these species, when intercropped, can trigger synergistic processes and mechanisms that drive more efficient use of soil resources. Thus, in a field experiment over two years, we investigated the impact of monoculture and intercropping of these plant species on soil-plant P fractions and soil-plant nutrients. Both plant species' foliar nutrient (N, P, and K) concentrations were higher under monoculture than intercropping (except K in K. caspia). Nucleic acid P was higher in the monoculture plots of A. sparsifolia, consistent with higher soil labile P, while metabolic P was higher in monoculture K. caspia, associated with higher soil moderately labile Pi. However, both species had a higher residual P percentage in the intercropping system. Soils from monoculture and intercropped plots contained similar microbial biomass carbon (MBC), but lower microbial biomass N:microbial biomass phosphorus (MBN:MBP) ratio associated with reduced N-acetylglucosaminidase (NAG) activity in the intercropped soils. This, together with the high MBC:MBN ratio in intercropping and the lack of apparent general effects of intercropping on MBC:MBP, strongly suggest that intercropping improved microbe N- but not P-use efficiency. Interestingly, while EC and SWC were higher in the soil of the K. caspia monoculture plots, EC was significantly lower in the intercropped plots. Plants obtained better foliar nutrition and soil P mineralization in monocultures than in intercropping systems. The possible positive implications of intercropping for reducing soil salinization and improving soil water uptake and microbial N-use efficiency could have advantages in the long term and its utilization should be explored further in future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2015, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission initiated a liberalization reform in the automobile insurance industry to grant insurers more discretion in policy design, underwriting, and ratemaking. The deregulation intended to increase competition and choices for the consumer, yet there was little scientific evidence on how the insurance market responded to the reform. This article examines the effectiveness of this deregulation reform in China. Leveraging a large industry dataset of more than 7 million automobile insurance policies from 63 major automobile insurers operating in China, we study policyholders' switching behavior among insurance providers. To better understand the heterogeneity in the impact of deregulation on market performance and consumer choice, we further analyze the switching pattern among different types of insurers according to the insurer's size, the company's business structure, the jurisdiction's market power, and the customer's risk type. Overall, the empirical results suggest that the reform has met its original goal, leading to higher market competition, and more diversified consumer choices. We further confirm that the average premium dropped significantly after the reform for all three jurisdictions implementing the reform, yet the insurers' pricing strategy was risk type dependent, i.e., the average premium for the high-risk customers increased, while the average premium for the low-risk customers decreased substantially. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In spite of a turbulent past of mistrust and rivalry, the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China are not adversaries, they are political, economic and security partners, and in the context of their common opposition to the USA and western liberalism they could even become allies in the future. Russia's war against Ukraine put China in a difficult situation, since it is a supporter of peaceful ways for solving interstate conflicts and it invested a lot in the Ukrainian economy, but cannot side with the West against Moscow. Chinese lack of criticism towards Moscow was widely seen as an indicator of the convergence of the two nations's positions on the evolution of the international security architecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines two aspects of trade, dependence and competition, between China and Asian countries. The study first outlines China's evolution from a small trading nation that is highly dependent on the Soviet Union to the world's largest trading nation with a diversified trade structure. After being dependent on the Soviet Union during the 1950s, China was dependent on Japan in terms of trade from the 1970s to the 1990s. However, during the first two decades of the 21st century, the relationship between the two countries completely changed. This study further examines bilateral trade relationships of South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, vis-à-vis China. The study shows that Asian countries have become increasingly dependent on China in terms of trade, at the expense of trade with their conventional partners, namely Japan and the United States. Intra-ASEAN trade is also eclipsed by the growth of trade with China. Additionally, the study reveals, competition in export markets between China and Asian countries has intensified. The high-income countries in Asia have been caught up by China, while the low-income countries are also facing increasing competitive pressure from China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there is a growing number of research articles investigating the performance in the banking industry, research on Chinese banking efficiency is rather focused on discussing rankings to the detriment of unveiling its productive structure in light of banking competition. This issue is of utmost importance considering the relevant transformations in the Chinese economy over the last decades. This is a development of a two-stage network production process (production and intermediation approaches in banking, respectively) to evaluate the efficiency level of Chinese commercial banks. In the second stage regression analysis, an integrated Multi-Layer Perceptron/Hidden Markov model is used for the first time to unveil endogeneity among banking competition, contextual variables, and efficiency levels of the production and intermediation approaches in banking. The competitive condition in the Chinese banking industry is measured by Panar–Rosse H-statistic and Lerner index under the Ordinary Least Square regression. Findings reveal that productive efficiency appears to be positively impacted by competition and market power. Second, credit risk analysis in older local banks, which focus the province level, would possibly be the fact that jeopardizes the productive efficiency levels of the entire banking industry in China. Thirdly, it is found that a perfect banking competition structure at the province level and a reduced market power of local banks are drivers of a sound banking system. Finally, our findings suggest that concentration of credit in a few banks leads to an increase in bank productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses how the competition between China and the EU in export markets has affected the trade performance of European countries. It first draws on a comparison between Germany and France before turning to discuss the economic and social impact of China's internationalization on Europe's economies. The results suggest that even in the recent years when China has gained prominence, it should not be blamed for more than half of the measured effects for emerging countries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The fast development of mobile networks calls for the massive consumption of materials, land, and energy in building and maintaining infrastructures, which is always intensified by the repetitive constructions of competing network operators. To reduce the resource consumption for social benefit, one business solution, implemented in the Chinese telecom industry, is forming a joint venture responsible for building and maintaining common infrastructures. The novelty of this practice is that the joint venture is shared by the competing operators who also rent infrastructures from the joint venture. We note that such a solution can be potentially generalized to other industries for reducing resource consumption. However, before generalization, an understanding of the pros and cons from the economic perspective of the business model is urgently needed. In this paper, we study this business model from a game theoretic approach. Our results show that if we properly regulate the joint venture, the market can converge to equilibriums with desirable properties which cannot be achieved without the joint venture. Furthermore, we also study the investment reduction in the presence of the joint venture. Our numerical results show that under a moderate user density, the total investment on the infrastructures can be significantly reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose Using the sample between 2005 and 2011, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of a new fund entry on incumbents using the overlap measure in portfolio holdings.Design/methodology/approach Empirical methodology is used in this study.Findings The authors find that incumbents that have a higher overlap with the entrants underperform subsequently. Based on the characteristic-based approach of Daniel et al. (1997), the authors find that the characteristic selectivity component is negatively correlated with the overlap measure, and thereby the decline in performance is driven by the stock-picking ability. The authors also discuss the unobserved actions of incumbents using the approach proposed by Kacperczyk et al. (2008) and find that incumbent unobserved actions do not benefit mutual fund investors in China. Finally the authors find that investors respond to the supply-side competition between entrants and incumbents quickly. These findings help us understand the mutual fund completion in China.Originality/value The findings in this study can help scholars, industry experts and regulatory authorities to understand the effect of competition in Chinese mutual fund industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims Interactions between plants and their soil biota, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in particular, may play a vital role in the establishment and the range expansion of exotic plants in new environments. However, whether there are post-introduction shifts in dependence on AMF and how dependency interacts with competition remains poorly understood. Methods We conducted a common garden greenhouse experiment to examine how native (USA) and invasive (China) populations of the plant species Plantago virginica , respond to soil biota, and whether these responses change in the presence of a competitor. Important Findings We found that while native populations consistently had a higher AMF colonization rate and benefited from AMF in both biomass and seed production, invasive populations received less benefit from AMF, and even showed reduced biomass with AMF in the presence of a competitor. This low mycorrhizal dependency in invasive populations correlated with greater suppression by an indigenous competitor for the invader. The different responses of the invasive and native populations to AMF suggest that alteration of mycorrhizal dependency has occurred during the invasion of P. virginica into China. Our findings suggest that this reduced dependency incurs a cost during interspecific competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Asia-Pacific region has the highest number of active smokers in the world. Efforts to reduce tobacco use should implement evidence-based measures. The Association of Pacific Rim Universities is a non-profit network of more than 50 universities representing 18 economies. In 2017, it held a virtual global health case competition relating to the use of universities as platforms for tobacco control. This study is a content analysis of tobacco control proposals submitted by 24 teams from 10 economies. Content analysis of the 10-min videos examined (1) general tone and scope of videos; (2) contextual analysis; (3) intervention approaches; (4) theoretical framework; (5) primary versus secondary prevention; (6) individual versus structural approaches. Proposals were not comprehensive; most included some but not all elements recommended by the WHO FCTC. Smoking was often referred to as a 'habit' (instead of an addiction), which likely explains the predominance of individual-level behavior change interventions (smoking cessation) over structural interventions (tobacco ad or sales bans). The most common intervention was the enforcement of current bans on smoking (proposed in 78% of videos), perceived as a major barrier to tobacco control. While most proposals emphasized individual components (e.g. health education and peer support), some also proposed to create more supportive smoke-free environments through billboards, posters and cues to action, such as 'no smoking' reminders and signs with cessation hotline numbers. University faculty, students and campus-wide organizations are well positioned to lead tobacco control efforts. More work is needed to support the establishment of smoke-free campus environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the large-scale investments of both China and the EU in climate-change mitigation and renewable-energy promotion, the prevailing view on China-EU relations is one of conflict rather than cooperation. In order to evaluate the prospects of cooperation between China and the EU in these policy fields, empirical research has to go beyond simplistic narratives. This paper suggests a conceptual apparatus that will help researchers better understand the complexities of the real world. The relevant actors operate at different levels and in the public and private sectors. The main message of the paper is that combining the multilevel governance and value-chain approaches helps clarify the multiple relationships between these actors [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, focus on dry ports in the People's Republic of China (PRC) is growing, and therefore, the number of dry ports in the country is actively increasing. Due to the multifunctionality of dry ports, they meet the modern requirements of China's transport policy, which prioritizes improving the quality of providing transportation services by providing general access to value-added and high-quality services. The purpose of the PRC's transport system is also to facilitate the movement of freight flows within the State's territory, due to a faster modal shift, increased accessibility of transport, development of auxiliary functions, and construction of integrated transport hubs. Dry ports deal with the mentioned tasks; however, with the increase in the number of dry ports in the PRC, the issue of optimizing the interaction between dry ports has become urgent. The purpose of this research is to scientifically substantiate the need for strengthening technological cooperation between dry ports. The problem of determining the optimal structure of the system of interaction of dry ports was solved using the method of discreteevent simulation and the anyLogistix software tool. The results of assessment of the economic efficiency of the interaction between dry ports are presented. The results of experiments with a model of China's dry port system showed the possibility of increasing the total profit of participants of the supply chain by 2.3 times and their profitability by 2.6 times, reducing the cost of container transportation by 1.3 times, and fully meeting the demand for transportation. It has been proven that the cooperation of dry ports in supply chains provides enhanced opportunities for processing cargo flows, as a result of the redirection of cargo consignments from overloaded dry ports to dry ports with reserves with processing capacity. A methodology for optimizing the structure of the system of interaction of dry ports is presented. The methodology is proposed for use as a tool for strategic and current planning of supply chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a typical linear model on a sample of listed firms in China over a period of 10 years (2006–2016), this study empirically attempts proving how peer effects influence corporate research and development (R&D) investment decision. The study goes further to demonstrate that peer effects play a significant and critical role in determining corporate R&D investment policies, and by extension the more important determinant than most traditional firm‐specific factors. After dealing with endogeneity bias and conducting further robustness checks, the above conclusions were valid in this study. It has been theorized in contemporary research that both information and market competition are the main channels through which one can best appreciate peer effects and that firms with weak information acquisition ability and in highly uncertain or competitive environment are more likely to be affected by peer groups. We also find evidence that a firm's R&D investment status relative to its peer firms will affect its R&D investment decision. Moreover, the direction of peer effects follows the law of imitation. Thus, firms are more likely to imitate those peers who share similar characteristics. Yet, leading firms and state‐owned enterprises (SOEs) are exceptionally different as their R&D decisions are sensitive to both peer‐followers and non‐SOEs respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]