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With the deep development of the new technological revolution and industrial transformation, the development, application, expansion and integration of digital technology provide opportunities for transforming the manufacturing industry from traditional manufacturing to intelligent manufacturing. However, little research currently focuses on analyzing the influencing factors of intelligent development in this field. There is a lack of research from the perspective of the digital innovation ecosystem to explore the intrinsic mechanism that drives intelligent development. Therefore, this article starts with high-end equipment manufacturing enterprises as the research subject to explore how their digital innovation ecosystem promotes the effectiveness of enterprise intelligent development, providing theoretical support and policy guidance for enterprises to achieve intelligent development at the current stage.

This article constructs a logical framework for the digital innovation ecosystem using a “three-layer core-periphery” structure, collects data using crawling for subsequent indicator measurement and assessment and uses the fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis method (fsQCA) to explore how the various components of the digital innovation ecosystem in high-end equipment manufacturing enterprises work together to promote the development of enterprise intelligently.

This article finds that the various components of the digital innovation ecosystem of high-end equipment manufacturing enterprises, through mutual coordination, can help improve the level of enterprise intelligence. Empirical analysis shows four specific configuration implementation paths for the digital innovation ecosystem of high-end equipment manufacturing enterprises to promote intelligent development. The core conditions and their combinations that affect the intelligent development of enterprises differ in each configuration path.

Firstly, this article discusses the practical problems of intelligent transformation and development in the manufacturing industry and focuses on the intelligent development effectiveness of various components of the digital innovation ecosystem of high-end equipment manufacturing enterprises in the context of digitalization. Secondly, this article uses crawling, text sentiment analysis and other methods to creatively collect relevant data to overcome the research dilemma of being limited to theoretical analysis due to the difficulty in obtaining data in this field. At the same time, based on the characteristics of high-end equipment manufacturing enterprises, the “three-layer core-periphery” digital innovation ecosystem framework constructed in this article helps to gain a deep understanding of the development characteristics of the industry's enterprises, provides specific indicator analysis for their intelligent development, opening the “black box” of intelligent development in the industry's enterprises and bridging the gap between theory and practice. Finally, this study uses the fsQCA research method of configuration analysis to explore the complexity of the antecedents and investigate the combined effects of multiple factors on intelligent development, providing new perspectives and rich research results for relevant literature on the intelligent development of high-end equipment manufacturing enterprises.

This study aims to investigate the external effect of the economic growth target pressure of local governments on establishment-level SO₂ emissions.

Based on manually collected panel data of 74,058 China's industrial establishments and more than 330 thousand observations from CIED and ESR, the authors use a firm-fixed effect model, instrumental variables estimation and heterogeneity tests to identify the environmental externality of economic growth target pressure.

The establishments in cities that meet or slightly exceed the economic growth target experience greater negative externality measured by SO₂ emission intensity. This external effect is more pronounced in regions: with a strict and overweighted target setting; with stronger officials' promotion incentives; with a low degree of marketization; and in firms with great economic importance. The authors identify the underlying mechanisms of dependence on dirty industry and the relaxation of environmental enforcement. And the environmental protection constraints in 2007 mitigate the negative externality.

The paper sheds light on to what extent economic growth target pressure has a negative externality of pollution in China and how this pressure may conflict with environmental protection.

This paper complements prior research on the economic effects of economic growth targets, expands the knowledge on the determinants of establishment-level pollution emission from the perspective of target pressure and provides insight into the environmental externality that results from political factors.

Findings in the literature indicate leading financial analysts attract high levels of market attention and provide more accurate earnings forecasts prior to becoming all-star analysts. Furthermore, these analysts significantly impact the investment decisions of other market participants and thus the market price of assets. Therefore, this study examines the information role of leading financial analysts and identifies two significant conclusions. First, the positive outcomes of these analyst leaders are more informative and attract more followers. Second, informational herding by followers of these analysts is not as naïve as suggested in previous studies, as followers who smartly use information from analyst leaders tend to perform better. We also find that analysts who practice smart learning by studying and selectively employing analyst-leader decisions achieve better career outcomes.

This study aims to explore how earnings management techniques are affected by corporate financial debt risk (FDR), internal control (IC) effectiveness and CEO education.

The study uses a sample from listed firms in China from 2010 to 2017, comprising different industries, including agriculture, forestry, livestock farming and fishing; mining; manufacturing; electric power, gas and water production and supply; construction; transport and storage; information technology; the real estate industry; social services; and communication and cultural. The regression analysis is used to test the hypotheses. The two-stage least squares technique is used to check for endogeneity issues.

The study finds that firms are less likely to manage real earnings when they have more robust IC and FDR. Likewise, companies with weak ICs are more likely to manipulate real earnings. Besides, the study finds an influence of CEO education on the relationship between IC, FDR and real earnings management (REM). These results can be applied to the sectors in the sample covered by the research, and the authors do not overlook the energy industry sector for the importance of its role in the economy.

There are some limitations for the researcher when performing any research, and this study is no exception. Researchers are urged to take these circumstances into consideration when generalizing or comparing the results because the methods used to calculate the measurement variables in each study may differ somewhat from those used in other research. In addition, expanding the current research design to incorporate additional nations may be an area of interest for future research and could aid in evaluating the effects of nation-specific elements (such as inflation, culture, legal systems and political considerations) on the usefulness of IC and decreasing FDR. Second, the current study focuses on the impact of IC and FDR on REM; this paper does not dissect the “black box” of IC and consider how each element affects earnings management. Future research may need to focus specifically on how effective IC would affect earnings management and precisely what IC mechanisms would discourage the management of earnings.

Helping companies listed in China to make decisions and improve investors’ vision of the results of real companies’ businesses, as well as helping management to avoid falling into debt risk and the consequent effects and manipulation of earnings.

By highlighting the significance of IC and debt risk in enhancing information quality in China, the results contribute to the body of work examining the relationship between IC, FDR and REM. In addition, this study uses a CEO’s education to moderate this link.

This study aims to examine the impact of intellectual capital (IC) on default risk in Indian companies listed on the National Stock Exchange.

This study applies panel data regression analysis to derive a relationship between IC and default risk for the sample period 2013–2022. The value-added intellectual coefficient (VAIC) of Pulic (2000) has been applied to measure IC performance, and default risk is estimated using the revised Z-score model of Altman (2000).

The results revealed a positive association between Z-score and VAIC. It implies that a higher value of VAIC improves financial stability and leads to a lower likelihood of default. The findings further suggest that new default forecasting models can be experimented with IC indicators for better default prediction.

The findings can have implications for investors and banks. This paper provides evidence of IC performance in improving the financial solvency of firms. Investors and financial institutions should invest their resources in a healthy firm that effectively manages and invests in their IC. It will eventually award investors and creditors high returns through efficient value-creation processes.

This study provides evidence of IC performance in improving the financial solvency of Indian high-defaulting firms, which lacks sufficient evidence in this domain of research. Numerous studies exist examining the relationship between firm performance and IC value, but this area is inadequately focused and underresearched. This study, therefore, fills the research gap from an Indian perspective.

This research aims to determine the influence of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors on market performance. The study shows the perspective of ESG on market performance. The study attempted to test the relationship between ESG and Tobin’s Q and the effect of control variables.

The study used panel data from a sample covering 720 firms and ran a fixed-effects model regression during the 2007–2019 period for eight European countries’ listed companies.

The findings reveal that ESG positively impacts Tobin’s Q. According to the findings, high company ESG performance boosts market performance via the moderator effect of competitive advantage. The results indicate that all control variables are significant. The firm’s leverage has a negative relationship with ESG. The size of the firm impacts ESG positively. Also, the results prove that the firm’s size and industry positively affect Tobin’s Q.

The findings of this study suggest that managers, practitioners and authorities interested in learning about ESG scores (ESGSs), market performance and competitive advantage might draw intriguing conclusions from the data. Managers can identify the appropriate levels of competitive advantage that improve market performance. Practitioners must determine whether fit, size, growth, leverage and industry could enhance market performance. The findings also give authorities and the board of directors information on future growth opportunities for the company and the country.

The research presents a vision of how ESG factors affect market performance. This study aims to identify the positive link between ESGSs and European market performance.

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of technological diversification (TD) on enterprise innovation performance, meanwhile focusing on the moderating effects of various organizational slack (i.e. absorbed and unabsorbed slack) and ownership types (i.e. state-owned or privately-owned) in the context of Chinese listed firms.

This study formulates five hypotheses based on organization and agency theories. Our empirical analysis employs a fixed-effect regression estimator with a unique panel dataset of Chinese-listed manufacturing firms and 13,566 firm-year observations over 9 years from 2012 to 2020.

Our findings show that an inverted U-shaped relationship exists between TD and innovation performance, varying with different types of organizational slack and ownership. In state-owned enterprises (SOEs), unabsorbed slack negatively moderates the inverted U-shaped relationship; however, in privately-owned enterprises (POEs), this relationship is positively moderated. Although absorbed slack has negative moderating effects in both SOEs and POEs, its impact is only significant for POEs.

Our results imply that organizational slack has a contrasting impact on the relationship between TD and innovation performance when the type of ownership varies. Therefore, the managers that intend to achieve optimal innovation performance through TD should understand how organizational slack can be leveraged.

This study contributes to the existing literature by applying the relationship between TD and innovative performance to the transition economy, as well as examining the double-edged sword impact of state ownership on firm innovation performance.

In an environment of intensive global mobility, this study aims to investigate the performance role of staffing choices within diverse MNE subsidiary strategies. Incorporating the integration-responsiveness (IR) framework with a contingency perspective, this study proposes that the performance success of distinct MNE subsidiary strategies depends on staffing choices. This study argues that performance differences of staffing choices such as assigned expatriates, self-initiated expatriates, former inpatriates and host-country nationals derive from their different knowledge/experience advantages regarding the intra-firm environment and local market conditions.

The study utilizes a unique sample of 169 foreign subsidiaries located in Greece that faced the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic (in 2020). For robustness reasons, this study also captures the imposition of capital controls (in June 2015).

This study finds important mediating performance effects of a diversified human resource portfolio across distinct subsidiary strategies in difficult times. Integration strategy tends to use more assigned expatriates, locally responsive strategy tends to utilize more host-country nationals, whereas multi-focal strategy favors self-initiated expatriates and former inpatriates, with positive subsidiary performance effects accordingly. So, staffing policies that are suitable to balance the needs of Human Resource Management (HRM) portfolio differ from strategy to strategy. Moreover, this study finds that managing HRM diversity is crucial in turbulent times.

While the empirical evidence has been predominantly accumulated from large economies, largely neglecting performance effects of MNE subsidiary staffing in crisis contexts, the analysis sheds light on a small open economy (i.e. the Greek context) emphasizing rapidly environmental deterioration. The findings extend existing theorizing on international performance and HRM management by providing an integrative conceptual framework linking integration-responsiveness motivated strategies with distinct groups of high-quality human resources under contingency considerations, so creatively synthesizing largely fragmented IB and HRM research streams. The study provides valuable insights into the performance role of non-conventional staffing choices such as self-initiated expatriates and former inpatriates, given that relevant studies examine either exclusively expatriates or compare expatriates with host country nationals, reaching inconclusive results.

This study aims to examine the relationship between carbon reduction initiatives and financial performance. Additionally, it explores potential moderating variables, such as corporate social responsible (CSR) strategy and corporate governance practices, that may strengthen the link between carbon reduction initiatives and financial performance.

The empirical analysis is conducted using 1,740 firm-year observations from UK firms listed on the FTSE 350. Data on carbon emissions and firm-specific characteristics are obtained from the Refinitiv Eikon database for the period 2011–2020. Various econometric techniques, including ordinary least squares and system generalized method of moments, are used to examine the relationship between carbon reduction initiatives and financial performance. Additionally, alternative samples are used to further explore this relationship.

The author observes a significantly positive association between carbon reduction initiatives and financial performance in this study. Additionally, the significance of this relationship is found to be present specifically after the announcement of the Paris Agreement. Furthermore, a channel analysis reveals that moderating factors like CSR strategy and corporate governance quality influence this relationship.

The study underscores the importance of carbon reduction initiatives for sustainable business growth and financial performance. Managers can use these insights to prioritize investments in sustainable practices. Policymakers should consider implementing supportive regulations to incentivize companies to adopt carbon reduction strategies.

This study adds value to the existing body of literature by empirically examining the moderating role of CSR strategy and best corporate governance practices in the relationship between carbon reduction initiatives and financial performance. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of how these factors interact and influence the outcomes.

The authors measure the cost of equity to earnings yield differential for a sample of 2,035 non-financial firms. In a series of Logit and Tobit regressions, the authors examine if the cost of equity to earnings yield differential is related to dividend policy in the manner predicted by agency theory.

Agency theory says a firm's optimal dividend policy is partially determined by the relationship between the earnings yield and the cost of equity capital. When the cost of equity is higher (lower) than the earnings yield, firms are motivated to (not) pay dividends as this reduces the cost of capital and holding other things constant, increases corporate valuations. The authors test whether managers set dividend policies to maximize the value of the firm.

The study’s findings show that when the cost of equity is higher (lower) than earnings yield, firms are more (less) likely to be dividend payers and the payouts are higher (lower). The results are robust to the inclusion of share repurchases as an alternative to cash distributions. The study’s findings support the cost of equity hypothesis and are consistent with alternative dividend theories.

The study’s findings support the cost of equity hypothesis and are consistent with alternative dividend theories. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper testing the cost of equity hypothesis.