Search Results (571)

The Sharia Supervisory Board (SSB) and the Audit Committee (AC) are crucial components of Good Corporate Governance (GCG) in Islamic banks. This study investigates the moderating role of SSB conflicts of interest arising from cross-membership in various Islamic Financial Institutions (IFIs) and AC members’ independence in the relationship between GCG and Islamic bank performance in Indonesia. Using a sample of ten full-fledged Islamic banks from 2014 to 2023, a Moderated Regression Analysis (MRA) was employed to test three hypotheses. The key findings indicate a significant positive relationship between GCG and Islamic bank financial performance. However, no significant moderating effects of SSB conflicts of interest on the GCG–performance relationship were found. Conversely, a significant positive moderating effect of AC independence was identified. These results have important implications for practitioners, regulators, and stakeholders of the Islamic banking industry. Islamic banks should prioritize the establishment of independent audit committees to strengthen their governance framework. While SSB cross-membership may not necessarily harm performance, banks should implement appropriate oversight mechanisms to manage potential conflicts of interest. The Indonesian Financial Services Authority (OJK) and similar regulatory bodies should continue to emphasize the importance of audit committee independence in their governance guidelines. Full article

This research addresses the difference between the green economy and corporate social responsibility (CSR), focusing on micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSEs) that produce textiles such as fabrics, clothing, footwear, and services in eastern Lima, Peru. In a global scenario where sustainability has become an essential pillar of economic, social, and environmental development, it is essential to understand how green economy concepts can be incorporated into local business activities. Given the significant role of MSEs in the national economy and their impact on employment and the social fabric, these companies face the challenge of balancing economic growth with responsible and sustainable practices. This study begins with a central question: how can sustainable economic practices promote CSR in this business sector? Using a quantitative approach, the study analyzes how the green economy acts as a driver of CSR in MSEs, as well as the degree of connection between the green economy and the implementation of social responsibility policies and actions in these companies. The results indicate a strong relationship between the two concepts (R² = 0.91), suggesting that the green economy may be an important factor in promoting social and environmental commitment within these organizations. In conclusion, the green economy represents a strategic opportunity to strengthen CSR in MSMEs, providing economic, social, and environmental benefits, although it also entails challenges related to resources, knowledge, and organizational adaptation. This integration could be crucial for sustainable development at both the local and national levels. Full article

Brazilian sanitation companies disclose their sustainable practices through sustainability reports as part of their commitment to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 of the 2030 Agenda, which aims to ensure universal access to water and sanitation. This study proposes a methodology to evaluate how these companies integrate Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles into their management and disclosure practices, rather than assessing service delivery or operational outputs directly. These indicators were applied to the sustainability reports of Brazil’s three largest sanitation companies: Sabesp (Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo), Copasa (Companhia de Saneamento de Minas Gerais), and Sanepar (Companhia de Saneamento do Paraná). The results indicate that all three companies have incorporated sustainability into their competitive strategies and corporate governance practices. Sabesp demonstrated a stronger adherence in the environmental and governance dimensions, Copasa excelled in social performance while also performing well in governance, and Sanepar exhibited the lowest adherence among the three. Hence, we present a methodological framework for monitoring corporate ESG performance and governance practices aligned with SDG 6, focusing on their management and disclosure practices, rather than directly assessing service delivery or operational results. Full article

Based on SWOT and TOWS analyses and combined with expert interviews, this study proposes a series of marketing strategies to enhance consumers’ willingness to purchase used electric vehicles (UEVs). In terms of the strengths and opportunities (SO) strategy, it is recommended that enterprises strengthen marketing and brand building, customize services and special features, use price advantages and environmental awareness to attract specific groups, provide convenient charging services, give full play to technical support advantages, and expand channels through cooperation with the government and manufacturers. The strategies for the strengths and threats (ST) scenario include establishing a government relations department, improving product quality and brand image, enhancing information transparency and quality assurance, and building a partner network and customer relationships. In terms of weaknesses and opportunities (WO), it is proposed to transform corporate weaknesses into opportunities by investing in evaluation technology and expanding charging facilities, strengthening market promotion and consumer education, and providing personalized car purchase advice and high-quality after-sales services. In the face of weaknesses and threats (WT), the emphasis is on reducing risks and improving competitiveness by improving quality management, internal management, and providing long-term after-sales and warranty services. The main innovation of this study lies in integrating SWOT-TOWS strategic frameworks with qualitative expert insights to develop actionable and scenario-specific marketing strategies for the UEV market—an area previously underexplored in existing literature. The comprehensive strategy proposed in this study provides a practical path for UEV companies to enhance consumer trust and purchase willingness and promote the industry’s sustainable development. Full article

Background. Physicomechanical properties and clinical service of bulk-fill composites depend on their adequate polymerization and depth of cure. Some manufacturers claim that these composites can be adequately cured when used in bulks exceeding 4 mm. Objective. The aim of this study was to compare Vickers microhardness (VMH) and depth of cure (DOC) of six contemporary bulk-fill resin composites at depths of 4 mm and 6 mm. Material and methods. Six bulk-fill composites were evaluated in this study: 1. Tetric EvoCeram Bulk (Ivoclar Vivadent, Schaan, Liechtenstein), (TEC); 2. Filtek Bulk Fill Posterior (3M ESPE Dental Products Division, St. Paul, MN, USA), (FBF); 3. Filtek One Bulk Fill (3M ESPE Dental Products Division, St. Paul, MN, USA, (FOB); 4. SonicFill 2 (Kerr, Orange, CA, USA), (SF2); 5. Admira Fusion X-tra (Voco, GmbH, Cuxhaven, Germany), (AFX); 6. GrandioSO X-tra (Voco, GmbH, Cuxhaven, Germany), (GSX). The 18 specimens (3 of each composite) were prepared in split Teflon moulds of 4 mm diameter and 6 mm thickness. All composites were cured in standard mode for 20 s using LED LCU (D-Light Duo, RF-Pharmaceuticals Sarl, Geneva, Switzerland; 1200–1300 mW/cm). The VMH was measured using a digital Micro Hardness Tester Shimadzu (HMV-2T E, Shimadzu Corporation, Kyoto, Japan). A 50 g (0.5 N) load force was applied for 30 s. Each specimen was measured at five places selected by chance at each level (N = 15). The hardness ratio or DOC was calculated for all samples as the ratio of bottom and surface microhardness at levels of 4 and 6 mm. Data were analysed using one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s post hoc test. Results. Significant reduction in VMH was observed for all tested materials when comparing top surface and bottom (p < 0.01). The highest VMH was obtained for GSX and AFX, and the lowest for TEC. The results show that the degree of polymerization was adequate for all tested materials at a depth of 6 mm, since the hardness ratio exceeded 0.80 in all cases. The hardness ratio at 4 mm was high for all tested composites ranging from 0.91 for TEC to 0.98 for GSX. All composites showed adequate DOC at the bottom of the 6 mm bulk samples. However, the hardness ratio was the highest for Admira Fusion X-tra (0.96) and GrandioSO X-tra (0.97). Conclusions. All tested materials showed a significant decrease in microhardness from the top surface to the bottom. The DOC was adequate for all bulk-fill composites at a depth of 6 mm cured under standard mode for 20 s. All bulk-fill resin composites evaluated in this study can be used in bulk, up to 6 mm. Full article

This study investigates the influence of corporate governance on reducing financial statement fraud (FSF) in Jordanian service and industrial companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange from 2018 to 2022. To achieve this, the study employed the Beneish M-score model to assess the likelihood of FSF and logistic regression to examine the influence of corporate governance structure on fraud mitigation. The study identified 13 independent variables, including board size, board director’s independence, board director’s compensation, non-duality of CEO and chairman positions, board diversity, audit committee size, audit committee accounting background, number of annual audit committee meetings, external audit fees, board family business, the presence of women on the board of directors, firm size, and market listing on FSF. The study included 74 companies from both sectors—33 from the industrial sector and 41 from the service sector. Primary data was collected from financial statements and other information published in annual reports between 2018 and 2022. The results of the study revealed a total of 295 cases of fraud during the examined period. Out of the 59 companies analyzed, 21.4% demonstrated a low probability of fraud, while the remaining 78.6% (232 observations) showed a high probability of fraud. The results indicate that the following corporate governance factors significantly impact the mitigation of financial statement fraud (FSF): independent board directors, board diversity, audit committee accounting backgrounds, the number of audit committee meetings, family business involvement on the board, and firm characteristics. The study provides several recommendations, highlighting the importance for companies to diversify their boards of directors by incorporating different perspectives and experiences. Full article

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Generative AI are transformative yet double-edged technologies with evolving risks. While research emphasises trustworthy, fair, and responsible AI by focusing on its “what” and “why,” it overlooks practical “how.” To bridge this gap in financial services, an industry at the forefront of AI adoption, this study employs a qualitative approach grounded in existing Responsible AI and Corporate Digital Responsibility (CDR) frameworks. Through thematic analysis of 15 semi-structured interviews conducted with professionals working in finance, we illuminate nine non-technical barriers that practitioners face, such as sustainability challenges, trade-off balancing, stakeholder management, and human interaction, noting that GenAI concerns now eclipse general AI issues. CDR practitioners adopt a more human-centric stance, emphasising consensus-building and “no margin for error.” Our findings offer actionable guidance for more responsible AI strategies and enrich academic debates on Responsible AI and AI-CDR symbiosis. Full article

With the accelerated digital transformation of the power industry, critical infrastructures such as power grids are increasingly migrating to cloud-native architectures, leading to unprecedented growth in service scale and complexity. Traditional operation and maintenance (O&M) methods struggle to meet the demands for real-time monitoring, accuracy, and scalability in such environments. This paper proposes a novel service performance anomaly detection system based on large language models (LLMs) and multi-agent systems (MAS). By integrating the semantic understanding capabilities of LLMs with the distributed collaboration advantages of MAS, we construct a high-precision and robust anomaly detection framework. The system adopts a hierarchical architecture, where lower-layer agents are responsible for tasks such as log parsing and metric monitoring, while an upper-layer coordinating agent performs multimodal feature fusion and global anomaly decision-making. Additionally, the LLM enhances the semantic analysis and causal reasoning capabilities for logs. Experiments conducted on real-world data from the State Grid Corporation of China, covering 1289 service combinations, demonstrate that our proposed system significantly outperforms traditional methods in terms of the F1-score across four platforms, including customer services and grid resources (achieving up to a 10.3% improvement). Notably, the system excels in composite anomaly detection and root cause analysis. This study provides an industrial-grade, scalable, and interpretable solution for intelligent power grid O&M, offering a valuable reference for the practical implementation of AIOps in critical infrastructures. Evaluated on real-world data from the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), our system achieves a maximum F1-score of 88.78%, with a precision of 92.16% and recall of 85.63%, outperforming five baseline methods. Full article

This study presents a computational analysis of industry-specific advertising message strategies through the theoretical lens of the FCB (Foote, Cone & Belding) grid framework. Leveraging the AiSAC (AI Analysis System for Ad Creation) system developed by the Korea Broadcast Advertising Corporation (KOBACO), we analyzed 27,000 Korean advertisements across five major industries using advanced machine learning techniques. Through Latent Dirichlet Allocation topic modeling with a coherence score of 0.78, we identified five distinct message strategies: emotional appeal, product features, visual techniques, setting and objects, and entertainment and promotion. Our computational analysis revealed that each industry exhibits a unique “message strategy fingerprint” that significantly discriminates between categories, with discriminant analysis achieving 62.7% classification accuracy. Time-series analysis using recurrent neural networks demonstrated a significant evolution in strategy preferences, with emotional appeal increasing by 44.3% over the study period (2015–2024). By mapping these empirical findings onto the FCB grid, the present study validated that industry positioning within the grid’s quadrants aligns with theoretical expectations: high-involvement/think (IT and Telecom), high-involvement/feel (Public Institutions), low-involvement/think (Food and Household Goods), and low-involvement/feel (Services). This study contributes to media science by demonstrating how computational methods can empirically validate the established theoretical frameworks in advertising, providing a data-driven approach to understanding message strategy patterns across industries. Full article

As sustainability becomes a strategic priority across global financial services, its implementation in emerging insurance markets remains insufficiently understood. This study explores the integration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles within Saudi Arabia’s insurance sector, combining content analysis of corporate disclosures with qualitative insights from industry stakeholders. The research investigates how insurers embed ESG principles into their operations, the development of sustainable insurance products, and their perceived financial and regulatory implications. The findings reveal gradual progress in ESG integration, primarily driven by governance reforms aligned with national development agendas, while social and environmental dimensions remain comparatively underdeveloped. Stakeholders identify regulatory ambiguity, data limitations, and technical capacity as persistent barriers, but also point to increasing investor and consumer interest in sustainability-aligned offerings. This study offers policy and managerial recommendations to advance ESG principle adoption, emphasizing standardized disclosures, capacity-building, and product innovation. It contributes to the limited empirical literature on ESG principles in Middle Eastern insurance markets and highlights the sector’s potential role in promoting inclusive and sustainable finance. Full article

In higher education, the employability and entrepreneurship services play an essential role in the labor market insertion of graduates. The management of public relations promotes institutional projection, the creation of networks with companies, and the dissemination of initiatives to strengthen professional skills. This research analyzes how the communication strategies of Andalusian public universities improve employability and encourage entrepreneurship. A methodological triangulation is used: literature review, analysis of social networks with Fanpage Karma, and study of corporate websites. The results show a focus on counseling, training, workshops, job fairs, and networking events, strengthening the brand of universities and their commitment to the professional development of students. Full article

Procedural physician-scientists have made significant contributions to medicine and science, with twelve proceduralists receiving a Nobel Prize. Unfortunately, several systemic challenges have jeopardized the existence, let alone the flourishing, of procedural physician-scientists: the widening gap in the National Institutes of Health salary cap, decreasing funding from nonfederal public and private agencies, and shifting priorities among U.S. hospitals, payers, and policymakers toward relative value unit productivity-based compensation and fee-for-service models. Additional pressures include prolonged training pathways and the need to maintain clinical continuity. Adopting a team science approach may offer a powerful strategy to mitigate these competing demands, support rigorous scientific inquiry, and address the growing complexity of biomedical research. Concerted efforts by the federal government, policymakers, corporations, institutions, and procedural departments will also be crucial to restoring the vitality of this diminishing workforce. Full article

The continued migration of physicians from independent practice to affiliation with larger entities has garnered significant scrutiny. These affiliation models include hospitals and health systems, payers and corporate entities, and management services organizations, which may or may not be private equity (PE)-backed. Data on the impact of different physician affiliation models on cost of care is limited. We examined the relationship between provider affiliation model, site of care (SOC), and cost of care for certain high-volume procedures in procedure-intensive specialties for both Medicare and commercial insurance. We found that hospital-affiliated physicians are least likely—and PE-affiliated physicians are most likely—to provide care in lower-cost settings. For both Medicare and commercial insurance, SOC contributes meaningfully to procedure unit price, which is consistently greater in hospital-based settings. These findings suggest that the physician affiliation model and associated SOC cost differentials contribute materially to healthcare expenditures. As the Medicare cost differentials are set by statute and regulations, strategies such as site-neutral payments are needed to mitigate the monetary impact of historical and future physician practice migration. Full article

Small-scale farms deserve attention and support because they play crucial and important roles. Apart from ensuring provision of food security, they also provide other economic, environmental, and social–cultural benefits. In the United States of America, these farms are agriculturally, culturally, and geographically different. They have varied needs that trigger an array of distinct biophysical, socioeconomic, and institutional challenges. The effects of these challenges are exacerbated by economic uncertainty, technological advancements, climate change, and other environmental concerns. To provide ideal services to the small-scale farm audience, it is necessary to understand these challenges and opportunities that can be leveraged to enhance their productivity and profitability. This article reviews the challenges faced by small-scale farming in the United States of America. It then reviews possible pathways to enhance their productivity and profitability. The review revealed that U.S. small-scale farms face several challenges. They include accessing farmland, credit and capital, lack of knowledge and skills, and technology adoption. Others are difficulties to insure, competition from corporations, and environmental uncertainties associated with climate change. The paper then reviews key pathways to enhance small-scale farmers’ capacities and resilience with a positive impact on their productivity and profitability. They are enhanced cooperative extension services, incentivization, strategic marketing, annexing technology, and government support, among others. Based on the diversity of farms and their needs, responses should be targeted towards individual needs. Since small-scale farm products have an effect on human health and dietary patterns, strategies to increase productivity should be linked to nutrition and health. Full article

Corporate environmental claims often neglect the substantial ecological impact of land-use changes. This case study examines the spatial dimension of retail-driven land-use transformation by analyzing supermarket expansion in the Veneto region (northern Italy), with a focus on a large grocery retailer. We evaluated its corporate environmental claims by assessing land consumption patterns from 1983 to 2024 using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The GIS-based methodology involved geocoding 113 Points of Sale (POS—individual retail outlets), performing photo-interpretation of historical aerial imagery, and classifying land-cover types prior to construction. We applied spatial metrics such as total converted surface area, land-cover class frequency across eight categories (e.g., agricultural, herbaceous, arboreal), and the average linear distance between afforestation sites and POS developed on previously rural land. Our findings reveal that 65.97% of the total land converted for Points of Sale development occurred in rural areas, primarily agricultural and herbaceous lands. These landscapes play a critical role in supporting urban biodiversity and providing essential ecosystem services, which are increasingly threatened by unchecked land conversion. While the corporate sustainability reports and marketing strategies emphasize afforestation efforts under their “We Love Nature” initiative, our spatial analysis uncovers no evidence of actual land-use conversion. Additionally, reforestation activities are located an average of 40.75 km from converted sites, undermining their role as effective compensatory measures. These findings raise concerns about selective disclosure and greenwashing, driving the need for more comprehensive and transparent corporate sustainability reporting. The study argues for stronger policy frameworks to incentivize urban regeneration over greenfield development and calls for the integration of land-use data into corporate sustainability disclosures. By combining geospatial methods with content analysis, the research offers new insights into the intersection of land use, business practices, and environmental sustainability in climate-vulnerable regions. Full article