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The purpose of this paper is, from a resource accumulation and resource allocation perspective, to examine the variant effects of government subsidies among firms with varying levels of market power and to test how industry competition moderates the relationship between market power and allocative efficiency of government subsidies.

This study explores the relationship between government subsidies and firm performance from a resource-based view. The authors study the moderating role of market power and three-way interaction between subsidy, market power and industry competition on firm performance. The authors test their hypotheses using a sample of Chinese A-share manufacturing firms from 2006–2019. The authors apply firm-level panel data regressions and conduct a series of robustness tests. The marginal effect of market power and industry competition is explored via three-way moderator effect models.

This study finds that government subsidies are negatively related to firm performance. Market power, on average, strengthens the negative effect of government subsidies on performance, but such a reinforcement effect is neutralized when industry competition is intense. Government subsidies are least efficiently used when firms have market power and industry competition is low. In addition, the authors use different forms of firm performance and a various of robustness tests to verify their assumptions.

This paper contributes to the literature as follows. First, the authors look into subsidy–performance problem from the perspective of the resource-based view and contribute to explaining and mitigating the divergence of current findings on the subsidy–performance relationship. Second, the authors introduce market power and industry competition as moderators to study how resource allocative efficiency affects the subsidy–performance relationship. Third, the authors propose that managerial incentives have played an important role in the allocation of government subsidies, which enriches management practices.

Criticality cognitions regarding the same workplace event often differ between leaders and employees. Nevertheless, its consequences on employee work outcomes remain unknown. In this study, we draw on cognitive dissonance theory to examine how and why leader–employee differences in cognitions of workplace event criticality impact employee job-related outcomes.

Wu used multilevel polynomial regression analyses from a time-lagged, multi-source field study with 145 leader–employee dyads to test our proposed model.

Leader–employee differences in cognitions of workplace event criticality can bring both benefits and perils to employees. Specifically, such differences can cause employee rumination, which in turn leads to an increase in both employee voice and fatigue.

This study contributes to the event and cognitive discrepancy literature in four ways. First, prior event studies largely adopted a singular employee perspective for investigation (e.g. Chen et al., 2021; Lin et al., 2021). By examining the impacts of event criticality from the dual perspective of leaders and employees, we attain a more comprehensive understanding of the implications of workplace events in organizational life. Second, extant studies have predominantly focused on the dark side of cognitive discrepancy (e.g. Bashshur et al., 2011; Erdogan et al., 2004; Grandey et al., 2013). Our study reveals that leader–employee differences in criticality cognitions can have both a bright and a dark side on employee outcomes, offering a more balanced and dialectical view of the consequences of cognitive discrepancy. Third, drawing on cognitive dissonance theory, we introduce employee rumination as an underlying mechanism to explain the impacts of leader–employee differences in criticality cognitions on employee voice and fatigue. Finally, while prior cognitive dissonance research has primarily employed an intrapersonal perspective (e.g. Sivanathan et al., 2008; Pugh et al., 2011; Grandey et al., 2013), our study adopts an interpersonal lens and underscores that interpersonal differences in cognitions can also serve as an example of cognitive discrepancy to instigate internal dissonance processes. By doing so, we enrich our understanding of cognitive dissonance theory.

This research aims to provide a conceptual framework with the scope to assist in establishing sustainable supply chain clusters (SCCs) by providing an instrument for organisations to enhance the three sustainability dimensions in a dynamic environment.

This research proposes a conceptual framework to enhance sustainability and organisational performance through three theoretical lenses: the system theory, extended resource-based view and the dynamic capabilities (DCs) theory. This approach is carried out through a comprehensive review of the existing literature on SCCs.

Four main propositions are formulated and demonstrated using the developed framework, which expands the discussion about SCCs and their key characteristics in a dynamic environment. This is particularly relevant as it allows empirical testing of the theories in an SCC context.

It can be noted that more extensive research is needed to further understand the issues faced in establishing sustainable clusters. Drawing on the theoretical lenses to establish the framework helps to enhance the understanding and operational capabilities of sustainable SCCs during and after disruptions, such as the global disruption created by COVID-19.

This research paves the way to help organisations improve their adaptability to the dynamic business environment by emphasizing the importance of clustering and linking it to sustainability through DCs to establish a sustainable cluster.

This research aims to guide organisations' use of SCCs as tools to enhance sustainability in a dynamic environment, given that the relationship amongst supply chain cluster design characteristics (SCCDCs), DCs and sustainability remains unexplored. The combination of the three theoretical lenses in developing the proposed framework will assist in further understanding the applicability of these theories when they are considered together.

This paper aims to provide a new drilling entry board for printed circuit board (PCB) process, superior in heat dissipation, lubrication, water solubility and hole location accuracy, achieving an excellent drilling process.

Using a mixture of polyethylene glycol (PEG) and water-soluble adhesives as hydrosoluble, endothermic and lubricant resins and aluminum foils as baseplates, a series of coated and aluminous entry boards (CABs) for PCB drilling was successfully prepared. The surface appearance of the entry boards was observed clearly by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The endothermic and lubricant effects of the resins applied on the CABs was characterized by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and their water solubility was tested in the normal-temperature water (25°C). Moreover, the CABs’ good drilling properties were tested when they were used for PCB drilling.

The SEM analysis showed that the surfaces of the resin layers coated on the CABs whose coating thicknesses were less than 80 μm were smoother and flatter, which could improve hole location accuracy and reduce drill breakage ratio. By virtue of DSC, the endothermic and lubricant effects of the CABs were proven. The fusion of PEG in the resin layers could absorb the heat produced by drilling, restrain the temperature of the drill bit and hole rising and lubricate the drill bit efficiently when a hole was being drilled, which could achieve high-quality holes with good production efficiency. The water-soluble test showed that the prepared CABs had excellent water solubility at normal temperature, enabling the resin left on the hole walls and in the flute of the drill bit to be washed away easily and thereby improving the drilling efficiency and quality. The drilling tests showed that the increase in the thickness of the CABs’ coating could improve the hole location accuracy and alleviate the bit wear. In addition, the suitable coating thickness could ensure the firm adhering of the resin coating the aluminum foil, effectively avoid drill intertwist and prevent the resin debris from blocking the drilled holes on the surface of the entry board, which could hinder chip removal, resulting in poor hole wall quality and drill breakage.

This paper has a remarkably high industrial practicality in the PCB manufacture process.

This paper aims to optimize the air pressure regulation scheme of the aeroengine pressure test bench.

Based on the requirements of pressure regulation process and the operating mechanism of aeroengine pressure test bench, a grey performance evaluation index system is constructed. The combination of principal component analysis and grey theory is employed to assign weights to grey indexes. The grey target evaluation model is introduced to evaluate the performance of historical regulation processes, and the evaluation results are analyzed to derive optimization mechanism for pressure regulating schemes.

A case study based on monitoring data from nearly 300 regulation processes verifies the feasibility of the proposed method. On the one hand, the improved principal component analysis method can achieve rational weighting for grey indexes. On the other hand, the method comparison intuitively shows that the proposed method performs better.

The pressure test bench is a fundamental technical equipment in the aviation industry, serving the development and testing of aircraft engines. Due to the complex system composition, the pressure and flow adjustment of the test bench heavily rely on manual experience, leading to issues such as slow adjustment speed and insufficient accuracy. This paper proposes a performance evaluation method for the regulation process of pressure test bench, which can draw knowledge from historical regulation processes, provide guidance for the pressure regulation of test benches, and ultimately achieve the goal of reducing equipment operating costs.

Surface defects are often present on the surface of continuous casting slabs and rolled products. A lot of surface defects of hot rolled products are inherited from initial defects on continuous casting slabs. This work aims to trace the original surface defect during the whole heavy rail rolling and avoid black line surface defect that appears on the surface of heavy rail finial product.

Artificial round hole-shaped surface defects on the surface of continuous casting slab during the hot rolling of 60 kg/m heavy rail are analyzed experimentally and by means of explicit dynamic finite element method (FEM) and modified model rebuilding method.

The calculated results of surface defect locations of heavy rail finial product are in good agreement with the experimental ones. It is shown that the explicit dynamic FEM and modified model rebuilding method can be used effectively to predict the flow behavior of surface defects in the hot rolling of 60 kg/m heavy rail.

The three-dimensional finite element model for whole heavy rail rolling is built using explicit dynamic code and modified model rebuilding method. Flow behavior of black lines is studied in the 60-kg/m heavy rail rolling. The simulation results of six typical points are in good agreement with the experimental results.