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The strength of printed parts by application of fused deposition modeling (FDM) has been broadly studied through experimental methods. However, constitutive behaviors of the printed parts in theory are still unclear. Therefore, this paper aims to focus on building an elasto-plastic model of the printed parts to reveal the constitutive behavior.

An elasto-plastic constitutive model that considers anisotropic characteristics is proposed. Tensile tests are performed for parameter identification by using different samples with varying printing angles. Finally, the constitutive model is completed and applied to the numerical analysis of a tensile procedure.

The experimental study indicated that the anisotropic characteristics are significant for elastic modulus and strength of printed parts. The polar anisotropic model is suitable for describing the anisotropic behavior of parts during the elastic deformation. The Hill model is suitable to describe the yield property. The elastic modulus and yield point of parts printed in any specific orientation can be calculated using the proposed constitutive model.

A theoretical model has been developed to describe the constitutive behavior of FDM printed part. This model can precisely describe the elastic behavior and yield point of parts printed with various orientations. This model can be applied to the finite element simulation of printed structures.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of ownership structure on merger and acquisition (M&A) decisions of Brazilian listed companies.

This paper is an applied and explanatory research based on secondary data. The sample is comprises non-financial companies listed on the BM&FBovespa between 1998 and 2007. Considering that the dependent variable is binary, the authors estimate panel data logistic regression models. Considering the existence of conflicts of interest among those who have the decision-making power and the supplier of capital for M&A transactions, they draw upon the Agency Theory to develop the theoretical hypotheses.

The results show that, for a sample of Brazilian non-financial companies listed on the BM&FBovespa (B3), from 1998 to 2007, Brazilian firms present, on average, a highly concentrated ownership structure and the major controlling shareholders are families or the State. These characteristics are negatively related to the likelihood of M&A transactions, as most of these controlling shareholders are reluctant to adopt mechanisms that reduce their control.

With regard to the limitations, this study considered only the M&A definitions as stated by the Bureau van Dijk database. In this sense, future studies may analyze the effects of ownership structure based on other M&A definitions and typologies. In addition, the study is limited to the period from 1998 to 2007, which is prior to the international financial crisis. Future studies may extend the analysis period to include the post-crisis period (2008) to check if there are differences in M&A strategies before and after the crisis.

From a managerial perspective, the results show that minority shareholders have little or no influence over an M&A decision, so they cannot decide on the use of resources for fast growth and access to new markets through M&A. Thus, the investment decision must take into account the nature and the quality of the controlling shareholder.

This study shows a significant and negative effect of ownership concentration on the likelihood of M&A transactions. In part, this result demonstrates the importance of understanding the behavior of controlling shareholders before inferring on other key aspects that the M&A literature tends to make fundamental in explaining M&A decisions in publicly traded companies, particularly, in an environment of low minority shareholder protection.

Previous studies have partly found that the M&A decision is motivated by individual advantages obtained from increasing the size of the firm, or from managerial hubris. The results show that these hypotheses do not hold in the Brazilian context. Moreover, the results indicate that M&A decisions are associated with the characteristics of the controlling shareholder, their level of ownership concentration and their typology, contributing to the agency debate on whether the incentive or the entrenchment effect prevails in the context of the agency problem between controlling and minority shareholders, particularly, in an institutional environment of low shareholder protection.

The wine sector is a growing industry with an important share of the revenue resulting from export markets. Due to its cultural nature, wine exporting requires specific firm and managerial capabilities. As such, traditional approaches to the factors influencing export performance must integrate the specificities of wine as a product.

This study, based on a sample of 93 wine producers, develops and tests, using structural equation modeling, specifically the partial least squares method, a conceptual model of the influence of internal factors, external factors and partner relationship capabilities in export performance.

Results reveal that internal factors and partner relationships have an impact on the firm’s noneconomic performance which influences economic performance. It is also shown by the results that external factors do not affect the noneconomic performance or economic performance. Moreover, the results show the moderation effect of the noneconomic variable. Internal factors and relationship capabilities have an impact on economic performance considering the mediation effect of the noneconomic performance. Overall, firms’ internal factors and relationship capabilities are crucial to achieve better export performance for Portuguese wine companies.

This study combines the theories of SCP, resource-based view and relational or behavior perspective to present a novel approach to export performance by analyzing the external and internal dimensions of the firm in relation to both financial and nonfinancial performances.

El sector vitivinícola es una industria en crecimiento con una parte importante de los ingresos procedentes de los mercados de exportación. Debido a su naturaleza cultural, la exportación de vino requiere unas capacidades empresariales y de gestión específicas. Por ello, los enfoques tradicionales de los factores que influyen en los resultados de la exportación deben integrar las especificidades del vino como producto.

Este estudio, basado en una muestra de 93 productores de vino, desarrolla y pone a prueba, mediante un modelo de ecuaciones estructurales, concretamente el método de mínimos cuadrados parciales, un modelo conceptual de la influencia de los factores internos, los factores externos y las capacidades de relación con los socios en los resultados de exportación.

Los resultados revelan que los factores internos y las relaciones con los socios influyen en los resultados no económicos de la empresa, que a su vez influyen en los resultados económicos. Los resultados también muestran que los factores externos no afectan al rendimiento no económico ni al rendimiento económico. Además, los resultados muestran el efecto de moderación de la variable no económica. Los factores internos y las capacidades de relación tienen un impacto en el rendimiento económico que arroja el efecto de mediación del rendimiento no económico. En general, los factores internos y las capacidades de relación de las empresas son cruciales para lograr un mejor rendimiento de las exportaciones de las empresas vitivinícolas portuguesas.

Este estudio combina las teorías de SCP, RBV y la perspectiva relacional o de comportamiento para presentar un enfoque novedoso del rendimiento de las exportaciones, analizando las dimensiones externas e internas de la empresa en relación con el rendimiento financiero y no financiero.

This chapter examines China’s corporate governance and accounting environment that shapes the adoption of internationally acceptable principles and standards. Specifically, it examines international influences, including supranational organizations; foreign investors and international accounting firms; domestic institutional influences, including the political system, economic system, legal system, and cultural system; and accounting infrastructure. China’s convergence is driven by desired efficiency of the corporate sector and legitimacy of participating in the global market. Influenced heavily by international forces in the context of globalization, corporate governance and accounting practices are increasingly becoming in line with internationally acceptable standards and codes. While convergence assists China in obtaining legitimacy, improving efficiency is likely to be adversely affected given that corporate governance and accounting in China operate in an environment that differs considerably from those of Anglo-American countries. An examination of the corporate governance and accounting environment in China suggests heavy government involvement within underdeveloped institutions. While the Chinese government has made impressive progress in developing the corporate governance and accounting environment for the market economy, China’s unique institutional setting is likely to affect how the imported concepts are interpreted and implemented.

This study aims to investigate how firms' perceived level of corruption moderates the relationship between Research and Development (R&D) investments and firms' financial performance.

The study has used dynamic panel data for local private and public firms from Latin American countries (Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Peru) during 2012–2019. The unbalanced panel was estimated using generalized method of moments (GMM) and instrumental variables (IVs) to account for endogeneity issues.

The results showed that corruption has a direct and positive effect on firms' financial performance. Moreover, while firms' financial performance increases in the presence of corruption, the authors' findings suggest that corruption negatively moderates the relationship between R&D investments and firms' financial performance. This finding exposes the debate “grease the wheels” once corruption appears to work much more like sand than grease on more innovative firms. Finally, the authors observed a negative effect of long-term R&D investments on firms' performance, indicating that high levels of corruption harm even more long-term innovative activities.

The authors have delimited the scope to firms from four Latin American countries, and thus, the generalization to other countries, from Latin America or other emerging countries, needs to be made with caution. Furthermore, the authors used the corruption perception index (CPI) to assess the extent of corruption and, apparently, using a single measure may limit the understanding. Future research may deepen the authors' comprehension by exploring the effects of the different practices or types of corruption.

The authors' findings have challenging policy implications denoting policymakers need to prioritize the institutional quality to reduce corruption and foster firms' R&D investments.

The paper has adopted a unique firm-level dataset from an underresearched region. This enriches a long-standing debate by providing new insights of corruption effects in Latin America. Therefore, the authors provided new evidence of the moderating relationship between corruption and R&D investments on more innovative firms' performance.

Previous research combining corporate political activity and collective action theory has focused solely on industry structure and its role in predicting group lobbying or PAC participation. The purpose of this paper is to use a different context—franchise systems—to apply Olsonian collective action theory to political activities.

Using a random-effects technique in STATA on an unbalanced panel data set, this paper empirically models the effects of franchise system size and degree of franchising on the level of lobbying intensity.

Since franchise systems are made up of differing unit ownership structure, the author first model if those systems that are fully franchised lobby less than those with franchisor unit ownership (supported). Next, since collective action theory predicts that more participants in a space will lead to less collective action, the author predict that franchise systems with larger unit counts will lobby less than those with smaller counts (not supported). Finally, the author test the interaction of these two effects as systems that are fully franchised and of higher unit totals should have an even greater negative relationship with political activity (supported).

This paper uses both a novel data set and a novel context to study collective action. Previous research has utilized an industry structure context to model the level of lobbying and collective action, while the current research uses an analogous logic, but in the context of franchise systems.

The patient-side manipulator (PSM) achieves high torque capability by combining harmonic servo system with high reduction ratio and low torque motor. However, high reduction ratio can increase inertia and decrease compliance of the manipulator. To enhance the backdrivability of the minimally invasive surgical robot, this paper aims to propose a resistance torque compensation algorithm.

A resistance torque compensation algorithm based on dynamics and Luenberger observer is proposed. The dynamics are established, considering joint flexibility and an improved Stribeck friction model. The dynamic parameters are experimentally identified by using the least squares method. With the advantages of clear structure, simple implementation and fast solution speed, the Luenberger observer is selected to estimate the unmeasured dynamic information of PSM and realize the resistance torque compensation.

For low-speed surgical robots, the centrifugal force term in the dynamic model can be simplified to reduce computational complexity. Joint flexibility and an improved Stribeck friction model can be considered to improve the accuracy of the dynamic model. Experiment results show that parameter identification and estimated results of the Luenberger observer are accurate. The backdrivability of the PSM is enhanced in ease and smoothness.

This algorithm provides potential application prospects for surgical robots to maintain high torque while remaining compliant. Meanwhile, the enhanced backdrivability of the manipulator helps to improve the safety of the preoperative manual adjustment.

This paper aims to propose a hand–eye calibration method of arc welding robot and laser vision sensor by using semidefinite programming (SDP).

The conversion relationship between the pixel coordinate system and laser plane coordinate system is established on the basis of the mathematical model of three-dimensional measurement of laser vision sensor. In addition, the conversion relationship between the arc welding robot coordinate system and the laser vision sensor measurement coordinate system is also established on the basis of the hand–eye calibration model. The ordinary least square (OLS) is used to calculate the rotation matrix, and the SDP is used to identify the direction vectors of the rotation matrix to ensure their orthogonality.

The feasibility identification can reduce the calibration error, and ensure the orthogonality of the calibration results. More accurate calibration results can be obtained by combining OLS + SDP.

A set of advanced calibration methods is systematically established, which includes parameters calibration of laser vision sensor and hand–eye calibration of robots and sensors. For the hand–eye calibration, the physics feasibility problem of rotating matrix is creatively put forward, and is solved through SDP algorithm. High-precision calibration results provide a good foundation for future research on seam tracking.

This study investigates how individuals' self-awareness (specifically, private and public self-awareness) and environment-awareness (perceived expertise, similarity and familiarity) shape herd behavior, encompassing discounting one’s information and imitating others. Drawing from latent state-trait theory, this research aims to discern the impact of these factors on purchase intention and behavior.

Longitudinal data from 231 users in Xiaohongshu, China’s leading social commerce platform, were collected to test the proposed model and hypotheses.

The findings from this study show that private self-awareness negatively influences discounting one’s own information and imitating others. Public self-awareness positively affects imitating others, while it does not affect discounting one’s own information. Perceived expertise diminishes discounting one’s own information but does not significantly affect imitating others. Perceived similarity and perceived familiarity are positively related to discounting one’s own information and imitating others. The results confirm different interaction effects between self-awareness and environment-awareness on herd behavior.

First, this contributes back to the latent state-trait theory by expanding the applicability of this theory to explain the phenomenon of herd behavior. Second, this study takes an important step toward theoretical advancement in the extant literature by qualifying that both self- and environment-awareness should be considered to trigger additional effects on herd behavior. Third, this study provides a more enlightened understanding of herd behavior by highlighting the significance of considering the interplay between self- and environment-awareness on herd behavior. Finally, this study also empirically confirms the validity of classifying self-awareness into private and public aspects.

The recent increase in the presence of emerging market firms (EMFs) in global markets requires a closer examination of their international marketing strategies (including branding). The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors behind the standardization or adaptation of global marketing strategies adopted by EMFs for their cross-border acquisitions.

This paper examines the determinants of the marketing strategies adopted by Indian and Chinese firms for their cross-border acquisitions. The drivers of the standardization/adaptation of marketing strategies (including branding) are identified using both quantitative data collected in 168 cross-border acquisitions conducted by the EMFs mentioned above and the institutional theory and organizational identity literature.

Institutional factors have a stronger effect than organizational identities on global marketing strategies, including branding. The standardization of the EMFs’ marketing strategies is driven by the private statuses of the acquirers, legal distances, target countries’ economic development, and the ethnic ties that exist between the home and host countries. The acquirers’ decisions to retain the targets’ brand identities, thus adapting their global marketing strategies, are related to the cultural distances, economic freedom distances, and sizes of the targets.

In this study, two large emerging markets – India and China – are used to gather the empirical data; future works can expand upon this line of research and examine other EMFs.

The acquiring companies have to decide whether to adopt an adaption marketing strategy, with reference to the acquired targets’ local stakeholder requirements, or to incorporate their targets’ brands into their own global marketing strategies.

Typically, previous work on the adaptation vs standardization of global marketing strategies adopted in the wake of cross-border deals has focussed on acquisitions involving companies from developed countries; this paper extends the field of research to the EMFs of two of the most important developing countries: China and India.