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When a large-scale outbreak such as the COVID-19 pandemic happens, organizations that are responsible for delivering relief may face a lack of both provisions and human resources. Governments are the primary source for the humanitarian supplies required during such a crisis; however, coordination with humanitarian NGOs in handling such pandemics is a vital form of public-private partnership (PPP). Aid organizations have to consider not only the total degree of demand satisfaction in such cases but also the obligation that relief goods such as medicine and foods should be distributed as equitably as possible within the affected areas (AAs).

Given the challenges of acquiring real data associated with procuring relief items during the COVID-19 outbreak, a comprehensive simulation-based plan is used to generate 243 small, medium and large-sized problems with uncertain demand, and these problems are solved to optimality using GAMS. Finally, post-optimality analyses are conducted, and some useful managerial insights are presented.

The results imply that given a reasonable measure of deprivation costs, it can be important for managers to focus less on the logistical costs of delivering resources and more on the value associated with quickly and effectively reducing the overall suffering of the affected individuals. It is also important for managers to recognize that even though deprivation costs and transportation costs are both increasing as the time horizon increases, the actual growth rate of the deprivation costs decreases over time.

In this paper, a novel mathematical model is presented to minimize the total costs of delivering humanitarian aid for pandemic relief. With a focus on sustainability of operations, the model incorporates total transportation and delivery costs, the cost of utilizing the transportation fleet (transportation mode cost), and equity and deprivation costs. Taking social costs such as deprivation and equity costs into account, in addition to other important classic cost terms, enables managers to organize the best possible response when such outbreaks happen.

Citizens are substantial stakeholders in every e-government system, thus their willingness to use and ability to access the system are critical. Unequal access and information and communication technology usage, which is known as digital divide, however has been identified as one of the major obstacles to the implementation of e-government system. As digital divide inhibits citizen’s acceptance to e-government, it should be overcome despite the lack of deep theoretical understanding on this issue. This research aimed to investigate the digital divide and its direct impact on e-government system success of local governments in Indonesia as well as indirect impact through the mediation role of trust. In order to get a comprehensive understanding of digital divide, this study introduced a new type of digital divide, the innovativeness divide.

The research problems were approached by applying two-stage sequential mixed method research approach comprising of both qualitative and quantitative studies. In the first phase, an initial research model was proposed based on a literature review. Semi-structured interview with 12 users of e-government systems was then conducted to explore and enhance this initial research model. Data collected in this phase were analyzed with a two-stage content analysis approach and the initial model was then amended based on the findings. As a result, a comprehensive research model with 16 hypotheses was proposed for examination in the second phase.

In the second phase, quantitative method was applied. A questionnaire was developed based on findings in the first phase. A pilot study was conducted to refine the questionnaire, which was then distributed in a national survey resulting in 237 useable responses. Data collected in this phase were analyzed using Partial Least Square based Structural Equation Modeling.

The results of quantitative analysis confirmed 13 hypotheses. All direct influences of the variables of digital divide on e-government system success were supported. The mediating effects of trust in e-government in the relationship between capability divide and e-government system success as well as in the relationship between innovativeness divide and e-government system success were supported, but was rejected in the relationship between access divide and e-government system success. Furthermore, the results supported the moderating effects of demographic variables of age, residential place, and education.

This research has both theoretical and practical contributions. The study contributes to the developments of literature on digital divide and e-government by providing a more comprehensive framework, and also to the implementation of e-government by local governments and the improvement of e-government Readiness Index of Indonesia.

This paper reports the findings of an experimental study in which the effect of informational load, direction of move and task difficulty on performance time were investigated. A mathematical model based on the empirical findings is presented.

The creation of partnerships among companies, governments and universities can improve innovation and the technological development of institutions. As innovation is a multidimensional concept, more nuanced research is needed to identify, which dimensions of innovation firms should focus on them. This paper aims to investigate the influence of attitude to knowledge sharing (KS) factors, learning organization and creativity on the innovation in marketing biotechnology firms. So, the purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of learning organization, attitude to KS, creativity, information technology (IT) acceptance, KS culture and trust on the innovation by presenting a new framework and a model.

The structural equation modeling technique is used to examine the reliability and validity of the measurement of the provided model. Data were collected by questionnaires. A case study was carried out in 100 marketing biotechnology firms in the Tehran of Iran. In this paper, smart partial least squares 2.0 was used to evaluate the measurement.

The result showed that all hypotheses of this research are proved. Also, the results have shown that the attitude to KS, learning organization and creativity affect the innovation in marketing biotechnology firms. As an overall result, the managers should create an enhanced knowledge bank to increase and encourage the KS among employees, thus creating and enhancing innovation in organizations. Also, the results have shown that marketing shortages were mostly connected to access to human resources with related management and marketing experiences and were mainly felt by firms introducing discontinuous novelties.

The main limitation of this paper is that the sample was retrieved from 384 employees in 100 marketing biotechnology institutions. The larger number of samples can yield better results. Next, even though the respondents’ profiles indicated a high probability of them being cognizant of their organization’s efforts in inter-firm KS, learning, creativity and innovation with three or four respondent from each organization answering all questions for such complicated issues always poses the risk of measurement bias and inaccuracy. An ideal situation for future studies would be to pool and compare multiple respondents from the same organization to obtain a more comprehensive firm-level measurement. In addition, this study only surveyed and sampled biotech marketing companies in Iran. Therefore, the model should be examined using samples from other countries because the varieties of culture could have an impact on employee apprehensions. So, future researchers can test the measurement instrument in different countries and/or conduct large multi-national comparisons.

Successful marketing strategies depend very much on an organization’s ability to implement them. This paper provides an excellent study about the future of pharmaceutical KS and shows that innovation paths are linked with local and temporary occasions. Also, the results of this study provide valuable information in formulating marketing biotechnology programs. It is essential to study both economics and innovation for students and academics. The results also suggested that policies to increase economic research will also increase innovation. They could contain the consolidation of the legal framework and institutional resources for public organizations to protect intellectual properties. In general, for successful implementation of strategies an organization has to integrate KS, processes and IT.

The paper identifies the most critical factors in the innovation process of enterprizes in marketing biotechnology institutions. The implications derived from this study can shed new light upon policy-making both at the level of governance and in the management practice in Iran’s marketing biotechnology industry. Also, the paper increases understanding of the innovation process in Iran marketing biotechnology companies. This study contributes to innovating management research by offering a set of legal and dependable operational measures. These measures can help academics in theory analysis.

This is the first attempt examining the role of the learning organization, creativity and attitude to KS as a key contingency factor in innovation in Iran marketing biotechnology firms, an issue whose understanding is still developing in the literature. The paper adds to the body of knowledge by allowing better understanding the attitude toward KS and the influence of KS, learning and creativity on innovation. Previous studies did not investigate the KS in marketing biotechnology firms deeply, but, the present paper permits a more complete view on this topic. The guidelines are provided for the top directors to promote KS and innovation according to the research results. From a managerial point of view some critical elements, which are important for the success of KS and application of these elements for progressing institutional guidelines to develop KS, are considered. Theoretical foundations can be extracted from this study, and these foundations can be implemented to investigate connection in KS elements such as feasibilities processes and institution initiative abilities. So, the results could be suitable to managers when arranging an organization and shaping its culture to improve knowledge management.

New ways of working (NWW) change some fundamental processes in the workplace. NWW practices like teleworking, flexible workspaces, and flexible working hours lead to different behaviors of employees. But does the employment of NWW practices also have an impact on the innovation behavior of employees? This chapter explores this relationship and uses qualitative data from case studies to illustrate the complex linkages between three components of NWW and IWB.

Research on consumer innovativeness has been studied in the field of marketing during the past decade, in that it has become critical to firms and businesses introducing new products. Yet as the literature concerning innovativeness in the hospitality sector is extremely limited, the purpose of this study is to better conceptualize and understand innovativeness in the hospitality sector (e.g., hotel, restaurant & bar, food & beverage, and occupational training). Using a qualitative method, personal interviews have been collected in this study from local hospitality managers and data are analyzed by constant comparative analysis. Eight themes emerge from the interview data: (1) novelty seeking, (2) eagerness, (3) vigilance, (4) openness, (5) venturesome, (6) hedonism, (7) value seeking, and (8) social distinctiveness. These intrinsic characteristics capture the concept of innovativeness in a broader range within different perspectives. The resultant data could therefore be utilized in future research to evaluate the level of awareness and use of perceived innovativeness in consumer behavior research and business marketing.

In the analysis of some near‐regular structures one can solve the regular part independently and then superimpose the effect of the additional part. For such models, the matrices corresponding to regular part have canonical forms and their eigensolution or inversion can easily be performed. The effect of member changing the regular to a near‐regular structure can then be added. The purpose of this paper is to analyze near‐regular structures using the force method.

The paper uses the force method, and instead of selecting a statically determinate basic structure (standard method), the paper employs the regular part of the structure as the basic structure.

A new algebraic method is introduced for the force method of analysis for efficient analysis of large near‐regular structures.

In this paper, the force method is used, however, instead of selecting a statically determinate basic structure, the regular part of the structure is employed as the basic structure. Those additional elements are considered as redundant elements. This method is applied to truss and frame structures. In the present approach it is possible to have missing elements instead of additional elements.

We argue that by conducting systematic research with communities rather than on communities, community-based research (CBR) methods can both advance the study of human interaction and strengthen public understanding and appreciation of social sciences. CBR, among other methods, can also address social scientists’ ethical and social commitments. We recap the history of calls by leading sociologists for rigorous, empirical, community-engaged research. We introduce CBR methods as empirically grounded methods for conducting social research with social actors. We define terms and describe the range of methods that we include in the umbrella term, “community-based research.” After providing exemplars of community-based research, we review CBR’s advantages and challenges. We, next, summarize an intervention that we undertook as members of the Publication Committee of the URBAN Research Network’s Sociology section in which the committee developed and disseminated guidelines for peer review of community-based research. We also share initial responses from journal editors. In the conclusion, we revisit the potential of community-based research and note the consequences of neglecting community-based research traditions.

Across countless generations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have had a vision for the health and well-being of all elements of Australia and its people. This includes directions for preventing inequity, crime, environmental degradation and illness. But the paths to take – and the knowledges that exist – have long been flooded by a negative discourse about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people that blames, shames and discriminates, locating over-representation in prisons and poor health and well-being as a cultural deficit, apportioned to individuals rather than the complex systems and politics of knowledge construction that surround it. Rural criminology has an opportunity to change tracks to redress the lack of cultural competence training and cultural safety planning among its workforce – the 97 percent who have the power to create change for the small and young population of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This chapter identifies steps in the path to change and opportunities for rural criminology including identifying shared determinants of justice and health, decolonising evidence for decision-making and improving accountability including through partnerships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community leaders. This chapter asserts a freedom and confidence that emanates from decolonising methodologies, reflexivity in research and meeting aspirations of local community Elders and leaders with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural values and strengths. ‘Next steps’ in constructing a more culturally responsive rural criminology are presented, with a summary of roles and spheres of influence to consider.

Increasingly, how well organisations innovate is becoming the single most important issue in determining their ultimate success. Referencing a variety of cases primarily drawn from governmental organisations, this paper argues that the key to successful innovation implementation rests on the convergence of three different factors. First, an innovation must be properly framed in terms of stakeholders’ expectations. Secondly, a good internal innovation environment must be present. Finally, the pros of specific attributes of innovations must outweigh their cons. The Eight other conditions, in which one or more of these factors is not positive, result in differing degrees of success and failure, with different implications for organisational outcomes. These eight conditions, and their associated propositions, are discussed in terms of their heuristic value for bridging gaps in differing parties’ understanding of innovation processes and future directions for research, including the interaction of power and type of innovation.