Sustainability

Sustainability through digital transformation is essential for contemporary businesses. Embracing sustainability, micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) can gain a competitive advantage, attracting customers and investors who share these values. Moreover, incorporating sustainable practices empowers MSMEs to drive innovation, reduce costs, and enhance their reputation. This study aims to identify how owners or senior managers of MSMEs can initiate a sustainable digital transformation project. A systematic literature review was carried out, including 59 publications from 2019 to 2023. As a result, this research identifies the first steps owners of MSMEs can take to begin the transition by identifying critical organizational capabilities necessary for successful transformation, explores the technologies that can support MSMEs in their sustainability goals, and emphasizes the significance of stakeholders in achieving a successful digital transformation journey. Firstly, owners or senior managers should change the organizational culture to support decisions and strategies focus on sustainability. Secondly, the leading role of stakeholders is in the innovation process that allows businesses to be more competitive locally and globally. Finally, big data is the technology that can provide the most significant benefit to MSMEs because it will enable analyzing data of all kinds and contributes disruptively to decision-making. Full article

Isolated microgrid (IMG) power systems face the significant challenge of achieving fast power sharing and stable performance. This paper presents an innovative solution to this challenge through the introduction of a new droop control technique. The conventional droop controller technique used in inverter-based IMG systems is unable to provide satisfactory performance easily, as selecting a high droop controller gain to achieve fast power sharing can reduce the system’s stability. This paper addresses this dilemma by proposing a modified droop control for inverter-based IMGs that effectively dampens low-frequency oscillations, even at higher droop gain values that would typically lead to instability. The design is described step-by-step, and the proposed controller’s effectiveness is validated through time domain simulation analysis. The results demonstrate the significant improvement in stability and fast power sharing achieved with the proposed controller. This innovative technique presents a promising solution for achieving fast power sharing and stable performance in IMG power systems. Full article

The shipping industry is the foundation of the economy, and it is affected by fluctuations in the economic cycle. The mainstream of financial early warning research is quantitative modeling research. There are few systematic studies on financial early warning of shipping enterprises, and most of them still remain in the qualitative stage. This paper chooses Chinese listed shipping companies as its target, takes the economic cycle as an important reference, and then uses logistic regression, neural network, and random-forest methods to establish a model for financial warning. The random-forest model is employed to rank the importance of warning indicators. The results show that it is effective to consider macro-factors, such as the economic cycle, and the predictive accuracy of the random-forest method is higher than that of the financial warning models established by logistic regression and by the neural network. Financial alerts can help managers prepare for crises in advance. The purpose of this paper is to provide an early warning model for the sustainable development of shipping logistics. Full article

Emerging economies endeavor to achieve a green economy by realizing their potential for sustainable commercial success. Due to natural resource restrictions, businesses must concentrate on green investment, financing, and resources to promote sustainable company performance. To better understand how to implement corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainable company performance, this study looks at the effect of green financing and investment. The study used quantitative research techniques through primary and secondary data sources from Indonesia’s 238 sampled international chemical companies. Additionally, a standardized questionnaire was employed in this study to gather data. The study used Smart-PLS and a structural equation model (SEM) to examine the data gathered and determine the relationship between green investment, green financing, CSR, and sustainable business performance. The study shows that green investments and financing significantly and favorably affect CSR and sustainable performance. Additionally, it was found that CSR significantly mediates green investment and green financing with sustainable business performance relationships. This work added to the body of literature and emphasized the significance of each construct. The study’s conclusions also suggested that highly polluting chemical businesses should incorporate green financing, investment, and CSR to improve sustainable economic performance. Full article

Events such as COVID-19 and the Russia–Ukraine conflict have significantly increased the uncertainty and volatility of global economic policies. In the context of economic globalization, the key question we investigate is whether global economic policy uncertainty will have different impacts on the manufacturing of the three major economies in China, the United States, and Europe Union. This study employs the time-varying parameter vector autoregressive (TVP-VAR) model to examine how global economic policy uncertainty (GEPU) affected manufacturing from March 2008 to March 2023. The empirical results show that the effects of GEPU are time varying; its short-term effects on Chinese manufacturing are slightly greater than its medium- and long-term effects, whereas its medium- and long-term effects on manufacturing in the United States (US) and European Union (EU) are significantly greater than its short-term effects. The impact of European debt crisis, the China–US trade war and Russia–Ukraine conflict on EU manufacturing is higher than that of China and the US, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on China’s manufacturing is much smaller than that of the US and the EU; thus, Chinese manufacturing has a greater capacity for risk mitigation than US and EU manufacturing. This study not only provides a new perspective on the study of global economic policy uncertainty; it also provides new empirical evidence on how global economic policy uncertainty affects the manufacturing sector in China, the US and Europe and provides policymakers with guidance for decision making. Full article

Urban seismic hazards are natural disasters caused by earthquakes in urban areas, which may lead to serious casualties, the collapse of buildings, infrastructure damage, and other impacts, require huge social resources for recovery and reconstruction, and even affect the security stability and sustainable development of the area. This paper adopts the research idea of “Risk = Hazard × Exposure × Vulnerability ÷ Emergency response and recovery capability” and constructs an evaluation system containing 24 representative indicators on this basis. The CF-logistic regression model is applied in the study to calculate the seismic hazard, while the combined weight-TOPSIS model is used to assess the vulnerability of urban hazard-bearing body. Lastly, the study conducts multi-criteria seismic risk evaluation using the GIS platform. The results show that the overall seismic risk in Songyuan is moderate, with 18.66% of the medium-risk area, 37.68% of the very low risk area, 33.96% of the low-risk area, 8.47% of the high-risk area, and 1.23% of the very high-risk area. The significance of this study is to provide a scientific basis for formulating corresponding disaster prevention and mitigation measures and emergency plans, improving urban disaster prevention and emergency response capabilities, reducing urban earthquake disaster losses, and helping to achieve safe and stable urban development. Full article

Environmental information disclosure has become a widely-used tool to encourage the participation of multiple market players in environmental governance. However, it remains unclear whether it can promote the efficiency of capital allocation in enterprises. This study uses econometric modeling and data from heavily polluting enterprises in Chinese A-shares between 2013 and 2020 to explore the impact of environmental information disclosure on capital allocation efficiency, as well as its mechanisms. It is found that environmental information disclosure significantly and robustly enhances the efficiency of capital allocation, and the effect varies by firm’s size, ownership, life cycle, and region. Nevertheless, employees and creditors are found to have a negative moderating role in this effect. These findings have important implications for the simultaneous improvement of environmental performance and capital allocation efficiency in the context of China’s ecological civilization system and high-quality economic development and for promoting a “win-win” situation for environmental protection and economic growth. Full article

In today’s emerging and competitive mobile social media market, companies continuously endeavor to improve service quality and customer satisfaction in order to gain a competitive advantage and ensure long-term sustainability. The objective of this study is to identify the relationship between service quality, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty in mobile social media. Moreover, this study examines the role of customer satisfaction as a mediator. The proposed research model consists of four dimensions of mobile service quality (usefulness, convenience, design, and security/privacy) as well as customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The survey used the self-administrated method. A total of 256 responses were used in the data analysis. We estimated the hypothesized relationships of the research model using a structural equation modeling technique. The results are as follows: first, usefulness, convenience, design, and security/privacy significantly and positively affect customer satisfaction. Second, customer satisfaction has a significant and positive impact on customer loyalty. Third, customer satisfaction mediates the relationship between service quality and customer loyalty; in particular, convenience, design, and security/privacy are completely mediated while usefulness is partially mediated. These results can serve as a valuable reference for mobile social media providers to manage services and improve service quality and customer satisfaction. Full article

In-depth exploration of the theory and technological applications of smart manufacturing (SM) is lacking in the current talent training model for industrial engineering (IE) majors, and there is a lack of practical education for SM environments. This makes it difficult for students of traditional IE majors to adapt to the modern trend of industrial intelligence and meet the needs of market demand and enterprise development. Therefore, how to cultivate IE talents for SM has become an urgent problem for IE majors to solve. To this end, this paper proposes a new “SM+IE” talent training model, aiming to cultivate more high-quality composite application talents. This model is based on the Lean Manufacturing course and analyzes the effect of the training mode of SM. Secondly, we used the topic of “Sorting Efficiency Improvement” to verify the effectiveness of the new talent training model. The materials were divided into three types: large, medium, and small, and the materials were sorted using traditional IE practices and smart manufacturing-oriented practices. Finally, interviews were conducted with the participants, and both teachers and students indicated that the learning effect of this teaching reform practice was significantly better than that of the traditional IE teaching mode. The results show that the new talent training model improved not only the application and practical skills of the IE students, but also their teamwork and leadership skills. Full article

Today’s global business landscape and intense market competition have heightened the significance of global product development (GPD) practices, making it necessary for organizations to evaluate GPD projects for sustained success. Existing research has primarily focused on independent and tangible performance metrics, neglecting their interdependencies and intangible nature in real-world scenarios. To address this gap, this study seeks to enhance the understanding of GPD performance by establishing a more sophisticated assessment approach. A hybrid decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) and analytical network process (ANP) method, known as DANP, was employed to determine the importance of evaluation metrics and their relationships. This research stands out by integrating financial, quality, time, environmental, and capability dimensions, along with their respective indicators, and presenting their interrelationships and priority weights for evaluating GPD projects. The proposed framework was validated through an in-depth case investigation conducted with a Chinese sustainable energy solutions company, involving extensive discussions with decision-makers. The results indicate that technological, innovation, and environmental indicators are the most critical metrics. The influential network relation map (INRM) derived from these findings offers practical recommendations to enhance GPD project performance, catering to policymakers and researchers in both managerial and theoretical contexts. Full article

Composting is an environment-friendly and sustainable way to transform grape branches (GBs) into a useful product. Different parameters can differently affect fertilizer quality. Here, the compost product nutrient content was evaluated using an L9 orthogonal array (parameters, nitrogen source: chicken manure, sheep manure, urea; stirring temperature: 50, 60, 70 °C; initial pH: 6, 7, 8; conditioning agent: calcium superphosphate, zeolite, and copper sulfate). Among the treatments, the T3 (chicken manure, 70 °C, pH = 8, copper sulfate), T2 (chicken manure, 60 °C, pH = 7, zeolite), and T9 (urea, 70 °C, pH = 7, calcium superphosphate) had high gray relational grades (0.7424, 0.7132, 0.7110, respectively). The nitrogen source type (R = 0.1140) had the greatest influence on the nutrient content of the final product, followed by the stirring temperature (R = 0.1104), the conditioning agent (R = 0.0522), and the initial pH (R = 0.0408). Finally, the best nitrogen source of the grape branch compost was chicken manure, the best stirring temperature was 70 °C, the best initial pH was 7, and the best conditioning agent was zeolite. An experimental verification showed that the weighted correlation degree of the optimal treatment predicted by the orthogonal experiment increased by 3.63%. Full article

Social entrepreneurship is a topic of great development at the research level, which aims to discover, exploit and define the possibilities of increasing social wealth through activities and processes carried out with the creation and management of an innovative enterprise. From this, it has been identified that one of the main problems of social entrepreneurs in underdeveloped countries is the lack of financing, where new forms of financing have not been consolidated, as is the case with impact investment. Therefore, the objective of this research is to determine the role of impact investment in each of the Ecuadorian social enterprises under study. To this end, a qualitative research methodology of an interpretive nature was adopted through in-depth interviews with social entrepreneurs for the construction of results by means of summary tables and descriptive and graphic taxonomy. The results show that for most of the social enterprises studied, the role of impact investment is null, without this implying a lack of knowledge on the part of the social enterprises. Finally, it is necessary that policymakers take into account the need to promote sustainable development by improving social inclusion to support projects and enterprises that generate employment and opportunities for marginalized and vulnerable groups, promoting policies and measures that encourage this type of investment to generate a positive impact on the country. Full article

Minimum principal stress is a key factor governing the hydraulic fracturing behaviors in shale oil reservoirs. Due to the existence of stress heterogeneity, the hydraulic fracture growth and footprints can be affected, and the hydraulic fracturing efficacy can be consequently altered. This phenomenon is especially common during the development of shale oil reservoirs associated with continental sedimentary facies. This study uses a numerical workflow to analyze the effect of stress heterogeneity on hydraulic fracture growth. The numerical workflow consists of an open-source planar hydraulic fracturing model and a derived coupled flow and geomechanics model, which can address the effect of minimum principal stress heterogeneity on hydraulic fracturing. Two types of stress heterogeneity are considered: stress heterogeneity caused by legacy production in the horizontal direction and stress heterogeneity caused by high-stress interlayers in the vertical direction. Simulation results indicate that stress heterogeneity in the horizontal and vertical directions leads to asymmetric fracture growth horizontally and vertically. The corresponding fracture footprints and widths also become asymmetric accordingly. Thin interlayers cannot fully limit the fracture growth, and the fracture height growth can still penetrate through. When the high-stress interlayers are thick enough, the fracture cannot penetrate through them vertically, while the corresponding fracture growth is no longer highly sensitive to the thickness of the interlayer. Full article

Reallocating innovative capital elements can improve the growth of total factor productivity and promote high-quality economic development. The multi-regional multiplier model measures the spatial spillover effects of R&D capital to trace the interregional R&D flows and explore the engines of the longer-term economic growth in China. Results show that the direct R&D intensity in different regions is all concentrated in basic research sectors supported by government funds, and decreased from coastal areas to inland areas. Second, R&D gradually flowed from China’s coastal regions to inland regions, from upstream basic research sectors to downstream infrastructure construction sectors. Third, Guangdong, Jiangsu and Beijing are the main contributors, with R&D spillover intensities reaching 1.69%, 1.40%, and 1.37%, respectively. Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hainan are the main beneficiaries, with R&D inflow intensities reaching 0.49%, 0.53%, and 0.50%, respectively. Finally, the channel of R&D spatial spillover manifests a circular distribution and contact-type and jump-type modes. Full article

This study verified the analysis of the relationship between service quality of food and beverage and customer behaviors for sustainable golf course management. This study employed triangulation design, a mixed methods research framework that compares the results of quantitative and qualitative investigations. The quantitative study verified the effects of service quality of food and beverage on customer loyalty and willingness to recommend online. The subjects of the quantitative study analyzed the responses of 372 golfers over 20 who use driving ranges in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. The results of the quantitative study were as follows. First, reliability and responsiveness among sub-factors of service quality had a positive effect on customer loyalty. Second, empathy among sub-factors of service quality had a positive effect on willingness to recommend online. Third, customer loyalty had a positive effect on willingness to recommend online. Fourth, customer loyalty had a mediating effect on the relationship between reliability among sub-factors of service quality and willingness to recommend online. For the qualitative study, six research participants were selected, and in-depth interviews were conducted on golfers’ preference and non-preference factors for food and beverage services at golf courses’ clubhouses. The qualitative research results are as follows. First, Golf participants recognized that the speed of food preparation and prompt provision of food and beverages were significant. Second, the food flavors and the clubhouse restaurant’s physical environment were also deemed important. Third, poor quality of food and beverage facilities and meals negatively affect the reliability and willingness to recommend the golf course. This study is unique in that it adopted a mixed methods approach, which has not been done in related previous studies. Full article

Many university students have doubts about how or where to start writing their undergraduate thesis work; it is common not to be clear how to identify a research problem or even towards which topic their research is oriented, and there are doubts about how to process and systematize so much information available in the era of digitalization. This article presents learning strategies to formulate a research thesis for engineering undergraduate programs, with an emphasis on the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) toward a University Education 4.0 paradigm. The main themes and issues discussed in this article, carried out through learning strategies for students based on the scientific method, are the following: (i) Recommendations for choosing a research topic, (ii) Guidelines for problem identification and question research, (iii) Suggestions for choosing a thesis advisor, (iv) Instructions for finding suitable sources of information, (v) Structure of the table of contents for writing the thesis manuscript, and (vi) Indications for preparing an oral defense of thesis research. This article highlights recommendations and precautions directed towards professors and students with the use of the chatbot-type artificial intelligence (AI) tool called ChatGPT for the formulation of the thesis under a responsible conduct approach in research. This article concludes that the application of tutoring/guidance strategies between professors and students requires an adequate ethical use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) during the development of a research thesis to generate a comprehensive educational environment that encourages research and develops a sustainable learning process in the context of the University Education 4.0 paradigm. Full article

Home Energy Management Systems (HEMSs) have become necessary due to energy security and climate change concerns. Scheduling the operating time of household appliances is one of the most effective strategies used by HEMSs to reduce electricity costs, with several studies proposing optimization strategies for scheduling home appliances to reduce the grid energy usage cost. This work considers energy usage costs from Renewable Energy Sources (RESs) and Energy Storage Systems (ESSs) in the appliance-scheduling strategy and energy flow management. The objectives are reducing the real electricity cost while maintaining a longer battery lifespan, reducing battery charging/discharging losses, and using PV power efficiently. To achieve this, we developed a pricing model of battery energy usage, in addition to modeling the PV energy usage cost based on the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) for PV systems. PV-battery energy usage cost models were introduced into the optimization problem solved using the Augmented Grey Wolf Optimization (AGWO) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithms in MATLAB. We developed an efficient energy flow management algorithm. We collected real data from a home in Vigo, Spain, and simulated four scenarios. The results show that the proposed system using AGWO and PSO reduced the real cost by 25.87% and 25.98%, respectively. Compared with an existing energy-usage-pricing model, the AGWO reduced the energy losses by 40.429% and extended the battery lifespan by 68.282%. Similarly, the PSO reduced the energy losses by 45.540% and extended the battery lifespan by 84.56%. Moreover, the proposed system reached the breakeven point of the system in a shorter time. Full article

Green economic growth is a major challenge for countries, as it requires achieving both ecological protection and economic development goals simultaneously. It can be expressed as the continuous growth of green total factor productivity (GTFP), which is the core indicator reflecting the simultaneous achievement of environmental and economic sustainability. This study provides an in-depth understanding of how green finance contributes to GTFP with data from 30 Chinese provinces between 2006 and 2021. The results reveal that green finance has a significant promotion effect on GTFP as well as a significant spatial spillover effect. By splitting GTFP into green technological progress and green efficiency improvement, green finance can improve the former but not the latter. Green finance can influence GTFP through the mechanisms of technological innovation and industrial structure upgrading, both of which can also only drive green technological progress but not green efficiency improvement. Regional heterogeneity suggests that the promotion effect of green finance on GTFP tends to be stronger and can significantly contribute to green efficiency improvement in regions with higher economic levels. The heterogeneity of natural resource endowment reveals that this promotion effect is more significant in resource-rich areas, but green finance still cannot significantly promote green efficiency improvement in these regions. In contrast, green finance can significantly enhance both green technological progress and green efficiency improvement in resource-general areas. The heterogeneity of the information technology level shows that this promotion is more significant in regions with higher levels of information technology, and in particular, the enhancement of green efficiency improvement by green finance in these regions is significantly positive. The findings provide valuable recommendations. Full article

China has made advancements in the achievement of the poverty relief goal set by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the United Nations. However, the rapidly changing socioeconomic environment and the increasingly growing complication of poverty in rural households make it necessary to enhance rural household development resilience to ensure poverty alleviation. With the rapid development of Internet technology, this paper assesses whether digital payments influence rural household development resilience. Based on it, this study takes rural China as its research area, selects samples of farmers’ household registration as its research object, uses the data recorded by China Household Finance Survey (CHFS) in 2015, 2017, and 2019, and constructs the index of “rural household development resilience” based on the family wellbeing model to empirically test the impact of rural households using mobile payments on development resilience. By considering the nonlinear dynamics of event development, this paper addresses the short-term effects of the previous exclusive examination of digital payments, providing a theoretical basis for future research on the relationship between digital payments and development resilience. The results show the following: (1) digital payments can significantly enhance rural household development resilience; (2) relaxing liquidity constraints and promoting farmer-oriented market participation are the primary mechanisms by which digital payments affect rural household development resilience, but digital payments do not have an impact on rural household development resilience by releasing credit constraints; and (3) the heterogeneity regression analysis showed that the promotion effect of digital payments on rural household development resilience is the strongest in the Western areas, at medium level in the Central areas, and the weakest in the Eastern areas. Thus, the influence of digital payments is not significant to rural household development resilience. Based on the conclusions mentioned above, this article proposes countermeasures and suggestions. Full article