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The Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system is a significant energy consumer in built environments, and the building energy consumption could be minimised by optimising HVAC controls. Hence, this paper aims to investigate the applicability of Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) air conditioning systems for optimising the indoor comfort of buildings in Sri Lanka.

To address the research aim, the quantitative approach following the survey research strategy was deployed. Data collected through questionnaires were analysed using descriptive statistical tools, including Mean Rating (MR), Relative Important Index (RII) and Standard Deviation (SD).

The findings revealed that VRF systems are popularly used in Sri Lankan apartment buildings. Furthermore, energy efficiency and comfort were recognised as the most significant top-ranked benefits, while ventilation issues and initial cost were recognised as significant challenges. Moreover, the allocation of trained technicians and provision of proper ventilation through a Dedicated Outdoor Air System (DOAS) were highlighted as applicable mitigation strategies for the identified challenges in VRFs.

The study recommends VRF systems as a suitable technology to ensure energy efficiency, reduce GHG emissions and achieve climate performance within the built environment. The opportunities for adopting VRF systems for developing countries could be explored based on the research findings. The identified challenges would assist the design engineers and facilities professionals to devise suitable strategies to mitigate issues of VRF systems in developing countries.

This research provides empirical proof of the energy efficiency and comfort aspects of VRFs. The study has explored and recommended VRF technology as a beneficial application to overcome the persistent energy crisis in developing countries.

In July 2010 Robert Drake, senior director at Micawber Capital, one of India's largest microfinance organizations, needed to recommend a corporate structure and organization for Micawber after its scheduled IPO in August 2010.

The IPO would bring to Micawber new stakeholders, primarily financial institutions. Drake was skeptical that the new investors shared Micawber's commitment to help alleviate poverty in rural India through microcredit loans; he assumed their primary interest was a good return on their investments. The two objectives–increasing ROI and meeting the financial needs of the poor–seemed at odds with each other.

Drake had to consider how the interests of clients and investors would be represented in strategic decisions so that they balanced the conflicting values of the stakeholders.

• Balance stakeholder commitments to business objectives and social mission

• Understand the expectations of both commercial investors and mission-conscious investors in social enterprises

• Discuss the challenges and opportunities of structuring an organization and key partnerships based on a long-term values strategy

• Identify organizational policies and business processes that can be changed to encourage an appropriate balance of values-based and financial-based decisions

Balance stakeholder commitments to business objectives and social mission

Understand the expectations of both commercial investors and mission-conscious investors in social enterprises

Discuss the challenges and opportunities of structuring an organization and key partnerships based on a long-term values strategy

Identify organizational policies and business processes that can be changed to encourage an appropriate balance of values-based and financial-based decisions

Spirituality serves as an ethical benchmark for shaping human and brand identity. Only a few studies have recently attempted to examine the impact of spiritual attributes on customer behavior. This study extends the current literature and aims to develop a research model to investigate spiritual brand attributes toward customers’ behavior. The study employs the stimulus–organism–response (SOR) model as a theoretical signpost to construct the research model. Driven by this chapter, future research opportunities are presented, and the opportunity for empirical research is also illustrated.

In the modern financial landscape, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is gaining prominence, offering significant economic advantages. This research paper aims to investigate the impact of Behavioural Biases (BB) such as Overconfidence Bias (OCB), Fear of Missing Out (FOMO), Herding Bias (HB) and Regret Aversion Bias (RAB) on Investment Decision-Making (IDM). Additionally, it explores how the AI-led Adoption of Digital Advisory Services (ADAS) moderates these biases among Gen Z investors in India.

The study utilized a convenience sampling method, gathering 457 responses from Gen Z investors in India through an online survey questionnaire. The data was analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM).

The results confirm a significant relationship between OCB, FOMO, HB and RAB on IDM. The study also found that ADAS significantly moderated the relationship between FOMO and IDM, as well as between HB and IDM. However, the moderation effect of ADAS was not supported for the relationships between OCB and IDM, and RAB and IDM.

This research offers valuable insights for academics, individual investors, fintech companies and policymakers. It highlights how behavioural biases affect IDM and underscores the importance of AI-enabled digital services in helping Gen Z investors recognize and manage these biases. Policymakers can use these insights to establish standards for AI use, ensuring regulatory compliance and promoting ethical conduct in AI-driven investment decisions.

The novelty of this study lies in its conceptual approach, particularly in examining the moderation role of ADAS in addressing behavioural biases among Gen Z investors.

The food supply chain has faced many challenges due to its complex and complicated nature. Blockchain technology is one of the mechanisms used to improve agri-food supply chain processes by evolving organization capabilities. A study is being conducted to scrutinize the adoption of blockchain technology in the agri-food supply chain through the lens of the operational capability approach. It further makes an attempt to identify the capabilities of blockchain to improve supply chain processes.

The qualitative research method with semi-structured interviews was used to gather information from experts and professionals in the food supply chain and blockchain technology. The authors have adopted a systematic approach of coding using open, axial and selective methods to depict and identify the themes that represent the blockchain-enabled agri-food supply chain. The data were collected from 32 interviews of selected participants.

The result shows five critical areas where blockchain can come up to enhance the agri-food supply chain performance by providing traceability, transparency, information security, transactions, and trust and quality. Further, the study reveals that blockchain will provide safety, lower the cost of transactions and can create trust among users to communicate within the whole supply chain without the intervention of a third party. This study demonstrated that the capabilities need to be considered when introducing technology into the practice.

The study implies thought-provoking implications for bridging the theory-practice gap by examining the empirical data to demonstrate how the operational capabilities of blockchain technology further strengthen the agri-food supply chain. Additionally, this study provides some suggestions for utilizing the results and proposes a framework to understand more about blockchain use cases in the agri-food supply chain as well as extend the application of blockchain using an operational capability approach for future academic researchers in this area.

This study presented some more important managerial implications which reveal that the majority of organisations were in the initial stages of adoption process of blockchain technology. Further, the positive influence of managers and IT experts can help the information technology companies (IT) and stakeholders for developing and promoting blockchain solutions in the agri-food supply chain. The important implication of blockchain enabled agri-food supply chain is to maintain information security and incresae supply chain performance.

The study shows the operational capabilities of agri-food supply chain using blockchain technology. Blockchain can contribute in enhancing the agri-food supply chain to increase traceability and transparency and helps to reduce the risk of disruptions.

In Canada, integrated care pilot projects are often implemented as a local reform strategy to improve the quality of patient care and system efficiencies. In the qualitative study reported here, the authors explored the experiences of healthcare professionals when first implementing integrated care pilot projects, bringing together physical and mental health services, in a community hospital setting.

Engaging a qualitative descriptive study design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 healthcare professionals who discussed their experiences with implementing three integrated care pilot projects one year following project launch. The thematic analysis captured early implementation issues and was informed by an institutional logics framework.

Three themes highlight disruptions to established logics reported by healthcare professionals during the early implementation phase: (1) integrated care practices increased workload and impacted clinical workflows; (2) integrating mental and physical health services altered patient and healthcare provider relationships; and (3) the introduction of integrated care practices disrupted healthcare team relations.

Study findings highlight the importance of considering existing logics in healthcare settings when planning integrated care initiatives. While integrated care pilot projects can contribute to organizational, team and individual practice changes, the priorities of healthcare stakeholders, relational work required and limited project resources can create significant implementation barriers.

Under the pressure of dynamic business environments, firms in the banking and finance industry are gradually embracing Fintech, such as robo-advisors, as part of their digital transformation process. While robo-advisory services are expected to witness lucrative growth, challenges persist in the current landscape where most consumers are unready to adopt and even resist the new service. The study aims to investigate resistance to robo-advisors through the privacy and justice perspective. The human-like attributes are modeled as the antecedents to perceived justice, followed by the subsequent outcomes of privacy concerns, perceived intrusiveness and resistance.

An online survey was conducted to gather consumer responses about their perceptions of robo-advisors. Two hundred valid questionnaires were collected and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM).

The results revealed that (1) perceived anthropomorphism and perceived autonomy are the positive determinants of perceived justice, (2) perceived justice negatively impacts privacy concerns and perceived intrusiveness and (3) privacy concerns and perceived intrusiveness positively influence resistance to robo-advisors.

The present study contributes to robo-advisory service research by applying a privacy and justice perspective to explain consumer resistance to robo-advisors, thereby complementing past studies that focused on the technology acceptance paradigm. The study also offers practical implications for mitigating resistance to robo-advisors.

The phenomenon of “broken rungs” has prevented most women from attaining managerial positions relative to men. Despite this gender disparity in management, female executives are more likely to enhance shareholder trust due to higher ethical standards, which can be hypothesized to mitigate the negative impact of family ownership on firm value. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the moderating role of female ownership and female directors in mitigating the unfavorable effects of family ownership on firm value as measured by Tobin’s Q and the Market Value of Equity (MVE).

Multiple linear regression is applied to examine the proposed hypotheses, as well as other vital factors, such as board independence (BI), the dual chief executive officer (CEO)–chairman role (CEO duality) and control variables (i.e. firm size, firm age, leverage and investment ratio).

The results revealed that female directors could buffer the negative impact caused by family ownership, leading to higher firm value, when given a sufficient level of female ownership or the appointment of more female directors, regardless of female ownership levels. Otherwise, female ownership cannot help overcome the negative effects of family ownership in Thai-listed firms. This study also sheds light on corporate governance elements that impact firm value. CEO duality reduces the value of Thai-listed companies, whereas board independence increases firm value.

The managerial roles for women should be promoted in Thai-listed enterprises. The government can support new laws, policies and programs for embracing a cross-cutting gender perspective. Female network initiatives enable women to advance in their managerial careers.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study intends to fill the research gap by investigating how female directors and owners can moderate family ownership’s influence on the value of firms listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), which is one of the emerging capital markets.

On completion of the case, the students will be able to understand the concept and importance of sustainability; understand how triple bottom line can help a company make a transition towards sustainability; evaluate the tensions between the three pillars of triple bottom line approach; assess the role of circular economy model as opposed to the conventional linear model in the transition of a company towards sustainability; and understand the sustainability challenge in an emerging market context.

Despite the promising growth potential of the plastics industry in India, it is faced with sustainability challenges owing to its detrimental impact on environment. To preserve the environment and human kind, the government made a bold announcement in 2018 to eliminate the use of highly polluting single-use plastics (SUPs) in the country. Amid this growing sustainability threat against plastics and the fall in demand of SUP items, this case illustrates that Sandip Patel, the plant manager of Cello Plastotech, is entrusted by the CEO with the responsibility of adopting a triple bottom line approach encompassing its three pillars, that is, people, planet and profits, as a response to the sustainability challenge. The strategic rethinking towards adopting sustainability required Patel to face the challenge of striking a balance between the three pillars of triple bottom line while also taking some valuable insights for plastic waste management from the circular economy model. While making a transition to sustainability, he needed to evaluate different options like stopping the manufacture of SUPs and look for alternatives, use of biodegradable raw material which was expensive but environment friendly or manufacture such durable plastic products that would replace SUPs.

The case is aimed at teaching the topic Triple Bottom Line approach in the courses of business strategy and sustainability in under-graduate and post-graduate level courses in the discipline of Management. It can also be used as a supplementary reading in courses like Corporate Social Responsibility and Circular Economy. In emerging markets’ context, these topics are generally taught to MBA students in courses like strategic management, sustainable business and business ethics.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.