Search Results (3,432)

“The Internet of Things” is a relatively new idea that refers to objects that can connect to the Internet and exchange data. The Internet of Things (IoT) enables novel interactions between objects and people by interconnecting billions of devices. While there are many IoT-related products, challenges pertaining to their effective implementation, particularly the lack of knowledge and confidence about security, must be addressed. To provide IoT-based enterprises with a platform for efficiency and sustainability, this study aims to identify the critical elements that influence the growth of a successful company integrated with an IoT system. This study proposes a decision support tool that evaluates the influential features of IoT using the Pythagorean Fuzzy and Interval Grey approaches within the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). This study demonstrates that security, value, and connectivity are more critical than telepresence and intelligence indicators. When both strategies are used, market demand and information privacy become significant indicators. Applying the Pythagorean Fuzzy approach enables the identification of sensor networks, authorization, market demand, and data management in terms of importance. The application of the Interval Grey approach underscores the importance of data management, particularly in sensor networks. The indicators that were finally ranked are compared to obtain a good coefficient of agreement. These findings offer practical insights for promoting sustainability in enterprise operations by optimizing IoT infrastructure and decision-making processes. Full article

This study examines the factors influencing the adoption of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems within Romanian organizations. The objective is to develop a comprehensive framework for ERP adoption decisions, thereby advancing the field of knowledge and offering managerial insights. To accomplish this research goal, a questionnaire is envisioned, employing various research hypotheses, and distributed to a representative sample. Quantitative econometric regression analysis is employed, considering potential factors such as user training and education, competitive pressures, user involvement and participation, decentralized ERP features, top management support, data quality, the quality of the ERP system, cost and budget considerations, and business process reengineering. Of the 12 factors analyzed, 9 were found to be relevant in terms of influence on the decision to adopt ERP systems, in the context of the Romanian market. The other three factors were found to be irrelevant, thus obtaining results partially different from other areas of the world. By validating the hypotheses and answering the research questions, this work addresses a research gap regarding the lack of a comprehensive understanding of the influencing factors that shape the adoption process of ERP systems in Romania. Full article

This research aims to investigate financing decisions of capital-constrained small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) manufacturers and distributors under a Green Supply Chain (GSC) framework. By evaluating the impact of Supply Chain Finance (SCF) instruments, this study utilizes Stackelberg game model to explore a decentralized decision-making system. To our knowledge, this investigation represents the first exploration of game models that uniquely compares financing through trade credit, where the manufacturer offers zero-interest credit without discounts with reverse factoring, while also considering distributor’s efforts on sustainable marketing under the impact of supportive government policies. Our study suggests that manufacturers should adopt reverse factoring for optimal profits and actively participate in distributors’ financing decisions to address inefficiencies in decentralized systems. Furthermore, the distributor’s demand quantity, profits and sustainable marketing efforts show significant increase under reverse factoring, aided by favorable policies. Finally, the results are validated through Python 3.8.8 simulations in the Anaconda distribution, offering meaningful insights for policymakers and supply chain managers. Full article

In this study, we investigate the return propagation mechanism, hedging effectiveness, and portfolio performance across several common agricultural commodities, crude oil, and S&P 500 index, ranging from July 2000 to June 2024 by using a time-varying parameter vector autoregression (TVP-VAR) connectedness approach and three common multiple assets portfolio optimization strategies. The empirical results show that, the total connectedness peaked during the 2008 global financial crisis, followed by the European debt crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, while it remained relatively lower at the onset of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. In the transmission mechanism, commodities and S&P 500 index exhibit distinct and dynamic characteristics as transmitters or receivers. Portfolio analysis reveals that, with exception of the COVID-19 pandemic, all three dynamic portfolios outperform the S&P 500 benchmark across major global crises. Additionally, the minimum correlation and minimum connectedness strategies are superior than transitional minimum variance method in most scenarios. Our findings have implications for policymakers in preventing systemic risk, for investors in managing portfolio risk, and for farmers and agribusiness enterprises in enhancing economic benefits. Full article

With the increasing global emphasis on sustainable development goals, and in the context of pursuing high-quality sustainable development of the economy and enterprises, this study empirically examines the effect of digital finance on corporate financing constraints and the impact on corporate green innovation with a sample of China’s A-share-listed companies in the period of 2011–2020 and explores the issue from the perspectives of management power and corporate social responsibility (CSR) at the micro level of enterprises. The empirical results show that digital finance can indeed alleviate corporate financing constraints. Still, the synergistic effect of the two on corporate green innovation produces a “quantitative and qualitative separation” effect, which only promotes the enhancement of iconic green innovation, and the effect on substantive green innovation is not obvious. The power of management and CSR performanceshave different moderating roles in the alleviation of financing constraints by the empowerment of digital finance. Management power and corporate social responsibility have different moderating effects on digital financial empowerment to alleviate financing constraints. The findings of this study enrich the research in related fields and provide more basis for the promotion of digital financial policies and more solutions for the high-quality development of enterprises. Full article

This study ground in the Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT), explores the value of digital twin technology in cross-border logistics risk management. Using structural equation modeling, it examines how five innovation characteristics of digital twins—relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability—influence risk management capabilities, specifically robustness and resilience, within cross-border logistics systems. The findings reveal that relative advantage, compatibility, trialability, and observability significantly enhance both robustness and resilience, while complexity does not show a significant negative impact. Furthermore, the study confirms that improvements in risk management capabilities contribute positively to competitive performance. This research not only enriches the theoretical understanding of digital twin applications in cross-border logistics but also offers valuable insights for practical implementation by enterprises. Full article

Based on a comprehensive review of the current research status of ecological compensation both domestically and internationally, combined with field survey data, this study delves into the issue of multi-stakeholder participation in the ecological compensation mechanisms of the Xin’an River Basin. This research reveals that the joint participation of multiple stakeholders is crucial to achieving the goals of ecological compensation in river basins. The government plays a significant role in macro-guidance, financial support, policy guarantees, supervision, and management. It promotes the comprehensive implementation of ecological environmental protection by formulating relevant laws and regulations, guiding the public to participate in ecological conservation, and supervising and punishing pollution behaviors. The public, serving as the main force, forms strong awareness and behavioral habits of ecological protection through active participation in environmental protection, monitoring, and feedback. As participants, enterprises contribute to industrial transformation and green development by improving resource utilization efficiency, reducing pollution emissions, promoting green industries, and participating in ecological restoration projects. Scientific research institutions, as technology enablers, have effectively enhanced governance efficiency through technological research and innovation, ecosystem value accounting to provide decision-making support, and public education. Social organizations, as facilitators, have injected vitality and innovation into watershed governance by extensively mobilizing social forces and building multi-party collaboration platforms. Communities, as supporters, have transformed ecological value into economic benefits by developing characteristic industries such as eco-agriculture and eco-tourism. Based on the above findings, further recommendations are proposed to mobilize the enthusiasm of upstream communities and encourage their participation in ecological compensation, promote the market-oriented operation of ecological compensation mechanisms, strengthen cross-regional cooperation to establish joint mechanisms, enhance supervision and evaluation, and establish a sound benefit-sharing mechanism. These recommendations provide theoretical support and practical references for ecological compensation worldwide. Full article

The study examines economic and non-economic endeavors to explore the association between family involvement and financial decisions within family firms. The non-economic factors of a family drive the need to analyze the impact of socioemotional factors on the financial policies of the family firms. The study explores the impact of family ownership, family management, and family control drawn from agency theory and socioemotional wealth perspectives on the financial decisions of family firms. Our findings in support of the socioemotional wealth perspective show a positive relationship between family ownership and debt financing with a desire to finance growth and avoid control dilution, with an increase in the level of debt. However, the involvement of family members in management and the top management team leads to an adverse relationship between family ownership and debt level, exhibiting the risk-averse behavior of a firm, which drives firms to reduce debt levels. Overall, our findings suggest that the perceptions of the socioemotional wealth theoretical paradigm are important in determining capital structure decisions in family enterprises. The results are resilient to potential endogeneity and heterogeneity difficulties, which may assist scholars and practitioners in assessing capital structure decisions in emerging economies. Full article

This study synthesizes the rapidly expanding evidence on how digital technologies reshape international trade, with a particular focus on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Guided by two research questions—(RQ1) How do digital tools influence the volume and composition of cross-border trade? and (RQ2) How do these effects vary by countries’ development level and firm size?—we conducted a PRISMA-compliant systematic literature review covering 2010–2024. Searches across eight major databases yielded 1857 records; after duplicate removal, title/abstract screening, full-text assessment, and Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT 2018) quality checks, 86 peer-reviewed English-language studies were retained. Findings reveal three dominant technology clusters: (1) e-commerce platforms and cloud services, (2) IoT-enabled supply chain solutions, and (3) emerging AI analytics. E-commerce and cloud adoption consistently raise export intensity—doubling it for digitally mature SMEs—while AI applications are the fastest-growing research strand, particularly in East Asia and Northern Europe. However, benefits are uneven: firms in low-infrastructure settings face higher fixed digital costs, and cybersecurity and regulatory fragmentation remain pervasive obstacles. By integrating trade economics with development and SME internationalization studies, this review offers the first holistic framework that links national digital infrastructure and policy support to firm-level export performance. It shows that the trade-enhancing effects of digitalization are contingent on robust broadband penetration, affordable cloud access, and harmonized data-governance regimes. Policymakers should, therefore, prioritize inclusive digital-readiness programs, while business leaders should invest in complementary capabilities—data analytics, cyber-risk management, and cross-border e-logistics—to fully capture digital trade gains. This balanced perspective advances theory and practice on building resilient, equitable digital trade ecosystems. Full article

An important element in the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China is the guarantee of gender equality in all fields. The principle is not reflected in terms of corporate governance and senior management, however. A study of the largest 400 companies listed on Chinese stock exchanges shows far fewer female board members and senior managers than male counterparts and only a small improvement over the course of a decade. A comparison of gender balances in terms of a range of variables, including stock exchange listing, industry type, and ownership type, reveals better balances in wholly privately owned firms than in those with controlling state interests. Subject to intervening government policies to promote state-owned enterprises over private sector counterparts, the pattern over the decade studied suggests there is a possibility privately owned enterprises may gradually displace state-owned companies in the largest 400 group and gender balances in senior roles in the largest 400 group will consequently improve. Full article

Public–private partnership (PPP) logistics infrastructure projects have become increasingly prevalent globally. Consequently, the effective management of these projects as their concession periods expire presents a crucial challenge for governments, vital for the sustainable management of PPP logistics infrastructure. This study addresses this challenge by focusing on the pivotal post-concession decision: whether the government should self-operate the mature logistics infrastructure or re-delegate its management to a private entity. Our theoretical model, built on a principal–agent framework, first establishes a social welfare baseline under government self-operation and then analyzes delegated operation under symmetric information, identifying efficiency frontiers. Under symmetric information, we find that government self-operation is more advantageous when its own operational efficiency is sufficiently high, irrespective of the private enterprise’s efficiency; conversely, delegating to an efficient private enterprise is optimal only when government operational efficiency is low. We also demonstrate that if the government can directly specify the demand quantity and service level and delegates operation via a fixed fee, the enterprise can be incentivized to align with the social optimum. However, under asymmetric information, potential welfare gains from delegation are inevitably offset by informational rent and output distortion. We further uncover non-monotonic impacts of parameters like the proportion of low-cost firms on social welfare loss and demonstrate how information asymmetry can indirectly compromise the long-term resilience of the infrastructure. Ultimately, our work asserts that delegation is only superior if its potential efficiency gains sufficiently offset the inherent losses stemming from information asymmetry. Full article

This study explores the internationalization of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), emphasizing the critical role of competent managerial abilities. Specifically, it investigates the sustainable role of managerial capabilities in directly facilitating SMEs’ entry into international markets, or whether these capabilities first assist in risk management and resource utilization, supporting international expansion. We propose that SMEs with skilled and capable managers are better equipped to manage internal risks and leverage available resources, thereby enhancing their internationalization efforts. Drawing on empirical data from 191 Chinese SMEs, our findings support the proposed model, revealing that managerial capabilities contribute to internationalization indirectly—this relationship is fully mediated by risk management and resource utilization. This study recommends that SMEs prioritize building a sustainable management team capable of navigating internal challenges to successfully pursue international growth. Our research contributes to the resource-based view and the Uppsala model of internationalization by contextualizing the role of managerial capabilities, risk management, and resource utilization in the internationalization processes of SMEs. Full article

In the context of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), organizational resilience has emerged as a critical capability for navigating dynamic and turbulent environments. The ability of firms to sustain their performance despite external disruptions, particularly those arising from market and technological change, is paramount for achieving long-term sustainability. This study offers a novel contribution by examining how two key dimensions of environmental turbulence—market turbulence and technological turbulence—moderate the relationship between organizational resilience capacity and sustainability performance. Our empirical findings, based on data from 423 SMEs, demonstrate that while organizational resilience positively correlates with sustainability performance, this relationship is significantly weakened under high levels of market and technological turbulence, indicating a negative moderating effect. These results advance resource-based and dynamic capabilities theory by highlighting the contingent nature of resilience in unstable contexts. Furthermore, this study provides practical guidance. SMEs should strategically invest in resilience-building efforts and continuously adapt their strategies in response to environmental fluctuations. Targeted approaches to managing different forms of turbulence and forming resilience-oriented collaborations can enhance sustainability outcomes. This research makes significant contributions to theory and practice; however, there are limitations that future research should take into account in order to appropriately utilize this study’s findings. Full article

Drawing on a panel dataset of 27,972 firm-year observations from Chinese A-share listed companies spanning 2009 to 2022, this study employs fixed-effects models to examine the nonlinear relationship between firm-level climate policy uncertainty (FCPU) and corporate green governance expenditure (GGE). The results reveal a robust inverted U-shaped pattern: moderate levels of FCPU encourage firms to increase GGE, while excessive uncertainty discourages it. Financing constraints mediate this relationship; specifically, FCPU exhibits a U-shaped impact on financing constraints, initially easing and then tightening them. Older top management teams accelerate the GGE downturn, while government environmental expenditure delays it, acting as a buffer. Heterogeneity analyses reveal the inverted U-shaped effect is more pronounced for non-polluting firms and state-owned enterprises (SOEs). This study highlights the complex dynamics of FCPU on corporate green behavior, underscoring the importance of climate policy stability and transparency for advancing corporate environmental engagement in China. Full article

With increasing urban economic development, some industrial parks and residential areas are being situated adjacent to each other, creating a potential risk of soil and groundwater contamination from the wastewater and solid waste produced by enterprises. This contamination poses a threat to the health of nearby residents. Currently, groundwater pollution prevention and control zoning in China primarily targets groundwater environmental pollution risks and does not consider the health risks associated with groundwater exposure in industry–city integration areas. Therefore, a scientific assessment of environmental risks in industry–city integration areas is essential for effectively managing groundwater pollution. This study focuses on the high frequency and rapid pace of human activities in industry–city integration areas. It combines health risk assessment and groundwater pollution simulation results with traditional groundwater pollution control classification outcomes to develop a groundwater pollution risk zoning framework specifically suited to these integrated areas. Using this framework, we systematically assessed groundwater pollution risks in a representative industry–city integration area in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in China and delineated groundwater pollution risk zones to provide a scientific basis for local groundwater environmental management. The assessment results indicate that the total area of groundwater pollution risk control zones is 30.37 km², accounting for 19.06% of the total study area. The first-level control zone covers 5.38 km² (3.38% of the total area), while the secondary control zone spans 24.99 km² (15.68% of the total area). The first-level control zone is concentrated within industrial clusters, whereas the secondary control zone is widely distributed throughout the region. In comparison to traditional assessment methods, the zoning results derived from this study are more suitable for industry–city integration areas. This study also provides groundwater management recommendations for such areas, offering valuable insights for groundwater control in integrated industrial–residential zones. Full article