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Many entrepreneurs are able to manage their businesses within relatively contained and familiar geographical and cultural circles. With a world economy shrinking every day amid a flood of digital information, todayʼs entrepreneur is increasingly confronted with opportunities to consider new ways to secure vendors and recruit customers. Many unfamiliar possibilities emerge. Should the entrepreneur venture beyond “comfortable” surroundings to consider international connections? Specifically, what about China? How practical is this fetching business temptation of larger markets and lower-cost subcontractors? What are the social, trade, financial, and political issues? Should a “China strategy” be a true entrepreneurial offensive, or rather a defensive response to competition? Is this “China strategy” the promise of yet another entrepreneurial nirvana? Or is it perhaps again a case of “Be careful of what you wish for; it may really come true?”

This study aims to examine the trend of industrial competition between the US and China, which is the most crucial determinant in the future development of the global economy. For decades, the global economy has strengthened the global production network based on the division of labor between countries. Thus, the ripple effect of competition between the two countries should be analyzed in terms of the global production network. Therefore, this study uses the product space model, which explains the development process of industries with comparative advantage by country. We constructed the model based on the products of HS 4-digit code for the 2010–2019 period. The analysis results on the trend of the industrial competitiveness of major countries are as follows. First, the current industrial competitiveness of China is concentrated on low-tech industries. In the case of high-tech items, China shows a tendency of lower export sophistication compared to major manufacturing powerhouses such as Germany, the US, Japan, and Korea. Second, with respect to the possibility of a future industrial structure upgrade evaluated by density, the trend of China overtaking other manufacturing powerhouses is observed. As implied by the product space model, the advancement of the industrial structure through active participation in international trade enhances the industrial competitiveness. Therefore, the outcome of US-China industrial competition depends on who ensures more openness and industrial complexity.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a three-echelon multimodal transportation problem applied to a humanitarian logistic case study that occurred in Mexico.

This study develops a methodology combining a transshipment problem and an adaptation of the multidepot heterogeneous fleet vehicle routing problem to construct a mathematical model that incorporates the use of land-based vehicles and drones. The model was applied to the case study of the Earthquake on September 19, 2017, in Mexico, using the Gurobi optimization solver.

The results ratified the relevance of the study, showing an inverse relationship between transportation costs and delivery time; on the flip side, the model performed in a shorter CPU time with medium and small instances than with large instances.

While the size of the instances limits the use of the model for big-scale problems, this approach manages to provide a good representation of a transportation network during a natural disaster using drones in the last-mile deliveries.

The present study contributes to a model that combines a vehicle routing problem with transshipment, multiple depots and a heterogeneous fleet including land-based vehicles and drones. There are multiple models present in the literature for these types of problems that incorporate the use of these transportation modes; however, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, there are still no proposals similar to this study.

Mountaineering and related activities are increasingly becoming popular and are accompanied by an increase in medical incidents. Emergency operations in mountainous terrain are time-critical and often pose major logistical challenges for rescuers. Drones are expected to improve the operational performance of mountain rescuers. However, they are not yet widely used in mountain rescue missions. This paper examines the determinants that drive the behavioral intention of mountain rescuers to adopt drones in rescue missions.

This is a behavioral study that builds upon an extended model of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) and investigates the relationship between individual attitudes, perceptions, and intentions for drone adoption. Original survey data of 146 mountain rescuers were analyzed using moderated ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis.

Results indicate that the behavioral intention to use drones in mountain rescue missions is driven by the expected performance gains and facilitating conditions. Favorable supporting conditions and experience with drones further moderate the relationship between performance expectancy and behavioral intention. The effects for effort expectancy, social influence, and demonstrations were not significant.

Rescue organizations and stakeholders are recommended to consider the identified determinants in the implementation of drones in emergency logistics. Drone manufacturers targeting mountain rescue organizations are advised to focus on operational performance, provide sufficient support and training, and promote the gathering of practical experience.

A tailored-model that provides first empirical results on the relevance of personal and environmental factors for the acceptance of drones in emergency logistics is presented.

The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework of the relationship between technological transitions and hegemonic transitions in the international system from a historical perspective and discuss its consequences for technologically dependent countries and regions.

This paper analyzes the relationship between technological transitions and hegemonic transitions in the international system from a historical perspective. It then constructs four possible transition scenarios for China's international order and the USA's central role in defining the international order. IT closes with a discussion of how changes in ICT and global health public goods can impact China's position in the international order and opportunities for Latin America–China technology partnerships.

Historically, technological transitions and hegemonic transitions in the international system simultaneously occur, with the country winning the technological dispute emerging as the international system's hegemon. The USA and China are currently involved in technological races in several next-generation technologies. The outcome of these technological races will define each country's position in the international system in the coming decades and the transformations in the international order.

This paper is limited to discussing the technologies/sectors: ICT, specifically 5G, and AI technologies, and medical technologies with the potential of global public health goods. Research on other technologies/sectors will provide a deeper understanding of the likely outcomes of the current technological transition and its implications for the balance of power in the international system.

This paper makes a case for Latin American countries to (1) engage in a pragmatic bargain with China and the USA to establish technological partnerships in emerging technologies and (2) to develop national technology strategies aimed at promoting autonomous technology development capabilities.

This paper addresses the need for Latin America to take a strong stance for technological autonomy, stressing the differences in buying technology and making technology.

This paper presents an original framework of the relationship between technological transitions and hegemonic transitions in the international system. It discusses how technological leadership impacts the international order by establishing relations of technological dominance and technological dependency.

This study aims to use a comparative analysis to examine the channel of deferring cash commitments, which can be seen as a strategic solution to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on Moldova's service sector.

This paper uses the Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition analysis. The World Bank's post-COVID-19 survey is used. The methodology takes into account heterogeneity among firms.

The results of the Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition analysis show that service firms use deferred cash commitments more than industrial firms, corporate governance and their pandemic-related strategies are also effective in the post-COVID Moldovan economy. The results are robust to different modeling alternatives.

COVID-19 can be considered a key source of uncertainty for firms, especially those operating in economies where financial frictions occasionally occur in a transition economy. Therefore, this study can shed new light on the impact of COVID-19 on financial strategies in a transition economy.

In this paper, the authors examine the strategies used to reduce labour costs in three public hospitals in South Africa, which were effective and why. In the democratic era, after the revelations of large-scale corruption, the authors ask whether their case studies provide lessons for how public service institutions might re-make themselves, under circumstances of austerity.

A comparative qualitative case study approach, collecting data using a combination of interviews with managers, focus group discussions and interviews with shop stewards and staff was used.

Management in two hospitals relied on their financial power, divisions between unions and employees' loyalty. They lacked the insight to manage different actors, and their efforts to outsource services and draw on the Extended Public Works Program failed. They failed to support staff when working beyond their scope of practice, reducing employees' willingness to take on extra responsibilities. In the remaining hospital, while previous management had been removed due to protests by the unions, the new CEO provided stability and union–management relations were collaborative. Her legitimate power enabled unions and management to agree on appropriate cost cutting strategies.

Finding an appropriate balance between the new reality of reduced financial resources and the needs of staff and patients, requires competent unions and management, transparency and trust to develop legitimate power; managing in an authoritarian manner, without legitimate power, reduces organisational capacity. Ensuring a fair and orderly process to replace ineffective management is key, while South Africa grows cohorts of competent managers and builds managerial experience.

Increasing carbon productivity is an effective way to reduce carbon emissions, while boosting economic prosperity. For appropriate formulating and enforcement of energy saving and carbon emissions reduction policies in various sectors, it is of great significance to investigate the evolution characteristics and convergence modes of carbon productivity across the manufacturing sectors.

Using slack-based measure directional distance function (SBM-DDF) and global Malmquist–Luenberger (GML) productivity index, this paper measures the carbon productivities of 29 manufacturing subsectors in Shanghai, China, from 2001 to 2016 under the total factor framework. Furthermore, based on the convergence theories, it empirically examines the convergence of carbon productivity across these manufacturing sectors.

The measurement results suggest that the carbon productivities of the manufacturing sectors in Shanghai show an increasing tendency on the whole, and technical efficiency instead of technological change makes a main contribution to the increase. It is found that there is no obvious σ convergence across the manufacturing sectors in Shanghai, but there exist both absolute ß convergence and conditional ß convergence. Moreover, there is heterogeneity in convergence characteristics between the clean sectors and polluting sectors. The findings also show that firm size and industry structure have significant positive impacts on the growth of carbon productivities of the manufacturing sectors, whereas the impacts of capital deepening and energy consumption structure are significantly negative.

This paper measures the carbon productivities of the manufacturing subsectors by applying SBM-DDF and GML index, so as to improve the accuracy. It provides an insight into the convergence of carbon productivity across the manufacturing sectors.