Digital Commons Network^™

A Mother’S Work At Motherswork, Sharon Wong

Asian Management Insights

Sharon Wong turned a desire for fashionable maternity wear into a journey with women into motherhood. Premium mother and baby products retailer Motherswork started off as a maternity fashion label that founder Sharon Wong created to dress herself professionally while pregnant with her first child. Twenty-five years on, the company hires over 160 employees in stores across China, Vietnam, and its home market of Singapore. Following Motherswork’s acquisition by parent-tech company The Parentinc, the mother of three looks back at how the business which she dubs “a hobby” became synonymous with premium mother and baby products, and how “having it …

How Can Foreign Commercial Vehicle Manufacturers Succeed In India?, Debjit Roy, Shubham

Asian Management Insights

Seven steps to achieve market entry based on lessons from recent market exits. New entrants need to tailor their trucks for India's geography, infrastructure, and conditions to improve acceptability and market share. Boost demand by building an export-driven business model in India to counter the threat from inadequate and stagnant domestic demand. Align service offerings with customer expectations to gain greater vehicle acceptability.

Understanding Dairy Livestock Farmers' Intention To Adopt Sociocultural Dynamics For Food Security Using The Theory Of Planned Behaviour, Paresh Kumar Sarma, Mohammad Jahanghir Alam, Samiha Sarwar, Sadika Haque, Golam Rabbani, Ismat Ara Begum, Andrew M. Mckenzie

Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study examines the impact of socio-cultural dynamics (SCD) on food and nutrition security in dairy farming households. Recognizing the role of cultural practices, social networks, and access to resources in shaping food security, we emphasize the need to incorporate these factors into interventions for dairy farming. Using a systematic random sampling technique, we surveyed 400 households in the Rajbari District of Bangladesh in 2024 and analyzed the data using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM model). The results revealed a positive association between the intention to adopt socio-cultural dynamics and food …

The Secret Ingredients Of Strategy Implementation, Robin Speculand

Asian Management Insights

Knowing what to do and actually doing it are two very different things. Leaders need to develop the same discipline, passion, and tenacity for implementing strategy that they had when crafting it. There are seven key principles that can guide an organisation to succeed in strategy implementation. Implementation is about taking the right actions, so leaders need to support and guide employees to work differently.

Greening Brown Sectors Through Transition Finance, Hao Liang, Yongheng Sun, Tianhao Yao

Asian Management Insights

Financing not-so-green industries’ environmental transition could really move the climate needle. Directing capital away from carbon-intensive sectors and only financing green sectors may fail to achieve green transition targets. Transition finance plays a critical role in addressing climate challenges. Research suggests that the transition finance logic works and has promising potential.

Are Emojis The New Words? A Sentiment Analysis Of Social Media Brand Conversations, Yashodhan Karulkar, Dev T. Vora, Siddharth Vaddepalli, Yash Thakur

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Emojis have become an increasingly important aspect of consumer-brand interactions in the Indian subcontinent. However, the impact of emoji use on brand image and mental health remains underexplored, particularly in emerging economies like India, where structured research on this topic is limited. To address this gap, the present study analyzes over 4,600 consumer tweets related to 19 prominent brands across eleven industries. Using VADER sentiment analysis, the research develops a metric to assess consumer sentiment and brand engagement in relation to emoji usage. The findings indicate that effective integration of emojis contributes to positive consumer sentiment and enhanced brand engagement. …

Research On The Impact Of Factors For Successful Digital Transformation On Performance: A Case Study Of The Clothing Industry, Xiaoyun Qian

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

In recent years, enterprises in the clothing industry have experiencedvarying degrees of performance decline, primarily influenced bymacroeconomic cyclical factors and intrinsic industry issues. Firstly, under the influence of macroeconomic cycles, the clothing industry has demonstratedstrong cyclical characteristics. Since 2019, weakened global macroeconomic conditions have negatively impacted both clothing exports and domestic sales, coupled with a slowdown in China's macroeconomic growth, puttingsignificant pressure on the overall growth of the clothing sector. Secondly, the industry faces several internal challenges, including rising labor costs, severe supply-demand mismatches, overcapacity on the production side, and longinventory cycles. Digital transformation has emerged as an important optionfor …

An Analysis Of Unstructured Marketing Data To Aid Online Platforms, Qingli Zeng

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

As digital platforms increasingly rely on unstructured data such as images, audio, and video to engage users, understanding how these sensory elements influence consumer behavior has become essential. This dissertation investigates the role of visual and auditory cues in shaping user engagement and decision-making in digital environments. Specifically, it examines how image distinctiveness and vocal tone characteristics affect consumer attention, interaction, and commitment across different online contexts.

The first essay explores the impact of image distinctiveness on consumer search behavior within a Southeast Asian real estate platform. Grounded in the Theory of Visual Attention (TVA), this study develops a novel …

An Empirical Analysis Of Pricing And Payments In The Pharmaceutical Industry, Rahul Narnindi

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

High prescription drug prices in the US are a major hurdle on the road to improved public health. On a per-capita basis, US prescription drug spending is more than twice that of comparable OECD peer nations and yet the health outcomes achieved are worse. Policymakers try to implement countermeasures, such as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, to reduce the burden on the public but these countermeasures may result in unintended consequences. In this thesis, I study the effectiveness of two of these countermeasures and their unintended consequences. My first essay investigates prescription (Rx) to over the counter (OTC) drug …

How Do Firms Respond To Reduced Private Equity Buyout Activity?, Yi-Hsin Lo

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

I investigate how firms respond to reduced private equity buyout activity in their home states by exploiting the state-by-state adoption of laws that increase the cost of buyouts. I find evidence suggestive of reduced firm efficiency. The firms also become less likely to go bankrupt or to relocate to other states. These findings suggest that the firms' managers may be starting to enjoy the quiet life. I also find a reduction in layoffs. Overall, the results indicate a trade-off: Whereas reduced private equity buyout activity increases managerial entrenchment, it also lowers firm exits and strengthens employees' job security.

The One Generates All Things: Founder Competencies And Firm Performance In Chinese Semiconductor Enterprises, Aiyang Wang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The semiconductor industry originated in the United States in the 1940s and serves as the cornerstone of the modern information technology industry. Semiconductors, hailed as the "grain of industry", are of utmost significance to China, a country that builds its foundation on manufacturing. With the escalation of China's industrial upgrading and global competition, a large number of semiconductor enterprises have been established in China in recent years.

Based on the Upper Echelons Theory, this paper commences from the literature on founder research in entrepreneurship studies, and in conjunction with small-sample interviews, proposes the "521" model for observing Chinese semiconductor enterprise …

Competitive Advantage Of Short Food Supply Chains For Organic Vegetables In India: A Multi-Stakeholder, Mixed Method Study Of Farmers, Consumers And Intermediaries, Bhoovarahan Thirumalai Nambakkam

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Competitive advantage of Short Food Supply Chains for organic vegetables in India – a multi-stakeholder, mixed method study of farmers, consumers and intermediaries.

Short food supply chains (SFSC) are characterized by one (or zero) intermediaries (structural proximity), short distance (geographic proximity), trusted relationships (relationship proximity) and alignment of values (values proximity) between consumers and farmers.

This multi-method case study investigates proximity of SFSCs as a driver for increased willingness to pay (WTP) by consumers for organic vegetables in a global south developing country - India. The study analyzed revealed preference (published prices of a conventional chain and SFSCs), stated preference …

Trade War And The Reshaping Of Global Supply Chain In The Automotive Industry, Feng Wang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The China-US trade war disrupted nearly half a century of trade liberalization, impacting the global distribution of production and the configuration of supply chains. This paper focuses on automobile production and tire supply to analyze the impact of industrial layout changes during the China-US trade war on the global supply chain structure. The study finds that for US automobile production, the trade war presents both positive and negative effects. While tariffs on automobiles protect the local automotive market, the increased production costs due to tariffs on components place US-made cars at a competitive disadvantage in the global market, negatively affecting …

Research On The Mechanism Of China's Stock Market And The Efficiency Of Factor-Based Stock Selection Strategies, Huaixiang Xing

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Based on the data of 4280 firms listed on China's A-share market from 2010 to 2023, this paper constructs 20 market factors and 4 financial factors to systematically study multi factor stock selection strategies in China's stock market. Furthermore, this article analyzes the impact of China's capital market mechanisms on stock selection strategies, which include margin trading and securities lending mechanism, Mainland-Hong Kong Stock Connect mechanism, analyst coverage mechanism, and information disclosure mechanism. The main conclusions are as follows:

Firstly, this paper reveals that 12 market factors, including size, price, and liquidity are all effective pricing factors, and the strategy …

The Influence Of Venture Capitalists’ Value-Added Service On Capital Financing Outcome: A Research On Chinese Biotech Startups, Hao-Yu Huang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

China’s biotechnology sector has undergone rapid evolution, driven by government policy, capital market reform, and growing global demand for pharmaceutical innovation. Venture capitalists (VCs) have played an increasingly pivotal role not only as financiers but also as strategic partners offering value-added services (VAS). These interventions include operational mentorship, regulatory navigation, talent pipeline facilitation, and strategic repositioning. However, the extent to which such non-financial support influences financing outcomes across startup development stages remains underexplored—particularly in the context of China's unique institutional and industrial environment.

This dissertation examines how VC post-investment interventions affect the financing success of biotech startups in China. Drawing …

Research On Inheritance And Innovation Of Chinese Time - Honored Brands On Brand Attachment, Jiangbo Yin

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Balancing inheritance and innovation to achieve brand revitalization is a pressing practical issue for both academia and industry. This study adopts a dual perspective of enterprises and consumers, selecting the Cantonese cuisine time-honored brand "Tao Tao Ju" as the research subject, and employs a mixed-methods combining qualitative and quantitative research to explore the mechanism on inheritance and innovation of Chinese time-honored brands on brand attachment.

Study 1 utilizes grounded theory to construct a multidimensional structure of inheritance and innovation of Chinese time-honored brands: inheritance dimensions include product and service inheritance, brand spirit inheritance, and historical and cultural inheritance; innovation dimensions …

Exploring Intelligent Manufacturing: How Artificial Intelligence Affects Productivity And Labor Demand At The Enterprise Level, Jie Gu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Manufacturing is a cornerstone of national economic health and social stability, yet it faces challenges such as declining profits, rising labor costs, and an aging workforce. In China, the manufacturing sector is undergoing a critical transformation, driven by technological advancements like artificial intelligence (AI) and the push for intelligent manufacturing. This study explores how AI revitalizes the manufacturing sector by enhancing enterprise productivity and reshaping labor demand, with a focus on quality inspection processes. Using a leading bearing factory as a case study, the research employs econometric models, A/B testing, and interviews to quantify AI’s impact on production efficiency, costs, …

Rome Was Not Built In A Day — Impact Of Market Agility And External Awareness On Iterative Innovation In Online Gaming Industry, Li Ming Gu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Despite the prosperity of online gaming industry in China, online gaming firms cannot ignore the survival crisis brought by fierce competition. It is quite common for game developers to face issues like low game survival rates and poor performance, with some games even failing upon launch. To address these challenges and gain competitive advantages, game developers accelerate iteration speed and continuously provide users with new content or services. Since most companies found they cannot meet their development needs through traditional innovation models, understanding how to achieve high performance through iterative innovation has become crucial for game developers. Innovation starts with …

Research On Motivations For Corporate Voluntary Environmental Transformation: An Analysis Based On Wwf, Lunyan Lu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This study investigates the multidimensional motivations driving corporate voluntary environmental transformation and its subsequent impacts, with a focus on political contexts, industry characteristics, and leadership traits. Situated within the framework of additional transformation requirements proposed by environmental non-profit organizations (e.g., WWF), the research examines how environmental transformation serves as a strategic vehicle for corporations to demonstrate social responsibility practices and enhance market competitiveness through philanthropic engagements. By integrating theoretical construction and empirical analysis, this study advances the explanatory frameworks of corporate social responsibility (CSR) theory, stakeholder theory, and resource dependence theory.

This research first identifies intrinsic motivations for corporations to …

Study On Sustainable Development Of Energy Innovation, Maoli Guo

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Energy innovation and sustainable development play significant roles in the economic development and technological progress of a country. This paper first reviews the measurement methods of energy efficiency in existing literature, selects evaluation indicators based on the influencing factors of energy system performance, and proposes an energy efficiency evaluation method combining the Malmquist index and the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model to evaluate and test the performance of energy sustainable development in each province of China from 2005 to 2021.

The study finds that, firstly, the energy efficiency in China has generally shown an upward trend, but there are significant …

Analysis On Factors For The Success Of China's Industrial Parks -- "Crown Model" And Its Empirical Research, Ming Qiu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Since the reform and opening-up policy, China has systematically promoted the development and construction of economic and technological development zones, high-tech industrial development zones, and various types of industry-focused functional parks by drawing on successful international models and integrating them with China’s context. This has been carried out from the central government to local governments to foster the clustering of regional industries, facilitate industrial upgrading, drive large-scale employment, increase GDP, generate continuous tax revenue, and accelerate urbanization. These efforts have been pivotal in transforming local economies and enhancing China’s competitive advantage in the global market. The author, with 20 years …

The Impact Of Marriage Status On Career Aspiration And Performance, Qiang Yi

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This study explores the impact of marital status on employee workplace behavior and job performance. Specifically, it finds that compared to unmarried employees, married employees demonstrate higher career aspirations and job performance. Further analysis reveals that this effect is primarily driven by the enhancement of family and career commitments brought about by marriage. These increased commitments significantly contribute to the improvement of employees' career aspirations and job performance. Moreover, this study examines the gender differences in the influence of marital status on family and career commitments.

The results show that marriage has a stronger effect on promoting family commitments among …

A Study On Paths And Effectiveness Of Internationalization Of Chinese Apparel Enterprises, Xiaohong Gao

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

As globalization advances, international expansion has become a key strategy for firms to enhance their competitive edge. Nevertheless, current literature predominantly centers on developed countries, often overlooking the distinct obstacles and prospects encountered by companies from emerging markets. This gap is particularly evident in the apparel sector, where the impact of branding strategies on internationalization outcomes remains underexplored. This paper constructs an analytical framework of “internationalization context - internationalization pathway selection - internationalization performance”, combines case studies and empirical analysis to explore this research issue in depth, and applies the results of the research to enterprise practice.

This paper analyzes …

Knowledge Judgment, Managerial Decision-Making, And Firm Performance: From The Perspective Of Entrepreneurial Spirit Reconfiguration In Second-Generation Family Businesses, Xinhua Li

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Since the reform and opening up, Chinese family businesses, as the main body of the private economy, have played a significant role in the development of the national economy. As the first - generation entrepreneurs are entering their later years, inter - generational succession has become an important issue. This doctoral thesis focuses on the dynamic reshaping process of the entrepreneurial spirit of the second - generation entrepreneurs in family businesses and explores how it affects the improvement of corporate performance. Based on the cutting - edge theories of Austrian economics, this study constructs a research framework of "knowledge judgment …

Research On The Economic Performance And Process Optimization Strategies In Chinese Agricultural Enterprises, Zili Xu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

With the booming digital economy, digital transformation has become a key strategy for global enterprises to enhance competitiveness and optimize economic performance. This dissertation takes Chinese agricultural enterprises as the research subject and deeply explores the impact of digital transformation on corporate economic performance and strategies for business process optimization.

The dissertation first reviews the research progress on the digital transformation of agricultural enterprises. Secondly, it uses qualitative text analysis and machine learning technology to assess the digital level of Chinese agricultural enterprises and analyzes their current status and characteristics. The empirical study employs a fixed-effects model and finds that …

Digital Twin Dynamics: Employee’S Willingness To Adopt Ai Digital-Twin In A Craftsmanship Environment, Seow Hoon Tee

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Singapore’s manufacturing sector, contributing 22% to the nation’s GDP, is undergoing a strategic transformation under the Manufacturing 2030 vision, which aims to increase sector value by 50%. However, a critical challenge emerges in the widening age gap among craftsmen, particularly between 30 and 50 years old, misaligning with succession planning efforts. As senior craftsmen approach retirement, the urgency to transfer specialized expertise significantly increases. In response, initiatives such as the National AI Strategy (NAIS) 2.0 and Industry 5.0 efforts by the Singapore Manufacturing Federation (SMF) and Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre (ARTC) emphasize AI-driven solutions to enhance knowledge retention and …

Exploring Business' And Consumers' Engagement On E-Commerce Platforms, Yichen Wang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The rapid growth of e-commerce platforms has changed how consumers make decisions and how sellers advertise their products. This dissertation examines two key aspects: consumer choice modeling in dynamic online shopping environments and sellers' strategic advertising decisions in competitive markets.

The first essay introduces a Hierarchical Bayesian model to improve the understanding of Individual-Variant Choice Sets (IVCS), where consumers' choice sets change over time and include multiple selections. Traditional models struggle to account for these complexities due to restrictive assumptions. The proposed model introduces a flexible covariance structure that captures perceived similarities between alternatives, leading to better predictive accuracy. Validation …

Green Human Resource Management (Ghrm) And Sustainability: A Mini Review, Kevser B. Meric Atakan

Journal of Global Business Insights

This mini review explores the evolving role of Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) in advancing sustainability within organizational structures. As environmental concerns become increasingly central to global business agendas, organizations are compelled to expand their focus beyond profitability to incorporate ecological responsibility. Within this shift, GHRM emerges as a strategic approach that integrates environmental considerations into core human resource functions. The review synthesizes current literature to evaluate how HR practices such as recruitment, training, performance evaluation, and incentive systems are being adapted to support environmental goals. Evidence from qualitative analyses suggests that organizations are gradually embedding sustainability into their internal …

Harnessing General Purpose Ai In Dental Practice: Strategic Solutions For A Burdened Workforce, Christopher J. Smiley D.D.S.

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping dental practice administration by enhancing efficiency and providing solutions to address workforce shortages. Free-to-use generative AI (GenAI) tools, such as ChatGPT and Claude, can streamline routine tasks, support creative workflows, and reduce the burden on office teams. However, dental professionals must understand AI’s limitations and ethical boundaries, including risks to patient confidentiality and the potential for inaccurate or misleading outputs. Proprietary dental-specific AI systems demonstrate a safer approach by providing specialized diagnostic support and practice analytics in more secure environments to meet HIPAA standards. Yet even these dentistry-based AI solutions carry a risk of bias …

Attention To Market Expansion: Aspirational Antecedent And Risk-Taking Consequence, Renfei Gao, Man Zhang, Xiaogang He, Zhengyu Li

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The behavioral theory of the firm (BTOF) emphasizes the goal-directed logic in explaining firms’ risk-taking.Scholars in this tradition typically conceptualize how performance feedback indicates problems and triggers risk-taking behaviors. Yet, the theory remains underdeveloped in understanding decision-makers’ attention to forward-looking goals, such as market expansion, and its impact on firm risk-taking. In this study, we theorize performance feedback as an antecedent to decision-makers’ attention to forward-looking goals, and firm risktaking as a consequence of such attention. Focusing on market expansion as a critical forward-looking goal, we first theorize how performance feedback influences decision-makers’ attention to market expansion. Then, we examine …