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Various barriers discourage small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from entering or expanding their export activities in the international markets, especially SMEs in emerging markets. The purpose of this study is to look at capacity building to accelerate SMEs’ export performance.

This study draws on contingency theory and takes a resource-based and market-based view to provide a holistic understanding of the issue. This study uses primary data collected via extensive surveys from active SMEs in three main industrial regions in Vietnam to undertake confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling for quantitative analysis.

The results confirm and show the significant effects of various determinants on firms’ export performance. These research findings have scientific contribution and significant implications by understanding the effective internal and external export drivers and mediators in an emerging market and enhancing SMEs’ export performance.

This study helps SMEs to improve their export performance by systemizing their decision-making in export activities, improving main export drivers highlighted in this study and developing required training programs for their teams. The outcomes also helps policymakers and regulators to improve the current SME ecosystem in Vietnam through training programs, improving policies, facilitating trades, providing more government assistance etc. The results of this study can be extended to other emerging markets with a similar economic structure and legal system.

Given the need for more work on export performance, this paper develops and tests a holistic conceptual framework that accounts for all aspects of export drivers, and provides a more comprehensive model for examining SMEs’ export drivers. This theoretical framework also incorporates three potential mediators (i.e. innovation strategy, export marketing strategy and business strategy) to investigate the effect of internal and external factors on export performance, highlighting the importance of the mediating effects on SMEs in achieving growth and competing in the international arena.

The paper intends to explore the lived experiences of medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on their lifestyles and mental wellbeing.

Fourteen medical students from the College of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Arabian Gulf University, Bahrain, were enrolled, and their narratives were obtained. Data were analyzed and conducted using Colaizzi’s phenomenological descriptive method of enquiry.

The analysis identified two themes, along with nine subthemes, that were generated. The first theme focused on mental and social experiences, while the second focused on lifestyle changes. During the pandemic, students had time to reflect on themselves and started to think positively about their lives, although they felt fearful, uncertain, stressed and anxious due to preventive control measures that were mandated, including social distancing and lockdowns. Participants’ lifestyles changed generally negatively, as they adapted to the preventive measures, rendering them physically inactive and exposing them to unhealthy food and disturbed sleep.

The findings provide an insight into the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the lifestyle and mental wellbeing of medical students. Educational institutes need to offer their students both short as well as long-term health, social and mental support to overcome the impact of the pandemic on their lives.

Since Industry 4.0 (I4.0) is a new idea in Bangladesh, this study supports I4.0 adoption. Companies struggle to implement I4.0 and fully profit from the fourth industrial revolution’s digital transformation due to its novelty. Although barriers to I4.0 adoption are thoroughly studied, the literature has hardly examined the many aspects that are crucial for I4.0 adoption in Bangladesh’s Ready-Made Garment (RMG) industry. So, the purpose of this study is to investigate the barriers of adopting I4.0 in relation to Bangladesh’s RMG industries to enhance the adoption of I4.0 by developing a framework. Ultimately, the goal of this research is to improve the adoption of I4.0 in Bangladesh.

Through a comprehensive analysis of the existing research, this paper aims to reveal the barriers that must be overcome for I4.0 to be adopted. For evaluating those barriers, a decision analysis framework based on the combination of Delphi technique and Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method has been developed. The use of DEMATEL has led to a ranking model of those barriers and a map of how the barriers are connected to each other.

The findings reveal that “I4.0 training”, “Lack of Motivation” and “Resistance to Change” are the most significant barriers for adopting Industry 4.0 in RMG sector of Bangladesh based on their prominence scores.

These findings will help the people who make decisions in the RMG industry of Bangladesh, such as company owners, managers and the executive body, come up with a plan for putting I4.0 practices into place successfully. The decision-making framework developed in this research can be utilized by the RMG industry of Bangladesh and other similar industries in developing countries to figure out how important each barrier is for them and how to get rid of them in order of importance.

As far as the authors are aware, there has not been a comprehensive study of the barriers inhibiting the adoption of I4.0 within the scope of Bangladeshi RMG industry. This work is the first to uncover these barriers and analyze them using the combination of Delphi technique and DEMATEL.

The purpose of this study is to examine the associations between board size, board independence and triple bottom line (TBL) reporting. The TBL report consists of three components, namely, environmental, social and economic indices.

This study’s sample consists of top 50 listed companies from the year 2017 to 2019 on Tadawul Stock Exchange. Ordinary least squares, quantile least squares and robust least squares are used to investigate the associations between board characteristics and TBL reporting, including its separate components.

The authors find a significant negative association between TBL reporting and board independence. Social bottom line is significantly and negatively related to board size and board independence. Results indicate that board independence negatively influences the TBL disclosure of companies. Therefore, companies are encouraged to embrace TBL reporting. This suggests that businesses should improve the quality of their reporting while ensuring that voluntary disclosures reflect an accurate and fair view in order to preserve a positive relationship with stakeholders.

The present study explains the evidence for the determinants of the TBL in Saudi Arabia.

The main purpose of this paper is to examine the adoption of big data analytics (BDA) in the Tanzania banking industry by investigating the influence of technological, environmental and organizational (TOE) factors while exploring the moderating role of perceived risk (PR).

The study employed a qualitative research design, and the research instrument was developed using per-defined measurement items adopted from prior studies; the items were slightly adjusted to fit the current context. The questionnaires were distributed to top and middle managers in selected banks in Tanzania using the snowball sampling technique. Out of 360 received responses, 302 were considered complete and valid for data analysis. The study employed partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to examine the developed conceptual framework.

Top management support and financial resources emerged as influential organizational factors, as did competition intensity for the environmental factors. Notably, bank size and perceived trends showed no significant impacts on BDA adoption. The study's novelty lies in revealing PR as a moderating factor, weakening the link between technological readiness, perceived usefulness and the intent to adopt BDA.

This study extends literature by extending the TOE model, through examining the moderating roles of PR on technological factors. Furthermore, the study provides useful managerial support for the adoption of BDA in banking in emerging economies.

The current study aims to examine the impact of two black swan events on the performance of six stock markets in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) economies (Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Dubai, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia). The two selected black swan events are the US Mortgage and credit crisis (Global Financial Crisis of 2008) and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The performance of all the six stock markets are represented by their return and price volatility behavior, which has been measured by applying ARCH/GARCH model. The comparative analysis is done by employing mean difference models. The data is collected from Bloomberg on a daily frequency.

The response of two black swan events on the GCC stock markets has been heterogenous in nature. During the financial crisis, the impact was heavily felt on most of the stock markets in the GCC countries. It is revealed that the financial crisis had a negative significant impact on four of the six countries. Whereas during the COVID-19 crisis, it is revealed that there is no significant impact on four of the six selected stock markets. The positive significant impact is felt on two stock markets, namely, the Abu Dhabi stock market and the Saudi stock market.

The present investigation attempts to fill the gap in the literature on the intended topic because it is evident from the literature on the chosen subject that no study has been undertaken to evaluate and contrast the impact of the GFC crisis and COVID-19 on the GCC stock markets.

This paper aims to discuss the application of waqf (endowment) in the social finance sector for funding social and development projects and services.

The study is qualitative. It reviews literature and provides descriptive data to present its main idea.

Most Muslim-majority countries are generally income-poor, and the governments are generally weak in their tax collection, effective governance and capacity for development spending. Private sector financial institutions are scarce and mostly cater to the people who can meet the income-based lending criteria. Thus, the institution of waqf can fill the gap as a social finance institution by providing intermediation services for effectively utilising perpetual social savings. Flexibility in the rules of waqf enables it to serve beneficiaries directly or through financial institutions and to provide a wide range of social services.

This conceptual research highlights the need and potential of waqf without discussing the regulatory and operational details of how to effectively institutionalize it in different regions.

The institution of waqf can harness the potential of selfless charitable giving in an effective way for better economic impact in the targeted social segments of society.

The paper suggests the establishment of waqf-based training and vocational centres which will increase opportunities of self-employment and contribute in upward social mobility of beneficiaries.

This study aims to address the critical challenge of implementing lean manufacturing (LM) in emerging economies, where sustainability complexities on the production floor hinder production efficiency and the transition towards a circular economy (CE). Addressing a gap in existing research, the paper introduces a path analysis model to systematically identify, prioritize and overcome LM implementation barriers, aiming to enhance performance through strategic removal.

The authors used a mixed-method approach, combining empirical survey data with literature reviews to pinpoint key LM barriers. Using the grey-based Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) along with the Network Knowledge (NK) method, they mapped causal relationships and barrier intensities. This formed the basis for developing a path simulation algorithm, integrating heuristic considerations for practical decision-making.

This analysis reveals that the primary barriers to LM adoption is the negative perception and inadequate understanding of lean tools and CE principles. The study provides a strategic framework for managers, offering new insights into barrier prioritization and overcoming strategies to facilitate successful LM adoption.

This research provides a strategic pathway for overcoming LM implementation barriers, empowering managers in emerging economies to enhance sustainability and competitive advantage through LM and CE integration. It emphasizes the significance of structured barrier management in the manufacturing sector.

This research pioneers a systematic exploration of LM implementation barriers in the CE context, making a significant contribution to the literature. It identifies, evaluates barriers and proposes a practical model for overcoming them, enriching sustainable manufacturing practices in emerging markets.