Western Companies Research Articles

Huawei Is Quietly Dominating China’s Semiconductor Supply Chain

Huawei is emerging as the leader of China’s national team in semiconductors, dominating chip manufacturing and seeking to integrate the country’s entire supply chain. Its ambitions stem from both its placement on the U.S. Entity List and strong government support at the national and local level. Internationally, Huawei is coy about these ambitions, hiding its supply chain involvement and often operating under a different company’s name. Meanwhile, Huawei’s experience is also encouraging other Chinese technology companies to support China’s quest for chip self-sufficiency, developing new hardware and software for that purpose. The clandestine nature of Huawei’s involvement—it is not known who serves what role in semiconductor production—makes it more difficult for Western companies and governments to assess China’s progress in technology, vet potential partners and customers, and conduct risk assessments.

The role of open enterprises in overcoming the Middle-Technology Trap

This paper aims to unveil the role of openness in fostering enterprises to achieve technological progress. By conducting a comparative analysis of Chinese and Western companies’ supply chain strategies in the internet and new energy industries, the article finds that American enterprises have a higher level of supply chain openness than Chinese enterprises in both two industries. Based on the case analysis, that paper argues that openness plays a vital role in promoting technological innovation in enterprises. The profound influence of openness in promoting technological advancement may be observed through three aspects: openness at the technical level, openness in attracting talent, and openness in facilitating the development of rules and regulations. Accordingly, suggestions are proposed to assist Chinese enterprises in avoiding the “Middle-Technology Trap” through openness on the basis of legislation and public policy intervention. Meanwhile, the Chinese government is suggested to promote national coordination to establish a national unified market to realize the three levels of openness of the supply chain and industrial chain strategies: enterprise-level, domestic regional level, and international level.

Standardizing “green” extractivism: Chinese & Western environmental, social, and governance instruments in the critical mineral sector

As societies attempt to transition to low-carbon energy and reduce fossil fuel dependencies, mineral extractivism is reaching new heights globally. This trend is accompanied by a surge of Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) standards used to justify a perceived just transition. Through an analysis of 13 widely used international instruments and the ways mining companies adopt them, this article develops a comparative examination of Western and Chinese ESG practices, with a focus on guidelines and standards aimed at mitigating the socio-environmental impacts of extractivism. Despite conventional portrayals of Western and Chinese governance standards as disparate or in competition, we find their standards evolve in tandem and conversation in the context of the rush for critical minerals, underscoring the need to move beyond a Western-Chinese binary. This research also challenges the notion of China attempting to set global standards. Chinese companies increasingly embrace ESG principles due to reputational risks, national standardization efforts, and international partnerships. They, however, focus more on downstream stakeholders, while Western counterparts lean towards upstream considerations. Notably, guidelines are employed similarly by Western and Chinese companies, albeit influenced by geographical, material, and political considerations. We conclude with future directions for critical and social science research on climate-related extraction.

Digital Communication in Japanese Companies: The Corporate Blog. Current Trends, Challenges, and Future Perspectives

The present article examines the digital communication patterns exerted by domestic Japanese companies through Japanese-language blogging practices: main characteristics, current trends, challenges, and future tendencies at the intersection of Japanese corporate culture, communication, and the digital realm. After a concise literature review of Japanese corporate identity and predominant cultural features of Japanese management, we will conduct a qualitative content analysis on a selected corpus of Japanese language corporate blogs to investigate the digital corporate discourse (content, types of public, communication strategies, and techniques) on a national level and to inquire into the extent of the impact exerted by the digital evolution of media platforms and the emergence of new AI tools. The implications of the present research are twofold. First, the database we manually compiled contains only Japanese language sources, thus surpassing the linguistic barrier many Western academics confront when researching Asian countries and media content in Asian languages. Examining the Japanese language digital discourse of domestic companies in a post-pandemic globalized context bridges the unceasing gap between the West and the East, thus decentring the focal point from the Western companies and shifting the attention from English-language digital communication. Second, connecting the Japanese-language business discourse with domestic blogging platforms represents another aspect of particular importance neglected by previous research.

Russia and China: Motives, Opportunities, and Risks of Technological Partnership

After external trade restrictions were imposed on Russia and China in recent years, their access to foreign technologies decreased. This created new incentives for scientific and technological partnership between the two countries. In addition, an analysis of strategic documents indicates that the US and the EU are likely to increase economic and technological pressure in the future. This article analyzes China’s experience in shoring up technological sovereignty under sanctions, an exercise which can be instructive for many countries. China’s long-term scientific and technological policy follows a catch-up development model, which has enabled a transition from borrowing simple technologies via specialized institutions (joint ventures, special economic zones, etc.) to global leadership in R&D and technologies that has been made possible through developing human capital and applying preferential treatment to local innovative businesses. Although Russia is one of the world’s leading scientific and technological centers, to some extent it lags in developing high-tech businesses and exports. Moreover, for some time it has been importing advanced products and technologies, some of which are now being quickly replaced by Chinese versions as Western companies have exited. The article applies a SWOT analysis to Russian-Chinese scientific and technological cooperation in order to highlight the benefits of this collaboration, especially concerning machine tools, microelectronics, and aerospace. The benefits from such partnership will materialize for most high-tech industries over the long run by means of joint scientific research. However, one cannot ignore the risks for Russia due to increased technological dependence on a single partner and the potential outflow of personnel and technology, as well as risks for China related to potential secondary sanctions.

Development prospects for production of filtration equipment in the Russian Federation at the present stage

The article examines the challenges caused by changes in the global situation that the production of filtration equipment faced. The equipment is used for the petrochemical complex. The article assesses prospects for technological independence in the petrochemical complex, including the auxiliary market of filtration and separation equipment. The article provides a statistical analysis of the indicators of the Russian filtration sector and analyses the applied filtration and separation methods in a comparative manner. To determine the prospects of companies producing the corresponding equipment and its individual structural elements, the method of situational analysis was used, with the help of which the features of products manufactured at the present stage that influence the development of business in this economic segment are identified. With the method of economic forecasting, the perspective position of domestic manufacturers in the filtration market was determined. With consideration to the modern developments in the field of industry management and to the given basic concepts used in the management of western companies, the possible ways of introduction of advanced managerial decisions were proposed. It is done in order to improve the position of domestic producers, to develop business and to switch to a new level of product improvement, process optimisation, continuous development of companies’ approaches, and thus respond quickly to the emerging challenges.

Cultural differences in microblogging: How Western IT Companies adapt Twitter (X) activities to the Chinese Weibo context

Companies worldwide use microblogs to communicate with stakeholders, but there may be cultural differences in how they do it. A content analysis was conducted comparing Twitter (currently known as X) and Weibo accounts of four Western IT companies; Weibo accounts of four similar Chinese companies served as benchmarks. Results show that Western microblog activities differed in many respects from Chinese practices. Specifically, they focused more on technology and less on marketing and community-building. In their localization strategies, Western companies chose to adapt (e.g., paying attention to community building), not adapt (e.g., keeping their technological profile), or cautiously adapt (e.g., using somewhat more emojis or reluctantly experimenting with sweepstakes). Cultural differences on microblogging platforms are comprehensive and multifaceted and cannot be easily reduced to established cultural dimensions. Processes of cultural adaptation, therefore, depend on profound knowledge of the business environment and cultural differences.

User-Centric Cloud Framework for Enhanced Data Security by Applying UK Algorithm

Cloud storage is the technical boon which has become the realm of many companies like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Drop box and many more. Remarkably all these companies are US based and thus eventually the personal data of every other nation is stacked on the Western companies. This leads the dependant country to a state of vulnerable. However if the dependant countries need to get autonomy they had to be provided with their own cloud storage which is impossible with the current mechanisms. With the facility of high computational devices and wide infrastructure and with the aid of secured encryption the cloud storage providers strongly protect the data of the users and enable their best service to the users. Also the cloud storage providers use the encryption algorithm in the provider infrastructure and data from user to provider infrastructure is done using the secured transmission. Finally the powerful infrastructure does the work to secure the data. This mechanism is certainly possible in the developed countries. But it is relatively impossible in the developing countries like India as it cannot afford the huge infrastructure to protect the public data. Even done, it might not result in generating profit because the subscription rate is comparatively lower in India than in developed countries. So to pursue the less profitable module is not suggestive and hence the reliability on western country cloud storage is over whelming. However to overcome this set back and to implement indigenous cloud storage this paper has attempted to implement the UK algorithm in user device environment through which mini and micro level cloud storage shall be developed resulting in the minimal cost of maintaining the cloud storage. In this case, cloud Storage provider do not need to have either the huge infrastructure nor the computational devices to process the data and no need of separate data transmission to secure the data as well. Employing the encryption algorithm in user environment helps to give full authority to the user on their data. The CS provider holds only encrypted data of the user and with low cost consumption this method is feasible even for the developing country like India.

Automation and digitalisation of transport forwarding services or logistics

With the spread of globalisation, the transition of various states to common standards, including in the field of international freight transportation, becomes especially relevant. The purpose of this work is to assess the effectiveness of logistics in examples of countries that are members of the Commonwealth of Independent States, as well as the USA, to compare them and identify key trends in the development of the field of road freight transport. In this work, methods of statistical analysis and forecasting were applied, graphs of the logistics efficiency index of the countries studied were drawn up and the most promising international transport and logistics projects were identified. As a result, logistics performance indices were obtained in the context of indicators from 2007 to 2023, and the average Commonwealth indicator was determined and compared with a similar indicator of the USA. Also, key innovations in the field of transport services were considered, allowing Western companies to have a significant advantage in the development of logistics efficiency. The prospects of Commonwealth countries in the leading Eurasian transport corridors and the advantages of such integration in comparison with intra-union projects were determined.

Transformation of Russian Marketplaces Activities in Conditions of Sanctions Pressure

The policy of strengthening economic sanctions by the West could not but affect the activities of the trade sphere. In particular, the sanctions restrictions have had a significant impact on the functioning of Russian electronic trading platforms and marketplaces. Against the background of the departure of a large number of Western brands and retailers from Russia, the Russian representatives of marketplaces faced the urgent issue of developing strategic measures to overcome the crisis situation in the consumer market. An increasing number of consumers began to use the services of domestic marketplaces, which prompted their representatives to change their activities, taking into account the demands and conditions of the modern market. The article discusses the transformation issues of the domestic marketplaces functioning, based on the actual geo-political situation. The statistical and factor analysis carried out in the study allowed us to give an objective assessment of the situation in this business. In the process of studying and analyzing the latest regulations and sources of modern literature, a hypothesis was proposed, the essence of which is that this entrepreneurial niche left by Western companies after leaving the Russian market can be effectively filled with domestic electronic platforms. The author presents a specific toolkit for solving problems related to the domestic marketplaces activities. Among the tools used, special attention should be paid to measures for the application of optimal logistics models of interaction between trading business participants, as well as measures of a legal plan.

Practice and prospects of remote and hybrid work models in modern companies

The research of remote and hybrid formats of employees’ work in modern companies is carried out, advantages and disadvantages are revealed. The influence of different work formats on personnel involvement is considered. The tendencies of introduction of different work formats in Russian and Western companies are described. It’s analyzed the company’s decision–making transition from full–time work from office to a hybrid one.

The harms of terminology: why we should reject so-called “frontier AI”

In the mid-2023, promoters of artificial intelligence (AI) as an “existential risk” coined a new term, “frontier AI,” that refers to “highly capable foundation models that could possess dangerous capabilities sufficient to pose severe risks to public safety.” Promoters of this new term were able to disseminate it via the United Kingdom (UK) government’s Frontier AI Taskforce (formerly the Foundation Models Taskforce) as well as the UK’s AI Safety Summit, held in November 2023.I argue that adoption of the term “frontier AI” is harmful and contributes to AI hype. Promoting this new term is a way for its boosters to focus the public conversation around the AI-related risks they think are most important, namely “existential risk”—a scenario in which AI is able to bring about the destruction of humanity. Simultaneously, “frontier AI” is a re-branding exercise for the large-scale generative machine learning (ML) models that have been shown to cause severe and pervasive harms (including psychological, social, and environmental harms). Unlike “existential risk,” these harms are actual rather than theoretical, whereas the term “frontier AI” moves our collective focus away from actual harms to focus on hypothetical doomsday scenarios.Moreover, “frontier AI” as a term invokes the colonial mindset, further reinscribing the harmful dynamics between the handful of powerful Western companies who produce today’s generative AI models and the people of the “Global South” who are most likely to experience harm as a direct result of the development and deployment of these AI technologies.

When Firms Continue Doing Business in Aggressor Nations: A Refined Moral Decoupling Perspective on Consumer Response

Russia's invasion of Ukraine prompted many Western companies to pull out of the aggressor country. This study examines why and when consumers purchase from companies that choose to sustain operations in Russia. This study advances a refined moral decoupling model where effects of transgression relevance on purchase intention are channeled not only through judgments of performance and morality, but additionally through judgment of social responsibility. Results of an empirical study with four German companies and a sample of German consumers indicate that the relevance of a company's transgression influences consumer purchase intention through judgments of social responsibility and morality. This remains stable regardless of individual differences in moral decoupling. However, judgments of performance mediate a transgression's effects on purchase intention only with individuals who are less prone to decoupling. Effects of a company's perceived social responsibility on purchase intention are weaker with the politically more liberal than with the more conservative, whereas effects of morality are enhanced by a more liberal political orientation and the strength of a person's moral identity. These findings aid researchers and practitioners by advancing a refined moral decoupling framework that has greater relevance in the context of political conflict and war.

ОЦЕНКА СООТВЕТСТВИЯ БУРОВЫХ РЕАГЕНТОВ, ПОСТАВЛЯЕМЫХ ИЗ СЕВЕРНЫХ РАЙОНОВ КИТАЯ

The article presents the results of conformity assessment of reagents for oil well drilling, produced and supplied to Russia from China. The current state of Russian-Chinese co-operation in the field of supply of oilfield chemicals and reagents for drilling oil and gas wells is presented. It is shown that the import of xanthan gum and guar gum is necessary and alternative-free due to the lack of raw materials for the production of these types of drilling reagents in Russia. The relevance of the study is due to the current situation of sanctions pressure and trade and economic blockade by Western countries, which gives cooperation with China in various industrial areas a strategic nature. After the withdrawal of Western companies it was China that replaced huge volumes of chemical reagents for oil production, in this connection it is necessary to control Chinese chemistry in terms of efficiency and safety of application at oil and gas production facilities. The methods of viscometry, gravimetry, sieve analysis were used in this work. Two samples of xanthan resin and one sample of low viscosity polyanionic cellulose were tested. As a result of the tests it was shown that the quality of Chinese-made drilling reagents meets the requirements of Russian and international standards. In addition, new technical possibilities for viscosity determination on the rotational viscometer have been revealed, which consist in the possibility of using a rotational viscometer equipped with a torsion spring f1, instead of a rotational viscometer equipped with a torsion spring f0.2, specified in the international standard ISO 13500. The work also shows the unlikelihood of organochlorine compounds in the composition of polyanionic cellulose and xanthan gum.

CEO’s tendency to narcissism and optimism: The impact on a company’s debt burden before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Goal: to assess the impact of the level of the CEO’s optimism and narcissism on the capital structure of companies in the developed and emerging markets before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Metodology: the study is based on 100 Western companies from the “Forbes Global 2000” list and 50 leading Russian companies in terms of revenue and capitalization. The assessment of narcissism and optimism was carried out by application of text analysis based on the bag of words and the pronoun counting method. Using the Anglin dictionary, four manifestations of narcissism were assessed — superiority (manifestation of superiority), vanity (vanity), exhibitionism (narcissism), self-sufficiency (arrogance). The hypotheses about the relationship between a CEO’s personality characteristics (narcissism and optimism) and the company’s capital structure were tested by using panel regression with fixed effects. Findings: the study revealed that the influence of the behavioral characteristics of a CEO increased during the crisis period (pandemic), which may indicate the tendency of managers to act less rationally and more impulsively; the result was confirmed for both domestic and foreign managers. The interplay between narcissism and optimism has a similar trend with the level of debt burden in Russian and international companies, i.e. for decision-making, the personal characteristics of management are more important than regional business specifics. Originality and contribution of the authors: the study contributes to the literature on behavioral finance by assessing the impact of a CEO’s narcissism and optimism in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and expanding the existing work towards the analysis of crisis situations as well as behavioral finance in different economic and sociocultural areas. The paper proposes text analysis to assess personal characteristics of CEOs.

A Corpus-Assisted Comparative Study of Chinese and Western CEO Statements in Annual Reports: Discourse-Historical Approach

Abstract This study presents a corpus-assisted comparison of Chinese and Western chief executive officer statements in annual reports. Using two self-built corpora of 15 statements from 2017 to 2021 annual reports in three Chinese listed pharmaceutical companies, representative of Chinese companies, and 15 statements from 2017 to 2021 annual reports in one American multinational, one British multinational and one Australian listed corporation in the same industry, representative of Western companies, this study employs the Discourse-Historical Approach of Critical Discourse Studies and the corpus linguistic analysis tool Wmatrix5 to investigate linguistic means, discursive strategies and semantic domains of the two corpora. The study results show that Chinese CEOs tend to present an objective, authoritative and thriving “out-group” identity with strong awareness of environmental protection while Western CEOs tend to project an affiliative, inclusive and well-established “in-group” identity with leading industrial status and a global mindset. This study is of significance in understanding cross-cultural differences in projecting corporate identities through CEO statements in annual reports.

AIS Data Manipulation in the Illicit Global Oil Trade

This article takes a close look at the landscape of global navigation satellite system (GNSS) spoofing. It is well known that automated identification system (AIS) spoofing can be used for electronic warfare to conceal military activities in sensitive sea areas; however, recent events suggest that there is a similar interest of spoofing AIS signals for commercial purposes. The shipping industry is currently experiencing an unprecedented period of deceptive practices by tanker operators seeking to evade sanctions. Last year’s announcement of a price cap on Russian crude oil and a new ban on Western companies insuring Russian cargoes is setting the stage for an increase in illegal activity. Our research team identified and documented the AIS position falsification by tankers transporting Russian crude oil in closed ship-to-ship (STS) oil transfers. The identification of the falsified positions is based on the repeated instances of discrepancies between AIS location suggestions and satellite radar imagery indications. Using the data methods at our disposal, we reconstructed the true movements of certain tankers and encountered some surprising behavior. These false ship positions make it clear that we need effective tools and strategies to ensure the reliability and robustness of AISs.

Analysis of Freight Turnover Along the North-South International Transport Corridor and Assessment for the Transportation of Goods in Freight Trains According to a Fixed Schedule

In connection with recent events in the country, when the European Union imposes economic sanctions not only on individual enterprises, but even on entire industries of our country, one of the main tasks of the government is to protect and strengthen the national economy, reduce dependence on Western companies and establish ties with enterprises countries of Asia, Africa, Indochina. As a result, the North-South transport corridor is gaining great importance. The North-South ITC is an international transport corridor created for the efficient delivery of goods between the states of North-West Europe and the countries of the Caspian Basin, the Persian Gulf, Central, South and Southeast Asia, using the transport infrastructure of Russia. At the moment, this is one of the shortest routes connecting Russia with the countries of the Middle East, Southeast Asia and India. The purpose of the article is to analyze the volume of cargo transportation along the North-South ITC from Russia and the countries of China, Iran, Turkey, and India, as well as to assess the potential for the development of the corridor for the development of increasing volumes and transportation on a firm schedule.

The issue of economic and legal prerequisites for the emergence and development of compliance in the sphere of banking activities

The article examines the issue of prerequisites for the emergence and development of compliance, which is becoming increasingly widespread in the sphere of business in Ukraine. Compliance control is a necessary and mandatory element of the activities of Western companies, both financial and representatives of other areas of business. Compliance came to Ukraine relatively recently and has not become widespread in domestic business. The issue of compliance is relatively new not only for domestic financial science and law enforcement practice, but also for industries, agriculture, and medicine in the framework of control, prevention and prevention of risks associated with non­compliance with the requirements, rules, and regulations of the law. That is why in the field of ensuring banking security, it is necessary to comply with the requirements of the legislation regulating relations in the field of banking activity, with the aim of increasing the efficiency of operations, increasing competitiveness and investment attractiveness. Failure to comply with this requirement may cause irreversible consequences for the banking institution itself, for the state, as well as for investors, partners, shareholders and customers. Prevention of these negative consequences is the task of an effective banking compliance system as an element of Ukraine's economic security. For a better understanding of the meaning of the compliance procedure, in the article, the author singles out the economic and legal prerequisites for the emergence of compliance, its importance, development in Ukraine, and the consequences of applying this procedure. Recently, the banking system of Ukraine has been significantly affected by changes in economic conditions, namely military actions that caused a decrease in assets, created a large number of risks and threats for banking institutions. The current state of Ukrainian control over compliance with legislation in the compliance system in banking requires research and a critical analysis of its regulatory framework in Ukraine to determine effective directions for the development of legislation in this area. The author analyzed international compliance documents that define the principles of compliance, contain recommendations for building an effective compliance function, establish mechanisms for the implementation and functioning of the compliance control system, regulate issues of identification, assessment, management, and timely notification when compliance risks are identified.

Strategic Dilemmas of Western Corporations in Russia

This article presents the problems of designing the strategies of western companies that continue to own Russian assets, and identifies the main dilemmas of the strategic choice facing these companies: 1) to leave Russia or stay in Russia; 2) to leave as quickly as possible or profitable as possible; 4) if a decision is made to expand the business, then – ​do it with reduction of the share of innovation expenses in the gross profit (revenues) of the Russian division or with an increase of the share of innovation expenses in the gross profit (revenue). The article presents the difficulties of choosing between these options. The main difficulties related to the fact that criteria of decisions are in different domains (political and economic ones) and standard quantitative methods of analysis in many cases turn out to be unacceptable, since there is no single metric for comparing the consequences of decisions. In addition, the interests of decision-making actors are extremely heterogeneous, and the speed of the situation’s change exceeds the speed of decision-making procedures usual for international corporations. The article presents the main types of behavioral models of companies in high uncertainty, multidirectional pressure from various actors of the strategic process and the rapidly changing environment. The trends in the analysis of the behavior of companies under uncertainty that were developed in the literature are mainly associated with economic discourses. Situations of massive sanctions by western countries against Russia introduced political factors into the field of management studies. At the same time, the behavioral aspects of decision-making remain out of sight of most authors. We propose to use Kahneman's and Tversky's «prospect theory» approaches to analyze the situation, which helps to find an explanation for the observed phenomena and put forward hypotheses regarding the future behavior of western companies that are going to continue Russian assets.