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The importance of the agri-food supply chain in both food production and distribution has made the issue of its development a critical concern. Based on configuration theory and congruence theory, this research investigates the complex impact of supply chain concentration on financial growth in agri-food supply chains.

The cluster analysis and response surface methodology are employed to analyse the data collected from 207 Chinese agri-food companies from 2010 to 2022.

The results indicate that different combination patterns of supply chain concentration can lead to different levels of financial growth. We discover that congruent supplier and customer concentration is beneficial for companies’ financial growth. This impact is more pronounced when the company is in the agricultural production stage of agri-food supply chains. Post-hoc analysis indicates that there exists an inverted U-shaped relationship between the overall levels of supply chain concentration and financial growth.

Our research uncovers the complex interplay between supply chain base and financial outcomes, thereby revealing significant ramifications for agri-food supply chain managers to optimise their strategies for exceptional financial growth.

This study proposes a combined approach of cluster analysis and response surface analysis for analysing configuration issues in supply chain management.

This paper aims to explore the effect of sustained high inflation on public procurement participation in the European Union, both in terms of the average number of bids submitted and in the proportion of bids by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) out of all submitted bids.

Regression modelling, using contract award notices in the Tender Electronics Daily database between 2018 and 2022, at quarterly intervals.

Each inflation point increase is associated with a decline in the average number of offers received per tender by 0.43%. A more marked reduction of 8.6% in the average number of offers and a decrease in 3.4 percentage points in the SME participation rate are observed for firms operating in sectors that experienced very high levels of inflation (>20% year-on-year rate of change), compared with a situation of low inflation (0–5%).

Claims about difficulties in delivering public contracts for the set price should be taken with a grain of salt, unless businesses operate in sectors experiencing very high inflation levels. Measures to foster competition could also reduce price pressures.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to quantitatively assess the association between high inflation and public procurement participation. Two methodological novelties are introduced: the operationalisation of sectoral-level inflation down to two-digit NACE codes, based mainly on producer prices; and a matching between two-digit NACE codes for inflation and the common procurement vocabulary codes to classify calls to bid for public contracts by economic activity.

This opening chapter introduces key debates in relation to informality in policymaking, laying the theoretical and conceptual groundwork for the individual empirical chapters, beginning with a provocation for how informality can alternatively be understood. Through illustrating where gaps in understanding within current literature exist for how informality acquires meaning, and the physical and material relevance for how it manifests across contexts, this chapter introduces the three thematic clusters that thread through the book’s chapters: boundaries, knowledge mastery and networks. In doing so, it briefly positions each chapter in relation to these flexible and overlapping categories, drawing attention to how each chapter presents a different understanding of informality. Key to this chapter is our contention that while informality escapes definition, without binary or fixed conceptualisations of this concept we are better able to take in its fluidity and envisage how it is interwoven in everyday policy work and its human and non-human enactment. Underpinning this contention is a key contribution of this work, a proposition for a re-conceptualising of informality and formality as in|formality. Methodologically, this chapter argues that informality is better ‘shown’ than ‘told’ – and that this can be achieved through interpretive and socio-material approaches woven through disciplines that foreground narrative, ethnographic and creative approaches to research.

Given the complexity and increasing interdependence of supply chain networks, a broader perspective beyond a simple binary relationship is needed to analyse the impact of supply chain networks on firms. Based on social network theory, this study aims to explore the relationship between firms’ network position in the supply chain network and digital transformation, as well as the moderating effects of structural holes and network partners’ digitalisation.

This study analyses a sample of Chinese A-share companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges for the period 2011–2020 using regression analysis to test hypothesised relationships.

A firm’s centrality in the supply chain network is positively related to its digital transformation, and that the firm’s structural holes and the level of network partners’ digitalisation can both strengthen the positive influence of network centrality on digital transformation. Moreover, the heterogeneity analysis reveals that the positive effect of firms’ network centrality on digital transformation is more pronounced in non-SOEs and upstream firms.

In the pursuit of digital transformation, firms should recognise the significance of their position in the supply chain network and enhance their capability for information and resource acquisition by proactively strengthening their business cooperation with other network members. Moreover, firms should emphasise the value of open networks and their partners in supply chain networks.

This study applies social network theory to investigate the role of a firm’s external supply chain network in its digital transformation, clarifying the context and boundaries in which a firm’s position in the supply chain network influences digital transformation. The results extend the research and theoretical perspective on digital transformation and the consequences of supply chain networks.

The study's objectives are to conduct a comprehensive review of existing knowledge, thoroughly understand the present state of green finance, identify emerging research trends, perform content analysis and offer valuable guidance for advancing this field.

Data has been collected by selecting highly indexed databases, Scopus and Web of Science. These databases are well-known repositories of academic papers, journals and other scholarly publications related to various fields of study. This research uses the PRISMA methodology for conducting a structured literature review and employs a bibliometric approach to summarize the findings of the previous studies. “R” studio and Biblioshiny are used to clean the data and visualize the results. The TCCM framework is utilized to propose potential avenues for future research in the domain of green finance.

The research uncovers the potential areas in the domain of green finance for future work, encompassing green bonds, the green economy, connectivity, forces, constraints and sustainable development. Furthermore, this process enhances the theoretical underpinnings of scholarly investigations within the discipline by succinctly synthesizing and evaluating preexisting literature. This contribution could facilitate more informed and focused research endeavors in green finance.

The research findings have practical implications for researchers, practitioners, regulators, legislators, issuers and investors involved in green finance. The results can take initiatives to improve practices related to issuing and pricing green financial products and enhance the understanding of interconnectedness within the field.

This ground-breaking research sheds light on various emerging areas by taking a new approach, including the most widely read articles, authors and journals and the broader conceptual and intellectual framework. That includes finding and expanding original research streams, summarizing the most seminal works, and suggesting new research pathways.

This study aims to develop a chain-mediated model to examine how streamer and product characteristics influence consumer behavior inertia (CBI) based on an extended cognitive-affective-conative (CAC) perspective.

This study used an online survey concerning the livestreaming activities of 250 experienced shoppers to measure the proposed model.

Streamer (product) attractiveness mediates the relationship between streamer (product) characteristics and shopping experience memory. Streamer (product) attractiveness and shopping experience memory have a chain mediating effect between the streamer (product) characteristics and CBI.

Theoretically, the study demonstrates the critical role of attractiveness and shopping experience memory in the formation of consumer inertia and complements current explanations of consumer continuance of buying through livestreaming. From a managerial standpoint, the findings provide guidelines for enterprises carrying out livestreaming business on how to improve inertia to realize a stable profit source.