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The purpose of this paper is to analyze how internal-driven management innovation (IDMI) takes shape, which highlights the objective-oriented and problem-oriented property of the innovation.

Based on a case study of a new practice called 11X integration strategy in Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Holdings Limited, a Chinese pharmaceutical group in Guangdong province, through applying Grounded Theory the authors get a concise systematic framework of generation process that is more practical and more understandable than the counterparts in current literature.

First, this paper uncovers five stages and two parallel sub processes in the generation process of IDMI. The sub processes involves practical exploration process (i.e. primary activities) carried out by the internal change agents and theoretical support process (i.e. support activities) carried out by the external change agents. Second, by adopting a process perspective the authors are able to demonstrate how the different activities in both types of processes are combined over time in an intertwined way.

First, the case the authors studied is embedded in the context of China’s transitional economy, and the single case study limits us to make comparisons of the generation process of management innovation between different market economies. Second, the external-driven management innovation is still a field untouched. Third, in the research the authors explore the issues of how new management innovation is generated and implemented, but the authors do not systematically research on why different companies exhibit different levels of management innovativeness.

First, the findings suggest that firms should consciously and systematically invest in IDMI to create sustainable competitive advantage. Second, the process framework provides a clear guidance to the managers in Chinese state-owned enterprises who are engaged in developing or adopting management innovation. Third, the study indicates the managers in Chinese company should be aware of the importance of external change agents to IDMI. Fourth, this study could facilitate the enterprises to develop or adopt management innovation based on their real needs rather than just “jumping on the bandwagon” when adopting certain new management skills.

This study offers a new generation framework by identifying possible facilitators of IDMI that does not yet exist in extant literatures, and the two sub processes – the practical exploration process and the theoretical support process – deepen the understanding of the generation mechanisms of IDMI. Furthermore, the study contributes to reaching a better understanding of management innovation in the context of transitional economy such as China.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the rationale and synergies of a Japanese firm's acquisition of India's leading pharmaceutical firm, Ranbaxy, and to answer the following pertinent questions: could Ranbaxy have been able to survive and succeed, had the firm not gone for this strategic sale to a foreign firm? What is the rationale for this strategic sale immediately after undertaking many major acquisitions during the previous two‐year period? For what strategic reasons did a Japanese firm pay a premium price for this international acquisition?

An exploratory method was used in this study to analyze the rationale and synergies of the acquisition. The method of case writing has been followed as a design (case situation first, then goes back to the past, then comes back to the current situation).

The findings confirm that Ranbaxy got a premium price for agreeing to be acquired for their share (much higher price than the market price). Japanese firm Dai‐Ichi got greater market access and control of Ranbaxy, which were driving factors for them to pay a higher share price for Ranbaxy.

This original study gives insight into the points to be taken into consideration while thinking about international acquisitions.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of corporate environmental responsibility (CER) on corporate cash holdings. This paper also investigates the moderating effects of ownership type and institutional environment between CER and corporate cash holdings.

This study uses the data of the most polluting listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchange markets over the period 2010–2019. CER data from Hexun.com (a professional CSR evaluation system) are used to measure CER performance. Two proxies are used to measure the level of cash holdings simultaneously, where CASH1 is calculated as the ratio of cash and cash equivalents to total assets, and CASH2 is calculated as the ratio of cash and cash equivalents to net assets (total assets minus cash and cash equivalents). Finally, multiple regression analysis is applied to test the research hypotheses.

The results show that environmentally responsible companies hold substantially less cash, and the result is statistically significant and robust even after using firm fixed effects and applying alternative measures of cash holdings or alleviating potential endogeneity. In addition, the results of cross-sectional tests show that the negative relation between CER and corporate cash holdings is concentrated among non-state-owned enterprises, and firms in provinces with more developed institutions. Furthermore, the result of the analysis of the economic consequence shows CER significantly increases the value of cash holdings.

This study focuses on China's institutional context, which limits the generalizability of the findings to other countries. However, the objective of this research can be studied in other institutional settings, so the above limitations provide a springboard for further research. Furthermore, the environmental protection investment, green technology innovation, and even pollutant discharge of companies can also be important indicators to measure the performance of firms in fulfilling their environmental responsibilities, which can be considered in future research.

The findings of this study may help company management in China to establish a correct view of environmental responsibility to achieve corporate value creation and corporate sustainability. And our research can also provide the policy reference value for the Chinese government to further improve environmental protection policies and systems, guide enterprises to conduct green production to realize the country's vision of an environmentally friendly society.

Based on the current background that countries in the world advocate the development of a green economy, this is the first study to examine the impacts of the environmental responsibility of the most polluting companies on corporate cash holdings and the value of cash holdings in the context of China, an emerging market.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the Chinese pharmaceutical sector through three levels: policy level, enterprise level, and technology level.

The authors explore the environmental impacts, which include political, social, and economic factors, study enterprise‐level strategies on international technology transfer and carry out a trend analysis on the technology development in the Chinese pharmaceutical industry.

The results indicate that China is emerging in the biopharmaceutical industry. While there are several steps to be taken at different levels, including policy, enterprise, and technology, the country is presenting a potential for the future. The paper outlines the gaps in each area.

The paper provides a very good outline against which any emerging economy could review its potential in the pharmaceutical industry.

The pharmaceutical industry in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been highly regulated, particularly ethical products. Promulgation of the socialist market economy and the recent reforms in national healthcare industry have compelled impetuses for change in the distribution systems, forms of investment of multinational pharmaceutical companies, and product/market strategies. The conventional wisdom on pioneer marketing may be challenged by these situations in the PRC. This study examines four markets that encompass both specialty and general pharmaceuticals so as to explore whether there is a product category effect on entry strategies. The findings indicate a possible synergistic effect of product category and order of entry. In addition, product life cycle has a direct impact on order of entry whereas brand position has an effect on product category. Both government policies and corporate strategies have implications on product categories and order of entry. The recent reforms in China have helped to build a foundation for pharmaceutical companies to conduct business in a manner that is similar to that of the developed countries. The entry strategies for pharmaceuticals may therefore involve more complicated considerations in accordance with these new arrangements in the legal and regulatory environments. Further research into relationships among these variables and the mediation effect is therefore indicated.

Although supply chain finance (SCF) aims to optimize capital flows in the supply chain process, its effectiveness in improving cost performance remains controversial. From the perspective of efficiency motives, this study aims to explore how the combinations of SCF solutions and traditional financing instruments lead to supply chain cost reduction.

A mixed-method approach is used in this study. First, using the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), the authors analyze 405 survey data across four industries in China and identify the configurations of financing instruments for supply chain cost reduction. Second, to better understand the reasons behind each configuration, the authors conduct the content analysis on the interview data composed of 24 Chinese companies.

The authors find that the effectiveness of SCF solutions for supply chain cost reduction is related to the focal company's use of traditional financing instruments. Moreover, compared with guaranteed financing, companies that use credit financing are more likely to adopt SCF solutions to achieve supply chain cost reduction. Finally, the effectiveness of SCF solutions in reducing supply chain costs varies greatly across industries.

The study’s findings provide insights for policymakers and SCF practitioners in the aspects of simplifying the SCF application.

This study contributes to the current literature by addressing the theory–practice gap related to SCF. The study also provides new understandings of factors related to supply chain cost reduction, as well as factors that influence SCF adoption.

Corporate digital transformation (DT) and top management team (TMT) internationalization seem to be concomitant phenomena in recent years, the former is a major change and a thorough transformation requiring continuously new technologies and ideas. Excitingly, the latter shows a relatively broad vision, a large risk appetite and interest in new things. Does TMT internationalization promote DT? This question is essential for DT. Given that, this article will aim to discuss and examine whether and how TMT internationalization affects corporate DT.

This article takes China's A-share listed manufacturing companies from 2011 to 2019 as a sample. The quantitative text analysis method is used to measure attention related to digitalization. This paper discusses: (1) The decision-making logic and cognitive process mechanism of “TMT internationalization–attention related to digitalization–corporate DT”. (2) The moderating effect of shared corporate mission of the TMT on the cognitive process of decision-making, that is, the social process of transforming individual cognition into team cognition, and the social process of transforming team cognition into corporate decision-making.

TMT internationalization promotes DT. As an external manifestation of team cognition, attention plays a positive role as an intermediary mechanism. Specifically, executives with overseas experience have higher urgency assessment and manageable assessment, thus affecting their attention to digitalization positively, thereby promoting DT. This article does not demonstrate the moderating effect of shared corporate mission on the cognitive process, but it promotes DT directly, and only plays a role in the precognitive stage.

This article is the first one to study the relationship between TMT internationalization and corporate DT, which has practical guiding significance for DT and the “going out” strategies of the TMT. Also, the combination of upper echelons theory and cognitive theory opens up the black box of the strategic process. Lastly, this research explores the formation process of team cognition, which is always neglected by previous studies of the TMT demographic characteristics.

This study aims to contribute to international doctrine by testing how environmental social governance (ESG) pillars can affect marketing performance in the pharmaceutical industry.

The authors follow a pioneering approach, using a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis and data from the largest European listed companies belonging to the pharmaceutical industry in 2019. Specifically, the authors contribute to international doctrine by testing how ESG pillars can affect marketing performance by presenting two configurational paths that may help to clarify not only the individual role of the pillars but also how their interrelationships predict marketing performance.

The results identify two different causal configurations that lead to higher marketing performance. These configurations allow us to think more carefully about the role of ESG pillars in the pharmaceutical sector. These results could help managers reflect upon and justify their choice to invest in specific ESG pillars, highlighting the importance of the governance pillar.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to use configurational analysis to investigate combinations of ESG pillars that lead firms to achieve higher levels of marketing performance.