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Distribution network design involves a set of strategic decisions in supply chains because of their long-term impacts on the total logistics cost and environment. To incorporate a trade-off between financial and environmental aspects of these decisions, this paper aims to determine an optimal location, among candidate locations, of a new logistics center, its capacity, as well as optimal network flows for an existing distribution network, while concurrently minimizing the total logistics cost and gas emission. In addition, uncertainty in transportation and warehousing costs are considered.

The problem is formulated as a fuzzy multiobjective mathematical model. The effectiveness of this model is demonstrated using an industrial case study. The problem instance is a four-echelon distribution network with 22 products and a planning horizon of 20 periods. The model is solved by using the min–max and augmented ε-constraint methods with CPLEX as the solver. In addition to illustrating model’s applicability, the effect of choosing a new warehouse in the model is investigated through a scenario analysis.

For the applicability of the model, the results indicate that the augmented ε-constraint approach provides a set of Pareto solutions, which represents the ideal trade-off between the total logistics cost and gas emission. Through a case study problem instance, the augmented ε-constraint approach is recommended for similar network design problems. From a scenario analysis, when the operational cost of the new warehouse is within a specific fraction of the warehousing cost of third-party warehouses, the solution with the new warehouse outperforms that without the new warehouse with respective to financial and environmental objectives.

The proposed model is an effective decision support tool for management, who would like to assess the impact of network planning decisions on the performance of their supply chains with respect to both financial and environmental aspects under uncertainty.

Since conducting agile strategies provides sustainable passenger satisfaction and revenue by replacing applied policies with more profitable ones rapidly, the focus of this study is to evaluate agile attributes for managing low-cost carriers (LCCs) operations by means of resources and competences based on dynamic capabilities built on resource-based view (RBV) theory and to achieve sustainable competitive advantage in a volatile and dynamic air transport environment. LCCs in Turkey are also evaluated in this study since the competition among LCCs is high to gain market share and they can adapt quickly to all kinds of circumstances.

Two well-known Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Methods (MCDM) named as the Stepwise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis (SWARA) and multi-attributive border approximation area comparison (MABAC) methods by employing Picture fuzzy sets (PiFS) are employed to determine weight of agile attributes and superiority of LCCs based on agile attributes in the market, respectively. To check the consistency and robustness of the results for the proposed approach, comparative and sensitivity analysis are performed at the end of the study.

While the ranking orders of agile attributes are Strategic Responsiveness (AG1), Financial Management (AG4), Quality (AG2), Digital integration (AG3) and Reliability (AG5), respectively, LCC2 is selected as the best agile airline company in Turkey with respect to agile attributes. SWARA and MABAC method based on PiFS is appropriate and effective method to evaluate agile attributes that has important reference value for the airline companies in aviation industry.

The findings of this study will support managers in the airline industry to conduct airline operations more flexibly and effectively to take sustainable competitive advantage in unexpected and dynamic environment.

To the author' best knowledge, this study is the first developed to identify the attributes necessary to increase agility in LCCs. Thus, as a systematic tool, a framework is developed for the implementation of agile attributes to achieve sustainable competitive advantage in the airline industry and presented a roadmap for airline managers to deal with crises and challenging situations by satisfying customer and increasing competitiveness.

This conceptual paper aims to explore government regulatory responses of social networking platforms (SNP) and tourism destination evangelism. This research draws on a two-phase data source review of government legislations that guarantee social media users and empirical papers related to social media platforms. The results revealed that Ghana has adopted specific legislations that manage and control SNP. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first of its kind that synthesized government legislation and empirical papers on social networking platforms in evangelising destinations which have been missing in extant literature.

Using the lens of crisis innovation and strategic alignment, this study explores how a segment of the restaurant sector that may be less agile than others—Michelin-starred restaurants—perceives and aligns with the challenges brought about by the COVID-19-pandemic.

The study collected data from 19 Michelin-starred restaurants in Spain using a qualitative interview method. The data were analyzed qualitatively and organized thematically.

Four key categories of strategic challenges were identified: human resources, uncertainty, control and economic challenges. In response, chefs displayed both behavioral and organizational strategies. Those organizational strategies were new human resource management, reorganization, product and service innovation and marketing. While the new human resource management actions adopted to align with the human resource challenges identified, a misalignment remains between some of the other strategic actions, such as product and service innovation, marketing and economic and uncertainty challenges.

The findings offer new insight into Michelin-starred restaurant chefs' challenges and (mis)alignment strategies, an area that has been understudied in the current literature on innovative responses in the hospitality sector post-pandemic.

The major objective of this research work was to evaluate various physico-chemical characteristics, such as, chemical composition, antioxidant capacity, objective color and texture profile analysis (TPA) of the wheat flour/chickpea flour (CF) blends, so that nutritious baked products could be consumed by the type-2 diabetic persons.

Wholegrain wheat flour (WGF) and white wheat flour (WWF) were substituted with CF at 0 to 40% levels. These wheat flour/CF blends were analyzed for proximate composition, the prepared dough and baked breads were tested for objective color, antioxidant capacity as trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC), malondialdehyde (MDA) and total phenolic content (TPC) and TPA.

WGF had the highest TEAC (117.42 mM/100g) value, followed by WWF (73.98 mM/100g) and CF (60.67 mM/100g). TEAC, MDA and TPC values varied significantly among all the three flour samples.

Inclusion of whole chickpea (without dehulling) flour in such type of blends would be another interesting investigation during the future research studies.

These research findings have a great potential for the production of these baked products for human consumption on an industrial scale.

Production of breads using wheat flour and CF blends would benefits the consumers.

Production of Arabic and pan breads using wheat flour and CF blends would, therefore, combine the benefits of both the needed proteins of plant origin and the health-promoting bioactive compounds, in a most sustainable way for the consumers.

Supply chain management (SCM)-embedded valuable resources, such as capital, raw-materials, products, partners, customers and finished inventories, where the evaluation of environmental texture and flexibilities are needed to perceive sustainability. The present study aims to identify and evaluate the directory of green and agile (G-A) attributes based on decision support framework (DSF) for identifying dominating measures in SCM.

DSF is developed by exploiting generalized interval valued trapezoidal fuzzy numbers (GIVTFNs). Two technical approaches, i.e. degree of similarity approach (DSA) and distance approach (DA) under the extent boundaries of GIVTFNs, are implicated for data analytics and for recognizing constructive G-A measures based on comparative study for robust decision. A fuzzy-based performance indicator, i.e. fuzzy performance important index (FPII), is presented to enumerate the weak and strong G-A characteristics to manage knowledge risks in allied business environment.

The modeling is illustrated from the insights of decision-makers for augmenting business value based on cognitive identification of measures, where the best performance score is identified by the “sustainable packaging” under the traits of green supply chain management (GSCM). “The use of Web-based applications” under the traits of agile supply chain management (ASCM) and “Outsourcing flexibility” under traits of ASCM is found as the second and third most significant performance characteristics for business sustainability. Additionally, the “Reutilization (recycling) and reprocessing” under GSCM in manufacturing and “Responsiveness and speed toward customers needs” under ASCM are found difficult in attainment.

The G-A evaluation will assist in attaining performance excellence in day-to-day operations and overall functioning. The outcomes will help executives to plan strategic objectives and attaining success.

To reinforce the capabilities of SCM, wide extent of G-A dimensions are presented, concept of FPII is reported to manage knowledge risks based on identification of strong attributes and two technical approaches, i.e. DSA and DA under GIVTFNs are presented for attaining robust decision and directing managerial decision-making process.

Religious tourism is one of the oldest and fastest-growing segments. This study analyzes religious tourism through the pilgrimage of Muslims to the holy city of Mecca and has the following objectives: (1) establish the motivational dimensions of religious tourism; (2) identify the motivational dimensions that predict the satisfaction of religious tourism and (3) determine the motivational dimensions that predict return, recommend and say positive things about religious tourism applied to the pilgrimage to a sacred city.

The sample consisted of Muslim pilgrims who had visited Mecca. The sample was collected in Bahrain, a country located on the Persian Gulf, where most of its population is Muslim. A total of 380 valid questionnaires were obtained online. For the data analysis, factorial analysis and the multiple regression method enter were performed.

The results show that religious motivations are more important when visiting a sacred city than secular ones. Three motivational dimensions were found: religious, social and cultural and shopping. The three dimensions found have a significant relationship with satisfaction and loyalty. Likewise, it was found that the religious motivational dimension is the factor that most predicts satisfaction and loyalty in the behavior of religious visits to a sacred city.

The main limitation of the present study was the temporality in which the sample was taken because the demand may vary at another time of the year and therefore vary its results.

The authors of the study recommend that holy cities increase the religious motivations of these travelers by periodically researching their needs and organizing services to suit their desired spiritual experience. Also, to improve the social and cultural part, travel agencies and tourist companies to Mecca should promote social and cultural motivation among travelers in an appropriate way by providing service packages that involve visits to cultural and social sites such as museums and cultural centers.

This research will serve as a management guide for public institutions and private companies to develop more efficient planning in religious destinations and sacred cities.

This study is the first to analyze the construct of motivations in the pilgrimage to the city of Mecca, to then establish what the main motivations are that predict satisfaction and loyalty in a religious city. Thus, its results provide important information for tourist destination managers and tourism service providers.

This paper aimed to test a proposed framework highlighting strategic green marketing initiatives and how they drive new technology implementation towards green corporate performance, underpinned by institutional isomorphism.

The study used a quantitative method and convenience sampling approach in gathering data using adapted questionnaires to solicit first-hand information from 225 employees of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the tourism and hospitality sector underpinned by the theory of institutional isomorphism.

The study shows that green communication and green strategy alignment have significant predictive effects on new technology implementation. Cultural isomorphism significantly moderated the effects of implementing new technology (i.e. green communication and strategy alignment). In addition, “new technology implementation had a significant predictive effect on green corporate performance”. Meanwhile, the moderation effect of “green creative behaviour on the new technology-green corporate performance dyad was positive but insignificant.”

The study’s novel framework confirms how green communication strategy and green strategy alignment complement cultural isomorphism to explain the impact of new technology implementation on green corporate performance, underpinned by institutional isomorphism.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between digital financial inclusion and economic growth in specific Asian countries, emphasizing the exploration of how digital financial inclusion dynamics impact gross domestic per capita income.

The study creates a digital financial inclusion composite index (DFII) by incorporating essential metrics from the Global Findex report. Economic growth is measured using Gross Domestic Product per capita income in its natural logarithmic form (LnPCI), with three control variables– employment-to-population ratio; population growth and inflation. The analysis utilizes a fixed-effect dummy variable model to examine the relationship, considering unobserved country-specific heterogeneity. 30 Asian countries have been selected for the study for the periods 2014, 2017 and 2021 based on their availability, as outlined in Table 4.

The research revealed a robust positive correlation between the Digital Financial Inclusion Index (DFII) and logarithmic GDP per capita income (LnPCI), indicating higher per capita income with enhanced digital financial inclusion. Employment and population exhibited minimal influence, whereas inflation had a notable negative effect on per capita income. Population growth showed a limited impact. The model demonstrated a high explanatory power for the dependent variable (high R-squared), and the residuals displayed low autocorrelation (Durbin–Watson of 1.96).

This study adds to the existing literature by examining the intricate connection between digital financial inclusion (DFI) and economic growth in 30 Asian countries, employing a comprehensive composite index for analysis.

This study aims to provide an insight into research related to Muslim travellers in the past 42 years.

Using 342 articles collected from the Scopus database from 1981 to 2023, this study adopted the Bibliometrix in RStudio package and Biblioshiny Web application to analyse the research on Muslim travellers in two main categories: overview and intellectual structures.

The first publication related to Muslim travellers occurred in 1981 and number of publications remained few in the first three decades. Starting 2015, publications on Muslim travellers experienced a growing development of discussions and publications. Four prominent research clusters were identified: “halal tourism”, “hajj”, “Islamic tourism” and “tourist post-purchase”. Themes within the research on Muslim travellers have evolved from the “pilgrimage” to “Islamic tourism” theme. Then, the “Islamic tourism” theme has been expanded to a variety of topics that were primarily relevant to Muslim tourist behaviour. Themes related to “climate change” and “Syria” have been identified as the niche themes that need further study.

Scopus database is regularly updated as the number of papers and journals may increase or decrease from time to time. This may impact on the fluctuation of the theme analysis from the article search at that time.

This study reviews publications related to Muslim travellers over the past four decades. Accordingly, it can aid interested researchers and stakeholders in gaining a more thorough understanding of Muslim traveller research.