International Competitive Pressures Research Articles

Research Progress in Facility Agriculture and Lighting by Bibliometric Analysis Based on CiteSpace

Given the pressures of internation-al market competition, the dual constraints of domestic resources and the environment, and the uncertainties posed by climate change, bolstering agricultural infra-structure construction is a realistic demand and a crucial approach for implementing emerging grain security strat-egies, particularly in developing countries. Facility agriculture is characterized as a modern agricultural production mode that improves or creates favorable environmental conditions within a specific locality. With the rapid expansion of large-scale facility agriculture, there has been an increased demand for various types of energy, including electricity, gas, cold, and heat. Agricultural lighting equipment used in facility agriculture is a modern agricultural technique that applies engineering technology to regulate light supplementation in the production process. Facility lighting offers several advantages over traditional methods, such as higher photovoltaic conversion efficiency, adjustable spectrum, high photosynthetic efficiency, energy efficiency, environmental friendliness, long lifespan, monochromatic light, cold light source, and compact size. Promoting national food security, carbon neutrality, returning farmland to forests, and implementing low-carbon green agricultural policies all contribute to the favorable use of facility agriculture lighting. This study aims to provide a systematic summary of the relevant research conducted in the past decade using Citespace software. The advantage of facility agriculture for carbon sequestration capacity can effectively reduce net carbon emissions from facility agricultural production activities. In addition, the combination of agriculture and the Internet of Things can effectively improve agricultural production efficiency and economic returns. Combining artificial intelligence and other technologies with facility agriculture engineering, based on multi-source data fusion, intelligent early warning for facility agriculture energy internet can be used to prevent agricultural meteorological disasters. More importantly, it helps maintain global food security, eliminate hunger, and reduce economic inequality. The findings of this study will contribute to a deeper understanding of agricultural lighting equipment, serving as a new theoretical foundation for achieving agricultural emission reduction targets and promoting agricultural technical cooperation.

EXPLORING THE FORMATION MECHANISM OF TECHNOLOGY STANDARD COMPETITIVENESS IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE INDUSTRY: A FUZZY-SET QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

This study aims to reveal the complex mechanism influencing technology standard competitiveness (TSC) in the artificial intelligence industry. Compared with research using traditional linear models, this research adopts the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method to obtain the multiple equivalent paths for different factors that jointly produce TSC. The sample of this study involves 32 countries, and the research framework is constructed from the technological, organizational, and environmental aspects of the phenomenon. The fsQCA method was used to demonstrate the asymmetric relationship between cause and effect. The results indicate four configuration paths but no necessary conditions leading to TSC. Academic research intensity and market size play vital roles in developing TSC. Some logically complementary relationships exist between organizational participation, technological innovation ability, and international competitive pressure. These findings are helpful for policymakers in their formulation of artificial intelligence– related strategies.

Carbon Border Adjustments, Climate Clubs, and Subsidy Races When Climate Policies Vary

Jurisdictions adopt climate policies that vary in terms of both ambition and policy approach, with some pricing carbon and others subsidizing clean production. We distinguish two types of policy spillovers from these diverse approaches. First, when countries have different levels of climate ambition, free-riders benefit at the expense of more committed countries. Second, when countries pursue different approaches, carbon-intensive producers within cost-imposing jurisdictions are at a relative competitive disadvantage compared with producers in subsidizing jurisdictions. Carbon border adjustments and climate clubs respond to these spillovers, but when countries have divergent approaches, one policy alone cannot address both spillovers. We also consider the policy dynamics arising from carbon border adjustments and climate clubs; both have the potential to encourage upward harmonization of climate policy, but come with risks. Further, the pressures of international competition may result in subsidy races, with attendant risks and benefits.

Competition makes IT better: Evidence on when firms use IT more effectively

We study how technology upgrading through investment in information and communication technologies (IT henceforth) influences firm performance in the context of a developing country. We rely on a novel firm-level data set covering a large sample of Mexican manufacturing companies with detailed information on IT. We show that the impact of IT investment is only positive for firms that were exposed to an exogenous competitive shock due to the increase in competition from China after its WTO accession. We argue that incentives provided by competition are key in leading firms to make more effective use of the new information technologies. We also find evidence that these results are driven by the complementarity between IT investments and organizational or process changes within firms, specifically under the incentives of heightened international competitive pressures.

Decoupling of the Growing Exports in Foreign Trade from the Declining Gross Exports of Embodied Energy.

Transforming the growth mode and realizing green and low-carbon development has been a global consensus and an important governance concept of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era. Whether economic growth can be decoupled from carbon emissions and energy consumption is a key indicator for measuring green and low-carbon development and is an inevitable requirement for achieving the goal of carbon neutrality before 2060. Based on the input–output tables for 2002, 2007, 2012, and 2018, this article calculated the embodied energy of export in China’s foreign trade and studied the elastic relationship and trend between the growth of foreign trade exports and the total embodied energy of export since China’s accession to the WTO. The following conclusions were drawn: (i) The embodied energy of China’s export was strongly decoupled from total export for the first time from 2012 to 2018, signaling that China’s economic, industrial, and energy structures entered a new stage. It was also the first strong decoupling achieved in the process of decoupling economic growth from energy consumption for the adoption of a low-carbon development path. Due to the pressure of international competition, the export sector had a relatively advanced level of efficiency, so it achieved decoupling earlier than the overall manufacturing sector and the consumption sector, which was in line with economic laws and the characteristics of China’s development stage. (ii) From 2007 to 2018, the embodied energy of export occupied a much smaller proportion of China’s total energy consumption, falling from the peak of 31.48% in 2007 to 26.57%, a drop of 4.91 percentage points. It showed that a larger share of energy consumption had taken place domestically and that the model mainly relying on export expansion to drive economic growth had begun to adjust. The conclusion of this research could also support the assertion of ‘accelerating the construction of a new development pattern with the domestic economic cycle as the main body and the domestic and international dual cycles promoting each other’ from the perspective of external exports and energy consumption. (iii) A causal analysis of the decoupling between the embodied energy of export and export volume demonstrated that, from 2002 to 2007 and from 2007 to 2012, the embodied energy of export and total export maintained the same direction but had different growth rates. The increase in total export volume was the main reason affecting the embodied energy of export. With the rapid growth of total export volume, the embodied energy of export was also growing rapidly. From 2012 to 2018, the embodied energy of export declined, and an analysis showed that the ‘total energy consumption coefficient’, i.e., technology effect, was the primary cause of the decline. With China’s high-quality development, green transformation, and other strategic advancements, the decoupling trend is expected to continue and expand to a larger economic field.

Sustainability motivations and challenges in the Australian agribusiness

The research aimed to explore the sustainability actions in the Australian horticulture and dairy industries and the influences on firms adopting sustainability. The research adopted a neo-institutional lens and examined the environmental, social, and economic issues faced by these two industries in their operations and their supply chains. The research adopted a qualitative approach with four case studies. Interviews were conducted with decision-makers in the focal firms as well as those in key supply chain partners. One key finding was that motivations differed in the take up of environmental and social sustainability actions, with business imperatives and mimetic influences found in the former, whilst reputation and normative influences were evident in the latter. Environmental actions focused on actions to reduce their carbon footprints such as environmentally friendly packaging, water efficiency, managing waste, and monitoring spray programs. In the dairy industry environmental actions are also related to animal welfare. Social actions predominantly focused on “giving back to the community”. And the adoption of automation was the main economic action. The horticulture sector demonstrated more concern about sustainability in its supply chain, especially in regard to environmental considerations due to economic interdependencies and industry and competitive pressures. Another key finding was regarding sustainability challenges. A key social sustainability challenge was found to be the treatment of temporary backpacker labour which has the potential to seriously damage Australia's clean and green image. In terms of environmental sustainability, severe water shortage and the associated costs were found to be the most challenging. International competitive pressures were highlighted as a key challenge and the need to be sustainable economically was at the forefront of many concerns. In terms of the supply chain, processing firms (upstream) were found to exert a positive and substantial pressure in terms of sustainability practices of their supply chain, whereas, in the dairy sector, the duopoly of retail giants had a significant albeit negative influence on the supply chain's uptake of sustainability practices. Managers' values and links to the local and regional communities played an important part in the adoption of sustainability initiatives and their influence on the supply chain. • Supply chain sustainability actions were predominantly environmental. Environmental actions related to carbon footprint, use of environmentally friendly packaging, water efficiency, managing waste, and monitoring spray programs and animal welfare. • Social actions predominantly focused on “giving back to the community”. The adoption of automation was the main action adopted to bring about economic sustainability. • The horticulture sector demonstrated more concern about sustainability in its supply chain. • The uptake of sustainability practices was influenced by supply chain partners. In horticulture, this influence was positive and coming from upstream, whereas, in dairy, the influence was negative and coming from downstream. • Managers' values and links to the local and regional communities played an important part in the adoption of sustainability initiatives and their influence on the supply chain.

Financial Account Audit Early Warning Based on Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation and Random Forest Model

With the continuous and rapid development of China’s economy, the operating environment of listed companies has become more and more complex, and the increasing pressure of international competition among companies has made the issue of financial risks of listed companies more severe. If you do not pay attention to the financial risk status of the enterprise, it will cause the financial risk to accumulate and eventually cause a financial crisis, which will be marked by ST. Therefore, this paper proposes an early warning model of enterprise financial accounts combining fuzzy sets and random forest trees, which specifically includes the following steps. First, the dataset is analyzed, selected and initially constructed by the training prediction sample. It is further explained by the data labels, and is charged whether the label is marked by ST or not. Then, the method of fuzzy mathematics is used to fuzzify the training sample data, and the two‐category label is converted into a multiclass label; then, the random forest model is used to train the above‐mentioned fuzzified sample data. Obtain the trained random forest model. Finally, input the prediction sample data into the trained random forest model to make decisions on the scene application. At the same time, the invention is applied to the enterprise financial risk early warning, which demonstrates the practicability and effectiveness of the invention Sexuality and scientificity. The significant advantage of the present invention is that the two‐class decision making is converted into the multiclass decision making by combining the fuzzy set and the random forest model, which greatly improves the prediction accuracy, efficiency, and data rationality.

International knowledge spillovers

Abstract How important is foreign knowledge for domestic innovation outcomes? How is this relation shaped by globalization and the attendant intensification of international competition? Our empirical approach extends the previous literature by analyzing a large panel comprising industries in both advanced and emerging economies over the past two decades. We find that barriers to the domestic diffusion of foreign knowledge have fallen significantly for emerging economies. For all countries, and especially for emerging economies, inflows of foreign knowledge have a growing and quantitatively important impact on domestic innovation. Controlling for the amount of domestic R&D, we find evidence that increases in international competitive pressure at the industry level had a positive effect on domestic innovation outcomes.

Israel Tax Policies since 2009 and Economic Growth

Almost all tax reforms in Israel since 1996 were ‘gradual’, ‘fine-tuning-style', and eventually had zero impact on the economic growth rate. The only exemption – corporate tax rate lowering was caused by the pressure of international competition. Some data and references are provided to the reader to illustrate this bleak and unimpressive picture.

Seychelles: Prospects, Probity and Legacy – Governance under Transnational Pressures

ABSTRACTSeychelles has a stable economy, which has a basis for solid growth. Its tourism sector is robust and competitive. The government is boosting Seychelles’ future as an offshore financial centre, although its domestic oversight is weak, and headwinds are developing. More concerning, argues this article, is the fishing sector where overfishing threatens the tuna stock. Future success in these three sectors will heavily depend on the direction and strengthening of governance, which will be conditioned by international competitive pressure. Perhaps Seychelles’ biggest challenge is finding sufficient skilled personnel to build governance. Meanwhile, the country is battling transnational concerns, including money laundering, international tax evasion, profit shifting, transfer pricing and illegal fishing. Seychelles’ governance, under staff shortage pressures, will be stretched to step-up quickly to any heightening of these hazards. A Seychelles’ strength is its political focus on economic strategy. It is a multi-party democracy with solid institutions. But politics risks greater volatility. Former ruler René remains an active godfather in politics. His interests are under pressure from an assertive opposition. How he reacts will determine future stability.

Contextualist Inquiry into E-Commerce Institutionalization in Developing Countries: The Case of Mozambican Women-led SMMES

Aim/Purpose: This study explores how women-led SMMEs in developing countries, specifically in the Mozambican context, institutionalise e-commerce by focusing on the ongoing interaction between the SMME, its context, and process of e-commerce institutionalization. Background: It is believed that institutionalization of e-commerce provides significant benefits of unlimited access to new markets, and access to new, improved, inexpensive and convenient operational methods of transacting. Although prior studies have examined the adoption of e-commerce and the enabling and constraining factors, few have examined e-commerce (i) institutionalization (that is, post-adoption), and (ii) from a gender perspective. This study aims to respond to this paucity in the literature by exploring how women-led SMMEs in developing countries, specifically in the Mozambican context, institutionalise e-commerce. Methodology: The study follows a qualitative inquiry approach for both data collection and analysis. Semi-structured interviews were adopted for data collection and thematic analysis implemented on the data. SMMEs were purposively sampled to allow for the selection of information-rich SMMEs for study and specifically those that have gone through the experience of adoption and in some cases have institutionalized e-commerce. Contribution: The empirical findings explain how the institutionalization process from interactive e-commerce to transactive e-commerce unfolds in the Mozambican context. Findings: Transition from interactive to transactive e-commerce is firstly influenced by (i) the type of business the SMME is engaged in; and (ii) customer and trading partner’s readiness for e-commerce. Secondly, the transition process is influenced by the internal factors of (i) manager’s demographic factors; (ii) mimetic behaviour arising from exposure to (foreign) organizations in the same industry that have mature forms of e-commerce; (iii) the business networks developed with some of these organizations that have mature forms of e-commerce; (iv) access to financial resources; and (v) social media technologies. Thirdly, the process is influenced by external contextual factors of (i) limited government intervention towards e-commerce endeavors; (ii) limited to lack of financial institutions readiness for e-commerce; (iii) lack of local available IT expertise; (iv) consumer’s low purchasing power due to economic recessions; (vi) international competitive pressure; and (vii) sociocultural practices. Recommendations for Practitioners: The study provides SMME managers, practitioners, and other stakeholders concerned with women’s development with a better understanding of the process in order to develop appropriate policies and interventions that are suitable for the reality of women-led SMMEs in Mozambique and other developing countries with similar contextual characteristics. Recommendation for Researchers: The study contributes to the existing debate of e-commerce and the use of ICT for development in developing countries by providing a distinct contribution of the institutionalization process and how the contextual structures influence this process. Impact on Society: Women-led SMME managers can learn from the different experiences, and compare their e-commerce efforts with SMMEs that were able to institutionalize and make strategies for improvements within their organizations. Future Research: The manner in which women-led SMMEs employ e-commerce requires further investigation to understand how issues related to gender, the cultural context, and different regions or countries impact this process.

International Knowledge Spillovers

How important is foreign knowledge for domestic innovation outcomes? How is this relation shaped by globalization and the attendant intensification of international competition? Our empirical approach extends the previous literature by analyzing a large panel comprising industries in both advanced and emerging economies over the past two decades. We find that barriers to the domestic diffusion of foreign knowledge have fallen significantly for emerging economies. For all countries, and especially for emerging economies, inflows of foreign knowledge have a growing and quantitatively important impact on domestic innovation. Controlling for the amount of domestic R&D, we find evidence that increases in international competitive pressure at the industry level had a positive effect on domestic innovation outcomes

Corporate Social Responsibility and Culture: The case of the largest Greek Commercial Bank.

Throughout the years, the banking sector has encountered many challenges and undergone numerous changes in an effort of keeping up with international expectations, regulatory initiatives and competitive pressures. On the one hand, banks have been diversifying their activities in pursuit of customising their services to industries’ needs to increase their risk resilience and secure their marginal returns. On the other hand, they have been engaging in investments within the wider field of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The underlying value proposition of this mandate rests upon facilitating and further strengthening mutually beneficial relationships with the society while recognising the delicate balance and preservation of the natural environment. In this direction, many banks in the last decades tried to ensure their image through investments in the field of culture. The present research explicates the manifestation and operationalisation of CSR through investment realised for cultural objectives as part of the social aspect business responsibility. As such, we shift attention towards practices applied worldwide by the banking sector with respect to museums. Furthermore, we abide by a single case study approach and investigate the business model of the Cultural Foundation of Piraeus Bank (CFPB) as a CSR practice. Piraeus Bank is the largest commercial bank in Greece and CFPB constitutes a unique paradigm worldwide, since the bank not only contributes to the establishment of the museum in line with the majority of other banking initiatives that witness support through sponsorships but it is also actively engaged in its ongoing operations. The network of CFPB includes currently nine thematic museums in several locations throughout Greece. In light of these, we present how CFPB aligns and realises its activities in terms of financing, relationships between its network of museum with local communities as well as the promotional strategies deployed. Finally, we also discuss on potential future research avenues and implication derived for both academia and practice.

Industry- and firm-level determinants of employment relations in China: a two-level analysis

Factors influencing the adoption of human resource management (HRM) policies and practices are nested within the multilevel contexts of firms and industries. Institutional theory focuses on environmental pressure and suggests that an organization’s choice of an HR system is partly attributable to mimetic isomorphism. This paper contributes to the strategic HRM literature by estimating the relative effects of industry-level isomorphism and firm-level contingencies on employers’ choice of labor contracts. Drawing on different theoretical perspectives, this study examines multilevel environmental and organizational factors as determinants of HR systems and tests their impacts on the use of short-term labor contracts and weighted average labor contract duration, using a survey of 313 manufacturing plants in China. Utilizing a hierarchical linear model, our analysis shows that while most of the variance in HR systems occurred at the firm level, approximately 7% of the total variance in the four HR programs we studied are explained by industry-level factors. Findings suggest that international competitive pressure, capital intensity, firm size, unionization and ownership type have significant effects on use of labor contracts in a manufacturing context.

The Spanish Textile Industry Sans ATC Quota Protection

The Spanish textile and apparel manufacturing sectors have been badly impacted by the global recession as well as the removal of quotas that were in place with the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC). This study employs a cost function to investigate the presence of scale economies and the interrelationships among inputs of domestic capital, labor, and intermediate goods as well as outsourced (imported) intermediate products for the Spanish textile industry in a global environment that has become increasingly competitive. While there is evidence of scale economies at low output levels, there is also some evidence consistent with diseconomies of scale at the highest output levels. All of the inputs appear to be substitutes for one another except for domestic capital and outsourced intermediate goods. An important finding is that the demands for both labor and domestic intermediate goods have become increasingly sensitive to the prices of outsourced inputs. The estimated coefficients of dummy variables indicate that reduced international trade restrictions have put downward pressure on unit cost for the industry in recent years. These results suggest that the Spanish textile industry and its domestic suppliers will be increasingly challenged by international competitive pressures.

Impact of Internal Capabilities, International Competitive Pressure and R&D Cooperation of Firms on Their Innovation Performance: Evidence from Madagascar

On the basis of a sample of 117 firms, this study aims at investigating the effect of firms’ internal capabilities consisted of Absorptive capacity, R&D capability, Production capability and one external factor having an influence on firms such as International competitive pressure, and also R&D Cooperation on their innovation performance with evidence from Madagascar. To test the three hypotheses formulated in this paper, a multiple linear regression is applied, with the innovation performance as the dependent variable. Our results reveal that while R&D capability and R&D Cooperation affect positively firms’ innovation performance; Absorptive capacity, Production capability and International competitive pressure did not demonstrate any positive impact on it. Therefore, our findings highlight two major points in the context of developing countries’ firms to shape and reinforce their innovation performance: to conduct R&D activities and to engage in R&D Cooperation as means of strengthening their internal and external capabilities.

Research on Tactics of English Teaching to College Students by Modern Media Technology

Modern colleges are faced with the dual pressures of university reform and international competition, how to overcome difficulties, to play the role of modern English teaching in colleges and colleges to enhance the core competitiveness of colleges, colleges and colleges modern English teaching problems to be solved. Based on the current situation of modern colleges in the premise of the Modern media platform fully demonstrated the characteristics and viability of the Modern media English teaching, the necessity of modern English teaching of college Modern media. Discusses the Modern media targeting English teaching and important role is in the English teaching to guide the development of modern colleges modern media.

Research of Network Information Platform Construction of ERP System in Manufacturing

Computer network system is a basis for enterprises to implement informatization construction , to a good network environment, System suitability, and security features of the system. Facing growing international and domestic competitive pressure, companies propose the development of a comprehensive information management strategy; in the process of enterprise Informationization construction, very important thing about the construction of network study environment for enterprises. Papers in reconciling efficiency, robustness, and security of the system on the basis of focusing on system "against" and "applicable" were studied.

Wage leadership models: A country-by-country analysis of the EMU

According to the theory of wage leadership, if there is free inter-sectoral labor mobility, changes in the level of the wage in the leading sector cause changes in the same direction in other sectors' wage. Moreover, since the traded sector (i.e. Industry) is affected by international competitive pressure, it should act as the leader, because this would be conducive to wage restraint. We apply a Vector Error Correction Model on four macro sectors (Industry, Services, Construction and the Public Sector) in ten EMU countries to test for wage leadership and wage adaptability. Our results show significant cross-country differences, with the Public Sector acting as the leader in Germany, Belgium and Greece. Countries that recently experienced a construction bubble such as Spain and Ireland show wage leadership of the construction sector. Moreover, in half of the countries, wages in different sectors are, to some extent, set autonomously, which suggests low inter-sectoral labor mobility. Finally, adjustment after a positive vs. negative shock to the leading sector's wage, in Mediterranean countries, Ireland and the Netherlands is asymmetric.

转型期中国城市化需注重人的现代化

本文通过对比国内外文献研究，特别是参考欧洲国家应对经济和城市化转型的措施，从中国现阶段经济和社会转型的角度，强调城市化过程中需注重人的现代化。改革开放以来，特别是近十年，随着城市化进程的加快和高速的经济增长，我国由中高收入国家向高收入国家迈进，但是人口和劳动力增长将接近拐点，经济增长率、经济结构也在发生变化，因此将会导致区域发展格局的变化。为了应对这些变化，城市化就不能只是单纯将农村人口市民化，需要注重改善新城市人口的素质，注重人的现代化转变。中国在应对国际金融危机、全球竞争压力方面，已经采取了两种主要措施：城市化战略、发展战略新兴产业。但是很多时候没有将两者的关系和作用做一个全面综合的整合。本文从中国现阶段经济和社会转型的角度，通过分析中国改革开放以来的经济社会数据，强调城市化过程中需注重人的现代化，以此整合城市化与产业转型的关系，让中国在世界经济危机的影响下保持持续的经济增长。 Compared with the research at home and abroad, this paper refers to European countries’ measures response to the urbanization and economic transformation. From the perspective of China's economic and social transformation, our research emphasizes that more attention should be paid to people’s Modernization. Since Chinese economic reform, especially in recent ten years with the accelerated process of urbanization and rapid economic growth, China has become the high-in- come country, but the population and labor force growth will be close to the inflection point. Economic growth and economic structure are in changing. So it will change the pattern of regional development. In response to these changes, urbanization should not simply focus on citizens of the rural population, but also focus on improving the quality of the new urban population, modern transformation of people. In response to the international financial crisis and global competitive pressures, China has already taken two main measures: the strategy of urbanization and the Strategic emerging industries. But most of times, these two are not made as comprehensive and integrated. From the perspective of the economic and social transformation in China, by analyzing the economic and social data since China's reform and opening up, this paper emphasizes that more attention should be paid to People’s Modernization, in order to integrate urbanization and industrial transformation. Maybe it can help China maintain sustainable economic growth under the impact of the economic crisis.