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Traces the development of purchasing from a materials acquisition function to supply chain management. The paradigm shifts to recognising every purchase is also a sale and that purchasing is more than buying. Contemporary purchasing incorporates strategic procurement – aligning suppliers’ performance with purchasers’ business strategies, supplier‐base management – managing the structure and culture of supplier relationship, and lean supply organisation – energising internal and external organisational teams through flexible structures and responsive information systems. Tasks for purchasing and supply chain management can be differentiated at the operational, administrative and entrepreneurial levels. An incremental approach is recommended to changing practices and policies by encouraging organisational learning, teamwork and dissemination of experience with supply chain management.

Presents an analysis of the total quality management (TQM) system of a logistics service provider operating in a supply chain context. The company can achieve ongoing improvement in its services cost‐effectively through efficient use of information system and teamwork. Following the strategy of case study research, analytical generalisation is made with respect to the multiple roles of the logistics service provider in determining its relationships with internal and external customers and in setting service goals; the intensive use of information in facilitating and monitoring logistics service operations, which in turn determines the competitive advantage of the service provider; essence of people‐based management and how that promotes interactions in teamwork, trust building and flexibility in meeting changing goals and process requirements; and alliance leadership and its potential to empower teams to innovate and upgrade total quality service in turbulent environments.

Dynamic capabilities (DC) have been linked to firm competitive advantage, but the ways in which firms can create and build these DC are still not clear. The purpose of this paper is to propose a model with organizational learning (OL) and supply chain orientation (SCO) as antecedents of dynamic logistics capabilities and firm performance as the outcome. The study tests this model on a sample of logistics service firms.

Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data collected from 103 logistics firms drawn from the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transportation of Hong Kong.

Results show that OL directly enhances DC and indirectly through SCO. The relationship between OL and SCO is stronger than the relationship between OL and DC. DC are positively related to logistics firm performance.

The study relied on perceptual and self-reported data from senior management. Relationships among variables may also be inflated by common method variance but efforts were taken to reduce this threat.

Logistics firms should promote a learning culture in the organization. Organization learning enhances a firm’s willingness to change and innovate. It also helps employees to gain a better understanding of clients’ supply chains and possibilities. SCO helps the firm to direct its reconfiguration and renewal efforts where the returns are the highest.

There is scant empirical research on the antecedents of DC outside of manufacturing and knowledge-intensive services. The study focused on the logistics services industry. SCO, a necessary strategic orientation for firms in the supply chain, has not been empirically investigated in the previous research. This study addressed these gaps in the literature and contributes to the understanding of the factors giving rise to DC.

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of relationship coordination on the performance of trade intermediaries.

This study uses a model of interfirm governance involving multiple members – customers, suppliers and a firm's internal members. In supply chains involving more than two members, the dyadic approach to studying business relationships is inadequate. Dyadic relationships are often influenced by other connected relationships. Thus, this study provides a broader understanding of relationship management in the supply chain.

A major task of intermediaries is to facilitate the flow of materials, information and resource along the supply chain. Growth in outsourcing and competition between supply chains have created a need for intermediaries to manage relationships with other members in the supply chain. How should intermediaries manage these relationships for success? Are there positive linkages between supplier relationship management, customer relationship management, intermediary business processes and intermediary performance? The findings of this study will help intermediaries to improve overall performance and to contribute to global trade.

This preliminary study should prompt further investigations into how internal and external relationships can be integrated for superior performance in global trading operations.

This study aims to identify the types of relationships that intermediaries form with their suppliers and customers in the apparel supply chain and their implications for performance.

Cluster analysis was conducted on the supplier and customer relationships of 90 trade intermediaries in the apparel industry.

Three configurations were identified: moderately dependent relationships with suppliers and customers and moderate flexibility upstream; highly dependent relationships with suppliers and customers but low flexibility upstream; and relationships with suppliers and customers that are low in dependence. Performance of firms using these configurations differed. Firms that cultivated some dependence upstream and downstream performed best. Firms with highly dependent relationships with suppliers and customers but low flexibility upstream performed almost as well. This group was highly skilled in relationship management. Firms that maintained low dependence with suppliers and customers performed the worst.

Findings were based on a limited sample of 90 firms. Relationship configurations may differ in other industries, e.g. car industry.

For a supply chain to be effective, firms need to consider how they structure the relationships along the supply chain to facilitate the flow of information, goods and resources.

Prior research has considered relationships as independent dyads. This study looks at tripartite relationships involving suppliers and customers in the supply chain.

The financial system plays an essential role in facilitating the intermediation process for economic growth. Policymakers stress on achieving a well-developed and regulated financial system to achieve economic development and resiliency. Using data from the State of Qatar, this paper aims to examine the impact of financial development indicator on economic growth; the impact of financial development indicator on hydrocarbon and nonhydrocarbon sector; the impact of Islamic banking on hydrocarbon and nonhydrocarbon economic growth.

The research uses quarterly data from 2007 to 2019 and adopts autoregressive distributed lag cointegration techniques to test the long- and short-run dynamic relationship between various measures of financial development and economic growth.

The results present evidence of long-term cointegration between overall financial development indicator and economic growth. Furthermore, the authors document the existence of long-term relationship between financial development and nonhydrocarbon sector. However, there is a lack of evidence on the long-run relationship between financial development and the hydrocarbon sector. Notwithstanding, Islamic banking contributes to overall economic development, as well as to the nonhydrocarbon sector.

This paper offers policymakers with insights to evaluate measures to diversify the economy. It also assists decision-makers in promoting Islamic finance, particularly to the banking sector as a vital contributor to economic growth.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this paper is the first to evaluate financial development and economic growth for the case of Qatar in light of recent developments in Islamic finance.

Built on the socioemotional selectivity theory, the purpose of this paper is to analyze elderly female consumers’ consumption of environmentally sustainable apparel (ESA) according to their time perspective (TP) (expansive vs limited) and different types of advertising appeals (emotional vs rational and positive vs negative emotional appeals).

The study conducted a survey and experiments with 154 US female consumers who were 65 years of age or older. Data were analyzed through regression and ANCOVA.

The results showed that older female adults with an expansive TP tended to consume ESA, with their fashion consciousness moderating the results. Rational and either positive or negative emotional advertisements with environmental messages were found to encourage the higher purchase intentions of elderly consumers more effectively than advertisements with no environmental messages.

Apparel retailers are recommended to consider the factor of TP when encouraging environmental consumption. Environmental messages containing rational information and eliciting positive and negative emotions are suggested to promote purchase intention toward ESA among elderly consumers.

This study addressed an under-studied segment in ESA consumption – elderly female consumers – built on the socioemotional selective theory, and confirmed that this group’s ESA consumption can be explained by their perspective on time. In addition, this study confirmed which advertising appeals would effectively encourage their ESA consumption, and provided theoretical explanations for these findings.

This paper aims to study the information needs and online information-seeking behaviors on mobile platforms of performing arts students at a college level.

Survey instruments were used to collect data from performing arts students at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts (HKAPA), a metropolitan’s major performing arts tertiary institution. Data collected were analyzed through descriptive statistics and other statistical methods, and the music-related students were compared with the production-related students.

The result reveals that performing arts students all owned their mobile devices and often used mobile apps for non-academic purposes, but they did not often use mobile library services or read online academic contents with their mobile devices. The participants considered inadequate signal coverage, slow loading time, difficulty in reading on a mobile device and the lack of specialized mobile apps as more significant barriers affecting their usage. There are some significant differences between the music-related and production-related student groups in that music-related students watched lectures on the library websites and used electronic music scores more often than the production-related students.

This study contributes to the input for enhancements and policies to future mobile services and facilities of performing art libraries.

There have been scant studies on the mobile learning needs of performing arts students, especially in Asia.