High-tech Manufacturing Research Articles

When Silicon Valley Feared Bhopal

In Silicon Valley, the Bhopal disaster led to a bitter controversy regarding poisonous gases used in high-tech manufacturing. Concerned by the potential release of deadly gases by semiconductor plants, fire departments drafted a stringent ordinance regarding their use, handling, and storage. Microelectronics firms opposed the ordinance and campaigned for a weaker set of rules. As public opinion shifted toward strict regulation, the Inter-Governmental Council of Santa Clara County forced industry to go back to the negotiating table and develop a revised version of the firefighters’ ordinance in collaboration with the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, an environmental group. The toxics gas ordinance was later incorporated into the Uniform Fire Code and set the rules for the utilization of hazardous gases in the American West.

The relationship between ESG ratings and digital technological innovation in manufacturing: Insights via dual machine learning models

In the era of the current scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, digital technology innovation serves as a critical driver for the high-quality development of manufacturing enterprises. The dual attributes of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) ratings, encompassing "internal governance" and "external support," play a pivotal role in propelling digital technology innovation within these enterprises. This study utilizes a dual machine learning approach to empirically investigate the influence of ESG ratings on the digital technology innovation of manufacturing enterprises and explores the underlying mechanisms. Findings indicate that ESG ratings significantly boost digital technology innovation by alleviating financial market constraints, enhancing customer stability in the product market, elevating human resource levels, and increasing innovation awareness and efficiency. These improvements occur through the mechanisms of "external support" and "internal governance." Moreover, the study reveals that ESG ratings substantially enhance digital technology innovation in state-owned and high-tech manufacturing enterprises, in contrast to their limited impact on non-state-owned and non-high-tech counterparts. Conclusively, the paper proposes policy recommendations focused on heightening enterprise and societal awareness of ESG importance, intensifying supervision and enforcement, and refining the ESG rating system.

Utilizing Yin-Yang approach to reinforce fuzzy front-end activities and manufacturing startups' growth performance.

Fuzzy front-end is the research frontier of manufacturing industry. This study investigates the relationship between market-oriented FFE activities and manufacturing startup growth performance by adopting an open innovative ancient Chinese Taoism Yin-Yang approach under this post-pandemic circumstance. This study also examines the moderating behavioral effect of Chinese Zen-originated CEO mindfulness between market-oriented FFE activities and manufacturing startup growth performance. Data for this study were gathered from 343 Chinese manufacturing startups' CEOs across different manufacturing industries, including both high-tech and conventional manufacturing industries. The collected data were analyzed by using structural equation modeling and Bootstrap method. The quantitative analysis results show that most market-oriented FFE activities have positive effects on manufacturing startup growth performance and the Chinese Zen-originated CEO mindfulness positively moderates the relationship between most FFE activities and startup growth performance.

Do Energy Efficiency and Technology Boost Sustainable Environment: Evidence from GCC Countries

Sustainable Environment practices significantly reduce carbon emissions by ensuring the continuous use of materials and energy resources, thus making them intrinsically aligned with the underlying objectives of the decarbonization agenda. Technological advancement has the potential to contribute significantly to this shift by streamlining resource flows, enhancing waste management procedures, and allowing more efficient energy consumption. Although Gulf Cooperation Council countries have experienced robust economic growth over the decades, rising pollution emissions and low renewable energy consumption have raised concerns among policymakers about the long-term stability of this growth. In recent years, Gulf countries have paid significant concern to environmental matters and achieved carbon-free development. This study seeks to investigate the relationship between energy efficiency, technology, and sustainability, particularly emphasizing the green economy perspective. Carbon dioxide emission taken as the dependent variable. Frontier Technology Readiness Index reflects the utilization of technology within economies. Energy efficiency is also considered, symbolizing the transition from fossil fuels to green energy due to technological progression in the energy sector. The findings suggest that factors such as the Frontier Technology Readiness Index, the energy intensity level of primary energy, and medium and high-tech manufacturing significantly harm the environment, while scientific and technical journal articles and agriculture significantly improve the environment over time. To improve Gulf Cooperation Council countries' environmental quality, policymakers must understand the factors causing climate change. This study gives policymakers useful information about how to make the Gulf Cooperation Council community more sustainable by looking at energy efficiency, technology, and digital adaptation.

RESEARCH ON THE IMPACT OF DIGITAL CAPABILITY OF ENTERPRISES ON BUSINESS PERFORMANCE FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF BUSINESS ECOSYSTEM

The study aims to investigate the interplay among digital capability, network capability, and value co-creation, the level of government digital governance, environmental uncertainty, and firm performance. This study summarized the high-tech manufacturing industry's value co-creation model from the perspective of the business ecosystem. It also added to previous research on the link between digital capability and enterprise performance and gave new research ideas for future studies on value co-creation in the business ecosystem. In practice, this study serves as a valuable guide for the development of high-tech manufacturing enterprises in China. It fosters the cultivation and promotion of digital capabilities within these industries, emphasizes the positive relationship between digital capabilities and enterprise performance, and guides high-tech manufacturing enterprises to prioritize value creation among multiple entities. We actively construct a business ecosystem and integrate both internal and external resources to generate value and foster mutually beneficial collaboration among various entities.

ANALYSIS OF THE CORRELATION BETWEEN BUSINESS ECOSYSTEM AND ENTERPRISE PERFORMANCE UNDER THE BACKGROUND OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

This study, grounded in the theory of the business ecosystem, investigates how the digital capabilities of Chinese high-tech manufacturing enterprises influence corporate performance. The study builds a chain effect model of "digital capabilities—value co-creation—network capabilities—corporate performance" and looks at how environmental uncertainty affects the model. We looked at Chinese high-tech manufacturing companies through a questionnaire survey and in-depth analysis. The study found that: (1) digital capabilities greatly enhance corporate performance through the mediating role of value co-creation and network capabilities; (2) environmental uncertainty has a moderating effect on the relationship between digital capabilities and corporate performance. This study enriches theoretical research on the relationship between digital transformation and corporate performance, providing theoretical guidance and practical inspiration for Chinese high-tech manufacturing enterprises to enhance their competitiveness in the digital economy era.

Metaverse adoption in the manufacturing industry: impact on social and environmental sustainability performance

PurposeThis study aims to examine the adoption of Metaverse technology in the manufacturing industry and its potential impact on firms’ social and environmental sustainability performance.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 157 technology-based firms in the Malaysian high-tech manufacturing industry and analyzed using PLS-SEM to investigate the influence of social (i.e. social capital, open/innovative culture and empowerment) and technological factors (i.e. digitalization preparedness, integrability and strategic value) on Metaverse adoption and the moderating roles of digital trust and absorptive capacity.FindingsSocial and technological factors were found to significantly impact Metaverse adoption, with digital trust enhancing the influence of social factors. Absorptive capacity strengthens firms’ abilities to use social factors for adoption. However, digital trust does not significantly moderate the relationship between technological factors and adoption, nor does absorptive capacity impact this relationship. Finally, Metaverse adoption is shown to positively contribute to firms’ social sustainability, improving social well-being and equity, but it does not significantly impact environmental sustainability.Practical implicationsFor practitioners, the study highlights the importance of fostering an organizational culture that supports digital trust and developing absorptive capacity as critical enablers of successful Metaverse adoption. Policy implications include the need for creating supportive policies that encourage digital transformation efforts aligned with sustainability goals.Originality/valueTheoretically, this study integrates the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework, Human-Organization-Technology fit (HOT-fit) framework and Resource-Based View (RBV) to improve understanding of technology adoption and sustainability performance. From a managerial perspective, it highlights the importance of fostering digital trust and developing absorptive capacity as critical enablers of successful Metaverse adoption. Policy implications include the need for policies supporting digital transformation efforts aligned with sustainability goals.

Strategic cooperation of high tech companies of China and Russia

The sanctions imposed on the Russian economics in 2022 by a number of countries created an external shock for many industries in Russia with the strongest impact on the enterprises of high tech industries. At the same time, there is an emerging potential for cooperation between Russian and Chinese manufacturers which is forming new strategies of development of Russian high tech enterprises. In order to evaluate the prospects and trends of development of Chinese high tech industry in this context, the authors applied methods of economic analysis including the correlation analysis. Factors, determining potential of cooperation between Russia and China in this sphere, were systematized on the basis of the methodology of strategizing by Professor Vladimir L. Kvint.It has been stated that Chinese manufacturers are able to replace either partially or completely European and American suppliers in a number of high tech industries: innovative components and equipment for engineering, semiconductors and chips, telecommunications equipment and components. It has been discovered that the number of registered patents and the number of researchers involved in RD in China have a significant correlation with the growth of export of high tech products of China. Further growth will be able to ensure the expansion of technology and knowledge exports from China to Russia.Thus, it can be stated for sure that there are perspective industries and fields of Russia-China cooperation in high tech industry. The sphere of cooperation which can become the basis for the strategy of development of Russian high tech manufacturers is scientific and patent cooperation with Chinese organizations. The authors have also discovered limitations in this cooperation: there is a threat of imposing international sanctions on Chinese manufacturers; Chinese enterprises are working at a high level of workload in the context of the global economic recovery after the coronavirus pandemic; decrease of competitiveness of Russian high tech industry has a negative impact on the expected benefits from the cooperation between the countries. These strategic threats can be overcome with the help of a well-grounded foreign economic strategy developed by Russian and Chinese authorities.

The Effect of ESG Performance on the Systematic Risk of Listed Companies in China: A Comparative Analysis of High-Tech Manufacturing Versus Conventional Industries

The continued growth of the ESG (environment, society, and governance) investing trend has garnered great interest from both academics and professionals alike in the past decade. Nowadays, even developing countries like China are seeing a new wave of ESG investment opportunities. However, the research on ESG investing in emerging markets remains relatively lackluster, and fewer ESG studies concentrate on the topic of systematic risk. Therefore, this study wants to provide an analysis of the effect of ESG rating on the systematic risk of listed companies on the A-share stock market in China through the lens of a comparative study between high-tech manufacturing and conventional industries. Based on the fixed-effect model regression result on the quarterly data of 240 companies from 2018 to 2021, this paper discovers a negative correlation between ESG rating and the systematic risk a company is exposed to and a greater effect of ESG performance on systematic risk in high-tech manufacturing industries than conventional industries. Overall, this paper not only presents a new perspective on the correlation between ESG investing and the systematic risk a firm is exposed to but also serves as an inter-industry research that tackles a phenomenon specific to the Chinese capital market.

How to configure the supply chain to stimulate firm innovation performance?

Supply chain characteristics are an important driving force for innovation at the focal firm. Previous research has separately examined the impact of structural, relational, and capability dimensions of the supply chain on firm innovation. Relying on the structure-relationship-capability framework, this study explores the configurational impact of geographical distance, business concentration, and partner innovation of both the supplier-base and the customer-base on firm innovation. Necessary causality analysis (NCA) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) are employed. Based on a dataset of 123 Chinese listed firms in high-tech manufacturing sectors, we provide novel insights on the antecedent configurations of the partner characteristics in both ends of supply chains for facilitating firm innovation. Our findings indicate that there are no necessary conditions for high firm innovation performance. We identify three distinct paths - namely, innovation-driven, customer-dominated, and relationship-driven configurations - that consistently lead to high firm innovation performance. From a configurational perspective, this research contributes to the innovation and supply chain literature and provides practical implications for managers to facilitate firm innovation.

International trade and wage inequality: Evidence from Brazil

We study the effect of the bilateral trade integration with China on wage inequality in Brazil. Previous studies have documented the contribution of trade opening to the decline in inequality since the 1990s, driven primarily by cross-firm pay differences. We find a sharper reduction in wage inequality over the 2000s, parallel to China’s accession to the WTO. Our analysis of the China shock suggests that some firms are harmed by import competition, especially those in the High-Tech Manufacturing sector, while others profit from increased exports and cheaper inputs. We rationalize these patterns by extending the theoretical framework of Helpman et al. (2017) to include sector heterogeneity in trade exposure and firm-level selection into imports. Our model indicates that the rise of China led to a reduction in cross-firm wage inequality in Brazil by about 5%.

Impact of knowledge management infrastructure and processes on automobile manufacturing firm innovative performance through the mediating role of agile project management practice

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine knowledge management (KM) infrastructure and processes on automobile manufacturing firm innovative performance through the mediating role of agile project management (APM) practice.Design/methodology/approachThe data collection involved purposive and convenience sampling techniques to gather information from 692 employees employed in various public and private automobile manufacturing firms operating in Pakistan. To test the hypothesis, data analysis was conducted using Smart PLS software version 4, using the partial least squares and structural equation modeling technique.FindingsThe result revealed that knowledge management infrastructure and processes has a positive and significant effect on firm innovative performance. Moreover, agile project management practices positively and significantly mediate the relationship between knowledge management infrastructure and processes and firm innovative performance.Practical implicationsThe performance of high-tech automobile manufacturing firms can be enhanced by implementing agile project management practices, especially when stimulated by external factors such as innovation. In an increasingly dynamic environment, innovation acts as a favorable factor that amplifies the positive impact of agile methodologies on firm performance.Originality/valueResearchers can use these findings to identify knowledge gaps that need to be addressed in future studies and understand how strategies relate to processes within the KM-APM framework. This study provides practitioners with insights on applying KM practices in an APM context to enhance knowledge performance. Practitioners can use the framework to plan KM activities that support corporate strategy across all organizational layers, ensuring the appropriate knowledge is conveyed at each level.

Combining digital and legacy technologies: firm digital transformation strategies—evidence from Chinese manufacturing companies

The digital transformation of firms is a pervasive trend within the digital-based economy. Despite its inevitability, there is a continuing debate regarding the most effective methods for implementing such transformations. This study delineates four digital technology strategies—searching, enhancing, grafting, and integrating—within the theoretical framework that digital technology can strengthen an enterprise’s existing legacy technology. Using fuzzy qualitative comparative analysis, this study examines 76 Chinese high-tech manufacturing companies to uncover the configuration effects of technology distance, the type of technical search, and leadership perceptions on the adoption of these strategies. The empirical results reveal that the searching strategy is commonly employed in scenarios involving general technology, search breadth, and the perceived usefulness of the technology. The enhancing strategy is typically adopted when companies engage in extensive searches and perceive digital technology as easy to use. Moreover, the grafting strategy has emerged as the natural choice when there is a deep search for specific technologies coupled with a recognition of their usefulness. The integrating strategy becomes prominent when a company identifies a specific technology through both search breadth and search depth, acknowledging its usefulness and ease of use simultaneously. These findings offer valuable insights for managers aiming to select an effective digital technology strategy to facilitate successful transformation.

Do CVCs Add Value to IPO Ventures? Evidence from the High-Tech Manufacturing Industry

Do CVCs Add Value to IPO Ventures? Evidence from the High-Tech Manufacturing Industry

Navigating Green Innovation in High-Tech Manufacturing: The Roles of Customer Concentration and Digital Transformation

Navigating Green Innovation in High-Tech Manufacturing: The Roles of Customer Concentration and Digital Transformation

Upgrading the industrial structure for optimizing water-energy-carbon nexus in regional trade network

To take actions for the SDGs (Goals 6, 7, 9, 12, and 13), the world is undergoing intense industrial transformation and upgrading. However, there has been limited analysis of water-energy-carbon (WEC) nexus within regional trade network to uncover the effects of industrial restructuring. Here, this study explores the trade-related WEC flows in the Yangtze River Delta area (YRD) from 2012 to 2017 by four aspects (spatiotemporal status, sectors, WEC flowing synergies, and environmental-economic trade-off) based on an environmentally extended input-output analysis. The main results show that the resource supply network in the YRD has been optimized, with enhanced synergies of WEC flows. Resource trade in the YRD has shifted from traditional heavy industry (HV Ⅰ) to high-tech manufacturing industry (HV Ⅱ). The share of trade-related WEC in demand of HV Ⅱ among all sectors increased by 10, 5, and 15 percentages, while the share in demand of HV Ⅰ decreased by 15, 10, and 10 percentages during this transition period. This study also discloses an environmental-economic contradiction arising in regional trade: low-carbon and high-value-added economic development in some regions may be premised on relocating environmental resource pressures. Hence, this study could assist policymakers in analyzing sustainable industrial transition models for regional integration clusters and in formulating targeted interregional resource trade policies to alleviate development gaps.

Spatial Distribution Characteristics and Driving Factors of Little Giant Enterprises in China’s Megacity Clusters Based on Random Forest and MGWR

As a representative of potential “hidden champions”, a concept originating in Germany, specialized and innovative Little Giant Enterprises (LGEs) have become exemplary models for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China. These enterprises are regarded as crucial support for realizing the strategy of building a strong manufacturing country and addressing the weaknesses in key industrial areas. This paper begins by examining urban agglomerations, which serve as the main spatial carriers for industrial restructuring and high-quality development in manufacturing. Based on data from LGEs in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) and Pearl River Delta (PRD) urban agglomerations from 2019 to 2023, the study employs the Random Forest (RF) and Multi-scale Geographically Weighted Regression (MGWR) methods to conduct a comparative analysis of their spatial patterns and influencing factors. The results are as follows: (1) LGEs exhibit spatial clustering in both the YRD and PRD regions. Enterprises in the YRD form a “one-axis-three-core” pattern within a distance of 65 km, while enterprises in the PRD present a “single-axis” pattern within a distance of 30 km, with overall high clustering intensity. (2) The YRD is dominated by traditional manufacturing and supplemented by high-tech services. In contrast, the PRD has a balanced development of high-tech manufacturing and services. Enterprises in different industries are generally characterized by a “multi-point clustering” characteristic, of which the YRD displays a multi-patch distribution and the PRD a point–pole distribution. (3) Factors such as industrial structure, industrial platforms, and logistics levels significantly affect enterprise clustering and exhibit scale effects differences between the two urban clusters. Factors such as industrial platforms, logistics levels, and dependence on foreign trade show positive impacts, while government fiscal expenditure shows a negative impact. Natural geographical location factors exhibit opposite effects in the two regions but are not the primary determinants of enterprise distribution. Each region should leverage its own strengths, improve urban coordination and communication mechanisms within the urban cluster, strengthen the coordination and linkage of the manufacturing industry chain upstream and downstream, and promote high-tech industries, thereby enhancing economic resilience and regional competitiveness.

Droplet Microfluidic Method for Estimating the Dynamic Interfacial Tension of Ion-Crosslinked Sodium Alginate Microspheres.

The research focuses on optimizing the production of hydrogel microspheres using droplet microfluidics for pharmaceutical and bioengineering applications. A semiempirical method has been developed to predict the dynamic interfacial tension at the interface of ion-cross-linked sodium alginate microsphere-sunflower oil modified with glacial acetic acid and Tween 80 surfactant. These microspheres are produced in a small-scale coaxial device that is manufactured using affordable DLP/LCD 3D printing technology with a transparent photopolymer. The method was tested to design the minireactor in the device, which allows for the production of fully cross-linked microspheres that are ready for use at the output of the reactor without additional cross-linking steps in the microsphere collector. The mathematical expression for estimating the interfacial tension at the moment of formation of a hydrogel microsphere includes the Reynolds number for a two-phase liquid, the Ohnesorge number, and the surface tension at the liquid-air interface for continuous medium flow (modified oil). The reliability of the prediction is confirmed for continuous medium and dispersed phase flow rates of 0.8-3.2 and 0.01-0.08 mL/min, respectively. The evolution of the interfacial tension from the moment the microspheres formed and the estimated ultimate interfacial tension in a cross-linked hydrogel-modified oil system contributed to the reliable determination of the linear size of a minireactor. The ultimate interfacial tension of 76.5 ± 0.3 mN/m was determined using the Young-Laplace equation, which is based on measuring the surface free energy of the hydrogel as soft matter using the Owens-Wendt method. Additionally, the equilibrium static contact angle of the fully cross-linked hydrogel surface wetted with oil is measured using the sessile drop method. From a practical perspective, a method for optimizing and streamlining the high-tech manufacturing of cross-linked polymer microspheres and mini- and microchannel devices for use in bioengineering and pharmaceutical applications is suggested.

A Reference Architecture for Reverse Logistics in the High-Tech Industry

With the pressing need to shift towards sustainable sociotechnical systems, high-tech equipment manufacturers are facing an increasing demand for accountability in reverse logistics. Implementation of reverse logistics introduces complexities, particularly in handling the unpredictability of product returns, coordination of the network, and communication among different stakeholders along the reverse chain. To navigate these complexities and facilitate decision-making, the objective of this paper is to design a reference architecture tailored to the high-tech manufacturing sector. The proposed reference architecture encompasses a variety of reverse logistics activities, ranging from installed base management to recovery processes, to achieve supply chain circularity, and couples these witha data-driven decision-making processes to enhance efficiency and reliability throughout the reverse chain. The reference architecture is instantiated in the context of a real company case published in the literature and evaluated by domain experts and practitioners in the target industry. Evaluation results from questionnaire analysis indicate very positive responses towards our proposed solution in terms of completeness, flexibility, integration, simplicity, understandability, and usability. Overall, the reference architecture supports reverse logistics practitioners in integrated decision-making, ranging from organisational to operational levels.

Outsourced carbon mitigation efforts of Chinese cities from 2012 to 2017

Outsourced carbon mitigation between cities means that some cities benefit from the carbon mitigation efforts of other cities more than their own. This problem conceals the recognition of cities’ mitigation contributions. Here we quantify local and outsourced carbon mitigation levels from 2012 to 2017 and identified ‘outsourced mitigation beneficiaries’ relying on outsourced efforts more than their own among 309 Chinese cities by using a city-level input–output model. It found that the share of outsourced emissions rose from 78.6% to 81.9% during this period. In particular, 240 cities (77.7%) were outsourced mitigation beneficiaries, of which 65 were strong beneficiaries (their local carbon emissions still grew) and 175 cities were weak beneficiaries (with larger outsourced mitigation efforts than local mitigation efforts). Strong beneficiaries were often industrializing cities with more agriculture and light manufacturing, focusing on local economic growth. In contrast, weak beneficiaries were mainly at the downstream of supply chains with services and high-tech manufacturing, which have stronger connections with upstream heavy industry cities. The findings suggest the need for policies to manage outsourced mitigation of supply chains and encourage transformation, improving the fair acknowledgment of cities’ carbon mitigation efforts.