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Although officially ended in July 2020, China’s dispute about its non-market economy (NME) status at the World Trade Organization (WTO) is far from being resolved. The NME status enables China’s counterparts to disregard Chinese prices in antidumping proceedings and instead use the so-called surrogate country methodology. This paper aims to structure and analyze the complex debate, which emerged with the disputes China has filed against the European Union and the USA at the WTO, and therefore provide a point of reference for future analysis of and debates about China’s NME status.

The analysis is based on the existing academic literature on the topic and on the legal WTO-related documents (e.g. multilateral agreements, China’s Accession Protocol, legal findings of the WTO dispute panels).

Four different interpretations of the respective legal documents about China’s NME status are discussed and strong and weak aspects of these interpretations are pointed out. Also, several misunderstandings and mistakes appearing in the debate are clarified.

As the question of China’s position at the WTO and its NME status has not been resolved yet and some authors believe that China will pursue its case again once the WTO Appellate Body revives its functionality, the analysis of the debate can serve as a point of reference for the academic debate and the future research on this topic. Moreover, it offers an introduction to China’s NME position at the WTO for the newcomers to this topic.

Although China’s NME status has been much discussed, there is no literature review that would structure the debate and point out some of the (dis)advantages of the respective arguments and interpretations. Rather than adding to the large corpus of literature about the NME status, this study takes this corpus as the object of its analysis.

The purpose of this paper is to identify low-costbus business models from different parts of the world and check their applicability in the Brazilian market. It also identifies crucial factors for the development of that kind of business and investigates the relationship between low-cost buses and other modes of transport. This research analyzes every relevant aspect to the applicability of low-cost business models in Brazil, driving to discussions and conclusions. The gains on the development of low-cost bus systems in Brazil may have a wide reach, from personal to general public benefits.

Business models for low-cost bus systems are used to analyze in a qualitative approach. The data are collected through semi-structured interviews, direct observations and documental basis. In addition, innovations over the previous five years are evaluated in order to establish a comparative pattern between companies.

There is a great potential in the Brazilian passenger market for the entrance of low-cost bus companies. The only question is just when it is the right time to enter that market. Most of the negative points presented for the implementation of a low-cost company are related to the current economical and political crisis in Brazil. It was identified as a potential cause for the overall decrease of the passengers market in recent years, and specifically of the bus passengers market.

The recent regulation changes, the high demand for passengers and even the similarity of possible routes in Brazil to the ones in Europe and in the USA make Brazil a fertile soil for the development of that kind of business. A similar price mechanism to the ones applied worldwide was also identified as doable in Brazil.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of the metaphor of verticality on how individuals assess prices, having regulatory focus as a moderator of this relationship.

Two experiments were conducted with a 2 × 2 between-subjects design (metaphor of verticality: physically higher vs physically lower × regulatory focus: promotion vs prevention). The second study performed moderated mediation by incorporating the self-esteem variable.

The results show that the treatment group consisting of prevention-focused individuals who consider themselves physically higher assessed prices according to what was proposed for the study compared to the group consisting of promotion-focused individuals who consider themselves physically lower. Participants in Treatment Group 1 attributed the lowest prices to products, demanded more significant discounts to go to another store searching for a product and considered the prices more unfair.

The primary contribution of this study is to reveal that the position of one's body on the vertical axis influences their thoughts and, therefore, their decision-making in the scope of products and services prices. Moreover, regulatory focus can attenuate such effects.

This study aims to analyse how consumers' perceptions of justice in a service recovery scenario vary, not only due to the company's actions but also due to the comparisons they make with the experiences of other consumers.

Based on justice theory, social comparison theory and referent cognitions theory, this study describes an eight-scenario experiment with better or worse interactional, procedural and distributive justice (better/worse interactional justice given to other consumers) × 2 (better/worse procedural justice given to other consumers) × 2 (better/worse distributive justice given to other consumers).

First, consumers' perceptions of interactional, procedural and distributive justice vary based on the comparisons they draw with other consumers' experiences. Second, the results confirmed that interactional justice has a moderating effect on procedural justice, whereas procedural justice does not significantly moderate distributive justice.

First, based on justice theory, social comparison theory and referent cognitions theory, we focus on the influence of the treatment received by other consumers on the consumer's perceived justice in the same service recovery situation. Second, it is proposed that the three justice dimensions follow a defined sequence through the service recovery phases. Third, to the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to propose a multistage model in which some justice dimensions influence other justice dimensions.

: 本研究擬探討在服務補救的處境裡, 消費者對公平的看法不但會受公司的行動所影響, 同時也會因他們與其他消費者的經驗作比較而有所改變。

: 本研究根據正義理論、社會比較理論和參照認知理論, 描述一個涵蓋八個處境的實驗, 實驗包含更好的或更差的互動的、程序上的和分配性的公平 (給予其他消費者更好的/更差的互動公平) × 2(給予其他消費者更好的/更差的程序上的公平) × 2 (給予其他消費者更好的/更差的分配性的公平)。

: 研究結果顯示, 消費者對互動的、程序上的和分配性公平的看法, 是會根據他們與其他消費者的體驗所作的比較而有所改變; 研究結果亦確認了互動的公平對程序上的公平會有調節作用, 而程序上的公平對分配性的公平則沒有顯著的調節作用。

: 首先, 我們根據正義理論、社會比較理論和參照認知理論, 把研究焦點放在於相同的服務補救情景中, 其他消費者受到的待遇, 如何影響消費者自身的認知公平; 另外, 我們建議, 這三個公平維度, 在各個服務補救階段裡, 均會跟隨一個清晰的次序。最後, 就研究人員所知, 本研究為首個提出一個公平維度互為影響的多階段模型的研究。

This study analyses agricultural land price dynamics in order to better understand price development and to improve forecast accuracy. Understanding the evolution of agricultural land prices is important when considering sound investment decisions.

This study applies threshold autoregression to model agricultural land prices. The data includes quarterly observations on Finnish agricultural land prices.

The study shows that Finnish agricultural land prices exhibit regime-switching behaviour when using past changes in prices as a threshold variable. The threshold autoregressive model not only fits the data better but also improves the accuracy of price forecasts compared to the linear autoregressive model.

The results show that a sharp fall in agricultural land prices temporarily changes the regular development of prices. This information significantly improves the accuracy of price predictions.

The popularity of social networks has created business opportunities to the electronic commerce environment, being recently named as social commerce. The purpose of this paper is to analyze – from the perspective of the consumer – the main factors and characteristics (personal or related to the products bought) that have influenced consumers to participate in social commerce buying, recommending, comparing and sharing information about products and services in online marketplace and communities.

The study is characterized as an exploratory descriptive research, operationalized through a survey, applied to 229 participants of the social network Facebook. The research involves a qualitative stage for identifying potential variables that influence the participation of consumers in social commerce, followed by a quantitative one, including data collection procedures, validation and data analysis.

The results show trust, perceived usefulness and information quality as the factors that most influence consumer participation in social commerce, being trust in the website the main predictor. Concerning the characteristics, the findings also show that more expensive products and products classified as computers and electronics use ratings, recommendations and comments online more intensively than books, travel, household appliances and fashion products.

As limitations of the study, the authors highlight the small number of interviews conducted during the qualitative stage, which may have left out other relevant factors of the analysis on consumers’ participation in social commerce. Another limitation refers to the selection of the participants of the study; all members of the social network Facebook are identified by the contact net of the authors – though it has been tried to enlarge this contact list by requesting the respondents to share the questionnaire link with their acquaintances, we should be cautious about the generalization of the results.

The study proposes an instrument to identify factors and characteristics that are taken into consideration by the consumers when participating in social commerce. Such a tool can be replicated by firms included in this type of commerce, in order to evaluate the behavior and perception of their customers about their performance in the online environment. This study also highlights trust, information quality and perceived usefulness of the website as the most influencing factors of the consumers’ participation in social commerce. In addition, the authors identified that more expensive products and products classified as computers and electronics seem to use more intensively ratings, recommendations and comments online provided by other people. This fact supports the research literature that (positive or negative) online recommendations influence the consumers purchase behavior, reducing uncertainties about the products and increasing credibility and trust.

Developing waterway-waterway transfer is an important path for Shanghai's container logistics to innovate service models. Taicang Express Line, a typical case of service model innovation, plays an important role in elevating the standing of Shanghai Port as a container hub port and in developing China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone. From the three dominant transfer service models, the waterway-waterway transfer for container logistics of Taicang Express Line has the traits and experience in streamlining logistics processes, innovating logistics clearance models, saving logistics operating costs, offering port logistics cooperation experience for replications and promoting integration of regional port logistics resources. However, it also harbors issues in infrastructure construction, staffing, container resources allocation and transportation, transportation efficiency and policy innovation. In the future, efforts should be invested to strengthening the construction and staffing of port logistics infrastructure, optimizing the container resources allocation and transport of port logistics systems, improving the logistics transportation efficiency of Taicang Express Line, and pushing forward innovation of the synergistic policy mechanism for regional port logistics.

Developing waterway-waterway transfer is an important path for Shanghai's container logistics to innovate service models. Taicang Express Line, a typical case of service model innovation, plays an important role in elevating the standing of Shanghai Port as a container hub port and in developing China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone. From the three dominant transfer service models, the waterway-waterway transfer for container logistics of Taicang Express Line has the traits and experience in streamlining logistics processes, innovating logistics clearance models, saving logistics operating costs, offering port logistics cooperation experience for replications and promoting integration of regional port logistics resources. However, it also harbors issues in infrastructure construction, staffing, container resources allocation and transportation, transportation efficiency and policy innovation. In the future, efforts should be invested to strengthening the construction and staffing of port logistics infrastructure, optimizing the container resources allocation and transport of port logistics systems, improving the logistics transportation efficiency of Taicang Express Line, and pushing forward innovation of the synergistic policy mechanism for regional port logistics.

Access to food through retail supply chain distribution can vary significantly among the urban poor and leads to household food insecurity. The paper explores this sustainable supply chain phenomenon through a field study among South Africa's urban poor.

Urban metabolic flows is the theoretical basis in the context of supply chain management (SCM). The field study comprised 59 semi-structured interviews in one South African township. Data were recorded, transcribed and translated, and coded using NVivo 12 to provide an inventory of eight themes categorized and patterned from the analysis.

Findings indicate societal factors play a significant role affecting food distribution, access and security from a spatial perspective of retail outlet locations and a nutritional standpoint regarding quality and quantity of food.

The study is exploratory in one township, and while rigorously conducted, the generalizability of findings is limited to this context.

The study practically contributes by providing guidance for food retailers and policymakers to include nutritional guidelines in their distribution planning, as well as the dynamics of diverse neighbourhoods that exist in modern urban contexts.

New forms of retail food distribution can provide better security and access to food for the urban poor, contributing to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2 Zero Hunger and 11 Liveable Cities.

The study is interdisciplinary and contributes by linking UN SDGs and SCM through urban metabolic flows from development studies as an overarching framework to enable analysis of relationships between physical, social and economic factors in the urban environment.

In this paper, we make a comparison of price efficiency between the new market (KOSDAQ) and the main board (KOSPI) in the Korean stock market. More specifically, we evaluate the relative price efficiency of both markets by comparing the speed, degree and accuracy in process of intraday price discovery. Each market’s speed and degree of price discovery are measured by WPC (weighted price contribution) devised by Barclay and Warner (1993) and WPCT (weighted price contribution per trade) proposed by Barclay and Hendershott (2003), respectively. Each market’s accuracy of price discovery is measured by unbiased regression coefficient used by Biais et al. (1999). We analyze 535 KOSPI stocks and 803 KOSDAQ stocks using 1-minute-interval transaction data collected from Bloomberg. The major findings of this paper are summarized as follows: Fist, the price discovery in KOSDAQ, the new market is slower than in KOSPI, the main board. Second, the morning session’s degree of price discovery per trade in KOSDAQ is smaller than KOSPI. Finally, the price discovery in KOSDAQ is more accurate than in KOSPI. Overall, our results indicate that the prices of KOSDAQ stocks are as efficient as the prices of KOSPI stocks, thought they have smaller firm size, younger ages, and greater uncertainty in cash flow and asset value than the main board stocks do.