Search results

Firms need competitiveness in terms of quality, price, and delivery to satisfy public sector customers. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of innovation capability on this competitiveness in a market-oriented firm and to determine the role of supply chain integration and marketing-technical integration in enhancing innovation capability.

A theoretical model was developed to test hypotheses. Data was collected from 199 top-level managers serving pharmaceutical companies. Partial least squares-structural equation modelling was used for datas analysis.

The results highlight the vital role of innovation capability in the development of firm competitiveness. Significant results for all relationships were obtained. The effect of market orientation on supply-chain integration was stronger than its effect on marketing-technical integration. Partial multi-mediation of supply chain integration and marketing-technical integration was found in the relation between market orientation and innovation capability.

The study helps managers develop an efficient strategy by using firms’ innovation capability to supply products according to public sector customer needs.

The study is based on a real-time practical problem faced by firms, as the majority of them fail to sell their products to public sector customers. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the current study is one of the first studies that discusses the role of innovation capability at the marketing-supply chain management interface to help a firm become an attractive supplier for public sector customers.

In electrical discharge machining (EDM) process, EDM oil used as a dielectric fluid plays an important role in determining quality of the machining operation, serving as a medium to generate controlled electrical discharges, quenching medium to cool down and solidify the eroded gaseous particles, removal of solidified waste, and lubrication medium to absorb and remove the heat generated at the machining zone. Due to presence of numerous decisive factors, no single dielectric fluid (mainly in the form of EDM oil) meets all the required characteristics during a real-time EDM operation. Thus, this paper proposes application of an integrated methodology to select the most appropriate EDM oil for enhanced machining performance during deep-hole drilling of aluminum bronze alloy.

A good dielectric fluid should possess several characteristics, like low cost, non-toxicity, low viscosity, good wetting property, high flash and fire points to avoid fire hazards, chemically non-corrosive, high electric strength and specific gravity, minimal aromatics and good quenching behavior. In this paper, performance of 10 alternative EDM oils is evaluated based on six selection criteria. Integrated determination of objective criteria weights (IDOCRIW) method is adopted to compute the criteria weights, whereas double normalization-based multiple aggregation (DNMA) approach is applied to identify the best-suited EDM oil from the candidate alternatives.

Spark SPO-A EDM oil appears as the most suitable dielectric fluid, followed by Fine Spark 110. Contrarily, Exxsol D80 emerges as the worst choice.

The robustness of the adopted methodology is finally validated through sensitivity analysis studies. It can thus be applied to solve any of the decision-making problems with high degree of accuracy and consistency.

Despite the growing literature on business model innovation (BMI) and its implications for firm performance, the research on the antecedents of BMI is still at a budding stage. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to bridge this gap by examining the causal relationships between knowledge management, BMI, competitive advantage, and firm performance.

A purposive sample of 300 micro, small, and medium enterprises was collected with more than 500 employees and total revenue between 50 and 500 million Indian Rupees, according to the Development Act, 2005. The collected data were analyzed using structural equation modeling through smart PLS 3.

The study’s findings show that knowledge management significantly influences BMI. This study also highlights the synergic impact of Knowledge management and BMI on firm performance. Furthermore, findings highlight the mediating role of competitive advantage in the relationship between knowledge management, BMI, and firm performance.

Understanding the impact of BMI and knowledge management is crucial for business owners, managers, and other stakeholders to plan for the continuous improvement of their businesses. Managers can secure a favorable position in the competitive market and improve organizational performance by paying attention to effectively managing their knowledge resources.

The study is one of the first few empirical efforts to investigate the causal relationships between knowledge management, BMI and firm performance. The study adds to the scant literature in this area by highlighting the mediating role of competitive advantage.

Development has been a long-age phenomenon from the millennium to sustainability. This is because the new millennium ushered in the episode of development in the global economy from the role of inputs to the role of productivity and knowledge. Thus, understanding the forefront of initiatives to develop better policies for better lives and to find fact-based answers to social, economic, and environmental problems becomes unavoidable.

The study therefore assesses the impact of labor productivity and investment decisions on human development. A modified production theory was adopted for OECD economies. To address the problem of endogeneity and cross-sectional dependence, a two-step system generalized method of moments, Driscoll–Kraay estimator, and Panel Corrected Standard Error were used.

The findings reveal that the impact of labor productivity on human development differs significantly from the impact of investment decisions. The result shows that investment decisions will have a positive impact on human development when there is an insignificant capital fixed formation to boost the productivity of OECD economies. Further, the result shows that the organization governments through the provision of social security and essential services have a positive impact on the OECD human development.

This study has contributed significantly to assessing the drivers of human development within the purview of labor productivity, investment decisions and government expenditure in OECD countries.

This paper aims to investigate whether negative and positive monetary policy (MP) shocks have asymmetric impacts on corporate firms’ investment decisions in Pakistan using firm-level panel data set. Moreover, the authors emphasized on symmetric effects of MP; the authors examine whether high-leverage and low-leverage firms respond differently to negative and positive unanticipated shocks in MP instruments.

In contrast to the conventional framework of VAR, it uses an alternative methodology of Taylor rule to estimate unanticipated MP shocks. The two-step system-generalized method of movement (GMM) estimation method is applied to examine the effect of MP shocks on firm investment through leverage-based asymmetry.

The two-step system-GMM estimation results indicate that unanticipated negative changes (unfavorable shocks) in MP instruments have negative, significant effects on investment. In contrast, unanticipated positive changes (favorable shocks) have statistically insignificant impacts on firm investment. The results also reveal that firm leverage has a significant role in establishing the effect of unanticipated negative changes in MP instruments on investments. Finally, the results indicate that high-leverage firms respond more to negative changes than low-leverage firms. Yet, the results show that only low-leverage firms positively respond to unanticipated positive shocks in MP.

The findings of the paper suggest that MP authorities should pay due attention to the asymmetric effects of MP shocks on firm investment while designing MP. Because firm leverage has a significant influence on the effects of MP shocks, firm managers should take into account such role of leverage while deciding capital structure of their firms.

First, unlike “Keynesian asymmetry” and most of published empirical research work, the authors use both unanticipated negative and positive MP shocks simultaneously. Departing from the conventional empirical literature, the authors differentiate between unanticipated positive and negative shocks in MP using the backward-looking Taylor rule. Second, the authors contribute to the existing literature by investigating the differential effects of positive and negative unanticipated MP shocks on firms’ investment decisions. Unlike the published studies that have emphasized on the symmetric effects of MP, the authors examine whether high-leverage and low-leverage firms respond differently to negative and positive unanticipated shocks in MP instruments.

This paper examines and compares the role of social protection to promote inclusive growth in two countries (once related), Pakistan and Bangladesh, from 1984 to 2020, using annual time series data.

The study used principal component analysis to develop the index of social protection, inclusive growth and macroeconomic stability. It also employed co-integration with impulse response function and fully modified ordinary least squares test for long-run cointegration.

The key results highlighted that social protection positively promotes inclusive growth in both countries. However, Bangladesh attains a high position in achieving inclusive growth through the mechanism of welfare programs. Findings show that institutional quality, macroeconomic stability and globalization are the positive and significant drivers of inclusive growth in both countries. It also confirms that macroeconomic stability and globalization are contributing more to achieving inclusive growth in Bangladesh as compared to Pakistan.

Institutions and macroeconomic stability in both countries are critical toward providing a transparent system of welfare schemes to achieve inclusive growth. Shocks to social protection schemes in Pakistan are inconsistent for achieving inclusive growth as compared to Bangladesh.

The study extends the empirical measurement of social protection and inclusive growth while using protracted dimensions and indicators. It further examines and compares the dynamics of social protection programs for inclusive growth in two countries once related. For further originality and reliability, this study checks the robustness of long-run estimates by disaggregating the institutional quality and globalization into their key dimensions.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-07-2023-0548

This study evaluates the impact of Avatar-led Green Training on enhancing organizational citizenship behavior for the environment (OCBE) and green creativity among employees in the hospitality sector. This study aims to understand how such innovative training influences green engagement and workplace spirituality, exploring the role of employees’ biospheric values in this context.

The research involved implementing Avatar-led Green Training courses for 724 hotel employees, followed by comprehensive online surveys. The collected data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling to assess the effectiveness and implications of the training.

Findings indicate that Avatar-led Green Training significantly enhances green engagement in OCBE, primarily through the development of workplace spirituality. Additionally, the study discovers a moderating effect of biospheric value on the training’s efficacy in fostering workplace spirituality, underlining its critical role in environmental consciousness and creativity.

This research benefits managers, human resources professionals, senior leaders and employees by enhancing training effectiveness and workplace satisfaction, while also positively impacting the industry’s environmental footprint and reputation.

This study’s originality lies in its exploration of artificial intelligence (AI)-driven training methods, particularly Avatar-led Green Training, in enhancing OCBE and green creativity in the hospitality sector. It offers a novel perspective on how technology can be leveraged for environmental stewardship and employee engagement.

The purpose of this research is to support the green movement and improve corporate performance by focusing on green intellectual capital and its various components (e.g. green human capital, green structural capital and green relational capital). Furthermore, this study looks into the impact of business reputation in mediating the link between green intellectual capital qualities and business performance.

To obtain data from the target population, this study employed quantitative techniques and a survey approach for data collection from respondents (managers and employees) of firms. The final sample size was 255.

According to structural equation modeling green human capital, green structural capital and green relational capital all have a positive and statistically significant impact on organizational performance. Furthermore, the study shows that a company’s reputation plays an important role in mediating the relationship between the green intellectual capital component and business performance. These findings are confirmed by the natural resource-based perspective theory. This shows that developing green intellectual capital and promoting a green environment increases a company’s reputation among stakeholders, which promotes organizational performance.

The study’s findings will help policymakers and administrators better understand the role of green intellectual capital in business reputation and performance. Based on empirical data, the study would contribute to the management, environmental science and performance literature.

To the best of the researcher's knowledge, this is the first study to apply the natural resource-based view theory and to consider corporate reputation as a mediator between green intellectual capital and business success.

In the recent wake of environmental sustainability, more attention has been paid to the consumption of specific energy types. However, how the consumption of such energy alternatives influences multiple corporate-level decisions has not yet been well explored in the literature. The current analysis bridges this deficiency in literature by exploring the empirical relationship between energy alternatives and cash holdings.

For empirical analysis, the authors sample the non-financial sector enterprises founded in five BRICS economies and employ the system GMM and fully modified ordinary least square techniques to establish the regression. The selection of econometric techniques is subject to the existence of endogeneity and cointegration.

The estimated coefficients reveal a significant negative effect of renewable energy (REC) while a significant positive impact of non-renewable energy consumption (FFE) on cash holdings. Referring to low pollution emissions, less operational risk and a cheap source of energy, the more consumption of renewable energy reduces the motives of cash holdings. Primarily, the current analysis advocates an important policy regarding the utilization of renewable energy as industrial fuel inputs because it has a material impact on cash holdings and also ensures environmental sustainability.

This study has equal policy outputs for industry officials, policy regulators and environmental economists. Corporate managers should do more focus on transforming the energy needs from non-renewable to renewable as such transformation can benefit in terms of both, i.e. environmental sustainability and low cash holdings.

Contemporary literature mainly highlights the determinants of energy consumption. However, it is less known how the consumption of specific energy sources affects the firm's cash-holding decisions. Thus, this study enriches both energy economics and financial economics literature by offering cutting-edge evidence on the sustainable role of REC in declining cash holdings.

This study aims to examine the impact of working capital management (WCM) on firm performance. The authors pursue innovation by exploring how the level of financial constraints shapes the impact of WCM on corporate performance.

In this study, the generalized method of moments (GMM) is used to analyze a sample of 753 firms listed on ten Middle East and North Africa (MENA) emerging markets.

The authors' empirical analysis demonstrates that financially constrained firms are coerced to adopt an aggressive WCM approach to reduce investment in working capital, minimize financing costs and improve financial performance despite the risks associated with this strategy. Contrarily, financially unconstrained firms, uphold a high level of investments in working capital to grow sales and improve financial performance. The authors' results strongly reject the “one size fits all” approach of WCM. The authors assert that the degree of financial constraints largely defines the firm's optimal WCM approach.

The authors' study reveals to financial managers the importance of adopting an appropriate WCM strategy that fits firm-specific characteristics and financial flexibility. The authors' results urge policy makers to ease access to financing to all firms to enhance both their financial flexibility and ability to respond efficiently to emerging investment opportunities as well as develop resilience to economic slumps.

To the best knowledge of the authors, this is the first study that explores WCM and financial constraints in MENA emerging markets.