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It is a challenge for Small-Cap companies, i.e., Small and Medium-sized listed companies in Hong Kong (“SMEs”) in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting as they may lack knowledge, skills and motivation. This paper investigates a spectrum of the drivers and barriers that these SMEs faced for better ESG reporting.

In this study, 22 persons responsible for ESG reporting in their SMEs were interviewed. The results were analysed by using grounded theory with the assistance of concept mapping.

Regulations and management support are the first two critical drivers, whereas lack of management support and lack of expertise are the first two significant barriers. To overcome the obstacles, various stakeholders including regulators, bankers, investors, customers, competitors, NGOs and employees have their roles to play. Stakeholder theory is most relevant in explaining the results as stakeholders can exert effective pulling forces by creating tangible benefits for SMEs, resulting in more substantial management support.

This is amongst the first comprehensive investigation on the motivational factors in SMEs’ ESG reporting. Policy makers should not only focus on the effort to upgrade the reporting standards but also contemplate more effective ways to balance the short-term and the long-term benefits of ESG reporting by mobilising various stakeholders to exert more influences.

Addressing Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues has become a critical aspect of business strategy. Since ESG has primarily focused on ratings and measures for reporting, there is a scarcity of methods to assist stakeholders in better comprehending corporate risk and addressing ESG-related issues and problems. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new model to narrow the critical gap.

This study is based on several well-known structural frameworks for managing risks and projects in various industries. Two case studies on topics related to environment (E) and social (S) responsibility are used to demonstrate the practical implementation of the CEPAR® model.

The CEPAR® model, a trademarked five-step methodology (the Challenge-Evaluation-Planning-Action-Review model) was developed by the International Chamber of Sustainable Development (ICSD). The method and guidelines are outlined for easier appreciation by stakeholders of corporations to analyze ESG-related challenges and dilemmas, then able to make principled decisions, take actions, and review the outcomes. Each phase of the new model adheres to the theoretical and practical frameworks for problem-solving and decision-making, emphasizing the iterate process of addressing challenges, evaluating materiality, planning actions, taking actions, and reviewing the outcomes.

The new model is applicable for business corporations and organizations seeking to gain insight and tackle crucial ESG issues, ultimately improving their short- and long-term decision-making and business opportunities.

The global pandemic has increased stakeholders' expectations for companies to protect their health and the wealth of the planet, reason why to achieve long-term social and environmental sustainability, companies need to adopt sustainable business models (SBMs). To support and inspire companies in their journey to become sustainable, the different SBMs that companies can adopt are presented and classified according to their ecological or social focus. It was found that the ecological SBMs follow the circular economy paradigm, and that the social ones can be conceived by considering Base of the Pyramid (BoP) communities.

Although performance‐based contracting (PBC) is gaining importance in manufacturing industries, corresponding research is still in its infancy. In order to provide a basis for future research on this emerging topic, thus paper aims to propose a specific conceptual model.

Conducting a comprehensive literature review, 39 academic publications dealing with this topic in‐depth were analyzed. To structure the various approaches of PBC in manufacturing industries, existing preliminary conceptual models in the form of morphological boxes were built upon and developed further.

Focusing on manufacturing industries, the review reveals a comprehensive view on PBC, with three topics that are important to PBC but have been largely neglected in research: even though research considers PBC foremost regarding manufacturers, independent service providers can also offer PBC; closely related to ownership, financing constitutes an essential issue in PBC; and PBC may include maintenance as well as operation.

First, the paper systematizes existing literature and clarifies the concept of PBC in manufacturing industries. Second, it presents a specific conceptual model for analyzing this topic in more depth. Third, it reveals promising avenues for future research.

This article begins with a brief reading of the state of the practice of empirical social science research on measurement before proceeding to the discussion of an exemplary instance of this researcher's ethnographic effort to improve indicators of social capital formation. Given the central role measurement plays in social science research, it is appropriate, that a volume on methodological innovations in ethnography would contain a chapter about the relationship of ethnography to measure development. However, it is worth acknowledging that the line of argumentation advanced in this chapter is unconventional. The central tenant of this chapter – that ethnography has much to offer to the field of measurement and that ethnographers ought to take the contribution that they have the potential to make to the field of measurement seriously – at present might be thought to have little agreement either among those researchers whose primary focus is measurement or among ethnographers. This chapter contends that the features and strengths of ethnography specifically, and qualitative research more generally, makes it uniquely suited to contribute to the development of new indicators and the improvement of existing indicators. This chapter modestly hopes to encourage discussion of this contention and illustrate how this author sees his own ethnographic research into indicators of social capital formation as an attempt to address a pressing methodological dilemma within the field, more general of social scientific measure development.

Performance-based contracting (PBC) links pricing with performance objectives in service business relationships. Although interest in PBC has surged recently, there is still great uncertainty about the risks, opportunities and challenges. This paper aims to provide a deeper understanding of the contextual factors of PBC and how providers assess them.

This paper includes conducting a multiple-case study evaluation and analyzes data from 21 cases. Risks, opportunities and contextual factors are identified through interviews, and the case data are analyzed with several methods, including Borda count and cross-tabulation.

The results show that the most important factors of PBC are clear responsibilities, clear performance indicators, transparent measurement, cooperative culture and a precise utilization profile of core assets. Surprisingly, incentives are of minor perceived relevance. The analysis supports the differentiation of PBC into two subcategories: lean (low integrated) and customized (high integrated) PBC.

While many studies stress the uniqueness of PBC in accordance with the “one-size-does-not-fit-all” mantra, this research differentiates the standardized PBC from a customized one. The findings face the limitations of case study research and qualitative data analysis in general.

Practitioners are provided with guidance to develop either a customized or a standardized PBC.

Previously, broader empirical insights have still been rare; thus, this paper contributes to the PBC literature, as it provides data from multiple cross-industry cases. The findings (e.g. the minor relevance of incentives) stand in contrast to parts of the academic literature and contribute also to the wider service management field.

The purpose of this paper is to bring out the possibility of selecting good leaders in Asian countries, i.e., China and Singapore.

Since comparative historical analysis enhances the objectivity for academic discussion, Deng Xiaoping’s and Lee Kuan Yew’s leadership successions have been chosen as the cases for studies by virtue of “method of agreement”. Incorporating “argument based on the contrary” into the context for macro-historical analysis, this paper characterises the duo’s successful (at least quite successful) leadership successions, thus offering an alternative paradigm beyond Western-style democracy.

Both cases of post-Mao China and the independent Singapore indicate that in quite a number of Asian countries, good leaders could still be selected beyond universal suffrage as practised among Western Electoral Democracies, mainly because of the elites-driven context. As to the duo’s succession results, Deng Xiaoping’s selection of leaders was somewhat successful, while Lee Kuan Yew’s was phenomenal.

This paper offers readers a glance over the possibility of selecting good leaders in Asian countries not fully based on Western-style democracy. Learning from the duo’s leadership successions, the West may treat elite politics as the supplement under Western Electoral Democracies in order to avoid their countries falling into the trap of populism. The West could meanwhile consider the exceptional criteria prized by the duo for leadership successions. Considering such interactions among elites in the real-life context, it could serve as an alternative model to Western-style democracy.

How can the situation of shoppers staying at home and being unable to experience malls prepare retailers for the new marketplace? The COVID-19 lockdown provides a unique opportunity to examine the value of mall experiences to shoppers. This study aims to suggest a new mall experiences loss (MEXLOSS) model for assessing the importance of mall experiences as the foundation of any future strategy for attracting shoppers back to the mall.

A total of 498 British shoppers completed an online survey during the May 2020 COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

When the exchanges of resources manifested in mall experiences are absent, the perceived difficulty of substituting an experience increases shoppers’ longing for the experience, which in turn increases both willingness to pay and mall loyalty but decreases well-being. Using a conceptualization of four types of mall experiences, i.e. functional, seductive, recreational and social, the functional and recreational experiences are shown to be the most valuable.

In the new more careful service marketplace, shoppers’ preferences are increasingly oriented toward health, safety, sustainability, collaboration and digitalization. To improve their resilience and attractiveness, malls need to adjust their layout, retail mix, digitalization, activities and connectivity according to these trends and to the characteristics of each mall experience.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to place a financial value on mall experiences and to use the absence of those experiences to assess their general and relative importance. The findings challenge previous assumptions about the superiority of online shopping and the decreasing attractiveness of malls.