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Article
Publication date: 13 December 2023

Indrit Troshani and Nick Rowbottom

Information infrastructures can enable or constrain how companies pursue their visions of sustainability reporting and help address the urgent need to understand how corporate…

Abstract

Purpose

Information infrastructures can enable or constrain how companies pursue their visions of sustainability reporting and help address the urgent need to understand how corporate activity affects sustainability outcomes and how socio-ecological challenges affect corporate activity. The paper examines the relationship between sustainability reporting information infrastructures and sustainability reporting practice.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper mobilises a socio-technical perspective and the conception of infrastructure, the socio-technical arrangement of technical artifacts and social routines, to engage with a qualitative dataset comprised of interview and documentary evidence on the development and construction of sustainability reporting information.

Findings

The results detail how sustainability reporting information infrastructures are used by companies and depict the difficulties faced in generating reliable sustainability data. The findings illustrate the challenges and measures undertaken by entities to embed automation and integration, and to enhance sustainability data quality. The findings provide insight into how infrastructures constrain and support sustainability reporting practices.

Originality/value

The paper explains how infrastructures shape sustainability reporting practices, and how infrastructures are shaped by regulatory demands and costs. Companies have developed “uneven” infrastructures supporting legislative requirements, whilst infrastructures supporting non-legislative sustainability reporting remain underdeveloped. Consequently, infrastructures supporting specific legislation have developed along unitary pathways and are often poorly integrated with infrastructures supporting other sustainability reporting areas. Infrastructures developed around legislative requirements are not necessarily constrained by financial reporting norms and do not preclude specific sustainability reporting visions. On the contrary, due to regulation, infrastructure supporting disclosures that offer an “inside out” perspective on sustainability reporting is often comparatively well developed.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 37 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 29 April 2024

Giovanna Culot, Guido Orzes, Marco Sartor and Guido Nassimbeni

This study aims to analyze the factors that drive or prevent interorganizational data sharing in the context of digital transformation (DT). Data sharing appears as a precondition…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to analyze the factors that drive or prevent interorganizational data sharing in the context of digital transformation (DT). Data sharing appears as a precondition for companies to capture emerging opportunities in supply chain management and for product-related servitization; however, there are ongoing concerns, and data are often perceived as the “new oil.” It is thus important to gain a better understanding of the determinants of firms’ decisions.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors develop an embedded case study analysis involving 16 firms within an extended supply network in the automotive industry. The authors focus on the peculiarities of the new context, as opposed to elements highlighted by research prior to the advent of the latest technologies. Abductive reasoning is applied to the theoretical foundations of the resource-based view, resource dependence theory and the complex adaptive systems perspective.

Findings

Data sharing is largely underpinned by factors identified prior to DT, such as data specificity, dependence dynamics and protection mechanisms and the dynamism of the business context. DT, however, can influence the extent of data sharing. New factors concern complementarities whenever data are pooled from different sources and digital platforms, as well as different forms of data ownership protection.

Originality/value

This study stresses that data sharing in the context of DT can be explained through established theoretical lenses, providing the integration of elements accounting for new technological opportunities.

Details

Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, vol. 29 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1359-8546

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 June 2023

Luís Oscar Silva Martins, Inara Rosa de Amorim, Vinicius de Araújo Mendes, Marcelo Santana Silva, Francisco Gaudencio Mendonça Freires and Ednildo Andrade Torres

This study aims to examine the price and income elasticities of short- and long-run industrial electricity demand in Brazil between 2003 and 2020. The research also examines the…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to examine the price and income elasticities of short- and long-run industrial electricity demand in Brazil between 2003 and 2020. The research also examines the impacts of COVID-19 in Brazil’s industrial electricity sector, including an analysis in states more and less industrialized.

Design/methodology/approach

Dynamic adjustments models in panel data are used to present robust estimates and analyze the impact of different methodologies on reported elasticities.

Findings

The short-run price elasticity is estimated at −0.448, while the long-run values are around −1.60. Regarding income elasticity, the value is 0.069 in the short-run and is concentrated in 0.25 in the long-run. The inelastic results of income show that the industrial demand for electric energy follows the trend of loss of competitiveness of the Brazilian industry in the past years. In addition, the price of natural gas, the level of employment, and, in specific cases, the level of imports also influence industrial electricity demand.

Originality/value

The research is a pioneer in the investigation of the industrial behavior of electricity of the Brazilian industrial branch, using as control variables, the average temperature, and the level of rainfall, this one, so important for a country whose main source is hydroelectric. In addition, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first study, which is prepared to analyze the effects of COVID-19 on electric consumption in the industrial sector, investigating these impacts, including in the states considered more and less industrialized. The estimates generated may help in the design of the Brazilian energy policy.

Details

International Journal of Energy Sector Management, vol. 18 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6220

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 November 2023

Hailu Getnet, Aron O’Cass, Vida Siahtiri and Hormoz Ahmadi

This study aims to investigate the role of team problem-solving creativity in new product development (NPD) in the bottom-of-the-pyramid (BoP) in business-to-business firms. This…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the role of team problem-solving creativity in new product development (NPD) in the bottom-of-the-pyramid (BoP) in business-to-business firms. This study synthesizes perspectives from NPD, creativity and leadership to examine how work-related factors such as NPD managers’ role ambiguity and individual-related factors such as CEO’s ambidextrous leadership style interact to determine team problem-solving creativity and its effect on new product performance (NPP).

Design/methodology/approach

The hypotheses are tested using data from a multi-informant survey of 274 middle-level managers within 137 local BoP manufacturing firms in a sub-Saharan African country.

Findings

The results show that an NPD team’s ability to solve problems creatively determines NPP in BoP markets. The findings also show that NPD managers’ role ambiguity has a negative effect on team problem-solving creativity. However, a CEO’s ambidextrous leadership neutralizes the negative impact of role ambiguity on problem-solving creativity.

Originality/value

This study combines three distinct streams of literature, including NPD, creativity and leadership, to explore the antecedents and outcomes of problem-solving creativity. Drawing on creativity and leadership theories, this study reports that the success of creative idea exchanges depends heavily on a supportive environment for NPD team members and minimizing the NPD manager’s role ambiguity.

Details

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. 39 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0885-8624

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 February 2022

Prajakta Thakare and Ravi Sankar V.

Agriculture is the backbone of a country, contributing more than half of the sector of economy throughout the world. The need for precision agriculture is essential in evaluating…

Abstract

Purpose

Agriculture is the backbone of a country, contributing more than half of the sector of economy throughout the world. The need for precision agriculture is essential in evaluating the conditions of the crops with the aim of determining the proper selection of pesticides. The conventional method of pest detection fails to be stable and provides limited accuracy in the prediction. This paper aims to propose an automatic pest detection module for the accurate detection of pests using the hybrid optimization controlled deep learning model.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper proposes an advanced pest detection strategy based on deep learning strategy through wireless sensor network (WSN) in the agricultural fields. Initially, the WSN consisting of number of nodes and a sink are clustered as number of clusters. Each cluster comprises a cluster head (CH) and a number of nodes, where the CH involves in the transfer of data to the sink node of the WSN and the CH is selected using the fractional ant bee colony optimization (FABC) algorithm. The routing process is executed using the protruder optimization algorithm that helps in the transfer of image data to the sink node through the optimal CH. The sink node acts as the data aggregator and the collection of image data thus obtained acts as the input database to be processed to find the type of pest in the agricultural field. The image data is pre-processed to remove the artifacts present in the image and the pre-processed image is then subjected to feature extraction process, through which the significant local directional pattern, local binary pattern, local optimal-oriented pattern (LOOP) and local ternary pattern (LTP) features are extracted. The extracted features are then fed to the deep-convolutional neural network (CNN) in such a way to detect the type of pests in the agricultural field. The weights of the deep-CNN are tuned optimally using the proposed MFGHO optimization algorithm that is developed with the combined characteristics of navigating search agents and the swarming search agents.

Findings

The analysis using insect identification from habitus image Database based on the performance metrics, such as accuracy, specificity and sensitivity, reveals the effectiveness of the proposed MFGHO-based deep-CNN in detecting the pests in crops. The analysis proves that the proposed classifier using the FABC+protruder optimization-based data aggregation strategy obtains an accuracy of 94.3482%, sensitivity of 93.3247% and the specificity of 94.5263%, which is high as compared to the existing methods.

Originality/value

The proposed MFGHO optimization-based deep-CNN is used for the detection of pest in the crop fields to ensure the better selection of proper cost-effective pesticides for the crop fields in such a way to increase the production. The proposed MFGHO algorithm is developed with the integrated characteristic features of navigating search agents and the swarming search agents in such a way to facilitate the optimal tuning of the hyperparameters in the deep-CNN classifier for the detection of pests in the crop fields.

Details

Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology , vol. 22 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1726-0531

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 August 2023

Mehmet Chakkol, Mark Johnson, Antonios Karatzas, Georgios Papadopoulos and Nikolaos Korfiatis

President Trump's tenure was accompanied by a series of protectionist measures that intended to reinvigorate US-based production and make manufacturing supply chains more “local”…

Abstract

Purpose

President Trump's tenure was accompanied by a series of protectionist measures that intended to reinvigorate US-based production and make manufacturing supply chains more “local”. Amidst these increasing institutional pressures to localise, and the business uncertainty that ensued, this study investigates the extent to which manufacturers reconfigured their supply bases.

Design/methodology/approach

Bloomberg's Supply Chain Function (SPLC) is used to manually extract data about the direct suppliers of 30 of the largest American manufacturers in terms of market capitalisation. Overall, the raw data comprise 20,100 quantified buyer–supplier relationships that span seven years (2014–2020). The supply base dimensions of spatial complexity, spend concentration and buyer dependence are operationalised by applying appropriate aggregation functions on the raw data. The final dataset is a firm-year panel that is analysed using a random effect (RE) modelling approach and the conditional means of the three dimensions are plotted over time.

Findings

Over the studied timeframe, American manufacturers progressively reduced the spatial complexity of their supply bases and concentrated their purchase spend to fewer suppliers. Contrary to the aims of governmental policies, American manufacturers increased their dependence on foreign suppliers and reduced their dependence on local ones.

Originality/value

The research provides insights into the dynamics of manufacturing supply chains as they adapt to shifting institutional demands.

Details

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 44 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3577

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 18 August 2022

Marina Salse, Javier Guallar-Delgado, Núria Jornet-Benito, Maria Pilar Mateo Bretos and Josep Oriol Silvestre-Canut

The purpose of this study is to determine which metadata schemas are used in the museums and university collections of the main universities in Spain and other European countries…

2053

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to determine which metadata schemas are used in the museums and university collections of the main universities in Spain and other European countries. Although libraries and archives are also university memory institutions (according to a Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums perspective), their collections are not included in this study because their metadata systems are highly standardized and their inclusion would, therefore, skew our understanding of the diverse realities that the study aims to capture.

Design/methodology/approach

The analysis has three components. The first is a bibliographic review based on Web of Science. The second is a direct survey of the individuals responsible for university collections to understand their internal work and documentation systems. Finally, the results obtained are complemented by an analysis of collective university heritage portals in Europe.

Findings

The results of this study confirmed the hypothesis that isolation and a lack of resources are still major issues in many cases. Increasing digitalization and the desire to participate in content aggregation systems are forcing change, although the responsibility for that change at universities is still vague.

Originality/value

Universities, particularly those with a long history, have an important heritage whose parts are often scattered or hidden. Although many contemporary academic publications have focused on the dissemination of university collections, this study focuses on the representation of information based on the conviction that good metadata are essential for dissemination.

Details

Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication, vol. 73 no. 4/5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2514-9342

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 January 2024

Fran Ackermann, Colin Eden and Peter McKiernan

Conventional wisdom says stakeholders matter to managers as they develop strategy – but do they? If so, what type of stakeholders matter and what can managers do?

Abstract

Purpose

Conventional wisdom says stakeholders matter to managers as they develop strategy – but do they? If so, what type of stakeholders matter and what can managers do?

Design/methodology/approach

An in-depth exploration of five deep case studies where senior executives embarked upon strategy development. Analysis revealed five significant factors for managing stakeholders effectively.

Findings

These findings include: determining the nature of a stakeholder, separating those who care about the strategy and its implementation from those who do not but still could impact it; addressing stakeholders at an appropriate level; considering internal as well as external stakeholders and attending to the stakeholders’ responses to proposed strategies and the consequent dynamics created.

Research limitations/implications

(1) The research was conducted with senior managers, and the authors detail the difficulties involved in doing so within the introduction and (2) The research was specific to the healthcare sector, but has relevance to all strategy makers.

Practical implications

This paper explores five factors and their implications and suggests techniques to address them that are well established and available to promote the effective strategic management of stakeholders.

Originality/value

Empirical research in strategy formation with elites is rare because it is difficult to gain access and trust. Empirical research in stakeholder studies is even rarer. By combining the two elements, the authors gather and interpret a unique dataset.

Details

Journal of Strategy and Management, vol. 17 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1755-425X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 January 2024

Morteza Mohammadi Ostani, Jafar Ebadollah Amoughin and Mohadeseh Jalili Manaf

This study aims to adjust Thesis-type properties on Schema.org using metadata models and standards (MS) (Bibframe, electronic thesis and dissertations [ETD]-MS, Common European…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to adjust Thesis-type properties on Schema.org using metadata models and standards (MS) (Bibframe, electronic thesis and dissertations [ETD]-MS, Common European Research Information Format [CERIF] and Dublin Core [DC]) to enrich the Thesis-type properties for better description and processing on the Web.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is applied, descriptive analysis in nature and is based on content analysis in terms of method. The research population consisted of elements and attributes of the metadata model and standards (Bibframe, ETD-MS, CERIF and DC) and Thesis-type properties in the Schema.org. The data collection tool was a researcher-made checklist, and the data collection method was structured observation.

Findings

The results show that the 65 Thesis-type properties and the two levels of Thing and CreativeWork as its parents on Schema.org that corresponds to the elements and attributes of related models and standards. In addition, 12 properties are special to the Thesis type for better comprehensive description and processing, and 27 properties are added to the CreativeWork type.

Practical implications

Enrichment and expansion of Thesis-type properties on Schema.org is one of the practical applications of the present study, which have enabled more comprehensive description and processing and increased access points and visibility for ETDs in the environment Web and digital libraries.

Originality/value

This study has offered some new Thesis type properties and CreativeWork levels on Schema.org. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time this issue is investigated.

Details

Digital Library Perspectives, vol. 40 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2059-5816

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 December 2023

Annette Markham and Riccardo Pronzato

This paper aims to explore how critical digital and data literacies are facilitated by testing different methods in the classroom, with the ambition to find a pedagogical…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore how critical digital and data literacies are facilitated by testing different methods in the classroom, with the ambition to find a pedagogical framework for prompting sustained critical literacies.

Design/methodology/approach

This contribution draws on a 10-year set of critical pedagogy experiments conducted in Denmark, USA and Italy, and engaging more than 1,500 young adults. Multi-method pedagogical design trains students to conduct self-oriented guided autoethnography, situational analysis, allegorical mapping, and critical infrastructure analysis.

Findings

The techniques of guided autoethnography for facilitating sustained data literacy rely on inviting multiple iterations of self-analysis through sequential prompts, whereby students move through stages of observation, critical thinking, critical theory-informed critique around the lived experience of hegemonic data and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructures.

Research limitations/implications

Critical digital/data literacy researchers should continue to test models for building sustained critique that not only facilitate changes in behavior over time but also facilitate citizen social science, whereby participants use these autoethnographic techniques with friends and families to build locally relevant critique of the hegemonic power of data/AI infrastructures.

Originality/value

The proposed literacy model adopts a critical theory stance and shows the value of using multiple modes of intervention at micro and macro levels to prompt self-analysis and meta-level reflexivity for learners. This framework places critical theory at the center of the pedagogy to spark more radical stances, which is contended to be an essential step in moving students from attitudinal change to behavioral change.

Details

Information and Learning Sciences, vol. 125 no. 5/6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2398-5348

Keywords

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