Cross-border Networks Research Articles

Research on the Development of Logistics Performance of E-Commerce Enterprises and its Influencing Mechanism on Customer Satisfaction

With the booming development of e-commerce industry, logistics performance has become one of the key factors of competitiveness for e-commerce enterprises, directly related to the customer satisfaction and market position of the enterprises. Under the background of digitalization and intelligentization, online shopping has become one of the main ways of daily shopping for consumers. As an important link in the transaction chain of e-commerce, logistics efficiency and quality directly affect the shopping experience and loyalty of consumers. This paper conducts an in-depth analysis of the current situation of logistics performance of e-commerce enterprises, the mechanism analysis of how it affects customer satisfaction, and explores solutions to the problem. Through the mechanism analysis, it is found that e-commerce enterprises can improve logistics performance by enhancing logistics speed, improving logistics service quality, reducing costs and increasing efficiency, strengthening green logistics, and enhancing cross-border e-commerce logistics capabilities. This can improve customer satisfaction, and the paper proposes suggestions such as optimizing logistics networks, enhancing logistics service training, fine-tuning management, promoting environmentally friendly packaging, optimizing transportation methods, and improving cross-border e-commerce logistics networks.

The Economic Impact of High-Speed Rail Development in the Pearl River Delta: A Case Study of Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link

The rapid expansion of high-speed rail (HSR) has become a crucial element of infrastructure, markedly improving regional connectivity and economic integration. This study centers on the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL), a pivotal project that connects major cities within the Pearl River Delta (PRD) and links Hong Kong to mainland China. The analysis demonstrates that while the XRL has stimulated economic growth by facilitating inter-regional exchanges, it has also presented challenges to local vulnerable sectors, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). These challenges stem from heightened competition due to industrial agglomeration. To mitigate these effects, the study proposes enhancing regional economic cooperation by establishing specialized economic zones and developing cross-border trade networks. These strategies aim to capitalize on the benefits of the XRL while enabling SMEs to access new markets and boost their competitiveness. The research underscores the importance of strategically leveraging infrastructure projects like the XRL to promote sustainable economic growth, offering a framework for addressing potential drawbacks.

Process of Acquisition to Destination – A Bang on Economic Prudence with Reference to Indian Logistics Industry

The study explores the significance of the logistics industry in the Indian economy and examines its sector-wise impact on economic well-being. It emphasizes how the presence or absence of transport infrastructure significantly influences economic growth and global competitiveness. With globalization expanding its scope, the study addresses the challenges of global logistics, such as trade laws, cultural differences, and the necessity for efficient cross-border transportation networks. Moreover, the research delves into factors driving the growth of the Indian logistics industry. Innovations and developments are seen as pivotal to economic progress, with intelligent logistics and smart transportation playing crucial roles. The Logistics Performance Index (LPI), a benchmarking tool by the World Bank, ranks countries based on logistics performance. In the 2023 report, India achieved an LPI rating of 3.4, securing the 38th position among 139 countries. The study substantiates the factors fueling the logistics industry with statistical evidence, highlighting technological advancements and the integration of IoT-enabled facilities as key drivers. Furthermore, the study discusses strategic initiatives aimed at enhancing India's logistics infrastructure. The PM Gati Shakti initiative seeks to streamline infrastructure development by promoting integrated planning and coordinated implementation across government departments. Concurrently, the National Logistics Policy (NLP) provides a comprehensive framework for the industry's development. Additionally, the Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP) facilitates real-time information exchange among stakeholders, thereby simplifying logistics planning.

К вопросу о зарождении и расширении социальных сетей китайских пограничных предпринимателей (на примере Хэйхэ и Благовещенска)

This article examines the stages, characteristics and influence of the social networks constructed by Chinese border traders in Heihe and Blagoveshchensk. In the early stages of business, Chinese traders can quickly and easily obtain capital, information, market and technologies with the help of their relatives or home fellows. However, in order to pursue longer-term business development and expand the Russian market, they later build more open, flexible, and heterogeneous social relationships based on economic rationality, especially expanding cross-border social networks with the Russian partners. With the increasingly close cooperation be-tween the border people of the two countries, the prosperity and stability of the border between the two coun-tries have been effectively guaranteed, and the social basis of Sino-Russian relations has become more solid.

Cross-border mobility in the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion: impact of COVID-19 border restrictions on everyday activities and visiting social network members.

Cross-border mobility (CBM) to visit social network members or for everyday activities is an important part of daily life for citizens in border regions, including the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion (EMR: neighboring regions from the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany). We assessed changes in CBM during the COVID-19 pandemic and how participants experienced border restrictions. Impact of COVID-19 on the EMR' is a longitudinal study using comparative cross-border data collection. In 2021, a random sample of the EMR-population was invited for participation in online surveys to assess current and pre-pandemic CBM. Changes in CBM, experience of border restrictions, and associated factors were analyzed using multinomial and multivariable logistic regression analysis. Pre-pandemic, 82% of all 3,543 participants reported any CBM: 31% for social contacts and 79% for everyday activities. Among these, 26% decreased social CBM and 35% decreased CBM for everyday activities by autumn 2021. Negative experience of border restrictions was reported by 45% of participants with pre-pandemic CBM, and was higher (p < 0.05) in Dutch participants (compared to Belgian; aOR= 1.4), cross-border [work] commuters (aOR= 2.2), participants with cross-border social networks of friends, family or acquaintances (aOR= 1.3), and those finding the measures 'limit group size' (aOR= 1.5) and 'minimalize travel' (aOR= 2.0) difficult to adhere to and finding 'minimalize travel' (aOR= 1.6) useless. CBM for social contacts and everyday activities was substantial in EMR-citizens, but decreased during the pandemic. Border restrictions were valued as negative by a considerable portion of EMR-citizens, especially when having family or friends across the border. When designing future pandemic control strategies, policy makers should account for the negative impact of CBM restrictions on their citizens.

Impact of the Czech–Polish intergovernmental Turów dispute on mental distance and cross-border integration: Avoiding problems, or neighbours?

The Turów lignite coalmine, a decisive economic actor and employer, is situated on the Polish side of the trilateral Euroregion Neisse–Nysa–Nisa. The decision to continue coal mining until 2044 was disputed, as Czech authorities raised concerns about its negative impact on the environment. This resulted in a Czech–Polish dispute that ended with an intergovernmental agreement in February 2022. However, during the 2 years preceding the conflict resolution, the dispute caused controversy in this part of the borderland, which was considered well-integrated thanks to the activities of the Euroregion Neisse–Nysa–Nisa created in 1991. Thus, we examine the impact of this dispute on mental distance in this part of the borderland and the resilience of cross-border integration through interviews with local stakeholders and surveys with local inhabitants. Our research reveals that the impact of the dispute on cross-border integration was twofold: whereas already cooperating actors tended to avoid the controversy with partners from the other side of the border, surveyed local citizens tended to avoid crossing borders to their neighbouring region. We conclude that mutual trust constantly promoted by facilitating various forms of cross-border connections and interactions is a significant precondition for lasting cross-border partnerships and networks, not only in the region under study.

The cross-border trade informal activity networks BETWEEN ALGERIA AND TUNISIA

The cross-border trade informal activity networks BETWEEN ALGERIA AND TUNISIA

Introduction. The Himalayas from its edges: networks, identities and place-making

While the perspectives of sovereign nation-states have tended to dominate how the Tibeto-Himalayan region has been shaped, viewed and lived in the last century, we argue for adoption of multidisciplinary perspectives that focus on flows and interactions rather than the limited frames of state-centred exchanges. Collating empirically grounded studies from different parts of the Himalayas, this special issue highlights the cross-border networks, negotiated identities and politics of place that are directly and indirectly enabled by state practices and are enacted in the lives of the people in the region. This issue offers a critical understanding of the tangled role of cultural, material, political and economic factors that have informed historical and contemporary processes in the Himalayas. In this introductory paper, we highlight the Himalayas as a productive site of contestation before identifying some of the connections and ruptures that mark it. A useful way to understand the region and its peoples is through the foregrounding of networks, identities and place-making that mark its lived realities.

Flemish network on rare connective tissue diseases (CTD): patient pathways in systemic sclerosis. First steps taken

ABSTRACT Despite the low prevalence of each rare disease, the total burden is high. Patients with rare diseases encounter numerous barriers, including delayed diagnosis and limited access to high-quality treatments. In order to tackle these challenges, the European Commission launched the European Reference Networks (ERNs), cross-border networks of healthcare providers and patients representatives. In parallel, the aims and structure of these ERNs were translated at the federal and regional levels, resulting in the creation of the Flemish Network of Rare Diseases. In line with the mission of the ERNs and to ensure equal access to care, we describe as first patient pathways for systemic sclerosis (SSc), as a pilot model for other rare connective and musculoskeletal diseases. Consensus was reached on following key messages: 1. Patients with SSc should have multidisciplinary clinical and investigational evaluations in a tertiary reference expert centre at baseline, and subsequently every three to 5 years. Intermediately, a yearly clinical evaluation should be provided in the reference centre, whilst SSc technical evaluations are permissionably executed in a centre that follows SSc-specific clinical practice guidelines. In between, monitoring can take place in secondary care units, under the condition that qualitative examinations and care including interactive multidisciplinary consultations can be provided. 2. Patients with early diffuse cutaneous SSc, (progressive) interstitial lung disease and/or pulmonary arterial hypertension should undergo regular evaluations in specialised tertiary care reference institutions. 3. Monitoring of patients with progressive interstitial lung disease and/or pulmonary (arterial) hypertension will be done in agreement with experts of ERN LUNG.

'A Third Country': Irish Border Communities

Inserting a border where one did not previously exist transforms the mental and physical map of individuals and communities. Those who live along the Irish Border regard themselves as distinct from the rest of Northern Ireland or Ireland – ‘a third country’, that is neglected, and distinct from both Belfast and Dublin. This paper explores the neglect and belated ‘discovery’ of the problems facing border areas: the local impact of partition on population and the economy, the image of the border as a zone of violence and lawlessness, and the importance of the parish and community identities, together with the question of sectarianism. Official interest in the border (apart from security matters), only emerged in 1983 when the Economic and Social Committee of the EEC issued a report on Irish Border Areas highlighting the serious socio-economic problems. Since the 1990s border communities, both north and south, have benefited significantly from an array of programmes funded by the EU, the British and Irish governments and international donors. Most of the practical difficulties of life along the border, such as customs and security posts, were removed during the 1990s, with the introduction of the EU Single Market and the end of paramilitary violence. This has enabled some restoration of traditional cross-border networks. Britain’s decision to leave the EU threatened to restore these administrative barriers, but concerted efforts by the Irish government and the strong support from the EU ensured that this was avoided. Although the Irish border has practically disappeared on the ground, legacies remain. Over the past century it has reconfigured community and personal identities, and it remains a potent political symbol for both nationalists and unionists.

Transnational Security Threats and Border Management: A Study of Cross-Border Crime Challenges at the Nigeria-Niger Border

This study investigates the complex dynamics of transnational security threats and the corresponding border management strategies at the Nigeria-Niger border, with a focus on cross-border crime challenges. The overarching theoretical framework employed in this research is the Theory of Transnationalism, which emphasizes the interconnectedness and interdependence of countries in the contemporary global context. The study draws on a rich body of secondary data from various sources, including academic publications, government reports, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations. These sources provide insights into the multifaceted nature of cross-border crimes such as human trafficking, drug smuggling, arms proliferation, and terrorism, which have the potential to destabilize both Nigeria and Niger and have far-reaching consequences for the broader West African region. The analysis of the data reveals the intricacies of cross-border criminal networks, highlighting the role of porous borders, economic disparities, and political instability in facilitating criminal activities. In conclusion, this research underscores the importance of a comprehensive understanding of transnational security threats and the vital role of effective border management in addressing them. The findings contribute to the broader discourse on border security in the context of transnationalism and offer valuable insights for policymakers, security agencies, and international organizations working to combat cross-border crime and enhance regional stability in West Africa.

Borderlands of Governance – Multilevel Cross-border Governance and Trajectories of Local Cross-border Ties in the Franco-German Moselle-Saarland Region

ABSTRACT In recent years, cross-border cooperation within the European Union – in particular between France and Germany – has experienced renewed “top-down” and “bottom-up” impulses towards a new multiscalarity. Focussing on the Moselle-Saarland region, we outline the relevance of local cross-border networks – conceptualized as “borderlands of governance” – for border-regional cooperation, which became particularly evident throughout the management of the Covid-19-pandemic. Making use of windows of opportunity offered by traditional “top-down” governance, borderlands of governance offer and perpetuate notions of alternative (cross-border) spatialities as relevant spaces of political action, both through practical spearheading of cross-border projects and through the representation of border interests within structures of multilevel governance.

The Impact of Network Structure Elements on the Building of Service-Oriented Government in China from the Perspective of Network Governance

Building a service-oriented government to the satisfaction of the people is a basic goal and direction of the development of the Chinese government. In the current era, it has become a consensus for the government and non-governmental organizations to jointly govern public affairs. Network governance focuses on the realization and promotion of public interests as the core value, and pays attention to coordinating the complex interaction of diversified actors. It advocates sharing power in the cooperative network and jointly dealing with all kinds of problems. Compared with the traditional management system, network governance can coordinate and manage cross-border cooperation networks among governments at all levels and departments more effectively. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of network governance on the building of service-oriented government in China. Through a questionnaire survey of 408 civil servants, this study analyzes the relationship between the network structure elements and the government service effect. The results show that the cooperation network with high stability and high intensity is positively related to the improvement of government service effect. In addition, the the government concept and the network cooperation ability are also closely related to the government service effect. These findings show the important influence of network governance in the process of building a service-oriented government, and put forward the relevant measures for the building of service-oriented government.

Cultural and educational activities of the “Prosvita” society in the conditions of the border region of Galicia

The multifaceted nature of the boundary phenomenon causes difficulties in its application. Therefore, in order to study the phenomenon of the borderland, in the context of the ethno- geographical space, it is necessary to imagine the studied area as a borderland of cultures, ethnic groups, states, communities, traditions, norms and values or as a terrain in which social structures (spaces, dimensions) are superimposed on the geographical space of society, what is a goal of the article. The phenomenon of the border is that in its space of interaction new forms of solidarity of social communities arise, cross-border social networks are formed. The novelty of the study is formed in the processes of mutual attraction and mutual repulsion of cultural traditions and symbolic systems in the border zones became the arguments in favor of the study of borders as special socio-cultural phenomena with their own regional identity. As it turned out, these zones are characterized by a special system of interaction between “own” and “other”. Conclusions. The matrix of this interaction does not always coincide with territorial borders or demarcation lines. In the most general way the interpretation of the borderland as a category implies a constant stay on the border - between states, eras, cultures. One of its options is the territory of Halychyna, Bukovyna, Transcarpathia. When Ukrainians in difficult, dramatic conditions had to fight for their national self-identification through the development of Ukrainian education and culture in confrontation with foreign ruling state systems.

Gendering Transnational Business Spaces: Cross-Border Burmese Women Jadeite Traders in Yunnan, China

As the world’s primary source of top-grade jadeite, Myanmar is the home to a thriving black market in which raw stones are smuggled from the Kachin State across the border into China. Among the people of different nationalities and ethnicities facilitating the cross-border trade and networks, Burmese women are increasingly highlighted through popular short videos on a video-focused Chinese social media application, Douyin. These scripted popular short videos show bargains and negotiations between Chinese businessmen and Burmese women jadeite traders, while highlighting Burmese women’s sexuality. In order to understand their representations in these short videos, this paper adopts digital ethnography approaches to capture the cultural expectations placed on Burmese women jadeite traders in China. I argue that these videos (re)produce gendered expectations of these women traders by amplifying their femininity, physicality, romantic availability, and representation as ‘Third World subjects’ to affirm Chinese masculinity and nationalism.

Indonesia's City Diplomacy in Promoting Global Sustainability Context through Urban Networks

The present research investigates the function of urban diplomacy in promoting sustainable initiatives in the swiftly urbanising setting of Indonesia. The study concentrates on the way urban networks facilitate the dissemination of knowledge, resources, and optimal practises among local administrations. Through the examination of diverse urban networks, including inter-city partnerships, cross-border municipal networks, and regional programmes, this study underscores their role in bolstering local capabilities and advancing sustainable urban development strategies in domains such as waste disposal, ecological infrastructure, and climate change resilience. Furthermore, the research investigates the supportive function of the national government of Indonesia in urban networks and city diplomacy endeavours, showcasing its dedication to urban sustainability via policies and international collaborative endeavours. The study highlights the capacity of urban networks and city diplomacy to promote global sustainability in Indonesia. It proposes that cultivating strong urban networks and efficient city diplomacy can substantially aid in achieving a sustainable future for both the country and the regional.

The Migration Risk Environment: Challenges to Human Security for Venezuelan Migrant and Refugee Women and Girls Pre- and Post-Migration to Colombia

The Venezuelan crisis has unleashed multiple forms of sociopolitical violence against its population and created a context of unmet needs, insecurity, and human rights violations. Outward migration caused by this situation has been linked to health emergencies in neighboring countries. Venezuelan migrant and refugee women and girls (VMRWG) are among the most affected. We conducted a cross-sectional qualitative and Participatory Action Research (PAR) project to characterize the risk environments for VMRWG across migration phases, analyzing pre-departure, transit, border crossing, and resettlement risk factors for health and security through semi-structured interviews ( n = 30) and human cartographies ( n = 16). We found cross border risk and protective factors that inform cross-border health initiatives, migration policies, and human rights efforts for both the migrant and host communities. Findings and Recommendations Migratory trajectories of VMRWG from Venezuela to Colombia represent a risk environment for women and girls, connecting cross-border contexts through armed actors’ control, culturally reinforced gender roles and limited social and economic resources. Long-term sustainable migratory policies that are culturally sensitive and include a gender-approach to health should operationalize how gender roles are intimately connected to HIV risk and mental health disparities through reinforced structural factors. Such policies must address these structural factors. The public health system needs to incorporate and align with programmatic efforts implemented by international platforms (United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), AID4AIDS, and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) also known as Doctors Without Borders) targeting screening for infectious diseases (including HIV and mental health disparities) in border crossings and borderlands. Sustainable policies to bridge gaps between services and populations and to decrease growing HIV cases depends on these strategies. Policies and programs of local governments (city and municipality level) addressing mental health disparities need to be expanded through peer leaders and civil society networks of care to guarantee wellbeing and quality of life after resettlement. International efforts and collaborations should capitalize on the re-opening of the border to establish inter-sectoral collaborations with Venezuelan NGOs and civil society organizations on both sides of the border to address gender-based violence, follow-up of cases, and access to services in sending and receiving communities. In order to broach gaps and tackle access barriers in resettlement communities in Colombia, services must be provided in peripheric territories and neighborhoods where some vulnerable migrants resettle. These services must rely on health sector-community collaborations. Public health sector efforts should be integrated and coordinated with family and child services on a local and national level Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar (ICBF), gender working groups, shelters, and citywide supported initiatives like the House of Women) to provide and promote access to social resources (education, jobs, and housing) for migrant women. Health promotion strategies are necessary to decrease infectious diseases and violence-related trauma among migrants across borders. These strategies can include outreach through peer leaders, civil society organization campaigns, and HIV mobile testing and counselling. These services should be delivered in a culturally sensitive manner, capitalizing on in-place cross-border networks of support. In Colombia, sustainable efforts in policy and programs have been made to provide Venezuelans with access to health care and social services with the help of inter-sectoral working groups, national laws, and border commissions. However, there is an urgent need to expand the humanitarian response and the health sector coverage to gender-based violence impacting infectious disease risk and mental health trauma in host communities. Connecting pre- and post-migration contexts in South-to-South migration is paramount. Tackling these issues can improve the protection of human rights and resettlement conditions in host communities.

NORTHERN ENCOUNTERS: THE RUSSO-FINNISH BORDER AT THE BEGINNING OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY IN A CROSS-REGIONAL COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE

This paper explores the connection between border making and order making projects and informal transborder practices and experiences in the geopolitically important sectors along contested Russian imperial/Soviet borders in the early twentieth century. In particular, the study examines how borders and controls were locally co-constructed at two different border strips of the Russo-Finnish border in the 1920s, while also conceptualizing the border as a site of informality and resistance. Findings, based on an array of previously unused historical sources, reveal that the cooperation patterns and rivalry between economic and military-political border control agencies in the early Soviet context differed in various regional frameworks, depending on the multiplicity of local factors. Civil, economic measures of border protection finally failed due to its inherent incompatibility with the increasing state pressures in a new, highly politicized context and a lack of financial and human resources. The paper demonstrates that the disintegration of the Russian empire was accompanied by enlivening of not only economic, but also generating new unique social and cultural exchanges at formerly ‘transparent’ borders. Novel cross-border networks and practices emerged around Soviet borders after 1917 in a radically transformed postimperial space, were all geared toward illicit transborder trade, but had their own unique specificity.

Cross-Border Lives and the Complications of Citizenship

Abstract This article argues that in the 1960s and 1970s, the postcolonial state in Guinea and the independence movement in Guinea-Bissau came to define national belonging through ideas of “sacrificial citizenship,” ideas that did not correspond with how many borderland residents saw their own geographies. Borderland residents used the border to, for the most part, ignore or complicate territorial concepts of national belonging, while informally putting forward their own geographic conceptions and networks. The history of cross-border migration and mobility during this period illustrates the unfinished nature of postcolonial ideas of citizenship and belonging, and the alternative communities and imaginaries that borderland residents developed after independence in parallel to the modern nation-state. These cross-border networks and spaces offer an example of the contestation of sovereignty and the nation-state in the decades immediately following the independence of West African states.

National Identities and Images of the Other in a Canadian–American Borderlands Region: Value Difference or Borderlands Convergence?

This article explores differences in national identities and orientations toward “the other” among Canadian and American students who attend geographically proximate universities in the southern Ontario/Upstate New York borderlands region. Drawing on descriptions of Canada–US cultural differences regarding national identities and views of “the other” from the work of Seymour Martin Lipset (and his critics) among Canadians and Americans at large, the authors uncover some evidence that is generally (although not universally) supportive of his characterizations. We then narrow our focus to compare the orientations of respondents who were raised in the bi-national borderlands region. Although the magnitude of difference between the views of the full sample and those of this geographically restricted group are generally not large, a multivariate test comparing scores on an additive index of cross-border affinity does show up robust evidence of increased affinity sentiments among those raised in these geographically proximate areas. Interestingly, however, the authors did not find that these heightened cross-border affinities are related to the frequency with which the individual crosses the border or to the existence of cross-border kinship networks.