Negative Effects Of Competition Research Articles

Multi-dimensional competition in local governments, performance pressures, and corporate green innovation in China

ABSTRACT Based on the panel data of China’s listed companies from 2009 to 2020, this paper examines the relationship between multi-dimensional competition among local governments and corporate green innovation. It also investigates the influencing mechanism of performance pressures in this relationship. The results show that (1) Government competition with different motives has heterogeneous effects on green innovation. Growth and fiscal competition negatively affect green innovation, while investment attraction and regulation competition significantly positively affect green innovation. (2) The performance pressure significantly reduces the negative effect of fiscal competition and enhances the positive effect of investment attraction and regulation competition. (3) The regional heterogeneity analysis shows that investment attraction competition positively affects green innovation in the eastern, central, and western regions. While the impact of growth and fiscal competition in the eastern region is insignificant, the former is significantly negative in the central and western regions.

The Negative Effect of Regional Banking Competition on Audit Quality: Evidence from China

ABSTRACT Using Chinese A-share listed data from 2007 to 2020, we reveal that increased competition in the banking system impairs the audit quality of banks’ credit clients, which is attributed to the loss of bank supervision. For firms with poor corporate governance or information quality, firms that hire auditors with low independence or high catering motivation, or firms in an immature external environment, such negative effect is more prominent. Furthermore, we indicate that firms are prone to shop for favorable audit opinions under high banking competition. Overall, we illustrate the negative effect of banking competition on auditors and provide meaningful implications.

Competition in French hospital: Does it impact the patient management in healthcare?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12pt; line-height: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;">This research paper examines changes in patient care management in acute care hospitals between 2001 and 2011. During this time, there were two opposing factors at play: the competition effect of the reform and the policymaker’s decision to reduce public hospitals across France. By studying the trends, it is evident that there has been a significant overall shift in patient care management during this period. This change could be attributed to the global competition effect and the concentration of in-patients in specific public facilities. Through the difference-in-difference method, the study analyzed time variations in the intensity of local competition. It was found that local competition had a negligible impact on patient care management. Additionally, the study revealed that there was a significant positive competition effect on high-technical procedures for the private sector, which is in line with the market segment where private sector hospitals have a leadership position and the pro-competitive reform intensified this position. The study also uncovered a negative competition effect on the length of stay for public hospitals. Prior to the implementation of the DRG-based payment reform, public sector hospitals were paid a global budget. However, after the reform was implemented, they had to shorten the length of stay to increase the number of stays. For-profit hospitals have always been paid based on the number of stays. The results are robust and consistent when alternative measures of local competition are used.</span></p>

Spatiotemporal variation in the negative effect of neighbourhood crowding on stem growth

Abstract Neighbourhood interactions drive tree growth and forest ecosystem functioning. The strength of interactions depends on the climate. However, it remains unclear how plant–plant interactions are modified by environmental conditions operating both spatially and temporally, which is crucial for predicting forest dynamics under climate change and for effective forest management. In this study, we used annual growth data for 4139 stems from 2010 to 2021 across 50 permanent forest plots located at six sites in eastern China. We quantified the effect of neighbourhood crowding on the annual basal area increment. We explored how interactions among neighbouring trees vary with water availability and temperature gradients in the spatial (across sites) and temporal (across time within sites) dimensions. Our findings revealed a negative impact of neighbourhood crowding on stem basal area growth, which is size‐ and trait‐dependent at some sites. The negative effects of light competition tended to be more intense at warmer sites, supporting the stress‐gradient hypothesis (SGH) in a spatial dimension. However, the patterns of crowding effects along interannual climate anomalies are inconsistent across sites, making it difficult to predict crowding effects under the SGH framework in a temporal dimension. Synthesis: Our study demonstrated that tree interactions depend on the climate context. The climate dependence of interactions may be inconsistent between the spatial and temporal dimensions. Light competition across sites supported the SGH in the spatial dimension but not in the temporal dimension. These results further highlight the complexity of biotic interactions and the need for caution when extrapolating findings from the spatial to the temporal dimension.

DARTS-PT-CORE: Collaborative and Regularized Perturbation-based Architecture Selection for differentiable NAS

DARTS-PT is a well-known differentiable NAS method that measures the operation strength through its contribution to the supernet performance, extracting architecture from the underlying supernet. However, persistent issues of degraded architecture in DARTS-PT have been identified in recent studies. In response, we undertake a comprehensive analysis of this performance degradation issue and identify two primary contributing factors: the unfavorable competition among correlated operations during the operation selection process and the unfair advantage of parameter-free operations within DARTS-PT supernet. Building upon these findings, we propose DARTS-PT-CORE, a novel architecture selection algorithm that incorporates a collaborative operation competition mechanism and a regularization technique in the perturbation-based architecture selection approach. Our method aims to mitigate the negative effects of competition among correlated operations, yielding more reliable operation contribution scores. Furthermore, our regularization technique addresses the unfair advantage of parameter-free operations, facilitating a more balanced architecture selection process. Extensive experiments conducted on various datasets and search spaces indicate that DARTS-PT-CORE outperforms other state of-the-art methods. Specifically, in the DARTS search space, DARTS-PT-CORE achieves 2.43% test error on CIFAR10 and 16.23% test error on CIFAR100, while the search time is less than 0.8 GPU days. When transferring to ImageNet, DARTS-PT-CORE achieves 24.97% top-1 error. Such results underscore the effectiveness of our method in enhancing the reliability and balance of architecture selection in differentiable NAS.

The Growth-Inhibitory Effect of Increased Planting Density Can Be Reduced by Abscisic Acid-Degrading Bacteria.

High-density planting can increase crop productivity per unit area of cultivated land. However, the application of this technology is limited by the inhibition of plant growth in the presence of neighbors, which is not only due to their competition for resources but is also caused by growth regulators. Specifically, the abscisic acid (ABA) accumulated in plants under increased density of planting has been shown to inhibit their growth. The goal of the present study was to test the hypothesis that bacteria capable of degrading ABA can reduce the growth inhibitory effect of competition among plants by reducing concentration of this hormone in plants and their environment. Lettuce plants were grown both individually and three per pot; the rhizosphere was inoculated with a strain of Pseudomonas plecoglossicida 2.4-D capable of degrading ABA. Plant growth was recorded in parallel with immunoassaying ABA concentration in the pots and plants. The presence of neighbors indeed inhibited the growth of non-inoculated lettuce plants. Bacterial inoculation positively affected the growth of grouped plants, reducing the negative effects of competition. The bacteria-induced increase in the mass of competing plants was greater than that in the single ones. ABA concentration was increased by the presence of neighbors both in soil and plant shoots associated with the inhibition of plant growth, but accumulation of this hormone as well as inhibition of the growth of grouped plants was prevented by bacteria. The results confirm the role of ABA in the response of plants to the presence of competitors as well as the possibility of reducing the negative effect of competition on plant productivity with the help of bacteria capable of degrading this hormone.

When and how to introduce upstream competition in an innovation supply chain

Considering an innovation supply chain with a primary supplier involvement in the new product development of a downstream manufacturer who sells to consumers, we address when and how to introduce a secondary supplier by applying order commitment besides innovation quality-dependent contract and revenue-sharing contract. Our results show that the secondary supplier should be invited after the new product development is achieved. The innovation quality-dependent order commitment contract can improve the innovation quality of the supply chain. The innovation quality-dependent wholesale price contract warrants the supplier's innovation quality to keep the same level as the single-supplier supply chain and improves the primary supplier's profit. The incentive effect of a revenue-sharing contract on the supplier's innovation quality is more substantial when introducing a secondary supplier after new product development than before. Furthermore, the negative effect of the supplier's competition on innovation quality and profit of the manufacturer can be alleviated by wholesale price decision-making power consignment. We also provide rich managerial insights into supplier involvement in new product development practices by analyzing the equilibrium behaviors and numerically simulating significant decision variables concerning the demand sensitivity to innovation quality.

Competition and banking efficiency in the WAEMU: The role of multinationals and institutions

This paper analyzes the effect of competition on bank efficiency in the WAEMU, taking into account the role of multinational banks and institutional quality, using data on 141 banks from 2000 to 2019. Using Lerner then Boone indices as a proxy for competition, we apply the One-step procedure, then the 2SLS-IV to control for endogeneity, the Tobit to control for the censored dependent variable, and the GMM for robustness check. The results show that competition negatively affects bank efficiency according to the current environment and structure of the WAEMU banking system. However, this relationship between competition and efficiency is non-linear and subject to a high threshold of competition. Furthermore, the results show that multinational banks are generally less efficient but more resilient to competition due to their level of capitalization, their ability to invest in innovation, and their networks. The estimates also show that corruption and political instability reduce bank efficiency and reinforce the negative effect of competition on efficiency. The relevant authorities should continue to advocate for a better institutional and political environment to ensure that the WAEMU banking system moves toward a first order optimum.

Local product market competition and investment home bias

Local product market competition introduces predation risk, which could lead firms to take advantage of local, non-industry investment options to avoid pressure from their local product market competitors. However, investment within competitive local product markets tends to be inefficient due to difficulties in obtaining information and coordinating actions. This inefficiency could extend to local, non-industry-specific investments, resulting in a negative effect of product market competition on a firm’s response to local, non-industry investment opportunities. Testing these two competing views, we find that firms in competitive local product markets show higher sensitivity to local, non-industry-specific investment signals, and that such sensitivity is associated with an increase in performance and market share. These results hold when addressing the potential endogeneity issue using an exogenous shock to local product market competition, a PSM technique, and an IV estimation. Furthermore, our results show that firms in competitive local product markets are also more likely to make local, non-industry acquisitions. Lastly, our results show that firms in competitive local product markets are more responsive to local, non-industry investment opportunities, primarily when they have low cash holdings, are financially unconstrained, or have little geographical diversification.

The effect of capitalization on the competition-stability Nexus: Evidence from dual banking systems

The purpose of this paper is investigate how bank capitalization affects the relationship between competition and bank stability in dual banking systems. Using bank-level and country-level data from 17 countries over the period 2000–2019, the evidence shows a U-shaped relationship between competition and bank stability highlighting the dual importance of the franchise value and the risk-shifting paradigms in dual banking systems. The comparative analysis between conventional banks (CBs, hereafter) and Islamic banks (IBs, hereafter) reveals that, compared to CBs, competition is more detrimental to the stability of IBs. Importantly, our analysis reveals that higher bank capitalization moderates the negative effect of competition on bank stability and that the magnitude of the effect is similar between CBs and IBs.

Measures Adopted by Romania Against the Negative Effects of Fiscal Competition and Trends of Fiscal Harmonization in the European Union

This paper aims to analyze the concept of tax competition, as well as the challenges currently facing Romania compared to the economy of the Member States to find the best solution to ensure a fair tax system for all EU citizens and for all businesses. I will emphasize EU efforts to address tax competition issues by implementing policies in each Member State to prevent tax fraud and evasion, thu

Animal and plant space-use drive plant diversity-productivity relationships.

Plant community productivity generally increases with biodiversity, but the strength of this relationship exhibits strong empirical variation. In meta-food-web simulations, we addressed if the spatial overlap in plants' resource access and animal space-use can explain such variability. We found that spatial overlap of plant resource access is a prerequisite for positive diversity-productivity relationships, but causes exploitative competition that can lead to competitive exclusion. Space-use of herbivores causes apparent competition among plants, resulting in negative relationships. However, space-use of larger top predators integrates sub-food webs composed of smaller species, offsetting the negative effects of exploitative and apparent competition and leading to strongly positive diversity-productivity relationships. Overall, our results show that spatial overlap of plants' resource access and animal space-use can greatly alter the strength and sign of such relationships. In particular, the scaling of animal space-use effects opens new perspectives for linking landscape processes without effects on biodiversity to productivity patterns.

Intraspecific trait variation as a mechanism of coexistence of congeneric blueberry (Vaccinium) species after forest harvesting

Understorey shrubs of boreal forests grow vigorously after canopy removing disturbance such as clearcutting and fire and dominate the post-disturbance community. Many of these dominant shrubs are morphologically and phylogenetically closely related. How do they coexist despite having similar traits and resource needs? One way the coexisting plants may avoid competition is by niche differentiation that may alleviate the negative effects of competition due to high niche overlap. We studied two blueberry species, Vaccinium angustifolium and V. myrtilloides often found in proximity to one another after forest harvesting to test the hypothesis that coexisting congeneric species differentiate their resource acquisition and use through variation in their functional traits (niche differentiation). Discovering the coexistence mechanisms of Vaccinium spp. that flourish after forest harvesting and fire is important from both theoretical and applied perspectives. Vaccinium spp. are dominant shrubs after forest harvesting and fire and constitute a significant food source for wildlife and health-conscious consumers and are also of cultural significance to indigenous peoples. From three post-harvest forest sites in northwestern Ontario, we measured cover of Vaccinium spp. in 81 1 × 1 m quadrats where they occurred alone and together. We then excavated 103 ramets of the two Vaccinium spp. occurring alone and together after measuring three habitat variables (organic matter depth, soil moisture and soil temperature) in the immediate surroundings of the excavated plants. We measured five functional traits: height, canopy diameter, specific leaf area, specific stem density and specific root length. Using these data, we calculated functional hypervolumes (niche space occupancy) of each species occurring alone and together. We also calculated probabilistic niche overlap between the two species as well as their reaction norms to habitat variables. We found that species hypervolumes changed in size, and the probability and degree of overlap between the two Vaccinium spp. changed when occurring alone and co-occurring. Linear regression showed no significant effect of habitat factors on traits. We detected high intraspecific variation in some traits leading to shifts in hypervolumes when they co-occurred. We conclude that at fine spatial scales (homogeneous habitats, open canopy condition) individual trait variation allows for niche complementarity promoting coexistence among these important, early succession, closely related species.

Business Intelligence Enabling Competitiveness: A Multi-Theoretical Analysis of South African Metals Manufacturers

The competitiveness of the South African metals manufacturers is under the spotlight, since new investments in the metals and engineering industry in South Africa have been poor, and growth in the Chinese trade has had a negative competitive effect on domestic metals manufacturing output and employment. The purpose of the study was to determine how supportive the business intelligence process is in enabling successful competitiveness in practice. A theoretical model was designed and empirically tested by metals manufacturers, where four theories were selected to act as mediators between the business intelligence process and successful competitiveness. This study tested four hypotheses by applying Spearman's rank-order correlations and a structural equation model. A total of 63 responses were received and analysed. The study found that the building blocks of the business intelligence process combined in a single factor do not directly lead to successful competitiveness, but only when all the theories' principles, combined into a single factor, act as mediators.

The dark side of foreign firm presence: How does the knowledge spillover from foreign direct investment influence the new venture performance

This study presented a comprehensive framework to explain how the knowledge spillover from foreign direct investment (FDI) influences domestic new venture performance. Referring to external (formal and informal institutional distances) and internal (foreign experience and learning orientation) factors, this study examined the external and internal factors as moderators in this relationship. Data were collected from 103 Chinese new ventures and China's inward FDI for 2017. The findings revealed that the negative competitive effect caused by foreign firms outweighs the FDI knowledge spillover effect. The results also indicated that external factors significantly influence the impact of foreign firms’ presence on the new venture performance, whereas the influence of internal factors was limited. The study highlighted the importance of incorporating the heterogeneity of domestic firms into FDI knowledge spillover research.

Import penetration and workplace safety

We examine how import penetration from China affects corporate workplace safety in U.S. manufacturing firms. Using Chinese import penetration to other eight developed countries as an instrument, we find that import penetration to the U.S. worsens worker safety. We identify two underlying economic mechanisms through which import penetration impairs workplace safety—resource constraints for safety-related investments and reduced employee safety compliance due to heightened job insecurity among U.S. workers. Finally, we find that the negative effect of import competition on worker safety is attenuated in firms that experience heightened product differentiation and market concentration, stronger union bargaining power, and higher level of social capital.

Who benefits from quality competition in health care? A theory and a laboratory experiment on the relevance of patient characteristics.

We study how competition between physicians affects the provision of medical care. In our theoretical model, physicians are faced with a heterogeneous patient population, in which patients systematically vary with regard to both their responsiveness to the provided quality of care and their state of health. We test the behavioral predictions derived from this model in a controlled laboratory experiment. In line with the model, we observe that competition significantly improves patient benefits as long as patients are able to respond to the quality provided. For those patients, who are not able to choose a physician, competition even decreases the patient benefit compared to a situation without competition. This decrease is in contrast to our theoretical prediction implying no change in benefits for passive patients. Deviations from patient-optimal treatment are highest for passive patients in need of a low quantity of medical services. With repetition, both, the positive effects of competition for active patients as well as the negative effects of competition for passive patients become more pronounced. Our results imply that competition can not only improve but also worsen patient outcome and that patients' responsiveness to quality is decisive.

Distributional Impacts of the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement

We examine the effects of the 1988 Canada-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on employment and earnings inequality among low-, medium-, and high-income Canadian workers initially employed in manufacturing. Although the FTA tariff cuts drove large changes in trade flows, we find generally small effects on employment and cumulative earnings during 1989-2004. Workers faced negative effects of import competition and positive effects of access to the US export market, but these effects were largely offset by transitions into other industries and sectors. The effect on earnings inequality was small, with point estimates implying a slight reduction in earnings inequality.

Temporal development of fish communities in brackish lagoons of the Baltic Sea considering the invasion of the non-indigenous round goby (Neogobius melanostomus)

Globally, successful invasions of non-indigenous species affect biodiversity and can push ecosystems beyond tipping points. This study aimed to identify factors that influence round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) abundances and distribution pathways along the eastern German coast of the Baltic Sea over a 12year period. The study further explored how the invasion of round goby affected the local fish and benthos assemblages in terms of species numbers and diversity. Round goby invaded various areas and estuaries and has established self-sustaining populations at low densities with further westward spread along the coast appearing to be ongoing. Salinity emerged as the most important predictor for overall round goby abundance, while the influence of macrozoobenthos abundance, vegetation cover, oxygen concentration, and water temperature were comparably low, indicating that round goby have a high tolerance in this regard. Negative impacts of round goby on benthic organisms and indigenous fish species, such as native gobiids, flounder (Platichthys flesus), ruffe (Gymnocephalus cernua), perch (Perca fluviatilis), pikeperch (Sander lucioperca), and cod (Gadus morhua), were not observed. This could be attributed to the comparably low densities of round goby at the sampling areas (0.0001 to 0.2 fish per m2) in combination with a potential surplus of benthic resources counteracting negative effects of predation and competition. The results suggest that its broad environmental adaptability could have enabled round goby to occupy a vacant ecological niche in coastal areas of the south-western Baltic Sea, which is generally considered to be species-poor due to strong environmental gradients. However, it cannot be excluded that certain effects of the round goby invasion may be too subtle to be detected. Thus, the results of our study underline the need for a specific long-term monitoring of the round goby invasion across taxa and habitats.

Free-ranging livestock cause forest understory degradation in giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) habitat

Free-ranging livestock are common in reserves established for giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca), which rely almost exclusively on bamboo in the montane forests of southwestern China. Previous studies have showed that overgrazing by livestock had led to a reduction in bamboo abundance. However, there is limited knowledge of how livestock impact the structure of the understory vegetation. Conducted in the Wanglang National Nature Reserve with a livestock exclosure experiment, our study aimed to fill this gap by examining the impact of livestock grazing on two important elements of forest understory bamboo and moss in giant panda habitat, and quantifying their recovery after excluding livestock. Measurements of bamboo and moss showed that both elements were severely degraded. With a closer examination, we found moss growth was worse in areas with dense bamboo or no bamboo at all, but better when there were many dead stems in bamboo clump, suggesting bamboo exerted both negative competition and positive shelter effects from livestock trampling on moss. Livestock exclusion with fence indeed exempted bamboo and moss from continuous damage which were exemplified by more bamboo shoots inside the fence and significantly decreased moss height outside the fence. However, we observed no recovery of damaged bamboo and moss inside fenced quadrats in two years. Neither the sprouted bamboo shoots matured into stems after the growing season, nor the height of moss increased. Collectively, our results suggested that long-term livestock grazing drastically altered understory layer of bamboo and moss and interactions in between, and there was hardly recovery of the understory bamboo and moss in a short term. Therefore, we recommend artificial intervention with bamboo and moss planting in severely degraded areas and long-term monitoring of understory vegetation to restore the habitat of giant panda.