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This paper aims to assess how cocoa supply chain companies disclose sustainable development goals (SDGs) information in their sustainability reports. This assessment highlights strategic aspects of sustainable supply chain management and reveals leveraging sustainability points in the cocoa industry.

The two-step qualitative approach relies on text-mining company reports and subsequent content analysis that identifies the topics disclosed and relates them to SDG targets.

This study distinguishes 18 SDG targets connected to cocoa traders and 30 SDG targets to chocolate manufacturers. The following topics represent the main nexuses of connections: decent labour promotion and gender equity (social), empowering local communities and supply chain monitoring (economic) and agroforestry and climate action (environmental).

By highlighting the interconnections between the SDGs targeted by companies in the cocoa supply chain, this paper sheds light on the strategic SDGs for this industry and their relationships, which can help to improve sustainability disclosure and transparency. One interesting input for companies is the improvement of climate crisis prevention, focusing on non-renewable sources minimisation, carbon footprint and clear indicators of ecologic materiality.

This study contributes to policymakers to enhance governance and accountability of global supply chains that are submitted to different regulation regimes.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no previous study has framed the cocoa industry from a broader SDG perspective. The interconnections identified reveal the key goals of the cocoa supply chain and point to strategic sustainability choices for companies in an important global industry.

Chocolate production and cocoa supply chains are rife with social and environmental challenges. Chocolate companies commonly make claims that their products are “sustainable”, giving little guidance on what this means. The aim of this paper is to conduct a scoping review to synthesise the accounting literature related to the chocolate industry and sustainability and develop a research agenda for accounting scholarship.

The scoping review followed Arksey and O’Malley’s (2005) five-stage framework for a scoping review. Nineteen accounting journals were searched for literature on “chocolate OR cocoa AND sustainability” from 2000 to 2023. A total of 171 papers were identified through the search, of which 18 were deemed relevant and included for thematic analysis. The themes are analysed using a conceptual framework on accountability.

Analysis of the relevant literature revealed three distinct perspectives on sustainability in the chocolate industry. These include critique on the problems related to top-down accountability approaches in the chocolate industry; that accountability mechanisms have fallen short in managing sustainability challenges; and that sustainability interventions are driven by profit motives. The themes further reveal a lack of accountability in the industry for marginalised voices.

The scoping review methodology used in this study offers insights into the diverse perspectives on sustainability in the chocolate industry. This research adds valuable knowledge to the field by uncovering nuanced issues around accountability and sustainability and highlighting the need for future research for accountability for sustainable chocolate production.

Among the various “critical” voices which have contributed to problematizing the discourse on entrepreneurship, that of gender studies is indubitably one of the most significant and fruitful. Applying a gender perspective to the study of entrepreneurship has led to the uncovering of the (male) gender assumptions embodied in the dictates of entrepreneurship and to distinguish between study of women entrepreneurs and study of the relationship between gender and entrepreneurship. One aspect little explored within this diversified array of studies concerns “mixed” situations in which a firm's management is shared between a woman and a man. Such situations are interesting in that: first, they make it possible to problematize the economic rhetoric which promulgates entrepreneurship as an individual and isolated, activity; second, the simultaneous presence of a man and a woman allows observation of whether and how gender stereotypes and practices are at work in the process of positioning Him and Her within the firm. In order to investigate both these aspects, the paper considers 18 verbal histories of women and men entrepreneurs, showing how entrepreneurship can be conceived as a distributed activity, as well as a playground for gender dynamics. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Narrative analysis of 18 “two-voice” interviews (for a total of 36 individual interviews) collected in artisanal activities characterized by the concomitant presence of a Him and a Her within the firm.

First, interweaving between doing gender and doing business; second, entrepreneurship as a distributed activity; third, entrepreneurial environment sets out opportunities and contingent factors which can be used as resources for the positioning of Him and Her in the story and the construction of different narratives. This confirms the multi-dimensionality of entrepreneurial experience and suggests that future research should pay closer attention to the aspects of business activity sharing and reciprocity in the construction and positioning of gender.

Main implication for future research is to pay closer attention to aspects of reciprocity sharing and gender positioning in entrepreneurship.

“Mixed” entrepreneurial experiences (firm's management is shared between a woman and a man) are little explored and it is still uncommon to frame entrepreneurship as a distributed activity.

This study aims to introduce the results of a research carried out to develop a prototype of a highly energy-efficient modular detached house, called CASA+ CASA means HOUSE in spanish, adapted to the climatic features of central-southern Chile. The project enables a sustainable alternative to facilitate the reconstruction of the residential areas after the impact of the 2010 earthquake.

The methodology is based on an “integrated design process” of a case study that proposes a constructive response that quantitatively and qualitatively improves the initial data of traditional dwellings. The characteristics of the new system have been simulated with specific software to validate the final decisions, considering the cost–benefit ratio.

Simulation tools were used to assess and improve the system’s energy performance with respect to present options and to analyse its economic and construction viability. We obtained several economically competitive housing prototypes that substantially reduced energy consumption and the CO₂ footprint by between 20% and 80%.

The prototype has not been developed, as we are waiting for funding, but all its energy features have been simulated.

Furthermore, this experience also identified similar modifications made to the design of the houses, which revealed general possibilities for improving energy performance.

The origin of this research is a public call for international researchers to improve the quality of the new homes to be built in Chile after the strong earthquake of 2010. The result of the research has been put at the direct service of Chilean society and in other international projects for the construction of low-energy social housing.

These are the result of a long research aimed at establishing a new architectural model that, in addition to improving the architectural quality of the product, obtains significant improvements in energy consumption and CO₂ emissions. The most particular aspect is the practical vocation and its implementation with real construction with the support of construction companies.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of cooperative firms on the patterns of regional economic resilience in Italy from 2008 to 2019.

This study uses regional statistics to compute indices of resilience for both real GDP per capita and employment during both recovery and resistance periods. By means of a linear model, the authors investigate the relationships between indices of resilience and the cooperative presence, while controlling for a set of demographic, social and economic variables.

This study shows that during (and after) recessions such regional indices exhibit very different patterns, with notably poorer performance observed in Southern regions compared to the rest of the country. Furthermore, this study illustrates that the size of the cooperative employment improves the overall resilience of regional employment, especially during recovery periods.

The findings hint at policies enhancing the strength and scope of the cooperative movement as a driver of territorial resilience.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study in relating territorial resilience and the presence of a type of companies. This study performs the analysis at the regional level regarding cooperative enterprises. The new findings hint at some policies enhancing the strength and scope of the cooperative movement.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how Industry 4.0 (IR 4.0) operates within the context of the post-COVID-19 environment and its impact on the economic, environmental and social sustainability of the manufacturing industry in a developing economy. By delving into this subject, the authors aim to understand the mechanisms through which IR 4.0 influences various facets of sustainability within the manufacturing sector.

A cross-sectional research design is used using purposive sampling and hypotheses were developed based on seminal theories and literature. Data was collected from 191 Malaysian manufacturing firms that use IR 4.0 technologies. The partial least squares structural equation modeling technique was used to explore how post-COVID uncertainty environment impacts manufacturing sustainability through IR 4.0 adoption.

During the highly uncertain era of the post-COVID-19 pandemic, the implementation of IR 4.0 adoption has had a favorable effect on the manufacturing industry, enhancing process efficiency, automation and data granularity. However, it is worth noting that automation does not significantly contribute to environmental sustainability and data granularity does not have a noteworthy impact on economic sustainability. On the other hand, process efficiency has a positive and significant influence on all three dimensions of sustainability. Moreover, data granularity positively affects environmental sustainability, whereas automation positively impacts both social and economic sustainability.

This study emphasizes the importance of policy interventions to harness the transformative power of IR 4.0 and address the identified concerns. In addition, the findings offer valuable insights for mid-level operational managers, enabling them to actively participate in the creation of sustainable policies in partnership with top management. It is expected that these actions, which involve making necessary adjustments in the manufacturing process, will yield tangible outcomes for sustainable development.

This study offers valuable insights into the relationship between the uncertain post-COVID-19 environment, referred to as hyper-uncertainty and the adoption of IR 4.0 in the context of manufacturing sustainability.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the effect of country and corporate governance mechanisms on zero leverage is heterogeneous across market- and bank-based financial systems.

Using logit regression methods and a sample of listed firms from 14 Western European countries for the 2002–2016 period, this study examines the propensity of firms having zero leverage in different financial systems.

Country governance mechanisms have a heterogeneous effect on zero leverage, with higher quality mechanisms increasing zero-leverage propensity in bank-based countries and decreasing it in market-based countries. Board dimension and independency have no impact on zero leverage. A higher ownership concentration decreases the propensity for zero-leverage policies in bank-based countries.

This study’s findings show the importance of considering both country- and firm-level governance mechanisms when studying the zero-leverage phenomenon and that the effect of those mechanisms vary across financial and legal systems.

For managers, this study suggests that stronger national governance makes difficult (favours) zero-leverage policies in market (bank)-based countries. In bank-based countries, it also suggests that the presence of shareholders that own a large stake makes the adoption of zero-leverage policies difficult. This last implication is also important for small shareholders by suggesting that investing in firms with a concentrated ownership reduces the risk that zero-leverage policies are adopted by entrenched reasons.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to consider simultaneously the effects of both country- and firm-level governance mechanisms on zero leverage and to allow such effects to vary across financial systems.

The purpose of this paper is to describe a novel methodology for predicting reliability for consumer electronics or any other hardware systems that experience a complex lifecycle environmental profile.

This Physics-of-Failure–based three-step methodology can be used to predict the degradation rate of a population using a Monte Carlo approach. The three steps include: using an empirical equation describing the degradation of a performance metric, a degradation consistency condition and a technique to account for cumulative degradation across multiple life-cycle stress conditions (e.g. temperature, voltage, mechanical load, etc.).

Two case studies are provided to illustrate the methodology including one related to repeated touch-load induced artifacts for displays.

This novel methodology can be applied to a wide range of applications from mechanical systems to electrical circuits. The results can be fed into the several stages of engineering validation to speed up product qualification.

This chapter focuses on performance measurement and management systems (PMMS) in the inter-municipal cooperation context by considering the development of new capabilities required to exploit the digital governance potentialities in which data integration is essential. The analysis relied on the advent of digital governance, the Italian public informative systems reform, as well as on local governments (LG) renewals through the Union of Municipalities (UMs) – one of the most widespread structured forms of inter-municipal cooperation – based on the sustainability of local service delivery. Through a review of the literature and the conceptual outcomes resulting from the analysis of the dynamic capabilities (DCs) theory applied to digital governance, this chapter aims at suggesting a useful contribution for an effective improvement of PMMS in the public sector networks, with the consequent improvement of resilience in policy management. Thus, the broad information required by the UMs and the complexity of its administration together with the constraints regarding the need to share a common vision and strategy, plan objectives, targets, measurement, and evaluation processes are considered. In particular, three propositions have been developed as guidelines for achieving coordination, coherence, and integration of measuring and managing performances in public networks. This evidence will offer insights allowing scholars and practitioners a practical understanding of whether and how DCs – applied to digital governance – address PMMS challenges within an inter-municipal cooperative context.

This study seeks to analyze the effect of the financial distress costs on small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) rebalancing of short-term and long-term debt ratios.

The authors use the system-generalized method of moments (GMM-sys) to treat data collected for a sample of Portuguese manufacturing SMEs for the period 2011–2017.

Financial distress costs positively impact the speed with which SMEs rebalance their short-term and long-term debt ratios The positive effect of financial distress costs on the speed of adjustment (SOA) is higher for the short-term than for the long-term debt ratio. This result suggests that SMEs seek to overcome quicker the financing imbalance in the short run, probably, due to their dependence on short-term debt.

SME owners-managers should seek to rely less on short-term debt to reduce the firm default risk, the financing imbalance and the financial distress costs. Banks should lend long-term loans to SMEs, given that the high financial distress risk of these firms results from their dependence on short-term debt financing. Policymakers should promote SME access to external finance sources with lower transaction costs, to SME rebalance their capital structures.

This study analyzes the effect of financial distress costs on the SOA with which SMEs rebalance their capital structure. We estimate the financial distress costs based on a hazard model, to analyze their effect on the SOA toward the target debt ratios.