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Against the background of sustainable development policies, the ESG performance of Chinese manufacturing enterprises is still generally poor. As the leading enterprises in the manufacturing industry, state-owned enterprises should take the lead in responding to the national call for sustainable development and actively explore the path to improve their ESG performance. This study aims to explore whether and how state-owned manufacturing enterprises can improve their poor ESG performance through digital transformation in the digital economy. This study takes Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share state-owned listed manufacturing enterprises as the research sample and constructs an unbalanced panel. OLS regression analysis is used to empirically test the impact of digital transformation on the ESG performance of the sample firms. Further attempts are made to discuss the influence mechanism of digital transformation from the perspectives of dynamic capabilities and the institutional environment through stepwise and hierarchical regression methods, respectively. The study shows that, firstly, digital transformation is an important influencing factor in promoting the improvement of enterprises' ESG performance, and at the same time, there are significant structural differences in this influence. Second, under the dynamic capability perspective, digital transformation can improve corporate ESG performance through an absorptive feedback mechanism, matching response mechanism, and innovation efficiency enhancement mechanism. Third, from the perspective of the institutional environment, the informal system has a significant positive moderating effect on the relationship between digital transformation and ESG performance, i.e., the informal system and digital transformation have a synergistic governance effect on corporate ESG performance. The moderating effect of the formal institutional environment on digital transformation and ESG performance is not significant. The findings of the study clarify the controversy over the relationship between digital transformation and ESG performance of manufacturing state-owned enterprises and enrich the research on the influencing factors of corporate ESG performance. It also provides a theoretical foundation and empirical evidence for manufacturing SOEs to improve ESG performance and lead to sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the background of the rapid development of digital economy, this paper empirically analyzes the impact of digital transformation on enterprise innovation and selects the panel data of China's Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed companies from 2013 to 2021 as the research objective is to study the impact of digital transformation on enterprise innovation from theoretical and empirical perspectives. First, we find that digital transformation accelerates enterprise innovation, a conclusion that has been validated through robustness testing. Second, digital transformation impacts enterprise innovation by enhancing productivity and information transparency. Third, financing constraints and financial redundancy play distinct regulatory roles in the process. Fourth, heterogeneity analysis finds that the role of digital transformation in promoting enterprise innovation has different effects in state-owned and non-state-owned enterprises, high-tech and non-high-tech enterprises, and enterprises with different life cycles. Finally, the functional analysis suggests that further investigation is needed to determine whether digital transformation can significantly promote the sustainable development of enterprises through innovation while also recognizing that this function may have a lag effect. Overall, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of digital transformation and innovation-driven practices and encourages more significant integration of the real and digital economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study employs a multilevel model, nesting firm observations within industry and province groups, to investigate the influences on corporate contributions to poverty alleviation while considering the industrial and provincial contexts. Using a sample of Chinese firms listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges between 2016 and 2019, we find that Herfindah-Hirschman Index (HHI) does not affect corporate contribution. The results show a significantly negative relationship between industry dynamism and a firm's substantial poverty contributions, as well as a significantly positive relationship between number of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in industry and the likelihood and extent of a firm's contributions. Moreover, a firm's likelihood to participate in anti-poverty activities and make substantial contributions is affected by more intense government intervention and lower per capita GDP. A province's poverty rate is positively associated with the extent of corporate investments in poverty alleviation. Additional analyses note that firms competitive in an industry that is less dynamic environment are more likely to invest funds into poverty alleviation instead of material contribution. Moreover, for firms headquartered in an industry with more SOEs and in provinces with a stronger government, a higher poverty rate and lower per capita GDP mean it is more likely for them to make both monetary and material contributions for anti-poverty campaigns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental protection and social obligation fulfillment have become hot subjects as the "dual carbon" approach has been developed and deepened. The ESG system is consistent with China's current policies, abandoning the traditional business philosophy of economic supremacy in favor of comprehensively measuring corporate social responsibility and sustainable development capability across three dimensions: environmental (E), social (S), and corporate governance (G), which receive widespread attention from all sectors of society. Based on observational data from A-share listed businesses in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2011 to 2020, this study empirically evaluates the influence and mechanism of ESG on government subsidies. The research results indicate that enterprises can receive more government subsidies by improving ESG performance. Mechanism analysis found that corporate transparency plays a positive mediating role in the process of ESG affecting government subsidies. Further research on political affiliation and property rights has found that companies without political affiliation are more inclined to receive more government subsidies by improving ESG performance, and the impact of political affiliation and ESG performance on government subsidies is mutually complementary. Enterprises with different property rights have different strengths of motivation to increase government subsidies by improving ESG performance. State owned enterprises (excluding central enterprises) are the strongest, followed by non-state-owned enterprises, and central enterprises are the weakest. Therefore, enterprises should be further encouraged to strengthen ESG construction, improve the quality of ESG information disclosure, improve resource allocation efficiency, and promote high-quality development of enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social network analysis technology is used, and the data of A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets from 2007 to 2019 are selected to test the impact of directors’ network position on corporate risk-taking and the moderating effect of social trust on the relationship between them. It is found that directors’ network position is significantly positively correlated with corporate risk-taking, and social trust strengthens the promoting role of directors’ network position on corporate risk-taking. Further tests find that under different social trust levels, directors’ network position can promote the risk-taking of state-owned and non-state-owned enterprises, but the moderating effect of social trust only exists in non-state-owned enterprises. Regardless of the degree of industrial competition, directors’ network position can promote corporate risk-taking, but social trust only plays a moderating effect when the degree of industrial competition is high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of China's development of modern environmental governance systems, it is crucial to recognise the vital role played by businesses. The internal impetus for environmental governance will be generated by accelerating the emergence of a universal industry trend of enterprises proactively fulfilling their environmental responsibilities. Therefore, this study utilises listed A-share companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2010 to 2020 as samples to investigate the peer impacts of corporate environmental responsibility (CER). It was discovered that industry peers across and within regions might influence CER. When companies meet their environmental duties, the peer effects of CER may be seen as convergent responsiveness to external pressure. In a cross-regional context, the combination of industry competitive pressure and severe environmental uncertainty may greatly amplify the peer implications of CER, and small businesses are more susceptible to convergence. In an intra-regional scenario, environmental regulatory pressure has dramatically diminished the peer effects of CER, and the high-level marketisation process ensures that environmental regulatory pressure will favour the independent fulfilment of CER. Moreover, this phenomenon is magnified in state-owned enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-carbon development is a future vision of corporate entities, and financialization is a development feature of those enti‑ ties in reality. Investigating the impact of corporate financialization on low-carbon technological innovation is of strategic significance for high-quality economic development and national industrial security. Taking the manufacturing enterprises listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen A-shares in China from 2011 to 2021 as samples, this paper empirically analyzed the impact of corporate financialization on low-carbon technological innovation, discussed the moderating role of the ‘motivational context’ of financialization in this impact, and further analyzed the non-financial impact mechanism of the ‘motivational context’ on low-carbon technological innovation. The re‑ search found that: ① The deepening of corporate financialization would inhibit the improvement of the enterprises’ low-carbon technological innovation level, and this inhibition effect had hysteresis and viscosity. After a series of robustness and endogenous tests, this conclusion was still valid. ② The inhibition effect of corporate financialization on the input and output of low-carbon technological innovation in state-owned enterprises was weaker than that of non-state-owned enterprises, and the inhibition effect on large-scale enterprises was weaker than that of small-scale enterprises. In non-state-owned enterprises and small-scale enterprises, the lag and viscosity effects of financialization on low-carbon technological innovation were more prominent. ③ Based on the perspective of ‘motivational con‑ text,’ it was found that the improvement of profitability optimism and industry competitiveness could effectively mitigate the inhibition effect of corporate financialization on low-carbon technological innovation, while the enhancement of internal financing constraints would aggravate the inhibition effect of financialization on low-carbon technological innovation. ④ The impact of internal and external ‘motivational context’ on low-carbon technological innovation had a non-financial impact channel mediated by managers’ environmental attention transfer. The improvement in profitability could be transferred to managers’ environmental attention, and the financing constraints and industrial competition intensity would be transferred out of managers’ environmental attention. This conclusion was still valid after the endogenous test of intermediary analysis. Therefore, based on the perspective of ‘motivational context,’ the research puts forward measures and policy suggestions to enhance the low-carbon technological innovation ability of enterprises from the aspects of improving the financial supervision of corporate entities, establishing their financial risk prevention system, alleviating their financing pressure, maintaining the benign competition order of the industries, and cultivating the environmental awareness of corporate managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earnings management refers to a company's use of either accounting techniques (accrual-based earnings management) or real economic activities (real earnings management) to manipulate reported earnings and mislead users of financial information. It often indicates serious ethical issues in a company's management, which will affect the reliability and sustainability of a firm's services in the supply chain. Using A-share listed Chinese firms on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges, we investigated the impacts of state ownership on management's decision to select real or accrual-based earnings management strategies. We found that state-owned enterprises (SOEs) tend to favor real earnings management over accrual-based earnings management more than non-SOEs. Furthermore, those SOEs that are controlled by the central government engage in real earnings management more often than those controlled by local governments. We also examined whether media attention and litigation interact with state ownership to affect earnings management. We found that SOEs, especially central SOEs, with a high level of media attention or an incidence of litigation, are more likely to use real earnings management. Our research can assist firms in making better decisions in selecting business partners and service suppliers in an emerging market through the assessment of management integrity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the process of promoting China’ s high-quality economic development, how to cope with the conflict between economic growth and environmental pollution in order to achieve sustainable development has become an important issue that needs to be ad⁃ dressed. The green credit policy is one of the most important green financial policies, and it is of great significance to analyze whether it can promote the sustainable development performance of enterprises. A conditional process effect model was constructed to explore the mechanism and boundary conditions of the green credit policy affecting the sustainable development performance of enterprises. Based on the panel data of Chinese manufacturing companies listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen A-shares from 2008 to 2019, we empirically analyzed the effects and mechanisms of the green credit policy on the sustainable development performance of enterprises. It was found that: ① The green credit policy promoted the financial performance and environmental social responsibility performance of high-pollution enterprises, i.e., the green credit policy improved the sustainable development performance of enterprises, and this result was robust. ② According to the heterogeneity analysis of enterprise characteristics and regional characteristics, the green credit policy had a positive impact on the sustainable development performance of large-scale enterprises, state-owned enterprises, enterprises with a high percentage of fixed assets, and enterprises in more market-oriented regions. ③ The mechanism test found that green innovation had a significant mediating effect on the impact of the green credit policy on the sustainable development performances of enterprises. At the same time, the promotion of the green credit policy on green innovation depended on the degree of relaxation of monetary policies. This means that the intermediary effect of green innovation would increase with the expansion of monetary policies and decrease with the tightening of such policies. Therefore, the study proposes that we should further improve the green credit policy system, ensure the continuous effectiveness of the policy, and implement the incentive and constraint mechanisms of the policy on enterprises. It emphasizes that we should get rid of the path dependence of technological innovation and highlight the key effect of green technological innovation and at the same time, use loose monetary policies to stimulate commercial banks to expand the scale of green credit and promote the sustainable development of enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tests the impact of local government debt on enterprise innovation based on 2011–2017 A-share non-financial enterprise data from Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges. The results show that the relationship between government debt and enterprise innovation relationship follows an inverted U-shaped pattern. Endogeneity processing and robustness test result confirm the results of the model built for this study. Heheterogeneity analysis finds that the inflection points of local government debt in large enterprises, non-SOEs (non-state-owned enterprises) and poorly financialized regions are lower. Financing constraints and corporate profits play a part of the intermediary effect in the inverted U-shaped relationship between local government debt and enterprise innovation. Further research shows that Digital finance plays a moderating role in the impact of local government debt on enterprise innovation. Therefore, to keep local government debt scale compliant and to maximize the efficiency of digital finance are of great significance in terms of boosting enterprise innovation and improve economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green industrial policy refers to the combination of various strategies formulated by the central or local governments, using green policy tools as a means to promote the green transformation and upgrading of industries. Green industrial policies encourage green innovation in enterprises and emphasize innovation-driven approaches to achieve high-quality development of the manufacturing industry. However, there are serious gaps in the evaluation studies on the implementation effects of China' s green industrial policies. The article considered the green financial reform and innovation pilot zone approved by the State Council in 2017 as an exogenous shock, and empirically examined the impact of pilot zones on green technological innovation in the manufacturing industry and its mechanism using the difference-in-differences method based on panel data of A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2011 to 2019. It was found that the establishment of the green finance reform and innovation pilot zones promoted green technology innovation in the manufacturing industry overall by alleviating financing constraints compared with non-pilot zone enterprises. Meanwhile, the credit resource allocation effect generated by green finance helped to guide the flow of financial resources from heavy polluting industries to green and clean industries, which not only alleviated the financing constraints of non-polluting enterprises in the pilot zones, but also aggravated the financing costs of polluting enterprises and pushed polluting enterprises to adopt green transformation. After introducing the dynamic perspective of enterprise life cycle, the results showed that the establishment of pilot zones was more likely to induce green technological innovation among mature enterprises in the manufacturing industry, and the impact on startups and declining enterprises was not significant. Furthermore, the heterogeneous effects of green finance were explored from the perspectives of regional market environment and enterprise ownership, and it was found that the innovation incentive effects of green finance were more significant in the sub-regions with higher factor market development and among state-owned enterprises. Based on the evaluation results of the above policy effects, the current regional green industrial policies formulated by the Chinese government with green finance as the main instrument can realize the green transformation and upgrading of manufacturing industries under the condition of internalizing the cost of environmental externalities. However, in the future, it is necessary to precisely promote the green finance reform and innovation pilot zones and continuously enrich the green finance products and tools in the pilot zones. This study provides rich theoretical and empirical evidence for green finance to gain a place in the environmental pollution control standards and governance system, and provides feasible ideas based on the perspective of green industrial policy to achieve the goals of carbon peak and carbon neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's economic growth has entered "new normal," and the task of reducing carbon emissions has become more onerous. Hence, this study aimed to explore whether China's carbon emissions trading pilot policy stimulated corporate green innovation capabilities. The data pertained to the green patent data of the listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges during 2008-2018. Using a difference-in-difference-in-differences (DDD) method, the study took advantage of the variations across regions, across enterprises, and across years and obtained several novel findings. First, the pilot carbon emissions trading policy significantly stimulated the green innovation capabilities of emission control companies in the pilot areas compared with enterprises in nonpilot areas and the nonemission control list. Second, the effect of the policy on the improvement in corporate green innovation capabilities might be driven by the improvement in corporate input factor allocation efficiency and the additional benefits that could be obtained from the carbon trading market. Third, the positive effect of the policy on the green innovation capabilities of state-owned enterprises was more significant. Therefore, the establishment and promotion of a unified national carbon emissions trading market and supporting mechanisms should be accelerated to achieve the balance of stable economic growth and carbon emission task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the ecological governance capacity is necessary in order to achieve high-quality economic development. As the main part of the promotion of social and economic development, enterprises' inefficient investment (overinvestment and underinvestment) has impeded the development of the economy chronically and steadily. Therefore, improving the efficiency of enterprises' capital allocation has become a problem that needs to be studied and solved urgently. This article mainly studies the influence of ecological governance capability on the enterprise capital configuration efficiency and mechanism of action by using Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed companies data from 2011 to 2017. The study found that ecological governance capability can remarkably strengthen the corporate capital allocation efficiency, and it can do so by improving corporate social responsibility (CSR). This conclusion is supported after the replacement of robustness tests, for example, the enterprise capital configuration efficiency and the measurement indicators of CSR. The heterogeneity test indicates that the ecological governance can obviously forward the enterprise capital configuration efficiency in state-owned enterprises and less-polluting enterprises. These findings can provide some theoretical support to the mechanism of ecological governance capacity effect on corporate capital allocation efficiency from the aspect of corporate social responsibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As for whether the customer risk leads to the inefficient investment of suppliers, 776 suppliers and customers of Shanghai and Shenzhen A-shares from 2007 to 2017 are chosen as the supply chain data of listed companies, the relationship between customer risk and supplier enterprise investment efficiency is studied by manual sorting, and the moderating effect of the nature of supply chain relationship on customer risk and enterprise investment efficiency is taken into account. According to the research, the customer risk will reduce the investment efficiency of supplier enterprises, which is manifested as underinvestment. Based on further research, the relationship is more significant in supplier enterprises with a higher customer concentration and state-owned enterprises that are customers and suppliers. The research of this paper enriches the relevant literature on investment efficiency and the relationship between customer and supplier, provides a new perspective for studying investment efficiency and the empirical evidence for risk prevention behavior among enterprises, and has important practical significance for supplier enterprises to choose core customers and manage customer relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the data of China's A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets from 2003 to 2014 and takes the pilot emission trading policy in 2007 for a quasinatural experiment to explore the role of the pilot emission trading policy in promoting enterprises' green technology innovation. The empirical research shows a Porter effect in the emission trading system in China. Specifically, first, the emission trading policy can significantly promote enterprises' green technology innovation in pilot areas. In addition, the incentive effect of emission trading policy on green technology innovation is significantly different due to the types of green patents. Second, the incentive effect of emission trading policy on enterprises' green technology innovation is different due to the nature and scale of enterprises. The incentive effect is greater in state-owned enterprises than in non-state-owned enterprises, and it is greater in large-scale enterprises than in small-scale enterprises. Finally, the incentive effect of emission trading policy on enterprises' green technology innovation has heterogeneity of regions. It has the greatest incentive effect in eastern region, followed by western region and then central region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of intellectual capital (IC) and its components (human, structural and relational capitals) on the performance of manufacturing listed companies in China. This paper also investigates the impacts of company ownership, industry attributes and region on the IC-performance relationship. Design/methodology/approach: The study uses the data of 953 manufacturing companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges over the period 2012–2016. The modified value-added intellectual coefficient (MVAIC) model is applied to measure IC efficiency. Finally, multiple regression analysis is employed to test the research hypotheses. Findings: This study reveals that IC can enhance firm performance in China's manufacturing sector. Overall, earnings are affected by physical capital, human capital (HC) and structural capital (SC), and profitability and productivity are influenced by physical capital, HC, SC and relational capital. Physical capital is the most influential contributor to firm performance. In addition, state-owned enterprises have a greater impact of IC on firm performance than private-owned enterprises; high-tech manufacturing companies have higher IC performance than non-high-tech manufacturing companies; manufacturing companies in China's eastern region have higher IC performance than the counterparts in central and western regions. Practical implications: The findings may help managers, stakeholders and policymakers in developing countries to effectively and efficiently manage their IC resources. Originality/value: This is the first study to evaluate IC and its relationship with firm performance among Chinese manufacturing listed companies using the MVAIC model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the ongoing pursuit of establishing a diversified environmental governance system, individuals, businesses, and various social groups are increasingly articulating their ecological demands in a conscious and organized manner. Recognizing the pivotal role of public attention (PA) in shaping business behavior is imperative for advancing a sustainable and environmentally friendly economy. Consequently, this study delves into the relationship between PA and corporate green innovation (CGI) by analyzing data from A-share industrial listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen spanning the years 2011–2020. The analysis employs fixed effects and a mediation model to provide a nuanced understanding of the dynamics involved. The study's findings underscore the following key points: (1) Elevated levels of public attention significantly influence CGI. (2) Government research and development (R&D) subsidies assume a regulatory role in the interplay between PA and CGI, particularly within state-owned enterprises, as well as the mining and manufacturing industries. However, it is noteworthy that an overly generous subsidy policy may inadvertently stifle corporate R&D innovation. (3) Government environmental regulations and corporate social responsibility indirectly shape the association between PA and corporate R&D innovation. Consequently, a fundamental strategy for fostering corporate green development lies in the effective management of government R&D subsidies and environmental regulations. Striking the right balance in these aspects while urging businesses to augment their sense of social responsibility is vital. This approach will pave the way for an efficient and enduring interaction system among the public, government, and companies, ultimately facilitating sustainable development and contributing to the realization of a beautiful China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fintech relies on emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data to bring a new business model to the financial system; can this new change promote corporate technological innovation? To explore this question, this paper examines the possible impact mechanism of Fintech on enterprise technological innovation based on the examination of the impact of Fintech on enterprise technological innovation through a panel fixed effects model, using A-share listed enterprises in Shanghai and Shenzhen markets in China from 2011–2019, and further explores whether there is heterogeneity in this impact among enterprises with different traits. The results show that Fintech development can significantly promote firm technological innovation and that Fintech can influence firm technological innovation through two mechanisms: alleviating firm financing constraints and providing market opportunities for firms to enhance their profitability. In addition, the driving effect of Fintech on technological innovation is more pronounced in new firms, state-owned enterprises, and nonborrowed and listed firms. Based on the conclusion, it is proposed that the government should enhance certain policy support for Fintech guided by emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, help Fintech empower the real economy, and at the same time promote the deep integration of Fintech and real enterprises, especially to strengthen the identification of Fintech for new enterprises and encourage state-owned enterprises to implement employee stock ownership system, as well as sound market construction to reduce barriers to listing of high-quality enterprises, so as to improve innovation policy effectiveness and provide a reference for the mitigation of enterprise innovation problems in the new situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the data of Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share-listed companies from 2008 to 2018 to construct the director networks as an indicator to explore the relationship between the company's director networks and the cost of equity capital and the influence of nature of property rights and the ownership structure on the aforementioned relationship. The research results demonstrate that director networks cannot effectively reduce the cost of equity capital. This conclusion verifies the "busy director hypothesis." With the increase in the director networks centrality, the increase in the cost of equity capital in non-state-owned listed companies is more significant compared with state-owned listed companies; equity concentration plays a significant negative regulatory role in the director networks centrality and affects the cost of equity capital. Compared with the networks centrality of independent director, the networks centrality of nonindependent director has a stronger negative effect on the cost of equity capital. This article broadens the perspective of corporate governance research and provides new ideas for listed companies to make financing decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research explores the pattern of institutional change and its underlying logic in China's recent land development governance. China's central government has been issuing national policies since 2012 to promote urban regeneration to improve land use efficiency and sustainability. Through the lens of historical institutionalism, this paper analyses the making and implementation of Shanghai's new urban regeneration policies since 2014, which was a response to the central state's mandate. Results show that the redevelopment mode encouraged by the municipal governments is financially unattractive to district governments and market entities. Pro-growth development governance maintains strong inertia since it has been embedded in interlocking institutional arrangements. However, the top-down campaign temporarily changed the power distribution among different levels of government and cultivated incremental institutional layering. A small range of redevelopment projects were implemented through political mobilisation of the state-owned enterprises' financial resources and the local cadre's attention. This paper concludes that the transformation of China's land development governance is an inevitably arduous top-down process, characterised by constant rescaling of the distribution of power and constant adjustments to reconcile the pro-growth inertia and the state mandate toward sustainability. • Adopting historical institutionalism, the paper focuses on power in urban governance. • Sustainable land development modes contradict China's pro-growth inertia. • Top-down political mobilisation drives the paradigm shift in urban redevelopment. • Political mobilisations temporarily alter power distribution and trigger institutional changes. • Arduous incremental institutional layering in urban governance is inevitable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there is general acceptance that urban governance in China is entrepreneurial in nature, little has been written about the precise ways in which Chinese cities implement entrepreneurial policies. In this article we argue that the primary agents of urban entrepreneurialism in China are urban investment and development companies (UIDCs), known in Chinese as chengtou for short. We start by defining UIDCs as a category of state‐owned enterprise, but one that is wholly owned by local (often city) governments. We note that in the literature UIDCs are generally recognized for their involvement in raising funds for projects and piling up hidden debts, but their multiple roles in urban development tend to be neglected. We introduce here four UIDCs that have been largely responsible for the transformation of Shanghai into a modern city spearheading Chinese state entrepreneurialism, and in doing so we delineate the full range of the activities of these urban business empires. We argue in particular that they represent a corporate involvement by the state in urban development—the state presenting itself in the guise of a market player, a corporate entity able to raise funds and act as if it were a private company. UIDCs are the driving force behind China's urban entrepreneurialism and are without a clear parallel elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing emphasis of the government on the importance of Party organisations in China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs), we need to pay more attention to its role in the operation of enterprises. As the research on board of directors emphasises the central position of the chairman, this paper focuses on the top leader of the Party organisation, namely the Party Committee Secretary. Based on upper echelon theory, this paper proposes the relationship between the technology background of a Party Committee Secretary and firm's innovation efficiency, and how this relationship is moderated by position duality and environment dynamism. Using the data of China's listed SOEs which issue A-shares in Shenzhen and Shanghai stock exchanges from 2014 to 2016 and operate in the manufacturing industry, the main effect and moderating effects are tested. We find that the existence of a Party Committee Secretary with technology background positively affects the SOE's innovation efficiency. In addition, this relationship is strengthened by environment dynamism. Our conclusions not only enrich literature about upper echelon theory and determinants of firm's innovation, but also are helpful for improving corporate governance in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although a coaching leadership style has an inherent advantage in predicting the subordinates’ career success, there is still little known about the linkage and the specific process by which coaching leadership influences career success. We examined the relationship between coaching leadership and subordinates’ career success, especially the mediating role of leader–member exchange (LMX), through a survey conducted with 301 supervisor–subordinate pairs of a large state-owned enterprise in Shanghai, China. Using Hayes’ PROCESS macro, we conducted a Sobel test and bootstrapping to test our hypotheses. As predicted, we found that coaching leadership was positively related to both subjective and objective career success of subordinates. In addition, LMX mediated the influence of coaching leadership on career success of subordinates. Our findings provide a new theoretical perspective for explaining the impact of coaching leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stimulating enterprises to implement environmental management system certification (EMSC, that is to say ISO14001 certification) to the greatest extent and resolving their obstacles in time are the basis for promoting green development of enterprises. Using the full samples of Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed industrial enterprises from 2010 to 2019, and employing the Logit model and Propensity Score Matching method (PSM), this paper empirically analyzes the motivations and obstacles for Chinese enterprises to implement EMSC certification, further explores the transformation between advantages and disadvantages under certain conditions, and the differentiation characteristics among enterprises under different social responsibility, property rights and enterprise size. The results show that: ① There is a "U"-shaped relationship between corporate social responsibility and EMSC, and the social responsibility of non-state-owned enterprises could realize the transformation from obstacle to motivation earlier than that of state-owned enterprises. ② There is an inverted "U"-shaped relationship between environmental regulation and EMSC, precisely speaking, this inverted "U"-shaped relationship only exists in non-state-owned enterprises, large-scale enterprises and enterprises with high social responsibility. ③ The public environmental awareness could promote enterprises to implement EMSC, and would strengthen the impact of environmental regulations on enterprises' implementation of EMSC. ④ Based on Propensity Score Matching method, it is concluded that Chinese enterprises indeed improve their environmental performance rather than their financial performance by EMSC. The conclusions provide helpful practical guidance for comprehensively revealing the motivations and obstacles for China's enterprises to implement EMSC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's social assistance programme ( dibao 低保) was introduced in Shanghai in 1993 and gradually extended to cover all urban areas by 1998. Due to massive economic restructuring, starting in the early 1990s, many urban dibao recipients were laid-off, that is, state-owned enterprise ( SOE) employees. Shanghai was the epicentre of SOE reform, and the dibao system was primarily introduced to provide a safety net for laid-off workers. In 2010, approximately 3 per cent of urban, permanent residents were on dibao, and 72 per cent of its recipients were working-age adults. We conducted longitudinal qualitative interviews five times over 2 years with 40 dibao families that contained adults of working age in a Shanghai district. The current study demonstrates how they managed their employment, income and the dibao system. Findings suggested that, for various reasons, there was insufficient motivation for recipients to gain reemployment and leave dibao. Furthermore, local cadres, which were responsible for assessing and recommending dibao applicants to the district government, likely just assumed the incomes of adults with working capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the impact of China's new Environmental Protection Law on the green innovation behaviour of listed companies in high-polluting industries. The implementation of China's strict and new Environmental Protection Law provides a quasi-natural experimental setting for examining the causal effect of environmental regulation on corporate green innovation. Based on data of the application for environmental patents of high-polluting firms listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 2010 to 2017, this study analyses the change in the green innovation behaviour of firms after the implementation of China's new and stringent Environmental Protection Law using the PSM-DID approach. We find that firms tend to file more applications for environmental patents, including patents for inventions and utility models after the implementation of the new Environmental Protection Law. Further analysis shows that while this effect is stronger for state-owned enterprises, it is weaker for firms headquartered in cities where economies depend more on the secondary industry. Firms in concentrated industries have more incentive to file applications for green invention patents than those in competitive industries. The study has important implications for policy makers on better implementing the environmental protection law in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green technology innovation is the principal approach to cleaner production and achieving sustainable development. This paper focuses on the impact of the synergy effect between external government subsidies and internal slack on green technology innovation, as well as the moderating role of ownership concentration in this process. Using China's data of the high-tech enterprises listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2011 to 2016, the hypotheses are tested based on the fixed effect model of negative binomial distribution. The results suggest that: a) the synergy of government subsidies and unabsorbed slack effectively improves the enterprises' green technical innovation, while the synergy of government subsidies and absorbed slack negatively affect the enterprises' green technical innovation; and b) ownership concentration positively moderates the relation between green technology innovation and the synergy of government subsidies and unabsorbed slack with a inverted U-shaped curve, while there is no significance in their absorbed slack counterparts. Moreover, the baseline conclusions are applicable to non-state-owned enterprises, while they differ in state-owned enterprises regarding the property heterogeneity: the synergistic effect between government subsidies and absorbed slack has no significance on the green technology innovation of these state-owned enterprises; and the ownership concentration positively moderates the relation between green technology innovation and the synergy of government subsidies and unabsorbed slack with a U-shaped curve. Thus, an integrated framework of public supported resources, internal resources and the ownership concentration is built to optimize the allocation of external and internal resources for enterprises to develop green new technologies and ultimately promote the sustainability of the environment. This paper focuses on the impact of synergy effect between external government subsidies and internal slack on green technology innovation, as well as the moderating role of ownership concentration in this process. Image 1 • Systematically integrates external subsidies, internal slack resources, ownership concentration and green technology innovation. • The synergy between subsidies and slack resources on green technology innovation is moderated by ownership concentration. • Both absorbed slack and unabsorbed slack are readily recombined with subsidies to promote green technology innovation. • The relationship among subsidies, slack resources, equity and green technology innovation is heterogeneous in property. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]