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Quality management systems are commonly applied to meet the increasingly stringent requirements for product quality in discrete manufacturing industries. However, traditional experience-driven quality management methods are incapable of handling heterogeneous data from multiple sources, leading to information islands. This study aims to present a quality management key performance indicator visualization (QM-KPIVIS) system to enable integrated quality control and ultimately ensure product quality.

Based on multiple heterogeneous data, an integrated approach is proposed to quantify explicitly the relationship between Internet of Things data and product quality. Specifically, this study identifies the tracing path of quality problems based on multiple heterogeneous quality information tree. In addition, a hierarchical analysis approach is adopted to calculate the key performance indicators of quality influencing factors in the quality control process.

Proposed QM-KPIVIS system consists of data visualization, quality problem processing, quality optimization and user rights management modules, which perform in a well-coordinated manner. An empirical study was also conducted to validate the effectiveness of proposed system.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first attempt to use industrial Internet of Things and multisource heterogeneous data for integrated product quality management. Proposed approach is more user-friendly and intuitive compared to traditional empirically driven quality management methods and has been initially applied in the manufacturing industry.

This paper aims to analyze the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of regional total factor productivity (TFP) growth and explores how haze pollution and different levels of new-type urbanization affect China’s economic growth.

This paper constructs an index for evaluating the TFP growth of China’s 31 provinces by integrating slack-based measures and the Global Malmquist (GM) productivity index. Meanwhile, the panel threshold estimation method is used to examine the complex relationships among haze pollution, new-type urbanization and TFP growth.

The results reflect conspicuous spatiotemporal heterogeneity in TFP growth in China. Interestingly, the influence of haze pollution on TFP growth is limited by the “critical mass” of new-type urbanization in China. When new-type urbanization does not cross the first threshold, haze pollution has a negative but non-significant effect on TFP growth. When new-type urbanization crosses the first threshold but not the second, haze pollution has a significant positive impact on TFP growth. When new-type urbanization crosses the second threshold, haze pollution significantly and positively affects TFP growth with the strongest positive effect.

This study innovates by combining haze pollution and TFP growth and proposing an integrated framework from the perspective of new-type urbanization, providing insight into how different degrees of new-type urbanization impact the mechanism between haze pollution and TFP growth. Using panel data in China and emphasizing green development, a sustainable economy and new-type urbanization, this study contributes to the current studies on haze pollution and economic development based on developed countries.

There are two purposes in this paper. The first one is to explore the impact mechanisms and paths of service-oriented manufacturing (SOM) on the sustainability performance of green manufacturing firms and to pay particular attention to the mediating role of enterprise costs in the relationship between the two. The second one is to reveal the dynamic process and laws of SOM influencing on the sustainability performance of green manufacturing enterprises.

This paper employs a combination of dynamic and static research from two aspects. On the one hand, based on 495 green manufacturing firms in China, the authors verify the SEM of SOM, enterprise cost and sustainability performance of green manufacturing firms through empirical research, analyze the path relationship and mediation effect, and demonstrate its complex impact mechanism. On the other hand, the authors use agent-based modeling and simulation to reveal the dynamic influence of SOM on the sustainability performance of green manufacturing enterprises and explore its dynamic laws and future development trends.

The study results indicate that (1) SOM has a direct positive effect on firm sustainability performance. (2) Reducing firm costs has a positive effect on firm sustainability performance, and firm costs play a partial mediating role in the mechanism by which SOM influences firm sustainability performance. (3) The dynamic impact of SOM on sustainability performance increases significantly over time. (4) Significant firm heterogeneity exists in the process by which SOM improves sustainability performance. (5) There are differences in the promotion of SOM for economic performance, environmental performance and social performance.

This paper makes two main contributions. First, compared with previous research on sustainability performance focusing on a certain dimension, this paper organically integrates the three dimensions of sustainability performance, regards them as a whole and considers the paths to improve sustainability performance. Second, this paper focuses on the complex relationship among SOM, enterprise costs and sustainability performance and reveals different sustainability performance improvement paths and dynamic impact processes, thereby expanding and deepening previous research on sustainability on the subject. These contributions lead to a better understanding of the driving forces and realization path for green manufacturing firms' sustainability performance from an integrated static and dynamic perspective.

This study examines the effect of cross-border network ties of returnee entrepreneurs on the foreign market diversity of their ventures. The study further investigates how two cross-cultural competencies (global mindset and cultural intelligence) moderate this effect.

A sample of 135 returnee entrepreneurial ventures from China was used to test the hypotheses.

This study finds that returnee entrepreneurs tend to enter into a wide range of culturally different country groups when returnee entrepreneurs have strong cross-border network ties. Moreover, global mindset and cultural intelligence function as complements in strengthening the effect of the cross-border network ties on foreign market diversity.

The authors contribute to both returnee entrepreneurship and foreign market entry literature in two ways. First, by examining the effect of cross-border network ties on foreign market entry, the authors add new and important insights into the role of social networks in the pre-internationalization phase. This is useful in understanding the internationalization process of new ventures founded by returnees, which have not been fully understood in returnee entrepreneurship literature. Second, by examining the moderating roles of global mindset and cultural intelligence, the authors enhance the understanding of the extent to which cross-border networks can be valuable in foreign market entry.