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The sound viability of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) positively influences nations’ economic growth. Studies investigating the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on SMEs in Saudi Arabia (KSA) and how the owners will source for working capital and short-term loans to kick start in the post-Covid-19 recovery are scarce. Hence, this study aims to investigate the perceived negative impact of Covid-19 on SMEs and suggests policy solutions to improve access to finance and investment sustainability for the SMEs owners in the post-Covid-19 recovery via the stakeholders’ perception in KSA.

The paper sourced data from Medina, Riyadh and Alqassim via virtual interviews. The study engaged SMEs owners, government agencies and banks within the covered regions in KSA. The sourced data were analysed via a thematic, and the results were presented in themes.

The findings show that the SMEs sector plays a pertinent role in KSA gross domestic product growth. But, the recent ravaging of the SME sector by the Covid-19 pandemic was adversely unprecedented, and stakeholders were caught unaware. The paper categorised the perceived impacts into most severe, severe and fairly severe. The findings show that SMEs sector post-Covid-19 recovery will require access to finance-friendly policies to revive the unique sector. This should be supported with an enabling business environment via policies that encourage investment and sustainability to achieve KSA Vision 2030.

The study is restricted to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on SMEs and data collected via virtual interviews across three cities in KSA. Other developing Islamic nations can modify the policy suggestions from this paper to improve their SMEs sectors.

The significance of a robust SMEs sector to grow the economy has been established. The emerged recommendations from this paper may provide insights to the policymakers and other stakeholders. This will enhance the rebuilding of the SMEs sector across KSA in the post-Covid-19 era.

This study is unique because it investigated the impacts of the ravaging pandemic on SMEs owners and proffered possible solutions for quick post-Covid-19 recovery from the KSA stakeholders’ perspective.

Despite making significant strides in transforming its environmental outlook over the past few years and promoting sustainable procurement (SP) in the public sector, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is still facing serious challenges in moving up the global sustainability ranks. Thus, this study aims to assess and prioritize critical factors, including cost, organization, innovation capability, stakeholder, culture and market-related factors, and their respective sub-factors for the implementation of SP, and come up with recommendations.

This study uses the analytical hierarchy process model to prioritize the main factors and sub-factors that can critically affect the implementation of SP in the UAE public sector. Data were collected through a survey of 17 procurement experts working in procurement departments in public organizations in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

The results reveal that cost is the highest ranked critical factor, followed by an organization, whereas innovation capability is the lowest ranked of the main factors. The initial cost of green products and their life-cycle cost are the most prioritized of cost factors. An individual’s commitment to change, top management support and organizational commitment are the highest-ranked sub-factors. Social awareness is the most important sub-factor among culture, and the supplier’s capability is the highest ranked sub-factor in the market.

The government should issue a standard practices handbook for SP to be used by public organizations to provide public procurers a clear method for conducting a proper cost–benefit analysis to evaluate and decide on sustainable purchases that fit the economy and society and meet the national sustainability agenda. Furthermore, additional attention needs to be paid to cultural factors such as social and environmental awareness by policymakers to succeed in achieving SP. Finally, top management and government officials must reevaluate their own personal values and commitment to sustainability issues as they participate in forming policies, rules, regulations and training programs designed for procurement managers within government organizations.

Although considerable research has been conducted on this topic, this study is unique in its presentation of a critical understanding of which factors and sub-factors are likely to significantly affect SP implementation in the UAE, which shall provide the relevant researchers and practitioners with the necessary knowledge to be ready for the changes that may lie ahead.

Halal frozen meat product returns are major challenges in the halal frozen meat supply chain because of the sheer volume and processing costs of returns. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of integrated halal supply chain (IHSC) strategies on effective product returns with halal logistics (HL) as an interceding variable.

This paper used the cross-sectional technique to select samples from a population that revolved around the halal food industry in Malaysia. Data collected from halal service providers who handle halal frozen meat product returns provided insightful findings.

The findings of this paper indicate that the IHSC dimensions, such as interactive fairness, procedural fairness and service coverage, are positively associated with effective product returns. It also shows that HL plays a mediating role between the IHSC and effective product returns.

From a practical viewpoint, this paper suggests that an effective return service system can be designed to emphasise the category of interactive and flexible justice services through refunds or product replacement, depending on customer's demand.

The result of this paper provides insights into how logistics service provider managers effectively and efficiently handle the halal supply chain network when involving product returns.

Online feminist activism has opened a different path for ordinary Iranians who are not necessarily versed in post-revolutionary discourses on feminism and political activism, nor are familiar with the names and past achievements of Iranian women’s activist pioneers since the birth of the Islamic Republic in 1979. Social media has helped to tease apart government statecraft that continually touts and reemphasizes Islamic values, at the same time providing a platform for a feminist consciousness that more recently has passionately supported individual rights, especially the right to privacy. This chapter delves into this move toward a more individualized form of dissent, surveying the generational, ideological, and technological divides that have emerged among Iranian women’s activists following popular uprisings that have been happening domestically since 2009.

The aim of the study is to examine the influence of remuneration committee (RC) characteristics, namely separation, size, independence, meetings, and female directors, on firm performance (FP) by using return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE) and earnings per shares (EPS). The study covers all firms being listed in Bahrain Bourse for two years which are 2020 and 2021. The results of the study show that having more directors in RC would significantly increase firm performance “ROE and EPS.” Further, having more females in RC would significantly increase firm performance “ROA.” In addition, having separate RC would significantly decrease firm performance “ROA and EPS.” Moreover, the independence of directors in RC and its frequent meetings has no significant impact on the firm’s performance. The results show that there is a need to re-evaluate the role of the RC and strengthen its effectiveness, as some of the variables examined by this study have an insignificant impact on a firm’s performance. Further, there is a need to allocate additional efforts and policies in developing corporate governance and RCs as well.

Agriculture commodity price forecasts have long been important for a variety of market players. The study we conducted aims to address this difficulty by examining the weekly wholesale price index of green grams in the Chinese market. The index covers a ten-year period, from January 1, 2010, to January 3, 2020, and has significant economic implications.

In order to address the nonlinear patterns present in the price time series, we investigate the nonlinear auto-regressive neural network as the forecast model. This modeling technique is able to combine a variety of basic nonlinear functions to approximate more complex nonlinear characteristics. Specifically, we examine prediction performance that corresponds to several configurations across data splitting ratios, hidden neuron and delay counts, and model estimation approaches.

Our model turns out to be rather simple and yields forecasts with good stability and accuracy. Relative root mean square errors throughout training, validation and testing are specifically 4.34, 4.71 and 3.98%, respectively. The results of benchmark research show that the neural network produces statistically considerably better performance when compared to other machine learning models and classic time-series econometric methods.

Utilizing our findings as independent technical price forecasts would be one use. Alternatively, policy research and fresh insights into price patterns might be achieved by combining them with other (basic) prediction outputs.

The main objective of this study is to examine the impact of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) on the behavioral intentions of Fintech usage. The model incorporates perceived behavioral control, attitude, and subjective norms, and the researcher has also included perceived risk and perceived trust. This study involved 192 respondents who were Jordanian citizens. An online questionnaire was used as the survey instrument for data collection. The proposed hypotheses were statistically tested using SmartPLS and SPSS software after examining the data based on initial assumptions. The outcome of the data analysis supports several published hypotheses, with all hypotheses being supported. The significant value of this research lies in its examination of the TPB in the Jordanian context, incorporating perceived risk and perceived trust. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no previous study has tested the TPB in the Jordanian setting by including perceived risk and trust to understand the behavioral expectations of Jordanian citizens regarding Fintech usage.

Financial technology (fintech) has emerged as a major player in the global financial system, providing a range of services such as payments, digital currencies, money transfers, loans, crowdsourcing, and insurance. Fintech startups in Arab countries have also gained traction due to economic openness and globalization. However, concerns remain about the safety, durability, and security of traditional financial services, especially with the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) and digitization. The Central Bank of Bahrain and other regulatory authorities need to balance risk avoidance with the global trend toward innovation in fintech, as well as ensure that these technologies are not used for fraud, money laundering, piracy, or terrorist financing. The Bahraini government and supervisory authorities must strike a balance between preserving the integrity and robustness of the financial and banking sector and developing innovation. This can be achieved by adjusting the rhythm of comparison, strengthening and enhancing the safety of banks, achieving financial stability, and ensuring compliance with laws and legislation. It is important to address gaps in regulatory rules, information security, and the business environment, and launch financial awareness at the community level before embracing the potential of fintech and its unseen future development at the level of cryptocurrencies and others. The current work examines the impact of Fintech on the Future of banking in Bahrain and the opportunities and challenges.

This chapter focuses on a case study of Kareem Exchange Company and its use of big data analysis to detect and prevent fraud and suspicious financial transactions. The chapter describes the various phases of the big data analysis cycle, including discovery, data preparation, model planning, model building, operationalization, and communicating results, and how the Kareem Exchange Company team implemented each phase. This chapter emphasizes the importance of identifying the business problem, understanding the resources and stakeholders involved, and developing an initial hypothesis to guide the analysis. The case study results demonstrate the potential of big data analysis to improve fraud detection capabilities in financial institutions, leading to informed decision making and action.