Dissertations

This dissertation aims to examine whether and how CEO emotional stability influences firm innovation. I argue that CEO emotional stability enables firms to secure resources from external stakeholders as well as create a friendly innovation climate within the firm, thus helping firm innovation. Moreover, external market competition and market uncertainty strengthen the relationship between CEO emotional stability and firm innovation; while financial slack and firm size weaken the main relationship. Surveys are conducted to collect the data to test the hypotheses. This dissertation extends the literature on emotional stability as well as innovation from the upper echelons perspective.

This research is based on the paradigm of case analysis and theoretical interpretation, and some related literature is mainly carried out from the following perspectives: on the one hand, in the practice of Confucian cultural management, focusing on the role of management practice of a certain idea in the connotation of Confucian culture, the role-playing of Confucian culture in the organizational construction of enterprises such as"Family culture" and"Happiness", or the exploration of the impact of Confucian culture on corporate governance issues such as corporate social responsibility, direct discussion of the role of Confucian culture practice in the employee's work enthusiasm of the internal mechanism of rare;
On the other hand, the staff work enthusiasm, pay attention to the influence of the company's dominant system, training, social support, organizational resources, organizational environment, family support or psychological contract on employees' work motivation. How does it affect the psychological contract between the employee and the enterprise from the perspective of Confucian culture, and feedback to the employee's work enthusiasm.Different from previous studies, this research focuses on the research paradigm of"Confucian cultural practice-employee work enthusiasm", and takes aokang international as the research object to describe the Confucian cultural practice in detail, this paper analyzes the inner mechanism of aokang international Confucian culture's influence on employees' work enthusiasm, and probes into the after-effect of this influence on enterprise performance. Moreover, this study also makes a multi-level empirical analysis on the paradigm of"Confucian culture practice-employee work enthusiasm" with the help of the data of micro-listed companies, also pay attention to the heterogeneity of the law, the inherent logic. Therefore, this study provides information-rich evidence from case studies and mathematical evidence.

Background: The unfolding of the digital era, while bringing a plethora of technological progress, has also opened the door to a new set of cybersecurity threats. These threats disproportionately affect organizations within the financial sector. Of particular concern is the emergence of hacktivism, an unconventional blend of hacking and activism, which is becoming a significant challenge to the cybersecurity landscape. This study delves into the impact of hacktivist campaigns, with a particular focus on those orchestrated by groups such as Anonymous. The objective of this research is to assess the whether these campaigns lead to increased cyber exposure of financial services firms listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) . The ultimate aim is to augment our comprehension of whether hacktivist activities indeed pose a considerable threat that should be rigorously addressed in the cybersecurity strategies of financial institutions.
Research Objectives: This study has three primary objectives. First, it seeks to quantify the change in cyber exposure of targeted financial institutions following the announcement of a hacktivist campaign. Second, it determines whether the impact of such campaigns is greater on financial institutions whose passwords have been previously leaked on the dark or deep web. The final objective is to determine if hacking campaigns on cyber exposure are more significant for smaller firms than for larger ones.
Research Methodologies: The primary analysis in this study employs Synthetic Controls to investigate the impact of hacktivist campaign attacks on large and small firms. The analysis uses a matched sample comprising of 22 treated firms. Data were gathered from various sources, including hacktivist campaign databases and company financials. Robustness tests were conducted using Propensity Score Matching (PSM) and a Placebo test to validate the findings. For the PSM method, the study utilized the sample of 22 treated firms and selected matches from a pool of 159 control firms.
Results: Findings indicate that hacktivist campaigns result in a significant increase in the targeted financial institutions' deep and dark web exposure. On average, hacking campaigns raise the target institutions’ deep web and dark web exposure by 65 percent per year during the first two years after the campaigns’ start date. Furthermore, it is discovered that the increase in cyber exposure is more significant for smaller firms compared to larger ones.
Implications: The research findings lend themselves to several actionable recommendations with substantial implications for financial institutions, cybersecurity experts, and policy makers.
For businesses, the increased exposure to the deep and dark web as a result of hacktivist campaigns should not be taken lightly. This study's findings suggest that avoiding controversial business practices and prioritizing transparency, ethical operations, and positive Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance can diminish the risk of attracting hacktivist attention.
Further, the study's findings on the relationship between company size and vulnerability to hacking campaigns emphasize the importance of targeted strategies for different financial institutions. Specifically, smaller companies, those not exceeding the median for all treated companies in the sample, were found to be more susceptible to hacktivist attacks. These institutions, perceived as easier targets by cyber criminals, should invest in effective cybersecurity tools and practices for continuous monitoring of their cyber exposure on the deep and dark web. This should be complemented with regular employee training and robust incident response plans tailored to the particular vulnerabilities of smaller institutions. Considering the financial implications of these attacks, cyber insurance may also provide an additional layer of security, especially for these more vulnerable firms.

By using a novel dataset, platform firms (those that operate on apps and the internet as their main vector of operations), this study explores the boundaries of the firm through the lens of corporate social responsibility. By examining the CSR scandals of platform-based firms, the paper aims to answer: ‘How do digital platform firms affect the society and capital market and understand the welfare of stakeholders?’. To disentangle the debates in the literature, the study articulates the new framework of the boundaries and scope of firms by proposing broader stakeholders of firms.

This research attempts to elucidate the boundaries of the newly formed platform-based firms by revisiting their stakeholders using an event study method with CSR scandals and its reactions from the stock market. The findings of the study suggest that consistent with market efficient hypothesis, the stock market accurately captures unanticipated corporate events. Nevertheless, the results show the significant negative effects of CSR scandals of the platform firms on market reactions, while the ESG ratings of the firms with scandals do not change significantly after the events nor have an effect on market reactions.

Furthermore, the results with controlling variables show the changes of ESG ratings have no effect on abnormal returns after several robustness tests of the samples were used in this study. This study provides ample evidence that the stakeholders of platform firms are not well recognized nor incorporated in CSR performance (the ESG ratings) of the firm; hence, it is not conveyed to the investors.

Finally, the main contribution of the study is in providing a framework of stakeholder theory by bringing together the discussions for the need for revisiting and refining of the boundaries and scope of the tech-driven digital platform firms through clarifying the doubts about its stakeholders.

As a major sport country, China’s football is facing tricky problems of insufficient reserve players and football culture alienation. Improving the quality of youth football training not only can supplement a large number of reserve players, but also shape a sound football culture, which is a good approach to the current problems of China’s football. Based on the theory of customer engagement, this dissertation starts from the reality of Chinese youth football training, analyzes the problems existing in current youth football training in depth, and proposes that convenience, interest and empathy can improve the customer engagement of youth trainees. Outland household registration and youth trainee identity at private schools also help strengthen these relationships. In this study, a total of 209 sheets of valid data were collected from a questionnaire survey of football training institutions in Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Shenzhen. Using the above survey data and OLS regression analysis method, this dissertation has found that convenience, fun and empathy can improve customer engagement of youth trainees, and outland household registration and youth trainee identity in private schools help strengthen the above relationship. In addition, customer engagement plays a partial intermediary role between the youth training characteristics and the youth training performance. This research has important theoretical and practical significance, for it not only enriches the interpretation of customer engagement in marketing, but also adds to the research on convenience, fun and empathy at the organizational level; it is of important reference value for youth training institutions in optimizing training models and improving training quality, and may also provide reference to the nation for formulating football-related policies.

Mine planning comprises various real-world formulations within the angles of strategic, tactical and operational in Operations Research. They differ by the decision-making granularity and timeframe range. Long-term mine planning highly contribute to cost impacts and comprise of the strategic and tactical angles, whereby the latter is NP-hard. The tactical precedence-constrained production scheduling problem (PCPSP) sequences the extraction of materials from the mine pit and chooses the subsequent processing actions over several years according to geological, geometallurgical and resource limitations. The PCPSP conventionally prioritizes the net present value (NPV) of profit, but heightening sustainability concerns necessitate heightened sustainable practices and research that still lags.

This dissertation first examined 81 past long-term mine planning research with a systematic literature review. The review focused on the PCPSP and highlighted research that encompass sustainability elements. Overall, it furnished real-world components that are incorporated into mathematical formulations, trends in solution methods, and how methods compare based on efficiency and efficacy. The systematic review surfaced the types of uncertainties, use of publicly available libraries and environmental elements that are overlooked. These form the bedrock for the remaining dissertation that traded off the NPV of profit against environmental sustainability - particularly carbon cost - in a multi-objective optimization (MOO). Leveraging on the generic PCPSP formulation, our MOO framework zoned into two approaches of decomposition-based and domination-based. We devised two formulations for the respective approaches with a carbon costing framework.

For the decomposition-based approach, we utilized a bounded objective function method and proposed a novel hybrid temporal decomposed greedy Lagrangian relaxation (TDGLR) algorithm. When evaluated against a mixed integer programming (MIP) for a real-world operating mine, the TDGLR is faster and achieved gaps not exceeding 0.3178% and averaged 0.015%. For larger instances, the MIP failed to even provide feasible solutions. For the domination-based approach, we leveraged two popular multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) of Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II) and Pareto Envelope-based Sorting Algorithm II (PESA-II). Commencing with NSGA-II, we illustrated the effectiveness of novel heuristics for the initial solution generation, crossover and mutation in forming an approximate Pareto front and solution sets that were diverse and close to that front. The front also enables planners to adhere to stipulated annual carbon emission targets. Subsequently, these heuristics were applied on the PESA-II, with experimentation on the selection pressure parameter, and evaluated against the NSGA-II. PESA-II ran faster for 75% of datasets and its solution sets were more distributed. Meanwhile, the solution sets of NSGA-II steadily produced non-dominated solutions despite variance in a decision variable. Additionally, we displayed that deviations in ore tonnage not exceeding 15% induced small alterations from the original.

Finally, we surfaced several junctures for future studies. This comprise modifying the proposed MOEA framework to favor more complex datasets, including other sustainability elements (e.g. social) separately or concurrently, using stochastic means to measure uncertainty, and expanding to other uncertainties. Their considerations were also presented to further enable sustainable mine planning.

Regional high-end hotels play a great leading role in industry communication, tourism, and consumer culture in the area where they are located. However, regional high-end hotels rely on the area’s industry background and economic development for their survival and operations. Hence, their brand influence seldom spread outside the area. As a result, the limitations of brand awareness have been challenging the rapid development of regional high-end hotels. The existing research has not come to a clear theoretical response to this challenge. To enhance research in this field, this paper grounded on value co-creation theory posed one core question and three subquestions, with an aim to address the visibility plight of regional high-end hotels. The core question: What should regional high-end hotels do to promote their visibility through a reasonable value co-creation strategy?

To answer the above questions, this paper first selected Ming Du Lakeside Hotel in Guangxi’s capital city Nanning as the research object, analyzed and ratiocinated its value co-creation, customer value, culture, and hotel marketing theory, conceived a model of visibility promotion for regional high-end hotels, and put forward corresponding hypotheses. Second, a questionnaire survey was applied and a total of 702 valid questionnaires were collected from the hotel guests to verify the visibility promotion model.

The findings showed that: (1) Through customer value, value co-creation exerts a positive impact on the visibility promotion of regional high-end hotels. (2) Power distance regulates the positive correlation between value co-creation and customer value. (3) Collectivism and individualism regulate the relationship between value co-creation and the social value to the customer. (4) Masculinity regulate the positive correlation between value co-creation and customer value. (5) Uncertainty avoidance regulates the positive correlation between value co-creation and customer value, showing a negative impact on the relations between value co-creation and the hedonic and social value to the customer and no significant impact on the relationship between value co-creation and the economic value to the customer. (6) Gender regulates the positive correlation between value co-creation and customer value. (7) Customer industry background regulates the positive correlation between value co-creation and customer value. (8) Co-creation channel has a positive regulating effect on the positive correlation between value co-creation and the economic value to the customer and a negative regulating effect on the positive correlation between value co-creation and the hedonic and social value to the customer. (9) Co-creation carrier has a negative regulating effect on the positive correlation between value co-creation and the economic value to the customer and a positive regulating effect on the positive correlation between value co-creation and the social value to the customer.

This paper provides practical enlightenment for regional high-end hotels in four aspects: (1) Give value co-creation and customer value their due importance. (2) The research results indicate that regional high-end hotels should adopt three value co-creation strategies to promote their visibility according to customer characteristics. (3)Emphasize co-creation channels in the encounter process. The research results indicate that regional high-end hotels should discover customers’ value preferences before carrying out value co-creation activities.

Last Mile Logistics (LML) is the final leg of the supply chain that gets the product to the chosen destination point of the end consumer. LML has been witnessing unprecedented growth driven by increasing urbanization and growth in e-commerce retail sales. The impact of the rapid growth of LML, is being witnessed both in the social and environmental dimension, making social and environmental sustainability (S&ES) of LML an impactful area of research. In addition, LML deliveries driven by e-commerce also experience multiple ‘peaks’ where demand in terms of number of packages to be delivered spikes significantly over a short period of time of few days or weeks. The impact of peaks on LML delivery system being “stretched to its limits” and close to “breaking” as well as the social impact on workers in terms of “long hours, hard work, and for some, difficult choices” along with “depleted morale” is repeatedly covered in business media but has not been studied in peer reviewed academic journals.

Through our qualitative research following the guidelines for “scholarly rigor”, we answer the research questions: What factors most influence the maintenance of consistent social and environmental sustainability performance in last mile logistics during peak periods? And, how do these factors exercise this influence?

Based on the results from the analysis of qualitative inputs collected through 32 in-depth, semi-structured interviews of employees of LML firms across 3 countries we first identify the key aggregate dimensions of stakeholder pressure, partnerships, contingencies, business goals and priorities, people practice, and organization structure (ownership), processes and measurement systems, and establish the linkages between the various factors that influence the S&ES performance of LML.  Our results also establish the risks to S&ES performance of LML during peaks, where the volume of deliveries could spike from 1.2 to 10 times as compared to business as usual over a short duration of a few weeks or days and the specific factors such as shift of business priority, increased stress, increased reliance on temporary resources, and the willingness to compromise standards over a short duration that influence peak S&ES performance. We also identify specific practices for peak planning and execution such as demand and supply management, increased focus on people practices, building ‘resilience’ of the LML network, establishing peak learning mechanisms and effective management of product returns and rejects that influence the maintenance of consistent S&ES performance during peaks. We present our findings in the form of inductive models, outlining the mechanisms linking the factors with S&ES performance for LML, during both off-peak and peak periods. We also present eight propositions, that can be empirically tested and form the basis of future research to further improve our understanding of the factors influencing S&ES performance of LML during peaks, and aid in addressing social and environmental sustainability challenges in urban areas.

With the rise of social commerce platforms and customer engagement in online products and services, firms are focusing their attention on effective social online referral program to encourage customers’ online referral behaviors to grow their customer base. This study investigates the effectiveness of digital nudging for consumers’ social online referral on social commerce platforms.
Working with a leading home appliances and consumer electronics company, we conducted a large-scale randomized online field experiment of digital nudging on a social commerce platform. Drawing upon the nudging theory and Persuasion Principle, this study examines the role of nudging persuasive framed messages using product scarcity and social proof heuristics in influencing consumers’ social online referral. 
This research contributes to the literature on digital nudging and Persuasion Principle by providing evidence of the types of persuasion heuristics that are effective in influencing customers’ online referral. Our results show that using persuasive heuristic is an effective alternative to the common practice of using monetary incentives. Lastly, this research provides valuable guidelines and advice on how firms design an optimal online platform to effectively nudge and encourage social.

In my dissertation, I aim to examine the effect of CEO polychronicity on firm resilience. Building on the upper echelons theory and attention-based view, I argue that polychronic CEOs could divide their attention to multitask, which might prevent firms with extreme risk; polychronic CEOs should be capable of handling the threats and disruptions. In addition, I propose two moderators: market complexity and firm slack. I plan to collect the data of CEOs in private small-to-medium firms, who are the alumni of DBA programs of Shanghai Jiaotong University. 

The extant leader-member exchange (LMX) literature suggests that leaders establish and develop different quality dyadic relationships with members in the same workgroup. High-quality LMX is argued as beneficial to employees. However, studies have overlooked the emotions and behaviors of low-quality LMX employees to determine how they differ from high-quality LMX employees. This study integrates LMX differentiation literature, social comparison theory and attributional theory to examine the role of LMX social comparison (LMXSC) perceptions in triggering help-seeking and knowledge hiding from star workers in the workplace. This study also explores the mediating role of dual envy, that is, benign and malicious envy and the moderating role of perceived deservingness of star workers within the proposed relationship.

Using time-lagged data from 293 employees in China, the results show that lower LMXSC is associated with malicious envy, which in turn, evokes knowledge hiding from higher LMXSC star co-workers. The indirect effect of LMXSC on knowledge hiding via malicious envy is stronger when perceived deservingness of star co-workers is lower. This study concludes with theoretical and practical implications.
 

The duality inherent in Artificial Intelligence technology entails that while AI has the potential to bring about transformative benefits to organizations, unintended consequences of AI applications could lead to biased and discriminatory outcomes, which could have negative consequences for the organization and society in general. Concerns about such unintended consequences is an impediment to AI adoption where unwilling employees and practitioners often fear ethical breaches, thereby, negatively impacting their engagement with AI driven applications. In response to these concerns various organizations and regulatory bodies have developed governing frameworks broadly known as Responsible AI standards, that set guidelines to design, develop, and deploy ethical AI. 
My research is focused on studying the impact of ethical AI factors on professionals’ intentions to work alongside AI and explore the mechanisms behind this relationship. I have drawn linkages with literature, on Technology Acceptance Model, that specifies the factors that impact the technology usage intentions, namely perceived ease of use and usefulness of the new technology. This study is conducted at the individual employee level as professional employees are important stakeholders that contribute towards the success or failure of any organizational initiative. Employees’ perception of their organization’s social responsibility inversely moderates this relationship; results suggest that when the CSR perceptions are low, positive effect of ethical AI factors on usage intentions is strengthened.  This study can benefit management in achieving organizational goals by leveraging the full potential of AI through improved employee engagement. 
Keywords:   Responsible AI, AI ethics, Corporate social responsibility, employee motivation, AI adoption, Technology Acceptance Model 

Company innovation can not only provide a reference for the formulation of innovation strategies at the micro level of firms, but also has important implications for the economic development at the macro level of the country. However, the mechanism of the process from R&D inputs to firm performance has not been fully investigated, resulting in very different results for different samples and sample intervals. Therefore, using the data of listed companies in China from 2009 to 2017 as the research sample, this paper introduces mediating and moderating variables to empirically analyze the mediating effect of innovation output in the correlation between R&D input and firm performance and the moderating effect of firm heterogeneity, including company size, nature of state-owned equity and location. The main findings of this paper are as follows. First, the impact of R&D input on the financial performance and market value performance of listed companies in China is positive, and the impact is lagged in both cases. Second, innovation output plays an important partial mediating role in the relationship between R&D input and company. Third, company size, nature of state-owned equity and location significantly have partial moderating effect on the relationship between R&D input and performance. My dissertation breaks through the limitation of previous studies that only examine the impact of R&D input on company performance from a single dimension, and investigates the impact of R&D input on the financial performance and market performance, and introduces innovation output as an important mediating variable, as well as examines the moderating role of company heterogeneity from different perspectives, which enriches the research content, expands the research perspective and makes the study more comprehensive.

Commodities refer to physical commodities that can enter the circulation field, but are not in the retail sector, have commodity properties, and are used for large-scale buying and selling in industrial and agricultural production and consumption. In the financial investment market, commodities refer to commodities that are homogeneous, tradable, and widely used as industrial basic raw materials, such as crude oil, non-ferrous metals, steel, agricultural products, iron ore, coal, etc. Commodities are an important component of China's national economy, and many varieties involve the national economy and people's livelihood. Their production capacity and demand are among the top in the world.

In 2021, the trading volume of China's futures market reached a historic high, with significant growth for three consecutive years. In 2021, the trading volume of China's futures market reached 7.514 billion transactions (unilateral) and 58.1.2 trillion yuan, with year-on-year growth of 22.13% and 32.84%, respectively. According to the annual trading volume data compiled by the Futures Industry Association (FIA), the Zhengzhou Stock Exchange, Shanghai Futures Exchange, Dalian Commodity Exchange, and CICC ranked 7th, 8th, 9th, and 27th in global futures and options trading volume rankings, respectively. In the 2021 global trading volume ranking of metal varieties, Chinese varieties occupy 9 out of the top 10 and 13 out of the top 20, including threaded steel, hot-rolled coil, iron ore, ferrosilicon, manganese silicon, etc.

Traditional hedging strategies focus on a single product, typically involving companies hedging the prices of end products or important production raw materials. At present, traditional hedging strategies can no longer meet the needs of physical enterprise production management, and it is necessary to establish hedging strategies that match the rapidly changing domestic and international markets. Thanks to the continuous enrichment of products in China's futures market, it is possible for enterprises to replicate the upstream and downstream industrial chain products involved in terminal product production through the combination of target products in the futures market.

The research in this article has made contributions from both theoretical and practical perspectives.

At the theoretical level, this article innovatively incorporates futures price factors into the mechanism of the classical Cournot yield game equilibrium model. In the process, this article draws inspiration from the ideas of Bayesian methods, making the future price of goods determined by both spot and futures prices, changing the original price generation method, and thus innovating the model. Subsequently, this article derived the optimal production arrangement of the Cournot production game equilibrium model considering futures market prices on an innovative model. By analyzing the optimal production formula, this article found that enterprises considering futures market profits can better arrange their own production and obtain competitive advantages.

At the practical level, this article has done two aspects of work. Firstly, this article uses classic statistical regression methods to conduct a statistical test on whether hot coil products can be hedged based on futures trading profits. It is worth mentioning that this article is not only based on the idea of statistical regression, but also considers actual production processes, and conducts statistical tests on the residuals of pure statistical regression and profits based on actual production processes. The results indicate that both pure statistical regression and profit formulas based on actual production processes conform to the assumption of mean regression, indicating that hedging hot coil varieties based on futures market profits is completely feasible. Subsequently, this article proposes various hedging strategies to verify the superiority of hedging schemes based on futures trading profits. This article constructs two sets of hedging strategies, and compares the performance of single variety hedging strategies and hedging strategies based on hot coil futures market profits in each group. Through backtesting with historical data, this article found that hedging strategies based on hot coil futures trading profits have a higher opening frequency, higher investment returns, and lower volatility, all of which are superior to traditional single variety hedging strategies. Moreover, the single variety hedging strategy will also be affected by macroeconomic factors such as inflation, resulting in a decrease in the effectiveness of price percentiles.

This article also summarizes the risk points of the hedging scheme for industrial chain futures trading profits, and proposes a risk management plan for the risk points, in order to facilitate enterprises to effectively manage risks when using this hedging scheme. This article summarizes three types of risks: strategic risk, operational risk, and fundamental risk, and provides countermeasures for these three types of risks, such as daily exposure management, monitoring of strategic risk indicators, and fundamental research. It also provides key points for enterprise industry chain hedging.

Keywords: Hot coil industry chain; Futures hedging; Cournot equilibrium; risk management
 

The usage of recyclable packaging is a manifestation of corporate social responsibility and conforms to the trend of green development and sustainable development. In recent years, with the rapid growth of the environmental awareness, consumers may tend to choose more environmentally friendly and recyclable packaging products. Therefore, in order to better promote the usage of recyclable packaging, it is necessary to conduct in-depth research on why consumers choose recyclable packaging. Started from the impact of recyclable packaging on consumer behavior, this study conducts a questionnaire survey with 314 respondents from all over the country, and adopts single-factor analysis of variance, path analysis, and the Process plug-in in SPSS software to examine that CSR perception mediates the relationship between the recyclable packaging and consumer behavior (consumer purchase intention, customer satisfaction and consumers’ willingness to pay premium). Meanwhile, consumers’ environmental attitude plays significant moderating role between recyclable packaging and CSR perception. Compared with the direct impact of recyclable packaging on consumer behavior, the indirect impact of CSR perception is more significant; when promoting consumers’ CSR perception, consumers who tend to protect the environment produce stronger CSR perception which further enhance consumers’ purchase intention on recyclable packaging; and when purchasing products with recyclable packaging, it will generate more consumer satisfaction and more willingness to pay premium.

The price of iron ore remains high as the demand for steel continuous to grow in major economies. However, the financial performance of different iron ore enterprises varies.This study comprehensively investigates the internal theoretical logic that determines the investment value of iron ore enterprises and puts forward the investment strategy, using the combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods, contributing not only theoretical significance but also practical value. The results demonstrate that :
(1) high-grade iron ore can help reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions in the steelmaking process. Under the continuous promotion of the "double carbon" policy, the demand for high-grade iron ore continues to grow in the market, leading to the premium of high-grade ore and the discount of low-grade ore. 
(2) The investment value of an iron ore enterprise is determined by its profit per ton of ore production, and the investment value of an iron ore enterprise can be defined as a function of the iron ore grade it produces. This is because the grade of iron ore has significant impacts on its premium/discounts, revenues and costs. 
(3) At the low point of the price cycle, iron ore oligopolies can utilize their cost advantages to squeeze the enterprises with low grade and high operating costs out of the market. Therefore, the investment value of iron ore enterprises is closely related to the difference between their own profit per ton and the oligopoly's profit per ton. 

The findings of this study have inspirational significance in exploring high-quality iron ore enterprises. First, iron ore enterprises will change their investment strategy from a simple emphasis on cost leadership to an overall cost leadership/differentiation strategy in the near future. Under the new investment logic, one must pay attention to the operating cost, grade and profit per ton. The target enterprise has the investment value only if its profit per ton can match or exceed the one in the oligopolies. Second, since the vast majority of high-grade minerals across the world are already monopolized by oligopolies, the promotion of China's "double carbon" policy will strengthen the market power of these oligopolies. Third, counter-cyclical operations are important methods for long-term investment in the iron ore industry, and the time of purchase should be selected when the oligopoly's profit per ton is approaching zero. Fourth, the exploitation and processing of raw ore in the mining country can improve its industrial function, increase its employment and tax revenue. In particular, the high-grade ore can contribute to carbon emission reduction in China, and the future cross-border investment in iron ore enterprises should take this element into consideration.
 

Prior research has shown that individuals tasked with judgmental forecasting of demand based on time-series data overreact in stable environments and underreact in unstable environments. Kremer et al. (2011) attributed this to the system neglect hypothesis, which claims that forecasters emphasize forecast errors over the system parameters.

The present research investigates interventions that mitigate system neglect and address the causal factors for overreaction and underreaction. Given the desire by organizations to move towards touchless planning and automated decision-making, minimizing human judgment and understanding its drivers is of significant practical importance.

We tested four different interventions on an online subject pool and found that the base treatment (simplest method in terms of cognitive load) outperforms all other interventions. In contrast to Kremer et al.’s original work we found a disconnect between subject’s forecast adjustment scores and forecasting performance.

A key tenet of Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) Theory is that leaders treat followers differently, referred to as leader-member exchange differentiation (LMXD) (Yu et al., 2018). When leaders treat followers differently, they develop a varying quality of relationships within the team referred to as LMX quality (LMXQ). LMXQ has received the vast majority of research with findings being largely consistent that higher quality relationships benefit followers (Yu et al., 2018). In contrast, surprisingly, much less research has focused on how this actual differentiation (LMXD) impacts employee reactions and there are no conclusive findings regarding its effects (Bauer & Erdogan, 2015; Chen et al., 2014; Martin et al., 2018).

The vast majority of research on leader differentiation has investigated LMXD in general. That is, studies have merely investigated to what extent leaders differentiate between their followers. In my dissertation, to better understand the effects of LMXD, I theorize that the “why” and “how” leaders differentiate affect followers’ fairness perceptions and team coordination perceptions. Specifically, regarding why leaders may differentiate, I theorize about differentiation in general, based on performance, and based on follower ingratiation. Regarding how leaders differentiate, I theorize about differentiation in resource allocation and differentiation in liking towards followers.

Data for the study were collected using a survey method and gathered usable responses from 338 participants. The results of this study supported the proposed negative effect of differentiation in general, differentiation based on follower ingratiation, differentiation in resource allocation, and differentiation in liking on followers’ fairness and team coordination perceptions. However, contrary to predictions, differentiation based on performance also showed a negative effect on followers’ fairness and team coordination perceptions.

This study examined the effects of LMXD on employee criteria needed to better understand LMXD. Accordingly, it has been able to make several contributions to the extant LMX, team coordination and justice literatures. First, it explored the effects of leader differentiation beyond just examining it in general, hence advancing LMX theory as well as other leadership theories that are similar (for example, transformational leadership theory, individualized leadership theory). Secondly, the dyadic relationship between a leader and follower does not exist in isolation and in fact, affects other team members. This study examined how leader differentiation impacts a critical team process, namely team coordination. Finally, although a number of studies have explored justice perceptions within the LMX literature, there is a lack of a uniform understanding of the relationship between the LMX-related constructs and fairness perceptions.

The paper explores the applicability of ESG evaluation system to Chinese state-owned enterprises. Combining the ESG evaluation system with the comprehensive value of Chinese state-owned enterprises, the author points out that Chinese state-owned enterprises lack their own evaluation system, and establishing the ESG system of Chinese state-owned enterprises is conducive to promoting the disclosure of quantifiable indicators of Chinese state-owned enterprises, objectively demonstrating the comprehensive performance of Chinese state-owned enterprises ESG, and helping enterprises to improve their comprehensive value.

The paper deeply studies the current ESG evaluation system and finds that there are many problems in the application of the international mainstream evaluation system in domestic enterprises. First, the rating agencies are not transparent enough to disclose the specific evaluation methods and assumptions of the benchmark, the evaluation process is not standardized enough, and different rating agencies produce different rating results for the same company. Second, the international ESG evaluation system lacks local indicators, the relevance of central policies is low, does not consider the characteristics of Chinese state-owned enterprises, and does not incorporate the explicit and mandatory requirements of the state for enterprise ESG, such as the "dual carbon" goal, rural revitalization, and common prosperity.

In order to establish the ESG system of Chinese state-owned enterprises, we take non-state-owned enterprises as the reference of this study. It is assumed that the model established will mainly be used for the evaluation of Chinese state-owned enterprises. Using the data from the Golden Bee corporate social responsibility reporting database, we will conduct textual analysis of Chinese state-owned enterprises and non-state-owned enterprises' social responsibility reports or environmental, social, and corporate governance reports. This paper deduces several influence factors that may have a great impact on ESG evaluation of Chinese state-owned enterprises and non-state-owned enterprises, and finds that there are differences in ESG concern factors between Chinese state-owned enterprises and non-state-owned enterprises, and the differences in concern lead to differences in corporate performance. Therefore, this study believes that as state-owned enterprises with different systems from those in the West, there should be a more suitable model to reflect the correlation of specific indicator combinations to their overall business performance.

Finally, part of the results is interviewed with entrepreneurs of Chinese state-owned enterprises and non-state-owned enterprises to find out whether the ESG concern factors selected above are the focus of attention of Chinese state-owned enterprises and non-state-owned enterprises through empirical test, and finally determine the main factors affecting ESG performance of Chinese state-owned enterprises. Based on this, the evaluation system of ESG evaluation system of Chinese state-owned enterprises is constructed and applied to the implementation and application of ESG management and practice of Chinese state-owned enterprises.
 

In strategic management literature, a crisis is public, unexpected, interferes with the norm, has negative impact on organizations (Raithel & Hock, 2021), and generates widespread negative perceptions among stakeholders (Bundy & Pfarrer, 2015). Among crises, aviation crises are complex and present multiple vulnerabilities due to their scale, and the involvement of numerous stakeholders (Tan et al., 2019). With the high visibility of aviation crises due to the potential for mass injuries, deaths, and collateral damage, it could be seen as a full spectrum crisis – one of the worst among crises. The magnitude of each aviation crisis decides and allows the world to assess the efficacy of an airlines or aviation firm’s crisis management (Ray, 1999). With contemporary research using machine learning for sentiment analyses to map against established frameworks in assessing organizational tactics and review of strategies, this research proposes the use of pretrained machine learning models for sentiment and content analyses for crises in the aviation industry, mapped against the reputational standing of aviation firms after crises to assess the relationship between perceptual crisis management and a firm’s reputational impact from a crisis. Specifically, as the use of social media has been entrenched in management and communication strategies (Kane, 2017), this study retroactively examined the social media data of three airlines in crisis – Malaysia Airlines’ MH370 and AirAsia’s QZ8501 in 2014, and Ethiopian Airlines’ ETH302 in 2019.

This research expands on the conventional approach of organizational learning in strategy literature by incorporating machine learning into the process, elevating the consistency, accuracy, and expediency of organizations breaking bad news in the face of reputational blows. The strategic and research innovation impact of this study is multifold – as a first validation of an emerging social media crisis communication framework (CONSOLE, by Tan et al., 2019) through a pilot study; in proving the correlation of the breaking bad news effectiveness by an organization on its crisis corporate reputation; and in developing the beta version of a dashboard powered by artificial intelligence which classifies and scores organizational messages based on the CONSOLE framework, and presents recommendations to improve the CONSOLE score. Bridging the academic wisdom from different fields and using technology to prevent the relearning of lessons while learning and incorporating the nuances of sentiments in the digital mediascape propel this research to present a holistic view which may guide firms beyond those in the aviation industry better in future crisis management.

The study takes the case of XF's open technology platform as the research object, based on the theories of technological maturity, value co-creation, and network effect. It examines the mechanism of network effect value creation driven by technological maturity in three development stages: "capacity building phase", "business model exploration phase", and "ecological cultivation phase" of the open technology platform. Furthermore, some assumptions within this were empirically tested. The research found that: (1) as the technological maturity increases, the number of active users corresponding to the technical capabilities on the technology open platform significantly grows, reflecting that the network effect brought about by the user scale on this platform is enhanced. (2) With the increase in technological maturity, the intensity of single-user calls increases, indicating that users' interaction with the platform, dependence on it, and usage stickiness are all strengthened, which will further strengthen the network effect of the platform.
The theoretical contributions of this study are mainly reflected in: First, this paper compares open technology platforms with other platforms, especially clarifying the differences from software platforms, and complements and improves the existing platform economy research on platform classification. Second, this paper verifies the relationship between the technical maturity of AI open technology platforms and network effects (user activity, user stickiness). Through research, it is found that technical platforms present differentiated technical maturity at different stages, which has a positive effect on the stimulation, deepening, and expansion of network effects.

Traditional human resource management is looking to identify and develop talent for maximising human capital in a competitive environment with limited resources and negative demographic trends. Attracting, deploying, motivating, developing and retaining talented employees is a corporate norm for meeting organisational goals. Proper human resource processes through rigorous mapping of employees according to the performance-potential matrix allow the grading of employees against peer groups to establish talent pools for development and internal succession planning.

Mindfulness originates from 2,500-year-old Buddhist spiritual practices and has a rare combination of spirituality and science. Eastern perspective originates from Asian traditions focusing on the self-regulation of emotions for improving well-being. Western perspective has developed during the last 50 years in clinical psychology practices and organisational behaviour studies as a present-centred awareness-acceptance model for reducing stress, strengthening emotional intelligence and enabling strategic thinking.

The mindfulness concept has moved from psychology and organisational behaviour studies to leadership development programs. Latest cutting-edge leadership development programs see the mastery of mindfulness only as the first step for increasing leadership capabilities and improving employee performance and job satisfaction.

The current study offers new insights into mindfulness's role in talent management, demonstrating that a higher capacity of consciousness leads to improved talent depth and breadth. The findings indicate compensation mechanisms between mindfulness facets while proving that a high level of both awareness and acceptance is needed to become part of the talent pool for accelerated growth. Evidence also suggests that supervisor mindfulness is essential in unlocking employee talent potential through improving employee mindfulness and proposes a "Winning Mindfulness Formula in the Talent Management Process" to position organisations better in the war for talent.

The VUCA era has resulted in significant uncertainty in the global economy, while deglobalization in international politics and economics, and the interweaving of old and new contradictions, have presented substantial challenges to businesses. On the other hand, aging is a crucial issue that China and the world at large are currently facing. It is essential to study the relationship between employee age structure and enterprise performance, particularly for Chinese companies that emphasize the importance of social status and respect for authority under Confucian culture. 
Different researchers have provided empirical analyses of the effects of age diversity on organizational performance and innovation, but the conclusions are not consistent. According to the research in this paper, age diversity has a negative impact on enterprise performance, which means the richer the diversity of age, the hindering knowledge transfer between young and older workers, ultimately weakening the company's overall performance. However, this negative effect can be mitigated in the face of an increasingly complex and competitive market environment that promotes more knowledge transfer between elder and younger employees.
The paper analyzes the relationship between employee age diversity in enterprises and their business performance and innovation. It reveals the critical mediating role played by knowledge transfer between older and younger employees within organizations in the impact of age diversity on organizational performance and innovation processes. Furthermore, this study examines the moderating effect of environmental uncertainty on the impact of age diversity of employee to the company performance and innovation. This paper enriches the study of the effects of employee age diversity and provides a critical reference for organizations to better help employees cope with the challenges brought by the age structure in a new situation filled with uncertainty.
 

Many empirical research studies suggest that Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) with accounting qualifications improve company performance in various ways such as through better financial reporting accuracy (Aier et al., 2005), internal control (Li et al., 2010), corporate governance (Sun et al., 2015) and tax efficiency (Chen et al., 2020). This suggests that CFOs should be qualified in accounting. However, this study found that this may not always be the case.

By looking at the top listed companies in Singapore, it was found that a significant percentage of CFOs are not accounting qualified, which indicates a significant gap. The study conducted interviews with five groups of stakeholders and found that people who believe in the importance of CFOs’ accounting qualifications view it as a way for companies to signal their financial strength, which aligns with signalling theory. However, those who believe there is no need for CFOs to be accounting qualified tend to believe person-job fit (PJ-Fit) is a more important factor. The study found that when the company size is large, PJ-Fit is more important than signalling. This is because larger companies tend to have more resources to invest in identifying specific attributes of their CFO candidate than relying on the signalling effect. They also have stronger legitimacy and more availability of staff with accounting qualifications.

This study’s findings help deepen the understanding between prior research and the implications for practising managers. This study also suggested areas for future research.

This research is focused on the trilateral cooperation among large Chinese engineering companies, French companies, and African countries, and adopts the case study to address the pain points and its cooperation strategies at the different cooperation stages and help Chinese enterprises leverage third-party markets to expand overseas business under the context of "One Belt and One Road" initiative.

Based on the based on the resource-based view (RBV) and resource dependency theory (RDT), this paper considers the technology and talent resources of French companies as integrable external resources, combined with the equipment, funds, and materials of Chinese multinational enterprises, to form a mutually beneficial and strong alliance for third-party market cooperation. Together, they can promote the development of industries in third countries, improve infrastructure levels, and enhance people’s livelihoods, achieving a synergistic effect where “1+1+1>3”. 

This paper studies the impact of diversification strategies on the resilience of companies to risk shocks, based on the game license approval system reforms of 2018. Using the difference-in-differences method, this paper examines how product diversification, industrial diversification, and international diversification strategies affect company performance after they are exposed to restrictive policy shocks. The findings of this paper indicate that the aforementioned diversification strategies typically decrease the return on assets for companies. However, they have different effects when companies face shocks. Diversification within the gaming industry does not help companies mitigate decreases in performance caused by risk shocks; instead, it leads to a further decline in profitability. In contrast, diversification across different industries can effectively shield companies from risk shocks, resulting in a smaller decline in performance after the shock. The impact of international diversification strategies is similar to that of industrial diversification, as they also reduce the negative effects shocks have on companies. The research in this paper suggests that only unrelated diversification across a broader range of fields can help companies cope with risk shocks in specific areas and effectively disperse their impacts.

Keywords: Policy Impacts, Diversification Strategy, Gaming, Difference-in-Differences Method
 

In this study, we focus on the Chinese A-share market, and particularly on the CSI 800 stocks. Our aim is to conduct a comparison analysis of the prominent environmental, social, and governance (ESG) rating agencies in an effort to reflect the growing importance of ESG investment, social responsibility, and sustainable development. We mainly use three mainstream rating agencies’ rating data (i.e., the China Securities Index [CSI], Wind, and SynTao Green Finance) to conduct descriptive statistics and comparative analysis. Furthermore, we conduct grouping tests on the ESG scores in the CSI 800 and across various sectors to explore their effectiveness in stock selection.

Next, to explore the return sources of the ESG factors in the time series, we utilize the Fama–French five-factor model for regression on their long-short portfolios. The portfolio analysis shows that the G-score can only be explained by these five factors to a low degree and that it has a significant alpha (intercept). This finding indicates that some elements of the G-score cannot be explained by the classical asset pricing factors, and may offer financial portfolios additional information. Therefore, we consider the G factor to be one of the most important criteria for stock selection. In the long-short portfolio regression analysis, we find the return source of the ESG factors to be significantly correlated with the size factor (SMB) and the profitability factor (RMW). As such, we then perform grouping tests by controlling for the SMB and RMW factors both separately and simultaneously.

Furthermore, from a practical perspective, we construct the CSI 800 ESG Smart Beta index enhancement strategy by conducting sufficient grouping tests on various screening methods (i.e., positive screening and negative screening). A major finding is that a portfolio constructed by negative screening will not worsen return performance, but instead it may offer more space for the investment manager to generate alpha. These empirical results may serve as useful references for future ESG investment research in the Chinese market. By extension, we further test the effectiveness of the CSI G-score’s bottom factors, by constructing the CSI G plus-score (with seven indicators underlying the CSI G-score) index enhancement strategy. Despite its limited effectiveness, it represents a valuable attempt in the current Chinese A-share market.

The main contributions of this study to empirical research are as follows. We compare three leading domestic ESG rating agencies in the Chinese market, expand the basic sample size, and include an analysis of CSI industry sectors while emphasizing corporate governance factors to provide a reference for further market research in China. Against the backdrop of multiple studies recognizing the importance of the governance factor, we empirically verify that the G factor has better return performance in the grouping tests. Especially in the area of excess return, the G factor offers additional information that cannot be explained by traditional asset pricing factors. Finally, we suggest new visions and directions for future ESG research.

Do government subsidies have any effects on encouraging innovations? Existing studies strongly argue to reduce R&D subsidies from governments. In contrast, the direct grants from governments are popular around the world and keep gaining momentum. Such a discrepancy between academic research and common practice is interesting and calls for further investigations. In this article, we first compile data on patent authorizations obtained by Chinese A-share listed companies, as well as innovation subsidies received by these companies from the government in 2007–2021. We then use this data to study the effect of government subsidies on R&D activities, with a special focus on comparing green and non-green inventions. Our result shows that green attributes of innovation bring in heterogeneity in R&D intentions, market competition effects, and government subsidy incentives. Specifically, first, companies are less willing to pursue green innovations, which is consistent with the popular view that positive environmental externalities do not necessarily imply concrete actions in a profit-maximizing world. Second, while market competition substantially stimulates non-green innovations, it does not have a positive effect on the efficiency of green R&D activity, or, even worse, inhibits it. Intuitively, the lack of potential monopoly profits from eco-inventions depresses corporate willingness to pursue green innovations. Third, government subsidies are more effective in spurring green R&Ds, compared to non-green ones. A closer look at the above results demonstrates that green performance evaluation in China may play an important role. Green innovations are subject to more monitoring efforts by the government, which dissuades R&D manipulation by firms. Our study emphasizes the necessity of government subsidies as well as their combination with market competition. We recommend different strategies for green and non-green innovation incentives. In terms of non-green innovations, we suggest focusing on the financial constraints faced by SMEs. In terms of green ones, we recommend the adoption of generous and comprehensive subsidy policy with rigorous supervision. We strongly suggest future research take into account the possible heterogeneity of green attributes in R&D to avoid omitted variable bias.

As the cornerstone of traditional Chinese culture, Confucianism profoundly influences Chinese enterprises' behavior. This study empirically examines the impact of Confucianism and corporate governance mechanisms on firms' economic and social performance, yielding the following principal conclusions utilizing data from Chinese-listed companies:
Firstly, Confucianism significantly and positively influences corporate performance. Enterprises deeply rooted in Confucian culture often exhibit superior economic and social performance. This finding indicates the positive role of Confucianism in promoting responsible corporate behaviors and enhancing performance.
Secondly, the impact of corporate governance mechanisms on corporate performance is complex. An increase in institutional ownership correlates positively with corporate performance, suggesting that institutional investors can elevate corporate governance standards through effective oversight. The influence of the proportion of shares held by principal shareholders is more intricate, depending on the regional differences of Confucianism.
Thirdly, an interaction exists between Confucianism and corporate governance mechanisms, jointly affecting corporate performance. The positive effects of Confucianism are more pronounced in firms with robust corporate governance structures, especially those with a higher proportion of independent directors. This finding unveils the complementary roles of Confucianism and corporate governance mechanisms in improving corporate performance.
Lastly, the study identifies the regional heterogeneity in the interactive effects between Confucianism and corporate governance variables. Firms located near different Confucian centers vary significantly in how Confucianism and their interactions with corporate governance mechanisms impact performance. This suggests that regional cultural backgrounds and the depth of Confucianism directly affect corporate performance and modulate through different corporate governance mechanisms. This finding underscores the importance of acknowledging regional heterogeneity and the complex interplay between Confucianism and corporate governance structures when considering their influence on corporate strategies and performance.
By exploring the heterogeneous impacts of Confucianism and corporate governance mechanisms on economic and social performance, this study not only expands the research perspective of the existing literature but also provides new guidance for corporate management practice. Understanding and effectively integrating informal institutions with formal corporate governance mechanisms is crucial for enhancing corporate performance in globalization and multiculturalism.

Keywords: Confucianism; Corporate governance mechanisms; Corporate performance; China

Advertising for enrolment through the Internet has become an important means of enrolment promotion in Chinese universities. However, there is currently no clear research conclusion on how to conduct effective advertising, especially on the selection of factors such as promotion time, promotion platform, and promotion targets. Based on the construal level theory, this study investigated the effects of different types of college enrolment advertising on different new media platforms, using different dimensions of psychological distance corresponding to factors such as promotional time and promotional area. The empirical results show that different advertising types do have significant effect differences on different groups. “Desirable” information is more effective for parents, while the students pays attention to both “desirable” information and “feasible” information at the same time. There are also differences in the publicity effect of different platforms. In the empirical study, the information published on the Kwai and Douyin is more effective to the students, while the information published on the “Moments” is more effective to the parents.

This dissertation delves into the 20-year developmental history of Chinese video websites, with specific emphasis on major players currently in operation such as iQIYI, Tencent Video, Youku, Bilibili, and Mango TV. It critically analyzes the business model of Chinese video websites from five key dimensions—developmental evolution, market operation, content production, user relationships, and policy relations—providing a comprehensive understanding of the industry’s landscape. Research has shown that the business models of Chinese video websites present not a simple chain relationship but a complex network of relationships. Elements such as capital, market, content, technology, users, and policies dynamically interact and balance each other in a game that reflects the unique “Chinese characteristics” of the business model. Several conclusions have been made: 1) While the business model may dynamically adjust according to various technological and capital conditions over time, shifting the focus from valuing UGC to prioritizing PGC as the core represents a fundamental change; 2) Although video websites may have created capital myths through financing and mergers, the core of their business models is centered around excavating and developing user power. Balancing income and expenses, reducing costs, and increasing efficiency, remain key to achieving success in their business models; 3) User power on video websites depends on the content produced, which is now focused on specialization, IP, intelligence, and scenario-based production; 4) Video websites and their users are in a constant dynamic game, where membership systems and fan economies have become both a boon and a bane for the industry’s development. They serve as effective means to stimulate user participation and enhance user loyalty; 5) The survival and development of Chinese video websites are deeply influenced by state power. Their business models need to comply with national laws, regulations, and policies and constantly balance public and commercial interests

Research has documented numerous benefits of proactive personality for employees’ job outcomes. However, the success of proactive employees largely depends on their leaders’ empowerment. Extant research has focused on the bright side of proactive personality for inducing empowerment, without considering its risks. We thus have an incomplete understanding of the effects of employees’ proactive personality on empowering leadership. I take a balanced perspective on proactive personality and propose that proactive personality has an inverted U-shaped relationship with empowering leadership, such that empowering leadership is highest when proactive personality is at a moderate level. I argue that leader-member exchange (LMX) mediates this nonlinear relationship and further examine employees’ political skill and humble leadership as moderators of the relationship between proactive personality and LMX. I conducted a time-lagged, dual-source survey study to test the hypothesized model. The results supported the inverted U-shaped effect of employees’ proactive personality on empowering leadership via the mediation of LMX. Moreover, employees’ political skill marginally moderated the inverted U-shaped effect of proactive personality on LMX such that when political skill was high, the inflection point was closer to the upper right. The proposed moderating effect of humble leadership was not supported. This thesis offers theoretical implications for the consequences of proactive personality and the prediction of empowering leadership.

With the establishment of the goal of "carbon peak and carbon neutralization" in China, the transformation from traditional energy to renewable energy has become an inevitable trend. Because of lithium-ion battery has higher technological maturity, better economy and safety, it is applied in the field of automobile transportation rapidly.
However, based on the strategic considerations of energy diversification and ESG, as well as the limitations of lithium-ion battery material system in low temperature performance, energy density and charge-discharge rate, hydrogen fuel cell has the opportunity to form symbiosis with lithium-ion battery in specific scenarios, thus giving full play to the technical and cost advantages of the two systems.
At present, there is no comprehensive analysis of hydrogen fuel cell technology development, cost reduction path, China's energy and resources endowment and related industrial policies from the perspective of systematic thinking in the research of hydrogen value chain at home and abroad. By combing and referring to the development path of lithium-ion battery, the thesis compares the advantages and disadvantages of lithium-ion battery and hydrogen fuel cell, and based on the cases of hydrogen related enterprises invested by IDG and other use cases, comprehensively analyzes the development of hydrogen fuel cell in automobile industry in China. By establishing a detailed mathematical model to calculate the cost reduction path of the hydrogen value chain, we can infer the possibility and timeline of outbreak of the large-scale application of hydrogen fuel cell in the field of automobile transportation. 
The thesis updates understanding of the commercialization of hydrogen fuel cell in the field of automobile transportation in China, which plays a great promotion and reference significance to the development of hydrogen value chain and the layout decision of investment companies in the field of hydrogen energy.
 

The Internet, serving as a representative of emerging media, has spawned numerous new professions in the realm of social production, reshaping the landscape of traditional media. This transformation has profoundly influenced the career trajectories of young individuals, leading to a surge in creators on various internet content platforms. In China, the number of content creators on these platforms has surpassed ten million, but income distribution remains unequal. While top creators reap substantial profits, a significant number of mid-tier and micro-tier creators struggle with profitability, encountering career development bottlenecks. Content creators seek more valuable career options, developmental advice, and effective tools to enhance their creative endeavors. On one hand, due to saturated fields and the impact of the pandemic, and on the other hand, with the limited monetization potential and low success rates of Multi-Channel Networks (MCNs), the non-replicability of top influencers, and incidents like contract terminations, MCN companies fail to showcase advanced business models. Perhaps, digitalizing MCNs is a crucial step in boosting the profitability of such companies. Navigating a clear career path for content creators within China's current internet content ecosystem is imperative. Ensuring the success of every content creator dedicated to innovation not only benefits this vast community but also has positive implications for social stability. To address these issues, this study is designed to explore three series, focusing on the novelty of works, the personal style of creators, and the incubation strategies of MCNs, respectively, providing a theoretical foundation for the continuous growth and success of creators.
Substudy One delved into the analysis of creators on Bilibili's Knowledge Zone, specifically those with a fan base exceeding 10,000. We scrutinized all 247,972 works published by 7,310 creators from January 2021 to January 2022. The analysis encompassed various data points, including gender, fan count, views, likes, comments, and the content and quantity of tags. Novelty in works was measured by the relative frequency of tag combinations, revealing a positive U-shaped correlation between work novelty and variables such as views, likes, and comments.
In Substudy Two, we applied a multimodal modeling approach to delve into the research and regression analysis of influencer profiles, investigating how creator styles impact their creative performance. Our study focused on beauty creators on Bilibili with a fan base exceeding 10,000, using videos, audio, and text content from all their works between January 2021 and January 2022 as research samples. We analyzed a 15% sample of creators (129 creators with a total of 1,118 videos). Through multimodal modeling of works and factor analysis of creator styles, we identified six types of blogger styles in the sample: Casual, Energetic, Professional, Sweet, Affable, and Attractive. The regression results revealed that the "Attractive" style has a positive impact on fan count, suggesting that attractiveness may be a key factor in attracting fans for beauty bloggers. The "Sweet" style positively influences the number of video barrage comments, indicating that creators with a sweet style are more effective at engaging audience interaction. This study employs data to quantitatively describe creator personal styles and explore the relationship between creator styles and creative efficacy.
Substudy Three, incorporating internal influencer management data from MCN agencies and conducting case analyses, seeks to uncover how MCN agencies' influencer incubation management strategies aid creators in overcoming creative bottlenecks and fostering growth. The study focused on four influencers incubated by MCN agencies, involving interviews with influencers’ agents, directors, and others. The research included organizing management records and influencer data during the incubation process, resulting in a three-stage model of the influencer's "breaking through" journey: the Development-Stagnation Period, Transition Period, and Second Growth Period. In the Development-Stagnation Period, influencers, starting from their own identity or skills, accumulate a significant fan base with MCN agencies' assistance, overcoming initial bottlenecks. Progressing into the Transition Period, MCN agencies help influencers establish new personas, broaden their horizons, and surpass bottlenecks. The third stage is the Second Growth Period, during which the influencer's new persona gains market acceptance, fan growth accelerates, and user profiles experience breakthroughs. Across these stages, MCN agencies gradually establish comprehensive incubation records and comprehensive quality assessment forms to guide subsequent influencer signings and incubation. This study delineates how MCN agencies' incubation management strategies assist influencers in breaking through bottlenecks and growing, offering guidance on aligning MCN agency strategies with influencer development.
Drawing from these discoveries, this study's theoretical significance is prominently evident in three key aspects. Firstly, it unveils the influence of the novelty on the creative performance of various types of videos, rectifying the existing oversight in research on content creation platforms that neglects the novelty aspect. Secondly, the study comprehensively delineates the "style" of content creators and validates its impact on creative performance, addressing the superficial and one-sided characterization of creator features in existing research. Thirdly, the study sheds light on the collaborative process of content creators and MCNs achieving transformation and second growth, bridging the gap in existing research that often focuses more on the short-term impacts of work and creator features on creative performance while overlooking the long-term inadequacies of MCN agency incubation management strategies and creator growth.
The practical significance of this study for influencer content creation is paramount as it furnishes digital tools for influencers. Simultaneously, the practical outcomes of this research are advantageous for MCN agencies to manage and incubate influencers more scientifically. The study employs big data analysis methods to construct the TVA model for creator profiling, develops an influencer incubation model, and visualizes the incubation process. In conclusion, we also discuss the limitations of this study and potential avenues for future research.

Technological innovation in enterprises is not only the core of competition among firms but also a key driving force for economic growth. The process of corporate technological innovation often requires substantial financial support. However, due to information asymmetry and capital constraints, tech startups face numerous obstacles in technological innovation, making it difficult to sustain innovation. Venture capital plays a critical role in stimulating continuous corporate innovation, providing a solid financial backbone for corporate innovative activities, and playing a pivotal role in promoting core technological breakthroughs. As a significant embodiment of corporate innovative technology, patents can alleviate the information asymmetry between startups and investors by forming a positive patent signal from different perspectives. Therefore, exploring the impact of different types of patent signals on the financing accessibility of tech startups is of significant practical importance. It not only has profound implications for promoting the integration of technology and finance bust also aids the development of small and medium-sized technology enterprises.

This paper compiles a database of financing events for tech startups in the field of advanced manufacturing and healthcare, integrating a full sample of patent data information for these startups. The study finally collects 28,610 financing events and 1,897,517 patent records from January 1992 to March 2024. It constructs patent signals based on quantity, quality, commercial, legal, and technological similarity from the perspectives of the company's independence and its associations. Then, we establish regression models to explore the impact of these variables on tech startups’ financing accessibility. The moderating effect of venture capital’s reputation and attention on the effect of patent signals is further examined. Furthermore, this paper explores the differences in the impact of patent signals on financing accessibility among companies at different technological attributes and financing stages. Lastly, the paper uses survival analysis model to address potential endogeneity issues by testing the impact of patent signals on the likelihood of obtaining financing in subsequent rounds.

The findings of this study are as follows: (1) From an independent perspective, the quantity, quality, commercial, and legal signals generally help startups to obtain larger financing volumes, with patent quantity and quality signal having a greater impact on financing volume. By comparison, the commercial and legal signals of patents have a relatively smaller impact on the cumulative number of investment rounds than on financing volume. (2) From an associative perspective, the technological similarity signal also has a significant positive impact on the likelihood of startups obtaining financing. Besides, this effect is greater than that of independent company-level patent signals. (3) The moderating mechanism analysis shows that the reputation of venture capitals significantly weakens the positive impact of patent signals on financing accessibility, whereas limited attention from investors significantly enhances the effect of technological similarity signals on financing accessibility. (4) Heterogeneity tests indicate that different technological attributes and financing stages of companies affect the impact of patent signals on financing accessibility, but the differences in the magnitude of impact are not substantial. (5) The survival analysis in the robustness tests show that the impact of various patent signals on financing accessibility remains robust after considering endogeneity issues.

The contributions of this paper are threefold: Firstly, at the theoretical level, it enriches the study of the relationship between patent signals and financing accessibility from multiple perspectives such as quantity, quality, commercial, legal, and technological similarity, refining the application of signaling theory in the field of venture capital. Secondly, from methodological side, the paper applies cutting-edge deep learning algorithms and textual analysis to construct a corporate-patent-technology topic graph. Based on the patent text data, this paper innovatively constructs a technological similarity index among startups and extend the measurement of technological association and similarity indicators into Chinese startup financing market. Finally, on the practical side, this paper offers references for strategic decision-making in R&D investment and patent deployment for tech startups. It provides insights for government policy in patent information management and disclosure. Additionally, it enhances venture capital involvement in tech startups, suggesting ways to accelerate the integration of technology and finance.

Keywords: Patent Signals, Technological Similarity, Financing Accessibility, Venture Capital’s Reputation, Venture Capital’s Attention 
 

High net worth wealth owners generally need various advisory services to meet their wealth management needs, such as investment / global asset allocation, intergenerational succession planning, personal and family tax planning, next-generation education, health management, immigration arrangement for family members, etc.

At the current stage, this paper tries to answer below central research questions for Chinese wealth advisors:

From the Perspective of high-net-worth individuals (HNWI) in China, what characteristics should their wealth advisors bear to be considered competent?

Which key competency factors are mostly important in making the wealth advisor successful (reflected through performance rating of wealth advisors)?

The research applies both the literature review and the survey questionnaire.

In conclusion, wealth advisors with below characteristics are more favored by Chinese high net worth wealth owners:

- Above 5 years of relevant working experiences.

- Having a master’s degree or above.

- Commission based income scheme, together with restrictions to avoid product sales oriented or transaction oriented only.

19 competency factors were ultimately formed up under the framework of the competency model for Chinese wealth advisors, with 5 dimensions: Skill: Customer Service Features, Mindset, Trait, Self-Concept, Attitude.

Further, below competency dimensions are proved to be most positively related with the performance of wealth advisors:

- Skill: Customer Service Features: Pressure bearing ability, Customer Acquisition and Relationship Management, and Customer Oriented.

- Trait: Willingness to learn and share.

- Mindset: Controlling Power

Since these questions are answered from the perspective of both high-net-worth individuals and supervisors of Chinese wealth advisors, it provides a reference tool for wealth management institutions to form up a more effective incentive mechanism, and to provide the direction of self-improvement for Chinese wealth advisors.

Interpersonal relationship has become a new strategic tool for companies to promote their development and boundary spanners, such as sales at the junior level or managers at the senior level, are key representatives to develop the inter-organizational relationship, especially when seeking the business cooperation. In order to build a high-quality interpersonal relationship, humility is regarded as an effective tool for promoting interpersonal relationship. From the social embedded theory, this study aims to examine whether and how the interpersonal relationship of the boundary spanning leaders, expressed humility, affects the inter-organizational relationship (trust, satisfaction and commitment) mediated by the knowledge sharing. In addition, this study also analyses the attributed motives of the expressed humility and its moderating effect between the expressed humility and the knowledge sharing. The 285 questionnaires were collected across the China and the findings are supportive to the main effect, that is, the expressed humility has strong impact on the inter-organizational relationship. 
 

The brand marketing environment and media environment have changed, and major consumers and consumption behaviors have changed in the Internet era. As business models are constantly changing, more and more companies are following the trend of the times and rejuvenating their brands, or reorganizing them, to have a deeper understanding of consumers whose needs are constantly changing in today's era. They intend to research and develop products that suit the needs of consumers in the new era, and keep pace with the times amidst constant adjustments and changes to rejuvenate their brands. Brand rejuvenation is not a result, but a process. Only by adhering to the rejuvenation marketing strategy and treating it as a long-term strategy can the brand continue to maintain freshness and vitality, thereby being unstoppable.
This paper discusses the brand rejuvenation of traditional apparel companies, focusing on whether brand rejuvenation affects brand preference and purchasing behavior, and how to effectively implement brand rejuvenation strategies. In theory, it constructs a brand rejuvenation measurement model and explores the impact of brand rejuvenation on brand equity, as well as the relationship between brand rejuvenation, brand preference and brand equity. In practice, this paper takes Cabbeen as an example to conduct a case study to analyze the implementation process, influencing factors and implementation effects of Cabbeen's brand rejuvenation strategy. On the one hand, it provides a basis for theoretical analysis, and on the other hand, the research results also provide reference for other peers.
The research results also prove that brand rejuvenation is indeed an effective strategy to enhance brand equity. Brand rejuvenation cannot only directly affect consumers’ purchasing behavior, but also promote consumers’ brand loyalty by enhancing consumers’ brand preferences and in turn promotes consumers’ behaviors such as repurchase, recommendation, and willingness to wait for the brand.

Keywords: apparel companies, brand rejuvenation, brand tendency, purchasing behavior

One of the primary modes of agricultural industrialization is "leading enterprises & farmers," however the contract risk between the two subjects of this mode severely limits the sustainability of the development of agricultural industrialization. This paper introduces the transaction stability factors and behavior factors into the game framework based on the maximization of social welfare, analyzes and solves the equilibrium conditions by applying GHM theory, and obtains the main constraints affecting the stability of contract connection. Additionally, this article develops an empirical model in conjunction with the contract agriculture innovation scenario to examine the primary influences on farmers' income growth, production efficiency, and contract stability. The analysis reveals that the key to maintain the stability of the contract is to reduce the transaction cost of the contract from the perspective of organizational structure, so that the adaptability and incentive of the contract are compatible with the incompleteness of the contract itself; In addition, a solid foundation of trust and the reduction of transaction costs brought about by the contract are generally conducive to the increase of farmers' income and production efficiency, and can better maintain the stability of the contract, so as to achieve the sustainable development of agricultural industrialization.

This study analyzes the relationship between board heterogeneity and the company’s internationalization strategy to determine the internal mechanism through which board heterogeneity affects the company’s internationalization strategy. Based on the analysis of the primary effect, the moderating effects of contextual factors at various levels, such as individual, organization, and environment, are introduced. Subsequently, this study empirically tests the proposed research hypothesis using the data of Chinese listed companies from 2011 to 2020.

The empirical results indicate that board heterogeneity has a positive impact on the company’s internationalization strategy. When the board chairman is female or has a longer tenure, board heterogeneity plays a more crucial role in promoting the company’s internationalization strategy. Board heterogeneity has a greater impact on the internationalization strategy of companies that have more abundant resources and are owned by the state. The higher the dynamics of the external environment and the higher the degree of marketization, the more significant the role of the heterogeneity of the board of directors in promoting the company’s internationalization strategy. Even after modifying the variables’ measurement methods and the regression technique, the conclusions of this research remain robust. Further tests show that board heterogeneity enhances the company’s internationalization strategy by improving its risk-taking level. The heterogeneity of the board of directors enhances company value by promoting the implementation of the company’s internationalization strategy. Relationship heterogeneity and task heterogeneity within the board have diverse effects on the company’s internationalization strategy. Compared with relationship heterogeneity, task heterogeneity is the main reason for the company’s implementation of the internationalization strategy.

The study findings have several theoretical contributions. First, this study contributes to the literature on economic consequences of board heterogeneity by deeply analyzing the impact of board heterogeneity on the company’s internationalization strategy. Second, this study identifies board heterogeneity as an important factor influencing internationalization strategy from the perspective of business practice, thereby enriching related research on the factors influencing internationalization strategy. Third, this study deepens the understanding of the role of the board of directors through theoretical analysis and empirical tests regarding how different levels of factors moderate the relationship between board heterogeneity and the company’s internationalization strategy.

In addition, the research findings have some practical implications. First, companies that plan to or have already begun implementing internationalization strategies can avoid the risks associated with international competition. They can do so by building a heterogeneous board of directors and utilizing the information and resources provided by the differences among board members in terms of gender, age, education level, professional background, tenure, and so on. Second, while improving the structure of the board of directors, we must also consider the impact of individual, organizational, and environmental factors. Third, companies that intend to develop international markets and implement internationalization strategies should maximize the positive role of board heterogeneity, which will help enhance the company’s value.

“Hard technology” is of great national strategic importance and is a sharp tool to invigorate a country with its innovations and advantages. That is how China Science and Technology Innovation Board (STIB) came into being in Shanghai Stock Exchange. When evaluating whether a company on STIB is equipped with “hard technology”, its science and technology innovation attributes should be the essential and core features to look at.
Therefore, it is in need in the market to find an effective way to evaluate an issuer's science and technology innovation (STI) attributes, as well as their impact on the margin of a successful listing and post-listing performance. How to weight the importance of different STI evaluation indicators? How to create a comprehensive index to effectively evaluate a Issuer's STI attributes, as well as whether the contribution degree of each attribute is balanced? Whether or not these STI attributes make a significant difference in the margin of a successful IPO for enterprises of different types and with different property rights natures. All these questions wait for answers.
Consulting the relevant literature, few scholars have studied the success rate of technology-based enterprises and their post-listing performance. In this paper, a principal component analysis method is innovatively used to create a science and technology attribute evaluation index, and a regression model is constructed for empirical research. The conclusions of the study show that the STI attributes significantly improve the issuers listing success rate of issuers and are positively correlated with their long-term performance after listing, while short-term performance is under pressure. There are significant differences in the contribution of individual science and technology innovation attributes to the comprehensive evaluation index, and the size is the R&D investment intensity, the R&D investment level, the personnel structure, and the level of patents. It has no significant impact on the listing success rate of enterprises of different types and different property rights natures. The research results of this paper make certain contributions to empowering China’s Strategy of Scientific and Technological Powerhouse, as well as the STIB Registration-Based IPO Mechanism reform, and are of great significance to market participants such as government decision-makers, investment institutions, and issuers.
Key Words：Registration-Based IPO Mechanism, Science and Technology Innovation Board, Science and Technology Innovation Attributes, IPO Success Rate, Performance
 

Diversification as a strategic objective has become increasingly pursued by many enterprises. However, whether diversification truly brings robust business operations and risk dispersion effects remains a focal point of attention in both academic and practical realms. This study, grounded in Chinese practice, empirically examines the relationship between corporate diversification and bankruptcy risk and further discusses the interactive impact of monetary policy tightening and diversification on corporate bankruptcy risk.
Empirical analysis results indicate a positive correlation between corporate diversification and bankruptcy risk in China. This finding suggests that diversification may not always confer the advantage of risk dispersion to enterprises; it could instead increase the risk of bankruptcy. Additionally, empirical results also demonstrate that monetary policy tightening has a significant positive effect on corporate bankruptcy risk. This outcome remains robust even after changing variables and models. Mediation effect tests indicate that diversification leads to bankruptcy by reducing corporate cash holdings. This study further focuses on other potential internal and external factors that may influence the relationship between diversification and bankruptcy risk. The results show that internal controls, financing constraints, and the quality of external auditing significantly influence the relationship between diversification and bankruptcy risk. Specifically, the impact of diversification and monetary policy tightening on bankruptcy risk is particularly pronounced in companies with higher internal control quality, more significant financing constraints, and poorer external audit quality.
This study further analyzes the moderating effect of a company's Initial Public Offering (IPO) timing on the relationship between diversification and bankruptcy risk. The analysis finds that newly listed companies in the initial period after IPO, due to positive market responses, lower financing costs, and new investment opportunities, may face higher bankruptcy risks from diversification activities. Conversely, companies listed longer and in a more stable maturity phase can significantly reduce their bankruptcy risk through diversification strategies. This result indicates that the effects of diversification strategies vary for companies at different developmental stages.
This research reveals that diversification strategies may not always be the best choice for enterprises in specific macroeconomic and internal environments. When considering expanding their business scope, enterprises need to assess national monetary policies, internal control systems, financing status, and other relevant factors to ensure that their strategic decisions bring long-term value to the organization. This study provides new insights into the relationship between corporate diversification strategies and bankruptcy risk for the academic community. It offers valuable strategic decision-making references for the practical realm, aiding enterprises in making wiser decisions in a complex and dynamic market environment.
 

In any nation or firm, innovation is hailed as a crucial driver of industry and competitiveness. Innovation can involve creating a new product, improving service levels, or augmenting the way of operating a business. The ability to change and adapt business models to value-add customers' needs and produce economic value represents a distinct competitive advantage. One important aspect of innovativeness is being open-minded toward innovative ideas. Disruptive technologies from machine learning to big data are creating new challenges in the marketplace in which firms operate. These merging disruptions are forcing companies to reinvent or calibrate their business models through innovation to remain viable. However, the success of any innovation strategy is highly correlated to the organisation's culture.  Based on our literature review, we argue that both conceptual analysts and practitioners would perceive tackling innovation culture as a “slippery” concept to support innovation, e.g., to achieve better business outcomes. To manage these difficulties successfully in an uncertain future filled with economic turbulence is to make innovation an integral part of a firm's organisation and management. The purpose of this research study is to better understand how manufacturing firms are trying to make innovation work and the challenges they are facing in creating and capturing new value. Several authors have emphasized the importance of an innovation measurement system for assessing innovation, and that it is a key foundation for implementing changes aimed at making the organisation's culture more innovative. The purpose of this single-case study is to explore the innovation culture of an actual Taiwanese medium size OEM lock manufacturer by applying a comprehensive but user-friendly Innovation Quotient assessment instrument to measure the current culture of the firm.   Leaders can then utilise the survey results to intervene and initiate positive change. The implication for positive change entails introducing robust innovation governance to motivate management and staff to work together and innovate.

A rapidly ageing customer base, and an acceleration in the adoption of self-service technologies (SST) are two major trends which are set to have an increasing impact on how companies manage and satisfy customers. While there has been a rich body of work studying  the effects of ageing and SST usage on customers, research on how they might affect cumulative satisfaction appears to be limited. The ageing literature tends to focus on cognition and decision-making processes, while SST research tends to be narrowly focused on SST evaluation and adoption. Our understanding on how ageing affects how satisfied customers are with service providers, and how SST usage within a complex multichannel environments affects cumulative satisfaction appears to be limited. To bridge this gap we conducted two studies using data from the Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore.

Study 1 looked at how ageing cohorts affects the established antecedents of customer satisfaction, namely customer expectations, perceived quality, and perceived value. The study also looked at how the inflation experience of ageing cohorts affects perceived value. Contrary to data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index which found an older-more-satisfied phenomena, our study found ageing cohorts to be less satisfied, with a consistently negative effect on all three antecedents. The velocity and magnitude of inflation was also found to have a negative effect on perceived value, with ageing cohorts positively moderating the effects of inflation velocity on perceived value. The findings highlights the potential neglect of senior customers, and provides guidance on how cohort experiences may be an important factor for managers to think about when considering how best to manage an increasingly ageing customer base.

Study 2 looked at how different channel users types moderated the established relationships between perceived quality and customer satisfaction, and customer satisfaction and loyalty. Previous research tends to focus on the retail sector, and only on digital SST and offline customers. The effects of different channel user types within more complex multichannel service environments was surprising limited. Using survey data from the banking and telecommunications industry, the study compared the moderating effects of digital SST customers, multichannel customers, and offline customers, on the two established relationships. Across both industries, when compared to offline customers, the quality-satisfaction and satisfaction-loyalty relationships were found to be weaker for digital SST customers. Both established relationships were also found to be strongest among multichannel banking customers when compared with the other two channel user types. As more companies embark on a multichannel strategy by digitally transforming how they serve customers, the differentiated effects found in Study 2 provides managers guidance on how best to manage their channel mix. 

With the rise of big data and artificial intelligence, data intelligence has gradually become the focus of academia and industry. Data intelligence has two obvious characteristics: big data drive and application scene drive. More and more enterprises extract valuable patterns contained in data with prediction and decision analysis methods and technologies such as large-scale data mining, machine learning and deep learning and use them to improve the management and decision in complex practice, so as to promote changes of new business modes, organizational structures and even business strategies, and improve the operational efficiency of organizations. However, there are few studies on how data intelligence affects organizational performance. This dissertation points out three-dimensional elements for data intelligence to achieve iterative development: data, technology and prediction and decision-making capability, and makes a more in-depth exploration on the research and application of the three elements and organizational performance. Based on the relevant data of software enterprises, the author conducted empirical research and finally concluded the mechanism and path of data intelligence affecting the software delivery performance, providing an important reference for other industry organizations to improve the operational efficiency and organizational performance.

By the end of 2021, a total of 93 listed companies in China have undergone bankruptcy reorganization, and the bankruptcy reorganization system has gradually become the main means to rescue listed companies in distress. Specifically, the shareholders' equity adjustment is the focus of the game of interests among multiple stakeholders, which determines the effect of bankruptcy reorganization of listed companies.

Based on the existing cases of bankruptcy reorganization of listed companies, this thesis compares the current situations and challenges of shareholders' equity adjustments, and proposes a balanced shareholders' equity adjustment mechanism to solve the problems in practice by combining the lessons of successful cases and the author's practical experiences.

The thesis demonstrates that an equitable adjustment mechanism for shareholders' equity should be based on the premise of avoiding delisting risks, on the foundation of enhancing the reorganization value, and on the path of transferring the creditors’ equity appropriately, arranging the original shareholders’ equity properly and assigning investors’ equity necessarily, so as to facilitate effective allocation of resources for reorganization of listed companies, promote the maximization of interests of all parties, achieve long-term reorganization effects, and realize the unification of economic and social benefits.

The current Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity (VUCA) era is characterized by a number of factors, including globalization, technological advancements, geopolitical instability, and shifting consumer demands. These factors have combined to create an environment in which businesses and organizations must be highly adaptable and agile to survive and thrive.

To succeed in the current VUCA era, organizations must have the ability to anticipate and respond to change quickly while also being able to adapt to new technologies and business models. This task requires a strong focus on innovation, agility, and collaboration as well as a willingness to take calculated risks and try new approaches; accordingly, transformational leadership has emerged as a critical driver of organizational development in VUCA era. Given that the team is the basic unit of organizational operation, it is crucial for organizations to explore the effects of leadership on team performance and creativity as well as the mechanism underlying those effects.

In this research, I propose that transformational leadership has a positive connection to the team mental model, which consequently benefits team performance and creativity by enhancing team proactive motivational states—team potency and team improvisation. Furthermore, I suggest that variables representing internal and external team environment complexity—team task variety and external team context complexity—moderate and strengthen the effect of transformational leadership on team mental model.

Data were collected from firms located in eastern China using a multisource, three-wave field study design. The final sample consisted of 630 employees from 81 teams. The results provide partial support for the hypotheses proposed in this research. Specifically, I find that transformational leadership has a significant direct effect on team mental model, which in turn has effects on team potency and team improvisation. The serial indirect effects between transformational leadership and team performance/creativity via team potency/improvisation are thus supported. Moreover, the moderating role of internal team environment complexity—team task variety on the relationship between transformational leadership and team mental model is supported, while that of external environmental complexity—external team context is not. I discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings for organizations, managers, and employees and highlight directions for future research.

Under the dual support of the government and market, the number of cultural and tourism small towns in China has increased rapidly in recent years. However, many small towns have encountered problems such as poor performance, disputes over interests, and operational deficiencies during their rapid development. As China's economy gradually enters a phase of high-quality development, how to promote the high-quality development of cultural and tourism small towns has become a concern for experts in the industry and academia. Currently, research on the high-quality development of cultural and tourism small towns in China is relatively fragmented and lacks a comprehensive study of the entire development process of these small towns, making it difficult to provide effective theoretical guidance for their high-quality development. Based on this, this study reviews the relevant research on cultural and tourism small towns in China and proposes to construct a system of influential factors for high-quality development of Chinese cultural and tourism small towns from a Life Cycle perspective, using qualitative methods such as case studies. Additionally, the study will use the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to determine the weights of each influential factor.

Firstly, the author delineates the process of the dynamic evolution of the cultural and tourism towns’ high-quality development in China through industry research and literature review. The whole process can be divided into the project proposal, planning, construction, operation, and renewal stages. Then, the author selects W, a top-ranking town in China's cultural and tourism industry, as a case study to summarize the influencing factors of W's high-quality development. It turns out that the factors of W town in each stage of development are different. Specifically, the factors are the development value judgement at the project proposal stage, top-level architecture design, design of three major patterns, and consumer scene creation at the planning stage, high-quality implementation and management at the construction stage, visitor experience design and brand impact at the operation stage, and content and product innovation at the renewal stage. To further test the universality of the findings in the W-town case study, the author selected three additional cases with good development dynamics in China and extracted the influencing factors of their high-quality development based on the grounded theory. The comparative analysis found that the conclusions were basically consistent with the W-town case study. Based on this, the author constructed the impact factor system and designed the expert consultation questionnaire. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) of the questionnaire data calculated the weights of the primary and secondary indicators of the impact factor system.

By combining qualitative and quantitative analysis, this study explores the factors influencing the quality development of several cases throughout their life cycle, which fills the gap of dynamic tracking of cases in existing research on cultural and tourism towns and enriches the perspective of research in this field. The study provides a powerful tool for the government and enterprises to assess the development status of China’s cultural and tourism towns in the future.