How to balance interfirm relationships? A case from high-speed railway industry

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (11) ◽  
pp. 1785-1799 ◽  
Author(s):  
Na Zhang ◽  
Xiaopeng Deng ◽  
Bon-Gang Hwang ◽  
Yanliang Niu
Keyword(s):  
High Speed ◽  
Superior Performance ◽  
Interfirm Relationships ◽  
High Speed Railway ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Railway Industry ◽  
Interfirm Cooperation ◽  
Relationship Structures ◽  
Interfirm Competition

Purpose Balancing interfirm relationships is important for firms’ long-term superior performance. However, prior studies mainly focus on interfirm competition or interfirm cooperation separately, ignoring the balance of interfirm relationships. To bridge this gap in knowledge, this study aims to develop a framework to evaluate the balance of interfirm competition and interfirm cooperation and propose strategies to optimize a firm’s interfirm relationships. Design/methodology/approach After an in-depth literature review, a framework was developed for evaluating and optimizing the interfirm relationships. Taking the high-speed railway industry as an example, the proposed framework was implemented. Findings The results of the case confirm that the balancing of interfirm relationships can lead to more superior firm performance. Also, rather than mutual suppression, the interfirm competition and interfirm cooperation present a roughly positive relationship. Originality/value This study would contribute to the existing knowledge body by developing a framework for balancing interfirm relationships. Also, this study can aid practitioners in evaluating and optimizing their interfirm relationship structures.

Towards sustainability in the high-speed railway industry: modeling of cases from China

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 624-641 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuanhui Li ◽  
Check-Teck Foo
Keyword(s):  
Human Body ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Top Management ◽  
Capital Investments ◽  
Railway Transportation ◽  
Sustainable Operations ◽  
High Speed Railway ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Railway Industry ◽  
Transport Volume

Purpose – This paper aims to document and to illustrate highly usable research: a practical framework for realizing the sustainable operations of the high investment, technology-intensive high-speed railways in China. Also, for the first time, we draw a broad, metaphorical relationship between railways within a country to Chinese meridian lines within a human body. These are similar in enabling flows across the country and human body. Design/methodology/approach – Employing Chinese case studies, we attempt to apply methodological procedures involving operational, financial and developmental in realizing the sustainability of high-speed railways. Critical criteria are emphasized for efficiency, financial viability and long-term funding sustained development of high-speed railways in the Chinese context. Policymakers may utilize the illustrative framework in working toward specific recommendations that may be implementable. Findings – Three critical aspects to sustainability are operational, financial solvency and developmental. Our empirical investigations result in the working out of the procedural aspects as well. Based on this three-way classification, we design an evaluative framework for realizing sustainability of high-speed railways. Our insights are based on the social reality of China. Thus, we argue that cash handouts by government are necessary solutions, given the intensive capital investments required of high-speed railways for strongly positive externalities generated. On developmental aspects of sustainability, there should be rational, in-depth studies conducted so as to lead to rational choices of sites. Strong passenger flows coupled with affordability of fares are the twin guarantees of continuing, profitable performances. Practical implications – This work on sustainability is globally, most highly significant for two reasons. First, railway is one fundamental mean of transportation within China. Thus, the sustainability of railway matters to a majority of the 1.3 billion people. Second, transport volume of China’s railway is the world’s largest. By developing such a comprehensive methodology, we hope to enhance how top management of Chinese Railways may keep the high-speed railways sustainable into the future. Social implications – This paper is socially highly significant, especially in the context of what has happened in recent years in China’s railway industry, and may contribute by providing both the regulators and management with an objective methodology in future projects assessment within high-speed railway. Originality/value – This paper develops an overall framework for enabling management to realize sustainability of high-speed railway within China. The ideas, concepts and methodologies are likely beneficial to top management, regulators and policymakers within the railway transportation, a state monopoly.

Impacts of high-speed railway on the industrial pollution emissions in China

Kybernetes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (11) ◽  
pp. 2713-2735 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaomin Fan ◽  
Yingzhi Xu ◽  
Yongqing Nan ◽  
Baoli Li ◽  
Haiya Cai
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Effects ◽  
Industrial Pollution ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Assessment Method ◽  
Economic Effects ◽  
High Speed Railway ◽  
Central Cities ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Pollution Emissions ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of high-speed railway (HSR) on industrial pollution emissions using the data for 285 prefecture-level cities in China from 2004 to 2016. Design/methodology/approach The research method used in this paper is the multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) model, which is an effective policy effect assessment method. To further address the issue of endogeneity, the DID integrated with the propensity score matching (PSM-DID) approach is employed to eliminate the potential self-selection bias. Findings The results show that the HSR has significantly reduced industrial pollution emissions, which is validated by several robustness tests. Compared with peripheral cities, HSR exerts a greater impact on industrial pollution emissions in central cities. In addition, the mechanism test reveals that the optimised allocation of inter-city industries is an important channel for HSR to mitigate industrial pollution emissions, and this is closely related to the location of HSR stations. Originality/value Previous studies have paid more attention to evaluating the economic effects of HSR, however, most of these studies overlook its environmental effects. Consequently, the impact of HSR on industrial pollution emissions is led by using multi-period DID models in this paper, in which the environmental effects are measured. The results of this paper can provide a reference for the pollution reduction policies and also the coordinated development of economic growth and environmental quality.

scholarly journals Examining partial proportional odds model in analyzing severity of high-speed railway accident

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Wang ◽  
Yinghan Wang ◽  
Yichuan Peng ◽  
Jian John Lu
Keyword(s):  
High Speed ◽  
Proportional Odds Model ◽  
Impact Factors ◽  
Proportional Odds ◽  
High Speed Railway ◽  
Severity Level ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Partial Proportional Odds Model ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The operation safety of the high-speed railway has been widely concerned. Due to the joint influence of the environment, equipment, personnel and other factors, accidents are inevitable in the operation process. However, few studies focused on identifying contributing factors affecting the severity of high-speed railway accidents because of the difficulty in obtaining field data. This study aims to investigate the impact factors affecting the severity of the general high-speed railway. Design/methodology/approach A total of 14 potential factors were examined from 475 data. The severity level is categorized into four levels by delay time and the number of subsequent trains that are affected by the accident. The partial proportional odds model was constructed to relax the constraint of the parallel line assumption. Findings The results show that 10 factors are found to significantly affect accident severity. Moreover, the factors including automation train protection (ATP) system fault, platform screen door and train door fault, traction converter fault and railway clearance intrusion by objects have an effect on reducing the severity level. On the contrary, the accidents caused by objects hanging on the catenary, pantograph fault, passenger misconducting or sudden illness, personnel intrusion of railway clearance, driving on heavy rain or snow and train collision against objects tend to be more severe. Originality/value The research results are very useful for mitigating the consequences of high-speed rail accidents.

Does opening high-speed railways affect the cost of debt financing? A quasi-natural experiment

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 473-496
Author(s):  
Hongling Guo ◽  
Keping Wu
Keyword(s):  
High Speed ◽  
Geographical Location ◽  
Debt Financing ◽  
Cost Of Debt ◽  
High Speed Railway ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Financing Cost ◽  
Debt Market ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThis study aims to investigate how opening high-speed railways affects the cost of debt financing based on China's background.Design/methodology/approachUsing panel data on Chinese listed firms from 2008 to 2017, this study constructs a quasi-natural experiment and adopts a difference-in-difference model with multiple time periods to empirically examine the relation between the high-speed railway openings and debt financing cost.FindingsOur results show that opening high-speed railways reduces the cost of debt financing, and this negative correlation is more significant in non-state firms, firms with weaker internal control, and firms that hire non-Big Four auditors. Besides, we explore the impact mechanisms and find that opening high-speed railways improves analyst attention, institutional investor participation, and information disclosure quality, which in turn lowers the cost of debt financing.Research limitations/implicationsThe results imply that the opening of high-speed railways helps to alleviate the information asymmetry and adverse selection between firms and creditors and ultimately reduces the cost of corporate debt financing.Practical implicationsThis paper can inform firms and stakeholders about the impact of opening high-speed railways on debt financing cost: it improves the information environment, reduces the geographical location restrictions of debt financing, ensures the reasonable pricing of corporate debt, and thus promotes the healthy and sound development of the debt market.Originality/valueThis paper provides theoretical support and empirical evidence for the impact of infrastructure construction on the information environment of the debt market in China, which enriches the research on the “high-speed railway economy.” In addition, as an exogenous event, the opening of high-speed railways instantly shortens the time distance between firms and external stakeholders, which gives us a natural environment to conduct empirical research, thus providing a new perspective for financial research on firms' geographical location.

scholarly journals Fatigue Life Characteristics of Segmental Lining Structure for the Shallow Buried Metro Tunnel under the Dynamic Load of a High-Speed Railway

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wangping Qian ◽  
Taiyue Qi ◽  
Qing Zhao ◽  
Bingrong Pu ◽  
Jin Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fatigue Life ◽  
Fatigue Failure ◽  
Dynamic Load ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Dynamic Loads ◽  
High Speed Railway ◽  
Segmental Lining ◽  
Lining Structure ◽  
Metro Tunnel

Shallow buried shield metro tunnels constructed underneath subgrade project of high-speed railways are becoming increasingly common in China, but the lower metro tunnel bears the fatigue effect of dynamic load induced by the upper high-speed railway, so the long-term durability of segmental lining is a nonnegligible problem. The segmental lining structure of metro tunnel is in a state of static-dynamic loads for a long time, especially when a high-speed railway passes above the metro line, and the long-term durability of segmental lining needs further research. Based on theoretical analysis, the effect of different forms of loads on the fatigue life was analyzed, the change law of the static-dynamic loads on segmental lining was summarized, and the method was put forward to evaluate the fatigue life characteristics of segmental lining. The research results reveal that the additional dynamic load is the fundamental reason for the fatigue failure of the structure, and the existence of static load can cause and accelerate the occurrence of structural fatigue failure simultaneously. The results indicate that the fatigue life decreases gradually with the increase of static-dynamic load. Based on coupling analysis of static-dynamic loads of segmental lining, the fatigue life increases first and then decreases with the increase of buried depth of metro tunnel, and it remains unchanged when the depth exceeds a certain value. According to the actual metro tunnel engineering, by using ABAQUS software, a three-dimensional numerical simulation was carried out to analyze the characteristics of the fatigue life and evolution rules of segmental lining. Based on the modified fatigue life formula and metro service life, the optimization design of the buried depth was carried out to determine the most reasonable range of the buried depth. This study provides a valuable reference for safe operation and long-term durability of metro tunnels under high-speed railways.

scholarly journals Evolution of Rheological Behaviors of Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene/Crumb Rubber Composite Modified Bitumen after Different Long-Term Aging Processes

Materials ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (15) ◽  
pp. 2345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yangsheng Ye ◽  
Gang Xu ◽  
Liangwei Lou ◽  
Xianhua Chen ◽  
Degou Cai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Low Temperature ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Crumb Rubber ◽  
Modified Bitumen ◽  
High Speed Railway ◽  
Modified Asphalt ◽  
Styrene Butadiene Styrene ◽  
Styrene Butadiene ◽  
Butadiene Styrene

In this study, a new type of composite modified bitumen was developed by blending styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) and crumb rubber (CR) with a chemical method to satisfy the durability requirements of waterproofing material in the waterproofing layer of high-speed railway subgrade. A pressure-aging-vessel test for 20, 40 and 80 h were conducted to obtain bitumen samples in different long-term aging conditions. Multiple stress creep recovery (MSCR) tests, linear amplitude scanning tests and bending beam rheometer tests were conducted on three kinds of asphalt binders (SBS modified asphalt, CR modified asphalt and SBS/CR composite modified asphalt) after different long-term aging processes, including high temperature permanent deformation performance, resistance to low temperature thermal and fatigue crack. Meanwhile, aging sensitivities were compared by different rheological indices. Results showed that SBS/CR composite modified asphalt possessed the best properties before and after aging. The elastic property of CR in SBS/CR composite modified asphalt improved the ability to resist low temperature thermal and fatigue cracks at a range of low and middle temperatures. Simultaneously, the copolymer network of SBS and CR significantly improved the elastic response of the asphalt SBS/CR modified asphalt at a range of high temperatures. Furthermore, all test results indicated that the SBS/CR modified asphalt possesses the outstanding ability to anti-aging. SBS/CR is an ideal kind of asphalt to satisfy the demand of 60 years of service life in the subgrade of high speed railway.

Russia rail and road investment could spur economy

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
High Speed ◽  
Global Supply Chain ◽  
Transport Infrastructure ◽  
Transport Systems ◽  
Road Maintenance ◽  
Labour Mobility ◽  
High Speed Railway ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Fiscal Constraints ◽  
In Transit

Subject Russia's rail and road infrastructure. Significance As the world's largest country, Russia faces unique challenges in developing its transport infrastructure. Fiscal constraints since 2014-15 have prevented the necessary investment, and the continuing deterioration in connectivity between regions hampers economic activity and amplifies existing social problems. Impacts Investing in transit corridors should strengthen Russia's position in the global supply chain. The two-year delay to the Moscow-Kazan high-speed railway demonstrates the difficulties of qualitative improvements. Underdeveloped urban and inter-city transport systems impede labour mobility and productivity. Initiatives to transfer road maintenance costs to final users will meet with resistance against 'taxing' a public good.

Thailand deepens China links as hedge against US ties

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
East Asia ◽  
High Speed ◽  
The United States ◽  
South East Asia ◽  
High Speed Railway ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Us ◽  
Strategic Imperative ◽  
Trump Administration

Subject Outlook for Thai-US-China relations. Significance Chatchai Thipsunaree, Thailand’s permanent secretary in the Ministry of Transport, confirmed on May 17 that construction of the long-awaited Thai-China high-speed railway will begin this year. The project reflects the growing momentum in Thailand’s relations with China, and refiguring of ties with the United States. Impacts Trump administration officials see less strategic imperative in the US-Thailand alliance than previous administrations. China’s growing presence in South-east Asia, particularly on the Mekong, will trigger resistance from affected populations in Thailand. Thai officials will allow Chinese infrastructure projects to proceed despite local protests.

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