How the iPhone Widens the U.S. Trade Deficit with China: The Case of the iPhone X

Through an examination of the case of the iPhone X, this paper demonstrates that Chinese companies involved in the production of the iPhone X have moved up along the global value chain. According to the bill of materials, those companies contributed 25.4% of the value added of the iPhone X. About 45% of the value added of the iPhone X originated in Japan, South Korea, and other economies. The iPhone trade remains a significant element of the statistical distortion of the China–US bilateral trade imbalance. In terms of gross value, the import of one iPhone X results in a USD332.75 trade deficit for the US; measured in terms of the value added, however the deficit is a mere USD104. The depreciation of the Chinese yuan (CNY) has very limited power to counterbalance the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration because the foreign value added embedded in Chinese exports is 33.9% on average. Simulation results show that to counterbalance a 25% tariff, the CNY would have to depreciate by 43.3% against the US dollar on average, and to fully compensate for a 25% tariff burden on the iPhone X, a 400% depreciation of the CNY would be necessary. Hedging the risk of the punitive U.S. tariffs by depreciating the CNY is impossible.     

中药方剂浸浴联合外用钙泊三醇倍他米松软膏治疗寻常性银屑病患者的临床效果

目的探讨中药方剂浸浴联合外用钙泊三醇倍他米松软膏治疗寻常性银屑病患者的临床效果。方法选取2018年2月至2019年4月于沈阳市第七人民医院就诊的寻常性银屑病患者114例作为研究对象,以随机数字表法将其分为观察组和对照组,每组57例。对照组患者外用钙泊三醇倍他米松软膏进行治疗,观察组患者通过中药方剂浸浴联合外用钙泊三醇倍他米松软膏治疗。比较两组患者临床疗效、银屑病面积严重程度指数(PASI)评分以及不良反应发生率。结果观察组患者治疗有效率为82.46%,显著高于对照组的63.16%(P<0.05)。两组患者治疗2周、4周后的PASI评分均显著低于治疗前(P<0.05);观察组患者治疗2周、4周后的PASI评分均显著低于对照组(P<0.05)。观察组患者的不良反应发生率为14.04%,低于对照组的21.05%,但差异无统计学意义(P>0.05)。结论中药方剂浸浴联合外用钙泊三醇倍他米松软膏治疗寻常性银屑病能有效改善患者的临床症状,效果显著,且不良反应少。     

Solo dining in Chinese restaurants: A mixed-method study in Macao

Given the emergence of solo dining resulting from the changing family structure and increasingly individualised lifestyle in contemporary Chinese society, this study investigates solo dining in the setting of Chinese restaurants in Macao, including the solo dining motivations, behavioural characteristics, and experiences, taking into considerations the underlying social and cultural factors. Adopting a sequential exploratory mixed-method design, 18 interviews were conducted, followed by a survey with 493 local diners. Findings show that freedom of choice and satisfying hunger are the main motivations for solo dining, and some solo-friendly attributes, food-related attributes, and restaurant characteristics are considered as important elements. Solo dining is perceived positively, partly because its perceptions and experiences are shaped by the diners’ socio-cultural backgrounds and unique regional characteristics, in which solo dining is considered relatively common in Macao as opposed to extant literature that has suggested an essentialised assumption about Chinese group-oriented dining preference. Sociocultural insights and managerial implications are provided in catering to the growing solo diner market.     

科学型企业商业模式:中国情境的复合案例研究

以中国企业为研究对象，运用复合案例研究方法分析与构建了科学型企业商业模式概念模型，分离出科学平台和价值平台两个独特要素，进而构建以科学平台-价值平台互动为核心的P2P商业模式运作模型，并根据不同类型科学型企业，分析模型的有效性、适用性以及模型在不同类型科学型企业中的共性与差异，最后总结出科学型企业商业模式特点及企业管理对策。     

Gender and herding

This study uses a unique dataset from a large anonymous brokerage firm to examine the herding behavior of Chinese individual investors. The empirical evidence reveals that females are more inclined to follow the behavior of ‘same-sex’ investors. Market conditions and stock characteristics affect females and males similarly in that individual investors herd more intensively in the bull market, on stocks with better liquidity and larger market capitalization. We find female investors generally yield lower returns than males when they herd intensively, and this finding is more pronounced during a bull-market period. Outcomes from individual-level herding measurements suggest that portfolio turnover drives the difference in herding between genders.     

贤能制度中的偏袒主义:基于对明代科举的考察

科举被认为是古代中国在贤能政治上的重要制度创新,但权力仍可能对科举的公正性造成侵蚀。本文利用明代科举数据,考察了明代权力中枢(内阁)对科举取士的影响。研究发现,内阁对科举会试阶段的影响并不显著;但在殿试阶段,与阁臣拥有相同籍贯(同府或同省异府)的考生将获得更高的甲第,并且更有可能在馆选中被选为庶吉士。阁臣中,首辅对殿试和庶吉士选拔的影响较次辅更大。研究还发现阁臣卸任之后对科举的影响即不复存在,而次辅对科举殿试的影响则随着任职时间的延长而加强。因此,顶层权力的影响导致了明代科举中地域偏袒主义的存在。     

Chinese multinationals on the New Silk Route: Managing political risk by branding the nation

Though Chinese multinational enterprises (CMNEs) have brought investment and opportunities to countries along the Belt and Road Initiative, there has been scepticism regarding the content and context of their investment. On the one hand, infrastructural development contributes to GDP formation and enhances the efficiency of productive inputs where international trade enhances technology and export development, which jointly provides a path to economic growth. On the other hand, critical issues such as debt sustainability and national sovereignty among countries that have gone through the decolonization process mean that CMNEs need to grasp the implication of political risk when investing. This article focuses on South and Southeast Asia, where China has historical socio‐economic relationship, and proposes a nation branding model combining tradition and modernity which can be the way forward for CMNEs to mitigate political risk in relation to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) investment. Nation branding of BRI could be seen as a continuity of China's unfinished business in globalization that has preceded the modern polity; nevertheless, there is a need to communicate a coherent and authentic message that reflects the reality of business operations.     

Local integration and co‐evolution of internationalizing Chinese firms

This study investigates the integration of internationalizing Chinese firms into local host markets. We explore the market‐driven investment of a new wave of Chinese private and local state‐owned firms in Australia since 2012, which has replaced the initial large‐scale investment in resources by central state‐owned enterprises. Using an in‐depth analysis of nine Chinese firms operating in various sectors of the Australian market, we argue that market integration, adaptation, and bilateral institution‐building through co‐evolution and empowerment of local subsidiaries of Chinese multinational enterprises results in entrepreneurial autonomy and characterizes a new generation of Chinese investors. We propose that Chinese multinational subsidiaries have transferred domestic practices to the Australian market and have reconfigured domestic and host market resources to gain a competitive advantage in their original investment industry and new industries. Our study advances middle‐range theory building and provides a practical understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of Chinese investors, their potential to disrupt local markets, and their responsiveness to market‐oriented institutional guidance. The results of this study suggest that the bilateral institution‐building and resource reconfiguration capabilities of Chinese enterprises can be transferred to other developed and developing markets, including Belt and Road Initiative countries.     

Feeling hungry? let's order through mobile! examining the fast food mobile commerce in China

This study proposes a unique framework that aids to enrich online shopping experience (psychological and monetary gains) and accelerates fast food mobile commerce (m-commerce). The extended technology acceptance model (TAM) is applied while the stimulus–organism–response (S–O–R) paradigm served as the predominant framework combined with the acquisition-transaction utility theory. This study investigates the mobile website quality, website brand equity (stimulus) influence on (PEOU) and (PU) (organism) to predict Chinese consumer intention to use fast food mobile commerce (response). A total of 936 respondents were participated while data were collected using a convenience sampling technique in China. Results reveal that all dimensions of mobile WQ (i.e., service quality, system quality, and information quality) and Website BE (i.e., brand image, perceived quality, brand association, and brand loyalty) (stimulus) significantly substantially influence PEOU and PU (organism) toward the acceptance of online fast food shopping (response). Digital Coupon Proneness (an accelerator) substantially moderates the relationship between PEOU, PU, and intention to use fast food m-commerce. Based on the assumptions of acquisition-transaction utility theory, category-specific (fast food) digital coupon proneness increase m-commerce for online fast food buying– a novel contribution of the study. Furthermore, research provides unique managerial insights for the industry to utilize the maximum potential of m-commerce in the fast-food industry.     

Corporates' strategic responses to economic policy uncertainty in China

Using a novel news‐based index of economic policy uncertainty, this paper studies the impact of economic policy uncertainty on corporate strategic positioning and corporate risk in China from 2009 to 2015. The study also investigates the impact of corporate strategic positioning on corporate risk. The results show that corporate strategic positioning and economic policy uncertainty have a significant positive impact on corporate risk. The results also explain that economic policy uncertainty increases the market risk of the firms irrespective of their corporate strategy. However, it increases the business risk of prospector firms and decreases the business risk of defensive firms. The study may help the firms to formulate and improve their strategic positioning while considering economic policy uncertainty. Our results are robust to alternate proxies of economic policy uncertainty and corporate risk.