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The aim of this study reported in this paper was to explore the application of operational excellence methodologies in a global context.

A qualitative interview approach was used to understand the current state, benefits, challenges, success factors, tools and techniques of operational excellence methodology implementation with relevance to logistics companies worldwide. About 16 interviews were undertaken with practitioners working in leading companies and with leading academics in Asia, Europe, Africa, North America, South America and Australia.

The findings show that operational excellence methodologies including Lean, Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma and Agile can apply in logistics firms to improve operations and productivity and save costs. Top management support and involvement play an important role in the success of operational excellence projects in the logistics service.

The findings will be of interest to top and middle managers and logistics practitioners, with a dual aim of improving logistics performance and saving costs.

The present study has been one of the first global study attempts to explore the implementation of operational excellence methodologies in the logistics sectors.

The purpose of this study is to carry out a comprehensive systematic review of lean implementation frameworks and roadmaps developed over the past decade and report the key findings along with the limitations and the way forward.

A systematic review methodology proposed by Tranfield (2003), was followed to identify the relevant works on the research topic. Articles were searched using a set of inclusion criteria in various databases including Google Scholar, Web of Science and Science Direct over a period of 30 years.

The high failure rate of lean system implementation, reaching a range between 70 and 90% in almost all industries, is a matter of concern. This failure rate is still high even though numerous frameworks and roadmap models exist to streamline lean implementation. There is no standard framework or roadmap identified in the literature and many organisations are implementing lean in their unique ways. However, it would be desirable to develop a practical and systematic roadmap on lean-looking into the cultural and leadership dimensions rather than focusing on a set of tools. Moreover, most frameworks and roadmaps lack the sustenance aspects of lean implementation.

This research only identifies the fundamental gaps with the existing frameworks and roadmaps on lean implementation. The next phase of the research is to develop a roadmap and validate it with a number of organisations in different cultural contexts and leadership styles.

The authors argue that this is one of the most comprehensive systematic review on lean frameworks and roadmaps, ever produced in the literature to date.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an interview with Monika Wencek.

The paper presents an interview with Monika Wencek, Senior Customer Success Manager at Yammer,

Wencek speaks of the value of Enterprise 2.0 technology for businesses, and, in particular, ways in which Yammer can be utilized by human resource departments, and for the provision of e‐learning.

The paper looks at Yammer, which is one of the leading providers of enterprise social networking, and has recently been acquired by Microsoft for $1.2 billion.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the significance and impact of strategic knowledge management (SKM) practices and organisational change capacity (OCC) in improving strategic thinking and strategic orientation in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and their contribution in overall improvement of entrepreneurial performance.

Quantitative research methodology using partial least square structural equation modelling with data of 296 sample from the target group as managers and owners from various SMEs in the UK has been used in the study.

The findings suggest that SMEs that invest in SKM and OCC are more proficient at adjusting to fluctuations in the business landscape and develop effective strategies that lead to improved entrepreneurial performance. The study provides evidence that SKM encompasses more than just the acquisition and use of information. It also involves the establishment of a learning and innovation culture that facilitates strategic thinking and direction. Similarly, OCC is not just about implementing change but also about developing the agility and flexibility to adapt to market changes, consumer demands and technology.

According to the research, SMEs may boost their entrepreneurial performance and keep a competitive advantage in the modern, dynamic business environment by investing in SKM and OCC. The capacity of SMEs to implement SKM and organisational change should be encouraged and supported by policymakers and practitioners, who should also offer the necessary tools and assistance to do so.

This study offers a valuable addition to the previously published works on SKM and OCC within SMEs. It offers empirical data that highlights the significance of SKM and OCC in fostering strategic thinking, strategic orientation and ultimately, boosting entrepreneurial performance. The study also highlights the challenges faced by SMEs in implementing SKM and OCC and provides recommendations for overcoming these challenges.

Rural women entrepreneurship has been a domain attracting academicians and governments. This paper aims to to annotate existing literature in order to find a nexus between rural women and entrepreneurship using a systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis. Further, it has a certain scope and direction of existing research by critically analysing the work published in the domain of rural women entrepreneurship.

Out of 213 documents, 192 were published during last 20 years till October 2020 in Scopus journals that were downloaded using the keywords “Women Entrepreneurship” OR “Female Entrepreneurs” OR “Women Entrepreneurs” OR “Female Entrepreneurship” AND rural were accepted for further processing. VOS-Viewer software has been used to present bibliometric analysis. A thematic analysis of top 10 papers and 26 open access papers has also been done.

It was found that research interest in the said domain gained momentum in the last decade only. India is the top country that is publishing maximum papers; the United Kingdom has the maximum citations. The existing studies have focussed on factors influencing entrepreneurship, impact of gender and role of government schemes in fostering entrepreneurship. It is recommended that future studies may explore few inadequately explored grey areas including impact of entrepreneurial education, microcredit and information technology on rural women entrepreneurship.

This literature review article contributes to the existing literature by identifying the scope and direction of the existing literature. Further, it helps in identifying the least explored areas that can be taken up for the conduct of future research.

This study investigates the impact of Industry 4.0 technologies on green innovation performance. In this relationship, the mediating role of green innovation behavior is also studied. Moreover, open innovation is tested as a mediator between Industry 4.0 technologies and green innovation behavior.

A quantitative research method is adopted in which a structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 217 manufacturing firms of Malaysia. After collecting data, the partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique is applied to analyze data and test the hypothesis of study.

It is found that Industry 4.0 positively impacts open innovation which leads to green innovation behavior. Also, the former lays positive impact on green innovation behavior which leads to improve green innovation performance.

The authors conclude that Industry 4.0 technologies can play an important role to improve green innovation performance of Malaysian manufacturing firms by managing open innovation for green innovation behavior which further improves the green innovation performance. In this context, it is recommended that strategists and policymakers should undertake the role of open innovation and Industry 4.0 technologies to promote environment-friendly innovations and to promote the green behavior in companies. The authors suggest hereby that firms should be given incentives to adopt and utilize Industry 4.0 technologies and collaborative innovation interactions – as they foster a climate for sustainable green innovations (which is also a key component to achieve competitive advantage) and a growing concern nowadays.

First of all the research contributes to achieving the broader of United Nations to promote sustainable innovation through green innovations. Moreover, the companies can also incorporate the findings and insights of this study while devising their policies to foster green innovations.

This research has done the novel contribution by bridging the gap between open innovation approach and sustainability fields while promoting green innovations in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). These two research fields are rarely studied in previous studies by focusing open innovation particularly. Hence, the authors suggest researchers to undertake these fields to further enhance the level of scholarship between innovation management and sustainability. Also, the authors recommend considering technological orientation and technological absorptive capacity of firms to improve green innovations. The current study has investigated the SMEs perspective in general irrespective to their sectoral differences, thus, for future researchers the authors suggest investigating the sector-wise comparison, i.e. electrical and electronics sector, chemical sector, etc.; or service and manufacturing sector differences.

This study aims to explore school health promotion (HP) as a set of institutionally embedded professional practices.

This is a qualitative study using data from nineteen interviews with school professionals in Sweden. Data analysis was informed by practice theory and an institutional logic perspective.

School professionals constructed practical understandings of HP at the intersection between institutional directives and professional values. Professionals were challenged by multiple and occasionally ambiguous policy directives as well as by multiple tiers of governance. Professional understandings of institutional directives were mediated by a bureaucratic logic and three instantiations of a professional logic (competence, pragmatic and entrepreneurial). School leadership was perceived as a crucial link between institutional directives and professional practices.

The findings draw attention to the need for policy revision and disambiguation as well as the need for establishing dynamic institutional dialogues across levels of governance. These measures can foster sage leadership and fruitful interprofessional collaboration within school HP.

The findings provide a multi-perspective view of school HP and link professional values to institutional ones. The study sheds light on the explanatory relevance of human cognition in practice contexts.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the question of whether the school principals would use an educational ePortfolio for recruiting purposes.

To examine whether the school principals are willing to use the educational ePortfolio for recruiting purposes, a survey was carried out among 35 school principals. The final version of the survey was audited by a panel of four experts on education and instructional technology, and a board member of the Spanish Association of Human Resources Directors (AEDRH) to ensure the clarity, relevance and validity of the items in the survey.

The information collected from this study provides a better understanding of the perception and approval rating of ePortfolios as a job search tool in the education sector. The research findings reveal that an educational ePortfolio can count with a significant approval among school principals in the Spanish context. The insight gained from this study might encourage leaders of educational institutions to adapt ePortfolios and foster their implementation into curriculum as a part of the higher education system.

This study is relevant and contributes to advancing knowledge in the field as it is the only research on this topic, up to now, conducted in the context of Spanish-speaking countries.

This paper draws attention to the importance of Smart Human Resource Management (Smart HRM) practices in Industry 4.0. Human Capital is inevitable in the growth and development of the organization. Hence, it is germane that the companies align their HR processes with the ever-changing technological landscape to harness growth, productivity and create value. The paper illustrates the smart HR practices of Tech Mahindra and the benefits derived from them.

The paper illustrates the case of Tech Mahindra’s HR digitalization journey to transform HR processes in the era of Industry 4.0

Smart HR 4.0. implementation is vital to coping up with the challenges of Industry 4.0.. The transformation of HR processes in Tech Mahindra led to improved productivity, reduced cost, reduced manual work, smart workforce, retention of talent and competitive edge.

To match the pace of industry 4.0 and leverage its true benefit the companies should focus on automation of HR processes, make the workforce smarter and agile to drive efficiency, innovation, improve productivity, save cost and stay hyper-competitive. This paper offers insights on that how Tech Mahindra promoted the Industry 4.0 technologies in various HR functions to foster a climate of innovation, growth, and development, thereby facilitating the company to stay ahead of the curve.