The Industry 4.0 is important for China to achieve industrial upgrading and promoting the quality of manufacturing development. This paper investigates the driving force of the Industry 4.0 in ...China’s manufacture industry, and evaluates the impact of Industry 4.0 on firm’s performance. First, a textual mining is conducted to identify 460 companies that are implementing Industry 4.0 strategy, and then a Probit model is adopted to examine the driving forces of Industry 4.0. Through the propensity scores matching difference-in-difference method, the impacts of Industry 4.0 on firm’s performance are evaluated. The results reveal that private and large companies show a higher motivation to promote the Industry 4.0 strategy, and government subsidies have no significant impact on firm’s Industry 4.0 decision. The implementation of Industry 4.0 can significant improves firm’s financial performance, innovation activities and stock returns, but has no significant impact on supply chain efficiency. In addition, the adoption of Industry 4.0 has positive impact on firm’s information transparency grade.
As a newly appeared trade mode in recent years, reverse outsourcing has made a great impact on traditional trade modes. This paper researched the influences of reverse outsourcing on green ...technological progress from the perspective of a global supply chain by using micro-data of enterprises. It worked out the rate of green technological progress from two innovative concepts: potential production technology and practical production technology. The empirical analysis results indicated that reverse outsourcing stimulates, and enterprise size and ownership type potentially affects, green technological progress. State-owned or foreign enterprises with high income levels would pay more attention to environmental protection, energy saving, and emission reduction, while small and micro enterprises with low incomes would choose to ignore environmental protection.
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•The general equilibrium model of green technological progress is set up.•The theoretical model of the study contains reverse outsourcing additionally.•We use the data of onshore and offshore reverse outsourcing.•We analyze the practical function of reverse outsourcing on green technology.•The method to measure green technological progress is innovatively defined.
The integration of the circular economy (CE), a model promoting the cyclical use of resources, and Industry 4.0, an intelligent-based approach to manufacturing, is expected to achieve sustainability. ...Finding the most suitable path for technological progress and structural change to promote economic growth is the key to adopting Industry 4.0 technologies and successfully transforming to a CE, and thus, key to China achieving sustainable development quickly. This study identifies the joint effects of energy- and environment-biased technological progress and multi-dimensional industrial structural change on economic growth, and empirically verifies the specific effects within China. Our results are as follows. First, pollution abatement technological progress, backstop technological progress and autogenous structural ecologicalization are the main drivers of sustainable economic growth. Second, innovation policies have a positive impact on national economic growth by promoting pollution abatement technological progress. Finally, in sub-regions’ regression, backstop and environment technology, and structural ecologicalization promote eastern China’s economy, while policies drive environment technological progress and structural ecologicalization to stimulate economic growth in central and western China. Our results imply that policymakers should take into consideration the readiness levels of each region regarding the adoption of Industry 4.0 and circular economy, and that the government should consider and ensure the participation of all stakeholders, including firms.
•Focus on the economy’s driving forces under Industry 4.0 and circular economy.•Environment and new-energy technological progress promote economic growth in China.•Innovation policy drives economic growth by inducing biased technological progress.•Backstop and environment technological progress benefit eastern and central China.•Industrial policy works well on structural ecologicalization and regional economy.
This special edition is based on the annual conference of Sustainable Asia Conference (http://abf.inha.ac.kr/). The purpose of the conference is to work together for our future challenges. Every year ...more than 50 papers are presented in the conference and published in the special edition of Sustainability. Your participation on the next SAC conference shall greatly enhance our research human network. Once a friend, forever friend, it is our slogan for the conference.
At the present stage, economic high quality has become an inevitable trend for the healthy development of society. Environmental regulation of new green innovation initiatives has become a ...breakthrough for economic high quality. The optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure will also have an unprecedented impact on the sustainable growth of the economy. The focus of this study is to analyze the dynamic relationship between environmental regulation, industrial structure advancement and economic high quality. Based on the panel data of the Huaihe River Economic Belt from 2005 to 2018, an empirical study is conducted using the spatial Durbin model. The results show that the economic high quality has a spatial spillover effect, the impact of environmental regulation on economic high quality of the local and neighboring regions is shown as an inverted "U" shape, improving the advanced level of industrial structure can positively affect economy of the local and neighboring regions. Moreover, this study innovatively points out that environmental regulation is positively regulating the relationship between the advanced industrial structure and economic high quality. The above research results have important guiding significance for accelerating the green and sustainable development of the country and region.
•We propose a mathematical definition of environment-biased technological progress.•The concepts of absolute and relative EBP have been proposed.•We set up a super-efficiency advanced SBM model to ...test the effectiveness of EBP.•The study use 1890 production enterprises’ data to measure the conditions of EBP.•Our method can correctly derive the conditions underlying the changes in each unit.
This study proposes a mathematical definition of environment-biased technological progress that can evaluate energy saving and emission reduction abilities. Further, it proposes the concepts of absoluteness and relativity, while extending the classical non-radial slack-based measure in order to establish an advanced slack-based measure model. In addition, a super-efficiency advanced slack-based measure model is set up to test the effectiveness and growth rate of environment-biased technological progress in China. Finally, with China entering a new normal since 2012, economic growth data for 1890 coal production enterprises for 2012–2014 are collected to measure the conditions of environment-biased technological progress in each location and registration type. The results indicate that, compared to existing methods, the proposed method is useful and universally applicable.
This paper measured province-level water resource efficiencies in China from both static and dynamic perspectives, applying the undesirable-output-based Malmquist-Luenberger productivity index to ...panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2006 to 2015. Then, the paper analyzed factors that affect water resource efficiency by using a panel Tobit model. Research results showed significant lack of water resource efficiency with notable differences among provinces; water resource efficiency was somehow related to the level of economic development. Technical improvement was an important factor in water resource efficiency. The level of economic development had a non-linear influence on water resource efficiency. Industrial structure upgrading and population expansion could significantly improve water resource efficiency while the effects of water supply and per capita educational level were insignificant.
•This study measured province-level water resource efficiencies in China.•It analyzed the determinants of water resource efficiency using a panel Tobit model.•Results show significant lack of water resource efficiency in provinces.•Water resource efficiency is somehow related to the level of economic development.•Education inputs build water conservation awareness and support technical innovation.
This study examined the stimulative effects of Chinese enterprises’ participation in the global value chain (GVC) on the progress of their green technologies. Using difference-in-difference panel ...models with big data of Chinese enterprises, we measured influencing factors such as enterprise participation degree, enterprise scale, corporate ownership, and research and development (R&D) investment. The results revealed that participation in the GVC can considerably improve the green technology levels in all enterprises, except state-owned ones. However, the older an enterprise, the higher the sluggishness is likely to be in its R&D activities; this is particularly true for state-owned enterprises. The findings provide insights into the strategy of actively addressing Chinese enterprises’ predicament of being restricted to the lower end of the GVC.
This paper examines the relationships among environmental regulations (ER), staff quality (SQ), R&D efficiency (RDE), green technology (GT), and profit. The research sample comprises 1197 firms in 16 ...manufacturing industries in China, during 2008 and 2015. DEA-based measures are employed to research firm RDEs, and the results show that SQ is essential for high RDE and GT (as expected), but the main effects of SQ are mixed. Importantly, we find that ER moderates the SQ-GT, SQ-RDE and SQ-profit relationships. Specifically, if ERs are eased, SQ is of limited benefit to GT or profit. However, at or above the ER threshold level, firms can improve SQ for further improvements in GT and profit. The implications of our findings on theory and practice are also discussed.
•This paper examines the relationships among ER, SQ, RDE, GT, and profit.•The sample comprises 1197 firms in 16 manufacturing industries.•DEA-based measures are employed to research firm RDEs.•SQ is essential for high RDE and GT, but the main effects of SQ are mixed.•ER moderates the SQ-GT, SQ-RDE and SQ-profit relationships.
Environment-biased technical progress can stimulate improvement in environmental quality, leading to coordinated development between the economy and the environment. However, the existing literature ...scarcely refers to the factors influencing the technical progress bias. We use the overlapping generations model to realize the endogenesis of biased technical progress in the Chinese context. We show that an increase in the aging population will encourage the use of pollution-biased technology and focus the attention of enterprises on improving economic benefits rather than environmental quality. We measure the directions of technical progress during 2003 to 2013 and estimate regressions for the relevant indicators of the labor force employment structure. Under equilibrium, increased ratios of the aging population and state-owned enterprises will stimulate environment-biased technical progress. Further, the effects of research and development and clustering of state-owned enterprises on environmental technology improvement are significant.
•The factors influencing technical progress bias are scarcely studied.•The OLG model is used to realize the endogenesis of biased technical progress.•Any increase in the aging population encourages pollution-biased technology.•Increasing aging population and SOEs prompt environment-biased technical progress.
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