PONE-D-21-22763Does a smart business environment promote corporate investment? A case study of Hangzhou​PLOS ONE

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PLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments:

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Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: The authors built an approach to studying the impact of the smart business environment in Hangzhou, China on the corporate investment scale. The reforms of Hangzhou’s business environment produced three main outcomes, which included: reducing the cost of doing business, continuing the confidence of Hangzhou enterprises with the COVID-19 outbreak, and increasing foreign investment in Hangzhou. However, Hangzhou’s commerce environment has a few deficiencies, such as a lack of intelligent infrastructure and insufficient technology.

The methodology of the study was built based on the questionnaire method which included different categories for the commercial environment. Then, the study used three types of analysis: linear regression analysis, factor analysis, and path analysis on data. The results of this study show that smart governance enhances the improvement of the business environment for public administration, financing, and the rule of law. Also, the business environment in smart governance promotes investment by supporting business confidence and reducing stress.

The work is useful but the paper lacks a clear structure. The textual and graphical presentation is poor. Some equations are not properly typed.

Reviewer #2: The authors examine in this paper the impact of a smart local business environment on the corporate investment scale in Hangzhou, China, using factor, linear regression, and path analyses on data from firm managers. The authors report important findings including that respondents indicated that smart governance improved public administration, financing, and rule of law.

Smart governance improves the business environment for public administration, financing, and the rule of law. The business environment promotes investment by enhancing business confidence and decreasing stress. Therefore, the authors highlight five aspects for developing countries that should make reforms in order to increase investment in their smart city initiatives. These aspects start with the construction of a smart service platform, coordinated supervision of public credit, reduce financing constraints, construction of a government under the rule of law, and quality of land management and IPR protection.

The authors have made a good effort to combine business environment and smart city concepts. It is a good paper and can be accepted subjected to major modifications.

It would be helpful if further analysis included other variables such as infrastructure and labor quality, which are important factors.

The case study is limited as it focuses on one Chinese city in 2018. Although the authors acknowledge that their study is limited to a small number of developing countries, they do not discuss whether the results can be generalized to other developing countries. (line 101)

The study did not include any discussion of climate change or environmental factors which are increasingly becoming a concern for business decision-makers around the world.

Another concern is the quality of the figures and tabular results. I suggest the authors improve the presentation of the tabular results and consider presenting these using figures/plots. The figure quality should be improved.

Page-17: lines 363-369 some missing formula characters.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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Does a smart business environment promote corporate investment? A case study of Hangzhou​

PONE-D-21-22763R1

Dear Dr. Song,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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Kind regards,

Rashid Mehmood, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: No

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5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: The authors built an approach to studying the impact of the smart business environment in Hangzhou, China on the corporate investment scale. The authors have addressed my comments and have improved the paper.

Reviewer #2: The authors have addressed my concerns. This is a good paper and will make a good addition to the journal.

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No