Search results

This study aims to focus on the optimal green R&D of a capital-constrained supply chain under different channel power structures as well as the impact of capital constraint, financing cost, channel power structure and cost-reducing efficiency on green R&D and supply chain profitability.

A two-echelon supply chain is considered. The upstream firm engages in green R&D but has capital constraints that can be overcome by external financing. Green R&D is beneficial to reduce production costs and increase consumer demand. Based on whether or not the upstream firm is capital constrained and dominates the supply chain, four models are developed.

Capital constraints significantly lower green R&D and supply chain profitability. Transferring leadership from the upstream to the downstream firms leads to higher green R&D levels and downstream firm profitability, whereas the upstream firm's profitability is increased (decreased) if green R&D investment efficiency is high (low) enough. Greater financing costs reduce green R&D and downstream firm profitability; however, the upstream firm's profitability under the model in which it functions as the follower increases if the initial capital is sufficient. More importantly, empirical analysis based on practice data is used to verify the theoretical results reported above.

This study reveals how upstream firms in supply chains decide green R&D decisions in situations with capital constraints, providing managers and governments with an understanding of the impact of capital constraint, channel power structure, financing cost and cost-reducing efficiency on supply chain green R&D and profitability.

The major contributions are the exploration of supply chain green R&D by taking into consideration channel power structures and cost-reducing efficiency and the validation of theoretical results using practice data.

In this research, the authors established a hierarchical motion planner for quadruped locomotion, which enables a parallel wheel-quadruped robot, the “BIT-NAZA” robot, to traverse rough three-dimensional (3-D) terrain.

Presented is a novel wheel-quadruped mobile robot with parallel driving mechanisms and based on the Stewart six degrees of freedom (6-DOF) platform. The task for traversing rough terrain is decomposed into two prospects: one is the configuration selection in terms of a local foothold cost map, in which the kinematic feasibility of parallel mechanism and terrain features are satisfied in heuristic search planning, and the other one is a whole-body controller to complete smooth and continuous motion transitions.

A fan-shaped foot search region focuses on footholds with a strong possibility of becoming foot placement, simplifying computation complexity. A receding horizon avoids kinematic deadlock during the search process and improves robot adaptation.

Both simulation and experimental results validated the proposed scenario available and appropriate for quadruped locomotion to traverse challenging 3-D terrains.

This paper analyzes kinematic workspace for a parallel robot with 6-DOF Stewart mechanism on both body and foot. A fan-shaped foot search region enhances computation efficiency. Receding horizon broadens the preview search to decrease the possibility of deadlock minima resulting from terrain variation.

This study investigates how social interaction-oriented content in broadcasters' live speech affects broadcast viewers' purchasing and gift-giving behaviors and how broadcaster popularity moderates social interaction-oriented content's effect on the two different behaviors in live-streaming commerce.

A research model was proposed and empirically tested using a panel data set collected from 537 live streams via Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok), one of the most popular live broadcast platforms in China. A fixed-effects negative binomial regression model was used to examine the proposed research model.

This study's results show that social interaction-oriented content in broadcasters' live speech has an inverted U-shaped relationship with broadcast viewers' purchasing behavior and shares a positive linear relationship with viewers' gift-giving behavior. Furthermore, broadcaster popularity significantly moderates the effect of social interaction-oriented content on viewers' purchasing and gift-giving behaviors.

This research enriches the literature on live-streaming commerce by investigating how social interaction-oriented content in broadcasters' live speech affects broadcast viewers' product-purchasing and gift-giving behaviors from the perspective of broadcast viewers' attention. Moreover, this study provides some practical guidelines for developing live speech content in the live-streaming commerce context.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a hybrid-simulated annealing algorithm to address the lacunas in production logistics. The primary focus is laid on the basic understanding of the critical quandary occurring in production logistics, and subsequently research attempts are undertaken to resolve the issue by developing a hybrid algorithm. A logistics problem associated with a flow shop (FS) having a string of jobs which need to be scheduled on m number of machines is considered.

An attempt is made here to introduce and further establish a hybrid-simulated annealing algorithm (NEHSAO) with a new scheme for neighbourhood solutions generation, outside inverse (OINV). The competence in terms of performance of the proposed algorithm is enhanced by incorporating a fast polynomial algorithm, NEH, which provides the initial seed. Additionally, a new cooling scheme (Ex-Log) is employed to enhance the capacity of the algorithm. The algorithm is tested on the benchmark problems of Carlier and Reeves and subsequently validated against other algorithms reported in related literature.

It is clearly observed that the performance of the proposed algorithm is far superior in most of the cases when compared to the other conventionally used algorithms. The proposed algorithm is then employed to a FS under dynamic conditions of machine breakdown, followed by formulation of three cases and finally identification of the best condition for scheduling under dynamic conditions.

This paper proposes an hybrid algorithm to reduce makespan. Practical implementation of this algorithm in industries would lower the makespan and help the organisation to increse their profit

Roofing is one of the most dangerous jobs in the construction industry. Due to factors such as lack of planning, training and use of precaution, roofing contractors and workers continuously violate the fall protection standards enforced by the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration. A preferable way to alleviate this situation is automating the process of non-compliance checking of safety standards through measurements conducted in site daily accumulated videos and photos. As a key component, the purpose of this paper is to devise a method to detect roofs in site images that is indispensable for such automation process.

This method represents roof objects through image segmentation and visual feature extraction. The visual features include colour, texture, compactness, contrast and the presence of roof corner. A classification algorithm is selected to use the derived representation for statistical learning and detection.

The experiments led to detection accuracy of 97.50 per cent, with over 15 per cent improvement in comparison to conventional classifiers, signifying the effectiveness of the proposed method.

This study did not test on images of roofs in the following conditions: roofs initially built without apparent appearance (e.g. structural roof framing completed and undergoing the sheathing process) and flat, barrel and dome roofs. From a standpoint of construction safety, while the present work is vital, coupling with semantic representation and analysis is still needed to allow for risk analysis of fall violations on roof sites.

This study is the first to address roof detection in site images. Its findings provide a basis to enable semantic representation of roof site objects of interests (e.g. co-existence and correlation among roof site, roofer, guardrail and personal fall arrest system) that is needed to automate the non-compliance checking of safety standards on roof sites.

Microblog has become an important tool of social marketing since 2010. Compared with traditional blog, microblog has several distinctive features, such as ease of use, viral transmission, high interactivity and real-time communication. Microblog provides a communication platform for companies and consumers; however, it challenges companies’ consumer-brand relationship management. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influencing mechanism of microblog interaction tactics on consumer-brand relationship.

Based on grounded theory, 66 representative companies’ posts on Weibo are collected, with 1,395 company posts and 5,959 following posts. An influence mechanism model of company microblog interaction tactics on consumer-brand relationship is proposed, then the saturation level of this mechanism is tested.

Results show that: first, companies adopt two types of tactics in microblog interaction: social interaction and task-oriented interaction; second, microblog interaction arises consumers’ emotional response and cognition toward specific brand and eventually influences consumer-brand relationship. Consumers’ emotional response includes pleasure and arousal, brand cognition includes perceived quality, perceived relatedness with companies and brand resonance; third, the influence mechanism differs among different consumer knowledge level, industry and brand awareness.

This study provides insight into the use of microblog interaction tactics. Companies may cross-use social interaction and task-oriented interaction tactics to enhance consumer-brand relationship. Companies need to produce microblog content based on the interests of consumers and further establish and improve fan feedback mechanism.

This paper constructs a model of the influence of company microblog interaction tactics on consumers. This study finds that co-creation activities initiated by companies are the new tactics to attract consumers on microblog. The finding adds new knowledge to the literature of company consumer interaction and provides a theoretical basis for the practice of microblog marketing.

This chapter examines China’s corporate governance and accounting environment that shapes the adoption of internationally acceptable principles and standards. Specifically, it examines international influences, including supranational organizations; foreign investors and international accounting firms; domestic institutional influences, including the political system, economic system, legal system, and cultural system; and accounting infrastructure. China’s convergence is driven by desired efficiency of the corporate sector and legitimacy of participating in the global market. Influenced heavily by international forces in the context of globalization, corporate governance and accounting practices are increasingly becoming in line with internationally acceptable standards and codes. While convergence assists China in obtaining legitimacy, improving efficiency is likely to be adversely affected given that corporate governance and accounting in China operate in an environment that differs considerably from those of Anglo-American countries. An examination of the corporate governance and accounting environment in China suggests heavy government involvement within underdeveloped institutions. While the Chinese government has made impressive progress in developing the corporate governance and accounting environment for the market economy, China’s unique institutional setting is likely to affect how the imported concepts are interpreted and implemented.

This study aims to examine entertainment TV shows' social media accounts to theoretically and practically explore the relationship between social media engagement and the performance (represented by ratings) of such shows.

By using the data of a popular TV show in the USA, The Voice, the present study examined the messages on the Facebook fan page of the show and how these messages correlated with the ratings of the show. Social media usage data in the course of three seasons (Seasons 10–12, 82 episodes in total) were collected from Facebook (N = 1,192,722 messages). Both regression and sentiment analysis were performed.

Overall, the findings revealed positive relationships of TV show ratings with both passive social media engagement (Facebook likes) and the number of official posts. However, active social media engagement was not positively related to show ratings.

By enhancing understanding of audience engagement with social media, our research extends knowledge related to the nature and development of viewer involvement with entertainment across different media platforms. Our results also help clarify how interpersonal communication (social media comments) and mass communication (TV programs) intersect. Practically, the findings could be applied to improve the interaction of TV audiences with show content, provide insights into the future of social TV development and inform decision-making amongst TV industry professionals.

Later in the discussion, the options for long run strategy in dealing with a possible takeover offer and other strategic options can be discussed by the class. Lack of familiarity by students with the role of the outside potential acquirer of the camp (in this case, a hotel chain) and the lack of familiarity with the role of an investor who is a family investor, who may wish to sell stock and use the proceeds for another purpose, or a small investor who invests because he or she uses the camp and takes advantage of the stockholder’s discount will probably preclude role playing, except in executive MBA classes where students have sufficient experience in possible takeover situations or in investment management, Emphasis should probably be placed on discussing the major issues, such as social and cultural issues and on marketing and public relations issues and on financial issues, including the options available in the event of a possible takeover effort. All of these issues are impacted fully by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Instructors will need to play an active role in teaching this case. It is recommended that the instructor give a short lecture or discussion at the beginning as to how a camp such as Camp Teddy functions. The authors recommend that the instructor then begin the case discussion by asking students questions about such issues as social and cultural issues and marketing and public relations issues.

Camp Teddy is a seasonal camp for families in rural Connecticut adjacent to New York City and suburbs in New York and Connecticut. It is technically a for-profit organization but operates more like a nonprofit organization because many of the campers own shares and have used the camp sometimes for several generations. The camp has traditions that are liked by many of the shareholders and campers. Although net income has increased in the past year, there does not seem to be enough funds to support necessary capital expenditures to improve facilities for the future. The largest stockholder has recently died. His immediate heirs’ control 300 of the 1,000 shares and other family members control 400 shares with the remaining 300 shares in the hands of small shareholders, many of whom use the camp each summer. A large hotel chain is interested in possibly acquiring the camp through a buyout or perhaps a hostile takeover, with a potential large gain to shareholders. The board of directors must consider a number of issues to insure good occupancy of the camp in the future and must decide what to do about a potential takeover attempt.

This case can be used in several courses, including investment management, hospitality management, corporate finance and business strategy. There are ethical and societal issues in the case, so that the case might also be used in courses looking at business, environment or business ethics. The case is best used at the graduate level, but it might be suitable for some advanced undergraduate courses.

This paper aims to collect the energy consumption data and carry out energy consumption analysis of chemical enterprises, which is helpful to grasp the working conditions of each equipment accurately and to perfect the demand side management (DSM) for the user in the terminal.

The paper proposes a load monitoring system of chemical enterprises to collect the energy consumption data and carry out energy consumption analysis. An Elman neural network based on sparrow search algorithm is proposed to predict the power consumption change and distribution trend of enterprises in the future production cycle. The calculation efficiency and prediction accuracy have been significantly improved.

The paper analyzes the energy saving effect of energy efficiency management as well as “avoiding peak and filling valley” measures, and reasonable control requirements and assumed conditions are put forward to study the operability of enterprise energy saving measures from the DSM.

Because of the chosen enterprise data, the prediction accuracy needs to be further improved. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed methodology further.

The paper includes implications for the development of energy consumption analysis and load forecasting of chemical enterprises and perfects the DSM for the user.

This paper fulfills an identified need to study how to forecast the power load and improve the management efficiency of energy consumption.