Intensive Manufacturing Sectors Research Articles

Are There the Impacts of Environmental Regulations on Manufacturing Export? Empirical Evidence from Chinese Manufacturing

Environmental regulation is an effective tool to control environmental problems caused by foreign trade. Research conclusions are inconsistent on the relationship between environmental regulations and exports. Based on the Heckscher-Ohlin-Vanek model, this paper provides an empirical analysis for examination the effect of environmental regulations on manufacturing exports, adopting panel data of 16 sectors from China’s manufacturing during 2005-2015. Material capital, human capital, technology input and foreign direct investment are simultaneously selected as independent variables to explore the export impact of corresponding changes in these endowments. The pollution intensity index was introduced to categorise different manufacturing sectors. Results indicated that China’s environmental regulations intensity play different roles in the manufacturing sectors with different pollution levels. Stricter environmental regulation improves the export of intensive pollution manufacturing sectors but hinders exports in light pollution sectors. Meanwhile, other endowment factors also exert varying effects in the light, moderate and intensive pollution manufacturing sectors.

Bangladeshi clothing manufacturers' technology adoption in the global free trade environment

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to investigate the status of technology adoption (TA) among clothing manufacturers in Bangladesh and examine the influences of contextual factors on their TA level. Particularly, the authors examined the effects of export orientation, top management commitment (TMC), competitive pressure (CP), cost of capital (CC) and technical skills (TS).Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected from Bangladeshi clothing manufacturer through an online survey. A firm was treated as a unit of analysis.FindingsThe results revealed that the most common technologies adopted were information technology and software related and the least common were automation related. Export orientation negatively influenced while TS and CP positively influenced the level of TA.Research limitations/implicationsDue to the difficulty in obtaining firm level data, data collection did not utilize a random sampling. Only firms that agree to participate were included in the data.Practical implicationsThe authors suggest the Bangladeshi clothing manufacturers to adopt selective technologies that complement the cost leadership strategy rather than immediate differentiation strategy or technology innovations.Social implicationsFocused investment in human capitals and knowledge transfer in Bangladesh, one of the newly classified developing country, should sustain their competitiveness in the global market. Further discussions provide various stakeholders with insights related to trade policies, international aids and the UN's sustainable development agenda.Originality/valueThis study tackles a void that exists in TA research within the labor intensive clothing manufacturing sector, especially in a lower-middle income country, which surprisingly became the second largest clothing supplier today. Unique nature of the sector as an entry to economic development process in connection to the sustainable development concept is discussed to generate implications for practitioners as well as policy makers.

Multi-region and multi-sector comparisons and analysis of industrial carbon productivity in China

In the context of global warming, increasing carbon productivity is an important way to balance environmental goals with economic growth and development. In this study, we measure the provincial industrial carbon productivity (ICP) in China. Employing spatial production-theoretical decomposition analysis and data from the industrial sector in each province of China, we investigate the regional disparities in ICP and the driving factors at the provincial and sectoral levels. The results indicate that the ICP discrepancies across different regions are obvious: the eastern region had the highest ICP, followed by the northeastern, central, and western regions. The capital-energy substitution effect and CO2 emission performance were two principal contributors to increasing the regional disparities for most provinces. By contrast, the labor-energy substitution effect and energy consumption structure remained relatively backward and resulted in lower ICP than the average level in most provinces. Furthermore, 12 key industrial subsectors, including electricity generation sector, five energy-intensive manufacturing sectors and six nonenergy intensive manufacturing sectors, in 13 provinces (including Hebei, Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Anhui, and all the other western provinces) were identified as the main drivers of the lower than average ICP in these 13 provinces. For the12 industrial sectors in the 13 provinces, industrial structure, and CO2 emission performance were the main causes of their backward carbon productivity. Based on the findings of this study, several relevant suggestions for policymakers are provided.

An Assessment of Sectoral Dynamics and Employment Shift in Indian and Chinese Economy

This study has analysed structural transformation and inter-sectoral relationships of the Indian and the Chinese economy. Variation in employment dynamics across the sectors and growth instability is also examined by taking data from the World Development Indicators (WDI, 2015) of the World Bank. The study has revealed that there is a gradual decline in agriculture in both the countries. Both the economies are now concentrating at service sectors. China is fully exploiting its industrial sector potential while India has been lagging behind in this sector. Johansen’s cointegration approach revealed the existence of one cointegration relationship among all the three sectors, namely, agricultural, industrial and services, at 5 per cent level of significance for both the countries. A passive employment shift has been seen from agriculture to non-agriculture sector in India. Occupational transformation in China is faster than India. Policy makers should focus on job generation, especially in services and labour intensive manufacturing sector in India. China should try to create jobs in industrial and services sector because agriculture sector has been sharply declining and is still carrying huge load of employment.

A comprehensive emission inventory of multiple air pollutants from iron and steel industry in China: Temporal trends and spatial variation characteristics

China has become the largest producer of iron and steel throughout the world since 1996. However, as an energy-and-pollution intensive manufacturing sector, a detailed comprehensive emission inventory of air pollutants for iron and steel industry of China is still not available. To obtain and better understand the temporal trends and spatial variation characteristics of typical hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) emissions from iron and steel production in China, a comprehensive emission inventory of multiple air pollutants, including size segregated particulate matter (TSP/PM10/PM2.5), gaseous pollutants (SO2, NOx, CO), heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Hg, As, Cr, Ni etc.), as well as the more dangerous PCDD/Fs, is established with the unit-based annual activity, specific dynamic emission factors for the historical period of 1978–2011, and the future potential trends till to 2050 are forecasted by using scenario analysis. Our results show that emissions of gaseous pollutants and particulate matter have experienced a gradual increase tendency since 2000, while emissions of priority-controlled heavy metals (Hg, Pb, As, Cd, Cr, and Ni) have exhibited a short-term fluctuation during the period of 1990 to 2005. With regard to the spatial distribution of HAPs emissions in base year 2011, Bohai economic circle is identified as the top emission intensity region where iron and steel smelting plants are densely built; within iron and steel industry, blast furnaces contribute the majority of PM emissions, sinter plants account for most of gaseous pollutants and the majority of PCDD/Fs, whereas steel making processes are responsible for the majority of heavy metal emissions. Moreover, comparisons of future emission trends under three scenarios indicate that advanced technologies and integrated whole process management strategies are in great need to further diminish various hazardous air pollutants from iron and steel industry in the future.

The influence of international research interaction on national innovation performance: A bibliometric approach

International research interactions, specifically interpersonal collaboration, institutional collaboration and within multinational corporation (MNC) collaboration, have been increasing since the 2000s as a result of globalization and rising technological complexity. Yet the impact of international research interactions (IRIs) on national innovation performance is ambiguous. In this study patent-based bibliometric indicators are developed to investigate the influence of different types of IRI on innovation performance using bibliometric data covering eight knowledge intensive manufacturing sectors and 32 countries during the 2003–2008 period. This sector-based approach avoids some of the problems of using patents as innovation indicators, like varying patenting propensities across sectors by comparing the same sectors across countries. In the study a knowledge production function is estimated for each sector, with patents serving as an indicator of knowledge output. The overall results suggest an absence of positive influence of IRI on innovation performance, and sometimes even a negative influence pointing to ‘reversed knowledge flows’. But the pattern is nuanced and differs per sector and type of collaboration. For example, interpersonal collaboration has a negative or no effect on innovation performance depending on the sector, and institutional collaboration has no effect on innovation performance. Within MNC collaboration has a positive influence on innovation performance in the chemicals and pharmaceuticals sectors, but a negative effect or no effect in other sectors. Computers are an exceptional sector in that the influence of IRI depends on the absolute size of the sector in the domestic economy. The paper concludes with the theoretical relevance of these findings and some policy implications are also discussed.

Innovation policy of European chemical companies with special focus on large companies

According to Arora et alii (1998), the chemical industry is one of the largest and most R&D-intensive manufacturing sectors in all the advanced economies, and its innovative patterns and productivity growth processes can have profound impacts on economic growth as a whole. The European chemical industry supplies virtually all sectors of the economy and accounts for 17.8% of the total sales of chemicals in the world. This paper gives an overview of the European chemical industry and the changing scenario of the world chemical industry by focusing on the top fifteen chemical companies in Europe. It describes the current problems this industry is facing in Europe especially after the economic crisis and shows that the region and the top companies are investing in R&D to bring about innovation and overcome the current challenges. It shows that R&D spending in absolute terms has hardly changed over the years and that the industry is still globally the largest investor in R&D activities. In terms of R&D, BASF has made the greatest investment followed by Bayer and Syngenta, while R&D intensity is highest for Syngenta and Bayer. BASF and Bayer have made most patent applications and have also had the highest number of patents granted. The quality of research in most chemical companies is very high and most of the large European companies make their first patent application in Europe rather than elsewhere. All the large chemical companies use Merger & Acquisition (M&A) to gain access to innovation. Industry-academia collaboration is one way to generate innovation in the chemical industry in Europe. Chemical clusters and the geographical distribution of chemical companies play a significant role in generating innovation.

The impacts of rising energy prices on non-energy sectors in Australia

This paper proposes an alternative input–output (IO) price model in which all sectors of the economy are divided into two groups: (1) endogenous non-energy sectors; (2) exogenous but interrelated energy sectors. Using the latest IO table (2009–2010) of the Australian economy, we then used the proposed model to assess the impacts of an increase in 4 different energy prices (i.e. Oil and Gas Extraction; Petroleum and Coal Products; Electricity; and Utility Gas) on production costs of 110 non-energy sectors. We found that energy price rises will increase the production costs in tradable, less-labour intensive manufacturing sectors (such as basic chemical; electricity transmission, distribution; glass and glass products) as well as transport (road; air and space; water and road) and agricultural sub-industries (i.e. forestry; fishing; sheep, grains, dairy, cattle; logging) more than the other sectors. As expected, the service industries were least affected by energy price shocks. The effects of a rise in the prices of Electricity and Utility Gas on production cost of non-energy sectors are significantly less than those of two upstream energy sources (i.e. Oil and Gas Extraction; Petroleum and Coal products).

Energy efficiency achievements in China׳s industrial and transport sectors: How do they rate?

China is experiencing intensified industrialisation and motorisation. In the world׳s largest emerging economy, energy efficiency is expected to play a critical role in the ever-rising demand for energy. Based on factual overviews and numerical analysis, this article carries out an in-depth investigation into the effectiveness of policies announced or implemented in recent decades targeted at energy conservation in the energy intensive manufacturing and transportation sectors. It highlights nine energy intensive sectors that achieved major improvements in their energy technology efficiency efforts. Under the umbrella of the 11th Five-Year Plan, these sectors׳ performances reflect the effectiveness of China׳s energy conservation governance. Numerous actions have been taken in China to reduce the road transport sector׳s demand for energy and its GHG emissions by implementing fuel economy standards, promoting advanced energy efficient vehicles, and alternative fuels.Coal-based energy saving technologies, especially industrial furnace technologies, are critical for China׳s near and medium-term energy saving. In the long run, renewable energy development and expanding the railway transport system are the most effective ways to reduce energy use and GHG emissions in China. Fuel economy standards could reduce oil consumption and GHGs by 34–35 per cent.

The importance of energy quality in energy intensive manufacturing: Evidence from panel cointegration and panel FMOLS

This paper expands on the panel GDP–energy cointegration modeling literature; it does so by using data disaggregated along sectoral lines and adjusting energy consumption for the quality of the energy source (e.g., electricity is of higher quality than oil, which is of higher quality than coal) in order to examine the role of energy quality in the five most energy intensive manufacturing sectors (iron and steel, non-ferrous metals, non-metallic minerals, chemicals, and pulp and paper). The database was constructed by combing energy consumption (and energy price data to construct the energy quality index) from the IEA with economic data (value added, labor employed, and physical capital) from the OECD's Structural Analysis Database. In addition to finding the variables analyzed are panel I(1) and cointegrated for each sector-based panel, the long-run elasticity estimates (from panel FMOLS) indicate the importance of energy quality – primarily the shift toward the use of high quality electricity – in these energy-intensive manufacturing sectors. In each case, the elasticity for energy quality is greater than that for conventionally measured energy consumption—sometimes orders of magnitude greater. Indeed, the elasticity of conventionally measured energy consumption is insignificant to very small for three of the five sectors. Also, when using the energy quality measure, the importance of energy consumption relative to the other production factors stands out. Such results are useful for both energy–GDP cointegration/causality modelers and CGE modelers, who may need to estimate elasticities.

Poverty and growth impacts of high oil prices: Evidence from Sri Lanka

The sharp rise in oil and food prices in 2007 and 2008 caused negative impacts on poverty and economic growth in many oil and food importing developing countries. Some analysts believe that these countries are under stress again due to a rise in crude oil prices, to a two-and-a-half year high in March 2011, which has also been partly responsible for higher food prices in recent months. However, there is a limited body of empirical evidence available from developing countries on the impact of high oil prices on growth in general and household poverty in particular. In this study, Sri Lanka is used as a case study and a computable general equilibrium (CGE) approach is adopted as an analytical framework to explore the growth and poverty impacts of high oil prices. The results suggest that urban low income households are the group most adversely affected by high global oil prices, followed by low income rural households. In contrast, estate low income households are the least affected out of all low income households. The energy intensive manufacturing sector and services sector are affected most compared to the agricultural sector.

Transnational entrepreneurs, global pipelines and shifting production patterns. The example of the Palanpuris in the diamond sector

Building on the buzz-and-pipelines model of regional clusters, the paper shows that transnational entrepreneurs play an important role in the construction of external cluster relations and hence influence both the dynamics of regional clusters and global production settings. Unlike most studies on the economic implications of transnational migrants, the paper deals with a labor intensive manufacturing sector. In detail, diamond dealers from the Indian city of Palanpur will be conceptualized as transnational entrepreneurs who, in the past, were able to cover certain locations of the diamond value added chain with family members. The global relations set up by these families at the same time formed business networks allowing for an intense global exchange of knowledge and artifacts (diamonds). In the long run, these patterns implied a change of the overall production structures: in Antwerp, a traditional diamond trading and cutting center, the Indian dealers developed to strong competitors in the smaller stones segment and as such contributed to the fading away of the historically grown industrial base. In addition, the institutional support structures were partly dismantled. On the other hand, in India, a new cluster in diamond cutting emerged. The findings suggest that transnational entrepreneurs can contribute to a weakening of traditional cluster structures and therefore call for a more differentiated view as evoked by the one-sided focus of studies on returnee migrants in the high-tech sector.

An integrated DEA PCA numerical taxonomy approach for energy efficiency assessment and consumption optimization in energy intensive manufacturing sectors

This paper introduces an integrated approach based on data envelopment analysis (DEA), principal component analysis (PCA) and numerical taxonomy (NT) for total energy efficiency assessment and optimization in energy intensive manufacturing sectors. Total energy efficiency assessment and optimization of the proposed approach considers structural indicators in addition conventional consumption and manufacturing sector output indicators. The validity of the DEA model is verified and validated by PCA and NT through Spearman correlation experiment. Moreover, the proposed approach uses the measure-specific super-efficiency DEA model for sensitivity analysis to determine the critical energy carriers. Four energy intensive manufacturing sectors are discussed in this paper: iron and steel, pulp and paper, petroleum refining and cement manufacturing sectors. To show superiority and applicability, the proposed approach has been applied to refinery sub-sectors of some OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries. This study has several unique features which are: (1) a total approach which considers structural indicators in addition to conventional energy efficiency indicators; (2) a verification and validation mechanism for DEA by PCA and NT and (3) utilization of DEA for total energy efficiency assessment and consumption optimization of energy intensive manufacturing sectors.

South Korean retail industry: government’s role in retail liberalization

The Korean government has played an important role in the development of the domestic retailing industry. Korean manufacturers were nurtured until they were able to compete with manufacturers throughout the world. Korean retailers are now caught in the domestic market between the powerful Korean manufacturers and foreign retail competitors who have themselves learned to be competitive by going head to head with world‐class retailers. Manufacturers, rather than retailers, have dominated the Korean distribution industry. Korean retailing is characterized by large department stores owned by the chaebols, and small, inefficient family‐centered operations. In contrast to the department store’s decline in sales, the growth of discount stores is the strongest trend in Korean retailing. The government has chosen the manufacturing sector for aggressive development. The result has been a world competitive, export intensive manufacturing sector and a weak, inefficient retail sector. We use state as strategist in retailing (SSR) model to explain how dimensions and stages of government involvement affect retailing.

Industrial Restructuring and the Development of Office Spaces in Singapore

An important shift has occurred since the 1970s and this is a move from an international to a global economy. In this transition, capital has to make effective use of geographical and institutional differences in the world. This process is reshaping the inter-national system into global networks controlled from a handful of global cities in the core countries. However, studies on global (world) cities in the context of the new inter-national division of labor and industrial location have been concerned about the hierarchical position of cities in a static sense. That is the differences are viewed under fixed conditions, concentrating on global cities in core areas, and not the semi-periphery.Because of the emergence of new regions which have comparative advantages of periphery over the semi-periphery, these seems to be an acceleration of inter-urban competition and alliance across borders. For survival in a global economy, cities which are located the semi-periphery have to make up for geographical and institutional differences with self-regulation, ensaring that global capital can be made to work more effectively through the inter-national division of labor and financial systems.This paper, attempts to grasp how a semi-peripheral global city secures its position in global economic interactions by acquiring the particular economic activities which can disperse from the core or innovating it, the author attempted to consider the industrial restructuring and the office development in Singapore, directing particular attention to the role of the state. The following summarizes the main results:There appeared to be growth of office workers within all industrial sectors, but especially the FIRE and business services, and a concurrent decline of production workers in the manufacturing sector since the 1980s. The reason for these trends may be explained by both external and internal factors.The external factors are the globalization of production and finance systems. The establishment of regional headquarters in Asia can be accounted for the necessity of obtaining‘the foothold space’in the emerging market: a result of United States, European, Japanese, and NIEs trans-national corporations, especially in the electronic industry, expansion of off-shore production, as well as the globalization of the financial system brought about by advanced telecommunication and information technology and ever increasing international money flows.The internal factors are the economic strategies that have been implemented by the Economic Development Board (EDB), a statutory board to assist survival of the city-state in a global economy. As the EDB encouraged the removal of the labor intensive manufacturing sector from Singapore and its relocation to neighboring regions since the 1980s, the above external conditions served Singapore by offering a favorable business environment for office activities. The articulation of the external and internal factors regulated by the state led to growth in the number of office workers.In Singapore, much office space was constructed in the CBD. At the beginning, comparatively small office buildings were developed in the Cecil district which is adjacent the traditional hard-core of the CBD. Following this construction, large and smart buildings which incorporate advanced information and telecommunication technology were built in the hard-core. As for the use of this office space, there is now a spatial agglomeration of the financial industry in the hard-core concurrent with the globalization of finance. That is to say the developmental process of office space in Singapore, advanced toward the hard-core from the adjacent district and facilitated the shaping traditional financial industrial district into the global one. This process is in the opposite direction of global cities built historically in the core.

Australia's industrial R&D expenditure and foreign trade

The link between R&D intensity and trade performance for the Australian manufacturing sector in 1980–81 is investigated. R&D intensity is also subdivided into basic and applied versus experimental development R&D, as well as self-financed versus externally financed R&D. Box-Cox regression is used to estimated revealed comparative advantage, export and import intensity equations without a priori imposition of a particular functional form. Ausralia has a revealed comparative disadvantage in R&D intensive manufacturing sectors, but the effect of R&D intensity variables on export intensity is positive. This asymmentry is an indication of the problems facing the country in developing non-traditional comparative advantages. Export eaualtion estimates are only statistically significant when natural-resource intensive manufacturing sectors are excluded. The importance of using flexible functional forms is emphasized.