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Urban development in historic cities frequently faces the dilemma of balancing preserving cultural heritage with meeting economic competition and modernization requirements. This study investigates the long-term viability of repurposing heritage buildings in the urban areas of Fuwwah and Rosetta, Egypt. It specifically examines the intricate relationship between competition and integration in achieving sustainability. This study examines the present condition of heritage conservation in these cities by analyzing the factors that impact the sustainability of repurposing buildings and evaluating the effectiveness of strategies that balance the pressures of urban competition with the need to incorporate heritage into the changing urban environment. The research examines the practices and difficulties associated with repurposing heritage buildings in Fuwwah and Rosetta. Examine the economic, social, and environmental factors that impact the long-term viability of heritage preservation. Assess the equilibrium between urban development influenced by competition and the inclusive methods of repurposing heritage buildings. The research methodology comprises two approaches: the first involves conducting a literature review on heritage building reuse, sustainability in heritage conservation, and competition and integration in urban development. The analysis approach focuses on assessing heritage conservation in case studies by examining competition and integrating investment in heritage buildings. The ultimate goal is to draw conclusions and determine the results of these assessments. The research highlights: The study focuses on conserving heritage areas and repurposing heritage buildings in an integrated manner for cities within the same region. This aims to leverage each city's unique characteristics to create competitive investment opportunities, particularly in tourism. Additionally, the goal is to capitalize on each city's distinctiveness to become attractions that mutually benefit one another through project integration. The research examines the cities of Fuwwah and Rosetta as case studies. A series of projects were proposed that interconnect while preserving the privacy of each city. After evaluating the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges, these projects were validated through a questionnaire distributed to the relevant stakeholders. The research results confirmed the hypothesis and demonstrated that the proposed projects are conducive to integrated development between the two cities while maintaining the distinctiveness of each city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine whether gender-diverse boards prioritize product market concerns over capital market incentives when proprietary costs are high. We argue that gender-diverse boards protect their firm's competitive edge and maximize long-term shareholder wealth by ethically and carefully maintaining the confidentiality of proprietary information. Due to the reduced disclosure of proprietary information, firms with gender-diverse boards are likely to face more adverse selection when proprietary costs are high. However, the reduced disclosure of proprietary information enables firms with gender-diverse boards to enhance and maintain their competitive edge and gain higher long-term returns. Using a matched sample of the United States-listed companies, we find that firms with gender-diverse boards, relative to similar firms with all-male boards, (1) are associated with higher adverse selection costs and (2) higher long-run stock returns when the firm faces high product market competition. Collectively, our results suggest that firms with gender-diverse boards, which initially experience higher adverse selection in a competitive environment, are rewarded with a net gain of about 10 percent of their stock price in three years. Our research contributes to the literature by highlighting the importance of board gender diversity in fostering the ethical redaction of proprietary information for proprietary cost-based motives as opposed to agency cost-based motives. Our findings have important implications for regulators, firms, and shareholders by identifying gender-diverse boards as an antecedent for the ethical redaction of proprietary information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) are pivotal in delivering healthcare services to underserved populations in the United States. While the number of FQHCs and FQHC look-alikes has been increasing, intensifying competition, limited research has examined the cost implications associated with this growing competition among FQHCs. This study aims to fill the research gap by analyzing the relationship between the level of competition among FQHCs and the cost of care per patient. Understanding this relationship is crucial for managers and policymakers in deriving informed decisions related to the expansion of FQHCs. The study comprehensively analyzed data from FQHCs from 2016 to 2022. The analysis involved examining the cost per patient in relation to the level of FQHC competition, measured by FQHC saturation in the area. The study's findings reveal a positive association between FQHC competition and the cost of care. Specifically, FQHCs in areas with higher levels of FQHC competition reported a higher cost per patient. This relationship underscores the potential financial dynamics influenced by the competitive environment among FQHCs. The results of this study have important implications for healthcare management and policy formulation. FQHC managers are suggested to consider the cost implications of increased competition in their strategic planning and operations. Meanwhile, policymakers should consider the potential cost ramifications of FQHC competition when designing and implementing policies related to FQHC expansion, especially those aimed at optimizing resource allocation and ensuring care affordability. Recognizing the impact of competition on cost can lead to more informed decisions regarding the funding, establishment, and distribution of FQHCs, ultimately contributing to the sustainability and efficacy of healthcare services in underserved areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the determinants of bank profitability using a quantile regression approach, offering insights into factors affecting banks across different percentiles of profitability. Utilizing a comprehensive database from Orbis covering 1200 top-market institutions across 101 countries, the research uniquely employs dynamic panel quantile regression while addressing sample survival bias. Our findings highlight that bank size and capital adequacy negatively impact profitability, whereas market value exerts a positive influence on higher profitability banks. Credit risk affects profitability differently across levels of profitability, and inflation rate shows significance only for higher profitability banks. The study contributes to the existing literature by offering valuable insights into the factors determining bank profitability and how they behave at different percentiles in the sample, suggesting the importance of bank efficiency and competition in promoting economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Competitiveness is a key requirement for modern companies to survive. Effective corporate governance practices are also fast emerging as a fundamental obligation owed to shareholders and other stakeholders. The connection between competition and good corporate governance is derived from the product market competition hypothesis (PMCH) that projects the idea that operating in competitive markets would increase x-efficiency and decrease agency costs in companies, leading to superior corporate governance. Although a significant amount of work, both theoretical and empirical has been carried out on the efficacy of the PMCH, none of the research has been conclusive. Moreover, there has been no concentrated effort into determining the impact of the PMCH on the specific types of agency problems that are endemic to companies with largely concentrated shareholding structures like India. The paper highlights that a part of the reason behind the waning and unconvincing research on the PMCH (specially in India) has been the focus on competitiveness as an abstract concept or empirical construct, rather than on the regulatory aspect of competition, that is, competition law. This paper examines the connection between competition law and corporate governance, specifically the utility of competition regulation in being used to improve corporate governance in companies. It also considers the effectiveness of competition law in dispelling some of the pervasive Indian corporate governance problems such as tunneling and inefficient related party transactions. Some of the methods that are considered which would have such an impact and thus are recommended by the researcher, are a redefinition of 'dominant position' in the competition law discourse, to include within it pyramidical groups of companies as well as viewing tunneling practices as having an 'appreciable adverse effect' on competition. Doing so would result in numerous efficiencies as competition law could be used to kill two birds with one stone: increasing both competitiveness and good corporate governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study all-pay auctions with noise both theoretically and experimentally. First we show theoretically that all-pay auctions with noise (or "luck") can be surprisingly like standard all-pay auctions with complete information in several important respects. Equilibria in both formats feature the same expected expenditures and payoffs. One difference, however, is that without noise predictions are in mixed strategies, while with noise predictions are in pure strategies. We next report the results of an experiment on our model and find qualitative support for the predicted equivalence of expected expenditures. Our experimental results on the noisy version of the model are particularly interesting, as subjects' behavior appears to be more closely in line with the model's theoretical equilibrium predictions than the treatment without noise in terms of reduced variance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of complex technologies and economic competition in recent decades has led to the increasing importance of decisions about the future of organizations. Most of the former methods require a combination with the criterion weighting methods, which increases the complexity of the calculations. On the other hand, the importance of a criterion changes over time. Therefore, the provided weights must be proportional to the changes expected in the future. In this way, making future decisions based on past knowledge may not guarantee the best choice, but it can guide decision makers in the right direction. In this study, an innovative technique for simultaneously ranking options, and weighting criteria based on historical data is presented. In this method, it is possible that the reference weight is affected by other weighting methods and more accurate weights are assigned to the criteria. In addition, all the records are considered to evaluate the alternatives in relation to the criteria. After calculating the deviation and the starting point changes, a nonlinear mathematical model determines the coefficients of the reference weight (that is, the weight with the smallest difference from the values of the coefficients) and the final score of the options. Finally, the efficiency of the proposed method (PSWCA) is obtained on four real case studies, and the results are compared with other methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation is a key driver of long-term economic growth and has significantly improved living standards. Corporate innovation efforts are at the forefront of this process. We propose a two-period career concern model to better understand the factors that influence a corporation's decision to undertake risky innovation. In this model, a corporation's manager is influenced by the company's corporate governance structure and the level of competition in the product market. Our research shows that strong corporate governance positively impacts a manager's decision to innovate due to career concerns. However, we also found that firms in industries with low competition benefit more from good governance than those in highly competitive industries. This conclusion is supported by our analysis of a panel data set from the 1990s, which contains information on time-varying patent citations in the US. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the consumer and producer implications of origin-of-food labeling when the production process is a credence attribute. Since origin-of-food labeling has been discussed by the U.S. government in the context of "promoting competition", a model is presented that evaluates consumer welfare and producer welfare as a function of labeling standards. The model finds that if there is consumer misperception and the consumers are unaware that labeling does not imply completely domestic production, then consumers are helped with higher standards; but domestic profits may be higher with a more lax standard. If consumers are aware of the average level of domestic production that is implied by the label, then they are indifferent to the standard, while domestic profits are still maximized with a standard that balances a price premium with the costs of domestic production. The model also analyzes possible differences between upstream and downstream producers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper advances knowledge of how national culture affects firm behavior. From the perspective of Hofstede's cultural dimensions and Meyer's culture scales, we predict differences in the awareness-motivation-capability framework of competitive dynamics across four national cultures. A survey sample of 263 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in France, India, Kenya, and the United States provides evidence of the hypothesized competitive differences. The cultural traits of individualism and indulgence often lead to a reduced sense of competitiveness. Moreover, within individualistic cultures, motivation is linked with an uptick in competitive ability but a decline in competitive consciousness, implying that companies in such cultures tend to take action without extensive deliberation. This investigation addresses two significant gaps in research. Firstly, it combines the research areas of competitive dynamics and culture, which have not previously been intertwined in empirical studies, despite culture's known influence on various business practices. Secondly, it sheds light on how varying levels of competition impact businesses by bridging the gap between research on competitive dynamics and SMEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The features and trends of coal mining in the east of Russia are examined. The current and planned managerial decisions connected with coal production and supplies to competitive markets are analyzed. The coal products are ROM fuel, concentrate and middlings. The authors discuss approaches to effective mining and processing management within the chains of supplies, and to provision of the required quality of solid fuel produced and delivered to customers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The management of electronic word of mouth (eWOM) is critical in e-commerce. In this study, on the basis of the elaboration likelihood model (ELM), we constructed a model of factors influencing eWOM by dividing merchants' attributes into the central and peripheral routes, which correspond to consumers' systematic and heuristic cognitive modes respectively. We then tested the developed model by using a cross-sectional data set. The results of this study indicate that the degree of competition faced by merchants has a significant negative association with eWOM. Moreover, price level and location moderate the relationship between competition and eWOM. The services of reservation and group buying have positive associations with eWOM. This research has three main contributions. First, we explored the effect of competition on eWOM. Second, we validated the feasibility of applying the ELM to the catering industry by dividing merchant attributes into the central and peripheral routes; this approach is consistent with systematic and heuristic cognitive theories. Finally, this research provides practical suggestions for eWOM management in the catering industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Product exclusivity is a well-known strategy adopted by agencies to attract buyers. Although some platform firms develop first-party products to improve competitiveness, we show that they do not necessarily benefit from the exclusivity of these products in a competitive market. Platforms may sell their first-party products on their competitive platforms, which we call the non-exclusive strategy. The impact of the non-exclusive strategy on firms' profits is the result of an interaction between a competition effect and a demand effect. The competition effect is that the non-exclusive strategy reduces the differentiation between firms, and the investment strategy on the first-party product has no impact on the price competition between firms. The competition effect causes firms to intensify price competition and decrease the investment for their first-party product. The demand effect is that, in the presence of the non-exclusive strategy, the firm can obtain a sale profit from the first-party products in the competitive platform. The demand effect causes firms to diminish price competition and increase investments in first-party products. As a result of these two effects, we find that firms are more likely to benefit from the exclusivity of the first-party products only when the unit misfit cost is sufficiently high. We also find that firms implementing the non-exclusivity strategy will reduce the investment in the first-party product if the consumers' performance sensitivity is low. When platforms develop the targeted investment in first-party products, we can also see that the exclusivity of the first-party product is not always beneficial to the platform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine whether and how collusive and coercive forms of corporate corruption influence firm value. Our identification strategy exploits (i) the exogenous criminal prosecutions of regional government officials as part of China's anti-corruption campaign as demand-side shocks and (ii) the unique reporting of entertainment and travel costs by Chinese firms as supply-side disclosure of corruption-related spending. Among firms for which corruption is likely to be perceived as collusive (coercive) by investors, we find that exposure to corruption-related political risk measured by abnormal entertainment and travel costs has a significantly negative (positive) relation with market reactions to the anti-corruption prosecutions. These findings are consistent with investors' anticipation of a future decline in potential benefits (costs) arising from rent-sharing collusion (rent-extracting coercion). We also find that the collusion (coercion) effect is more pronounced for firms in regions with greater government economic intervention (in industries with stronger business competition). Furthermore, we provide evidence that the ex ante market reactions corroborate with the direction of changes in ex post operating performance of firms. Overall, our results suggest that investors can recognize differences in the economic consequences between collusive and coercive corruption and that the disclosure of corruption-related spending could help investors assess a firm's exposure to corruption-related risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses three projects of economic significance that the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) completed in the last year: First, we discuss the dynamic competition concerns that were at the heart of the CMA's analysis of the Meta/GIPHY merger; this was the first case of a competition authority's blocking an acquisition by one of the 'Big Tech' firms. Second, our work on the road fuels market study examined pricing behaviour in an important consumer-facing market and found that competition had weakened because historic price leaders have been taking a less aggressive approach to pricing, Third, we established a new research centre—the Microeconomics Unit—to bring economic expertise on competition, innovation, and productivity closer to regulatory and policy decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a world where business competition is fierce, a revolutionary technology emerges, propelling companies into a new era of success. "Enhancing Business Performance through Quantum Electronic Analysis of Optical Data" unveils a cutting-edge method to transform organizations from struggling enterprises into industry leaders. At the heart of this novel lies an innovative quantum electronic system that harnesses the power of optical data to unlock unprecedented insights. With unparalleled precision, this technology enables businesses to scrutinize market trends, customer behavior, and internal processes with unmatched clarity. As the quantum-driven analyses guide decision-making, enterprises find themselves on the path to optimal strategies, resource allocation, and growth. Through a captivating narrative, the novel explores the journey of a business tycoon who, armed with the quantum electronic analysis, defies conventional wisdom, dismantles competition, and propels his company to astounding heights. However, lurking in the shadows are rival firms eager to exploit this groundbreaking technology for their sinister agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Improving generic drug development in oncology is a key long-term goal in providing safe, effective, and affordable care to patients with a diagnosis of cancer in the United States. There are multiple drug and non-drug related variables that may influence generic drug development. To illustrate pertinent associations relevant to generic drug competition in oncology, our study assessed variables that have potentially led to difference in generic competition as compared to drug products in other therapeutic areas, i.e., cardiovascular disease in this case. Methods: Using a combination of FDA and publicly available data, we categorized individual drug approvals from 1950 to 2021 with either an oncology or cardiovascular indication. Descriptive statistics highlighted the timeline of approval as stratified by indications. Machine learning methodology was used to assess variables associated with abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) availabilities (i.e., generic drug availabilities). Kaplan–Meier analysis with log-rank test compared the difference in the time to approval of first ANDA among products that were off-patent at the time of analysis. A multivariable Cox proportional hazards model with forward selection was used to identify variables (e.g., regulatory recommendation issued, dosage form) that were associated with ANDA availability among products that were off-patent. Results: 434 separate reference listed drugs (RLDs) with varying strengths were identified, 212 (49%) for oncology and 222 (51%) for cardiovascular indications. Compared with cardiovascular products, a greater proportion of RLDs with an oncology indication were approved after 2000 (61% vs. 34%). Also, a smaller proportion of oncologic products had generics (49% vs. 80%). Machine learning methodology revealed RLD age, patent status, product complexity, sales/prescriptions, and regulatory recommendations as variables that were associated with generic availability. Among products off-patent at the time of analysis, the median time from RLD approval to the first ANDA approval was longer for oncologic products compared to cardiovascular products (15.4 years (95% CI 13.8, 17.9) versus 12.3 years (95% CI 10.7, 13.5), p = 0.008). Cox regression analyses identified the variables of product dosage form and regulatory recommendation of requiring patient enrollment for bioequivalence (BE) establishment as being associated with reduced likelihood of ANDA approval for oncologic drugs. Conclusion: Oncology indications were found to have a longer time from RLD approval to first ANDA approval compared with cardiovascular drugs. Our work has identified variables that may influence time to ANDA availability, with the requirement of patient enrollment for BE assessment as one important opportunity for future stakeholder engagement and regulatory considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent debate on globalization addresses the importance of skills for firms' performance in developing countries. Employing microdata from Indonesian manufacturing, we examine the externality effects of inward foreign direct investment (FDI) on labor demand by skill in local firms and identify the relative contribution of each effect to their skill structure. The results show that local firms replace unskilled workers with skilled ones to enable transactions with foreign firms in downstream industries. However, severe labor market competition for skilled workers with foreign firms hinders them from upgrading the skill structure. Moreover, severe product market competition decreases demand for unskilled workers in local firms. Thus, an adequate supply of skilled workers is crucial for the better performance of local firms. The results also highlight the necessity of policies to mitigate the negative impact of inward FDI on unskilled employment in the host economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing tools for assessing the potential for innovative development in Russia's regions are investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The value of a company's ethical reputation has become a focal point for management researchers. We seek to join this conversation and extend the research centered on a firm's ethical reputation. We accomplish this by shifting our focus away from its impact on external stakeholders to its impact on internal stakeholders. To this end, we rely on signaling theory to explain why a firm's ethical reputation matters to its employees in an effort to bridge the macro–micro research gap. Across two studies, we propose and demonstrate that a firm's ethical reputation impacts employee subjective career success in form of career opportunities and work–life balance. Given our signaling theory framework, we also identify and explain when two industry-level characteristics operate as boundary conditions that distort a firm's ethical reputation signaling properties. Specifically, the results demonstrate that a firm's ethical reputation is positively related to employees' perceptions of career opportunities and work–life balance. The results of our studies also demonstrate that the relatively high levels of industry competition and industry regulation weaken the positive impact of a firm's ethical reputation on career opportunities and work–life balance. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper empirically investigates whether financial development has played a role in the rise of market concentration over the past decades. Using an industry-level panel of 41 countries over the period 1989–2010, we document a strong threshold effect of financial development on market competition. Specifically, the deregulation of capital and financial markets promotes product market competition in countries with initially low level of financial development. However, such positive effects vanish with the deepening of credit and stock markets. We identify two mechanisms through which financial development affects market competition in a nonlinear form: external finance dependence and technology gap within an industry. Our results further suggest that financial development may play a role in explaining the modern productivity growth slowdown puzzle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employees are important stakeholders of firms, and employee responsibility is a crucial dimension of corporate social responsibility. This study employed a multivariable linear regression model to analyze the impact of AI technology on the variation in employee responsibility. We also utilized multiple methods, such as propensity score matching and alternative indicator analysis, to ensure the robustness of the research results. We theorized and found that the application of AI technology has a negative effect on employee responsibility, with supervision cost partially mediating the relationship between AI technology application and employee responsibility. Moreover, the negative relationship between AI technology application and employee responsibility decreases as the level of product market competition in which the firm operates increases, and it is stronger in government-controlled firms than in privately controlled firms. We also found that AI technology application and employee responsibility can improve firm productivity, and employee responsibility has a significant positive impact on innovation output and innovation efficiency, while the application of AI technology does not significantly impact innovation output and innovation efficiency. Our study contributes to research on the impact of AI technology in the workplace and has important implications for organizational practices regarding the application of AI technology and employee responsibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The significance of the sports economy to the national economy is growing as the country develops rapidly. The term "sports economy" is used to describe the economic activities that are directly or indirectly tied to sports. This work introduces a multi-objective optimization model for a green supply chain management system, intending to reduce the economic and environmental impact of storing and transporting potentially dangerous products. This research intends to examine the impact of the sports sector on green economic growth and competitiveness in the China region. An empirical analysis is conducted to determine the relationship between sports economics and green supply chain management by employing data on 25 provinces of the China region for 2000 and 2019. To fulfill this study's objective and determine the effect of carbon emission, this study will use renewable energy, sports economics, green supply chain management, information and communications technology, and waste recycling as explanatory variables. In order to obtain the desired objectives, the current study will use the short run and long run of the cross-sectionally augmented autoregressive distributed lag and pooled mean group tests. Besides, this study uses an augmented mean group, fully modified ordinary least square, and dynamic ordinary least square estimations for the robust check. In contrast, renewable energy, green supply chain management, sports economics, information and communications technology, and waste recycling decrease CO2 emissions and, therefore, facilitate the carbon-abatement agenda of the China region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional Lerner index is limited in its capacity to estimate the level of competition in the economic sector from the perspective that it mainly focuses on the overall level of market power for each individual decision-making unit. Recently, Fukuyama and Tan (J Oper Res Soc, 73:445–453, 2022) estimated the Lerner index by applying the nonparametric data envelopment analysis (DEA) to calculate the marginal cost, which is an important component in the estimation of the Lerner index. Our study further extends the study of Fukuyama and Tan (J Oper Res Soc, 73:445–453, 2022) by estimating the marginal cost under the DEA in a multi-product setting. Our proposed methodology benefits from the ability to find positive marginal costs for all the products and specifies all decision-making units are profit maximizers. In order to achieve this, the marginal cost is estimated by referring to the nearest point on the best practice cost-efficient frontier for the profit-maximizing firms. We then apply our innovative method to the Chinese real estate industry. The result shows that the Chinese real estate industry has higher market power in the residential commodity housing market than that in the commodity housing market. This is also the case for different geographical areas in China. Overall, for both of these two different markets, the level of market power experiences a level of volatility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-quality development of ethnic minority areas is a key issue in China's economic and social transformation. In order to explore the development trend and optimization path of high-quality development in ethnic minority areas, this study constructed a systematic evaluation index system of economic development, social development and government governance. The coupled coordination model was adopted to quantitatively analyze the spatio-temporal evolution characteristics of economic development, social development and government governance in Xinjiang from 2013 to 2020. The influencing factors of coupling coordination development of the three systems were identified by grey correlation analysis. The spatial-temporal pattern analysis results show that the coupling coordination degree of Xinjiang increased steadily, but the regional differences gradually expanded. The coupling coordination degree shows a stable structure with high center and low periphery, and a spatial pattern of low in southern Xinjiang and high in northern Xinjiang. The results of grey correlation analysis show that the grey correlation degree among economic development, social development and government governance in Xinjiang is above 0.78. The three systems of economic development, social development and government governance interact with each other, forming a complex system of high-quality development in ethnic minority areas. To promote high-quality development in Xinjiang, it should take social stability and long-term stability as the overall goal, improve the quality of the production and living environment on the basis of economic development, enhance regional economic competitiveness, and take government governance as a means to optimize the environment for regional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Companies in difficult financial situations may seek to survive through mergers and acquisitions. Managers must be able to use company resources efficiently to maintain and improve competitiveness and sustainable advantages. Managers' ability to make strategic decisions may determine whether a merger and acquisition is successful. This study aims to reveal the role of the acquirer's managerial ability in mergers and acquisitions based on short- and long-term performance as well as the type of M&A. Two metrics are used to assess short- and long-term performance: the market-to-book ratio (MTBR) as an indicator of operating performance and the buy-and-hold abnormal return (BHAR) as an indicator of stock return performance. The research sample consists of 153 M&A cases conducted by companies registered with the Business Competition Supervisory Commission in Indonesia between 2010 and 2017, and the performance till 2020. We used regression and difference analysis to analyze the data. We find that managerial ability has a positive impact on MTBR operating and BHAR stock performance. This result confirms that the higher ability of the acquirer's manager will ensure a successful M&A in the long run. Investors and potential investors might consider managerial ability in choosing investments in companies after an M&A. This study contributes to the M&A literature by examining the role of MA in the short- and long-term performance of acquiring firms following M&As in Indonesia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the relationship between competition and stage specialization in the venture capital (VC) markets. A typical successful entrepreneurial company goes through multiple stages of VC investments; but an average VC firm specializes and participates only in a subset of these stages. We hypothesize that a VC firm's decision to stage-specialize (or not) poses a trade-off between business expansion and competition mitigation. Both effects are influenced by the intensity of competition. Consistent with a prediction of the theoretical model, we find robust empirical evidence for a non-monotonic relationship—an inverted-U shape—between competition and stage specialization in the U.S VC markets between 1980 and 2012. This result is novel and can have interesting managerial and policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the joint effect of advertising intensity and product market competition on stock returns. Using a sample of the US market over the period from 1977 to 2018, we provide evidence that past advertising is negatively associated with stock returns and this relationship exists only for firms in competitive industries. Also, firms in competitive markets earn higher expected stock returns than firms in concentrated industries, especially among low advertising intensity groups. Our results are robust across alternative subsamples and product market competition measures. Our empirical estimates support the positive causal effect of concentration on advertising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global Value Chains (GVC) have reshaped the landscape of international trade. The quality and intensity of regulation significantly impacts firms' competitiveness and their ability to engage in GVC. Economic literature suggests that regulation of product market competition has a detrimental effect on trade by decreasing productivity, innovation, and economic growth. This paper expands existing knowledge on this relationship by examining the influence of product market regulation (PMR) on value-added trade flows in an augmented gravity model. We constructed a data panel with trade data from 40 OECD and BRICS countries in the period from 2000 to 2015 and combined it with an extensive multi-level indicator set on PMR developed by the OECD. By disentangling the PMR indicators, we account for the heterogeneity of regulation and potential different trade effects. Overall, our evidence suggests that PMR has a negative impact on trade. Further, our results indicate that the negative impact stems largely from barriers to trade and investment. For the BRICS, our results suggest the contrary: We observed an overall positive trade effect of PMR, mainly driven by barriers to trade and investment. Our results support identifying policy areas in which regulatory reform can improve the integration in GVC and emphasize different approaches to economic policy, particularly in emerging economies such as the BRICS. Moreover, the results underline the detrimental effects of increasing protectionism and tariff hikes, a phenomenon that we increasingly observe in recent years from the world's largest economies, such as the United States and China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of technology, e-marketing and business competition, reviews significantly affect people's lives. Consumers of e-commerce sites share their experiences, referencing other user reviews when making consumption decisions and evaluating product quality. People's dependence on review information and business competition has triggered the emergence of false reviews. False reviews refer to the promotion or demotion of the quality of the product. False reviews can easily confuse new users' opinions or judgments, due to which both the consumer and the company are affected. Addressing this issue, spam review is a new research problem today, and even humans do not quickly classify spam reviews with high accuracy. Machine learning methods and natural language processing techniques effectively recognise false reviews and help users get benign review information. In this research, we have categorized and classified spam review detection methods in the direction of review features, reviewer features, and the spammer's group features. In this article, we focus on three approaches for detecting false reviews: spam review detection, spammer detection, and spammer-group detection. This article provides a motivational analysis of the three types of research and, in particular, compares them to aspects of feature design, model methods, datasets, and rating indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study contributes to the scholarly discussion on the effects of business plan competitions by assessing the survival and performance of the entrepreneurial teams participating in the Czech Business Plan Contest "Idea of the Year" during the years 2010–2015. The implemented research design followed up with the finalists, receiving financial and non-financial rewards 5 years after participating in the contest. The implemented scientific methods include mainly survival analysis and applied statistical techniques, such as cross-tabulations, tests of association, t-tests and correlation analysis. The obtained results allowed us to empirically support a hypothesis assuming that participation in the business plan contest positively relates to new venture creation, start-up survival, and performance. The study provides a series of recommendations for the contest's organizers, especially in terms of evaluation and monitoring and encouraging the projects' diversity. The added value for the international scholarship is that the article utilizes a complex theoretical framework combining various types of entrepreneurial capital that may be well used in future studies aiming to assess the impacts of start-up competitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The topics of ethical conduct and governance in academic research in the business field have attracted scientific and public attention. The concern is that research misconduct in organizations such as business schools and universities might result in practitioners, policymakers, and researchers grounding their decisions on biased research results. This study addresses ethical research misconduct by investigating whether the ethical orientation of business researchers is related to the likelihood of research misconduct, such as selective reporting of research findings. We distinguish between deontological and consequentialist ethical orientations and the competition between researchers and investigate the moderating role of their perceived autonomy. Based on global data collected from 1031 business scholars, we find that researchers with a strong deontological ethical orientation are less prone to misconduct. This effect is robust against different levels of perceived autonomy and competition. In contrast, researchers having a consequentialist ethical orientation is positively associated with misconduct in business research. High levels of competition in the research environment reinforce this effect. Our results reveal a potentially toxic combination comprising researchers with a strong consequentialist orientation who are embedded in highly competitive research environments. Our research calls for the development of ethical orientations grounded on maxims rather than anticipated consequences among researchers. We conclude that measures for ethical governance in business schools should consider the ethical orientation that underlies researchers' decision-making and the organizational and institutional environment in which business researchers are embedded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rise of accelerators, angel groups, and business plan competitions, pitching has become an important step for most entrepreneurs raising capital. In this exploratory study, we investigate the effects of pitch training, exploring a variety of outcomes over two time horizons. We conducted a field experiment that randomly assigned 271 would-be entrepreneurs at four elevator pitch competitions to receive one of four pitch training treatments or a null treatment. We observe that pitch training — when received the day of the competition — leads entrepreneurs to improve their pitches, although it causes short-term disruption to pitch delivery. Over the following 30 months, all varieties of pitch training cause entrepreneurs to work more on their pitches, to participate in more business plan competitions and accelerator programs, and to engage in entrepreneurial learning beyond the pitch itself. Entrepreneurs who receive pitch training also are less likely to have employees and are more likely to abandon their initial ventures and founder roles. We discuss the implications of these exploratory observations for the development of theory about pitch training. Plain English Summary: With the rise of accelerators, angel groups, and competitions, pitching has become a crucial skill for entrepreneurs raising capital. What are the short- and long-run consequences of training entrepreneurs to pitch? We conducted a field experiment to explore this question. Participants in four pitch competitions randomly received a pitch training treatment or a null treatment. They then delivered their pitch to real-world investors. We observe that pitch training leads entrepreneurs to improve their pitches but also causes short-term disruption to pitch delivery as they incorporate information. Thirty months later, pitch training caused entrepreneurs to work more on their pitches, participate in more pitch competitions and accelerator programs, and engage in entrepreneurial learning. The main messages for practitioners are, first, that training helps but the effects are nuanced. Absorbing training may take time. Second, pitch training can act as a catalyst for further development outside the pitch itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental challenges are increasingly becoming global issues due to the negatively induced effect of carbon dioxide on the natural climate and the well-being of human beings. Industrialisation has intensified the energy demand which brought the surge in the consumption of conventional non-renewable energy resources, including fossil fuels. Despite the overwhelming evidence of negative effects of utilising conventional energy on the atmosphere, there has been a steady rise in industrial production which has encouraged firms to adopt technological innovation. In this sense, many countries have developed various strategies, frameworks and regulations to reduce industrial-driven environmental degradation. Environmental-friendly compliant production technology can be an important substitute model to improve economic development. This study examines the relationship between environmental regulation and firm performance with mediating the impact of product market competition in Turkey. The study uses multi-sectoral firm-level Turkish data covering from 2004 to 2020 which was analysed via numerous methods that control for endogeneity bias. The results of generalised method of moment indicate a strong positive effect of sustainable environmental regulation (SER) on firm performance (FP). Moreover, after mediating the effect of product market competition by decomposing the firms into low product market competition (LPMC) and high product market competition (HPMC), finding reveals a negative effect of SER on FP of LMPC whereas a positive impact was found in the HPMC firms. This finding shows that HPMC compels managers to form a differentiated profit maximisation strategy. In this sense, competition can play a dedicated role in enhancing firm performance in the context of government deliberate strategies and regulations for control of the industrial negative effect on the environment. The industrial sector needs to switch from conventional energy practices to sourcing green and renewable energy that would not jeopardise the environmental quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine whether and how CEO foreign experience affects firm's green innovation. Using a sample of Chinese public companies and hand-collected CEO foreign experience data, we document a positive association between CEO foreign experience and corporate green innovation. Furthermore, consistent with the view that CEOs with foreign experience would play a more significant role when provided with more resources, we find that the positive relationship is more pronounced in less financially constrained firms, in state-owned enterprises, and in less competitive industries. Additional analyses indicate that enhanced environmental ethics and general competency are two potential mechanisms through which CEO foreign experience affects corporate green innovation. Finally, we find that CEO foreign experience is positively related to green innovation quality and internationalization. Collectively, these findings suggest that CEO foreign experience is a significant factor for corporate green innovation in emerging markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigates the endogenous choice of centralized or decentralized bargaining and the type of strategic variables by taking into account a vertically-related market where an upstream monopolist bargains with two downstream firms via a two-part input pricing contract. We show that centralized bargaining is the unique equilibrium mode of bargaining, given Cournot or Bertrand competition in the product market, and that choosing the quantity (price) contract is the dominant strategy for both downstream firms under decentralized (centralized) bargaining. When both the type of strategic variables and the mode of bargaining are endogenously determined, the unique equilibrium outcome is choosing price contracts and centralized bargaining, which maximize industry profit, but there is market failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the disclosure behavior of rival firms identified by an initial public offering (IPO) candidate in its registration statement. We hypothesize that identified rivals have incentives to preempt the competitive effects of the IPO and do so by disclosing more positive information during the IPO quiet period when the IPO candidate faces communication restrictions. We find that the tone of disclosures by identified rivals becomes more positive during the quiet period, and reverses after the quiet period. We also find that identified rivals initiate highly positive press releases about their product market condition during the quiet period, with the tone reversal being mainly driven by identified rivals experiencing their competitor's IPO withdrawal. Together, these results suggest that identified rivals' concerns over product market competition drive their strategic disclosure behavior. Further evidence indicates that this behavior hurts the IPO candidate and benefits the identified rivals. Thus, while protecting investors and facilitating market efficiency, this quiet period regulation can become an opportunity for industry rivals to influence the IPO process and market competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of competition regulations on innovation are, in theory, ambiguous. Using a panel of twenty-five OECD countries over 1995–2015, we estimated how domestic and foreign competition affects innovation. Reducing regulation intensifies domestic and foreign competition, increasing R&D expenditure and patenting. Accounting for interaction between these two sources of product market competition, we find that domestic regulation directly led to growing R&D expenditure and patent production, whereas competition from foreign regulation influences innovation toward its effect on domestic competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A further increase in renewable energy supply is needed to substitute fossil fuels and combat climate change. Each energy source and respective technologies have specific techno-economic and environmental characteristics as well as social implications. This paper presents a comprehensive approach for prospective sustainability assessment of energy technologies developed within the Helmholtz Initiative "Energy System 2050" (ES2050). Methods: The "ES2050 approach" comprises environmental, economic, and social assessment. It includes established life cycle based economic and environmental indicators, and social indicators derived from a normative concept of sustainable development. The elaborated social indicators, i.e. patent growth rate, acceptance, and domestic value added, address three different socio-technical areas, i.e. innovation (patents), public perception (acceptance), and public welfare (value added). Results: The implementation of the "ES2050 approach" is presented exemplarily and different sustainability indicators and respective results are discussed based on three emerging technologies and corresponding case studies: (1) synthetic biofuels for mobility; (2) hydrogen from wind power for mobility; and (3) batteries for stationary energy storage. For synthetic biofuel, the environmental advantages over fossil gasoline are most apparent for the impact categories Climate Change and Ionizing Radiation—human health. Domestic value added accounts for 66% for synthetic biofuel compared to 13% for fossil gasoline. All hydrogen supply options can be considered to become near to economic competitiveness with fossil fuels in the long term. Survey participants regard Explosion Hazard as the most pressing concern about hydrogen fuel stations. For Li-ion batteries, the results for patent growth rate indicate that they enter their maturity phase. Conclusions: The "ES2050 approach" enables a consistent prospective sustainability assessment of (emerging) energy technologies, supporting technology developers, decision-makers in politics, industry, and society with knowledge for further evaluation, steering, and governance. The approach presented is considered rather a starting point than a blueprint for the comprehensive assessment of renewable energy technologies though, especially for the suggested social indicators, their significance and their embedding in context scenarios for prospective assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social stability risk assessment (SSRA) has become the mainstream policy instrument for assessing potential risks of large-scale development projects across all sectors in China. In this paper, fuzzy qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) is used to quantify the impact of SSRA policy on economic competitiveness across China's 31 provinces using a SSRA policy dataset (2003–2020) and a provincial economic competitiveness dataset (2019–2020). QCA combines Boolean algebra and set theory to identify configurations of conditions that are necessary or sufficient for a given outcome. Rather than following the mainstream statistical method of developing a single causal model that best fits the data, QCA explores multiple concurrent causality. A typology of SSRA policies was developed to guide our analysis. The research concluded that to support high economic competitiveness within provinces, SSRA policies must be structured around solving social stability problems and addressing a specific industry issue (e.g., pollution) in a particular industry (e.g., resources). Policies that only include one of these factors or that focus on the performance of government officials were found to contribute to low economic competitiveness. Reorienting the focus of SSRA policies could support more rigorous risk assessments and enhance economic competitiveness, particularly in provinces that host large-scale development projects. These findings have implications for China's policymakers given their dual objectives of driving economic reform while maintaining a harmonious society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mitigating greenhouse gas emissions is necessary to reduce the overall negative climate change impacts on crop yields and agricultural production. However, certain mitigation measures may generate unintended consequences to food availability and food access due to both land use competition and economic burden of mitigation. Integrated assessment models (IAM) are generally used to evaluate these policies; however, currently these models may not capture the importance of income and food prices for hunger and overall economic wellbeing. Here, we implement a measure of food security that captures the nutritional and economic aspects as the total expenditures on staple foods divided by income and weighted by total caloric consumption in an IAM, the global change analysis model (GCAM4.0). We then project consumer prices and our measure of food security along the shared socioeconomic pathways. Sustained economic growth underpins increases in caloric consumption and lowering expenditures on staple foods. Strict conservation policies affect food accessibility in a larger number of developing countries, whereas the negative effects of pricing terrestrial emissions are more concentrated on the poor in Sub-Saharan Africa, by substantially replacing their cropland with forests and affecting the production of key staples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In marketing channels, distributor whistleblowing can deter unethical behaviors, though little academic research investigates this tactic. Drawing on whistleblowing literature in business ethics and organizational theory, as well as field interviews with channel managers, this article identifies and elucidates the notion of distributor whistleblowing in marketing channels. Specifically, this study investigates how a manufacturer's control modes (monitoring and incentives) encourage or discourage distributor whistleblowing. This study also considers the impact of distributor whistleblowing on relationship quality and the moderating effects of exchange hazards (i.e., transaction-specific investments and market uncertainty). The empirical results from a sample of 211 Chinese distributors indicate that manufacturers' monitoring inhibits, whereas incentives boost distributor whistleblowing. Further, a positive link arises between distributor whistleblowing and relationship quality, which is weakened by distributor transaction-specific investments and strengthened by market uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Senior leaders in the US Department of Defense, as well as global affairs strategists and academics, have argued that China's economic growth is associated with a dramatic increase in competition for resources and Chinese influence abroad. We aim to ascertain whether and where competition between great powers exists and to characterize China's growing influence. Our main contribution is that we create a measure of competition among the United States, China, Russia, India, and France within African and Asian countries. We draw our data from a large media database that records news articles published since March 2015. We sum the quantity of articles published by local press agencies that discuss an international or regional powers' engagement in an event located within the Asian or African countries' borders, and we construct a measure of country-level competition among powers. To validate our country-level competition measure, we synthesize qualitative information from current government, think tanks, and academic documents on the presence and interests of foreign powers across subregions in Asia and Africa. From those narratives, we construct an additional subregional measure of competition. We compare our statistical country-level measure of competition to this narrative-based subregional measure of competition and find that they are correlated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In George Stigler's (1971) economic theory of regulation, the primary motive of regulatory intervention is the promotion of private interests, not the promotion of the general welfare or efficiency as suggested by the public interest theory of regulation (Pigou 1932). More recently, Andrei Shleifer (2010, 2012) along with some coauthors (Glaeser & Shleifer 2003; Djankov et al. 2003) has proposed an alternative to Stigler's theory, which he calls the enforcement theory of regulation. Shleifer's new theory of regulation holds that the rise of regulatory institutions over the course of the twentieth century is in fact efficient and providing the requisite social control of business, largely because the alternative judicial mechanism is so inefficient and costly. Contrary to Shleifer, we argue here that because both courts and regulation are subject to ex-post defection, individual bias, and subversion, neither is categorically preferable. Whether or not courts or regulation are more efficient at providing social control of business ultimately depends on the features of the specific regulatory or judicial institutions as well as the economic problem addressed. Institutional environments differ with respect to the severity of knowledge and incentive problems and mechanisms for overcoming them that are built into them. The comparative efficiency of an institutional solution depends more on its institutional features (centralized/decentralized, contested/uncontested) than its form (regulation, courts, or private orderings). Stigler's (1971) contribution acknowledges that concern implicitly by incorporating competition between different interest groups as the essential mechanisms driving regulatory outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In this article we discuss the findings of a diagnostic study of (foreign and native) language use in the department of Antioquia, in the Northwest region of Colombia; we specifically focus on the findings pertaining to the largest urban area of the department, Medellín, along with its metropolis. We discuss how the current development agenda, centered around turning the city into a technological and business hub, intertwined with a bilingualism program, poses challenges to language education. In addition, we discuss how city development plans that have an effect on education are influenced by neoliberal discourses centered on ideas of economic development and competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the impact of rapid scientific advancements on the medical field and the need for doctors and surgeons to adapt to new technologies and treatments in order to meet patients' increasing demands. It highlights the financial interests of various players in the healthcare industry, including scientific societies, conference organizers, and publishers of scientific journals. However, the article emphasizes that the primary focus should be on providing accurate and reliable information to surgeons, in order to ensure the best possible treatments for patients. The author calls on these entities to prioritize quality, efficiency, and scientific depth in their offerings, with the ultimate goal of promoting patients' mental and physical well-being. [Extracted from the article]

Nowadays, several HTS cable projects around the world have been demonstrated and operated in real grids. Due to the AC HTS cables have the advantages of high current capacity, small size and low loss, it is beneficial to improve the reliability and economic competitiveness of the power grid. However, the current-carrying capacity of the HTS cables is limited, which is difficult to meet the power supply demands of some short-distance high-current occasions. This paper designs a novel structure of multi-layer cable based on the principle of uniform current, in which the conductor and shielding layers are arranged alternately. The influence of the magnetic field between the superconducting layers is greatly reduced so that the degradation of J c and hysteresis loss is decreased. A 2D simulation model is built to analyze and compare magnetic field distribution and hysteresis loss between the conventional and proposed HTS cables. Consequently, the magnetic field distribution and hysteresis loss of the proposed structure are lower and uniform. Meanwhile, as the number of layers increases, the difference in hysteresis loss keeps increasing gradually. The proposed cable is suitable for mid- and low-voltage and high-current application, which has great significance to improve the stability of the power grid and reduce the cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of product market competition on the dividend policy of Indian firms. We have taken product market competition as the proxy of external corporate governance. This study has used 1142 non-financial, non-utility, and non-government Indian firms listed in NSE from 2001 to 2018. For the purpose, five different product market competition and three various dividend measures were employed. Also, the interaction between product market competition (external) and board corporate governance (internal) on dividend policy was examined using a newly developed board corporate governance index (BCGI). The findings suggest that non-competitive firms are more likely to pay higher dividends than competitive firms. Non-competitive firms face more significant agency problems and therefore, pay higher dividends than competitive firms. Finally, the study found that the influence of internal corporate governance on dividends to be much higher and significant in the case of non-competitive firms compared to competitive firms. Overall, the findings of this study offer consistent evidence that external corporate governance and dividend policy are substitutes, and higher agency costs and higher internal governance strengthens this relationship. The outcomes of this study can help the managers to more precisely take dividend decisions by looking at the competition level in the market. The results suggest that managers should pay less dividends when firms operate in a high-competitive industry and vice-versa. The policymakers should design corporate governance norms after considering the competitiveness of the industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]