Corporate digital transformation and idiosyncratic risk: Based on corporate governance perspective

This study examines the relationship between corporate digital transformation and idiosyncratic risk. We employ crawler technology to gather “digital transformation” characteristic words in annual reports, and innovatively construct a proxy variable for corporate digital transformation. Using 12,516 observations from 2941 listed companies in China across the period 2014 to 2020, we find that the relationship between corporate digital transformation and idiosyncratic risk presents as “U-shaped”. The results are still robust when we address the endogeneity concern, and use alternative measures of the dependent variable, further validate the U-shaped relationship as well as exclude special samples. The moderating effect of management shareholding and product market competition is further explored from internal and external corporate governance mechanisms, respectively. Results show that internal and external corporate governance mechanisms strengthen the relationship between digital transformation and idiosyncratic risk. In general, our research results enrich the study of corporate digital transformation and risk management, which gives some insight into corporate governance in the digital age.</p

Trade credit and corporate digital transformation: the role of managerial ability

We examine whether managerial ability affects the relationship between corporate digital transformation and trade credit. To measure digital transformation, we perform a textual analysis of companies’ annual reports using a customized Chinese dictionary containing digital transformation keywords based on national policy documents and academic literature. Using 10,554 observations from 2509 A-shares listed companies in China, we show that corporate digital transformation has significantly impacted trade credit. Managerial ability enhances the relationship between digital transformation and received trade credit but does not change the impact between digital transformation and provided trade credit. A battery of robustness tests confirms the findings.</p

Corporate social responsibility and firm value: evidence from Chinese targeted poverty alleviation

Purpose: Whilst the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate financial performance has been well documented, CSR has rarely been studied from the perspective of corporate poverty alleviation. This study aims to test whether participation in targeted poverty alleviation (TPA) affects firms' market value and to explore how the magnitudes of market value vary in different CSR environments. Design/methodology/approach: Based on recent Chinese TPA initiatives and on 108 TPA announcements of Chinese-listed firms from 2016 to 2020, this study adopts an event study method to investigate the impact of firm's TPA announcements on the firm's market value. Then, the authors construct a cross-sectional regression to analyse different CSR factors that may affect market reactions. Findings: The results demonstrate that TPA announcements can increase a firm's overall market value. Additionally, the results show that TPA way and firm ownership significantly moderate the market reaction, namely the positive reaction is more significant when the TPA announcements involve charity poverty alleviation rather than industrial poverty alleviation and for privately owned firms rather than state-owned firms. Practical implications: The empirical results help TPA practitioners obtain a nuanced understanding of whether and when to participate in poverty alleviation is worthwhile. This study also provides a reference for poverty alleviation work in countries with similar backgrounds. Originality/value: This study not only provides empirical evidence for the consequences of poverty alleviation behaviour of firms in developing countries, but also complements the field of CSR research in developed countries.</p

Director's network location and corporate environmental investment in the carbon neutrality age

Although carbon neutrality is a global aim, the potential drivers and influence mechanisms of corporate governance communities are unclear. This study examines the impact of director's network location on corporate environmental investment (CEI) and explores potential channels for CEI performance changes. Using a sample of 495 listed firms in China from 2015 to 2019, we construct a director-based network using contacts of independent company directors. Results indicate that director's network location has positive economic impacts on CEI performance and that financing constraints are an important mechanism of director's networks affecting CEI. Director's networks positively affect corporate performance by improving CEI. Results are robust to endogeneity concerns and contribute to the CEI literature by showing a positive effect between director's network and CEI, as well as between director's network and enterprise value. This paves the way for policymakers, managers, and investors to understand the influence of director's network on CEI performance

Supply chain network structure and firm's R&amp;D investments: empirical evidence from Chinese manufacturing firms

Purpose: the purpose of this research is to investigate the R&amp;D investment (RDI) of manufacturing firms from the perspective of supply chain network, especially the effect of firms' supply chain network structures (network power and network cohesion) on its RDI, and further to explore the contingency conditions of this effect within the context of Chinese manufacturing supply chains. Design/methodology/approach: the authors collect a large sample of Chinese manufacturing firms over the period 2014–2019 and construct a large-scale supply chain network, and finally obtain 2,390 firms from 20,483 observations. Ordinary least squares regression was adopted to analyse how supply chain network structures affect RDI in manufacturing firms. Findings: it is surprising that firm's supply chain network structures have a negative effect on RDI. In addition, knowledge and technology intensity (KTI) positively moderate the relationship between network cohesion and RDI. Originality/value: this study contributes to the innovation stream from the perspectives of supply chain network, and provides the empirical findings that the negative role of a firm's supply chain network structure on its RDI for the first time. The rationale for these negative effects is straightforward according to the social capital theory that manufacturing firms with a high level of social capital that are possibly to accept established patterns of thinking and behaviour, causing them to decrease the enthusiasm of RDI.</p

Isolation and Characterization of Metal-Reducing Thermoanaerobacter Strains from Deep Subsurface Environments of the Piceance Basin, Colorado

Five bacterial strains were isolated from anaerobic enrichment cultures that had originated from inoculations with samples collected from the deep subsurface environments of the millions-of-years-old, geologically and hydrologically isolated Piceance Basin in Colorado. Small-subunit rRNA gene-based analyses indicated that all of these bacteria were closely related to Thermoanaerobacter ethanolicus, with similarities of 99.4 to 99.5%. Three isolates (X513, X514, and X561) from the five bacterial strains were used to examine physiological characteristics. These thermophilic bacteria were able to use acetate, glucose, hydrogen, lactate, pyruvate, succinate, and xylose as electron donors while reducing Fe(III), cobalt(III), chromium(VI), manganese(IV), and uranium(VI) at 60°C. One of the isolates (X514) was also able to utilize hydrogen as an electron donor for Fe(III) reduction. These bacteria exhibited diverse mineral precipitation capabilities, including the formation of magnetite (Fe(3)O(4)), siderite (FeCO(3)), rhodochrosite (MnCO(3)), and uraninite (UO(2)). The gas composition of the incubation headspace and the ionic composition of the incubation medium exerted profound influences on the types of minerals formed. The susceptibility of the thermophilic Fe(III)-reducing cultures to metabolic inhibitors specific for ferric reductase, hydrogenase, and electron transport indicated that iron reduction by these bacteria is an enzymatic process

Targeting DCLK1 attenuates tumor stemness and evokes antitumor immunity in triple-negative breast cancer by inhibiting IL-6/STAT3 signaling

Abstract Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) exhibits the poorest outcomes among breast cancer subtypes due to the high heterogeneity and a lasting scarcity of effectual treatments. Targeted therapies based on molecular subtypes of TNBC are critical step toward tailoring treatments to improve clinical outcomes. Gastrointestinal cancer stem cell (CSC) marker DCLK1 was reported to be highly expressed in stem cell-rich subtype of TNBC. Here, we firstly explored the impacts of DCLK1 on tumor cells as well as their immune microenvironment in TNBC and potential therapeutic strategies for TNBC patients with high DCLK1 expression. Our results disclosed that DCLK1 overexpression promoted, while knockout of DCLK1 suppressed the CSC-like traits of TNBC cells and resistance to chemotherapeutics. Besides, DCLK1 supported immune escape by inhibiting intratumoral cytotoxic T cell infiltration in TNBC and hence limited immune checkpoint inhibitors efficacy. Mechanistically, bioinformatics analysis revealed that IL-6/STAT3 signaling was significantly enriched in high DCLK1-expressing patients, and our results further revealed that DCLK1 enhanced IL-6 expression and STAT3 activation in TNBC cells, which finally gave rise to upregulated CSC traits and suppressed CD8+ T-cell activity. Inhibiting IL-6/STAT3 pathway by IL-6R antagonist, Tocilizumab or STAT3 inhibitor, S31-201 could abolish DCLK1-promoted malignant phenotypes of TNBC cells. Finally, DCLK1 was identified to be specifically and highly expressed in the mesenchymal-like subtype of TNBC and targeting DCLK1 could improve chemotherapy efficacy and activate antitumor immunity. Overall, our study revealed the potential clinical benefits of targeting DCLK1 in TNBC treatment

Expression of Codon-Optimized Plant Glycosyltransferase UGT72B14 in Escherichia coli Enhances Salidroside Production

Salidroside, a plant secondary metabolite in Rhodiola, has been demonstrated to have several adaptogenic properties as a medicinal herb. Due to the limitation of plant source, microbial production of salidroside by expression of plant uridine diphosphate glycosyltransferase (UGT) is promising. However, glycoside production usually remains hampered by poor expression of plant UGTs in microorganisms. Herein, we achieved salidroside production by expression of Rhodiola UGT72B14 in Escherichia coli (E. coli) and codon optimization was accordingly applied. UGT72B14 expression was optimized by changing 278 nucleotides and decreasing the G+C content to 51.05% without altering the amino acid sequence. The effect of codon optimization on UGT72B14 catalysis for salidroside production was assessed both in vitro and in vivo. In vitro, salidroside production by codon-optimized UGT72B14 is enhanced because of a significantly improved protein yield (increased by 4.8-fold) and an equivalently high activity as demonstrated by similar kinetic parameters (KM and Vmax), compared to that by wild-type protein. In vivo, both batch and fed-batch cultivation using the codon-optimized gene resulted in a significant increase in salidroside production, which was up to 6.7 mg/L increasing 3.2-fold over the wild-type UGT72B14