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Exploring the Lean and Green relationship goes back to the beginnings of Lean manufacturing. Most cases established that companies implementing Lean have Green results. However, there are Lean practices with a higher impact on Green, but others with less impact. Therefore, this paper presents research that explores the relationship between Lean and Green in manufacturing companies and aims to determine whether Lean practices have a higher association with Green aspects.

A survey was conducted amongst manufacturing firms to determine their Lean Index (LI). The internally related elements of the Lean construct determined each firm’s LI, whilst Cronbach alpha determined internal LI consistency. The survey also identified firms developing six Green aspects: International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) 14001, ISO 50001, general Green aspects and the specific aspects of materials, energy and water. An individual sample t-test shows different LI levels of association for each Green aspect. Binomial logistic regression shows the LI element association for each Green aspect.

LI is higher at firms reporting the inclusion of Green aspects. More than half of LI components have a statistically relevant association with the six Green aspects. In general, Ishikawa diagrams had the highest association with Green aspects whilst the lowest was seen in workers as improvement initiators. By grouping the LI elements into their categories, the Lean practices related to controlling processes have a higher association, whilst the involvement of employees has the lowest.

Further research found in this paper identifies the possibilities for investigating the specificities of each Lean tool to develop Green aspects in companies.

Practitioners learn that Lean and Green are not separate issues in business. This article provides evidence that Lean practices in place at companies are already associated with Green aspects, so integration may already be happening.

This paper provides specifics on the relationship between each Lean practice and developing Green aspects. Thus, this paper specifies the Lean practices that contribute most to Green efficiency to support the joint development of both themes.

This study examines the impact of China’s mixed-ownership reform on the innovation of non-state-owned acquirers, with a particular focus on the impact on firms with high financing constraints, low-quality accounting information or less tangible assets.

We use a proprietary dataset of firms listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges to investigate the impact of mixed ownership reform on non-state-owned enterprise (non-SOE) innovation. We employ regression analysis to examine the association between mixed ownership reform and firm innovation.

The study finds that non-state-owned firms can improve innovation by acquiring equity in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) under the reform. Eased financing constraints, lowered financing costs, better access to tax incentives or government subsidies, lowered agency costs, better accounting information quality and more credit loans are underlying the impact. Additionally, cross-ownership connections amongst non-SOE executives and government intervention strengthen the impact, whilst regional marketisation weakens it.

This study adds to the literature on the association between mixed ownership reform and firm innovation by focussing on the conditions under which this impact is stronger. It also sheds light on the policy implications for SOE reforms in emerging economies.

This study aims to investigate the satisfaction of farmers with the compensation policy for wildlife-caused damages and its influencing factors, analyze the current situation of satisfaction with the compensation policy among farmers, identify factors significantly affecting satisfaction, and explore ways to optimize the compensation policy and improve the satisfaction of farmers based on the effects of various influencing factors.

The Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve in Yunnan Province, China, is selected as the research area for the study. Through field interviews, 370 valid questionnaires were collected to obtain relevant data on farmers' satisfaction with the compensation policy for wildlife-caused damages. The Oprobit model is utilized to explore the factors influencing farmer satisfaction and to analyze their underlying reasons.

The study reveals that farmers in the communities surrounding the Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve generally experience low satisfaction with the compensation policy, particularly concerning satisfaction with compensation amounts, which tends to be dissatisfied on average. Satisfaction with the compensation policy is significantly influenced by individual characteristics and household labor structure, while the degree of human-wildlife conflict, wildlife conservation attitudes and household income structure have insignificant impact. Among individual characteristics, gender, education level, health status, and ethnicity are highly significant. In household labor structure, the number of agricultural laborers, non-agricultural laborers, and household agricultural labor time are highly significant.

Building on the overall satisfaction of farmers with the compensation policy, this study further decomposes policy satisfaction into satisfaction with compensation amounts, coverage, and procedures. It provides more targeted recommendations for enhancing satisfaction with the compensation policy, which can help effectively mitigate human-wildlife conflicts and achieve harmonious coexistence between humans and nature.

Independent directors are important corporate decision participants and makers. Based on the Chinese cultural background, this paper interprets the listing order of independent directors as independent directors’ status, exploring their influence on the corporate research and development (R&D) behavior.

This paper studies A-share listed firms in China from 2008 to 2018 as the sample. The main method is ordinary least square (OLS) regression. We also use other methods to deal with endogenous problems, such as the firm fixed effect method, change model method, two-stage instrumental variable method, and Heckman two-stage method.

(1) Higher independent directors’ status attribute to more effective exertion of supervision and consultation function, and positively enhance the corporate R&D investment. The increase of the independent director’ status by one standard deviation will increase the R&D investment by 4.6%. (2) The above effect is more influential in firms with stronger traditional culture atmosphere, higher information opacity and higher performance volatility. (3) High-status independent directors promote R&D investment by improving the scientificity of R&D evaluation and reducing information asymmetry. (4) The enhancing effect of independent director’ status on R&D investment is positively associated with the firm’s patent output and market value.

This paper contributes to understanding the relationship between the independent directors’ status and their duty execution from an embedded cultural background perspective. The findings of the study enlighten the improvement of corporate governance efficiency and the healthy development of the capital market.

Given the regional diversity in China, this study aims to provide an empirical evaluation of how organizational stakeholders (i.e. customers, employees, suppliers and shareholders) affect corporate environmental sustainability investment (ESI).

To empirically investigate the influence of organizational stakeholders on ESI, this study used regional-level data consists of Chinese A-share stocks for the years 2009–2019.

This study’s findings show that pressure from customers, employees and suppliers has a significant effect on corporate ESI, with customers being the most important stakeholder group. Shareholders, by contrast, have no significant influence on ESI. The influence of these pressures is more pronounced in developed regions (the east) than in less developed (the west) localities of China.

This study complements the stakeholder–institutional perspective by implying to consider the differentiated logics of the contesting stakeholders in the nonmarket operations.

Practically, this study poses that managers must realize the heterogeneity of pressures from stakeholders and the differentiated impact of these pressures keeping in view the institutional differences in different regions.

Our study reports initial empirical evidence that shows how regional differences influence the role of stakeholders in determining corporate environmental strategy.

This study aims to investigate the motivations for the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies among manufacturing firms in developing economies. Specifically, the effects of relative advantage of the technologies, competitive pressure, and government support on the adoption are explored. Moreover, the mediating role of top management support between environmental factors (government support and competitive pressure) and the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies is examined.

A research model is developed based on the technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework strengthened by institutional theory. Structural equation modeling (SEM) approach is employed to evaluate the model using data obtained from 215 manufacturing firms through a cross-industry survey. Additionally, a post-hoc analysis is conducted using cluster analysis and ANOVA.

The results show that competitive pressure and government support significantly promote top management support, which in turn contributes to the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies. Relative advantage of the technologies is not significantly related to the adoption.

This study does not explore the relationship between technology type and the specific needs of manufacturing firms. Future researchers can conduct a more comprehensive analysis by examining how different technology types align with the unique needs of individual companies.

The findings of this study have implications for both policymakers and managers. Policymakers can leverage these insights to understand the underlying motivations behind manufacturing firms' adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies and develop promoting policies. In turn, managers should keep an eye on government policies and utilize government support to facilitate technology adoption.

This study uncovers the underlying motivations—government support and competitive pressure—for the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies among manufacturing firms in developing economies. Meanwhile, it complements previous research by showing the mediating role of top management support between environmental factors (government support and competitive pressure) and the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies.