Search results

This chapter of the book aims to achieve sustainability and productivity in light of the interaction between managers and engineers in a lean and agile supply chain management system in today’s organizations. The main innovation of this chapter is the use of the balanced scorecard (BSC) model and fuzzy analysis network process (FANP) to create a suitable platform for the realization of this interaction between managers and engineers and to identify exactly which expert system is ideal for the main purpose. Indeed, this chapter introduces its readers to the application of strategic management tools such as the BSC accompanied by FANP in the elements of supply chain management where data analysis of lean and agile networks in supply chain management can create a competitive advantage in the organization.

Introduction: Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a vital role in the economic development of economies by generating job opportunities. Considering their significance, understanding the challenges and skills required in these enterprises becomes essential and timely.

Purpose: This study aims to discuss the limitations and skill gaps faced by SMEs in emerging economies, such as India, Indonesia, Brazil, China, Malaysia, Ghana, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Türkiye, UAE, Iran, Kazakhstan, Türkiye, Zambia, Romania, and Vietnam.

Methodology: The study adopts a systematic review and meta-synthesis approach, utilising a literature review to comprehensively analyse, synthesise, and map the existing literature by identifying overarching themes.

Findings: The study examines the challenges SMEs encounter in emerging economies, including resource scarcity, limited access to credit, inadequate infrastructure, low technology adoption, restricted global market access, and ineffective marketing strategies. There is a notable shortage of skilled labour and development initiatives within SMEs in India even though the country has a sizeable pool of qualified workers. There is a pressing need for additional technical and managerial skills to remain competitive in the market. The findings of this study will assist HR managers in addressing skill shortages among employees in SMEs operating within emerging economies

Introduction: Cost competitiveness, customer focus, and sustainability compliance are essential for new-age firms to survive and succeed in the VUCA market environment. This study examines how automobile corporations have improved cost competitiveness, productivity, and product quality.

Purpose: This study examines the importance of cost competitiveness, customer focus, and sustainability compliance for the long-term survival of organisations in VUCA markets, looking at the practical efforts made by automobile corporations to enhance cost competitiveness, productivity, and quality.

Methodology: The study utilises a comprehensive analysis of the strategies and initiatives implemented by the selected automobile companies. It involves a review of relevant literature, case studies, financial data analysis, and interviews with key industry experts, providing a holistic understanding of the actions taken by these organisations to achieve their goals.

Findings: The study reveals that cost competitiveness, customer focus, and sustainability compliance are critical factors for the long-term survival and success of organisations in the automotive industry. The analysed automobile companies have undertaken practical efforts to improve cost competitiveness, enhance productivity, and ensure high-quality products, enabling them to navigate the challenges and maintain a competitive edge.

Significance: The findings of this study contribute to a deeper understanding of the importance of cost competitiveness, customer focus, and sustainability compliance in the automotive industry. It highlights the need for organisations to constantly monitor both qualitative and quantitative profit to avoid complacency and ensure long-term efficiency. The study’s insights are relevant to businesses operating in other sectors, as they face similar challenges in the VUCA market environment.

In many storybooks in the Philippines, the presence of a sibling is a commonplace in writing the child protagonist's world. More specifically, the kuya, which is the Filipino term for older brother, is a male character that can influence the child protagonists. In this chapter, my goal is to analyse the positionalities of the kuya as male characters in four storybooks from the Philippines that feature the bond between a younger child and the older brother/s. These storybooks are Salo-Salo Para Kay Kuya (A Feast for Big Brother), Sandosenang Kuya (A Dozen Big Brothers), Ang Kuya Kong Zombie (My Big Brother Zombie) and Ang Misteryo ng Patong-Patong na Damit ni Hulyan (The Mystery Behind Hulyan's Layered Clothes).

Through this chapter, I aim to theorise the roles that male characters play vis-à-vis their relationships with their younger siblings. The male characters' narrative journeys, character developments and roles in the context of the story are analysed through what Michael White calls ‘subordinate storylines’, which is character information that cannot be accessed by mere conversation among children. Thus, in the chapter, I investigate the values; intensions; knowledge and skills; and social, relational and cultural genesis of the male characters vis-à-vis the narratives and their interplay with the child protagonists in the story.

Sustainability, as we all know has become such a crucial global matter that even the United Nations has not failed to take cognizance of it and has addressed the same through the formation of ‘Sustainable Development Goals’. As per an article on Global Reporting Initiative's Medium platform, it has been estimated that ‘the supply chain activities of a firm account for around 90% of its sustainability impressions’ (according to Sustainalytics' future-proofing supply chains study). Taking this view forward, sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) is one such area which has acquired substantial significance in the recent times. Studies in the area of SSCM has found an increasing attention especially in the past two decades. This paper strives to review the recent literature in SSCM to identify the recent trends in this area of research. The paper attempts to identify the contemporary and upcoming research topics and also the research gaps in the field of SSCM which could act as a potential source of further research for the academia.

Resilient and sustainable supply chain management is emerging as a focused area of research in the field of supply chain management. This article aims to introduce this edition of Advances in Environmental Accounting and Management and explore opportunities for research related to resilient and sustainable supply chain management. A critical analysis of literature found the need for developing the theory underpinning resilient and sustainable supply chains and the need for rich empirical studies. The six articles included in this edition present a variety of contexts including food supply chain, environmental accounting models, energy sector, human resources, modern slavery, horticultural worker exploitation and sustainable transport in jurisdictions like Australia, European Union, Fiji and India. Overall, this edition contributes to both theoretical and empirical literature on resilient and sustainable supply chain management and presents a repository of research that explores this area using an accounting and environmental management perspective.

Introduction: Skill development is crucial in developing economies by enhancing productivity and creating employment opportunities. At the macro level, it also leads to industrial development and economic growth.

Purpose: The research is to identify the types of skills required for increasing the probability of employability of labour. It also aims to define the challenges and opportunities in skill development to drive change.

Need of the Study: Studying opportunities and challenges for skill development in developing economies is essential for achieving sustainable economic growth, reducing poverty, increasing employment opportunities, and promoting global competitiveness.

Research Methodology: Some skills are recognised through research that has been published to determine the skill set needed to increase labour productivity. To draw lessons, some skill development initiatives by various companies are also identified and presented in case studies. Additionally, several government programs are available to assess the possibilities and prospects for skill development in the Indian market.

Practical Implications: The research will be valuable in micro and macro decision making. At the micro level, research is advantageous for a business person to initiate the skill development of its employees by using government schemes. Nations other than India can understand the policy framework for skill development.

Findings: The term ‘skilling’ has become fashionable. Due to the need for skill-based earnings data, only some studies examine the return on skill (ROS) of the labour market. Skill development plays a significant role in bringing change at the micro and macro levels. Hence it is necessary to exploit all opportunities for skill development.

Organizational sociology and organization studies have a long history together, while also sharing a proclivity to self-diagnose crises. Instead of taking these assessments at face value, this paper treats them as an object of study, asking what conditions have fueled them. In the case of organizational sociology, there are indications of a connection between rising levels of discontent and community building: self-identified organizational sociologists have progressively withdrawn from general debates in the discipline and turned their attention to organization studies, which, they suspect, has seen dramatic levels of growth at their expense. Organization studies, on the other hand, are still haunted by “a Faustian bargain”: leaning heavily on the authority of the social sciences, business school faculty were able to facilitate the emergence of a scholarly field of practice dedicated to the study of organizations, which they control. However, in doing so, they also set organization studies on a path of continued dependence on knowledge produced elsewhere: notably, by university disciplines such as sociology.

Published in June 2020, the European Union (EU) Taxonomy Regulation is an important tool for the reorientation of capital flows toward sustainability, establishing a classification system that enables investors to identify green economic activities. Confronted by the reporting demands of this regulation, companies are caught in a sustainability economic revolution. This study seeks primarily to understand firms’ responses to the EU taxonomy, and whether they recognize value creation opportunities by aligning market and nonmarket strategies with the taxonomy goals. For that, we conducted expert interviews and adopted a conceptual framework based on institutional theory, dynamic capabilities view and nonmarket strategy research. Our findings indicate that most firms respond reactively, while firms with sustainability-driven business models tend to respond in an anticipatory way, and firms with high greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and low taxonomy eligibility in a defensive way. We also find evidence for mimetic isomorphism related to the influence of consulting and auditing services. Further, high levels of uncertainty, ambiguity and lack of clarity has a great impact on firms’ responses and motives. Finally, this study highlights the EU taxonomy considering a paradigmatic shift toward sustainability, which is not recognized by most firms. To this end, we find that most companies have not identified opportunities arising from nonmarket integration and, rather, see the taxonomy only as an extra regulation to be compliant with. Hence, we argue that it is crucial that firms contextualize the taxonomy within its larger institutional paradigmatic shift to capture the importance of going beyond mere compliance.