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The purpose of this study is to estimate the linear regression parameters using two alternative techniques. First technique is to apply the generalized linear model (GLM) and the second technique is the Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method.

In this paper, the authors adopted the incurred claims of Egyptian non-life insurance market as a dependent variable during a 10-year period. MCMC uses Gibbs sampling to generate a sample from a posterior distribution of a linear regression to estimate the parameters of interest. However, the authors used the R package to estimate the parameters of the linear regression using the above techniques.

These procedures will guide the decision-maker for estimating the reserve and set proper investment strategy.

In this paper, the authors will estimate the parameters of a linear regression model using MCMC method via R package. Furthermore, MCMC uses Gibbs sampling to generate a sample from a posterior distribution of a linear regression to estimate parameters to predict future claims. In the same line, these procedures will guide the decision-maker for estimating the reserve and set proper investment strategy.

This study aims to provide an overall framework that connects and explains a macro-perspective of the findings from the five studies of this special issue. Through this, we aim to answer two main questions: How can Lean and Industry 4.0 be integrated, and what are the outcomes for workers from such integration?

The special issue received 64 papers that were evaluated in multiple stages until this final sample of five papers that describe different facets of the integration between Lean and Industry 4.0 and their relationship with worker activities. In this introduction, we review the main findings of these five studies and propose an integrative view and associated propositions. A discussion provides directions to advance the field further.

The framework shows that when Lean and Industry 4.0 are integrated, companies will face two types of tensions, dialectical and paradoxical, which require different managerial approaches. By managing such tensions, the Lean-Industry 4.0 integration can help improve social performance, as well as develop systematic problem-solving and cumulative learning capabilities. Five important themes for this field of research are outlined: the importance of work routines, legitimation, competence, sense and mental flexibility.

This study brings a new theoretical perspective to the integration of Lean with Industry 4.0-related digital technologies. The results go beyond the usual view of improving operational performance and dig into the effects on workers. It also shows that the integration process relies on and can enhance human capabilities such as learning and problem-solving.

The purpose of this article is to examine Cairo's master plans during the past 70 years, including the establishment of the New Administrative Capital City—which is based on two fundamental courses on the phenomenon of urbanisation—and other initiatives to address Cairo's Plans based on the thoughts of three planning schools—Chicago, Los Angeles and Liverpool. The aim is to determine if the right time to relocate Egypt's capital to a different place makes sense.

Cairo has experienced significant urban challenges throughout its millennial history due to the continually shifting socioeconomic and political changes. This research uses prospective and retrospective methods to examine how planning theories have historically influenced building Cairo’s urban fabric and provides insight into the city’s master plans from the July Revolution of 1952.

It is assumed that Cairo's socio-spatial transitions over time were caused by scattered expansion, leading to contemporary Cairo's socio-spatial evolution. The paper ends with some questions about the future of the city. Should planning policies change to cope with socioeconomic, spatial and political transitions?

The article's significance stems from the necessity of adaptable and considerate ideas that move Cairo's communities towards a better setting and provide a crucial route for enhancing their environments. Using digital technologies to implement new capital while creating platform urbanism may be accomplished even with constrained budgets and short course lengths.

As the level of implementation of Industry 4.0 increases, misalignments between adopted technologies and organizational factors may result in benefits below expected. This paper aims to analyze how organizational factors can contribute to a higher level of adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies. The paper uses a sociotechnical perspective lens to achieve this aim.

Using a sample of 231 manufacturing companies in Denmark, a leading country in Industry 4.0 readiness, the paper analyzes through cluster analysis and logistic regression whether the development of four sociotechnical dimensions – that is, Social, Technical, Work Organization and Environmental factors – in these companies can benefit the achievement of higher levels of Industry 4.0 technology adoption.

The results show that companies focused on the development of sociotechnical aspects generally present higher Industry 4.0 adoption levels. However, some sociotechnical factors are less supportive than others.

Based on these results, practitioners can plan the adoption of advanced technologies, using a systemic organizational view. This study provides evidence on a growing field with few empirical studies available. The paper contributes by providing an analysis of a leading country in Industry 4.0 implementation, presenting a systemic view on technology adoption in the Industry 4.0 context.

The phenomenal growth of the Internet has persuaded many companies of its potential as a channel for outsourcing information systems applications. Application service providers (ASP) are firms that offer outsourcing application services to many organizations via the Internet. By contracting ASP, organizations are having information technology (IT) staff focusing their efforts on core competencies while, at the same time, capitalizing on the expertise of outsourcer. On the other hand, many ASP turn some of their projects to global outsourcer. The study develops a framework that identifies the critical factors influencing ASP' decision to outsource globally. These factors are product development costs, IT talent, product quality, communication technology, tax incentives, and cultural differences. The rest of the paper discusses the differences between different types of global outsourcing, explore the emerging trend and advantages of utilizing ASP, and recommend measures to ensure the success of projects to be developed globally. The framework developed in this paper represents a foundation for more rigorous empirical research to identify the significance of each influencing factor. The results can provide ASP managers with a road map that addresses issues of concern in global outsourcing.

This study aims to compare the performance of two nature-inspired metaheuristics inside Grasshopper in optimizing daylighting and energy performance against brute force in terms of the resemblance to ideal solution and calculation time.

The simulation-based optimization process was controlled using two population-based metaheuristic algorithms, namely, the genetic algorithm (GA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO). The objectives of the optimization routine were optimizing daylighting and energy consumption of a standard reference office while varying the urban context configuration in Alexandria, Egypt.

The results from the GA and PSO were compared to those from brute force. The GA and PSO demonstrated much faster performance to converge to design solution after conducting only 25 and 43% of the required simulation runs, respectively. Also, the average proportion of the resulted weighted sum optimization (WSO) per case using the GA and PSO to that from brute force algorithm was 85 and 95%, respectively.

The work of this paper goes beyond the current practices for showing that the performance of the optimization algorithm can differ by changing the urban context configuration while solving the same problem under the same design variables and objectives.

This article aims to find a chain of causal relations affecting the operating effectiveness of the implemented enterprise resource planning (ERP) system instead of focusing on either the evaluation of software/vendors/consultants or critical successful factors (CSF) identification for ERP implementation, a course followed by the dominant ERP literature.

This article is a process‐oriented approach and aims to give a moving picture of how one step affects another step from pre‐implementation stage, to during‐implementation stage, and to post‐implementation stage.

A significant insight learned from this study is that end‐users across the organization must be educated from the onset of ERP implementation. Although education is a corner‐stone of ERP implementation, the user training is usually only emphasized and the courses are centered on computer/system operation rather than on understanding the ERP concept and spirit.

This article may be interesting to some academic researchers and practical managers, and hopefully can provide a link/step for advanced researches in exploring post‐implementation ERP.

To introduce a broader concept for supply‐chain management (SCM), the notion of value network advocacy.

The historical roots and the traditional terms used to describe SCM are explored to show how their meanings have led to specific types of information systems to support SCM. The limitations of these systems are demonstrated with case studies. Then the concept of value network advocacy is introduced to address these limitations, and implications of this term are explored.

The term SCM has its historical roots in the control of fulfillment activities that support the linear physical flow of goods from suppliers to manufacturers to distributors to retailers. Consequently many information systems (IS) applications that support the supply chain have a similar focus. These systems often separate supply from demand management and focus on linear information flows. Often they are implemented without reengineering business processes. A broader concept, value network advocacy, better describes the needs of business today. It is suggested that adoption of this concept in organizations will be limited not by technology, but by lack of trust mechanisms and metrics.

The adoption of the broader concept of value network advocacy will enable companies to focus more on developing adaptive networks that support customer needs.

The paper introduces the concept of value network advocacy which can guide e‐supply chain development to support a more integrated customer‐focused notion of flexible networks that provide value.

The lack of transparency contributes to the growing corruption problem in various spheres of society. This paper aims to analyse the sustainability report disclosures published by Czech companies in 2021 and registered by the Association of Social Sustainability of the Czech Republic.

Based on three hypotheses, the relationships between the level of disclosed anti-corruption information and selected variables related to the corporate environment are tested using content analysis and the Mann–Whitney test.

This paper reveals that Czech firms provide more information if they operate in a higher-risk environment (energy, materials and financial services) or are state-owned (or with a state ownership stake). It also reveals that companies participating in corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives (UN Global Compact and Global Reporting Initiative) increase their credibility and social responsibility with more disclosed information.

A limitation of this paper is the smaller number of selected companies matching the chosen criteria. In addition, a certain degree of subjectivity is likely to have manifested in the process of coding the reports and in the use of the content analysis method.

The paper contributes to research that addresses the fight against corruption and CSR issues with a specific study in a small, Central European country and provides new empirical data on the anti-corruption fight problem.

The continuing development of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems has been considered by many researchers and practitioners as one of the major IT innovations in this decade. ERP solutions seek to integrate and streamline business processes and their associated information and work flows. What makes this technology more appealing to organizations is increasing capability to integrate with the most advanced electronic and mobile commerce technologies. However, as is the case with any new IT field, research in the ERP area is still lacking and the gap in the ERP literature is huge. Attempts to fill this gap by proposing a novel taxonomy for ERP research. Also presents the current status with some major themes of ERP research relating to ERP adoption, technical aspects of ERP and ERP in IS curricula. The discussion presented on these issues should be of value to researchers and practitioners. Future research work will continue to survey other major areas presented in the taxonomy framework.