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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.

By integrating the diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory, technology acceptance model (TAM), and social capital theory, the purpose of this paper is to: develop a model of consumer behavior and trial willingness toward nano-foods from product, consumer, and social perspectives; examine the effects of innovative features, consumer characteristics, and trust in authority on subjective perceptions (perceived trustworthiness and perceived benefit) as well as the social influence on attitudes toward nano-foods and trial willingness; examine the moderating role of product uncertainty on the relationship between these characteristics and subjective perceptions; and examine the effect of perceived benefit on perceived trustworthiness.

The results of the structural equation model (SEM), with nano-food knowledge data collected from 431 respondents, supported the research model and revealed the main effects hypothesized in this study and the moderating effect of product uncertainty. Simple slope analysis was further adopted to test the significant moderating effects.

The SEM results indicated that innovative characteristics (relative advantage, lack of observability, and novelty), consumer characteristics (perceived technology application), and social characteristics (trust in authority) affect perceived trustworthiness or perceived benefit. Social influence also has a direct effect on attitude toward nano-foods and trial willingness. Product uncertainty significantly moderates the relationship between characteristics (relative advantage and perceived technology application) and subjective perceptions (perceived trustworthiness and perceived benefit).

With increasing numbers and kinds of nanotechnology products now being developed and sold, it is important to go further to determine consumer perceptions and attitudes toward these. This study, thus, applied the DOI, TAM, and social capital theory to examine this issue. However, other theories might also be used to carry out research from other perspectives. This study should, thus, be seen as preliminary, and it is hoped that more works will discuss consumer attitudes toward nanotechnology products in the future.

When a new nano-food is introduced, the current study suggests that food manufacturers use the description on the package as a communicative tool. Detailing the advantages of nano-foods on food packages might be a useful way to enhance trial willingness and to reduce the fears and insecurities related to the use of nano-related products. In addition, if food manufacturers could cooperate with organizations or individuals seen as having some authority in this area (e.g. nanotechnology researchers) in order to disseminate accurate information about nanotechnology and related food products, this might be an effective way to increase sales and profits.

This is the first paper integrating the DOI, the social capital theory and the TAM to empirically investigate consumer willingness to try nano-food products.

The purpose of this study is to assess the validity and predictability of insights from the investment model (IM) in the context of strategic manufacturer–industrial supplier relationships. IM is a theoretical model in social psychology pertaining to interpersonal relationship discontinuity. This formal empirical test of IM in a different context supports vertical theory borrowing and minimizes the risk of committing atomistic fallacy.

Data collected from 256 sourcing professionals participating in a scenario-based role-playing experiment were analyzed via structural equation modeling. The authors also performed bootstrapping to assess indirect effects.

The IM is generally applicable to the context of interfirm relationship dissolution. Relative to the original context of interpersonal relationship dissolution, three nuances are detected: investment size as an antecedent has lowered prominence in influencing commitment; satisfaction level, quality of alternatives and investment size have non-orthogonal effects on commitment; and satisfaction level influences relationship continuity through and beyond commitment.

The empirical findings broaden boundary conditions for IM insights. Beyond interpersonal relationship dissolution, the IM appears to also describe, explain and predict interfirm relationship dissolution.

Keeping the manufacturer satisfied is critical. Moreover, suppliers should be cautious when entering joint product development agreements.

This study appears to be among the first to formally validate the applicability of IM insights as they pertain to the dissolution of strategic manufacturer–industrial supplier relationships.

The purpose of this paper is, based on leisure constraints and means-end theories, to identify the e-leisure constraints of using the video-sharing websites/apps; demonstrate how means-end theory can be used to reveal the differences between high- and low-leisure constraints in an e-leisure environment; and provide designers and marketers with valuable insights for developing e-leisure products and e-marketing strategies.

Both qualitative and quantitative approaches are employed to collect data. By eliminating three participants whose age range did not meet our criterion (15 to 24 years old), 57 one-on-one in-depth interviews were then content analyzed to design the survey questionnaire. A total of 514 valid samples were collected for hierarchical value map (HVM) construction.

By comparing the full HVM vs the e-leisure constraints HVM, the analytical results indicate that the importance of attributes, consequences and values for the young people using video-sharing websites/apps is quite different. “Unable to resume the video after leaving the screen,” “creating playlist,” “providing movies” and “location restrictions” are extremely important features that influence the willingness of such users with high e-leisure constraints to participate in e-leisure activities. By understanding the differences between these two HVMs, it is possible to provide marketers or designers with valuable insights for website/app design and marketing strategies.

This study only focused on young people’s perceptions of video-sharing websites/apps, so the findings are limited to those aged between 15 and 24 years old. Since managers today are challenged to design effective strategies that can meet target users’ demands across different ages with different economic, social and sub-cultural groups, future research may consider gathering a wider age range of respondents in order to obtain more robust results.

This is the first paper integrating leisure constraints theory and means-end theory to understand young people’s cognitive structure of using video-sharing websites/apps, especially when they encounter e-leisure constraints.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive model to illustrate the mediating role of sense of virtual community (SOVC) in virtual communities of practices (VCoPs). The interrelations between social capital and collective action in terms of knowledge contribution in the VCoP context are also examined.

A total of 253 members from the Zclub and Jorsindo, responded to the survey. PLS-SEM path modeling was used to analyze survey data.

Members’ structural capital and cognitive capital both positively and significantly influence members’ SOVC, and, in turn, their SOVC influences relational capital.

The study linked two theories, namely, social capital and theory of collective action, to discuss knowledge contribution in VCoPs. Social capital and SOVC have significant and positive effects on knowledge contribution in VCoPs.

Knowledge contributions in VCoPs are created through interactions among members, as well as the facilitation resulting from shared visions. Administrators can promote the formation of social-interaction ties in VCoPs to reinforce the formation of social capital and a SOVC.

Administrators of knowledge-oriented groups must strive to sustain proper levels of SOVC among members to ensure their continued participation in VCoPs.

The main objectives of this study were to examine the effects of social capital (structural, cognitive, and relational capitals) on the quality and quantity of knowledge contribution. SOVC was proposed as a mediator in the relationship between structural and/or cognitive capital toward relational capital.

Prior studies on major customer relationships (i.e. embedded ties) focus mostly on the ties between a focal firm and its immediate customers, hindering the understanding of the influence of indirect ties (both upstream and downstream) on a focal firm's operational performance. In this study, the authors analyze how a focal firm's upstream and downstream connectedness and network location affect its productive efficiency.

Utilizing Compustat segment files, the authors constructed large-scale major customer networks covering the period 2007–2013. The authors applied a fixed-effect panel stochastic frontier model to conduct estimation. Moreover, the authors applied an endogenous panel stochastic frontier model to ensure the robustness of the main analysis.

The authors found that a focal firm's upstream and downstream connectedness both have a positive influence on a firm's productive efficiency, whereas a focal firm's centeredness in the major customer network has a negative influence on productive efficiency. Moreover, it was found that centeredness lessens the positive influences of upstream and downstream connectedness on productive efficiency. The post hoc analysis further confirmed that a focal firm's indirect ties, both upstream and downstream, positively influence a focal firm's productive efficiency.

This study contributes to the literature by evaluating the relative effectiveness of a focal firm's direct and indirect major customer ties, both upstream and downstream. More importantly, this study suggests potential exploitation–exploration trade-offs (i.e. productive efficiency vs. innovation) triggered by a firm's network location.

This chapter describes the main issues in scientific literature related to industrial branding. First, we set the background focusing on industrial branding, followed by brand equity and measurement, and brand orientation in business markets. The second section relies on controversies and problems inherent in the gaps in theory and implementation of branding. The third section proposes several solutions and recommendations for academics and practitioners, followed by proposals for future research directions and conclusions. We also present a case study and several case questions arising.

The purpose of this paper is to better understand the differences between community and non-community banks (CBs and Non-CBs) in the US. As the former have been declining in numbers, previous literature shows inherent differences between the business models of CBs and Non-CBs. This study attempts to gauge whether the impact of the reserve elimination during the Covid pandemic affected all banks similarly or whether community banks showed a differentiated response.

On March 26, 2020, the Federal Reserve, at the onset of the Covid pandemic, altered the depository institution reserve requirement for the first time since 1992. This significant change in policy led to the reserve requirement reduction from 10% to 0%. This study examines the impact of the 2020 reserve elimination on all community banks and non-community banks in the US and finds that although the level of cash to assets increased at both types of depository institutions post reserve elimination, the impact on liquidity-focused ratios was more pervasive at community banks in the first quarter post the regulatory shift. Among community banks, the largest depository institutions experienced the biggest balance sheet adjustments in the June 2020 quarter that followed the change in Federal Reserve’s policy. Further, the study finds that over two-quarters post reserve elimination, the non-community banks demonstrate a greater increase in balance sheet liquidity. Past literature shows that community banks tend to carry more liquidity than non-community banks and small community banks tend to carry more liquidity than their larger counterparts. These previous findings may provide some explanation for the different speed documented in this study at which various banks have reacted to the reserve elimination in 2020.

This research finds that community banks had a quicker response to the change in the reserve elimination, showing quick increases across liquidity ratios. The larger non-community banks tended to play catch up, increasing their liquidity in the subsequent quarter. The study also shows that the changes in liquidity were initially driven by the segment of large community banks.

This study looks at how the reserve elimination enacted by the Federal Reserve in March 2020 in response to the Covid pandemic affected community versus non-community banks. Currently, as far as the authors know, there are no other published papers that look at this issue.

In a supplier‐dominated channel system, how a supplier manages the channel has profound influence on its retailers’ overall operations. The effect of supplier channel management behavior on retailers’ market orientation and overall business performance is examined in the context of automotive supplier‐dealer relationship. Investigating the effect of channel management behavior along three dimensions, directive, participative, and supportive, the results support that the participative and supportive management styles have a positive effect on market orientation. Further analysis shows that both supplier management leadership and market orientation are linked to various perceptual, productivity, volume, and profit performance measures. The results offer important managerial implications and future research directions.