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This study aims to investigate whether firms purchase directors' and officers' liability (D&O) insurance when the country-level economic policy uncertainty (EPU) is high.

This study uses D&O insurance data from Chinese listed firms between 2003 and 2019 to conduct regression analyses to examine the association between D&O insurance and EPU.

The results show that government EPU, despite being an exogenous factor, increases the likelihood of firms' purchasing D&O insurance, and this effect is more pronounced when firms are exposed to great share price crash risk and high litigation risk, suggesting that firms intend to purchase D&O insurance possibly due to the accentuated stock price crash risk and litigation risk associated with EPU. In addition, the results indicate that the effect of EPU on the D&O insurance purchase decision is moderated by the provincial capital market development and internal control quality.

The study highlights the role of uncertain economic policies in shareholder approval of D&O insurance purchases.

The study enriches the literature on the determinants of D&O insurance purchases by documenting novel evidence that country-level EPU is a key institutional factor shaping firms' decisions to purchase D&O insurance.

With the help of a quasi-natural experiment on Chinese policies, this study aims to understand the actual contribution of Smart City (SC) policies to the development of information and communications technology (ICT) in different cities. It also discusses the social and digital differences that such policies may generate, with a particular focus on the potential for exacerbating urban inequalities.

To achieve this, the study employs a principal component analysis (PCA) to develop an ICT development indicator system. It then employs a difference-in-differences (DID) model to analyze panel data from 209 Chinese cities over the period from 2007 to 2019, examining the impact of SC policies on ICT development across various urban settings.

Our findings show that SC policies have significantly contributed to the enhancement of ICT development, especially in ICT usage. However, SC policies may inadvertently reinforce developmental disparities among cities. Compared to less developed areas, the benefits of SC policies are more pronounced in economically booming cities. This is likely due to the agglomeration of the ICT industry and the strong allure of developed urban centers for high-caliber talent.

This study contributes to the related literature by explaining the role of SC policies in driving ICT development and by focusing on the often-overlooked impact of SC policies on urban inequality. These findings can provide guidance to policymakers on the need to recognize and address existing urban inequalities.

This paper aims to present a comprehensive review of the laser engineered net shaping (LENS) process in an attempt to provide the reader with a deep understanding of the controllable and fixed build parameters of metallic parts. The authors discuss the effect and interplay between process parameters, including: laser power, scan speed and powder feed rate. Further, the authors show the interplay between process parameters is pivotal in achieving the desired microstructure, macrostructure, geometrical accuracy and mechanical properties.

In this manuscript, the authors review current research examining the process inputs and their influences on the final product when manufacturing with the LENS process. The authors also discuss how these parameters relate to important build aspects such as melt-pool dimensions, the volume of porosity and geometry accuracy.

The authors conclude that studies have greatly enriched the understanding of the LENS build process, however, much studies remains to be done. Importantly, the authors reveal that to date there are a number of detailed theoretical models that predict the end properties of deposition, however, much more study is necessary to allow for reasonable prediction of the build process for standard industrial parts, based on the synchronistic behavior of the input parameters.

This paper intends to raise questions about the possible research areas that could potentially promote the effectiveness of this LENS technology.

The purpose of this study is to explore green innovation and its role in driving competitiveness in Ecuadorian manufacturing firms, focusing on structural equation modelings, which account for more than 90% of the productive units and aggregate national income. The manufacturing sector in Ecuador reports variable growth since the start of the COVID pandemic, drawing more attention from practitioners, regulators and scholars alike, due to its distinctive footprint on people, profit and planet, particularly in the context of developing economies.

A model with two second-order constructs is developed and tested in a sample of 325 managers from manufacturing firms in Ecuador, using quantitative and cross-section methods.

After obtaining adjusted and validated metrics, a structural equation model is presented, where the main hypothesis is confirmed, supporting the positive impact of green innovation on competitiveness.

The research provides evidence on how manufacturing firms favoring green innovation in their long-term planning can unlock and sustain competitiveness. Policymakers could then offer incentives for firms to embed sustainable practices, with potential ripple effects along the supply chain, aggregating up competitiveness to industry and national levels.

The study aims to bridge the existing knowledge gap on the interplay of green innovation and competitiveness, claiming that the former significantly influences the latter, in an emerging market context, with incremental gains for all stakeholders, as posited by stakeholder theory.

El propósito de esta investigación es explorar la innovación verde y su rol en la generación de competitividad en las empresas manufactureras ecuatorianas, centrándose en las PYMES, que representan más del 90 por ciento de las unidades productivas y del ingreso nacional agregado. El sector manufacturero en Ecuador reporta un crecimiento variable desde el inicio de la pandemia de COVID, lo cual atrae la atención de profesionales, reguladores y académicos por igual, debido a su huella distintiva en la sociedad, la rentabilidad y el planeta, particularmente en el contexto de las economías en desarrollo.

Se desarrolla y estima un modelo con dos constructos de segundo orden, en una muestra de 325 gerentes de empresas manufactureras del Ecuador, utilizando métodos cuantitativos y transversales.

Tras obtener métricas ajustadas y validadas, se presenta un modelo de ecuaciones estructurales, donde se confirma la hipótesis principal, sustentando el impacto positivo de la innovación verde en la competitividad.

Aportamos evidencia empírica sobre cómo las empresas manufactureras que favorecen iniciativas ecológicamente innovadoras en su planificación a largo plazo, pueden generar y sostener competitividad. Los reguladores podrían eventualmente diseñar incentivos para que las empresas incorporen prácticas sustentables, acumulando beneficios en la cadena de suministro, e incrementando así la competitividad a nivel de la industria y de la economía en su conjunto.

Nuestro estudio aspira contribuir a cerrar la brecha en la literatura en la convergencia entre la innovación verde y la competitividad, argumentando que la primera influye significativamente en la segunda, en un contexto de mercado emergente, con beneficios incrementales para todas las partes interesadas, como lo postula la teoría de stakeholders.

O objetivo desta pesquisa é explorar a inovação verde e seu papel na promoção da competitividade nas empresas manufatureiras equatorianas, com foco nas PMEs, que representam mais de 90% das unidades produtivas e da renda nacional. O sector manufatureiro no Equador regista um crescimento variável desde o início da pandemia da COVID, atraindo mais atenção tanto de profissionais, reguladores como académicos, devido à sua pegada distinta nas pessoas, nos lucros e no planeta, particularmente no contexto das economias em desenvolvimento.

Um modelo com dois construtos de segunda ordem é desenvolvido e testado em uma amostra de 325 gestores de empresas industriais no Equador, utilizando métodos quantitativos e transversais.

Após a obtenção de métricas ajustadas e validadas, é apresentado um modelo de equações estruturais, onde é confirmada a hipótese principal, apoiando o impacto positivo da inovação verde na competitividade.

A nossa investigação fornece evidências sobre como as empresas industriais que favorecem iniciativas ecologicamente inovadoras no seu planeamento a longo prazo, podem aumentar e sustentar a competitividade. Os decisores políticos poderiam então oferecer incentivos às empresas para incorporar práticas sustentáveis, com potenciais efeitos em cascata ao longo da cadeia de abastecimento, agregando competitividade aos níveis industrial e nacional.

O nosso estudo visa colmatar a lacuna de conhecimento existente sobre a interação entre inovação verde e competitividade, alegando que a primeira influencia significativamente a última, num contexto de mercado emergente, com ganhos incrementais para todas as partes interessadas, conforme postulado pela teoria dos stakeholders.

The adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in frontline service encounters is a growing phenomenon in service marketing, which can lead to positive and negative results. In this context, this paper aims to review the literature on value cocreation and codestruction in AI-enabled service interactions.

A systematic literature review was carried out using the PRISMA protocol. Data were retrieved from the Web of Science and Scopus databases, from which 48 articles were selected for review. Data analysis, presentation of results and the research agenda followed the theory, context, characteristics and methodology (TCCM) framework.

The review especially revealed that: publications on AI-enabled value cocreation and codestruction are in the early stages of development; few articles have addressed value codestruction, and the main research emphasis is on value cocreation; interactions between human actors and AI-enabled autonomous nonhuman actors are resulting in value cocreation or value codestruction, or both, and these phenomena are also likely to occur when AI replaces more than one human actor in the service encounter; and AI is considered an increasingly independent nonhuman actor that integrates resources and interacts with other actors, yet prudence is necessary for its adoption.

This review fills a gap by jointly exploring the value cocreation and codestruction in the context of AI, presents an overview of the issues discussed and provides a research agenda with directions for future studies.

La adopción de la inteligencia artificial (IA) en los encuentros de servicio en primera línea es un fenómeno creciente en el marketing de servicios, que puede llevar a resultados positivos y negativos. En este contexto, el objetivo de este artículo es revisar la literatura sobre la cocreación y codestrucción de valor en las interacciones de servicio habilitadas por IA.

Se realizó una revisión sistemática de la literatura utilizando el protocolo PRISMA. Los datos se obtuvieron de las bases de datos Web of Science y Scopus, de las cuales se seleccionaron 48 artículos para su revisión. El análisis de los datos, la presentación de resultados y la agenda de investigación siguieron el marco de teoría, contexto, características y metodología (TCCM).

La revisión reveló especialmente que: (1) las publicaciones sobre la cocreación y codestrucción de valor habilitadas por IA están en las primeras etapas de desarrollo; (2) pocos artículos han abordado la codestrucción de valor, y el principal énfasis de la investigación está en la cocreación de valor; (3) las interacciones entre actores humanos y actores no humanos autónomos habilitados por IA están resultando en cocreación o codestrucción de valor, o ambas, y es probable que estos fenómenos también ocurran cuando la IA reemplaza a más de un actor humano en el encuentro de servicio; (4) la IA es considerada un actor no humano cada vez más independiente que integra recursos e interactúa con otros actores, pero se requiere prudencia en su adopción.

Esta revisión llena un vacío al explorar conjuntamente la cocreación y codestrucción de valor en el contexto de la IA, presenta una visión general de los temas discutidos y proporciona una agenda de investigación con direcciones para estudios futuros.

人工智能（AI）在前线服务接触中的应用已成为服务营销中的一个日益增长的现象, 这可能带来正面和负面的结果。在这一背景下, 本文旨在回顾关于人工智能驱动的服务互动中价值共创与共损的文献。

采用PRISMA协议进行了系统文献综述。数据从Web of Science和Scopus数据库中提取, 共选择48篇文章进行审阅。数据分析、结果呈现及研究议程遵循理论、背景、特征与方法论（TCCM）框架。

综述特别揭示了以下几点：(1) 关于AI驱动的价值共创与共毁的出版物尚处于发展初期; (2) 针对价值共损的文章较少, 主要研究重点集中在价值共创上; (3) 人类参与者与AI驱动的自主非人类参与者之间的互动, 可能导致价值共创或价值共损, 甚至同时发生, 特别是在AI替代多个服务接触中的人类参与者时; (4) AI被视为越来越独立的非人类参与者, 它整合资源并与其他参与者互动, 但在采用过程中需谨慎。

本综述填补了在AI背景下共同探讨价值共创与共损的空白, 概述了相关问题, 并提供了未来研究方向的议程。

This study used the literature review and the modified Delphi method to evaluate the importance of the catering quality indices of university canteens in China. In order to compile the catering quality indices of university canteens in China as reference for the subsequent improvement of Chinese canteens.

This study first analysed literature data to establish the preliminary quality indices and used the modified Delphi method for measurement. After three rounds of Delphi analysis by 35 experts, the results of the catering quality indices of university canteens in China are summarised.

The research results show that university canteen catering quality issues are divided into six dimensions, including catering safety management, employee hygiene management, catering service, food quality, environmental atmosphere and corporate social responsibility. Catering safety management is the most important index, followed by employee hygiene management.

The research results can be used as suggestions for follow-up improvements in the quality of university canteens in China and a basis of reference for amendments to relevant national or local laws and regulations. The food prices, food quality and whether food hygiene and safety standards are met by university canteens are all related to the health and vital interests of the teachers and students, as well as the stability of the university. Therefore, the government should increase supervision in these aspects to avoid decline in the quality of meals due to low profits and enforce strict requirements for food safety.

This study presents a systematic literature review (SLR) of the interdisciplinary literature on drones in last-mile delivery (LMD) to extrapolate pertinent insights from and into the logistics management field.

Rooting their analytical categories in the LMD literature, the authors performed a deductive, theory refinement SLR on 307 interdisciplinary journal articles published during 2015–2022 to integrate this emergent phenomenon into the field.

The authors derived the potentials, challenges and solutions of drone deliveries in relation to 12 LMD criteria dispersed across four stakeholder groups: senders, receivers, regulators and societies. Relationships between these criteria were also identified.

This review contributes to logistics management by offering a current, nuanced and multifaceted discussion of drones' potential to improve the LMD process together with the challenges and solutions involved.

The authors provide logistics managers with a holistic roadmap to help them make informed decisions about adopting drones in their delivery systems. Regulators and society members also gain insights into the prospects, requirements and repercussions of drone deliveries.

This is one of the first SLRs on drone applications in LMD from a logistics management perspective.

This study analyzes the performance implications of adopting blockchain to support supply chain business processes. The technology holds as many promises as implementation challenges, so interest in its impact on operational performance has grown steadily over the last few years.

Drawing on transaction cost economics and the contingency theory, we built a set of hypotheses. These were tested through a long-term event study and an ordinary least squares regression involving 130 adopters listed in North America.

Compared with the control sample, adopters displayed significant abnormal performance in terms of labor productivity, operating cycle and profitability, whereas sales appeared unaffected. Firms in regulated settings and closer to the end customer showed more positive effects. Neither industry-level competition nor the early involvement of a project partner emerged as relevant contextual factors.

This research presents the first extensive analysis of operational performance based on objective measures. In contrast to previous studies and theoretical predictions, the results indicate that blockchain adoption is not associated with sales improvement. This can be explained considering that secure data storage and sharing do not guarantee the factual credibility of recorded data, which needs to be proved to customers in alternative ways. Conversely, improvements in other operational performance dimensions confirm that blockchain can support inter-organizational transactions more efficiently. The results are relevant in times when, following hype, there are signs of disengagement with the technology.

This study aims to explore how manufacturing firms master customer lock-in through value creation by servitization innovation strategies from the perspective of asset specificity.

A multiple case study with triangulation fashion is adopted to identify servitization innovation strategies. Several manufacturing firms were investigated, which are distributed in different positions of the value chain. Content analysis and abductive approaches are adopted to analyze the data. Moreover, an in-depth interview and participatory observation were conducted to refine the analysis results.

This study identified four different focusing points of servitization operations. Based on these, the paper further induces an innovative servitization strategy matrix of customer lock-in, concerning communion, intellectual, existential and insubstantial strategies. Furthermore, a conceptual model of customer lock-in by servitization innovation from the perspective of asset specificity is elaborated. It is suggested that companies can use tangible or intangible resources by sharing or storing operations to create servitization value.

This study theoretically proposes a conceptual model to extend servitization innovation as an intangible asset and adopt the new perspective of asset specificity to illustrate the value creation in servitization to generate customer lock-in.

Present for more than 20 years, 3D food printing (3DFP) technology has not experienced the same widespread adoption as its non-food counterparts. It is believed that relevant business models are crucial for its expansion. The purpose of this study is to identify the dominant prototypical business models and patterns in the 3DFP industry. The knowledge gained could be used to provide directions for business model innovation in this industry.

The authors established a business model framework and used it to analyse the identified 3DFP manufacturers. The authors qualitatively identified the market’s prototypical business models and used agglomerative hierarchical clustering to extract further patterns.

All identified 3DFP businesses use the prototypical business model of selling ownership of physical assets, with some variations. Low-cost 3D food printers for private usage and dedicated 3D food printers for small-scale food producers are the two primary patterns identified. Furthermore, several benefits of 3DFP technology are not being used, and the identified manufacturers are barely present in high-revenue markets, which prevents them from driving technological innovation forward.

The extracted patterns can be used by the companies within the 3DFP industry and even in other additive manufacturing segments to reflect upon, refine or renew their business model. Some directions for business model innovation in this industry are provided.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first quantitative study to give an account of the current 3DFP business models and their possible evolution. This study also contributes to the business model patterns methodological development.