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The purpose of this work is to construct a grey entropy comprehensive evaluation model to measure the regional green innovation vitality (GIV) of 31 provinces in China.

The traditional grey relational proximity and grey relational similarity degree are integrated into the novel comprehensive grey evaluation framework. The evaluation system of regional green innovation vitality is constructed from three dimensions: economic development vitality, innovative transformation power and environmental protection efficacy. The weights of each indicator are obtained by the entropy weight method. The GIV of 31 provinces in China is measured based on provincial panel data from 2016 to 2020. The ward clustering and K-nearest-neighbor (KNN) algorithms are utilized to explore the regional green innovation discrepancies and promotion paths.

The novel grey evaluation method exhibits stronger ability to capture intrinsic patterns compared with two separate traditional grey relational models. Green innovation vitality shows obvious regional discrepancies. The Matthew effect of China's regional GIV is obvious, showing a basic trend of strong in the eastern but weak in the western areas. The comprehensive innovation vitality of economically developed provinces exhibits steady increasing trend year by year, while the innovation vitality of less developed regions shows an overall steady state of no fluctuation.

The grey entropy comprehensive relational model in this study is applied for the measurement and evaluation of regional GIV, which improves the one-sidedness of traditional grey relational analysis on the proximity or similarity among sequences. In addition, a three-dimensional evaluation system of regional GIV is constructed, which provides the practical guidance for the research of regional development strategic planning as well as promotion paths.

A comprehensive grey entropy relational model based on traditional grey incidence analysis (GIA) in terms of proximity and similarity is proposed. The three-dimensional evaluation system of China's regional GIV is constructed, which provides a new research perspective for regional innovation evaluation and expands the application scope of grey system theory.

“It should also be noted that the objective of convergence and equal distribution, including across under-performing areas, can hinder efforts to generate growth. Contrariwise, the objective of competitiveness can exacerbate regional and social inequalities, by targeting efforts on zones of excellence where projects achieve greater returns (dynamic major cities, higher levels of general education, the most advanced projects, infrastructures with the heaviest traffic, and so on). If cohesion policy and the Lisbon Strategy come into conflict, it must be borne in mind that the former, for the moment, is founded on a rather more solid legal foundation than the latter” European Commission (2005, p. 9)Adaptation of Cohesion Policy to the Enlarged Europe and the Lisbon and Gothenburg Objectives.

The study aims to assess the effectiveness of prevailing methods for quantifying physical climate risks. Its goal is to evaluate their utility in guiding financial decision-making within the real estate industry. Whilst climate risk has become a pivotal consideration in transaction and regulatory compliance, the existing tools for risk quantification frequently encounter criticism for their perceived lack of transparency and comparability.

We utilise a sequential exploratory mixed-methods analysis to integrate qualitative aspects of underlying tool characteristics with quantitative result divergence. In our qualitative analysis, we conduct interviews with companies providing risk quantification tools. We task these providers with quantifying the physical risk of a fictive pan-European real estate portfolio. Our approach involves an in-depth comparative analysis, hypothesis tests and regression to discern patterns in the variability of the results.

We observe significant variations in the quantification of physical risk for the pan-European portfolio, indicating limited utility for decision-making. The results highlight that variability is influenced by both the location of assets and the hazard. Identified reasons for discrepancies include differences in regional databases and models, variations in downscaling and corresponding scope, disparities in the definition of scores and systematic uncertainties.

The study assists market participants in comprehending both the quantification process and the implications associated with using tools for financial decision-making.

To our knowledge, this study presents the initial robust empirical evidence of variability in quantification outputs for physical risk within the real estate industry, coupled with an exploration of their underlying reasons.

Using different trade indices spanning 2018–2021, this chapter investigates Afghanistan's current patterns, prospects and barriers for intra- and inter-regional trade perspectives, emphasising the different pathways by which Afghanistan trades with Central Asian economies. The empirical findings demonstrate that the anticipated significance of trade between Afghanistan and Central Asia is double compared to the existing levels of trade. Furthermore, the analysis encompasses the categorisation of sectors based on the intensity of usage of production factors like resource, labour and technology. The analysis further elaborates on Afghanistan's trade potential with Central Asia and vice versa by highlighting the comparative advantage, diversification, complementarity and similarity in trade. The findings suggest that larger economies are rated higher than smaller ones as size and development level are essential factors in regional trade development. The most effective channels of regional trade development are price competitiveness measures, intra-industry trade and trade complementarities. These findings have a substantial influence on the development of different trade policy efforts to stimulate investment and trade within and among the two regions.

Taking urban-rural disparity into account, this research examines the current service provision of preschool education at the local level in China.

Following a qualitative design, the research is based on a case study on the preschool service provision in Luochuan County in China, with data collected from semi-structured interviews with grassroots officials and residents from the county’s rural and urban regions.

This research finds that preschool services are inefficiently delivered between the county’s rural and urban areas. While services are oversupplied in rural regions, the popular demand for urban kindergartens is inadequately addressed. Moreover, the tuition subsidy offered by the local government has drastically decreased in recent years.

This research is confined to a single-case study, so its findings are not necessarily applicable to all Chinese localities. Nevertheless, it proves that these problems in preschool service provision can be a result of the central authority’s tight control.

Given China’s rapid urbanization and fertility decline, this research argues that overinvestment in rural kindergartens can be a widespread phenomenon throughout China. It also suggests a decreasing popular demand for other public services, such as childcare, in Chinese rural regions. This research calls for special attention to the persistent regional discrepancy in preschool service standards and the welfare cuts after the revenue centralization reform.

This research contributes to a clearer picture of the current preschool service delivery by Chinese local governments, which remains largely underexplored by far. It also provides updates on the country’s long-existing urban-rural discrepancy in preschool services.

Given the importance of performance consistency of chain hotels in customers’ decision-making and service evaluation, this study aims to explore how consistently chain hotel brands offer quality service and carry out their performance from the eyes of customers through online reviews on TripAdvisor of the top five US hotel chains (i.e. Choice, Hilton, InterContinental, Marriott and Wyndham) and their brands.

The research objectives were achieved through methodological triangulation: business intelligence, data visualization analytics and statistical analyses. First, the data collection and pre-processing of consumer-generated media (CGM) (i.e. TripAdvisor online reviews) were performed using business intelligence for further analyses. Using data visualization analytics (i.e. box-and-whisker plot by region and brand), the geographic patterns of performance attributes (i.e. online review ratings, including location, sleep, cleanliness, room and service) were depicted. Using a series of analyses of variance and regression analyses, the results were further assessed for the impacts of brand performance inconsistency on consumers’ perceived value, sentiment and satisfaction.

The empirical results demonstrate that there are significant performance inconsistencies in performance attributes (location, sleep, cleanliness, room and service) by brands throughout the six regions in the US hotel market. More importantly, the findings confirm that brand performance consistency significantly influences consumers’ perceived service quality (i.e. perceived value, satisfaction and sentiment).

This study is one of the first attempts to empirically explore hotel brand performance consistency in the US hotel market from customer reviews on CGM. To measure hotel brand performance in the US hotel market, this study collected and analyzed user-generated big data for the top 5 US hotel chains through business intelligence, visualization analytics and statistical analysis. These integrated and novel research methods would help tourism and hospitality researchers analyze big data in an innovative data analytics approach. The findings of the study contribute to the tourism and hospitality field by confirming hotel brand performance inconsistency and such inconsistent performance affected customers’ service evaluations.

This study demonstrates the significant impact of hotel brand performance consistency on consumers’ perceived value, emotion and satisfaction. Considering that online reviews are perceived as a credible source of information, the findings suggest that the hotel industry pays special attention to brand performance consistency to improve consumers’ perceived value, emotion and satisfaction.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an analytical framework toward facilitating the quantitative measurement of interdisciplinary understanding regarding sustainable energy systems with an application in the area of capacity-building projects in higher education.

The analytical framework is developed using the portfolio representation measurement approach in combination with a survey questionnaire. The subsequent assessment is carried out using the statistical measure of mean signed deviation to capture variation from an established baseline across the project group and visualized via radar diagrams.

The results provide a quantitative assessment framework for evaluating the degree of interdisciplinary understanding in the project groups. The application of the framework to the DESIRE project indicates the most significant degree of variation across economic and regulatory dimensions of sustainability. Discrepancies in general and educational contexts are observed.

The exploitable value of the results is sensitive to the derivation of composite indicators of the dimensions defined as well as the survey design. The case study was carried out on an ex-post basis, potentially biasing the results reported and limiting their interpretability and theoretical value.

The analytical framework can be used as a basis for assessing and engaging in discussions on interdisciplinarity understanding at the outset of capacity-building projects.

The contribution of this paper is practical in scope and entails the development of a quantitative framework for measuring interdisciplinarity in the specific context of capacity-building projects in the field of sustainability research in higher education institutions.

This paper aims to investigate the patterns of and reasons for regional differences in entrepreneurship among Chinese provinces (excluding Hong Kong and Taiwan).

The paper employs a linear regression model to examine determinants of regional entrepreneurship in China.

Evidence suggests that provincial differences in entrepreneurship were directly related to local business growth, but not to factors such as level of local business development, urbanisation rate, level of market economy, level of salary and ratio of unemployment. The differences among economic growth in various regions contributed directly to differences in entrepreneurship.

There is a need to determine the spatial patterns of entrepreneurship by using panel data in a more sophisticated econometric model. A further investigation of regional entrepreneurship in China is planned for the near future.

Active entrepreneurship in a region can contribute to the economic growth of the region, leading to more active enterprising activities. It is therefore argued that one of the effective ways to boost entrepreneurship and small business development is to advance the economic growth of a region.

The paper adopts an industrial location perspective on determinants of business growth and its links with regional entrepreneurship.

This paper aims to explore how organizations use annual reporting for legitimacy purposes in the context of the ten recently privatised regional water companies in the UK. Although privatization required the water plcs to establish a distinctly different organizational legitimacy for themselves as customer‐focused companies commensurate with their new private sector status, it was clear from the nature of their privatization that they would experience difficulties in achieving this. Privatization did little to change their previous monopoly character, and this created discrepancy with the model of private sector companies operating in customer‐led competitive markets.

The paper uses a content analysis of statements concerning customer service in annual reports. The analysis examines the variety of ways in which the ten water plcs deployed both assertive and defensive impression management techniques in their attempts to gain, maintain and repair their legitimacy as customer‐focused companies.

The analysis emphasises the importance of the role of corporate reporting as a resource in legitimacy management. The paper also argues that, despite sustained efforts, the water plcs did not wholly succeed in persuading all their customers that the privatization of water was “a good thing”.

The paper will be valuable to researchers and practitioners alike, as it attempts to take further one's understanding of how organizations use corporate reporting for legitimacy purposes by examining a much more extreme case of the legitimacy problem than has been previously considered in the literature: namely, the need for an entirely new basis for corporate legitimacy.