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1 – 10 of over 26000Xiaojie Xu and Yun Zhang
Forecasts of commodity prices are vital issues to market participants and policy makers. Those of corn are of no exception, considering its strategic importance. In the present…
Abstract
Purpose
Forecasts of commodity prices are vital issues to market participants and policy makers. Those of corn are of no exception, considering its strategic importance. In the present study, the authors assess the forecast problem for the weekly wholesale price index of yellow corn in China during January 1, 2010–January 10, 2020 period.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors employ the nonlinear auto-regressive neural network as the forecast tool and evaluate forecast performance of different model settings over algorithms, delays, hidden neurons and data splitting ratios in arriving at the final model.
Findings
The final model is relatively simple and leads to accurate and stable results. Particularly, it generates relative root mean square errors of 1.05%, 1.08% and 1.03% for training, validation and testing, respectively.
Originality/value
Through the analysis, the study shows usefulness of the neural network technique for commodity price forecasts. The results might serve as technical forecasts on a standalone basis or be combined with other fundamental forecasts for perspectives of price trends and corresponding policy analysis.
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Bingzi Jin and Xiaojie Xu
Agriculture commodity price forecasts have long been important for a variety of market players. The study we conducted aims to address this difficulty by examining the weekly…
Abstract
Purpose
Agriculture commodity price forecasts have long been important for a variety of market players. The study we conducted aims to address this difficulty by examining the weekly wholesale price index of green grams in the Chinese market. The index covers a ten-year period, from January 1, 2010, to January 3, 2020, and has significant economic implications.
Design/methodology/approach
In order to address the nonlinear patterns present in the price time series, we investigate the nonlinear auto-regressive neural network as the forecast model. This modeling technique is able to combine a variety of basic nonlinear functions to approximate more complex nonlinear characteristics. Specifically, we examine prediction performance that corresponds to several configurations across data splitting ratios, hidden neuron and delay counts, and model estimation approaches.
Findings
Our model turns out to be rather simple and yields forecasts with good stability and accuracy. Relative root mean square errors throughout training, validation and testing are specifically 4.34, 4.71 and 3.98%, respectively. The results of benchmark research show that the neural network produces statistically considerably better performance when compared to other machine learning models and classic time-series econometric methods.
Originality/value
Utilizing our findings as independent technical price forecasts would be one use. Alternatively, policy research and fresh insights into price patterns might be achieved by combining them with other (basic) prediction outputs.
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Jian Xu, Muhammad Haris and Feng Liu
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of intellectual capital (IC) and its components (human, structural, relational and innovation capitals) on financial…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of intellectual capital (IC) and its components (human, structural, relational and innovation capitals) on financial performance (FP) at different life cycle stages.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses the data from Chinese manufacturing listed companies during 2014–2018. The modified value added intellectual coefficient (MVAIC) model is employed as the measurement of IC efficiency. Finally, multiple regression analysis is used to test the research hypotheses.
Findings
This study shows that the impact of IC on FP is different across life cycle stages. Specifically, at the birth stage, human capital (HC), structural capital (SC) and innovation capital (INC) have a positive impact on FP. At the growth and mature stages, all IC components contribute to FP improvement. HC and SC play an important role at the revival stage, while only HC positively affects FP at the decline stage.
Practical implications
The findings may help corporate managers to make optimal strategies to improve FP by effective utilization of IC resources in the complex and competitive business environment. Meanwhile, companies can invest in the core elements of IC at different stages of development, so as to maximize the contribution of IC to company value.
Originality/value
This is among the few studies to explore the impact of IC on FP of manufacturing listed companies in the Chinese context from the perspective of life cycle. It also makes novel contributions in measuring IC by the MVAIC model with the inclusion of relational capital and INC that are largely neglected in previous research.
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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…
Abstract
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.
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Md. Jahidur Rahman and Hongyi Liu
This study aims to examine the impact of intellectual capital (IC) and its three components (human, structural and relational capital) on corporation performance in the Chinese…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the impact of intellectual capital (IC) and its three components (human, structural and relational capital) on corporation performance in the Chinese transportation industry. In addition, this study also investigates auditor characteristics (both Big-N and non-Big-N auditors) as a moderating role to examine the relationship between IC and corporate performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The data include 398 firm-year observations of transportation companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchange from 2011 to 2020. Value-added intellectual coefficient (VAIC) model and its modified version (MVAIC) are applied to measure IC efficiency. Finally, the fixed effects regression analysis is used to mitigate the endogeneity issue. To investigate the moderating effect of auditor characteristics, the authors divide the samples based on the clients audited by Big-4 and non-Big-4 firms.
Findings
This study reveals that IC can enhance firm performance in China’s transportation sector. Overall, findings indicate that on the whole, IC has a positive and significant impact on corporation profitability and productivity. Human capital and physical and financial assets (capital employed) play highly important roles, but structural capital has no significant impact. The authors also found that auditor characteristics play an important moderating role in the connection between IC and corporate performance. For example, the positive association between IC and corporate performance is more pronounced when Big-4 auditors audit client firms. At the same time, the authors found a negative relationship between IC and firm performance when non-Big-4 auditors audit client firms.
Practical implications
Managers must understand that several components of IC have a total effect on corporate financial performance. Therefore, managers can dedicate more resources to such components based on the performance outcomes to emphasize their business strategies.
Originality/value
This study is the first empirical analysis of the impact of IC and its components on corporation performance in the transportation sector in China, an emerging market. Previous studies mainly focus on developed countries’ high technology and financial industries sectors but the impact of IC in transportation industry largely remains unknown. Thus, the present findings contribute to IC literature by revealing several underlying mechanisms by which the components of IC help achieve good firm performance.
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Yi Xie, Jia Liu, Shufan Zhu, Dazhi Chong, Hui Shi and Yong Chen
When integrating smart elements offered by emergent technologies, libraries are facing the challenges of technological renovation and maintaining their operation using emerging…
Abstract
Purpose
When integrating smart elements offered by emergent technologies, libraries are facing the challenges of technological renovation and maintaining their operation using emerging technology. Given the importance of smart library, new technologies are needed in building new libraries or renovation of existing libraries. The purpose of this paper is to propose a risk warning system for library construction or renovation in the aspect of risk management.
Design/methodology/approach
The proposed Internet of Things (IoT)-based system consists of sensors that automatically monitor the status of materials, equipment and construction activities in real time. AI techniques including case-based reasoning and fuzzy sets are applied.
Findings
The proposed system can easily track material flow and visualize construction processes. The experiment shows that the proposed system can effectively detect, monitor and manage risks in construction projects including library construction.
Originality/value
Compared with existing risk warning systems, the proposed IoT-based system requires less data for making dynamic predictions. The proposed system can be applied to new builds and renovation of libraries.
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Yajun Wang, Xinyu Meng, Chang Xu and Meng Zhao
This paper aims to analyze high-quality papers on the research of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) for product and service quality improvement from 2009 to 2022, in order to fully…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to analyze high-quality papers on the research of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) for product and service quality improvement from 2009 to 2022, in order to fully understand their historical progress, current situation and future development trend.
Design/Methodology/Approach
This paper adopts the bibliometrics method to analyze the relevant literature, including publishing trend and citation status, regional and discipline area distribution, and influential publications. Secondly, the VOSviewer is used for literature co-citation analysis and keyword co-occurrence analysis to obtain the basic literature and research hotspots in this research field.
Findings
Firstly, the study finds that the number of publications basically shows an increasing trend, and those publications are mainly published in tourism journals. In addition, among these papers, China has the largest number of publications, followed by the USA and South Korea. Through co-citation analysis of literature and keyword co-occurrence analysis, 22 foundational papers and six main research topics are obtained in this paper. Finally, this paper elaborates on the development trend of the research topic and future research directions in detail.
Originality/value
This is the first paper that uses bibliometrics to analyze and review relevant researches on eWOM for product and service quality improvement, which is helpful for researchers to quickly understand its development status and trend. This review also provides some future research directions and provides a reference for further research.
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