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This paper aims to examine the unique Chinese context by analyzing the city labels (e.g. smart city and eco city) used by Chinese local governments at or above the provincial capital level to represent themselves (adopted city labels) and the developmental pathways they actually pursued (adopted developmental pathways).

The authors compared the city brand choices to those anticipated based on their geographic and economic contexts (predicted city labels and developmental pathways) as well as the directives outlined in national planning documents (imposed city labels and developmental pathways). The authors identified ten main categories of city labels used to designate themselves and establish the frequency of their use based on municipal plan documents, economic and geographic data and national plan documents and policy reports, respectively.

The authors discovered that both local economic development and geographic factors, as well as top-down administrative influences, significantly impact city branding strategies in the 38 Chinese cities studied. When these models fall short in predicting adopted city labels and pathways, it is often because cities favor a service-oriented reputation over a manufacturing-focused one, and they prefer diverse, multifaceted industrial images to uniform ones.

The originality and value of this paper lie in its contribution to the academic literature on city branding by developing a predictive model for brand development at the municipal level, with explicit attention to the national-local nexus. The paper’s approach differs from existing research in the first cluster of city branding by not addressing issues of stakeholder involvement or adoption and implementation processes. Additionally, the paper’s focus on the political power dynamics at the national level and urban governance details at the municipal level provides a unique perspective on the topic. Overall, this paper provides a valuable contribution to the field of city branding by expanding the understanding of brand development and its impact on the socioeconomic environment.

Although the integration of sustainability into business strategies and operations has received considerable scholarly attention, little is known about how sustainability initiatives across the extended value chain affect this integration. This study aims to analyze the impact of multinational corporations’ supply chain sustainability initiatives on their environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) performance and the moderating role of the key country-level factors of the multinational’s headquarters.

This study analyzes data published by the top 201 multinationals among Fortune Global 500 companies over the period 2011–2021 on their attempts to integrate sustainability measures in extended supply chains and the resultant impact on their ESG scores. A fixed-effect model is used in the primary empirical study.

Results indicate that managerial interventions through a more robust supply chain policy framework, monitoring mechanisms, corrective actions and training initiatives lead to better ESG-environment pillar performance for multinationals. Additionally, the ESG-environment pillar performance is influenced by the socioeconomic model and country-level ESG risks of the nation where the multinational is headquartered.

The implications of this study are vital for understanding the criticality of sustainability initiatives in the supply chain for a firm’s overall ESG performance. To attain better levels of sustainable performance, multinationals must assume a stewardship position and deploy sustainability initiatives in their extended supply chain.

The purpose of this paper is to take second-hand vehicles at judicial auctions in China as the primary research direction and to explore the impact of purchasing restriction policy and city size on the relationship between the appraisal price and transaction price of second-hand motor vehicles in the context of auto purchase restriction in China from a microscopic angle. It attempts to broaden the pricing ideas of judicial appraisal enterprises in providing appraisal prices of second-hand motor vehicles and to put forward suggestions for the optimization of appraisal prices and appraisal standards of judicial appraisal enterprises.

With the help of Python, this paper crawls 59,038 lines of valid data from three leading internet judicial auction platforms, namely “Ali Auction,” “China Beijing Equity Exchange” and “Gong Pai Wang,” as research samples. Besides, this paper forms a database containing judicial auction used car appraisal prices, transaction prices, motor vehicle purchase restrictions and whether the motor vehicle carries a license plate. By constructing a multiple regression model, the impact of automobile purchase restriction policy on the price of motor vehicles appraised by judicial appraisal enterprises is investigated.

With the help of the multivariate regression model, it found that under the same condition, the city where the auction took place implemented the automobile purchase restriction before the end of the auction. The court has specified that the buyer could directly obtain the license plate after the auction. The transaction price and the evaluation price ratio will be statistically larger, which proves that the license plate has an evident value in the transaction and is traded as subject matter by the residents, and consequently brings a higher premium to the price of automobile transaction in internet judicial auction. Meanwhile, the purchase restriction policy in the first-tier cities has resulted in a significant premium on automobile license plates, which is much higher than the automobile license plate premium level in non-first-tier cities under the same conditions.

Car ownership continues to rise with rapid economic development worldwide. Control the growth of car ownership, some countries and regions mainly restrict the issuance of motor vehicle license plates, which indirectly leads to vehicle license plate indicators becoming a scarce resource. National laws permit judicial auction as a means for the people's courts to settle creditors' claims in enforcement procedures of civil cases. In the judicial auction process, the People's Court introduces third-party evaluation enterprises to appraise, assess and audit the subject and obtain the appraisal price, which guides the bidding behavior of used car buyers and indirectly affects the transaction price of used cars.

As the only subject capable of assessing the value of used cars at judicial auctions, judicial appraisal enterprises have received widespread attention for their appraisal results. This paper researches this field by screening the factors affecting the ratio of motor vehicle transaction price to the appraised price. It also analyzes how the ratio of motor vehicle transaction price to appraised price is affected by motor vehicle purchase restrictions and the situation with license plates. This paper examines the existence of premiums for motor vehicle transactions with license plates, evaluates the purchase restrictions in cities with motor vehicle purchase restrictions and verifies that the premiums for motor vehicles at judicial auctions are affected by purchase restriction policies as well as the influence of city class. These studies have important implications for judicial appraisal enterprises to establish reasonable appraisal mechanisms and optimize appraisal prices. They also provide new ideas and methods for appraisal enterprises to assess the value of used vehicles at judicial auctions.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the quality of housing services in the students’ residential areas (SRAs) of Osun State University, Osogbo campus.

Eighty-eight hostels were systematically sampled and questionnaires were administered to students' representatives from each of the sampled hostels. Also utilized was a physical observation of the hostels. Data obtained include the socioeconomic characteristics of the students, characteristics of housing units in the SRAs and condition of housing services in the SRAs.

About 40% of the residents are fresh students with no previous knowledge of the housing condition of their hostels. Also, about 50% of the accommodation in the SRAs is within the range of #51,000 – #100,000 per annum (about 200–400 US Dollars). With this high price, about 65% of the hostels are occupied with not less than two squatters. While housing services such as electricity are reportedly high, the quality of hostel services in the study area depends on the housing unit's cost.

In the social context, the paper identifies the implications of the quality of housing services on students' health and associated risks. The study, among others, recommends the development of a regulatory framework for the control of the rental value of hostels, basic facilities in the hostels and the number of students in a room.

This research, unlike previous researches, gives an insight into quality of housing services in tertiary institutions in the country.

The study aims to delve into the influence of tourism on the happiness of city residents, grounded in the overarching concept of livability. It posits that prioritizing residents’ happiness is crucial for effectively addressing cities’ challenges in balancing development and distinctiveness. The study pursues three primary objectives: first, establishing a potential correlation between city tourism and residents’ happiness; second, examining the contributing factors to this correlation and third, identifying potential mediators that influence the connection between tourism development and residents’ happiness.

Using a quantitative single-case design and partial least square analysis, the study underscores the intricate nature of various tourism development components. It specifically explores the roles of cognitive flexibility and social comparison in shaping the relationship between city tourism and happiness.

The findings make a distinctive contribution by revealing that not all tourism domains contribute positively to happiness. Furthermore, it sheds light on how tourism development impacts the emotional and cognitive dimensions of happiness, emphasizing the adverse effects of inequality and feelings of insecurity.

The study acknowledges certain constraints, including its employment of a cross-sectional design, the issue of generalizability, potential sampling bias and the reliance on subjective measurements when evaluating constructs like happiness and satisfaction with life. Using self-reported data introduces susceptibility to social desirability bias and individual perceptual differences, potentially resulting in measurement inaccuracies. Nevertheless, despite these limitations, the study’s findings offer valuable insights that contribute to both theoretical advancement and the realm of urban management.

The findings elucidated through the mediation analyses conducted for hypotheses three to seven shed light on the significant roles played by mental adaptation and social comparison mechanisms in shaping individuals’ happiness. These insights substantially enhance our understanding of this field. Particularly, the dimensions of social and environmental impact within tourism appear to counterbalance the positive effects stemming from the economic and cultural aspects. This suggests a scenario where an excessive focus on tourism development could potentially undermine the overall livability of the city. These outcomes further indicate the necessity for proactive interventions by destination managers. Their efforts should be directed toward enhancing the environmental and social domains, aiming to reinvigorate the sense of community among residents, which appears to be gradually waning.

The outcomes of this study emphasize the utmost significance of prioritizing residents’ happiness above mere considerations of economic growth when formulating efficacious strategies for tourism. By concentrating on the happiness of the local population, a harmonious resonance is established with Sustainable Development Goal 11, which advocates for the creation of habitable cities founded upon the principle that “a city that is not good for its citizens is not good for tourists.” This alignment underscores the interconnected nature of residents’ happiness and the sustainable development of tourism. Moreover, residents’ happiness plays a pivotal role in addressing the challenge that cities face in harmonizing growth and their uniqueness, ensuring competitiveness and sustainability.

The research underscores the need for a people-oriented perspective in urban planning and tourism development initiatives. The study identifies diverse factors impacting residents’ happiness in city tourism, highlighting the complex interplay of environmental, cultural and socioeconomic elements. It emphasizes income’s role but underscores nonmaterial factors and individual preferences. Overall, the study offers timely and valuable insights into the intricate connection between tourism development, residents’ happiness, living conditions and human perception, guiding urban planners and stakeholders.

The author develops a bilateral Nash bargaining model under value uncertainty and private/asymmetric information, combining ideas from axiomatic and strategic bargaining theory. The solution to the model leads organically to a two-tier stochastic frontier (2TSF) setup with intra-error dependence. The author presents two different statistical specifications to estimate the model, one that accounts for regressor endogeneity using copulas, the other able to identify separately the bargaining power from the private information effects at the individual level. An empirical application using a matched employer–employee data set (MEEDS) from Zambia and a second using another one from Ghana showcase the applied potential of the approach.

Much has been written on the effect of fast-moving business environments on organizational and supply chain (SC) management. Yet, empirical findings on the effect of changing external and internal contingencies on today’s globalized agrifood SC networks and performance are still fragmented into different organizational instruments, with some conflicting results remaining unexplained. This study aims to address these deficiencies by providing a comprehensive research framework to investigate how SC external and internal contingencies jointly influence organizational SC network structures and agrifood performance across mutually dependent tiers.

Using partial least squares structural equation modeling, the so-called “contingency–netchain–performance” framework, based on contingent resource-based theory and the netchain approach, was empirically tested on data obtained from a standardized survey of 405 artisanal producers and 238 processors in the Nigerian shrimp sector.

The results provide statistical evidence that supports the path dependency of firm performance from the interplay of vertical, horizontal and lateral relationships and, primordially, from both external and internal contingencies. The findings show that the contingency paradigm of fit among small-scale food producers and processors cuts across tiers and uncover a tendency to adopt relational governance and tighter network structures that result in an organic organization as the best-fitting structure.

The paper presents a new research framework that offers comprehensive empirical explanations for the joint influence of SC external and internal contingencies on organizational SC network structures and performance across mutually dependent agrifood tiers. This study’s conceptual, practical and policy implications for SC management provide a nascent and flexible basis on which to identify the best-fitting organizational strategies that maximize firm performance across agrifood SC tiers characterized by changing business environments.

While the literature on twice exceptionality is growing, it often focuses on twice exceptionality generally, overlooking within group differences that may create unique experiences for students. As such, there is a need to explicitly detail these differences to push the knowledge base forward. This chapter focuses on the unique needs and experiences of twice exceptional (2E) Black boys as they navigate K-12 schools. Further, this chapter details the ways in which school counselors may respond to their needs through comprehensive, antiracist school counseling practices. Finally, implications for policy and research are discussed.

In this study, as part of an attempt to foster sustainable development, the aim is directed at understanding the perspectives of domestic economic, financial and political risks in tourism development. On the other hand, the role of other agents of sustainable development: innovation, infrastructure, health and primary education and global crisis in tourism development, was illustrated.

To achieve this objective, the current study explored the (system) SYS-Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) technique for a panel of selected 73 economies over the period 2006–2017. This GMM approached is not undertaken without first establishing the stationarity (a preliminary test) of the employed dataset by utilizing the relevant unit root techniques.

First, the study found that minimizing risks from economic, financial and political aspects is significant and vital to the attractiveness of the tourism destinations and the eventual development of the tourism sector. Second, the study presents innovation or technological readiness and health and primary education as agents of sustainable development through the growth of international tourism arrivals while global crisis is significantly detrimental to tourism inflow.

Overall, the study presents the contribution of tourism as a pathway to sustainable development from unique dimensions. Investigating a large panel (of 73 countries) is a unique approach. In addition, considering the economic vulnerability of the panel countries from the aspects of risk arising from economic, financial and political aspects is another interesting dimension to the novelty of the study. Thus, this study offers relevant policies for tourism stakeholders.