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In order to alleviate China's crisis of marginalization in international trade, combined with the development characteristics of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, the development direction of the bonded cold chain business of Shanghai Yangshan Comprehensive Bonded Port Area was proposed. From a long-term perspective, a free trade zone integrating processing, logistics, finance, culture, and internal and external market trade was formed. By taking advantage of the huge consumption of imported food in the Yangtze river delta region, the policy advantages of Yangshan Port Area are exploited. Combined with the development of cross-border e-commerce, innovative experiences that could be replicated and promoted are formed. The results showed that the free trade zone is the development direction of the bonded port area. Therefore, the Shanghai Bonded Port Area should focus on the integration with the development of the free trade zone in the initial stage. This lays a solid foundation for the construction of the bonded port area as a comprehensive internal and external trade platform for ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and the domestic market. Research on the planning and layout of trade zones can help plan the future development of trade zones and their direction. The trade zone is pre-controlled. The efficiency of future construction and upgrading of the bonded area is improved. It is of great practical significance to the current development and construction of the Shanghai Bonded Port Area.

The economy of Fujian has caused tremendous development momentum and increased the economic exchanges between Taiwan and the mainland since the establishment of the free trade area of Fujian province. However, the contradiction between ecological protection and economic development should be considered on the basis of solving the problem of building trade zones. Performing regional trade zone planning from the ecological and economic perspectives is difficult, not only should the ecological and economic perspectives meet and emphasize the ecological and economical levels of interaction, but also achieve the optimization of eco-economic development potential of the free trade zone. In view of the above problems, according to the economy and resource allocation base of the new trade zone in Fujian Province, the space planning strategy development was carried out in this paper. In the overall layout of the new trade zone, the chain service area, the high-end service area, and the city near the port are taken as a major planning axis. North and South regions are gathering areas of shipping, logistics and new industries, developing on three partitions of function, improvement and advance around Haijing Road. The landscape is divided into Cai Jianwei mountain and Jing Kouyan mountain as the basis, and the third South China Sea Road and Haixin road form six corridors between mountain and sea. With the foundation of international cruise port development planning, the ease of east harbors should be promoted to north, and the development rhythm od airport planning areas should be strictly controlled, which can prepare for the later spatial release of the relocation of the airport from city planning areas. The main line of the important traffic node is reserved to improve the stock space, and the industrial neighborhood area near the central fishing port of Fujian and Taiwan is reserved, which can provide the regional space preparation for the planning of the new trade zone.

Since the reform and opening up, the economy of China has rapidly developed. The system, structure, mode, and pattern of the foreign trade in China must be adjusted accordingly to adapt to new economic normality. In this study, the main types of free trade areas worldwide were analyzed, and the necessary conditions for their successful development were examined on the basis of an ecological economic perspective. The Shanghai free trade area is a typical representative of a new type of Trade Zone in China. It introduces the principles of sustainable development, people oriented, green, low-carbon and other eco free trade zones. The planning characteristics of Shanghai free trade zone were studied from the point of view of planning economy and land use. Taking Shanghai Yangshan land free trade zone as an example, the planning research was carried out in terms of functional zoning, environment, transportation and facilities. In summary, this study provided theoretical and technical references for the construction of free trade areas and for the formulation of significant policies.

This paper aims to understand the dialectical relationship between place-making and identity formation of factory women in a free trade zone (FTZ) in the Global South.

Inspired by Judith Butler’s notions of performative acts and performativity, the paper uses poststructuralist discourse analysis to analyze data – oral and written texts – generated through a fieldwork study conducted in an FTZ in Sri Lanka.

Performative acts and the performativity of the occupants in the FTZ demarcate the boundary of the zone and articulate the identities of its occupants. Furthermore, the study shows that, in this process, such performativity and performative acts function as a form of “glue” to amalgamate the places of the zone space as kalape, a complex socio-geographical landscape in flux.

This study provides a new insight into the relationships between discursive-performative acts, place-making and identity formation of (factory) women in the neoliberalized (zone) space(s) of the Global South.

By articulating the FTZ as a (neoliberalized) space in a perpetual present, the study provides new insight into the relationships between performative acts, place-making and identity formation (of factory women) in the zone space.

Using the Shanghai pilot free trade zone (SPFTZ) as the testing ground for further reform and opening up,the links between global value chain (GVC) and pilot free trade zone (PFTZ) programs are mutually reinforcing. GVC creates opportunities for companies to use PFTZ to reduce their costs and increase their competitiveness, while PFTZ can facilitate the movement of goods within GVC and promote the development of GVC by attracting foreign investment. Overall, in SPFTZ, the industrial structure is promoted due to trade and investment facilitation, innovation promotion, and comprehensive service platform inside SPFTZ.

This study examined industrial upgrading in GVC (IUGVC) using five indicators under three quantitative dimensions: product, process, and skill upgrading. Difference-in-Differences (DID) model is employed for the impact assessment of SPFTZ. Parallel trend analysis and Granger causality analysis are performed to check the reliability of DID outcome. Finally, robustness test using exogenous control variables are carried out.

A positive impact of SPFTZ is found on IUGVC, which is due to promoting effect of SPFTZ on foreign direct investment and technological innovation. Based on the study's findings, policy recommendations are given, such as providing business support to enterprises operating inside a PFTZ.

From a GVC perspective, the impact of theSPFTZ establishment on IUGVC cannot be ignored, and is so far missing in the literature.

The paper aims to investigate the effects of several determinants of firm import intensity in US foreign trade zones (FTZs). Even though the major objective for the establishment of US FTZs is to encourage exports by facilitating the duty-free entry of imports, US firms have used it as a gateway to import goods into the US market. Currently, over 90 per cent of US FTZ output is consumed in the USA. The author examines the major determinants for such import intensity in US FTZs.

The study is based on a survey that was conducted to explore the factors that influence import intensity of firms operating in US FTZs.

The findings reveal that besides export orientation of firms, the most promising predictors of import intensity of firms operating in USA FTZs are the policy environment in the form of inverted tariff benefits and firm business strategy.

The findings are important for managers presently operating in US FTZs or intend to do so in future.

Even though there are numerous studies on free trade zones and exports, this is the first study to examine the import intensity of US FTZs and their determinants.

This paper addresses the geographical dimension of cross-border knowledge integration, expressed as the co-invention of patent filings and investigates the siting of patenting activities by major US corporations in China. Most importantly, the study looks into the patterns of international co-invention or the links of these locations to headquarters and other company subsidiaries.

The study explores the cases of six US multinationals that file international patent applications in China. The applications were analyzed based on the composition of invention teams and the locations of inventors.

The co-invented patent filings by US multinational enterprises (MNEs) in China demonstrate a high degree of US–Chinese subsidiary collaboration. Links with other subsidiaries are marginal, and at the same time, high levels of sole patenting by inventors in China point to competence-creating research and development (R&D) activities taking place.

The lack of subsidiary-subsidiary collaboration, especially subsidiaries in other emerging markets, indicates a less diversified strategy of leveraging internal networks of knowledge. This also implies that Chinese subsidiaries still lack attractiveness as partners in subsidiary-subsidiary co-invention. Only two companies in our sample, Procter & Gamble and Intel, demonstrate a highly diversified, integrated and transnational pattern of innovation management.

The paper contributes to the contextual understanding of the rich landscape of R&D activities of major US MNEs in China. By exploring these cases, the paper identifies a number of trends. First, the R&D activities in this sample are highly concentrated in technological clusters located in Beijing and Shanghai. Technological clustering is an important advantage of the innovation landscape in emerging markets. Second, the paper underscores the importance of differentiating between different types of co-invention. The patent applications in this sample tend to unite inventors mostly from the US and China, and so multi-country applications involving subsidiaries in other countries are rare. Thus, the level of integration outside the center-host bandwidth is low. However, Chinese subsidiaries demonstrate high levels of autonomy by filing single-country applications, which implies that they are building their own research identity.

These zones offer participants a wide variety of incentives and can be found in sizes ranging from a few square acres to entire large cities. The diversity among SEZs presents an opportunity for new research.

Special economic zones (SEZs) have grown exponentially in popularity during the past few decades, in size and scope. They are often lauded as instruments central to enhancing economic growth in developing countries. However, the empirical evidence on the relationship between SEZs and growth is inconclusive.

The analysis concludes that corruption leads to the creation of smaller zones that are likely the products of rent-seeking.

The authors argue that SEZs can be effective vehicles for rent-seeking, especially geographically small zones and develop an empirical model to explore the relationship between zone size and the impetus for the zone creation, namely corruption. Specifically, the authors analyze whether these small zones are vehicles of economic growth or manifestations of country wide corruption.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the information spillover of sovereign rating changes on the market valuation of bank stocks in Africa.

First, the authors apply event study methodology to evaluate the stock market reaction of African bank stocks on the announcement of sovereign rating changes. Second, the cross sections of the abnormal returns are examined by multivariate regression analyses. Third, the findings are proved for robustness.

The authors investigate how 37 African banks react to 203 African sovereign rating announcements from the three leading credit rating agencies over the period 2010-2016 and find that negative announcements trigger the significant positive stock reactions of African banks, especially contributed by banks in the non-reviewed African countries. These unusual reactions can be explained by the low integration and the severe information asymmetry of African capital markets. The authors further locate the influencing factors of banks’ reactions and show that rating downgrades magnify the abnormal effects while the membership of the African Free Trade Zone mildens the stock market reactions.

Limitations are given by the limited sample size. There are only limited numbers of publicly listed African banks with sufficient trading data.

The paper argues for a critical dependency of African bank equity valuation in the case of sovereign debt rating changes in neighbor countries. This observation is important for the risk assessment of African banking assets.

The paper is the first to examine stock market reactions on sovereign rating announcements for the evaluation of capital market integration in Africa. It thereby underlines the usefulness of this simply to apply approach as an instrument for ongoing examining the progress in capital market development in emerging countries.

A free trade area (FTA) is the designated economic area where bilateral trades between membership nations are tax-free. An FTA provides an important knowledge-sharing platform across cultures. Most studies discuss FTA issues from the perspectives of economics and international law. However, this study aims to analyse the challenges and opportunities relating to FTAs from a novel, integrative perspective of culture and knowledge management.

This study used a single-case study design to investigate the Sino-Vietnam bilateral trade conditions in the FTA of the Regional Economic Comprehensive Partnership. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in Yunnan province, China, with government officials and firm managers involved in Sino-Vietnam trade.

This study identifies three major challenges in the China-Vietnam case: the existence of a knowledge iceberg, the lack of deep mutual trust and the inconsistency of bilateral port policies. This study identifies three possible solutions to these challenges: creating different communication channels for knowledge sharing, building mutual trust and respect for knowledge sharing and reducing inconsistencies in the two border gate management systems.

Considering cross-cultural knowledge sharing, this study provides new insight and feasible guidance for better cooperation of member countries of FTAs all over the world.

This research is novel because it considers the FTA as a knowledge-sharing platform where the intersection of diverse cultural values and judgement may result in a variety of knowledge icebergs. Thus, this study enriches the FTA research by focussing on the intersection of culture and knowledge management.