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As the quality of the environment decreases, enterprises and consumers' awareness of environmental protection is constantly improving. More and more enterprises begin to increase their investment in carbon emission reduction and attract environmentally friendly consumers to buy low-carbon products through advertising. The purpose of this paper is to utilize a realistic differential game model to provide dynamic carbon emission reduction strategies, advertising strategies and cooperation methods for complex supply chain members from a long-term perspective.

This paper uses the extend Vidale-Wolfe model (V-W model) to discuss the dynamic joint emission reduction strategy in the supply chain.

(1) When consumers' awareness of environmental protection increases, on the whole, carbon emission reduction and profit of products show an upward trend. (2) From a long-term perspective, the manufacturer's advertising subsidy to one of the retailers is the best choice. If the strength of the two retailers is unbalanced, the manufacturer will choose to cooperate with the dominant retailer. (3) Advertising, as a marketing means for retailers to promote low-carbon products, can alleviate the adverse effects of prisoner's dilemma in a semi-cooperative state, but it cannot achieve the Pareto optimization result.

This paper focuses on the analysis of the situation that when the manufacturer is the leader and thinks that consumers are active advocates of low-carbon products.

The results of this paper can provide theoretical basis for the joint emission strategy of supply chain members in low-carbon environment.

Web sites are the first point of interaction in the virtual environment and information and entertainment aspects are the most important tenets of web sites. Thus, it becomes important to know how much information and entertainment is required, is adequate and appropriate for a web site. The purpose of this paper is to classify 43 web sites into information and entertainment profiles.

The sites were selected from two Indian rating web sites and engineering students. From the pool of the selected web sites, the present study classified 43 web sites on information and entertainment profiles. The web site profile comprised informativeness, organisation of information elements, entertainment properties and organisation of entertainment elements. The classification was done by three independent judges.

The results revealed that out of 43 web sites, eight were high on both information and entertainment profiles, 15 were high on information and low on entertainment profiles, six were low on information and high on entertainment profiles and 14 were low on both information and entertainment profiles.

Marketers may take cues from the classified web sites and design their web sites to ensure that the web site content meets their goals and satisfies the users while filtering out the content which is irrelevant to their business and incorporate what is essential.

This study provides guidelines regarding the information and/or entertainment aspects which should be stronger in information and/or entertainment‐oriented web sites to attract users. The present study targets the marketers who should prioritise web site features depending upon the needs of their target group.

Drawing on social cognitive theory, this study aims to examine the relationship between supervisor developmental feedback and employee innovative behavior, incorporating with the mediating role of psychological safety and the moderating role of face orientation.

A survey was conducted in 15 manufacturing companies in China. The participants comprised 302 employees. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses. The mediating effects and the moderated mediating effects are further examined with bias-corrected bootstrapping method.

Supervisor developmental feedback has a positive effect on employee innovative behavior through psychological safety, and this mediating effect is weakened by protective face orientation (fear of losing face), while the moderating effect of acquisitive face orientation (desire to gain face) is not significant.

Organizations should create a development-oriented and safe innovation atmosphere for employees. In addition, leaders should adopt differentiated feedback and communication methods according to subordinates' face orientation.

The study has demonstrated the positive effect of supervisor developmental feedback on employee innovative behavior, which is different from previous studies on performance feedback and leadership types. Meanwhile, this study has also explored the mediating effect of psychological safety and the moderating effect of face orientation, which provides more insights on the mechanism and boundary conditions of the effect of supervisor developmental feedback.

The purpose of this paper is to establish a product family that can satisfy various market needs and share design elements.

The paper applies quality function development to understand the correlation between customer needs and product design. The priority sequence and correlation of these design elements will be determined using the interpretive structure model.

This approach will reduce repeated design effort and reduce unnecessary cost and time. The designer can simultaneously and efficiently meet various market and customer needs.

The company can open up more markets for greater profit and advantages. The paper uses “the market need and BIKE product redesign” as the example for the proposed approach.

When it comes to the high accuracy autonomous motion of the mobile robot, it is challenging to effectively control the robot to follow the desired trajectory and transport the payload simultaneously, especially for the cloud robot system. In this paper, a flexible trajectory tracking control scheme is developed via iterative learning control to manage a distributed cloud robot (BIT-6NAZA) under the payload delivery scenarios.

Considering the relationship of six-wheeled independent steering in the BIT-6NAZA robot, an iterative learning controller is implemented for reliable trajectory tracking with the payload transportation. Meanwhile, the stability analysis of the system ensures the effective convergence of the algorithm.

Finally, to evaluate the developed method, some demonstrations, including the different motion models and tracking control, are presented both in simulation and experiment. It can achieve flexible tracking performance of the designed composite algorithm.

This paper provides a feasible method for the trajectory tracking control in the cloud robot system and simultaneously promotes the robot application in practical engineering.

The primary objective of this investigation was to explore how employees’ utilization of social media for work-related purposes impacts their service innovation behavior, both directly and through the intermediary mechanisms of knowledge management and employees’ risk-taking.

In developing its conceptual framework, this study has drawn upon the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) theory. To test its hypotheses, this study has surveyed 241 financial analysts from ten Iranian financial companies and has employed variance-based structural equation modeling (specifically, PLS-SEM) with the assistance of “WarpPLS 8.0 software.”

The findings revealed that employees’ work-related use of social media positively influences their service innovation behavior using knowledge management, encompassing knowledge sharing and acquisition capability as well as employee risk-taking. However, this influence is not directly significant.

To the best of our knowledge, this study marks the first instance in which the effect of work-related use of social media on employee service innovation behavior directly and through the mediating roles of knowledge management and risk-taking has been investigated through the lens of the SOR paradigm, especially in the financial sector.

The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze the benefits of the application of a requirements engineering framework to assist Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) development. This framework combines the technology-driven and the process-driven approaches for requirements analysis and implementation. Specific business process modeling methods enhance the framework and assist the formulation of the functional specifications of the ERP system and the management of requirements.

A case study strategy was chosen as the most appropriate method to answer the research question and test the theoretical propositions. The case study’s unit of analysis is a Greek manufacturing company and its ERP implementation project. A requirements engineering framework enhanced with business process modeling methods was applied and the results were evaluated using metrics for ERP implementation success. Data were collected using multiple sources of evidences, including interviews with various stakeholders, structured questionnaires, direct observations, vendors’ functionality papers and company’s documentation.

This study proves that the configuration of ERP’s reference models together with the adjustments of organization’s processes, provided through a structured requirements engineering framework can lead to reliable functional specifications, a smooth transition to an ERP system and, eventually, to successful ERP implementation, concerning its alignment with requirements.

A single case study is conducted in a typical manufacturing company, providing opportunities for further research in other industries, testing in parallel well-defined requirements and other success factors for ERP implementation.

The paper fulfils the identified needs for applied methodologies and frameworks for requirements engineering which can assist successful ERP implementations.

The flexible mode transitions, multiple power sources and system uncertainty lead to challenges for mode transition control of four-wheel-drive hybrid powertrain. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to improve dynamic performance and fuel economy in mode transition process for four-wheel-drive hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), overcoming the influence of system uncertainty.

First, operation modes and transitions are analyzed and then dynamic models during mode transition process are established. Second, a robust mode transition controller based on radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) is proposed. RBFNN is designed as an uncertainty estimator to approximate lumped model uncertainty due to modeling error. Based on this estimator, a sliding mode controller (SMC) is proposed in clutch slipping phase to achieve clutch speed synchronization, despite disturbance of engine torque error, engine resistant torque and clutch torque. Finally, simulations are carried out on MATLAB/Cruise co-platform.

Compared with routine control and SMC, the proposed robust controller can achieve better performance in clutch slipping time, engine torque error, vehicle jerk and slipping work either in nominal system or perturbed system.

The mode transition control of four-wheel-drive HEVs is investigated, and a robust controller based on RBFNN estimation is proposed. Compared results show that the proposed controller can improve dynamic performance and fuel economy effectively in spite of the existence of uncertainty.

Purpose: The prominence of entrepreneurial marketing (EM) as the practice of exploiting market opportunities is becoming increasingly important to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). It has been stated that SMEs lack resources such as finance, knowledge, experience, and information, compared with larger firms that integrate marketing with innovativeness, which is critical to enhancing entrepreneurship. Therefore, this chapter aims at establishing the theoretical foundation that links entrepreneurial orientation with marketing practices in Jordanian SMEs. More specifically, this chapter provides deep recognition of the current status of EM opportunities and challenges in Jordanian SMEs.

Design/methodology/approach: As SMEs are one of the important components in the private sector in Jordan and contribute to the creation of almost half of the GDP. Accordingly, this chapter adopts a critical review of the relevant literature, governmental reports, business studies, and published surveys in EM among Jordanian SMEs. Moreover, this chapter will present a thorough analysis of the published statistics and insights about EM orientations from different sectors of Jordanian SMEs. Based on the reviewed and analyzed secondary data, EM initiatives, opportunities, and challenges can be extracted and highlighted to achieve the purpose of this chapter.

Findings: The expected outcomes of the chapter are to build the theoretical foundation and promote a deep understanding that bridges the knowledge gap about the status of EM in Jordanian SMEs supported by literature and published report evidence. Another outcome of this chapter is highlighting the important entrepreneurial issues and identifying areas for further research in the Middle East generally and Jordan particularly.

Practical implications: The chapter provides relevant knowledge, literature-based evidence, and lessons learned to empower entrepreneurs in SMEs. This chapter also enhances the best practices of EM for entrepreneurs, marketers, and policymakers. Moreover, this chapter proposes how to overcome potential challenges and threats that may be encountered by practitioners, especially in different cultural contexts such as the Middle East and North African (MENA) region.

Originality/value: The chapter proposed a conceptual foundation about EM in SMEs aimed at different cultural contexts like Jordan. Moreover, the chapter provides a critical review of published research that explains entrepreneurs aspirations for growth, expansion, and innovation, which is critical for the growth and sustainability of SMEs. Finally, the chapter concludes by providing policy implications and practical recommendations that can encourage policymakers in formulating and implementing the relevant interventions and strategic trends for enhancing entrepreneurship in Jordan.

The purpose of this paper is to detail the design and prototyping of a smart automation solution for de-strapping plastic bonding straps on shipping pallets, which are loaded with multiple containers secured by a top-cover as they move on a conveyor belt.

The adopted design methodology to have the system perform its function entails using the least number of sensors and actuators to arrive at an economic solution from a system design viewpoint. Two prototypes of the robotic structure are designed and built, one in a research laboratory and another in an industrial plant, to perform localized cutting and grabbing of the plastic straps, with the help of a custom-designed passive localizing structure. The proposed structure is engineered to locate the plastic straps using one degree of freedom (DOF) only. An additional strap removal mechanism is designed to collect the straps and prevent them from interfering with the conveyor.

The functionality of the system is validated by performing full-process tests on the developed prototypes in a laboratory setting and under real-life operating conditions at BMW Group facilities. Testing showed that the proposed localization system meets the specified requirements and can be generalized and adapted to other industrial processes with similar requirements.

The proposed automated system for de-strapping pallets can be deployed in assembly or manufacturing facilities that receive parts in standard shipping pallets that are used worldwide.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first mechanically smart system that is used for the automated removal of straps from shipping pallets used in assembly facilities. The two main novelties of the proposed design are the robustness of the strap localization without the need for computer vision and a large number of DOF, and the critical placement and choice of the cutting and gripping tools to minimize the number of needed actuators.