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This study explores the intricate relationship between inventory leanness, financial constraints and digital transformation in listed Chinese manufacturing firms.

Using a large panel data collected from 2,563 Chinese listed manufacturing enterprises over the period from 2012 to 2021, this research employs the instrumental variable method combined with two-stage least squares estimators to explore the U- shaped relationship between inventory leanness and financial constraints. Furthermore, the moderating role of digital transformation is demonstrated.

Contrary to traditional assumptions, our research uncovers a U-shaped relationship between inventory leanness and financial constraints, indicating that excessive inventory reduction can exacerbate financial constraints. Digital transformation plays a significant moderating role, particularly in highly digitalized environments.

Our findings have practical significance for top managers and policymakers. We advocate for a balanced approach to lean inventory management to mitigating financial constraints. The study emphasizes the pivotal role of digital transformation in alleviating the impact of inventory leanness on financial constraints, highlighting the need for digital transformation strategies.

This research provides a comprehensive analysis of inventory leanness, financial constraints and digital transformation dynamics. It challenges conventional thinking by revealing the nonlinear nature of the inventory leanness–financial constraints relationship. The concept of moderation highlights the moderating effect of digital transformation. This study offers practical guidance for practitioners and policymakers.

This study aims to demonstrate the simultaneous effects between inventory leanness and product innovation, with market concentration being a moderator.

Using a large panel data collected from 3071 listed manufacturing enterprises from 2004 to 2021, this research employs a simultaneous system of equations via the three-stage least square method to explore the simultaneous relationship between inventory leanness and product innovation. In addition, the moderating role of market concentration is demonstrated via one four-model system.

As its core, inventory leanness positively impacts product innovation, while product innovation negatively affects inventory leanness. Moreover, there are differential impacts of the leanness of three inventory types on product innovation. Specifically, the inventory leanness of raw material negatively affects product innovation, while the inventory leanness of work-in-process and finished goods positively affect product innovation. Further, moderation analysis highlights that market concentration is a key moderator of this relationship.

Managers should carefully gauge the tradeoffs between inventory leanness and product innovation. Concretely, managers ought to consider the connections between inventory types and product innovation. In addition, managers are suggested to emphasis on market strategy.

This paper not only contributes to the current understanding of inventory leanness by verifying the impact of inventory leanness on product innovation but also investigates the simultaneous relationship between various inventory types and product innovation. Furthermore, it empirically demonstrates the moderating effect of market concentration on the relationship between inventory leanness and product innovation.

This study aims to identify mechanisms to manage conflicts that occur when organizations with different cultures, habits and experiences try to coordinate effectively in international joint ventures (IJV). This study proposes that partners can promote their joint venture performance to the extent that they rely on cooperative rather than competitive conflict management. This study further hypothesizes that adopting collectivist values strengthens relationships and thereby provides a foundation for cooperative conflict management.

The authors collected data for this study in Shanghai, which is currently the most attractive province in China for FDI (FDI Intelligence, 2014). In all, 75 pairs of foreign and Chinese managers at middle and senior levels, knowledgeable about the joint venture relationships, completed their respective questionnaires.

Results of the structural equation analyses support the hypotheses that collectivist values support cooperative conflict management that in turn facilitates joint venture learning and performance. In contrast, individualistic values promoted competitive conflict management which in turn frustrated IJV performance.

Results suggest that IJV managers can strengthen their venture by developing collective values and training such cooperative conflict management skills as self-expression and demonstrating understanding of opposing views.

This study directly documents that while conflicts may interfere they can also stimulate discussions and decisions that promote coordination and performance of IJVs. This study contributes to conflict management research that has largely focused on investigating the consequences of approaches by examining conditions that promote constructive conflict management approaches.

This study aims to study the distribution characteristics of antibiotic resistance in direct-eating food and analysis of Citrobacter freundii genome and pathogenicity. Residual antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the environment severely threaten human health and the ecological environment. The diseases caused by foodborne pathogenic bacteria are increasing daily, and the enhancement of antibiotic resistance of pathogenic bacteria poses many difficulties in the treatment of disease.

In this study, six fresh fruits and vegetable samples were selected for isolation and identification of culturable bacteria and analysis of antibiotic resistance. The whole genome of Citrobacter freundii isolated from cucumber was sequenced and analyzed by Oxford Nanopore sequencing.

The results show that 270 strains of bacteria were identified in 6 samples. From 12 samples of direct food, 2 kinds of probiotics and 10 kinds of opportunistic pathogens were screened. The proportion of Citrobacter freundii screened from cucumber was significantly higher than that from other samples, and it showed resistance to a variety of antibiotics. Whole genome sequencing showed that Citrobacter freundii was composed of a circular chromosome containing signal peptides, transmembrane proteins and transporters that could induce antibiotic efflux, indicating that Citrobacter freundii had strong adaptability to the environment. The detection of genes encoding carbohydrate active enzymes is more beneficial to the growth and reproduction of Citrobacter freundii in crops. A total of 29 kinds of ARGs were detected in Citrobacter freundii, mainly conferring resistance to fluoroquinolones, aminoglycosides, carbapenem, cephalosporins and macrolides. The main mechanisms are the change in antibiotic targets and efflux pumps, the change in cell permeability and the inactivation of antibiotics and the detection of virulence factors and ARGs, further indicating the serious risk to human health.

The detection of genomic islands and prophages increases the risk of horizontal transfer of virulence factors and ARGs, which spreads the drug resistance of bacteria and pathogenic bacteria more widely.