Liang Ren, Zerong Zhou, Yaping Fu, Ao Liu and Yunfeng Ma
This study aims to examine the impact of the decision makers’ risk preference on logistics routing problem, contributing to logistics behavior analysis and route integration…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the impact of the decision makers’ risk preference on logistics routing problem, contributing to logistics behavior analysis and route integration optimization under uncertain environment. Due to the unexpected events and complex environment in modern logistics operations, the logistics process is full of uncertainty. Based on the chance function of satisfying the transportation time and cost requirements, this paper focuses on the fourth party logistics routing integrated optimization problem considering the chance preference of decision makers from the perspective of satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used the quantitative method to investigate the relationship between route decision making and human behavior. The cumulative prospect theory is used to describe the loss, gain and utility function based on confidence levels. A mathematical model and an improved ant colony algorithm are employed to solve the problems. Numerical examples show the effectiveness of the proposed model and algorithm.
Findings
The study’s findings reveal that the dual-population improvement strategy enhances the algorithm’s global search capability and the improved algorithm can solve the risk model quickly, verifying the effectiveness of the improvement method. Moreover, the decision-maker is more sensitive to losses, and the utility obtained when considering decision-makers' risk attitudes is greater than that obtained when the decision-maker exhibits risk neutrality.
Practical implications
In an uncertain environment, the logistics decision maker’s risk preference directly affects decision making. Different parameter combinations in the proposed model could be set for decision-makers with different risk attitudes to fit their needs more accurately. This could help managers design effective transportation plans and improve service levels. In addition, the improved algorithm can solve the proposed problem quickly, stably and effectively, so as to help the decision maker to make the logistics path decision quickly according to the required confidence level.
Originality/value
Considering the uncertainty in logistics and the risk behavior of decision makers, this paper studies integrated routing problem from the perspective of opportunity preference. Based on the chance function of satisfying the transportation time and cost requirements, a fourth party logistics routing integrated optimization problem model considering the chance preference of decision makers is established. According to the characteristics of the problem, an improved dual-population ant colony algorithm is designed to solve the proposed model. Numerical examples show the effectiveness the proposed methods.
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Xingwen Wu, Zhenxian Zhang, Wubin Cai, Ningrui Yang, Xuesong Jin, Ping Wang, Zefeng Wen, Maoru Chi, Shuling Liang and Yunhua Huang
This review aims to give a critical view of the wheel/rail high frequency vibration-induced vibration fatigue in railway bogie.
Abstract
Purpose
This review aims to give a critical view of the wheel/rail high frequency vibration-induced vibration fatigue in railway bogie.
Design/methodology/approach
Vibration fatigue of railway bogie arising from the wheel/rail high frequency vibration has become the main concern of railway operators. Previous reviews usually focused on the formation mechanism of wheel/rail high frequency vibration. This paper thus gives a critical review of the vibration fatigue of railway bogie owing to the short-pitch irregularities-induced high frequency vibration, including a brief introduction of short-pitch irregularities, associated high frequency vibration in railway bogie, typical vibration fatigue failure cases of railway bogie and methodologies used for the assessment of vibration fatigue and research gaps.
Findings
The results showed that the resulting excitation frequencies of short-pitch irregularity vary substantially due to different track types and formation mechanisms. The axle box-mounted components are much more vulnerable to vibration fatigue compared with other components. The wheel polygonal wear and rail corrugation-induced high frequency vibration is the main driving force of fatigue failure, and the fatigue crack usually initiates from the defect of the weld seam. Vibration spectrum for attachments of railway bogie defined in the standard underestimates the vibration level arising from the short-pitch irregularities. The current investigations on vibration fatigue mainly focus on the methods to improve the accuracy of fatigue damage assessment, and a systematical design method for vibration fatigue remains a huge gap to improve the survival probability when the rail vehicle is subjected to vibration fatigue.
Originality/value
The research can facilitate the development of a new methodology to improve the fatigue life of railway vehicles when subjected to wheel/rail high frequency vibration.
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In this study, the authors provide a systematic literature review of articles in the emerging areas of green finance and discuss the status and challenges in sustainability…
Abstract
Purpose
In this study, the authors provide a systematic literature review of articles in the emerging areas of green finance and discuss the status and challenges in sustainability disclosure, which is crucial for the efficiency of green financial instruments. The authors then review the literature on the economic implications of green finance and outline future research directions.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use the analytical framework – Search, Appraisal, Synthesis, and Analysis (SALSA) to conduct the systematic review of the literature.
Findings
Increasing public attention to the environment motivates the use of green finance to fund environmentally sustainable projects, and the rise of green finance intensifies the demand for environmental disclosure. Literature has documented tremendous growth in sustainability reporting over time and around the globe, as well as raised concerns about how such reporting lack consistency, comparability, and assurance. Despite these challenges, the authors find that in general, the literature agrees that a firm’s green practice is positively associated with its financial performance and negatively related to a firm’s cost of capital. Green finance is also found to bring about enhanced risk management and economic development.
Originality/value
The authors provide one of the first reviews of green finance, sustainability disclosure and the impact of green finance on financial performance, capital market and economic development.
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Yanmin Zhou, Zheng Yan, Ye Yang, Zhipeng Wang, Ping Lu, Philip F. Yuan and Bin He
Vision, audition, olfactory, tactile and taste are five important senses that human uses to interact with the real world. As facing more and more complex environments, a sensing…
Abstract
Purpose
Vision, audition, olfactory, tactile and taste are five important senses that human uses to interact with the real world. As facing more and more complex environments, a sensing system is essential for intelligent robots with various types of sensors. To mimic human-like abilities, sensors similar to human perception capabilities are indispensable. However, most research only concentrated on analyzing literature on single-modal sensors and their robotics application.
Design/methodology/approach
This study presents a systematic review of five bioinspired senses, especially considering a brief introduction of multimodal sensing applications and predicting current trends and future directions of this field, which may have continuous enlightenments.
Findings
This review shows that bioinspired sensors can enable robots to better understand the environment, and multiple sensor combinations can support the robot’s ability to behave intelligently.
Originality/value
The review starts with a brief survey of the biological sensing mechanisms of the five senses, which are followed by their bioinspired electronic counterparts. Their applications in the robots are then reviewed as another emphasis, covering the main application scopes of localization and navigation, objection identification, dexterous manipulation, compliant interaction and so on. Finally, the trends, difficulties and challenges of this research were discussed to help guide future research on intelligent robot sensors.
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Angela França Versiani, Pollyanna de Souza Abade, Rodrigo Baroni de Carvalho and Cristiana Fernandes De Muÿlder
This paper discusses the effects of enabling conditions of project knowledge management in building volatile organizational memory. The theoretical rationale underlies a recursive…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper discusses the effects of enabling conditions of project knowledge management in building volatile organizational memory. The theoretical rationale underlies a recursive relationship among enabling conditions of project knowledge management, organizational learning and memory.
Design/methodology/approach
This research employs a qualitative descriptive single case study approach to examine a mobile application development project undertaken by a major software company in Brazil. The analysis focuses on the project execution using an abductive analytical framework. The study data were collected through in-depth interviews and company documents.
Findings
Based on the research findings, the factors that facilitate behavior and strategy in managing project knowledge pose a challenge when it comes to fostering organizational learning. While both these factors play a role in organizational learning, the exchange of information from previous experience could be strengthened, and the feedback from the learning process could be improved. These shortcomings arise from emotional tensions that stem from power struggles within knowledge hierarchies.
Practical implications
Based on the research, it is recommended that project-structured organizations should prioritize an individual’s professional experience to promote organizational learning. Organizations with well-defined connections between their projects and strategies can better establish interconnections among knowledge creation, sharing and coding.
Originality/value
The primary contribution is to provide a comprehensive view that incorporates the conditions required to manage project knowledge, organizational learning and memory. The findings lead to four propositions that relate to volatile memory, intuitive knowledge, learning and knowledge encoding.
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Diego Finchelstein, Maria Alejandra Gonzalez-Perez and Erica Helena Salvaj
In this exploratory multiple case study, we aim to compare the internationalization of two state-owned enterprises (SOEs) owned by subnational governments with three owned by…
Abstract
Purpose
In this exploratory multiple case study, we aim to compare the internationalization of two state-owned enterprises (SOEs) owned by subnational governments with three owned by central governments in Latin America. This study provides a contextualized answer to the question: What are the differences in the internationalization of subnationally owned SOEs compared to central SOEs? This study finds that the speed and diversification of these two types of SOEs’ internationalization differ because they have a different expansion logic. Subnationally owned SOEs have a gradual and diversified expansion following market rules. Central government’s SOEs are specialized and take more drastic steps in their internationalization, which relates to non-market factors.
Design/methodology/approach
This study builds an exploratory qualitative comparative case analysis that uses multiple sources of data and information to develop a comprehensive understanding of SOEs through process tracing.
Findings
The study posits some assumptions that are confirmed in the case analysis. This study finds relevant differences between sub-national (SSOEs) and central authority (CSOEs’) strategies. SSOEs’ fewer resources and needs to increase income push them to follow a gradual market-driven internationalization and to diversify abroad. CSOEs non-gradual growth is justified by non-market factors (i.e. national politics). CSOEs do not diversify abroad due to the broader set of constituencies they have to face.
Research limitations/implications
Given the exploratory comparative case study of this research, the findings are bounded by the particularities of the cases and their region (Latin America). This paper and its findings can be useful for theory building but it does not claim any generalization capacity.
Originality/value
This study adds complexity into the SOEs phenomenon by distinguishing between different types of SOEs. This paper contributes to the study of subnational phenomena and its effect in SOEs’ internationalization process, which is an understudied topic. To the authors’ best knowledge, this is among the first studies that explore subnational SOEs in Latin America.
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With the Chinese marine economy developing rapidly, the environmental problem has been occurring frequently, which needs green finance that supports energy conservation…
Abstract
Purpose
With the Chinese marine economy developing rapidly, the environmental problem has been occurring frequently, which needs green finance that supports energy conservation, environmental protection, and sustainable development to solve.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, the entropy method is used to measure the development level of green finance, the DEA-ML index is used to measure the green total factor productivity which is used to indicate the high-quality development level of the marine economy in 11 coastal provinces (cities), then the grey correlation degree between them whose result shows that there is a certain correlation between the two variables is calculated. The fixed-effect model was used to analyze the relationship between them.
Findings
The results show that the development level of green finance can promote the high-quality development of the marine economy, but there are still some problems in the process of green finance supporting the marine economy.
Originality/value
This paper seeks new growth drivers, green finance, for the high-quality development of the marine economy, which few scholars have studied.
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Carolina Nicolas and Valeska V. Geldres-Weiss
This study aimed to identify research trends and topics in sustainability assessment in the food sector within the scope of economics, business and management research.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aimed to identify research trends and topics in sustainability assessment in the food sector within the scope of economics, business and management research.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a bibliometric analysis by applying a rigid and systematic research protocol, employing bibliometric techniques and a keyword co-occurrence network. Further, the Visualization of Similarities viewer software was used to analyse publications between 1994 and 2021.
Findings
The knowledge trends regarding “sustainability assessment” in the research area of business economics demonstrated a notable evolution of the topics analysed, ranging from indicators and policy analyses in agriculture and fishery sectors, to the topic of sustainability life cycle assessment (LCA) and management systems. In business and management research areas, the main theoretical frameworks used for sustainability assessment in the food sector included the triple-bottom line (TBL) and the LCA, and the main research topics were food chain logistics, bio-based products, retailers, consumption patterns and crop-based biodiesel options.
Research limitations/implications
This study employed only the WoS database and future studies could incorporate other scientific databases. Regarding future research, more emphasis could be laid on food retailers given their prevalence as demonstrated by the study and past research.
Practical implications
The findings can help all participants in the food global value chain to make better decisions to guide their sustainability efforts and assessment. Moreover, this research reveals that companies need to be actively engaged with their stakeholders and pay special attention to consumer patterns and perceptions.
Originality/value
The bibliometric research focus on business and management research areas using the Web of Sciences categories, starting from the research area of business economics to the analysis of the food sector's sustainability assessment.
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Maha Alsabbagh and Waheeb Essa Alnaser
This study aims to assess readiness for climate change mitigation in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to assess readiness for climate change mitigation in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Design/methodology/approach
Two stages were followed aiming at understanding the situation related to climate change mitigation in Bahrain and assessing the mitigation readiness. Baseline and mitigation scenarios for the period 2019–2040 were developed using the Low Emissions Analysis Platform software based on historical emissions and energy data for the period 1990–2018. Using the analytic hierarchy process, the mitigation readiness was assessed by 13 experts, and priority areas for mitigation action were identified.
Findings
CO2e emissions are projected to grow continuously. However, no explicit climate change strategy is in place yet. Mitigation is tackled implicitly through energy efficiency and renewable energy initiatives. These initiatives can make 23% reduction in CO2e emissions by 2040. Adopting additional measures is needed to achieve the recently set emission reduction target of 30% by 2035. The findings revealed potential areas for improving mitigation efforts in Bahrain. Priority areas for mitigation actions, as identified by experts, were mainly related to policy and governance. Focus needs to be paid to the social aspect of climate change mitigation.
Originality/value
Literature on mitigation readiness in developing countries is sparse. Knowledge of the requirements for climate change mitigation and assessment of the country’s performance can prioritize areas for improving mitigation action. Several lessons can be learnt from the case of Bahrain. In addition, the adopted methodology can be applied to other developing or Arab countries at local or institutional levels. However, its application to specific sectors may require adjustments.