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This paper investigates whether China's R&D tax deduction policy triggers firms to manipulate their R&D expenditures upward.

This paper employs the ratio of actual tax savings as a proxy for the benefits of the R&D tax deduction policy based on manually collected and systematically cross-checked data. The relationship between tax benefits and abnormal R&D spending is estimated in a sample of Chinese A-share listed companies for the period 2007–2018.

The findings suggest that tax deductions lead to positive abnormal R&D spending and that this deviation in R&D spending may be attributed to firms' upward R&D manipulation for tax avoidance. The results also indicate that this behavior is more significant for the period after the policy revision, in non-HNTEs (high and new technology enterprises), and in firms with a high ratio of R&D expenses.

It is difficult to establish a sophisticated and unified model to identify the specific strategy of upward R&D manipulation that firms use to obtain tax benefits.

Managers should take into account upward R&D manipulation when designing governance mechanisms. Policymakers in developing countries may further pursue preferential tax policies that cover every stage of innovation activities gradually; the local provincial governments need to leverage their proximity and flexibility advantages to develop a tax collection and administration system.

This study contributes to the understanding of the complex effect of R&D tax incentives and helps more fully illuminate firms' upward R&D manipulation behavior from the perspective of tax planning strategies, which are underexplored in previous research.

Inefficiency dilemmas in project governance are caused by various risks arising from the characteristic of construction supply chain projects, such as poor project performance, conflicts between stakeholders and cost overrun. This research aims to establish a fuzzy synthetic evaluation (FSE) model to analyze construction supply chain risk factors. Corresponding risk mitigation strategies are provided to facilitate the improvement performance of ongoing construction supply chain projects.

A literature review is utilized to reveal the deficiencies of construction supply chain risk management. Thus, a total of five hundred (500) questionnaires are distributed to construction professionals, and four hundred and thirty-five (435) questionnaires are recovered to obtain the evaluation data of construction professionals on critical risk factors. Additionally, the FSE is used to analyze and rank the significance of critical risk factors. Finally, this research discusses nine critical risk factors with high weight in the model, and explains the reason for the significance of critical risk factors in the construction supply chain.

The questionnaire results show that the thirty-one (31) identified critical risk factors are verified by related practitioners (government departments, universities and research institutions, owners, construction units, financial institutions, design units, consulting firms). Thirty-one (31) identified critical risk factors are divided into common risks, risks from contractors and risks from owners. The most significant factors in the three categories, respectively, are “political risks,” “owner's unprofessional” approach and “cash flow.” Managing these risks can facilitate the development of the construction supply chain.

This paper expands the research perspective of construction supply chain risk management and complements the risks in the construction supply chain. For practitioners, the research result provides some corresponding measures to deal with these risks. For researchers, the research result provides the direction of construction supply chain risk treatment.