Search Results (1,817)

This study intends to provide insights and challenges for the shape of the B movement, an emerging paradigm that fosters cross-sectoral partnerships and encourages ethical business practices through so-called purpose-driven businesses. Focusing on Italy, the first European country to adopt this managerial model, the research investigates Italian Benefit Corporations, known as Società Benefit (SB), and their most appealing sustainability claims from a consumer perspective. The analysis intends to inform theory development by assuming the cultural and creative industry (CCI) as a field of interest, utilizing a within-subjects experimental design to analyze data from a diverse consumer sample across various contexts. The results indicate that messaging centered on economic sustainability emerged as the most effective in generating positive consumer responses, highlighting a prevailing inclination toward pragmatic factors such as affordability, economic accessibility, and tangible benefits rather than social issues. While sustainable behaviors are not yet widespread, latent ethical sensitivity for authentic, value-driven businesses suggests that economic and ethical dimensions can be strategically synthesized to enhance consumer engagement. This insight highlights the role of BCs in catalyzing a shift in consumption patterns within ethical-based and creative-driven sectors. Full article

Where we find and form identity and belonging, meaning and purpose, is often entangled in the dynamics that play out between people and place, and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, the legacy and ongoing experience of invasion and colonisation. Place-based understandings of identity and its importance in shaping young people’s experience of what is possible and probable in their futures might be critical to framing cross-cultural work with young people impacted by violence and trauma. This paper draws on practitioner reflections of work with young Aboriginal women both on, and off Country, highlighting common and distinct themes related to identity formation and migration in navigating new futures. These include connection to Country and spiritual connection, family and kinship relationships, Women’s Business and felt cultural safety. The findings illustrate a meaningful parallel instructive to practice; for both young women and practitioners, access to cultural knowledge and connection is strengthened by endorsement and in turn strengthens understanding and experienced safety. This work emphasises the importance of creating culturally connected opportunities, sensitive to dynamics of place, to support positive identity expression and wellbeing. Full article

The integration of Internet of Things (IoT) systems with social networking concepts has opened new business and social opportunities, particularly by allowing smart objects to autonomously establish social relationships with each other and exchange information. However, these relations must be properly quantified and integrated with trust in order to proliferate the provisioning of IoT composite services. Therefore, this proposed work focuses on quantitatively computing social strength and trust among smart objects in IoT for the purpose of aiding efficient service composition with reasonable accuracy. In particular, we propose a trust-augmented social strength (TASS) management protocol that can cope with the heterogeneity of IoT and demonstrate high scalability and resiliency against various malicious attacks. Afterward, we show how the TASS measurements can be applied to service planning in IoT service composition. Based on the experimental results, we conclude that the proposed protocol is, in fact, capable of exhibiting the above-mentioned characteristics in real-world settings. Full article

The production of bio-based products for different purposes has become an increasingly common strategy over the last few decades, both in Europe and worldwide. This trend seeks to contribute to mitigating the impacts associated with climate change and to cope with the ambitious objectives established at European level. Over recent decades, agro-industries have shown significant potential as biomass suppliers, triggering the development of robust logistical supply chains and the valorization of by-products to obtain bio-based products that can be marketed at competitive prices. However, this transformation may, in some cases, involve restructuring traditional business model to incorporate the biorefinery concept. In this sense, the first step in developing a bio-based value chain involves assessing the resource’s availability and characterizing the feedstock to select the valorization pathway and the bio-application with the greatest potential. The paper incorporates inputs from a case study on PATURPAT, a company commercializing a wide range of ready-prepared potato products, which has commissioned a starch extraction facility to process the rejected pieces of potatoes and water from the process to obtain starch that can be further valorized for different bio-applications. This study aims to comprehensively review current trends and frameworks for potatoes processing agro-industries and define the most suitable bio-applications to target, as well as identify opportunities and challenges. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally disrupted assumptions about entrepreneurship, career planning, and professional development. This study explored how the pandemic influenced the entrepreneurial intentions of undergraduate business students in the United States. Using a qualitative methodology based on in-depth interviews with 31 students at a public Midwestern university, the research interpreted student narratives through the lenses of effectuation theory, resilience theory, and the theory of planned behavior. Findings revealed that many participants reframed entrepreneurship as a strategy for navigating economic uncertainty and enhancing personal agency. Students reported valuing adaptability, resourcefulness, and opportunity recognition, often experimenting with side hustles during the pandemic as a means of resilience. Their entrepreneurial thinking shifted from purely economic motivations toward aspirations for flexibility, self-fulfillment, and purposeful work. The study highlights the formative role of crisis contexts in shaping entrepreneurial identity among emerging professionals. It suggests that entrepreneurship education should move beyond traditional models, fostering skills for navigating complexity and building resilience. In doing so, the findings contribute to broader conversations about youth entrepreneurship, post-pandemic career development, and the evolving demands of the labor market in times of disruption. Full article

The purpose of this study is to synthesize existing peer-reviewed literature on fashion renting and provide insights into its role within the broader framework of sustainable consumption and business practices within different cultural contexts, while also guiding future research efforts. This review includes only peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters in English, with the search conducted up to 31 March 2025. A total of 95 academic papers published between 2010 and 2025 were analyzed to explore the evolving landscape of fashion rental consumption and business practices. NVivo 14 was used for the analysis of the collected literature. The findings revealed six key motivating benefits and six significant barriers that influence consumer participation in fashion renting. Additionally, five success factors and four critical challenges were identified as shaping the development of the fashion rental market. This research represents the first attempt to synthesize literature from both the consumer and business perspectives of fashion renting. The findings provide a comprehensive understanding of market dynamics related to fashion rental consumption and business practices, shedding light on the key factors that support the sustainability of fashion rental businesses as well as the challenges they face. Both theoretical and practical implications are discussed, offering valuable guidance for researchers and fashion industry stakeholders. Full article

With rising environmental awareness, numerous firms are transitioning to green investment, such as low-carbon production. However, the consumer adoption of low-carbon products remains low due to transparency concerns. Many firms are leveraging blockchain to address information asymmetry in the supply chain, thereby building consumer confidence in low-carbon products. The purpose of this work is to provide decision support for business firms by analyzing the strategic choices regarding the manufacturer’s green investment and the e-retailer’s adoption of blockchain technology. Three strategy combinations are considered, including the baseline strategy combination without green investment and blockchain technology (NN), the strategy combination with only green investment (LN), and the strategy combination with both green investment and blockchain technology (LB). The optimal pricing and green level decisions are derived, and the conditions under which green investment and blockchain technology are beneficial to the supply chain members are examined. The findings suggest that the e-retailer can obtain the highest profit without adopting blockchain technology if it holds a substantial or extremely low market share, if the consumers’ low-carbon preference is at a low to medium level, or if the consumer green trust coefficient is high when the manufacturer implements the green investment strategy. When consumers exhibit a weak preference for low-carbon products, the strategy combination NN is optimal for the supply chain members. The strategy combination LB becomes optimal if the consumer green trust coefficient is near or below the moderate threshold, if the market share of a channel is neither extremely high nor low, or if consumers exhibit a strong preference for low-carbon products. Full article

Startups are essential to solving contemporary global financial and social challenges. The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic review of the literature on the economic, environmental, and social values of sustainability in startups. Research papers that included the terms “sustainability in startups”, “sustainability of entrepreneurship”, “environmentally friendly new businesses”, “startups”, “entrepreneur”, “sustainable development”, “green economy”, “green investment”, “green development”, “financial sustainability”, “entrepreneurship performance”, and “agriculture entrepreneurship” were considered for analysis. The PRISMA 2020 protocol was used for the screening of relevant articles addressing economic, environmental, and social sustainability in startups. This study is limited to 42 research papers extracted from SCOPUS and DOAJ databases covering the period 2010 to 2024. Most of these provide literature on European, American, and Asian countries, indicating that startups prioritise the economic value of sustainability. However, the review of the literature demonstrates that startups are beginning to adopt a more balanced approach to sustainability as all three pillars addressing economic, environmental, and social values are represented. Sustainable practices improve startups’ performance. There is a need for active research in startup sustainability in the African context to address the research gap identified in the analysis of the literature. Full article

Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is a proactive management technique widely used to improve the reliability of products and processes across various business sectors. Due to rapid changes stemming from uncertain environments, numerous studies have proposed different approaches to enhance the effectiveness of the FMEA method. However, there is a lack of systematic literature reviews and classification of research on this topic. The purpose of this paper is to systematically review the literature on the integration of FMEA with Multi-Attribute Decision-Making (MADM) theories and various mathematical models. This study analyses a total of 68 papers published between 2015 and 2024, selected from 51 peer-reviewed journals indexed in Scopus and/or Web of Science. Furthermore, a bibliometric analysis was conducted based on the frequency of different mathematical theories used to model existing uncertainties, methods for determining the weighting vectors of risk factors (RFs), the use of MADM theories extended with uncertain numbers for weighting RFs and prioritizing identified failure modes, publication years, journals, and application domains. This research aims to support both researchers and practitioners in effectively adopting uncertain MADM methods to address the limitations of traditional FMEA and provide insight into the current state of the art in this field. Full article

This study aims to predict the purpose of the use of IC card data in LRT immediately after its opening by means of a questionnaire survey and to understand the changes in the number of commuters to better understand the growth in LRT commuter ridership, which has not been fully clarified in Japan. Furthermore, to assess long-term commuter retention for LRT systems, the analysis revealed the following three points. First, a discriminant analysis based on a national PT survey revealed that commuting and leisure or business activities can be classified with high accuracy. Second, it was found that commuter numbers increased immediately after opening, while the number of leisure or business users decreased in the first few months after opening and then leveled off. Third, the increase in the number of commuters was modeled using a logistic curve, and the annual rate of change in ridership was predicted to be less than 1% in the first three to four years after opening. Full article

The contemporary food environment is experiencing substantial transformations, and sustainability and the pursuit of novel ingredients have become pivotal factors in consumer decision-making and business strategy formulation. The emergence of alternative proteins has significant implications for sustainability, climate change mitigation and animal welfare, and can potentially promote the achievement of different United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The spread of these novel foods requires significant attention, particularly concerning younger demographics, which are often considered to be more environmentally and ethically aware when making dietary choices. This study investigates the psychological and attitudinal factors that shape young consumers’ intention to consume plant-based, insect-based, and cultured meat alternative proteins, and verifies the existence of heterogeneous segments of consumers. To this purpose principal component analysis and k-means cluster analysis are employed using data from an online survey conducted in Italy, with a sample of 350 young consumers. The findings reveal that the intention to consume alternative protein sources is not particularly pronounced among the young consumers and differs according to the type of alternative protein. Three different profiles of young consumers were found: traditionalist (39% of the sample); enthusiastic (17%) and open-minded (44%). These segments differ significantly with respect to consumption intention, socio-demographic, lifestyle and psychological variables. The results provide useful insights for policymakers to design targeted interventions to encourage young consumers’ sustainable food choices. The findings could also be useful for marketers interested in investing in such innovations as they can benefit from an in-depth knowledge of this market segment. Full article

The present study addresses the topic of European companies, including Latvian companies, sustainably entering African markets. The actuality of this topic relates to the recession and the decrease in demand in the classical export markets (such as Scandinavia and Western Europe) with which Latvian firms used to trade; this is why the re-orientation of companies to African countries was carried out. Academic research worldwide has conducted many investigations on the specifics of exporting to Africa. The lack of knowledge relating to local African business practices is considered one of the significant barriers. The aim of this study was to mitigate this barrier by exploring real-world situations in African economic sectors. Interviews with relevant African experts were conducted for this purpose. The results showed that East European entrepreneurs, including Latvian entrepreneurs, should first focus on West African French-speaking countries with big seaports (e.g., Senegal, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Benin, Togo, and Cameroon), where Latvian knowledge, professional skills, and products relating to port and transportation infrastructures are in significant demand. A case study was conducted in Cameroon as an example of a good business match with Latvian service providers. The case study also highlighted the nature of Cameroon’s sociocultural dynamics, which are distinguished by the presence of several sociocultural zones, each with its own specific characteristics that need to be taken into account. Full article

The article discusses the problem of a preliminary analytical method for modifying the shape of a rocket’s nose. The purpose of this method is to determine the shape that minimizes aerodynamic drag, in the context of modifying a ballistic missile to incorporate guidance systems. The traditional design process relies on numerical methods such as CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) or machine learning techniques; however, the method presented here can serve as a first iteration to support the design. Advanced simulation tools are often expensive and difficult to access for smaller companies, while open-source software can sometimes be unreliable, difficult to use, and incompatible with professional solutions. This can pose a challenge for businesses planning to collaborate in the future with large corporations that rely on advanced engineering tools. The proposed solution, as previously mentioned, provides a starting point for the entire design process. The approach has been shown to be sufficient from the design work. The entire process was validated during test range trials, during which rockets were launched, and the flight measurement results accurately reflected the aerodynamic properties of the missiles. In the next stages of the project, numerical methods including CFD simulations are planned to verify the analytical results and enable further aerodynamic modification of the design. Full article

As the relationship between cryptocurrency mining activities and electricity consumption becomes increasingly close, the risk spillover effect is steadily drawing a lot of attention to the energy and cryptocurrency markets. For the purpose of studying the risk contagion between the cryptocurrency and energy market, this paper constructs a risk contagion network between cryptocurrency and China’s energy market using complex network methods. The tail risk spillover effects under various time and frequency domains were captured by the spillover index, which was assessed by the leptokurtic quantile vector autoregression (QVAR) model. Considering the spatial heterogeneity of energy companies, the spatial Durbin model was used to explore the impact mechanism of risk spillovers. The research showed that the framework of this paper more accurately reflects the tail risk spillover effect between China’s energy market and cryptocurrency market under various shock scales, with the extreme state experiencing a much higher spillover effect than the normal state. Furthermore, this study found that the tail risk contagion between cryptocurrency and China’s energy market exhibits notable dynamic variation and cyclical features, and the long-term risk spillover effect is primarily responsible for the total spillover. At the same time, the study found that the company with the most significant spillover effect does not necessarily have the largest company size, and other factors, such as geographical location and business composition, need to be considered. Moreover, there are spatial spillover effects among listed energy companies, and the connectedness between cryptocurrency and the energy market network generates an obvious impact on risk spillover effects. The research conclusions have an important role in preventing cross-contagion of risks between cryptocurrency and the energy market. Full article

Purpose: This study aims to provide a comprehensive and objective view to investigate whether the motives of strong financial managers to adopt an accounting conservatism strategy have significant effects on improving financial growth opportunities in the context of banks listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange, while knowing how this relationship is affected by litigation risks. Design/Methodology/Approach: Using data from Saudi financial databases, this study examines how litigation risk moderates the relationship between accounting conservatism and financial growth in Saudi listed banks. Basu’s (1997) model and accrual-based metrics measure conservatism, whereas assets, liabilities, and business age are used to measure financial growth. Litigation risk factors included previous lawsuits. Validity was ensured using fixed-effects regression and robustness tests. Findings: The study found that accounting conservatism has a mixed impact on financial growth, litigation risk moderates the relationship between conservatism and financial growth, and litigation risk has a positive impact on accounting conservatism. Practical Implications: Use a balanced strategy to maintain accounting conservatism, lower litigation risk while maintaining the accuracy of financial statements, take legal risk into account when evaluating the quality of financial reporting, increase transparency without impeding growth, create guidelines tailored to a particular bank, and fortify governance to reduce lawsuits while permitting long-term financial growth. Originality/Value: In order to bridge the gap between conservatism strategies and long-term financial stability in emerging economies, this study examines how managerial decisions in accounting conservatism affect the financial growth of Saudi banks, incorporating litigation risk as a moderating factor. It also contributes to financial policies, risk management, and regulations. Full article