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The setting of a CO2 emission peak target (CEPT) will have a profound impact on Chinese industry. An objective assessment of this impact is of great significance, both for understanding/applying the forcing mechanism of CEPT, and for promoting the optimization of China’s industrial structure and the low-carbon transformation of Chinese industry at a lower cost. Based on analysis of the internal logic and operation of the forcing mechanism of CEPT, we employed the STIRPAT model. This enabled us to predict the peak path of China’s CO2 emissions, select the path values that would achieve the CEPT with the year 2030 as the constraint condition, construct a multi-objective and multi-constraint input/output optimization model, employ the genetic algorithm to solve the model, and explore the industrial structure optimization and low-carbon transformation of Chinese industry. The results showed that the setting of CEPT will have a significant suppression effect on high-carbon emission industries and a strong boosting effect on low-carbon emission industries. The intensity of the effect is positively correlated with the target intensity of the CO2 emissions peak. Under the effect of the forcing mechanism of CEPT, Chinese industry can realize a low-carbon transition and the industrial structure can realize optimization. The CEPT is in line with sustainable development goals, but the setting of CEPT may risk causing excessive shrinkage of basic industries—which should be prevented.

The paper investigates factors to financing from venture capital (VC) in the Peer to Peer (P2P) lending industry of China. We focus on the signal effects of founder-CEOs, human capital, and legitimacy on venture capital investment. An important issue for entrepreneurship research is how to reduce t information asymmetry between entrepreneurs and potential investors. This paper builds on the signal theory to explain how new ventures can signal their qualities and promising businesses to potential investors to obtain external investment. By using a total of 2388 new ventures in China’s P2P lending industry, this paper analyzed the effects of factors on VC investment. We found that the founder-CEO status and the legitimacy of third-party signals are crucial to obtain the support of venture capital. We found that the CEO’s international experience has positively significant on VC financing, but the industry experience of CEOs is insignificant to get VC investment. The results indicate that new venture should pay more attention to build the ways of signaling and legitimacy of new venture to get external resource providers.

The construction industry is the pillar industry of China’s national economy. According to the statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics, the GDP in 2016 was 744.127 billion yuan, while the total construction output value was 193.567 billion yuan, accounting for 6.5 percent of China’s GDP. The construction industry has played a pivotal role in promoting social development. Construction projects have always belonged to typical high-risk industries, and they will be affected by many factors, and these factors are mostly from the social environment and the natural environment, which makes it difficult to realize the expected construction period, cost, quality, safety, etc., of the construction project. The objectives, especially for large- and medium-sized construction projects, involve a lot of specialties, a wide range, a long construction period, and a huge amount of investment. Once the risks appear, the consequences are unimaginable. In addition, construction projects will be affected by accidental factors during the implementation process. If not handled in time, it will seriously affect the normal operation of construction projects. In view of the above problems, this article aims to study the risk management research of construction project management under the multimedia environment of the Internet of Things. Combining the characteristics of mobile construction projects, various problems are analyzed in the construction process of construction projects. This paper proposes a multimedia-based construction project management system, construction project quality management objectives and principles, and schedule risk prediction. The experimental results of this paper show that taking the construction project under the multimedia environment as an example, the communication management and quality control management of the construction project under the multimedia environment are studied. Through the combination of theory and practice, the work of construction projects under the multimedia environment of the Internet of Things is guaranteed to be completed on time and with high quality.

Based on data from the China Industry Business Performance Database from 1998 to 2007 and the time of establishment of the administrative examination and approval center in each administrative division in China, this study attempts to empirically determine the effects of the reform of the administrative examination and approval system on the efficiency of resource allocation from the perspectives of the degree of enterprise-level productivity dispersion. The empirical results showed that the reform of the administrative examination and approval system significantly reduced the degree of productivity dispersion among enterprises in an industry, in addition to enhancing the efficiency of resource allocation in the industry. A further analysis of heterogeneity revealed that the reform of the administrative examination and approval system yielded greater enhancements of the efficiency of resource allocation in industries with lower entry and exit rates.

In this study, we introduce the concept of differentiated quality inputs with knowledge-driven specifications for research and development (R&amp, D) under an open economy to the endogenous growth model of knowledge spillover. Using matching industry enterprise and customs data from 2001 to 2007, which is representative of micro data at the Chinese industry level, we theoretically analyze the influence of the quality and variety of imported products on Chinese enterprises&rsquo, innovation and economic growth. We find that, first, the improvement of the quality and variety of new imported products can promote enterprise innovation. Second, new imported intermediate inputs and capital goods, new imported high-technology products, and products imported from Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries have stronger promoting effects on enterprise innovation. We conclude that imported products stimulate the growth of the economy through two channels: expanding the variety and increasing the quality of inputs. To verify the stability of our model, we conducted robustness tests by defining new imported products based on a base year, measuring enterprise innovation by the number of patent applications, and measuring the quality of new imported products in a new way.

This study aims to investigate the development of Airbnb in China from the perspective of hospitality leaders by identifying the positive and negative effects of Airbnb development in the country.,A qualitative approach was adopted to explore the current development of sharing accommodation service in China. Focus group discussions were conducted with the managers and top executives of hotels in China.,Most of the participants affirmed that the experience of local culture and authenticity are the advantages of staying in this type of informal accommodation. From the viewpoint of hoteliers, traditional accommodation is necessary to rethink their strategies by providing authentic experiences. By contrast, Airbnb service may not seamlessly fit into Chinese culture. The result also indicated that there is a need for government to regulate the informal accommodation platforms.,This study provides views towards Airbnb from the traditional accommodation sector in Mainland China, which can contribute to the future regulation of informal accommodation services.,Chinese market is the leading sector in tourism industry. With the popularity of Airbnb development around the world, Airbnb is still in a developing stage in Mainland China. This study is based on 45 hoteliers and industry professionals in China, who share their views on Airbnb development and how it should move forward. The findings of this study shed light on the informal accommodation service and its future directions in China.,爱彼迎在中国的未来：酒店业领导者的行业观点,这项研究旨在从酒店业领导者的角度调查Airbnb在中国的发展, 以确定Airbnb在中国发展的正面和负面影响。,本文采用定性方法来探索中国共享住宿服务的当前发展。研究组与中国酒店的经理和高层管理人员进行了焦点小组讨论。,大多数参与者表示, 当地文化和真实性的体验是住在Airbnb这种非正式住宿中的优势。从酒店经营者的角度来看, 传统的住宿业需要重新考虑他们的经营策略, 为顾客提供真实的体验。相比之下, Airbnb的服务可能无法无缝融入中国文化。结果还表明, 政府需要规范非正式的住宿平台。,该研究提供了中国内地传统住宿业对Airbnb的看法, 这有助于未来对非正式住宿服务的监管。,中国市场是旅游业的主导市场。Airbnb在世界范围内不断普及, 而它在中国内地市场仍处于发展阶段。参与研究的45位中国酒店业者和行业专业人士, 分享了对Airbnb开发的看法以及其之后的发展方向。这项研究的结果阐明了非正式住宿服务在中国的未来发展方向。,El futuro de Airbnb en China: perspectiva de la industria desde el punto de vista de lideres hoteleros,Este estudio tiene como objetivo investigar el desarrollo de Airbnb en China desde la perspectiva de lideres hoteleros, mediante la identificacion de los efectos positivos y negativos del desarrollo de Airbnb en el pais.,Se adopto un enfoque cualitativo para explorar el desarrollo actual del servicio de alojamiento colaborativo en China. Se llevaron a cabo discusiones de grupos focales con los gerentes y altos ejecutivos de hoteles en China.,La mayoria de los participantes afirmaron que la experiencia de la cultura local y la autenticidad, son las ventajas de alojarse en este tipo de “alojamiento informal”. Desde el punto de vista de los hoteleros, es necesario que el alojamiento tradicional, repiense sus estrategias proporcionando experiencias autenticas. Por el contrario, el servicio de Airbnb puede no encajar perfectamente en la cultura China. El resultado, tambien indico que es necesario que el gobierno regule las “plataformas informales” de alojamiento.,El estudio proporciona puntos de vista hacia Airbnb desde el sector de alojamiento tradicional en China continental, que puede contribuir a la futura regulacion de los servicios de “alojamiento informal”.,El mercado chino es el sector lider en la industria del turismo. Con la popularidad del desarrollo de Airbnb en todo el mundo, Airbnb aun se encuentra en una etapa de desarrollo en China continental. Este estudio se basa en 45 hoteleros y profesionales de la industria en China al compartir sus puntos de vista sobre el desarrollo de Airbnb y como deberia avanzar. Los resultados de este estudio arrojan luz sobre el servicio de “alojamiento informal” y sus futuras direcciones en China.

Global warming and the rapid growth of carbon emissions have attracted the attention of governments and academia throughout the world. In 2006, China surpassed the United States as the emitter of the greatest volume of carbon, the largest contribution of which is derived from China&rsquo, s industrial sector. This study investigated the evolution of industrial carbon shadow prices (CSPs) in China at the provincial level to assess the opportunity costs in terms of value added foregone owing to decreasing carbon emissions. A dual formulation of the by-production data envelopment analysis (DEA) model was applied to estimate the industrial carbon abatement costs in China during 2003&ndash, 2017. This study represents the first attempt to apply the dual by-production DEA model for this purpose. Empirical results showed that industrial CSP increased by 3.83% annually and that the average provincial CSP was approximately $562.43 USD/ton. A significant upturn in the CSP occurred after 2006. Furthermore, disparities of changes in industrial CSP over time were checked using the test of sigma convergence. Regional divergence was observed for the period 2011&ndash, 2017. Policy implications were derived from the empirical results in terms of improvements regarding carbon abatement.

Electronic information manufacturing industry is the pillar industry of China&rsquo, s economic development. It is of great significance to promote the optimal allocation of national resources and to realize the sustainable development of regional economy by deeply analyzing the spatial correlation structure characteristics of inter-provincial electronic information manufacturing industry, clarifying the status and role of each province in the overall network, and exploring the spillover effect of network space. Based on the panel data of China&rsquo, s inter-provincial electronic information manufacturing industry from 2007 to 2016, this paper constructs a spatial correlation network by using gravity model and deconstructs the spatial network correlation characteristics of inter-provincial electronic information manufacturing industry by using social network analysis. The research shows that the spatial network connectedness of inter-provincial electronic information manufacturing industry is on the rise during the sample period, but the density value is low. The network accessibility and robustness is strong. Compared with the central and western regions, the eastern coastal provinces have stronger control and the ability to attract external resources. Finally, from the perspective of overall situation, differences, and resource support, the paper puts forward some countermeasures and suggestions to promote the sustainable and coordinated development of China&rsquo, s region.

Due to the difference in pollutants discharged, along with heterogeneous abatement technology, the structural and model design of the economic production system needs to consider these differences. This study first proposes a network slacks-based model (SBM) to address the inefficiency of the production system after considering pollutant abatement technology heterogeneity for different kinds of pollutant. Then, we employ the model to study the inefficiency of the Chinese industrial production system, analyzing the inefficiency in the stages of economic production and pollutant treatment. Furthermore, the regional distribution of inefficiencies concerning SO2 (NOx) generation (emission) are discussed and compared. The results show that only the joint reduction of NOx in two sub-stages simultaneously is feasible, and the synergistic pollutant reductions seems limited.

This study assesses economic and environmental performance in the Chinese industry sector across 30 provinces during the period of 2006&ndash, 2017. The study relies on a nonparametric framework and we apply a novel decomposition of the overall inefficiency scores into three components of technical, scale and mix inefficiency at the aggregate level by incorporating undesirable outputs. As we rely on by-production technology, industry performance is split into economic and environmental dimensions. Our results show that Chinese industry inefficiency is equally due to economic and environmental performance during 2006&ndash, 2017, whereas technical and scale inefficiencies are relatively higher for environmental sub-technology (which relates energy to CO2 emission) if opposed to the economic sub-technology (which relates all the inputs to the economic value added). This implies that Chinese industry still requires improvements in environmental performance. The eastern region shows a relatively low average economic overall inefficiency if compared to other regions, yet its total OI (overall inefficiency) is the highest among the regions. Thus, environmental performance and misallocation of resources constitute the underlying causes of the total inefficiency. Therefore, structural reforms are necessary besides improvements in the production processes in the eastern region. This is important since China has experienced economic growth, but also policy must pay attention to environmental issues and sustainability.

As the world&rsquo, s top carbon-emitting country, China has placed great emphasis on understanding the driving factors of carbon emissions and developing appropriate emissions reduction policies. Due to the obvious variations in carbon emissions among various industries in China, corresponding policies need to be formulated for different industries. Through data envelopment analysis, this study introduced the Shephard distance function into the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) for decomposition analysis, built a carbon emissions decomposition model of 23 industries in China during 2003&ndash, 2015, and analyzed the impact of 10 factors driving carbon emissions. The main results are as follows. (1) Potential gross domestic production (GDP) is a crucial factor for increasing carbon emissions, whereas potential energy intensity and technological advances of carbon emissions have a significant inhibitory effect on carbon emissions, (2) the technological progress of energy usage and the technological advances of GDP output are manifested by inhibiting carbon emissions at the early stage of development and increasing emissions at the later stage, (3) the structure of coal-based energy consumption is difficult to change in the long term, resulting in a weak effect of energy mix on carbon emissions and an increase in carbon emissions due to the potential energy carbon intensity factor.

This paper investigates the influence of international oil prices on China’s stock market returns across twenty-nine different industries. It attempts to account for any structural breaks and nonlinearity in this relationship. The results find that the effect of changes in the international price of oil on stock returns differs substantially across industries. The stock returns of the coal, chemicals, mining and oil industries are found to be positively affected by crude oil price movements. Conversely, electronics, food manufacturing, general equipment, pharmaceuticals, retail, rubber and vehicle industries are found to be negatively affected by movements in the price of crude oil. The results of the estimations also suggest that the majority of Chinese industries have been significantly affected by oil prices since 2004. The influence of international oil prices on Chinese stocks was also found to have a stronger effect in the presence of high volatility, but the effect varies across industries. Postprint

The photovoltaic (PV) industry is an important developmental direction of the global new energy industry, and it is also a strategic emerging industry of China with an international competitive advantage. China’s PV industry has developed rapidly in recent years, and the new installed capacity of PV power generation has been ranked first in the world for 5 years. This achievement is inseparable from the support of national policy, especially the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) policy of solar PV power generation, which is a primary policy of the PV industry. This paper is a study of preference elicitation, whose goal was to identify the driving factors behind historical PV policy in China, according to the opinion of a panel of experts. On this basis, this paper proposes an integrated ANP-Entropy model to evaluate the FIT policy of China in three dimensions: environmental, energy, and economic (3E). Research results show that the environmental goal is still the most significant to the development of the PV industry in China, followed by the energy and economic goals, which account for 0.405, 0.358, and 0.237, respectively. Compared with the conventional studies on energy policy evaluations, this paper integrates subjective (Analytic Network Process) and objective (Entropy Weight Method) evaluations, which makes the evaluation results more reasonable and reliable. Additionally, the 3E evaluation index system and the ANP-Entropy model proposed in this paper are also applicable to the evaluation of other renewable energy policies.

Energy consumption is always concerned by China government, from 11th five years plan, central government and departments are trying to deduce the energy consumption and CO2 emission. Massive energy were consumed by industry boiler that pointed out by investigation of energy in China industry, standards for boilers, specially energy efficiency standards are always considered to be a key approach to reduce energy consumption and promote high energy efficiency technology. From the results of survey, industry boiler energy efficiency standards are indeed useful to reduce energy consume. In this paper, we try to research on China industry boilers energy efficiency standards, based on that we concluded the system of China industry boiler energy efficiency standards, and listed all the index of those energy efficiency standards which force to comply. It is very useful to make everyone to understand China industry boiler, and industry boiler energy efficiency standards.

Model-based systems engineering (MBSE) is an emerging technique widely used in current industry. It is a leading way expected to become a next-generation standard practice in the systems engineering. Fundamental tenets of systems engineering can be supported by a model-based approach to minimize design risks and avoid design changes in late development stages. The models can be used to formalize, analyze, design, optimize, verify and validate target products which help developers to integrate engineering development, organization and product across domains. Though model-based development is well established in specific domains, such as software, mechanical system, electric systems, its role in integrated development from system aspect is still a big challenge for current Chinese industry. In this paper, a survey from volunteers who related with MBSE is taken by questionnaires. The purpose of this survey is to highlight the usage and status of MBSE in current Chinese industry and address roughly the understandings of MBSE concepts among system developers in China based on the answers about usages, advantages, barriers, concerns, trends of MBSE, particularly the perspective of tool-chain development. QC 20180531

BackgroundAs the world’s second-largest economy, China has launched health reforms for the second time and invested significant funding in medical informatics (MI) since 2010; however, few studies have been conducted on the outcomes of this ambitious cause.ObjectiveThis study analyzed the features of major MI meetings held in China and compared them with similar MI conferences in the United States, aiming at informing researchers on the outcomes of MI in China and the US from the professional conference perspective and encouraging greater international cooperation for the advancement of the field of medical informatics in China and, ultimately, the promotion of China’s health reform.MethodsQualitative and quantitative analyses of four MI meetings in China (i.e., CMIAAS, CHINC, CHITEC, and CPMI) and two in the US (i.e., AMIA and HIMSS) were conducted. Furthermore, the size, constituent parts and regional allocation of participants, topics, and fields of research for each meeting were determined and compared.ResultsFrom 1985 to 2016, approximately 45,000 individuals attended the CMIAAS and CPMI (academic), CHINC and CHITEC (industry), resulting in 5,085 documented articles. In contrast, in 2015, 38,000 and 3,700 individuals, respectively, attended the American HIMSS (industry) and AMIA (academic) conferences and published 1,926 papers in the latter. Compared to those of HIMSS in 2015, the meeting duration of Chinese industry CHITEC was 3 vs. 5 days, the number of vendors was 100 vs. 1,500+, the number of sub-forums was 10 vs. 250; while compared to those of AMIA, the meeting duration of Chinese CMIAAS was 2 vs. 8 days, the number of vendors was 5 vs. 65+, the number of sub-forums was 4 vs. 26. HIMSS and AMIA were more open, international, and comprehensive in comparison to the aforementioned Chinese conferences.ConclusionsThe current MI in China can be characterized as “hot in industry application, and cold in academic research.” Taking into consideration the economic scale together with the huge investment in MI, conference yield and attendee diversity are still low in China. This study demonstrates an urgent necessity to elevate the medical informatics discipline in China and to expand research fields in order to maintain pace with the development of medical informatics in the US and other countries.

The goal of this study was to reveal the mechanism of the Chinese industry-university-research collaborative innovation (IURCI) and interactions between the elements in the system and find issues that exist in the collaborative innovation process. Based on the theoretical perspective of innovation and complexity science, we summarized the elements of the IURCI as innovation capability, research and development (R&D) configuration, and knowledge transfer and established a theoretical model to describe the evolution of the IURCI system. We used simulation technology to determine the interactions among variables and the evolution trend of the system. The results showed that the R&D configuration can promote the evolution of innovation capability and knowledge transfer and that innovation capacity is the current dominant factor in the evolution of the Chinese IURCI system and is highly positively correlated with R&D configuration. The evolutionary trend of knowledge transfer was gentler, and its contribution to the evolution of the Chinese IURCI system was less than that of R&D configuration. When innovation, R&D configuration, and knowledge transfer are relatively balanced, the collaborative innovation system can achieve high speed and stable evolution.

As a function in organization and management, coordination is used to adjust the interrelation of the individuals in the organization in order to achieve the ultimate goal. Coordination can make individuals groups in a whole, reduce the contradiction and conflict between each other and promote the realization of the overall goal. The research on the coordination of relationship between the port industry of China and the growth of economy plays an important guiding role for the port industry and healthy development of national economy. According to the correlation model between port industry and economic growth, the correlation factor between port industry and economic growth is extracted, and the coordination indicator system of the relationship between the port industry and economic growth is established. Then, this article makes correlation analysis of the standardization of indicators, removes the bigger indicators of correlation coefficient and eliminates the impact of the duplication of information between indicators in order to simplify the indicator evaluation system. The actual results by data calculation show that there were six obvious changes in the coordination degree of the relationship between the port industry and economic growth in China during the period from 1990 to 2014.

It is widely believed that the acceleration of growth since reforms began in 1978 has increased regional disparities in China. This paper examines whether this is the case for GDP per capita, labour productivity and technical efficiency in industry in 30 regions from 1978 to 2005. The unexpected conclusion is that over the whole period, there has been convergence rather than divergence: more backward regions have caught up with leading regions. The process of regional convergence was especially strong from 1978 to 1990. In the 1990s, there was divergence, but convergence resumed after 2000, leaving regional inequalities in 2005 much smaller than in 1978. Possible theoretical and policy explanations for the observed pattern are considered.

Biofuel as a promising pathway for substituting the traditional fossil fuels, mitigating environmental contaminations, and enhancing the energy security has attracted more and more attention in China. This study aims at identifying the critical success factors for promoting the sustainable development of biofuel industry and helping the stakeholders/decision-makers to draft the appropriate strategic measures for enhancing the sustainability of biofuel industry in China. A generic methodology in which the decision-makers are allowed to use linguistic terms to express their views and options, multiple decision-makers are allowed to participate in the decision-making, has been developed to prioritize the factors influencing the sustainability of biofuel industry and to identify the cause–effect relationships among these factors. The three factors, including government support degree, competitiveness, and local acceptability are identified as the most critical factors for promoting the sustainable development of biofuel industry in China, but they are all effects rather than the origins of the problems existed in the biofuel industry of China. In contrast, maturity, safety and reliability, complexity, conversion efficiency, and investment cost are the most important causes, and they are also the origins of the problems existed in the biofuel industry of China. Six effective strategic measures including popularizing the use of biofuels in large scales, subsidies and tax exemption policies, investing more on R&D on biofuel technologies, encouraging more private enterprises and joint ventures to participate in the biofuel industry, developing the integrated utilization manner of biofuels by further developing the byproducts of biofuels, and popularizing the use of biodiesel and bioethanol among the vehicle users through publicity and education have been proposed for promoting the sustainable development of China's biofuel industry according to the obtained results.

Many steel-based cities in China were established between the 1950s and 1960s. After more than half a century of development and boom, these cities are starting to decline and industrial transformation is urgently needed. This paper focuses on evaluating the transformation capability of resource-based cities building an evaluation model. Using Text Mining and the Document Explorer technique as a way of extracting text features, the 200 most frequently used words are derived from 100 publications related to steel- and other resource-based cities. The Expert Evaluation Method (EEM) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) techniques are then applied to select 53 indicators, determine their weights and establish an index system for evaluating the transformation capability of the pillar industry of China's steel-based cities. Using real data and expert reviews, the improved Fuzzy Relation Matrix (FRM) method is applied to two case studies in China, namely Panzhihua and Daye, and the evaluation model is developed using Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation (FCE). The cities' abilities to carry out industrial transformation are evaluated with concerns expressed for the case of Daye. The findings have policy implications for the potential and required industrial transformation in the two selected cities and other resource-based towns.

This study investigates China's biofuel industry—the third largest in the world—bycombining a strength, weakness, opportunity and threats (SWOT) analysis with a method known asfuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP). More specifically, the study employs SWOT analysis toidentify the influential factors affecting the development of the biofuel industry in China. It thenprioritizes their importance using the FAHP method. The study finds that high production costs,competition with other renewable energy resources, inconsistent policy and legislation support, andpoor technical standards are impeding the growth of the biofuel industry of China. The study concludesby proposing strategic recommendations for how the industry can be made both leaner, more efficientand effective, and greener, more socially and environmentally sustainable. Some of these optionsfocuses on improving technical perform, adhering to a "supply push" mentality. Others focus onimproving affordability and consumer awareness, adhering to a "demand pull" mentality.

Purpose – The aim of this research is to examine the Chinese outward direct investment (ODI) from the perspectives of the Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs), focusing on their perceptions and important factors in the decision-making process. More specifically, it aims to understand where and why Chinese SOEs are investing. Increasingly integrated into the global economy, China has already become one of the largest investment economies in the world. Design/methodology/approach – Conducted by the China Center at Rollins College in collaboration with the Kedge Business School and the China Executive Leadership Academy at Pudong, survey data are collected from 63 Chinese SOEs that reflect the structure of Chinese industry and the membership of the China Council for the Promotion of International trade. Findings – Chinese SOEs have aligned their business expansion plans with the national priority, and played a dominant role in the current internationalization drive. They will likely increase their overseas investment substantially in both short and medium terms; their key business efforts include resource extraction, trading, services and manufacturing. Whereas Chinese ODIs tend to focus on the emerging economies in Asia, Africa and Latin America, more investments begin to take place in various developed countries, and many Chinese SOEs plan to increase their ODI in the USA, regarded as the most important market for overseas investment. Originality/value – This research contributes to a better understanding on the growing ODIs by the Chinese SOEs since the launch of the “going global” policy.

There are emerging concerns worldwide on management of energy resources and its development, such as control of the environmental impact of energy use, regulation and expedition of the commercialization of renewable energy, and reevaluation of the safety issue of nuclear power. As a result, theoretical and empirical studies on energy economics and relevant policies are of emergent need to assess the performance of previous efforts as well as to guide future development. Especially, investigations on the characters of energy market and governments' roles in it are of significant implication for decision makers concerning different aspects of energy management. 20 papers selected from 36 submissions are published in this issue, which cover many important topics in the field of energy economics and policy. At the macroscale, P. Massot and Z.-M. Chen review the history of global uranium market and discuss the potential coexistence between the rising market of China and the rest of the world. X. H. Xia and Y. Hu use China's subprovince and prefecture level data to analyze the determinants of electricity consumption intensity. B. Zhang et al. provide an overview of resources use and environmental impact of the Chinese industry during 1997–2006 based on an exergetic assessment. The fossil fuels inputs in China during 2000–2010 are estimated by S. Wang et al. in a material flow analysis which takes hidden flows into account. Acknowledging the importance of infrastructure investment for the Chinese economy, the embodied energy use in China's infrastructure investment during 1992–2007 is evaluated by H. Liu et al. based on an energy input-output model. S. Lee et al. analyze the potential economic and environmental effects of carbon tax in Japan using a global macroeconometric model. In the study by F. Tao et al., the directional distance function and the Luenberger productivity index are applied to measure the industry efficiency and total factor productivity at the level of subindustry in China during 1999–2009. By employing an input-output model, S. Guo et al. construct an embodied greenhouse gases emissions inventory for Beijing. Fuel consumption and exhaust emissions, including nitrogen oxides and particulate matters, by China's auto industry are estimated and related mitigation policies are discussed by Wu et al. In P. Dai et al.'s paper, an integrate optimization model is proposed for mitigating carbon dioxide emissions from the power sector of China. Other efforts are devoted to energy systems at smaller scales. In the light of the concept of low-carbon community, S. Song et al. propose a life-cycle-based accounting framework for carbon dioxide emissions and employ it to a case in Beijing. As an efficient mode to organize modern production, the industrial park attracts special attentions not only for its important role in economic development but also for its highly concentrated energy use. Four papers in this issue discuss different aspects of the industrial park: the sustainability performance of the industrial park is evaluated based on a life-cycle multicriteria framework by J. Yang et al.; the carbon metabolism of the industrial park is simulated in an ecological network analysis by Y. Lu et al.; the greenhouse gas inventory and ecological-economic benefits of the industrial park are discussed in two papers by B. Chen and his colleagues. Another two papers in this issue focus on renewable energy systems: Y. Wang et al. compare the ecological-economic value of two different biogas plants by an emergy method; Q. Yang et al. assess the nonrenewable energy cost and greenhouse gas emissions of a “pig-biogas-fish” agricultural system based on a life-cycle assessment. To analyze the incentive mechanism of power plant efficiency retrofit, D. Yuan et al. calculate the internal rate of return of an ordinary steam turbine coal-fueled power plant in China under different scenarios. The price elasticity of residential electricity demand is estimated by G. Shi et al. to fill the gap between data requirement for policy making and scientific research outcome. In a more technical research, Z. Wang et al. focus on light extraction efficiency improvement of light-emitting diodes. In summary, economics analysis on energy systems and policies of their development is gaining more and more attention, and the papers presented in this special issue represent the current status of their research. Nevertheless, many problems remain unresolved, and more research is necessary. We look forward to new progress on the basis of and beyond the investigations reported in this issue. Zhan-Ming Chen Bin Chen Han-Song Tang

This paper will argue that the continued existence of state‐owned enterprises (SOE) soft budget constraints, while adversely affecting SOE performance, reflects wider problems in the regulation of Chinese industry. As such, simple recourse to privatisation will not address the deep structural factors, such as over‐politicisation and under‐regulation of the private sector, which affect SOE performance. Section I of the paper will discuss the “direct” effects of soft budget constraints on SOE performance in China. Section II will address the “indirect effects” of soft budget constraints through their effects on the competitive environment vis‐a‐vis private sector firms. Section III will address the issue of privatisation and discuss the broader factors which affect both the extension of soft budget constraints and low SOE performance. Kaip „minkštojo“ biudžeto trukdžiai daro įtaką valstybinių įmonių veiklos rezultatams? Ar veiksnios privatizacijos alternatyvos? Santrauka Straipsnyje autorius vertina vieną iš didžiausių ekonomikos transformacijas patiriančių šalių pasaulyje – Kiniją. Pagrindinė straipsnio užduotis – įvertinti, ar iki šiol propaguojama Kinijos valstybinių įmonių „minkštųjų“ biudžetų politika nedaro neigiamo poveikio jų veiklos rezultatams, kartu atskleidžiant platesnį Kinijos pramonės reguliavimo diapazoną. Privatizacijos bumas negali išvesti Kinijos ekonomikos iš gilių struktūrinių gniaužtų, tokių kaip perdėtas ūkio politizavimas, privataus sektoriaus nereguliavimas, kurie daro aiškią įtaką valstybinių įmonių veiklos rezultatams. Todėl 1-oje straipsnio dalyje bus diskutuojama apie „tiesioginius“ „minkštųjų“ biudžetų padarinius Kinijos valstybinių įmonių valdymui. 2-oje straipsnio dalyje bus dėstoma apie „tiesioginius“ „minkštųjų“ biudžetų padarinius per konkurencingumo aplinkos prizmę, supriešinant valstybines įmones su privačiomis. 3-ioje straipsnio dalyje keliamas privatizacijos klausimas, diskutuojama dėl kitų veiksnių, kurie lemia tiek „minkštųjų“ biudžetų apribojimus, tiek žemus valstybinių įmonių veiklos rezultatus. First Published Online: 21 Oct 2010 Reikšminiai žodžiai: „minkštasis“ biudžetas, valstybinės įmonės, miesto ir kaimo vietovių įmonės, privatizacija, Kinija.

Scholarly explanations of the worsening financial performance of Chinese industry over the reform era, particularly the loss-making phenomenon, have coalesced around two rival stories: the “inefficient institutions causing poor financial performance” story and the “increased competition inducing profitability decline” story. This article critically reviews the arguments and empirical substantiation of the two stories, and gives an alternative explanation that takes demand conditions and industrial configurations into the analysis. On this basis, it is argued that the worsening financial performance is a macro as well as micro problem that points to the fundamental contradictions in contemporary Chinese political economy. Some policy implications from this analysis are raised in the concluding section.

With the growing demand, China’s iron and steel industry has obtained rapid development since the 1990s. China’s steel output reached 220 million tons for the first time in 2003, becoming the first country whose annual production exceeded 200 million tons. The iron and steel is an industry of high energy consumption, high pollution and high emissions which has attracted deep concern of Chinese government. Previous research has estimated the direct CO2 emissions in individual processes of iron and steel production, while research on the indirect CO2 emissions from the related sectors of the iron and steel industry is scarce. To explore the whole CO2 emissions, this paper evaluates the direct and indirect carbon emissions in the iron and steel industry and carbon emission deduction by building an economic input–output life cycle assessment (EIO-LCA) model based on the latest available data of the input–output extension table in 2010 and China’s Energy Statistical Yearbook in 2011. The results show that coke and coal produce the most direct CO2 emissions and raw chemical materials, medical and chemical fiber manufacturing, transportation storage and the postal industry, the electricity heat production and supply industry, nonmetal mineral production, petroleum processing of coke and nuclear fuel processing, coal mining and dressing are the six sectors that produce the largest indirect CO2 emissions among the 35 sectors in the iron and steel industry. Based on the results, we suggest that China should (1) improve the quality of coke and coal, increase the efficiency of coke and coal, coal blending technology and the cokes’ strength, and employ the scrap or cities’ minerals as main raw materials in the production, and at the same time, the government and enterprises may increase to invest in technology innovation; (2) and use high-strength iron and steel instead of the ordinary one. Meanwhile, the spatial distributions of the six sectors are mainly concentrated in Shandong Province, Jiangsu Province, Zhejiang Province and Shanxi Province. Shandong Province, Jiangsu Province, Zhejiang Province and Shanxi Province may adjust their industrial structure by increasing the proportion of the third industry and accelerating the development of high-tech industries and services.

The study uses the Panel data of fifteen hi-tech industries over the period of 2000-2010 in order to measure the productivity changes of Chinese hi-tech industries by using the Malmquist productivity index. It concludes that the electronic component and office equipment industries are considered to be efficient. The mix result obtained with respect to productivity changes and its sources. Office Equipment industry is the leading in productivity gain by 3.7% over the study period.

This paper studies the regional technical efficiency of Chinese steel sector based on a network DEA model during the period of 2006-2010, which takes account of the real steel production process. Compared with the traditional DEA method, network DEA method has the advantages that it does not need model assumptions on input/output orientation and avoids the dilemma on the choice of input/output indicators. The comparison analysis shows that network DEA model produces more reasonable efficiency results than the traditional DEA model. The empirical results indicate a steady increase in technical efficiency of Chinese steel sector. In addition, the technical efficiency of Chinese industry sector in eastern area, central area and western area is unbalanced, with a lower efficiency in the west and a higher one in the east.

Emergy analysis provides a feasible approach to evaluate the status and position of different energy carriers in the universal energy hierarchy. In this paper, an emergy-based method is conducted to measure the resources input of Chinese industry from 1997 to 2006. Resources inflows including fossil fuels, mineral resources, agricultural products, and other imported materials are accounted, based on which related indicators including resources intensity, industrial output, and environmental emissions are investigated. Results show a steady upward trend for the total resources input of Chinese industry during the past decade. The total resources input amounted to 1.53×1025 sej in 2006, of which non-renewable one accounted for 70.65% owing to the dominating input of fossil fuels and nonmetal minerals. Resources intensity measured by the ratio of resources input to industrial value added declined gradually during 1997–2002, but the rapid expansion of resource–intensive sub–sectors resulted in a reverse trend since 2003. The current resources use pattern of Chinese industry is characterized by increasing input of non-renewable resources, excessive expansion of resource–intensive production, and tremendous challenge from environmental pressure.