This study investigates the market structure and efficiency of the Chinese wooden furniture industry and tests their relationship. The results show that technical efficiency and scale efficiency have significant negative and positive effects, respectively, on the market structure in this industry, both in the long and in the short term, with technical efficiency being the greatest influence.

Using the correct template, the one from Forest magazine was used and not from Sustainability.

The Abstract can provide more information about the methodology.

Add a paragraph at the end of the introduction introducing the sections of the article.

Add a paragraph with a brief summary of the methodology before section 2.1.

In lines 160 and 173, use other markers to highlight the texts of the CCR and BCC models respectively, as they are confused with the other numerical indicators.

Explain in the paper or appendix, or at least insert a table with Bain's market concentration classification used in the paper.

I consider the methodology used to be adequate and the results and their discussion coherent.

Author Response

Thank you very much for your supervision of the reviewing process of my manuscript. I also highly appreciate the reviewer’s carefulness, conscientious, and the broad knowledge on the relevant research fields, since they have given me many beneficial suggestions. According to the reviewer’s instructions, 1 made revisions on this manuscript as following:

1 I have used the correct template as suggested by the reviewer, and I apologize for my carelessness

2 I have added a paragraph at the end of the Introduction to introduce the section of the paper

3 I have added a paragraph with a brief summary of the methodology before section 2.1.

4 These two models represent the hypothetical development process of this study, and do not explain CCR Model and BCC Model. I apologize for the confusion caused to the reviewers, and I have made a special note in the text.

5 In response to the reviewer's comment, I have explained the Bain market concentration classification in 2.1.2.

Thanks again for the reviewer's comment

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I hope that these revisions are satisfactory and that the revised version will be acceptable for publication

Reviewer 2 Report

1. It is necessary to improve the structure of the abstract somewhat. In particular, it is necessary to clearly formulate the purpose of this research. It is also appropriate to show what and who will benefit from the obtained results, how and by whom they can be used, what this will do for enterprises and for the environment in which they operate. It is also necessary to mention the methods used during the research and to formulate the scientific novelty of the research results.

In addition, the introduction points to the specifics of the Harvard School approach. And how does it differ from the Chicago school, if we are talking about the presence of differences between them (2.1.1. Hypothesis development)?

2. A similar situation exists with the introduction. In the introduction, the author characterizes the tendency of the industry's profitability to decrease, while the factors of such a tendency should be highlighted more clearly - 1, 2, 3... because they are currently presented in a rather blurred manner. The purpose of the study can be understood from the introductory materials as follows: it is necessary to study why in a situation where growth of market demand is slowing down, the scale of China's wooden furniture industry is expanding, and the momentum of productivity growth is not diminishing. But there is little sense in this version of the essence of the purpose of the study. Therefore, it is necessary to formulate the purpose of the research more concretely and concentratedly, and the questions in the last paragraph of the introduction will logically be formulated as tasks that must be solved in order to achieve the set goal.

3. The conclusions from subsection 2. Literature Review are not entirely clear. And what does it have to do with the topic of the article?

4. Subsections 2. Literature Review and 2. Materials and Methods have the same numbering -

5. Ideally, the sizes of all tables should be the same.

6. Regarding conclusions. They are also non-specific, the last of them is not a conclusion at all (About limitations). Of the given conclusions, only one deserves some attention: "Pure technical efficiency showed a significant negative influence on market structure, while scale efficiency showed a significant positive influence. And the impact of pure technical efficiency on market structure is greater than scale efficiency". But what is its practical or scientific significance?

And in order to draw the conclusion that "China should promote technological progress and innovation throughout the industry", there is no need to carry out special research, because the development of each industry objectively needs this.

In general, the conducted research is quite original and interesting, the article has a scientific character, but in order to increase the level of scientificity of this article, it would make sense to take into account the comments made, which, in my opinion, the author who wrote an article of this level can quite cope with.

Author Response

1 Thanks to the reviewer for the comment. I rewrote the Abstract as suggested by the reviewers. In section 2.1.1, I also briefly explained the differences between Harvard School research and Chicago School research

2 Base on the reviewers' comments, I have revised the introduction to highlight the logic of the research task and purpose. The author believes that the reviewer's suggestion is of great significance and can make the research more rigorous from a logical point of view. The author is very grateful to the reviewer.

3 After reviewing the literature, the author found that there is no relevant empirical research on the characteristics and trends of the wooden furniture industry. Existing individual studies only focus on "furniture industry", which is different from the concept of "wooden furniture industry". Moreover, there is no study on the characteristics of the furniture industry from the perspective of industrial organization theory. The theoretical significance of this study is that it can expand the perspective of the wooden furniture industry research. Literature review highlights the theoretical implications of this study

4 The author apologizes for being careless and has made correction. Many thanks to the reviewers

5 Base on the reviewers' comments, the author has tried to adjust the size of the table as much as possible. The remaining work may require the help of the editor.

6 The author's considerations are as follows：The application of advanced technology and advanced management methods will inevitably improve the profitability of large enterprises in reality, thereby increasing market concentration. But in China's wooden furniture industry, it is just the opposite. The use of new technologies and high-quality management personnel will make the industry more and more competitive. The fundamental reason lies in the labor-intensive industrial characteristics of China's wooden furniture industry. The improvement of market concentration depends entirely on the massive output brought about by the expansion of the labor force alone, and the input of new technologies and high-quality talents cannot achieve marginal benefits. Therefore, in order to achieve sustainable development of China's wooden furniture industry under the new economic situation, we must first reverse the reality of the negative impact of pure technical efficiency, and then gradually realize the normal state of relying on technological progress to promote industrial development. The authors have added this section to the Conclusions. Thanks very much for the reviewer's reminder, this will make the paper more rigorous

Base on the reviewers' comments, the author has listed "Limitations" as a separate section. And delete the conclusion about "China should promote the technological progress and innovation of the entire industry" according to the reviewer's comment.And the author gives recommendations for industrial development based on the comments of other reviewers

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I hope that these revisions are satisfactory and that the revised version will be acceptable for publication

Reviewer 3 Report

The authors have done a lot of work to ensure the accuracy of the data. The classic industrial organization theory is used as the research basis, and a new hypothesis is put forward according to the progress of the research. The long-term characteristics of China's wooden furniture industry are proved by empirical research, which is roughly consistent with the reality, so the conclusion is scientific. The introduction and literature review section are reasonable, and the literature citations are appropriate.The conclusions of this research have certain significance for the formulation of industrial development policies.

1The abstract of the paper needs revision. Highlight the research background, methods, results, especially the significance of this study.

2 I suggest that the author further revise the literature review section. Supplement the latest research literature in this field, and update the references section.

3Regarding the results presented in Appendix 1, I think the authors can use this part as the main text because it is directly related to the follow-up research.

4 If the author can give recommendation for the development of China's wooden furniture industry on the basis of the conclusion, then the significance of this paper will be even greater

5The author needs to check the English grammar in the full text, try to express the meaning of the text directly, and use less long sentences

6The authors need to explain the meaning of some variables. For example: CR4, CR8... It is also necessary to explain the meaning of pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency in more detail, so that readers can better understand

Author Response

1 Based on reviewer comments, the authors have rewritten the Abstract. Many thanks to the reviewer for the comment

2 Based on reviewer comments, the author has extended the review of the latest relevant literature and updated the references

3 Based on the reviewers' comments, the author has added the content of the appendix to the main text.

4 Based on the reviewer‘s comment, the author has expanded the conclusions section, and give recommendations for industry development. Many thanks to the reviewer for the comment

5 Based on the reviewer‘s comment, the author tried his best to check English grammar and improved some English expressions

6 Based on the reviewer‘s comment, the author has explained the meaning of mentioned variables in the text.

Thanks again for the careful work of the reviewer

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I hope that these revisions are satisfactory and that the revised version will be acceptable for publication

Reviewer 4 Report

Reviews:

This paper forms part of a critical study examining the market structure and efficiency and their market performance test in the intensity of the Chinese wooden-furniture industrial environment on both the long-term and the short-term influences.

1. Introduction – good but needs a summary of the results/findings and what this paper seeks to report in an on-point sum.

2. Literature Review – reviews on industrial organization theory and on China’s targeted wooden-furniture industry showed clarity on analytical insights, demonstrating industrial competitiveness in the markets and export trading.

2. Materials and Methods – clarifies the Methodology (hypothesis development, market structure& Operational Efficiency of the Enterprise) and the Data collection segments.

3. Data Analysis – this can be in its paragraph.

4. Results/Findings – good in elaborating its connectivity to the 3 wooden-furniture industry internal assessments between market structure and enterprise efficiency.

5. Discussion – good

6. Limitations – can be in their paragraph.

7. Conclusions - it would be better if there were some notes on recommendations to conclusions, making it a more rigorous article.

8. Acknowledgement – can be part of the article, together with Data Available Statement and Institutional Review Board Statement.

Author Response

1 Based on the comments of the reviewers, the author has optimized the conclusion section to improve the rigor of the paper. thanks very much for the reviewer‘s comment

2 Thanks to the reviewer for your careful review and recognition

3 Thanks to the reviewer for your careful review and recognition

4 The author made a corresponding analysis of the data in the "Data" subsection

5 Thanks to the reviewer for your careful review and recognition

6 Thanks to the reviewer for your careful review and recognition

7 The author has listed "Limitations" as a separate section.

8 Based on the reviewers' comments, the authors elaborate on the conclusions and expand on the recommendation

9 The authors have acknowledged and declared no conflicts of interest.

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I hope that these revisions are satisfactory and that the revised version will be acceptable for publication

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The Conflict between Technology and Scale: Evidence from China’s Wooden Furniture Industry

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