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The impact of banking deregulation on firms and economic growth is heavily researched, but not the effects on banks’ risk-taking. This study aims to investigate the impact of China’s 2009 banking deregulation on bank risk-taking, particularly from a balance sheet capacity perspective.

Using a difference-in-differences approach, this study examines how deregulation affects bank risk-taking. A three-stage regression strategy is employed to conduct mechanism analysis.

The results reveal that deregulated banks exhibit higher levels of risk-taking. Mechanism analysis confirms the bank balance sheet capacity channel: deregulation helps strengthen the net interest margin of deregulated banks, which enhances their balance sheet capacity and subsequently increases their risk appetite. In addition, deregulation improves firms’ access to long-term credit in regions with limited credit availability, especially for smaller firms, thereby expanding the financial sector’s service outreach.

While banking deregulation enhances credit availability for firms and supports the real economy, it also raises banks’ risk-taking, posing challenges to financial stability. Our study highlights the trade-off between supporting the real economy and maintaining financial stability under banking deregulation.

This study fills a gap in research on the effects of banking deregulation on bank risk-taking, highlighting the critical role of balance sheet capacity in this process.

This study aims to examine manufacturers’ strategic responses to consumer migration from offline to online channels, focusing on how these shifts affect their channel selection and business strategies.

This research uses a theoretical framework using a Stackelberg game model to analyze manufacturers’ decision-making processes amid evolving consumer behaviors. It intricately explores the strategic implications across three distinct channel structures: manufacturer direct sales (MD), retailer resale (RR) and retailer agency (RA), focusing on their economic outcomes and market dynamics. This approach is instrumental in decoding the multifaceted nature of channel migration and its impact on manufacturer–retailer relationships in the digital marketplace.

The research reveals that in MD and RA scenarios, as channel migration intensifies, manufacturers tend to lower both wholesale and online retail prices. Conversely, in the RR scenario, the set wholesale price is intricately linked to the market share, with higher prices set for smaller offline market shares. From a strategic standpoint, MD emerges as the optimal choice for maximizing manufacturer profits, while RA takes precedence when considering the entire supply chain’s profitability, particularly under high commission costs.

This research illuminates the impact of channel migration on manufacturers’ pricing strategies and channel selection. It not only advances the understanding of consumer behavior in multichannel retail environments but also offers practical insights for businesses in effectively managing online and offline channels.

This paper is the genesis for robots and robotic technology and their introduction to the Caribbean Academic library community. This paper aims to explore the specific areas that this technology can improve as well as their adaptability and dynamic yet multifaceted nature it possesses.

A thorough assessment of literature was done of all developed libraries that are employing the services of robots and robotic technology in their daily operations. Additionally, a meticulous analysis was done of all Caribbean Libraries that have explored, are currently exploring or actively explored the implementation of robots and robotic technology for effective use in their libraries.

Seamless functionality as well as the reduction of mundane repetitive tasks by library staff is at the fore. Efficacy and heightened levels of accuracy are also found to be a great factor for implementation as well as speed of retrieval and offsite storage are further benefits to the implementation of robots and robotic technology.

This research primarily assessed material on robotics and robotic technology that offers unprecedented efficacy and accuracy in the processing of information and tasks assigned as well as smooth location and retrieval of library material resulting in reduction in wait time for all library users.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this paper is the first of its kind and is intended to trigger a “light bulb” in the minds of decision-makers and managers of Library spaces as to the potential robots and robotic technology has on fostering greater levels of efficacy in certain key areas of libraries and help improve user services while adding to the theoretical body of knowledge available in the field on this fast rising area.

Drawing on value cocreation, this study examines health-care customers’ perceptions of patient-centered care (PCC) in hospital and online primary care settings. This study aims to address how are the key principles of PCC related, how the relationships between key PCC principles and outcomes (subjective well-being and service satisfaction) vary depending on the channel providing the care (hospital/online primary care) and what differences are placed on the involvement of family and friends in these different settings by health-care customers.

This study comprises four samples of health-care customers (Sample 1 n = 272, Sample 2 n = 278, Sample 3 n = 275 and Sample 4 n = 297) totaling 1,122 respondents. This study models four key principles of PCC: service providers respecting health-care customers’ values, needs and preferences; collaborative resources of the multi-disciplinary care team; health-care customers actively collaborating with their own resources; and health-care customers involving family and friends, explicating which principles of PCC have positive effects on outcomes: subjective well-being and service satisfaction.

Findings confirm that health-care customers want to feel respected by service providers, use their own resources to actively collaborate in their care and have multi-disciplinary teams coordinating and integrating their care. However, contrary to prior findings, for online primary care, service providers respecting customers’ values needs and preferences do not translate into health-care customers actively collaborating with their own resources. Further, involving family and friends has mixed results for online primary care. In that setting, this study finds that involving family and friends only positively impacts service satisfaction, when care is provided using video and not voice only.

By identifying which PCC principles influence the health-care customer experience most, this research shows policymakers where they should invest resources to achieve beneficial outcomes for health-care customers, service providers and society, thus advancing current thinking and practice.

This research provides a health-care customer perspective on PCC and shows how the resources of the health-care system can activate the health-care customer’s own resources. It further shows the role of technology in online care, where it alters how care is experienced by the health-care customer.

Financial linkages are an important determinant of shock transmissions, and the risk of financial system instability is higher when financial institutions are closely connected. This paper aims to examine interconnectedness within the shadow banking system, a credit intermediation outside traditional banking, in South Africa.

The authors used the conditional value-at-risk (Co-VaR), using market returns of fixed-income funds, funds-of-funds, money market funds and multi-asset funds from January 2015 to December 2021, to identify funds with the highest contribution to systemic risk. The authors examined interconnectedness using the Toda and Yamamoto Granger causality test among the funds with the highest contribution to systemic risk.

The authors find a greater degree of interconnectedness in the shadow banking sector, and linkages are at an all-time high during COVID-19. The results also show that while money market funds are only receivers, multi-asset funds are both transmitters and receivers of systemic risk.

The regulator should strengthen monitoring of the linkages in shadow banking, particularly among multi-asset funds and money market funds, and during periods of financial turmoil.

The study contributes to the growing literature on systemic risk in shadow banking. Compared to prior literature, the authors use market returns data from an emerging African economy, South Africa.

The interest in medical tourism is due to the increasing number of scholarly publications on the subject. Polish researchers are progressively contributing to this discourse, shedding light on various research contexts within one of the prominent medical tourism destinations in Central and Eastern Europe. This article is aimed at mapping the knowledge of and outlining the directions for developing medical tourism research in Poland.

The study was conducted in the form of a bibliometric review, including performance analysis and science mapping. The analysis included texts by Polish researchers indexed in the international Web of Science and Scopus databases and the Polish BazEkon database. In addition, publications found in Google Scholar, Nauka Polska (Polish Science) and Biblioteka Nauki (Library of Science) were included. VOSviewer was used for the bibliometric analysis.

A total of 97 scientific publications from 2003–2023 were studied. The analysis provided an insight into the main themes of Polish researchers from the perspective of the discipline they represent. Five clusters were identified: (1) “global aspects of medical tourism,” (2) “medical tourist,” (3) “development of medical tourism,” (4) “Poland as a medical tourism destination” and (5) “medical tourism destinations worldwide.” On the one hand, an interdisciplinary approach to medical tourism makes it possible to gain broader knowledge that goes beyond one scientific discipline. On the other hand, the results show the diversity of medical tourism research and the dilemmas involved.

The limitation of this article is the analysis chosen, which does not consider the scientific quality of the articles studied. Instead, we identify leading and future issues that should be of interest to researchers and used by practitioners and managers of medical tourism destinations.

The review and subsequent mapping of scientific output made it possible (1) to understand the different perspectives on the definition of medical tourism, (2) to assess the 20-year contribution of Polish researchers to the development of medical tourism research and (3) to identify key contexts for further research.

The aim of this article is to conceptually assess the healthiness of regions. A developed health region can become an attractive health tourism destination. Within the framework of the sustainable development paradigm, this article identifies key areas for development in the creation of health regions.

In this conceptual paper, a traditional narrative review was required. In addition to the scientific literature, the analyses included key reports and strategy documents from public institutions and organizations, the content of which was relevant to the issue addressed.

A conceptual framework of a health region based on sustainability has been constructed that can support practitioners seeking to develop a health-based region. As a result of a 3-stage conceptualization process, a set of 56 indicators was developed to describe the health characteristics of (1) the environmental sphere, with criteria including air quality, noise levels and natural assets, while taking into account needs for climate crisis resilience adaptation measure; (2) the social sphere concerning infrastructure, which includes elements of space use, transportation accessibility, accessibility for people with special needs, including especially people with disabilities and anthropogenic qualities, and (3) the economic sphere, which is an important element affecting the quality of life.

This is the first attempt to describe a health region in the context of sustainable development. The set of indicators is the result of conceptual work, providing a basis for further description of health regions and serving as an inspiration for regions wishing to prioritize health in their development.

This paper aims to investigate the interconnectedness of redenomination risk premiums across the four main European sovereign bond markets (France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands).

The authors used the time-varying parameter vector autoregressions method to achieve the objectives.

This study reveals that the redenomination risk connectedness throughout the Euro area sovereign bond markets is dynamic and exhibits remarkable variations across various crisis episodes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia–Ukraine tensions. In addition, the analysis uncovers significant bilateral connections between countries. Furthermore, the research finds that spillovers from the US dollar redenomination premium (USDRP) are greater than those from the euro redenomination premium (ERP) and currency redenomination premium (CRP). However, during the Ukraine–Russia tensions, the connectedness between the USDRP is stronger than that between the ERP and CRP. On the other hand, the connectedness between CRP is higher than the USDRP and ERP during the COVID-19 pandemic. Importantly, this study demonstrates that the four countries play a role as both shock transmitters and receivers, switching alternatively.

This study contributes to the related literature by exploring the redenomination risk connectedness throughout the Euro area sovereign bond markets. Specifically, we rely on the USDRP, the ERP and CRP. These findings have serious implications for both portfolio risk management.

This study proposes a guided tool for cybersecurity risk assessment tailored for nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), enabling them to comply with cybersecurity policies despite limitations in security awareness, funding and expertise.

A digital transformation is indispensable for ensuring the sustainable operation of NGOs. Embracing a digital manifesto necessitates an awareness of cybersecurity risks, highlighting the critical need for a robust cybersecurity risk assessment methodology. Initial research phases revealed significant shortages in security awareness, funding and expertise. Consequently, this study introduces an intuitive approach tailored specifically for NGOs, supported by a customized tool designed to address their unique requirements. The NIST cybersecurity risk assessment framework and National Cyber-security Authority (NCA) were adopted to define the risk assessment approach. The efficacy of this approach is evaluated qualitatively through a case study involving three NGOs in Saudi Arabia, aimed at assessing their capability to utilize the tool effectively. Following the implementation, a Likert-scale survey gauged satisfaction among NGOs regarding the tool’s utility.

Results from the case study indicate high satisfaction, affirming its alignment with their operational needs and enhancement of compliance with NCA controls. Furthermore, the use of the tool enhances the awareness of NCA’s cybercity requirements and controls.

Based on theoretical and empirical grounds, this research proposes a novel design of security assessment framework tailored for NGO requirements and supported by initiative tool enabling complying with cybersecurity policies and enhances the awareness of cybersecurity controls.

This study aims to investigate how the supply chain (SC) experts from the UK manufacturing organisations (MO) interpret the drivers and barriers to adopting Industry 4.0 technologies from a technological, organisational and environmental (TOE) point of view. Furthermore, this study evaluates how adoption drivers and barriers influence innovative practices that support Industry 4.0 adoption.

A qualitative narrative inquiry strategy, involving nine semi-structured interviews with leading SC experts including group executives, global directors and vice presidents was adopted.

The people factor across the SC is found critical for successful Industry 4.0 adoption. It was also found that the firm size is an insignificant factor; rather, Industry 4.0 readiness in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is driven by flexibility and agility, while larger organisations are driven by resource availability and scalability. Evidently, the culture and attitude of the MO tend to facilitate or hinder the Industry 4.0 adoption, therefore, innovative practices in building an expert team, establishing a systematic change management process, actively involving suppliers in the adoption process and continuously monitoring the adoption process were introduced.

By addressing the relationships between the drivers, barriers and innovative practices from a business perspective, a detailed Industry 4.0 adoption framework for the UK Manufacturing Supply Chains (MSC) was developed as a unique theoretical and practical contribution. This study also highlights the lessons learnt from applying Industry 4.0 in the UK context. The findings can also be informed in applying Industry 4.0 technologies in emerging market contexts.