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This systematic literature review analyses the determinants and consequences of executive compensation-related shareholder activism and say-on-pay (SOP) votes. The review covers 71 empirical articles published between January 1995 and September 2017. The studies are reviewed within an empirical research framework that separates the reasons for shareholder activism and SOP voting dissent as input factor on the one hand and the consequences of shareholder pressure as output factor on the other. This procedure identifies the five most important groups of factors in the literature: the level and structure of executive compensation, firm characteristics, corporate governance mechanisms, shareholder structure and stakeholders. Of these, executive compensation and firm characteristics are the most frequently examined. Further examination reveals that the key assumptions of neoclassical principal agent theory for both managers and shareholders are not always consistent with recent empirical evidence. First, behavioral aspects (such as the perception of fairness) influence compensation activism and SOP votes. Second, non-financial interests significantly moderate shareholder activism. Insofar, we recommend integrating behavioral and non-financial aspects into the existing research. The implications are analyzed, and new directions for further research are discussed by proposing 19 different research questions.

Entrepreneurial activity is a phenomenon that increases the economic growth of countries and improves their social welfare. The economic development levels of countries have significant effects on these entrepreneurial activities. This research examines which institutional and macroeconomic variables explain early-stage entrepreneurship activities in developed and developing economies.

The authors conducted panel data analysis on the data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) surveys covering the years 2009–2018.

First, the authors' results reveal that cognitive, normative and regulatory institutions and macroeconomic factors affect early-stage entrepreneurial activity in developed and developing countries differently. Second, the authors' findings indicate that cognitive, normative and regulatory institutions affect early-stage entrepreneurship more positively in developed than developing countries. Finally, the authors' results report that macroeconomic factors are more effective in early-stage entrepreneurial activity in developing countries than in developed countries.

This study provides a better understanding of the components that help explain the differences in entrepreneurship between developed and developing countries regarding institutions and macroeconomic factors. In this way, it contributes to developing entrepreneurship literature with the theoretical achievements of combining institutional theory and macroeconomic indicators with entrepreneurship literature.

Several countries in South Asia face the challenge of ineffective educational reforms manifest in increasing rates of school failure and poor learning outcomes after embarking along education for all. Critical voices from the South have questioned the relevance and appropriateness of ideas that have shaped these reforms. Narratives from the region tell us that importation of educational concepts and policy orientations have led to the dismantling of existing structures and processes of education, creating new forms of inequities and disadvantage. The sheer scale and diversity of populations within the region poses formidable challenges and opportunities for contextual innovation. The construction of national imaginaries in the diverse societies of South Asia has the potential to provide new discourses to educational reform; going beyond the abstract goals set by disconnected international experts and the institutional processes they represent. This chapter deliberates on the need to establish a persuasive critical perspective that can influence and shape the trajectories of policy and practice, research and theorization, within the field of comparative education in South Asia, and the global south.

Ports are a significant link in a global supply chain and an economic entity that contributes to the country's economy. India has around 200 ports along its coastline of about 8,000 Km, yet none of them perform at par with many Asian ports. In the Indian port system, cargo throughput and the turnaround time (TAT) of ships calling at ports constitute the most significant performance measures. These performance metrics do not integrate sustainability measures such as emission levels and energy consumed. The draft is a constraint in many ports and ships visit with less than full shipload cargo. The TAT for such vessels may be lower, but the emission per ton of cargo carried is higher compared to a ship with full shipload cargo. Many ports have old or poorly maintained equipment. This state of equipment increases pollution and consumption of energy. In this paper, an attempt has been made to address the issue of undesirable and right outputs simultaneously in an Indian port system. This paper proposes a framework to ensure zero defects in Indian port operations and a port-sustainability-index to measure sustainable services in Indian ports.

The authors used data envelopment analysis (DEA) to show that all private terminals did not perform efficiently and contradicted the notion of Indian policymakers that privatization will lead to an increase in performance levels. A literature review was carried out to identify the dimensions and factors that affect ports' performance. A case study of a major port in India and expert group discussion was done to ascertain the views of stakeholders on deficiencies in the system. The authors complemented this approach with sentiment analysis of opinions expressed by stakeholders over a while, using SentiStrength analysis software (Thelwell, 2010, 2012). The authors used the combined findings to develop the port-sustainability-index (PSI), identify the research question, and develop an ontology of the port system. The authors use the concepts of ontology-design-pattern (ODP) and logistics-service-map (Glöckner et al., 2014; Glöckner and Ludwig, 2016, 2017), opinion mining (Pang and Lee, 2008) and competency questions (Glöckner and Ludwig, 2017) to develop a port system map followed by the identification of critical elements; and the flows (physical and information flow) that gets disrupted due to defects in the system. The ontology led to the identification of competencies and capabilities a port needs to possess. Based on these identification process competency questions were drawn, and the authors identified the plausible defects that port may encounter. The authors suggested the sustainability metrics for monitoring port performance and policy changes based on the competency questions, defects, and mitigation plans.

The authors introduced four KPIs, namely, port-sustainability-index (PSI), load factor (l_x and l_y), draft ratio (d_r), and turnaround-time ratio (TATR). The authors suggested significant policy changes for Indian ports. These included –(1) Introduction of virtual arrival (VA) policy, reducing randomness in the system by pre-scheduling arrivals and activities. (2) Redefining economic life of equipment and machinery in terms of expenditure, income and desired levels of output. (3) Pricing port charges based on stakeholders’ ability and willingness to pay. The port needs to declare its productivity levels and frame their charges accordingly. (4) The ports need to frame an output-oriented privatization policy where it specifies the growth of the port. (5) Framing vessel pricing policy where a vessel may pay tax for the use of non-clean fuel or a get discount for bringing higher parcel load. (6) Levy lower port charges for the shipper for transporting cargo by rail and barges. (7) Introduce a differential pricing system where port levies lower charges for export cargo compared to import load.

The research work can be extended to develop a simulation model to carry out policy experimentations concerning the improvement of performance and carry out sustainable operations. Alternatively, researchers may develop a multi-criteria optimization model to determine the best course of action, keeping the objective function as minimization of PSI value.

This paper provides the means to the Indian ports to remain competitive, lower emission levels and energy consumption, and optimize emission per ton of cargo handled in the port.

Society significantly benefits from this study as it recommends ways to minimize pollution that has a significant impact on human lives. Besides, the measures suggested in the paper will lower the cost of exports and imports, enhancing the real income of consumers.

The area of sustainable port operations has previously been under-researched in the Indian context. Authors contribute to the sustainable port operation literature by suggesting a port-sustainability-index, a framework to assess the defects in port operation and development of a port-ontology for further research in the area of a port system.

Drawing upon relative absorptive capacity (AC) perspective, this study proposes a research model connecting R&D investment, three types of supply chain AC—AC from suppliers, customers and university and research institutes (U&RIs)—and firm innovativeness and investigates the contingent effects of dysfunctional competition on the link between R&D investment and supply chain AC.

The authors used data collected from 262 manufacturers in three areas of China to empirically examine the conceptual model. The corresponding hypotheses were tested with structural equation modeling and regression analysis.

The empirical results demonstrate that AC from customers and AC from U&RIs play significant mediating roles in the relationship between R&D investment and firm innovativeness. Moreover, R&D investment has a significantly greater effect on AC from U&RIs under high levels of dysfunctional competition.

First, by conceptualizing AC from a relative view, this study discloses the unique roles of knowledge from different supply chain partners in realizing the benefits of R&D investment in innovation. Second, the exploration of the contingent roles of dysfunctional competition in the emerging economy of China enriches insights on the roles of institutional environment on knowledge absorption and the knowledge on relative AC in emerging economies.

This study is an attempt to verify the mostly anecdotal or case‐based assertions regarding the imperviousness of Japanese management to the threats of large institutional stockholders. Using data drawn from 118 corporations in five industry sectors, and applying an econometric technique, we propose to verify the differences, if any, in the relationship of a set of eight firmlevel strategic attributes and corporate efficiency across two distinct institutional ownership settings: high versus low. The test results reveal a structural homogeneity across both settings, suggesting that Japanese managers are independent of pressures from institutional owners across high and low levels of ownership. The study’s academic and managerial implications are also given.

A digital supply chain (DSC) positively enhances circular economy (CE) practices. However, what factors and conditions lead to the implementation of DSC for transitioning toward CE is not yet clear. Therefore, this study aims at identifying and subsequently analyzing the antecedents of DSC for CE.

The study identifies major antecedents of DSC for CE to achieve sustainability objectives through literature review and expert opinions. In this study, 19 potential antecedents of DSCs for CE are established from the literature and suggestions from industry professionals. A trapezoidal fuzzy Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) approach is applied quantitatively to investigate the antecedents identified.

Conducted in the context of Indian automobile manufacturing industry, the findings of the study reflect that advanced information sharing arrangement, effective government policies for DSC and CE implementation and digitalizing the supply chains are the top three potential antecedents of DSC for a CE.

In the existing literature, few studies are specific to investigating the DSC and CE paradigm. The present study will help organizations develop a practical and integrated strategic approach that will foster DSC through improved knowledge of CE.

Much of the extant management research implies that the existence of industries and organizations depends on variables and factors largely beyond their control, and survival is the result of a happy confluence of their origins, events, and growth rather than actions of conscious volition. The authors suggest that industry circumstances can be overcome. So, rather than studying rates of organization population change as effects of environmental change, the authors propose that some managerial actions can be taken that, in the aggregate, will affect the industry context. Changes in concentration should influence the environment in which industry members will compete later. Migration moves and rationalization of production facilities, along with organization population pressures, should exert strong influences on changes in the industry environments. Such findings suggest that some degree of strategic choice is at work and that firms have some discretionary choice in their industries.

Contemporary literature reveals that, to date, the poultry livestock sector has not received sufficient research attention. This particular industry suffers from unstructured supply chain practices, lack of awareness of the implications of the sustainability concept and failure to recycle poultry wastes. The current research thus attempts to develop an integrated supply chain model in the context of poultry industry in Bangladesh. The study considers both sustainability and supply chain issues in order to incorporate them in the poultry supply chain. By placing the forward and reverse supply chains in a single framework, existing problems can be resolved to gain economic, social and environmental benefits, which will be more sustainable than the present practices.

The theoretical underpinning of this research is ‘sustainability’ and the ‘supply chain processes’ in order to examine possible improvements in the poultry production process along with waste management. The research adopts the positivist paradigm and ‘design science’ methods with the support of system dynamics (SD) and the case study methods. Initially, a mental model is developed followed by the causal loop diagram based on in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and observation techniques. The causal model helps to understand the linkages between the associated variables for each issue. Finally, the causal loop diagram is transformed into a stock and flow (quantitative) model, which is a prerequisite for SD-based simulation modelling. A decision support system (DSS) is then developed to analyse the complex decision-making process along the supply chains.

The findings reveal that integration of the supply chain can bring economic, social and environmental sustainability along with a structured production process. It is also observed that the poultry industry can apply the model outcomes in the real-life practices with minor adjustments. This present research has both theoretical and practical implications. The proposed model’s unique characteristics in mitigating the existing problems are supported by the sustainability and supply chain theories. As for practical implications, the poultry industry in Bangladesh can follow the proposed supply chain structure (as par the research model) and test various policies via simulation prior to its application. Positive outcomes of the simulation study may provide enough confidence to implement the desired changes within the industry and their supply chain networks.