Supply Chain

  • 详情 Tackling India's jobs plight: underutilised levers and lessons from China
    Despite strong GDP growth and a favourable demographic profile, India faces an impending jobs crisis. A large share of the workforce remains employed in low-productivity agriculture, while many new labour market entrants are absorbed into the persistently large informal sector. By contrast, China’s rapid ascent was driven by manufacturing-led, export-oriented industrialisation, underpinned by large inflows of foreign direct investment and sustained technology transfer. India’s manufacturing base remains modest in contrast. The bulk of well-paid, formal employment continues to be concentrated in the high-skill services sector. This paper contrasts the development trajectories of these two economies and identifies several underutilised jobs-growth levers in India: manufacturing, goods exports, manufacturing-oriented foreign direct investment and innovation. All of these remain underdeveloped, yet together they offer a pathway to more labour-absorbing, durable growth. Leveraging them effectively would be central to achieving India’s ‘Viksit Bharat 2047’ ambition of attaining high-income status. The scale of India’s challenge to employ eight to ten million labour-market entrants per year implies that job creation must become an explicit policy priority. This calls for greater trade openness, particularly with Asia and Europe, to integrate India into Asia-centric global supply chains as an alternative to China. Labour market reform is equally critical, making the effective implementation of the new labour codes essential. Strengthening innovation ecosystems and realigning education and skills policies to support industrialisation are also key. Without these structural shifts, India’s current pattern of jobless growth risks transforming its demographic dividend into a long-term liability.
  • 详情 The Stability Gap Model: A Structural Measure of Financial Fragility & Its Application in Portfolio Risk Management
    Financial crises rarely erupt without warning; they are preceded by long periods of hidden fragility. Yet traditional market indicators such as the VIX capture only realized volatility, offering little foresight. This paper introduces the Stability Gap Model (SGM), developed iteratively from a simple intuition: fragility arises when risk-taking diverges from fundamentals and systemic buffers are insufficient. We trace the evolution of the model from its original formulation, through corrections and extensions, to its present form. The Classic SGM captures instantaneous imbalance, while the Beta SGM incorporates memory of past shocks. Empirical analysis demonstrates that the SGM provided clear early warnings ahead of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, the 2011 Eurozone debt episode, the 2015 China/oil slowdown, and the 2018 tightening cycle, while also trending upward in 2019 before the COVID-19 crash. Furthermore, the paper demonstrates the model's utility in assessing fragility in hedge funds and proposes its application as a universal framework for stability analysis across diverse systems, from corporate finance to supply chains.
  • 详情 The Value of Digital Finance: Evidence from the Geographical Distribution of Corporate Supply Chains
    This study investigates how the development of digital finance influences the geographical distribution of corporate supply chains using data from Chinese A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2023. We examine whether digital finance enables firms to overcome traditional geographical constraints and adopt different supply chain distribution strategies. The analysis identifies two primary mechanisms through which digital finance influences supply chain geography: governance effects, which operate through enhanced risk management and information transparency, and financing effects, which function through alleviated capital constraints and trade credit provision. We further explore heterogeneous impacts across four dimensions: regional economic development, regional digital infrastructure, industry market competition, and enterprise lifecycle stages. By examining the geographical distribution of supply chains as an outcome of digital finance development, this study provides novel evidence on the micro-governance implications of digital finance. Our findings contribute to understanding how digital finance fundamentally changes the geographical constraints that have historically shaped supplier selection decisions and enables firms to develop more flexible supply chain configurations.
  • 详情 Can Artificial Intelligence Reduce Corporate Stock Price Crash Risk in China?
    This study examines the effect of artificial intelligence (AI) adoption on stock price crash risk using panel data from Chinese A-share listed firms from 2001 to 2022. We find that higher levels of AI application significantly reduce crash risk, primarily by enhancing information transparency, easing financial constraints, and promoting innovation. Notably, AI improves transparency within supply chains by reducing information asymmetry between upstream and downstream firms, thereby enhancing information flow and reducing market frictions. Among AI types, machine learning proves most effective in lowering crash risk due to its data-processing and forecasting capabilities, while natural language processing and computer vision show weaker effects. The impact of AI is particularly pronounced in non-government-regulated industries and high-tech firms. Moreover, its risk-mitigating effect becomes increasingly significant over time. These results are robust to instrumental variable estimation and staggered difference-in-differences (DID) designs. These findings highlight the strategic role of AI in risk management and offer practical implications for firms and policymakers aiming to enhance transparency, financial resilience, and long-term value creation.
  • 详情 Global supply chain pressure and long-term stock–bond correlations in China
    This paper investigates how the Global Supply Chain Pressure Index (GSCPI) affects long-term stock–bond correlations in China, employing mixed-frequency data from April 2005 to June 2025 in a DCC-MIDAS-X framework. Results show that higher GSCPI significantly reduces long-term stock–bond correlations, thereby enhancing the hedging property of bonds. This effect is both state-dependent and asymmetric, remaining significant in low-volatility regimes and following negative shocks, while becoming largely muted during high-volatility periods or after positive shocks. However, the impact of GSCPI weakens substantially after China’s 2014 financial liberalization, as global financial factors increasingly drive cross-asset dynamics. Moreover, GSCPI provides incremental information that enhances portfolio diversification and hedging performance.
  • 详情 Concentration in Supply Chain Configuration and Corporate Investment Efficiency
    Purpose: High investment efficiency is a key dimension of high-quality enterprise development. As critical nodes embedded in supply chain networks, corporate investment behaviors are profoundly shaped by the structural characteristics of their supply chains. Concentrated supply chain configuration, as one of the core structural features, has not yet been systematically examined in terms of its impact on corporate investment efficiency and the underlying mechanisms, leaving an important research gap. Design/methodology/approach: Based on a sample of China’s A-share listed enterprises from 2007 to 2023, this study empirically examines the effect of concentrated supply chain configuration on corporate investment efficiency. Findings: First, concentrated supply chain configuration exerts a significant inhibitory effect on corporate investment efficiency, a conclusion that remains robust after a series of tests. Second, mechanism tests indicate that this influence operates primarily through three channels: exacerbating financing constraints, crowding out working capital, and deteriorating the information environment. Third, heterogeneity analysis shows that both supplier concentration and customer concentration inhibit investment efficiency, with the latter having a slightly stronger negative effect. The adverse impact is more pronounced in over-investing enterprises, non-state-owned enterprises, smaller firms, and those in growth or decline stages. Furthermore, regional factor market development, external market power, and internal control quality are found to effectively mitigate the negative effect of concentrated supply chain configuration on corporate investment efficiency. Originality: This study extends the research on determinants of corporate investment efficiency from a supply chain structure perspective, providing new theoretical insights and empirical evidence for understanding corporate investment behavior in China.
  • 详情 Optimizing Smart Supply Chain for Enhanced Corporate ESG Performance
    This study investigates the influence of smart supply chain management on the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance of Chinese manufacturing firms spanning from 2009 to 2022. Our findings reveal a positive association between smart supply chain management and enhanced ESG performance, a relationship consistently upheld across various analytical methodologies. Additionally, we uncover that smart supply chain practices stimulate corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure, contributing to heightened transparency and subsequently bolstering ESG metrics within firms. Furthermore, our analysis demonstrates that the positive effect of smart supply chain management on ESG outcomes is particularly pronounced among firms that are operating in less competitive and more environmentally impactful industries, receiving heightened media scrutiny, and influenced by Confucian principles. This research provides actionable insights for firms seeking to advance their ESG initiatives.
  • 详情 What is China's Copper Supply Risk Under Clean Energy Transition Scenarios?
    Copper resources are widely used in power networks and clean - energy tech like PV panels, wind turbines, and NEVs. Restricted by domestic resources, China's copper supply chain is vulnerable with risks. Based on six supply - chain stages, this paper builds an assessment system for China's copper supply - chain risks. By adopting an improved Benefit of Doubt (BOD) model, this paper has systematically evaluated the risks in the whole copper supply chain, revealing the trends and deep-rooted causes of these risks. The findings of this study reveal that: (1) The supply chain risk of China's copper resources presents a significant upward trend over the past 15 years; (2) The current supply chain risks in copper are mainly concentrated at the stages of import, production, and application; and the recycling risk has a great potential for reducing the copper supply chain risks in the future. Based on these findings, this paper proposes two policy recommendations: (1) Develop diversified channels for importing copper resources and optimize overseas investment patterns and; (2) Improve the domestic supply capacity of secondary copper resources and reduce the risks at the recycling stage.
  • 详情 The Influence of ESG Responsibility Performance on Enterprises’ Export Performance and its Mechanism
    Under the goal of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, taking environment, social responsibility, and corporate governance (ESG) as the important investment factor has become an action guide and standard for capital market participants. The practice of the ESG concept is not only a new way for enterprises to form new asset advantages and realize green and low-carbon transformation, but also important access for promoting high-quality and sustainable development. Based on Chinese-listed companies within the period of 2009 to 2015, we investigate the impact of ESG responsibility performance on export performance as well as its mechanism. We theorize and find out show that ESG responsibility performance can significantly and stably promote enterprises’ export performance. Mechanism analysis shows that ESG can improve export performance by reducing financing costs and easing financing constraints, and the green technology innovation effect is also an important channel for ESG to affect export performance. Therefore, government should strengthen the supervision and incentive of ESG performance, encourage enterprises to improve their environmental, social and governance performance in order to adapt to the goal of carbon peak and carbon neutrality and promote the high-quality development of export trade. Future research may consider combining ESG accountability with other factors such as supply chain management, intermediate imports, and transnational spillovers to more fully understand its impact on export performance, so as to create more value for society.