Search results

The purpose of this paper is to discuss positive spillovers of this project, especially for Pakistan because the majority of the literature discusses challenges associated with China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

This study reviews the available literature to assess the role of CPEC in the sustainable economic development of Pakistan.

This study indicates that CPEC is an ambitious development project because it needs a larger restructuring of the economy of Pakistan and it will be productive with the successful blend of policy changes and participation of the business community in Pakistan. This project primarily creates a huge amount of foreign direct investment for Pakistan, at the same time, it will also create greater trade opportunities to China by giving access to a new market for its trading goods.

This study established that CPEC will improve the economic growth and trade, enhance regional connectivity, overcome energy crises, develop infrastructure and establish people-to-people contacts in both the countries, which will further help to improve the tourism sector.

This study draws on the systems perspective to study the individual and combined interaction effect of lean management (LM) and sustainability management (SM) on the organization's triple bottom line (TBL) performance.

The study employs structural equation modeling to test the proposed hypotheses using data from the sixth version of the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS VI).

The study finds that LM is positively related to all dimensions of the TBL performance. In contrast, SM is positively related to social and environmental performance and negatively related to economic performance. Finally, by finding that the interaction between LM and (SM) is positive for social and environmental performance, this study not only confirms that LM is an enabler for sustainability, but it also supports that the two paradigms are mutually compatible and reinforcing.

The findings imply that practitioners pursuing both LM and SM should leverage their mutual positive effects and balance the unintended effects of implementing isolated bundles by implementing them together as a complete socio-technical system. Their combined impact on the TBL performance will outweigh the sum of their individual effects in the case of isolated implementations.

In contrast with the extant literature, this study proposes that LM and SM make parts of one system as opposed to one correlated with the other or having a positive causal effect on the other. Taking an integrated systems approach, the study empirically verifies the “mutual compatibility” of the lean and sustainability paradigms argument, with regard to their effect on the TBL performance.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze research methodologies and publication trends across geographical regions in the field of supply chain innovation (SCI) and provide a discussion of future research in the SCI.

Using a content analysis approach, this paper investigates 26 years of SCI research based on a sample of 473 journal articles published in 77 peer-reviewed international journals.

There has been an increasing focus on empirical quantitative research design as compared to empirical qualitative, conceptual quantitative and conceptual qualitative designs in the field of SCI. Continued research interest in SCI from all parts of the world including North America, Europe and Asia illustrates the importance of SCI in the broader field of management.

The inclusion of a large number of journals provides greater confidence in the identified trends. However, as the top-tier journals publish only the most rigorous studies, considering all journals as equally weighted will give rise to a mixed pool of studies. Identifying trends from this mixed pool may provide more comprehensiveness at the cost of inclusion of non-core journals of the field.

The current study builds a holistic view of the methodological progress made so far in the field of SCI.

The capability to predict and evaluate various configurations’ performance during the conceptual design phase using multidisciplinary design analysis and optimization can significantly increase the preliminary design process’s efficiency and reduce design and development costs. This research paper aims to perform multidisciplinary design and optimization for an expendable microsatellite launch vehicle (MSLV) comprising three solid-propellant stages, capable of delivering micro-payloads in the low earth orbit. The methodology’s primary purpose is to increase the conceptual and preliminary design process’s efficiency by reducing both the design and development costs.

Multidiscipline feasible architecture is applied for the multidisciplinary design and optimization of an expendable MSLV at the conceptual level to accommodate interdisciplinary interactions during the optimization process. The multidisciplinary design and optimization framework developed and implemented in this research effort encompasses coupled analysis disciplines of vehicle geometry, mass calculations, aerodynamics, propulsion and trajectory. Nineteen design variables were selected to optimize expendable MSLV to launch a 100 kg satellite at an altitude of 600 km in the low earth orbit. Modern heuristic optimization methods such as genetic algorithm (GA), particle swarm optimization (PSO) and SA are applied and compared to obtain the optimal configurations. The initial population is created by passing the upper and lower bounds of design variables to the optimizer. The optimizer then searches for the best possible combination of design variables to obtain the objective function while satisfying the constraints.

All of the applied heuristic methods were able to optimize the design problem. Optimized design variables from these methods lie within the lower and upper bounds. This research successfully achieves the desired altitude and final injection velocity while satisfying all the constraints. In this research effort, multiple runs of heuristic algorithms reduce the fundamental stochastic error.

The use of multiple heuristics optimization methods such as GA, PSO and SA in the conceptual design phase owing to the exclusivity of their search approach provides a unique opportunity for exploration of the feasible design space and helps in obtaining alternative configurations capable of meeting the mission objectives, which is not possible when using any of the single optimization algorithm.

The optimized configurations can be further used as baseline configurations in the microsatellite launch missions’ conceptual and preliminary design phases.

Satellite launch vehicle design and optimization is a complex multidisciplinary problem, and it is dealt with effectively in the multidisciplinary design and optimization domain. It integrates several interlinked disciplines and gives the optimum result that satisfies these disciplines’ requirements. This research effort provides the multidisciplinary design and optimization-based simulation framework to predict and evaluate various expendable satellite launch vehicle configurations’ performance. This framework significantly increases the conceptual and preliminary design process’s efficiency by reducing design and development costs.

Using multiple theoretical lenses, the paper develops and empirically tests a service design-based framework of effective customer participation (CP) in service delivery. Particularly, the paper examines the impact of customer education on effective CP, besides the latter's effect on service quality. The direct and moderating effect of service modularity on the association between customer education and effective CP is also studied.

Covariance-based structural equation modeling is used to test the hypotheses using the survey data collected from the healthcare industry within Pakistan.

The results lend support for the presence of individual and mutually reinforcing effects of customer education and service modularity on effective CP in service delivery, ultimately affecting service quality.

Building on the CP and customer learning literature, this research extends the work on antecedents and consequences of effective CP in the larger domain of the service design and service delivery literature.

The findings reveal that service managers should design services such that by design, CP is ingrained within service delivery processes so that it is effectively managed during service delivery for superior service quality.

Given the already scant research that has either taken a narrower view of CP (mostly in pre- or post-service delivery), the current research makes one of the initial attempts to identify, theorize and empirically test the service design level antecedents for holistic CP spanning over the physical, behavioral and informational participation during the service delivery.

This study aims to understand how firms in developing economies acquire knowledge about social sustainability by leveraging the social capital embedded in firms' social network, through optimally governing relationships with network members. The study proposes that relational and contractual governance mechanisms interact with various structural facets of the network, resulting in varying degrees of social sustainability related knowledge acquisition.

Primary data collected with a multiple respondent survey design from 204 manufacturing firms located in major industrial cities in Pakistan were used. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) followed by hierarchical regression analysis is used to test the hypotheses.

The study finds that both relational and contractual governance mechanisms are positively related to a firm’s social sustainability-related knowledge acquisition, but their effectiveness is impacted by the structural facets of the network. Network size positively moderates the relationship between relational governance and social sustainability related knowledge acquisition, whereas both network range and strength of ties negatively moderate the relationship between contractual governance and social sustainability related knowledge acquisition.

Practitioners with resource-constrained firms should interact with their social network to leverage the knowledge and resources embedded within. The findings prescribe optimal governance strategies for different combinations of network structure variables to gain maximum knowledge about social sustainability.

The literature lacks information on the effect of network structure on the relationships between social network governance and social sustainability-related knowledge acquisition for resource-constrained firms in the developing economy context, making this study’s contributions unique.

This study aims to identify critical capabilities to address unforeseen and novel disruptions, such as those instigated by COVID-19, and explore their role as essential enablers of supply chain resilience and responsiveness, leading to improved performance.

The structural equation modeling technique was employed for analyzing the proposed associations using survey data from 206 manufacturers operating during the COVID-19 pandemic in a developing country, Pakistan.

Key findings show how improvisation and anticipation act distinctly yet jointly to facilitate supply chain resilience and responsiveness during the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, data analytics capability positively affects anticipation and improvisation, which mediate the effect of data analytics on supply chain resilience and responsiveness.

The findings contribute to the theoretical and empirical understanding of the existing literature, suggesting that a combination of improvisation, anticipation and data analytics capabilities is highly imperative for enhancing supply chain resilience and responsiveness in novel and unexpected disruptions.

This is the first study to examine the impact of data analytics on improvisation and anticipation and the latter as complementary capabilities to enhance supply chain resilience and responsiveness. The empirical investigation explores the interplay among data analytics, improvisation, and anticipation capabilities for enhancing supply chain resilience, responsiveness, and performance during the unforeseen and novel disruptions, such as brought to bear by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This paper aims to investigate the role of organizational and technological enablers and their arrangement and alignment with the external environment to facilitate supply chain integration (SCI), which consequently improves operational performance.

The paper uses a structural equation modeling approach and the data from 307 manufacturing firms from the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey version VI for hypotheses testing.

The findings of the study reveal that (1) the alignment and particular arrangement of the sociotechnical organizational factors enable the SCI of a firm, (2) suitable organizational arrangements help in leveraging SCI under environmental pressures, and (3) SCI leverages the relationship between sociotechnical organizational factors and operational performance of the firm.

This paper informs managers that SCI leverages the operational performance of firms under heightened environmental pressures. Developing suitable manufacturing technologies infrastructure followed by organizational practices aligned with the manufacturing technologies make it easier to realize SCI.

This study explores the interaction of technological, organizational, and environmental factors as driving and enabling factors that help achieve SCI. Firms that develop an open and collaborative environment and use communication and integrative technologies to complement their work practices better cope with external pressures. These modern forms of working and the use of technologies facilitate SCI and leverage it effectively to positively impact firm performance.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a detailed accounting of energy and materials consumed during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

The first and second stages of ISO standard (ISO 14040:2006 and ISO 14044:2006) were followed to develop life cycle inventory (LCI). The LCI data collection took the form of observations, time studies, real-time metered power consumption, review of imaging department scheduling records and review of technical manuals and literature.

The carbon footprint of the entire MRI service on a per-patient basis was measured at 22.4 kg CO₂eq. The in-hospital energy use (process energy) for performing MRI is 29 kWh per patient for the MRI machine, ancillary devices and light fixtures, while the out-of-hospital energy consumption is approximately 260 percent greater than the process energy, measured at 75 kWh per patient related to fuel for generation and transmission of electricity for the hospital, plus energy to manufacture disposable, consumable and reusable products. The actual MRI and standby energy that produces the MRI images is only about 38 percent of the total life cycle energy.

The focus on methods and proof-of-concept meant that only one facility and one type of imaging device technology were used to reach the conclusions. Based on the similar studies related to other imaging devices, the provided transparent data can be generalized to other healthcare facilities with few adjustments to utilization ratios, the share of the exam types, and the standby power of the facilities’ imaging devices.

The transparent detailed life cycle approach allows the data from this study to be used by healthcare administrators to explore the hidden public health impact of the radiology department and to set goals for carbon footprint reductions of healthcare organizations by focusing on alternative imaging modalities. Moreover, the presented approach in quantifying healthcare services’ environmental impact can be replicated to provide measurable data on departmental quality improvement initiatives and to be used in hospitals’ quality management systems.

No other research has been published on the life cycle assessment of MRI. The share of outside hospital indirect environmental impact of MRI services is a previously undocumented impact of the physician’s order for an internal image.

The purpose of this paper is to use institutional theory to develop the constructs of institutional pressures for social compliance and argue for a positive relationship between institutional pressures and Supplier Social Compliance Management System (SSCMS). Moreover, the authors theorize that the impact of institutional pressures on SSCMS is moderated by the supplier’s organizational culture. This is done in a particularly salient context, which is apparel manufacturing in a developing country.

The hypothesized model is tested using data of 164 suppliers from the apparel manufacturing sector. PLS-based structural equation modeling is used to test the direct and multi-group moderation hypotheses.

Empirical examination provides evidence that institutional pressures have a positive impact on supplier social compliance and the types of organizational culture have varied moderation effects.

This research is based on cross-sectional data from one industry. Future research should collect data from diverse sectors in different countries.

The findings suggest that consistent pressures from various stakeholders can increase supplier social compliance. In addition, the partial evidence for moderation effect of organizational culture indicates that supplier’s internal value system’s alignment with social compliance pressures plays an important role in determining how supplier acts on social compliance initiatives.

The issue of suppliers’ adoption of social compliance management systems has become prominent as a consequence of the shifting of manufacturing to developing countries. However, comprehensive frameworks explaining antecedents of adoption of SSCMS using large-scale empirical data are limited. In addition, findings on the relationship between supplier social sustainability practices and their antecedents are inconsistent.