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This paper aims to build and empirically test a multilevel framework integrating transaction cost economics and a resource-based view into a value co-creation ecosystem perspective to explain the chain- and firm-level effects of transaction-specific investments (TSIs) on supplier performance.

This paper investigates cross-level network effects using survey data from the List of Taiwanese Central Satellite Production Systems. A total of 34 buyers (hub firms) and 106 suppliers (satellite firms) from 34 supply chains responded to the survey.

Findings confirm that individual firms’ TSIs can foster co-specificity at the supply chain level, thereby improving supply chain integration (SCI). SCI can have a positive cross-level moderating effect on the TSI–performance relationship.

These two key concepts, value co-creation and co-specificity, extend the theoretical application of transaction cost theory and the resource-based view to cross-level study by contributing to the research on the TSI–performance relationship.

This study’s framework is a counter to the buyer–supplier–supplier relationships in which each actor who may have different goals can create value jointly and share benefits from their TSIs.

Owing to high co-specificity, being embedded in a well-integrated supply chain can be a threat when the environment is turbulent; for losing strategic flexibility, co-specificity and embeddedness may result in a collective adaptation concern. High degrees of SCI may slow the reaction to environmental turbulence for both buyers and suppliers.

Individual firms’ TSIs can foster co-specificity at the supply chain level, subsequently enhancing SCI. An integrated supply chain can be a collective asset that facilitates value co-creation. Individual firms can benefit from the sharing of collective value. SCI can also increase switching costs, thus reducing the likelihood of individual firm engaging in opportunistic behavior and cost safeguarding.

The Internet of Things (IoT) has attracted a lot of attention in both industrial and academic fields for recent years. Artificial intelligence (AI) has developed rapidly in recent years as well. AI naturally combines with the Internet of Things in various ways, enabling big data applications, machine learning algorithms, deep learning, knowledge discovery, neural networks and other technologies. The purpose of this paper is to provide state of the art in AI powered IoT and study smart public services in China.

This paper reviewed the articles published on AI powered IoT from 2009 to 2018. Case study as a research method has been chosen.

The AI powered IoT has been found in the areas of smart cities, healthcare, intelligent manufacturing and so on. First, this study summarizes recent research on AI powered IoT systematically; and second, this study identifies key research topics related to the field and real-world applications.

This research is of importance and significance to both industrial and academic fields researchers who need to understand the current and future development of intelligence in IoT. To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to review the literature on AI powered IoT from 2009 to 2018. This is also the first literature review on AI powered IoT with a case study of smart public service in China.

Penrose’s argument regarding the managerial constraint on continual expansion over two consecutive periods is termed the “Penrose effect,” a relatively less investigated premise in Penrose’s growth theory. The purpose of this paper is to empirically re-examine the Penrose effect from the perspective of upper echelons theory and investigated how top management team (TMT) composition influences the continual growth of a firm.

This study empirically tested the hypotheses based on a sample of listed manufacturing firms operating in Taiwan, a newly industrialized economy in the Asia–Pacific region. Moderated hierarchical regression analyses were applied to test hypotheses.

The empirical results suggest that low TMT diversity (in terms of educational, functional and team tenure diversity) is likely to engender a situation in which the Penrose effect might occur. Additionally, the results indicate that the proportion of functional executives plays a significant role in influencing the growth trend over two consecutive periods and may soften the impact of the Penrose effect.

This paper suggests that appropriate structuring of TMTs and appropriate management of their members’ backgrounds and team tenure diversity can help firms overcome the Penrose effect and grow continually. Furthermore, the proportion of functional executives in a TMT is influential.

This paper uniquely contributes to the theoretical and empirical development of Penrose’s growth theory, upper echelons theory and resource-based view concerning managerial resources.

Public safety issues are highly concerned by the state and public. As an emerging network technology and industrial mode, Internet of Things (IoT) has great application prospect because of its architecture advantages and technical features, and has drawn wide attention from all walks of life. With the development of IoT, especially the putting forward of concept of public safety IoT, IoT has been a certain degree of application in the field of public safety. Because of that, public safety regulatory technology is improved. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

By summarizing scholars’ research results, this paper analyzes the application of IoT in public safety regulation, points out the challenges in application, and then puts forward some suggestions, pointing out IoT development prospects in the area of public safety regulation.

The application of IoT in the field of public safety from the perspective of IoT architecture and the perspective of the main technologies of IoT is paid attention. And this market that IoT added to other services in the public sector would generate $4.6 trillion of net profit globally in the next decade. Therefore, government leaders and public safety organizations should start exploring the full potential that IoT could offer to public safety.

The research will develop the theory of IOT, which is valuable to strengthen the IOT technology innovation and the application extension. The application of IOT in public safety will enhance the ability to supervise the public safety and guarantee the safe social condition for people’s life. So it is valuable in theory and in practice.

This paper aims to analyze on‐site production and sources of construction wastes through data obtained from a detailed questionnaire survey and structured interviews conducted in Shenzhen.

A questionnaire survey is conducted to investigate the compositions of these construction waste and their sources. One hundred and ten copies are sent to governmental officers, designers, engineers, and contractors, and 84 responses are received, in which the respondent rate is about 76.4 percent.

According to the survey results, concrete, cement, brick, timber, tile, steel, and aluminum wastes are the main waste sources produced on construction sites. The sources of these wastes are varied. Suggestions to improve the existing waste situation are also discussed.

Various types of construction wastes are generated during construction activities. Expansion of construction wastes not only represents an enormous dissipation of resources but also results in serious environmental pollution, thus creating negative effects to the sustainable development of environmental industry and society. With the developing of economy and industry, waste problems have become more serious in recent years; therefore, waste management is becoming a pressing issue.

The purpose of this paper is to explore channel conflict from the small retailer’s perspective in the context of emerging economies. The study investigates the factors and probable outcomes of perceived channel conflict.

A qualitative research design is adopted. This study involves semi-structured in-depth interviews with 14 small retailers, selected through the purposive sampling technique, in a capital city of North India.

This exploratory study reveals five key reasons for channel conflict in the context of small retailers: coercive sources of power, retailer dependence, competitive intensity, retailer characteristics, and distributors’ role performance. The findings also highlight channel exit and passive acceptance as two probable outcomes of perceived channel conflict. Conflict may also lead to changes in the channel structure, which may significantly affect the success of multinational firms in emerging economies. The paper concludes with a discussion and presents an agenda for further research.

Channel conflict is a well-researched area, but the context of most existing studies has been larger retailers in developed economies. The findings of this study provide the reasons for and outcomes of the channel conflict encountered by small retailers in emerging economies. This study should be of interest to marketing managers, especially of consumer packaged goods firms, who want to succeed in emerging economies. These managers can use insights from the study to manage channel conflict in the context of small retailers.

This paper aims to investigate the effect of lubricant viscosity model with improver on friction and lubrication of piston skirt-cylinder liner conjunction.

A dynamic calculation model is established for the piston skirt-cylinder liner conjunction of a heavy-duty commercial diesel engine, to explore the effects of two kinds of lube oil viscosity models named after polyalkyle-metacrylate-1 (PAMA1) and styrene-isoprene-copolymer (SICP) improvers on the maximum oil film viscosity, the minimum oil film thickness, the peak oil film pressure, the maximum shear rate, the friction force and the total friction power loss.

The variation trends with the crank angle of the above parameters are not changed with the difference of improvers, while obvious numerical differences are found except the maximum oil film pressure. The minimum oil film thickness and maximum shear rate of PAMA1 are larger than that of SICP, the maximum oil film viscosity of SICP is larger than that of PAMA1, which indicates that the shear-thinning effect of PAMA1 is greater, the maximum friction force on the piston of SICP is larger than that of PAMA1, and the total friction power consumption is also larger, the average friction power consumptions of SICP and PAMA1 are 385.4 and 262.8 W, respectively, with the relative difference of 31.8 per cent.

The influence of different lubricating oil additive models on the lubrication and friction of piston skirt-cylinder liner conjunction is simulated and analyzed.

This study aims to integrate the perspectives offered by TAM and related models, respectively, the theory of values, to examine the impact of branded mobile shopping apps perceived value dimensions on continuance and recommendation intention.

A quantitative research was conducted online on a sample of 459 Romanian consumers to investigate how various facets of the perceived value of mobile shopping apps of some fashion brands influence continuance intention and the intention to recommend mobile apps. Sample selection implied a mixed non-probability method, convenience sampling and snowballing method, and the research hypotheses were tested using structural equation modelling (SEM) and path analysis.

This study validates significant positive relationships between perceived ubiquity, app incentive, respectively, epistemic value of branded mobile shopping apps and continuance intention, and between perceived hedonic value, social value, continuance intention and the intention to recommend branded mobile apps.

The research provides a deeper understanding of the influence played by the perceived value of mobile shopping apps on the consumer post-purchase behaviour and takes into consideration the mediating role of continuance intention for the perceived value and recommendation intention relationship.

The growth of Indian economy has brought with it significant increase in construction activities. These increased construction activities have further highlighted the problem of waste generation on construction sites. The purpose of this paper is to provide important insights and highlight some issues related to the implementation of effective waste management practices on construction sites in India.

This paper presents two cases and results from semi‐structured interviews which shed light on some of the major issues, challenges and drivers associated with the implementation of waste management in construction in India.

One of the key findings was that client preference and enforcement of existing laws could actually facilitate the implementation of waste minimisation effectively. Some of the practices being followed, and which are gaining more popularity, are waste quantification, waste segregation, and the implementation of 3Rs (reduce, recycle, and reuse). Congested construction sites, sites in heavily built‐up areas with no ability to have an alternate storage or staging location for materials, lack of ownership of waste due to the presence of multiple contractors on the construction site and lack of awareness and education among the construction workforce were regarded as major challenges associated with the implementation of waste minimisation practices in India.

The cases and the interviewees chosen were through the authors' links with the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC). The cases were LEED registered projects therefore issues dealing with green construction had been taken into account. These cases might not be representative of the entire country, as there are significantly high proportions of construction projects that are not as green, especially in smaller cities in India. However, the two cases do provide important insights and highlight some issues related to the implementation of effective waste management practices on construction sites in India. The individuals interviewed also had link with IGBC. They had been involved with the green building movement in India for a significant length of time. But the length and breadth of their experience gave them the ability to comment on state of the construction sector and its green as well as non‐green practices associated with waste management.

This paper presents an exploratory study which assesses the implementation of waste management practices in the Indian construction industry. It also highlights activities within different stages of a construction project that can lead to more effective waste management in the construction sector.

This study aims to help resolve some of the inconsistencies of the relationships between franchisor growth and its drivers in prior literature.

First, this study provides a meta-analysis with bivariate correlation analysis and moderation analysis. It then offers an additional analysis of secondary data to shed further light on the relationship between franchisor growth and its drivers.

This study confirms the diverse nature of the relationship between the various measures of growth and drivers. It finds that proportion of outlets franchised and brand reputation have the strongest relationships with geographic dispersion; age and proportion of outlets franchised have the strongest relationships with outlet growth rate; and size has the strongest relationship with the number of new outlets. In addition, these multiple relationships are moderated by all three research characteristics that this study investigates, including data source, time frame and industry context.

This meta-analysis merely offers an examination of the most commonly studied drivers and not a complete review of all potentially important variables. It calls for further research that examines the factors that lead to franchisor growth and performance in general.

Managers of young franchisors do not need to rush to expand their business across a wide range of geographic regions. Young franchisors instead should focus initially on gaining maturity, developing their business concept, building an attractive track record and improving their brand reputation. Beyond a strong brand and well-developed business concept, franchisors can attract potential franchisees by reassuring them and making them feel secure about their investment.

This study includes a bivariate analysis that was used to conduct a meta-analysis and also an empirical analysis of secondary data. By conducting the secondary data analysis, we were able to examine the extent to which the meta-analysis results of this study could be extended beyond the time period for papers included in the meta-analysis.