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Using the market‐based‐view of the firm, this study investigates the relationship between trademark intensity and firm performance under the conditions of product market competition, total factor productivity, and SG&A efficiency. Higher trademark intensity is more positively associated with performance, and this positive association is amplified under higher product market competition or weakened under higher SG&A efficiency or total factor productivity. To address potential endogeneity, we employ partialing out lasso regression and cross‐fit partialing out lasso regression techniques, which yield consistent results. The findings provide valuable insights into the interplay between trademark intensity and firm performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although new products are not inherently scarce, consumers often display competitive behavior, eagerly queuing up to be among the first to obtain them. To manage the distribution of such sought‐after items, retailers determine which consumers get the opportunity to make a purchase. The question of which selection method ensures fair treatment of individual customers and enhances purchase experiences for a new product remains unresolved. Results of three experiments revealed that those in an ordered selection discipline were likely to be more time‐sensitive and perceive it as fairer than those in the random selection discipline when purchasing a new product. The difference in perceived fairness between the ordered selection discipline and the random selection discipline was more substantial, when the new product was highly scarce, due to increased selection uncertainty. However, the reverse effect was found when consumers were not selected to purchase a new product. The ordered selection discipline was perceived as less fair than the random selection discipline. The findings provide valuable insights into how selection disciplines shape consumers' perceptions of fairness during the purchase of a new product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Methods Findings Conclusions Understanding drivers of antibiotic use is key to limiting the development of antimicrobial resistance. Outpatient antibiotic prescribing rates vary substantially across and within states. Kentucky is one of the highest prescribing states, and the southeastern region has rates that are drastically higher than the national average and urban areas of the state. We sought to examine provider perceptions of antibiotic use in this rural area to more effectively guide future interventions and policy.This study utilized Medicaid prescription claims to identify providers who frequently prescribe antibiotics to children in southeastern Kentucky. Semistructured qualitative interviews were conducted to elicit provider perspectives on antibiotic overuse.Individual, in‐person interviews were conducted with 25 providers from a variety of practices and training backgrounds (private, nonprofit, retail, physician, advanced practice registered nurses, etc.). The following themes emerged as issues that prescribers consider to contribute to antibiotic overuse: (1) caregiver pressure, especially from grandparents or families who desire a ‘quick fix’; (2) business concerns and competition and (3) cultural factors related to poverty and rural locations. Interviewed providers were supportive of public education and had mixed views on the effectiveness of delayed fill or provider feedback initiatives.This study highlights unique challenges associated with antibiotic prescribing in rural areas. Findings will guide future interventions through adaptation of existing strategies to better serve this vulnerable population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internal governance is the process by which vice presidents (VPs) use their influence with the chief executive officer (CEO) to impact the firm's direction and policy. This study examines the effect of internal governance on corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance. Based on a large sample of US firms and after controlling for various CEO incentives, corporate governance and other determinants of CSR performance, we find that more effective internal governance is associated with a better CSR performance. These results are robust to alternative internal governance and CSR measures, alternative samples and various approaches that mitigate potential endogeneity problems. Further analysis shows that the effect of internal governance on CSR performance is more pronounced when (a) the CEO is subject to more intensive monitoring, (b) VPs are more powerful, (c) firms experience less short‐term financial performance pressure and (d) they face stronger product market competition. This study advances our understanding of corporate governance's effect on CSR by showing the importance of internal governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the influence of foreign ownership and product market competition on firm performance in Vietnam's listed companies through the mediating role of the corporate governance index. Moreover, the study explores the moderating role of business strategy in the relationships between foreign ownership, product market competition, and firm performance. We use maximum likelihood structural equation modeling in Stata 14 software to analyze the data collected from 180 Vietnamese listed companies from 2015 to 2019. The results indicate that foreign ownership and product market competition positively influence firm performance by mediating the corporate governance index. Business strategy negatively moderates the relationship between product market competition and firm performance. This study has implications for managers focusing on foreign ownership and product market competition to improve corporate governance systems, enhancing firm performance. Additionally, managers may build business strategies when product market competition increases to avoid negative effects on firm performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the optimal pricing and disclosure strategies of sellers who possess private quality information. We consider two market structures, namely, monopoly market and duopoly market; under each market structure, we further consider two characteristics of consumer preferences for the same product: homogeneity and heterogeneity. How competition and whether consumers are heterogeneous affects sellers' disclosure strategies, and profitability is the focus of our attention. Interestingly, we show that the monopolistic seller's profit is likely to increase as the disclosure cost, which is not possible in a competitive environment. We indicate that when consumers are homogeneous, sellers can obtain higher returns and are more likely to engage in quality disclosure. Finally, we show that when the market is filled with homogeneous consumers, competition always increases the motivation for sellers to engage in quality disclosure. However, when the market is filled with heterogeneous consumers, competition actually hinders sellers from engaging in quality disclosure when the cost of disclosure is low. Our results help company managers in making better disclosure and pricing strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the impact of product market competition on firms' systematic risk. Using a measure of total product market similarity, we document a strong negative relationship between market power and market betas. The effect more than triples in the most recent period of low competition. Anticompetitive mergers result in a significant reduction in market betas. Firms facing less competition seem to be partially insulated from systematic discount‐rate shocks. Lower equity costs therefore imply that market power is partly self‐perpetuating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Indonesia, the negative health impact of COVID‐19 and the initial, direct loss of employment have been largest in urban, not rural areas. But the second‐round effects on labor markets have been very different. They have included a huge, empirically documented migration of newly unemployed urban workers from urban to rural areas, in urgent search of employment, food, and safety from the pandemic. We call this "de‐urbanization." It placed the migrating workers in economic competition with the least skilled agricultural workers, expanding their numbers by almost 8%. By increasing the supply of unskilled farm labor, de‐urbanization depressed farm workers' real wages. Because the demand for farm labor is inelastic, the total wage income of these workers, aggregated across all unskilled farm laborers, declined. The households relying on this source of income are by far Indonesia's poorest. Similar outcomes may occur in other pandemic‐affected developing countries with large agricultural sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's global business competition environment, the significant changes in the market environment make it very difficult for supply chain enterprises to gain a place in the fierce market only by their strength. This article will do the following research work to effectively play the role of supply chain management. First, the concepts, and characteristics, related applications of supply chain information sharing (IS) and genetic algorithm back propagation (GABP) neural networks, are expounded. Then, the feasibility of applying BP neural network (BPNN) to evaluate supply chain IS is analysed. Next, the assessment indicator system for IS is constructed from four aspects: IS infrastructure, IS member characteristics, IS content, and the quality of supply chain enterprises. Finally, the principle and algorithm of BPNN are analysed, the network model is constructed, the BPNN process based on GA is designed, and every step in the process is explained in detail. The sample input is provided for the network model by obtaining and sorting data. The supply chain IS assessment model based on the GABP neural network is constructed. The results show that the assessment model of supply chain IS based on the GABP neural network has high accuracy, and the highest network accuracy reaches 95.01%, which proves that the assessment model based on BPNN has certain advantages for the supply chain IS of the financial industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article develops a framework for attributing motivations to Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) investment by noting that there are two major subdivisions, those that argue that the investments are undertaken due to macroeconomic factors and those that argue there is a political element as well. The political literature is divided into three subcategories of domestic political considerations, geopolitical competition and economic diplomacy. The literature of the Public Investment Fund (PIF) does not include any discussion of economic diplomacy as a consideration, an omission this article seeks to rectify. Using a realist understanding of international political economy (IPE), the article explores the influence of elites, the nature of PIF investments in America, India, China and Russia, and collaboration with other SWFs on investment. The article concludes that economic diplomacy should be considered as one of a multitude of variables that determine how and where the PIF invests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the study of the policy diffusion process, scholars have found that states adopt policies to remain competitive with one another over economic resources. But the rapid spread of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) policies, which treat college athletes as professionals, is not readily explained by economic competition nor other diffusion mechanisms. The NIL phenomenon points to a new dimension of competition between the states, which is more closely tied to states protecting or enhancing their reputations than it is to directly accruing economic resources. To test if NIL spread as the result of athletic reputation competition, we model the adoption of NIL legislation as a function of internal characteristics (i.e. number, value, and ranking of college football programs) and interstate dynamics (i.e. actions of football, conference, and Power 5 competitors). We test the effect of these measures alongside traditional diffusion indicators, finding that both internal and interstate indicators of athletic competition drive states to adopt and implement NIL. NIL is important to study as it has changed the landscape of amateur sports, as well as our scholarly understanding of policy diffusion in the American federal system, specifically broadening our conceptualization of the competition mechanism and developing customized measures of it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploiting Google's 2010 withdrawal from mainland China, we examine the causal impact of information accessibility on export quality, and find that export quality decreases after Google's exit. The effect is more pronounced for firms and products facing greater information frictions, for firms in regions with local web filters, for firms trading with countries with more online information, and for firms facing fiercer product market competition. The more intensively affected firms also become less productive and their capital intensity declines after Google's exit. Overall, these results suggest that limited information accessibility may impair a country's international competitiveness through deteriorating export quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper constructs a theoretical framework suggesting a moderating impact of product market competition in determining the relationship between family ownership/control and innovation. We argue that the elimination of 'career concerns' of CEOs in firms with greater family share may explain the mechanism followed to encourage R&D investments. Empirical testing of the hypotheses is performed using data from the Indian manufacturing industry for the period 2001–2018. The findings suggest that the domestic product market competition complements the relationship between family ownership/control and R&D investments. This indicates that family firms tend to invest more in R&D as domestic product competition increases. The data suggest that the effect of family involvement on innovation is due to the reduction of managerial career concerns, as we find that managerial turnover (conditional on poor performance) is lower if family involvement is higher. This effect is significantly stronger under higher degrees of competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In most marketplaces, brands face fierce competition. Those that are adopted into consumers' self‐concepts in the form of a strong self‐brand connection reap myriad benefits including more positive evaluations, increased purchase intentions, and greater customer loyalty. This research tests the premise that the processing fluency of two prominent branding elements, brand name and logo, may promote self‐brand connection. A series of three studies indicates that processing fluency, prompted either through repeated exposure to a logo (Study 1) or more easily processed brand names (Studies 2 and 3), is associated with a stronger self‐brand connection. Evidence across the studies supports that the sense of brand familiarity stemming from fluent assessment promotes narrative processes in which the brand is connected to aspects of one's life and that such narrative processing, in turn, leads to the formation of stronger self‐brand connections. Further, such evidence is provided via direct measures of self‐brand connections, investigation of consumers brand narratives, and hemostatic brain response as measured via functional magnetic resonance imaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses the Plain Writing Act of 2010 as an exogenous variation in the readability of 10‐K reports to establish the impact of report improvements on firm risk. We find that better readability significantly decreases total and idiosyncratic risks for US firms experiencing shocks to their readability environment during 2001–2016. The impact is stronger among firms with poorer governance, less external monitoring, and greater product market competition. The results based on supporting the causal impact of readability on firm risk are robust. Our findings suggest that more readable 10‐K reports facilitate investor monitoring, inducing firms to manage risk better. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Towards the end of the Cold War, the vocabulary of global power, space and economy received a qualitative update. Amongst the terms rapidly gaining prominence since the early 1990s has been the notion of geoeconomics, the coining of which has frequently been attributed to the strategist Edward N. Luttwak. In his interpretation, it signified a transition away from Cold War ideological and military geopolitical competition towards commerce and market‐based geo‐power. Over the past three decades, a 'geoeconomics boom' set in, characterised by think tanks and a varied body of politico‐economic literature making extensive use of the term. Conventionally treated as a neologism, the provenance and earlier iterations of geoeconomics, some dating back more than a century, have been largely ignored by both celebratory and critical accounts. In this paper, we trace and contextualise these earlier instances, leading us to the Geopolitik era in Germany and references to geoeconomics in the United States in the decades after WWII. We thereby offer a critical genealogy of geoeconomics, conceptualised as an object of definitional struggle. Proponents of the term sought to position it variously as a tool of national economic cohesion and competition or as a way of understanding and harnessing shifting global power relations, whilst others sought to subsume geoeconomics to geopolitics. These past struggles track forward into ongoing dialectical tensions between geoeconomics and geopolitics as competing but related geostrategic visions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper constructs a general equilibrium model in a world with two‐symmetric countries. It explains welfare gains from international trade and horizontal Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the economy with firm heterogeneity and variable markups stemming from oligopolistic competition. My model shows that the pro‐competitive effects of trade and horizontal FDI happen because trade openness induces an increase in product market competition that reduces markups and toughens selection, increasing aggregate productivity. The most significant contribution of the paper is that multinational firms, via horizontal FDI, produce the most significant welfare gains through the toughest selection and lowest markups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The recent consolidation of the Australian residential aged care market has raised concerns about the potential adverse effects of acquisition activity on quality of care (QoC). We examined changes in QoC outcomes within acquired homes and the influence of the acquiring providers' characteristics on these post‐acquisition outcomes. Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted using de‐identified data sets obtained under the legal authority of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. Regression analysis was used to investigate post‐acquisition changes in QoC outcomes for 225 Australian home acquisitions between 2015 and 2019. The outcomes were analysed for the first two full financial years before and after the acquisition. Results: After controlling for other factors, we find acquired homes were associated with significantly worse QoC outcomes in the 2 years after acquisition, with higher rates of hospitalisations and reported complaints to the regulator. However, these results were driven by homes acquired by providers that were smaller in scale, for‐profit or had comparatively poorer average quality across the other homes they operated. Conclusions: Our finding that homes' QoC on average declines in the first 2 years following acquisition, are consistent with studies in other countries and points to the potential risks that consolidation poses to the care delivered to older people in Australia during that period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pharmaceutical industry has traditionally employed batch processing as a means of synthesizing active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) on a commercial scale. Batch manufacturing enables API synthesis in large quantities in order to meet regulations. Yet, this strategy remains cumbersome, is labor‐intensive, and creates complex logistical networks. In recent decades, batch API processing has gradually eroded American economic competitiveness and has led to the offshoring of API manufacturing from the United States. Today it is estimated that +80% of APIs are manufactured overseas.[1] Meanwhile, disruptions from the Coronavirus Disease (SARS‐CoV‐2) have exacerbated weaknesses in the global supply chain, culminating with widespread shortages of critical life‐saving drugs.[2] These shortages have emphasized the importance of reshoring drug manufacturing to the U.S. and fostered a regulatory landscape that seeks advanced methods of API manufacturing in order to bolster America's supply chain resiliency.[3] Recently, increased attention has been directed towards continuous drug manufacturing to enable nonstop API production within modular stand‐alone flow systems. Continuous manufacturing (CM) facilitates modular automation, offers new avenues towards process intensification, and even enables in‐line analytical monitoring from raw materials to packaged products. This strategy offers better conversion, increased safety, reduced waste, and overall cost savings versus traditional batch‐style processing. The rise of advanced API manufacturing, coupled with the current regulatory landscape, offers a rare window of opportunity to convert traditional batch pharmaceutical processes into continuous, streamlined production systems to on‐shore API manufacturing and eliminate drug shortages. This review will outline the current state‐of‐the‐art in the CM of APIs and will highlight the translation of chemistry and unit operations from batch processes to modular CM systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the impact of board cultural diversity, based on directors' ancestry, on firm performance conditional on product market competition. We argue that culturally diverse boards foster critical thinking and offer creative solutions that help firms thrive in competitive environments. We document that culturally diverse boards are associated with superior performance for firms operating in highly competitive industries. To address potential endogeneity issues, we use a quasi‐natural experiment of the U.S. import tariff cuts. The positive impact of board cultural diversity on firm performance in competitive markets manifests itself in firms that innovate more, require creative inputs, and face heightened predation risk due to their high interdependence with industry rivals, in line with culturally diverse boards effectively performing their advisory role. Lastly, we find no evidence that board cultural diversity is associated with enhanced monitoring as its benefits fade in the presence of powerful CEOs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to analyse the relationship between Qatar's foreign policy and foreign aid in the Horn of Africa (HoA), with a particular focus on Somalia. Since the 2017 blockade, the HoA has become increasingly important to Qatar's foreign policy and aid efforts, intensifying political and economic competition with other Gulf players. This research describes Qatar's foreign policy strategies and tools in the HoA from 2011 to 2021, observing the evolution of humanitarian aid interventions in Somalia and the impact of Gulf competition in the country. The research aims to combine neoclassical realism with small‐state theory in the analysis of foreign aid, examining Qatari foreign aid interventions in Somalia as a foreign policy tool for exercising autonomy and as an outcome of the Qatari elites' decision‐making process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deposit insurance involves catastrophe risk because bank failures spike during a banking crisis. Although mutual insurance is ill-suited for catastrophe risk, the US government structures deposit insurance like a mutual company owned by policyholders. Furthermore, an intertemporal mispricing resulting from a dividend-surcharge arrangement produces several problems. Most importantly, it worsens moral hazard. Through dividends and surcharges, deposit insurance transfers the premium burden from highrisk banks to low-risk banks and in effect erodes the charter value of low-risk banks. In addition, high-risk banks taking catastrophe risk can outperform low-risk banks for many years in a row, putting pressures on managers of low-risk banks. Owing to these factors, an underpricing of catastrophe risk before its realization can ratchet up risk-taking by banks. Other problems with the intertemporal mispricing include making the banking business more procyclical, distorting the prices of banking products, and exposing taxpayers to asymmetric downside risk. To ensure fair competition and improve economic efficiency, the government should set the insurance premium based not on the realized loss but on the expected loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the interplay between asset bubbles and product market competition. It offers two main insights. The first is that imperfect competition creates a wedge between interest rates and the marginal product of capital. This makes rational bubbles possible even when there is no overaccumulation of capital. The second is that when providing a production subsidy, bubbles stimulate competition and reduce monopoly rents. I show that bubbles can destroy efficient investment and have ambiguous welfare consequences. However, when they stimulate competition, they can have crowding‐in effects on capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the role of employee treatment in firms' access to informal finance in the form of trade credit. We find that better employee treatment improves the amount of informal finance a firm can obtain. This effect is stronger in environments with (1) more intensive product market competition, (2) highly customized inputs, (3) lower social capital and (4) high demand for skilled labor. Furthermore, the role of employee treatment varies according to a firm's financial health and liquidity. Employee treatment becomes less important for firms having a low level of liquidity but is more pronounced for firms experiencing financial distress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, the field of biomass conversion is gradually moving towards an encouraging stage. The preparation of nitrogen‐containing chemicals using various biomass resources instead of fossil resources do not only reduce carbon emissions, but also diversify the products of biomass conversion, thus increasing the economic competitiveness of biomass refining systems. Levulinic acid (LA) can be used as a promising intermediate in biomass conversion for further synthesis of pyrrolidone via reductive amination. However, there are still many critical issues to be solved. Particularly, the specific effects of catalysts on the performance of LA reductive amination have not been sufficiently revealed, and the potential impacts of key conditional factors have not been clearly elucidated. In view of this, this review attempts to provide theoretical insights through an in‐depth interpretation of the above key issues. The contribution of catalysts to the reductive amination of LA as well as the catalyst structural preferences for improving catalytic performance are discussed. In addition, the role of key conditional factors is discussed. The insights presented in this review will contribute to the design of catalyst nanostructures and the rational configuration of green reaction conditions, which may provide inspiration to facilitate the nitrogen‐related transformation of more biomass platform molecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the European Union, the circular economy is gaining relevance to increase competitiveness and promote economic growth while decreasing environmental consequences and primary resource dependency. This study uses factor and cluster analysis to uncover the disparities in the main circular economy dimensions within the European Union 27, covering the years from 2015 to 2019. The results highlight two main circularity dimensions—sustainability and productivity—and three distinct circular economy profiles—optimizers, sustainables, and laggards. Findings suggest that while the European gap in terms of circularity is narrowing regarding productivity, it appears to be widening concerning sustainability. Furthermore, countries have yet to strike a balance between the sustainability and productivity dimensions, meaning additional efforts should be made to achieve more homogeneous progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Electrolysis‐based hydrogen production can play a significant role in industrial decarbonization, and its economic competitiveness can be promoted by designing demand response operating schemes. Nevertheless, the scale of industrial supply plants may be significantly large (on the order of gigawatts), meaning that electricity prices cannot be treated as an input for scheduling problems, that is, the "price taker" approach. This article presents a framework for the optimization of a large‐scale, electricity‐powered hydrogen production facility considering its integration with the power grid. Using a computational case study, we present an iterative scheme for integrating the process model with a model for power grid optimization and capacity expansion, taking the popular GenX model as an example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the effect of labour marketisation level on corporate labour investment efficiency. Using a sample of Chinese listed firms, we provide evidence that higher labour marketisation level is associated with higher corporate labour investment efficiency. Firms with higher labour marketisation level reduce over‐investment and under‐investment in labour. In the cross‐sectional tests, we discover that this effect is more prominent for private enterprises and firms with stronger product market competition, more financing constraints, and higher labour adjustment costs. We eliminate the impact of other non‐labour investments and ensure that our results are not driven by these investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global sugarcane industry is under threat due to low international prices and oversupply. This requires new revenue opportunities through a diversification strategy. The economic competitiveness of small‐scale, decentralized biorefineries to produce short‐chain fructooligosaccharides (scFOS) and/or ethanol, both valuable products with growing market applications, in comparison to large‐scale, centralized facilities annexed to existing sugarcane mills, was therefore considered. The economic feasibility of three potential scenarios was investigated using AspenPlus process simulations of small‐ and large‐scale facilities. In Scenario 1 only scFOS was produced. In Scenario 2 only ethanol was produced, and in Scenario 3 scFOS and ethanol were co‐produced. The small‐scale implementation of Scenarios 1 and 3 was economically feasible, with minimum selling prices (MSPs) below market prices. However, in all scenarios the large‐scale implementation of technologies in facilities annexed to an existing sugar mill improved economic viability, despite efforts to minimize the disadvantages of small‐scale facilities and their capital costs through the selection of simplified process technologies and decentralized processing. Despite this, the small‐scale production of scFOS is the preferred investment option for scFOS production due to the very high scFOS production rates of the large‐scale scenarios, which could flood the market. Processing of freshly harvested sugarcane in decentralized, small‐scale facilities increased the feedstock cost per unit of sugar, in comparison with the use of molasses obtained by annexation to an existing sugar mill. Simplified sugarcane processing to ethanol also lowered the product yield and increased capital costs. Further improvements in process technology design and performance for small‐scale facilities are required to make these financially competitive with large‐scale facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the growing demand for corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) engagement in response to the global complex crisis, the impacts of ESG activities and market environment on firm performance have not been sufficiently investigated. This study aims to explore how ESG activities affect firm performance and how the competitive market environment moderates this relationship. The panel data regression analysis was performed to investigate the relationship between the ESG performance and firm performance (specifically, market capitalization as a measure of market‐based firm performance and profit margin and return on assets as measures of account‐based firm performance) with the data of 2115 listed companies from 53 countries over the past 5 years (2017–2021). The analysis results showed a U‐shaped relation between ESG performance and market capitalization, and a positive linear relationship was observed between ESG performance and profit margin or return on assets. Importantly, it was found that these relationships are negatively moderated by the competition (number of competitors) in the market. It can be interpreted that the greater the number of competitors in the market, the weaker the effect of ESG performance on firm performance. This study discusses plausible reasons for these observations and managerial and policy implications drawn from the results. This study not only analyzes the relationship between ESG performance and various aspects of firm performance at the global level, but also accumulates new evidence for the moderating effect of market competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: In Norway, supply of dental services exceeds demand, mainly because of the marked improvement in dental health during the last few decades. The aim of the study was to investigate whether private dental practitioners counteract a fall in demand for their services by providing more services or by raising their fees. Methods: The data were collected using a questionnaire that was sent to all private dental practitioners in Norway. Altogether 1237 practitioners responded, which gave a response rate of 56%. Our sample was representative of the population of practitioners in Norway. As a measure of patient supply, responses from the following questions were used: 'Based on an overall assessment of economy, workload and other personal factors, is the number of regular patients adequate? If not, do you wish to have more patients, or fewer patients?' The outcome variables were dental fees, length of recall interval and mean cost per visit. The data were analysed using ordinary least square regression and a linear probability model. The following characteristics of the private dental practitioners were included as control variables: age, gender, work experience in years and whether they worked in a solo practice. To test the robustness of the findings, a supplementary analysis with the patient as the unit of analysis was carried out, using survey data of Norwegians aged 20 years and older. Based on this survey, the relationship between population: dentist ratio and mean cost per dental visit were examined. Results: Nearly 40% of all practitioners reported that they had too few patients. They compensated for their loss of income by raising their fees, by recalling their patients more often and by increasing the cost per visit. The finding in the supplementary analysis using survey data from patients was similar to the findings in the main analyses using survey data from private dental practitioners. Conclusion: The findings show that practitioners have market power. They were able to counteract a fall in demand for their services by providing more services and by raising their fees. The dental profession should be encouraged to provide appropriate services, in the present situation where supply exceeds demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although financial market participants are increasingly interested in the financial value of unstructured qualitative information regarding the prospects of a firm, empirical evidence remains sparse on the properties of qualitative content in consumer product reviews and their capital market implications. Using a broad sample of consumer reviews posted on Amazon.com, I examine whether the linguistic tone of aggregate consumer product reviews conveys information that is associated with firms' sales, earnings, stock returns and risk. I find that aggregate review tone successfully predicts a firm's forthcoming quarterly sales. Moderating analyses show that this predictability is stronger for firms operating in a highly competitive environment. I further find that review tone predicts a firm's quarterly earnings surprises, abnormal stock returns and risk. A path analysis shows that the effect of review tone on stock prices is partially channeled through its effect on firms' earnings. I finally find that negative review tone is more informative and useful than positive tone in predicting a firm's fundamentals. Importantly, these results hold after controlling for other review characteristics, including review rating, review volumeand review dispersion. Overall, my findings highlight the importance of considering the tone of consumer reviews when evaluating a firm's prospects and value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context is a central construct in the study of performance appraisal (PA) systems, but to date studies linking the distal context within which organizations operate to PA have been limited in two ways. First, these studies have focused predominantly on national culture, and have paid less attention to the legal/political and economic environment within which organizations. Second, few studies reflect the growing international nature of business organizations, which create multiple layers of context (e.g., home and host country context). Drawing on both situational strength and institutional theories, we hypothesize the links between the "big three" facets of distal context (i.e., culture, legal/political, and economic) and the processes and purposes of PA systems. Using data from 472 multinational enterprises (MNEs) in 22 countries, we show that all three facets of the distal context of the host country influence decisions about the conduct of PA systems. In addition, we show that the culture and legal/political systems of the home country from which the MNE originated are also linked to the PA processes and purposes. Finally, we find evidence that MNEs are more likely to develop hybridized PA systems that depart from host country norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a global policy issue that is actively governed by international actors producing governance indicators. This article argues that despite the arguments about disruptions to governance and policy due to AI, the global rankings increasingly constitute a strong path dependence on AI policy, leading to conformity with existing policies and institutional practices of economic competitiveness. By analyzing the composition and data sources of global indices in competitiveness, innovation, human capital, and artificial intelligence, I will show how the global rankings now evolve by sharing data and concepts. Consequently, these metrics and related policy scripts promote the seeming continuity of current activities of global competitiveness. AI is discussed as a "revolution" but framed as a matter of "competitiveness," "openness," and "talent competition," implying standard perceptions of economic competitiveness and innovation. There is also a narrative element in the policy script, as the future policies on AI are promoted with references to history that also project the past into the future. My article concludes that while path‐dependent policy indicators and related future narratives give a sense of orientation, they are problematic as they portray a seeming continuity of activities in times of disruptions, delimiting policy alternatives such as AI ethics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Pennycress (Thlaspi arvense L.), a member of the Brassicaceae family, produces seed oil high in erucic acid, suitable for biodiesel and aviation fuel. Although pennycress, a winter annual, could be grown as a dedicated bioenergy crop, an increase in its seed oil content is required to improve its economic competitiveness. The success of crop improvement relies upon finding the right combination of biomarkers and targets, and the best genetic engineering and/or breeding strategies. In this work, we combined biomass composition with metabolomic and transcriptomic studies of developing embryos from 22 pennycress natural variants to identify targets for oil improvement. The selected accession collection presented diverse levels of fatty acids at maturity ranging from 29% to 41%. Pearson correlation analyses, weighted gene co‐expression network analysis and biomarker identifications were used as complementary approaches to detect associations between metabolite level or gene expression and oil content at maturity. The results indicated that improving seed oil content can lead to a concomitant increase in the proportion of erucic acid without affecting the weight of embryos. Processes, such as carbon partitioning towards the chloroplast, lipid metabolism, photosynthesis, and a tight control of nitrogen availability, were found to be key for oil improvement in pennycress. Besides identifying specific targets, our results also provide guidance regarding the best timing for their modification, early or middle maturation. Thus, this work lays out promising strategies, specific for pennycress, to accelerate the successful development of lines with increased seed oil content for biofuel applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the results of a survey of legal cannabis retail operators in the two largest urban centres of a Canadian province that uses a fully private model to determine the dimensions of competition between retail outlets. We find that, in addition to expected price and location competition, customer loyalty is central in the opinion of retailers. Firms also did not see the illicit market as their primary competition, instead identifying nearby legal retailers as their main competitors. Restrictions on advertising loomed large in the minds of retailers as a policy‐based impediment to their success. These results are further supported by visual inspection of the exterior of all stores in one of the urban centres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The failure of several U.S. regional banks early in 2023 underlined Canada's reputation as home to a resilient banking sector where federal policymakers guard their jurisdictional responsibility over banking against populist impulses and trade off competition for financial stability. This article argues that conventional explanations for this observed stability are incomplete because they omit any discussion of federal policies that shaped the growth of a $550 billion provincially based credit union system. This article reconciles the resulting puzzle by showing how policymakers accommodated credit unions and used them to channel populist impulses but within the bounds of over‐arching financial stability concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scope of this paper is contributing to unveiling how economic organizing can be more humanistic by delving into ideas of well‐being and advancing them through the concepts of creativity. Accordingly, our contribution reflects on how designing and implementing organizations and processes inspired to creativity can ameliorate the life of participants. We therefore analyse issues of economic coordination through fundamental mechanisms elaborated by organizational economists (market exchange, organized hierarchies) and associate them with diverse consequences in terms of creative capacity. Illustrations are taken from the creative sectors. The creativity dimension (as an outcome) assumes especial relevance in our analysis, not only or primarily because of its potential link with competitiveness and economic prosperity (as in the current economic approach to creativity) but mostly because of the connections with the creation of a public good in the form of well‐being and value for the public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Debates have surged in the European Union (EU) on how EU competition policy can best support the European Green Deal. In the theoretical and practical aspects, non‐economic factors in competition law analysis are problematic due to the difficulty in measuring the concrete benefits of trade‐offs. The National Competition Authorities (NCAs) rather than the European Commission (EC) are leading the 'sustainability in competition law' debates, which is the focus of this article. Therefore, this study reviews the current status quo of all NCAs' positions concerning sustainability‐related matters by classifying them into four typologies in terms of their willingness to incorporate sustainability in their assessments. It further identifies four emerging NCAs models, which seem to divert from the EC's view. This can be problematic in ensuring the uniform application of competition law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on Marx's theory of history, this article argues that the competition and capital accumulation inherent in the production of Bitcoin (i.e. 'mining') are at odds with the narrative discourses that position Bitcoin as a revolutionary technology capable of subverting traditional power structures. Through an analysis of the evolution of Bitcoin mining, the article demonstrates how the material conditions of its production have shifted over time, leading to the concentration of mining power among a few large corporate entities and a concomitant erosion of the decentralized ethos that underpinned the early Bitcoin community. The article also argues that this shift is not simply a result of the 'natural' evolution of the technology, but also the outcome of specific social and economic forces that encourage the accumulation of capital over Bitcoin's democratic and decentralized potentialities. Overall, the article suggests that the narrative discourses surrounding Bitcoin need to be understood in relation to the material forces that shape its production and circulation, and that a more nuanced analysis of the interplay between material and discursive factors is necessary to fully grasp the dynamics of the cryptocurrency ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the carbon tax policy, the vehicle remanufacturing has become popular, which threatens the new vehicle market. Facing the complicated competitive environment, the automobile manufacturer always adjusts product modular design to deal with the challenges from the internal and external remanufacturing. Currently, considering the impacts of the complicated market competitions and product modular design on the enterprise's operation management, how the carbon tax policy affects the vehicle remanufacturing is still uncertain. Thus, we construct a duopoly remanufacturing competition model consisting of an automobile manufacturer and remanufacturer with the aim of maximizing profit and determine the optimal product modular design, production, and remanufacturing decisions as well as profits. Then, we explore the impacts of the carbon tax on the vehicle remanufacturing supply chain from the perspectives of the economic, environment, and consumer surplus. The results show that the carbon tax is always disadvantageous to automobile manufacturer's profit but may benefit the automobile remanufacturer's profit. Contrary to the intuition, improving the carbon tax is not always conducive to the environment and harmful to the consumer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how industry tournament incentives affect chief executive officers' (CEOs') attitudes toward differential risk‐taking. The results show that these incentives cause a greater increase in taking systematic rather than idiosyncratic risks. Furthermore, this differential risk‐taking manifests in a competitive business environment. The findings hold robust to the instrumental variable approach and variation in industry pay gap following the adoption of FAS123R. Overall, the results suggest that the industry pay gap effectively increases CEOs' systematic risk‐taking, especially in competitive industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study adds to the literature on decarbonisation of the global energy system. We employ a detailed and long dataset that covers a period of nearly two centuries for the G7 countries. We link the scale of economic activity to the notion of environmental quality and employ nonlinear Autoregressive Distributed Lag Models that take into account the presence of structural breaks in our series. Moreover, we apply linear Granger causality tests as well as the Hatemi‐J nonlinear causality test to further gauge asymmetries between economic growth and CO2 emissions. Our results are encouraging and point to the significant progress that has been made toward sustainable development. Along these lines, we identify a number of policy implications following a low‐carbon transition that result in enhanced economic growth and competitiveness of energy‐intensive industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses Vietnam's economic growth and the challenges it faces in achieving its development goals. The authors argue that Vietnam needs to extend its existing growth drivers and initiate new ones. The article also highlights the progress Vietnam has made in policy formulation and implementation, particularly in areas such as private sector development. However, the article suggests that presenting general policy prescriptions may not be effective in moving the policy debate forward, and that Vietnam needs to set clear priorities and narrow its focus to generate truly effective policies. [Extracted from the article]

This paper examines the effect of peers on a firm's research and development (R&D) policy. We show that firms do not make R&D decisions in isolation, and that industry dynamics play an important role in defining a firm's R&D intensity. Using a large sample of 54,393 firm‐year observations from 1991 to 2015 in the United States, we find that firms' R&D decisions are mainly driven by their industry peers' R&D policies. Moreover, we find that R&D mimicking is significant only in the presence of strong product market competition, whereas we do not find any evidence of information‐based herding in R&D investments. Our additional analysis shows that our main conclusions remain valid even in the presence of financial constraints, and regardless of the firms' market positions. Finally, we provide evidence that R&D mimicking increases firms' future values, future patent outputs, and estimated patent dollar values. Our findings are robust to endogeneity concerns, and to using alternative sample compositions, R&D intensity proxies, and different industry classifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine how quality competition affects the relationship between market size and industry structure at the product level using evidence from the U.S. hotel industry. Starting in the early 1980s, quality competition for business travelers became more based on variable and less on fixed costs, and became less scale intensive. Since then, market size increases have been met by more, but smaller, hotels in business travel destinations but continued to be met by larger hotels in personal travel destinations. Our results illustrate how the way consumers benefit from increases in market size depends on how firms compete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) in trade and development theory and outlines the resulting implications for economic policy. We propose an alternative model of international trade and development based on absolute, not comparative advantages of firms, which are nested in countries but compete internationally. Applying a Schumpeterian theory of dynamic development, we consider how firms can either increase their competitiveness through productivity gains at a given wage level, or by combining the existing high level of productivity with lower wages in low‐income countries. We argue that the aim of competition policy must be to improve the quality of economic competition in international markets, limit monopoly rents and disincentivise rent‐seeking activities through the mere outsourcing of production. To that end, we propose that economic policy must reinstate rigorous wage bargaining regimes and make FDI subject to wage conditionality, obliging foreign companies to increase their wages in the host economy in line with average national productivity growth and the national inflation target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The manufacturing of lithium‐ion battery (LIB) cells has been identified as a hotspot addressing growing price competition and the environmental and economic pressures on technologies along the value creation chain. Effective quality management strategies (QMS) are essential to meet these rising challenges. Herein, data‐driven technologies have fostered an improved understanding of existing process–structure–properties and their process chain covering interdependencies. However, there are often limited in their capability due to the lack of availability or in‐depth information about the manufactured product, existing incidences (i.e., product faults), and the possibility to deploy inline QMS due to insufficient knowledge about the history and condition of the identified products. Against this background, this work describes the implementation of a traceability system as part of QMS for battery cell production and presents a developed framework to overcome challenges from an LIB production perspective for traditional traceability approaches. In addition, this article discusses the implementation of technologies, focusing on the identification and traceability on electrode‐sheet level through continuous and feature‐based approaches. With those technologies implemented, the deployment of quality gates within the electrode production is now possible to not only improve quality inline, but also discover new possibilities for future electrode balancing to reduce manufacturing costs and the overall environmental impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past few years, academics have undertaken initiatives to bridge the gap between theory and practice in the ever‐growing field of business analytics, including implementing real‐life student projects in all shapes and forms. Every year since 2015, Manhattan College has invited student teams from across North America and elsewhere in the world to its campus in order to participate in an intercollegiate business analytics competition (BAC@MC). This well‐received event and the objectives behind it are described in this article. The program is shown to serve as an effective experiential learning adventure for the undergraduate students as it hones their data analytic skills in the context of an engaging real‐world business problem. The roles various stakeholders play in this high‐impact practice are highlighted. Furthermore, an example of a recent competition question is presented (along with a summary of the analytical approaches attempted) by the student teams. Descriptive visualizations, regression, and cluster algorithms implemented using python, R, Excel, or Tableau are among the typical analyses utilized by participating students. As witnessed by the students, faculty advisors, and the industry practitioners who attended the event, competitions such as BAC@MC can be rewarding, community‐building, and transformative experiences for undergraduate students who will soon become tomorrow's business analysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]