Search Results (232)

Past studies have confirmed that managerial attention significantly shapes firm strategy yet have overlooked the heterogeneity of managerial attention. Thus, this study delineates the types of top management team (TMT) digital attention, examines the effects of TMT digital attention on firm export performance, and analyzes the moderating effects of foreign ownership and internationalization speed on this relationship. Based on panel data from publicly listed Chinese firms spanning 2013 to 2023, this study conducts empirical regression analyses using a two-way fixed-effects model to verify the aforementioned relationship. Grounded in the attention-based view (ABV), this study analyzes the total time and effort that TMTs dedicate to digital transformation across three dimensions: sustainability, breadth, and intensity. The results show that the sustainability of TMT digital attention positively impacts export performance, while the breadth of TMT digital attention limits export growth. Additionally, an inverted U-shaped relationship exists between the intensity of TMT digital attention and export performance. This research enriches and extends the study of TMT digital attention to international strategy, providing practical insights for companies seeking to improve their export performance. Full article

This research concentrates on the electric vehicle (EV) industry in China and Japan. China is the largest and Japan the third-largest auto production country after the U.S. This study explores the current and future transition to battery electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles in Japan and China. Three Japanese auto companies, Toyota, Honda, and Nissan, and BYD from China are studied in this research. Toyota, Honda, and Nissan are actively pursuing the development of hybrid electric vehicles in Japan. Meanwhile, the research examines the Chinese EV company BYD, which is a major global competitor in the EV industry. This study compares the companies in terms of their strategies, strengths, weaknesses, and export destinations and delineates their competitive strategies and outlooks. In addition, the study examines the elements of the supply chain needed for building EVs, such as lithium, nickel, and cobalt. Furthermore, this research discusses some of the issues with EVs, such as the challenges related to the production and recycling of batteries and the implications as far as green and sustainable practices regarding EVs in the selected countries are concerned. The final part of this research explores how the production of EVs can affect the global reduction of carbon emissions. The findings of this study indicate that the transition to EVs depends on the structural position as far as the supply chain, the manufacturing of electric batteries, charging stations, and the size of the operations are concerned. The results indicate that BYD is in a stronger position in terms of the infrastructure necessary for the production of EVs. Meanwhile, Japanese auto companies are focused on hybrid EVs due to infrastructure related to EV batteries, supply sources, and charging stations. In addition, this research provides informative insights into the future of electric vehicles in the global market. The study offers recommendations for a comprehensive approach that integrates national policies, technological innovation, and the environmental impact of the transition to electric vehicles on a global scale. Full article

Accurate short-term forecasts of banana productivity can improve harvest scheduling, packing-capacity allocation, and export logistics, yet commercial forecasts often deviate substantially from realized yields. Objective: We evaluated whether tuned ensemble machine learning could reduce that error for seven-week-ahead forecasting of weekly productivity (boxes/Ha). Methods: Using weekly records from nine commercial farms in northern Colombia (2007–2018), we benchmarked six tuned ensembles—Random Forest, Extra Trees, Gradient Boosting, LightGBM, XGBoost, and CatBoost—against a company forecast and three statistical baselines (Seasonal Naive, Historical Mean, and a per-farm ARIMA). Hyperparameters were tuned by time-series cross-validation on 2007–2017, and models assessed on a 2018 holdout (405 observations). Results: CatBoost obtained the lowest errors (MAE = 3.95, R² = 0.61), a 57.0% MAE and 81.2% MSE reduction versus the company baseline (MAE = 9.18, R² = −1.06). Bootstrap 95% CIs and the Diebold–Mariano test showed CatBoost, XGBoost, LightGBM, Gradient Boosting, Random Forest, and the Historical Mean to be statistically equivalent (CatBoost’s lead was not significant), all outperforming the ARIMA (MAE = 5.64), Seasonal Naive (MAE = 7.31), and company baselines; an ablation confirmed no data leakage. Conclusions: Tuned ensembles can substantially improve short-term harvest planning in commercial banana production, with model choice guided by operational and computational constraints. Full article

Steel production accounts for approximately 7% of global GHG emissions. Brazil is the largest steel producer in Latin America, and carbon pricing is rapidly moving from a policy debate to an operational reality, making the financial exposure of Brazilian steelmakers to carbon regulation one of the most pressing industrial sustainability questions in an emerging market context. This study evaluates the financial exposure of the Brazilian steel industry to three carbon pricing scenarios: (i) a domestic cap-and-trade mechanism under Brazil’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading System (SBCE); (ii) Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms (CBAMs) applied by key trading partners (EU, a hypothetical USA scenario, and a global scenario); and (iii) supply chain (Scope 3) exposure, relevant under net-zero corporate commitments and the expected expansion of EU-CBAM coverage. Using a scenario-based financial impact approach, with both macro-level (industry) and micro-level (company) analyses, results show that domestic carbon pricing could increase production costs by 7–21%, generating USD 1.6–4.9 billion in additional annual costs (equivalent to 4.3–13.3% of annual industry revenue). International CBAM exposure could reduce Brazilian steel export revenues by USD 570 million to USD 1.7 billion in a global scenario (1.5–4.6% of annual industry revenue). Supply chain emissions represent 68% of the industry’s total carbon pricing exposure, equivalent to USD 1.1–3.3 billion in domestic pricing costs and USD 388 million–1.16 billion in CBAM export revenue reduction. A company-level case study confirms the pattern, with lower Scope 3 intensity yielding a comparatively smaller but still material exposure. These findings offer practical decision support for steel companies and policymakers navigating the transition to a low-carbon economy. Full article

In this article, I explore Blackface Minstrels as a burlesque representation of African Americans. Black minstrelsy was an American nineteenth-century entertainment sensation that was subsequently exported to Europe and sustained there. While it would be impossible in this article to give an overview of the history of blackface minstrelsy, it is necessary to first tease out some of the characteristics of the genre, at particular historical moments, in order to reach an understanding of the genre’s popularity, how it sat in its social (and primarily race-sculpted) landscape, and examine some of the inherent contradictions therein. I scrutinise in particular blackface minstrelsy’s reception by Irish audiences, probing the politics of representation therein involved. To this end, I also investigate issues of social and cultural visibility in an Irish landscape that was remarkably homogeneous racially until at least the 1990s. As two core documents in this regard, I firstly examine the BBC’s ‘Black and White Minstrel Show’, created by George Inns in 1958, which ran from 1958 to 1978, in black and white, ironically, until 1967, and thereafter in colour. The second document that I examine is the very successful Irish Lyons Tea Company’s advertisement from the 1980s, which featured stick-figure black-and-white minstrels in stereotypical makeup and ‘standard minstrel Kentucky dress’ singing and dancing to a simple but memorable jingo. Full article

This study assessed, in two coastal locations of Ecuador (Cerecita, Guayas; Bajada de Chanduy, Santa Elena), cadmium (Cd) occurrence in cacao cultivated soils, its transfer to plant tissues (leaves and cotyledon/beans), and its implications for producers’ economic sustainability. Twelve cacao-producing sites in Cerecita and eleven in Bajada de Chanduy were georeferenced, and thematic GIS maps were generated to identify potential Cd hotspots. Sampling comprised topsoil (0–10 cm), leaves (fourth fully expanded leaf), and dried/fermented beans, followed by laboratory Cd quantification. In addition, producer surveys were conducted to characterize productive and economic structure, the economic sustainability index (IK) was calculated using Sarandón’s methodology, and interviews with collectors and agri-export companies were performed. Soil Cd levels were comparable between locations (0.24–1.55 mg kg⁻¹), whereas higher concentrations were detected in cotyledons/beans (0.53–5.01 mg kg⁻¹) and leaves (1.13–11.07 mg kg⁻¹), following the pattern leaves > cotyledon > soil. From an economic perspective, all farms exhibited IK < 2, with a marked territorial gap (≈1.6 in Cerecita vs. ≈0.5 in Chanduy). Cadmium in cocoa beans poses a long-term risk to marketing; in addition, total cadmium in the soil did not consistently predict cadmium in the cotyledons, and adverse impacts are amplified in territories with limited economic capacity to respond. Full article

Smart shipping and achieving net-zero emissions have become pressing priorities in maritime transport, yet limited research has integrated sustainable shipping development with green finance decision-making. To address this gap, this study applies the AHP–RDEMATEL–TOPSIS approach to analyze the interrelationships and relative importance of key sustainability factors and to identify optimal green financing instruments. Incorporating ESG dimensions, the research conducted a survey of large international exporters in Taiwan and senior managers of shipping companies. The results reveal that green infrastructure is the most critical factor for container shipping lines, while energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies are dominant for bulk carriers and shippers. Corporate reputation and image emerge as primary factors impacted across all three groups. In financing decisions, green bonds are most suitable for container lines, whereas green equities are best suited for bulk carriers. This study bridges the theoretical gap between sustainability assessment and finance, providing practical guidance for shipping companies’ financial departments seeking to align decarbonization goals with effective green financing solutions. Ultimately, the primary contribution of this study lies in establishing an empirically validated, multi-criteria decision support framework that empowers maritime stakeholders to systematically optimize their green investment portfolios amid the global transition towards net-zero emissions. Full article

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) established an initial strategy for maritime decarbonization and later specified its long-term target of achieving net-zero strategy by 2050. The institutional framework for mid-term measures was introduced by IMO, and mid-term measures were originally scheduled to be adopted at the end of 2025, but will be re-discussed in 2026 due to opposition from some current member states; South Korea relies on maritime transport for over 99% of its total import/export volume, meaning that the national shipping sector constitutes a core infrastructure supporting trade-driven economic activity. However, mid-term measures are expected to increase logistics costs and weaken route competitiveness and contract markets, affecting individual shipping companies and the entire export–import industrial base. However, quantitative analyses of the cross-industry ripple effects remain limited. Existing studies assess regulatory burdens on shipping but rarely estimate economy-wide spillovers or provide empirical guidance for policy strategies. Therefore, research is needed to move beyond regulatory interpretation, assess domestic response capabilities, and quantitatively analyze the macroeconomic impacts of mid-term measures to support sound policy decision-making. This study aims to quantitatively evaluate the nationwide economic impact of the IMO mid-term measures and propose strategic policy solutions for effective domestic responses. Full article

As a member state of the European Union, Bulgaria is committed to decarbonisation and the achievement of sustainable development goals. The country has a well-established energy sector and is a net exporter of electricity produced from diverse sources. Electricity generation relies mainly on two key pillars: lignite-fired Thermal Power Plants (TPPs) and the Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in Kozloduy. This study examines the status of Bulgarian state-owned energy companies (SOEC) and their capacity to respond to the challenges of a sustainable transition towards low- or zero-emission electricity production. The study contributes to the existing literature by providing insights from a comparative analysis of state-owned thermal and nuclear power generation in Bulgaria, examined through the lens of sustainable development. From a practical standpoint it contributes by outlining possible pathways for the sustainable transformation of carbon-intensive TPPs. The analy-sis is based on key sustainability indicators covering the three pillars of sustainable development—economic, social and environmental performance. It includes not only an assessment of the financial performance of state-owned thermal power plants and the nuclear power plant over the past five years but also selected social and environmental indicators. The findings suggest that nuclear energy production in Bulgaria is largely consistent with the core principles of sustainability, while coal-based thermal power plants face increasing economic pressures and contribute to significant environmental impacts. The results highlight the need to transform the coal-based electricity sector into a more economically viable and socially responsible alternative, such as low-carbon generation technologies including nuclear energy. Full article

The European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), the world’s first system to impose tariffs on the carbon emissions of imported products, commenced its transition period in October 2023 and is scheduled for full implementation in January 2026. This mechanism exerts a profound impact on the global trade landscape and corporate environmental management practices. Taking the CSI All Share Index constituent companies as a research sample, this paper empirically evaluates the impact of the CBAM transition period on the environmental scores of Chinese export enterprises utilizing the Propensity Score Matching Difference-in-Differences (PSM-DID) method. The results indicate that the CBAM transition period significantly inhibits the short-term environmental performance of regulated enterprises. Mechanism analysis reveals that increased financing constraints serve as a core mediating channel, wherein escalated compliance costs and compressed cash flows crowd out resources for low-carbon investments. Furthermore, heterogeneity analysis demonstrates that the negative impact is more pronounced among state-owned enterprises, firms with lower audit quality, and firms with a higher proportion of female executives. Accordingly, the study recommends establishing targeted green transition financing mechanisms, accelerating domestic carbon market reforms, and strengthening international technical harmonization to build corporate resilience against global climate governance shocks and promote sustainable growth. Full article

Engineer-to-order (ETO) manufacturers face persistent cost and complexity challenges driven by product variety, including duplicate components, redundant variants, and inconsistent procurement setups. Although enterprise resource planning (ERP) and product lifecycle management (PLM) systems contain detailed Bills of Materials (BOMs) and procurement records, they typically lack portfolio-wide support for systematic cross-product commonality analysis without substantial manual effort. Structured approaches to design reuse and modularization in ETO contexts exist, but lightweight portfolio-level analytics tools operating on exported enterprise data remain scarce, and companies often still rely on ad hoc spreadsheet analyses. This paper introduces product commonality analysis tools (PCATs) and develops and evaluates one such tool in an action-research collaboration with a European ETO laser manufacturer. The PCAT operates on exported enterprise data to provide interactive portfolio-level views of component reuse and cross-product consistency. Usefulness is evaluated through scenario-based think-aloud usability sessions and a functional comparison against Excel workarounds, standard ERP/PLM reporting, and vendor customizations. The results indicate that a lightweight PCAT can integrate into existing ERP/PLM workflows with minimal disruption and reduce the effort required to prepare reusable portfolio views for engineering and procurement reviews. Full article

Bangladesh is one of the major global garment-sourcing hotspots. Sustainability has become a megatrend and is shaping the international apparel industry. Given that Bangladesh is one of the largest garment exporters, it is essential to investigate the current sustainability initiatives being developed within the Bangladesh garment industry. Therefore, this study investigated the types of sustainability practices currently adopted within the garment industry in Bangladesh by analyzing publicly available sustainability reports from 25 garment factories published between 2020 and 2021. Guided by the triple bottom line theory, this study revealed through content analysis that companies prominently highlight environmental and social sustainability efforts, while economic sustainability receives comparatively limited attention. These insights identify areas for improvement in the current sustainable practices of the Bangladesh garment industry. Industry professionals, scholars in academia, and other stakeholders may use the primary findings of this study to holistically devise and implement strategies for sustainability practices in the Bangladesh garment industry. Full article

This study aims to identify and prioritize the key factors influencing export performance among Turkish exporters, based on the resource-based view (RBV) and industrial organization theory (IO), categorizing the factors as internal and external, and employing the Stepwise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis (SWARA). Twenty-five factors across Internal (IF) and External (EF) categories were evaluated through expert assessments. Results reveal that Internal Factors (58.0%) significantly dominate External Factors (42.0%), indicating that Turkish exporters possess substantial control over their export competitiveness. The top five critical factors are Management and Leadership (9.6%), Strategy (6.2%), Technological Change (5.3%), Industry and Sector Activity (5.0%), and Competitors (5.0%). Surprisingly, traditional factors such as firm size, international experience, and digitalization ranked much lower, challenging conventional assumptions about export success. A leave-one-out (LOO) sensitivity analysis further validated the robustness of these rankings, with Management and Leadership, and Strategy emerging as the most stable and dominant factors across all scenarios. The predominance of management and strategic factors over structural characteristics suggests that even smaller, less experienced companies can achieve export success through effective leadership and strategic planning. These findings contribute theoretically by supporting the notion that the resource-based view has a greater impact on export performance than the industrial organization theory, and they provide practical guidance for companies to focus on managerial and leadership skills, organizational capabilities, and strategic approaches to enhance export investments. The study presents the first comprehensive SWARA-based ranking of export performance factors in the Turkish context, providing empirical evidence to support the internal-external factor debate in the international business literature. Full article

Coal distribution is crucial in Indonesia’s mining industry. Due to the country’s complex archipelagic geography, coal distribution has become a challenge for the mining industry. As one of the coal mining companies, XYZ company, which is located in South Sumatera, Indonesia, has experienced export shipment delays due to the reliance on transportation modes in the area. Therefore, we developed a coal distribution system which considers multimode transportation options using mixed integer linear programming to minimize delays and transportation cost. Based on the results, the distribution delays were reduced, as well as the transportation cost related to penalty of the delays. Full article

While it is a global imperative that firms should achieve superior environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance, the specific impact of ESG on export product quality remains under-explored. Based on stakeholder theory and principal–agent theory, this paper utilizes a sample of Chinese listed companies and the High-Dimensional Fixed Effects (HDFE) Model to empirically examine the impact and underlying mechanisms of ESG performance on export product quality. The results indicate a U-shaped relationship between ESG performance and export product quality, a non-linear correlation that has received limited attention in the previous literature. This U-shaped relationship is more pronounced among state-owned enterprises (SOEs), firms producing non-high-tech products, and those in heavy-polluting industries. Mechanism analysis reveals that ESG performance influences export product quality primarily through three channels: innovation levels, total factor productivity (TFP), and supply chain stability. By unveiling these non-linear dynamics and their underlying pathways, this study provides a novel theoretical framework and critical empirical evidence that reconcile conflicting views on ESG effects. These findings offer important insights for policymakers and exporters seeking to align ESG practices with export objectives, thereby contributing to more sustainable and high-quality development of foreign trade in China and beyond. Full article