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The production process of processed food products may involve several countries. This multi-dimensionality of the country of origin (COO) may affect consumer preferences for the products. We apply Case 2 best–worst scaling to measure Japanese consumers’ preferences for three dimensions of the COO of a vegetable juice product.

The three dimensions of the COO include these: the country where the raw materials of the product were grown (the country of growing), the country where the raw materials were processed (the country of processing) and the country where the food company producing the product is headquartered (the country of the company). Japan, Australia, Thailand and China are the countries considered for the three COO-related attributes. Sixteen juice products (profiles) were created from the three four-level attributes. A survey queried 416 consumers to select the best and worst ones from among the three attribute levels shown in each profile.

The average utility of the country of growing is the highest among those of the three COO-related attributes. However, consumers evaluate the country of growing as the least preferred among the three attributes with respect to a country with a negative food quality reputation.

This is the first Case 2 best–worst scaling study to measure consumer preferences for the three dimensions of the COO of processed food products. It suggests marketing strategies for domestic and international juice companies.

The aim is to enable debates about the need for changes in the restaurant's management posture regarding food waste.

This study is a teaching case about a restaurant and was prepared based on information collected from the authors' experiences in teaching, consulting, and academic research. The plot, company name, and characters are fictitious.

The results are related to the classroom application to promote discussion and knowledge of topics such as finance, costs, sustainability, food waste, and the Demonstration of Results for the Exercise.

The main limitation is that it is a fictitious study, but it allows applied research based on the authors' scientific knowledge and professional practice.

The theme contributes to anchoring decision-making by managers in the face of day-to-day business challenges. Furthermore, in a contemporary perspective, it involves a small establishment concerning the possibilities of contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Furthermore, due to the richness of details, the case constitutes an intriguing teaching tool to be applied in the classroom.

It impacts social actions, according to the examples found in the narrative used in the teaching case.

Its originality is related to its interdisciplinarity and how it involves the themes of finance and sustainability applied in business practice.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce an evidence-based, transferable framework of graduate attributes and associated university toolkit to support the writing of level-appropriate learning outcomes that enable the university to achieve its mission to Transform Lives + Inspire Change.

An iterative process of co-design and co-development was employed to produce both the framework and the associated learning outcomes toolkit.

There is tangible benefit in adopting an integrated framework that enables students to develop personal literacy and graduate identity. The toolkit enables staff to write assessable learning outcomes that support student progression and enable achievement of the framework objective.

While the framework has been in use for two years, institutional use of the toolkit is still in its early stages. Phase 2 of the project will explore how effectively the toolkit achieves the framework objective.

The introduction of a consistent, integrated framework enables students to develop and actively increase personal literacy through the deliberate construction of their unique graduate identity.

Embedding the institutional Changemaker attributes alongside the agreed employability skills enables students to develop and articulate specifically what it means to be a “Northampton graduate”.

The uniqueness of this project is the student-centred framework and the combination of curricular, extra- and co-curricular initiatives that provide a consistent language around employability across disciplines. This is achieved through use of the learning outcomes toolkit to scaffold student progression.

Cognitive dysfunctions are a common clinical feature of schizophrenia and represent important indicators of outcome among patients who are affected. Therefore, a randomized, controlled, monocentric, single-blind trial was carried out to compare two different rehabilitation strategies adopted for the restoration and recovery of cognitive functioning of residential patients with schizophrenia. A sample of 110 residential patients were selected and, during the experimental period, a group of 55 patients was treated with sets of domain-specific exercises (SRT+CRT), whereas an equal control group was treated with sets of non-domain-specific exercises (SRT+PBO) belonging to the Cogpack® software. The effects on the scores (between T0 and T1) of the variables treatment and time and of the interaction time X treatment were analyzed: for the total BACS, the main effect of the between-factors variable treatment is statistically significant (F=201.562 P=0.000), as well as the effect of the within-factors variable “time” (F=496.68 P=0.000).The interaction of these two factors is also statistically significant (F=299.594 P=0.000). The addition of cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) to a standard treatment of metacognitive training (MCT) resulted in a significant improvement in global neurocognitive functioning and has reported positive effects with regard to the strengthening of verbal and working memory, selective and sustained attention at T1. A relevant result is the statistically significance of “time X treatment” for all the tests administered: we can assume that the domain-specific cognitive training amplifies the effects of SRT, as the primary and secondary goals of the present study were achieved.

Reactance theory is applied to investigate consumer responses to “buy local” campaigns initiated by government to counteract the effects of an economic crisis, using the COVID-19 pandemic as an illustrative context.

A conceptual model is developed, aimed at revealing the extent to which “buy local” campaigns – explicitly justified by the need to fight an economic crisis – are likely to lead to (a) compliance (i.e. support for local products/retailers) or (b) freedom restoration (i.e. support for foreign products/retailers). The model is subsequently tested on samples of German (N = 265) and Italian (N = 268) consumers.

“Buy local” campaigns are likely to generate reactance amongst consumers and such reactance can lead to both non-compliance and, albeit less so, freedom restoration outcomes. At the same time, consumer ethnocentrism acts as a countervailing influence by attenuating the effects of generated reactance and its undesirable outcomes.

Psychological reactance theory offers a novel perspective for conceptually approaching the likely responses of consumers towards “buy local” campaigns and the empirical findings support the use of the theory in this context.

Policymakers seeking to encourage consumers to support the local economy during times of an economic crisis need to be aware that “buy local” campaigns may, against their intended communication goals, result in non-compliance as well as consumer responses in the opposite direction. Thus, the reactance-generating potential of such campaigns needs to be explicitly considered at the planning/implementation stage.

The findings confirm the relevance of reactance theory as a conceptual lens for studying the effects of “buy local” campaigns and have important implications for domestic/foreign firms as well as for policy makers seeking to encourage consumers to support the local economy during times of an economic crisis.

The purpose of this report was to evaluate the effectiveness and practicality of system dynamics modeling in integrating econometric equations to describe the effects of supply chain material and information delays on pricing decisions and consequent financial results in an animal feed export business.

An empirical dynamic model, loaded with econometric theory of price effect on competitive demand, was used to describe the input data.

The model simulation outputs proved themselves relevant in analyzing the complex interconnections of multiple variables affecting the profitability in a commercial routine, supporting the decision process among sales managers. The impact of information delay on price decisions and business financial results were estimated using the model proposed.

This paper describes an empirical model, based on system dynamics, that predicts operating contribution margins and cash conversion cycles based on estimation of information and material delays in a supply chain. The method is pragmatic and simple for business routine implementation.

The purpose of this study is to examine the moderating role of the characteristics of the chief executive officer (CEO) on the association between CEO power and corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance.

This paper conducts multiple regression analyses to empirically test the proposed hypotheses based on a sample of US-based publicly held companies. The sample period extends from 2000 to 2018. Firm-level CSR ratings are obtained from the Kinder, Lydenberg and Domini (KLD) database (currently known as MSCI ESG STATS). Financial data and CEO data are retrieved from Compustat and ExecuComp databases, respectively. Additional test and robustness analysis are performed.

This paper shows that firms with more powerful CEOs are less likely to engage in CSR activities. The negative association between CEO power and CSR is found to be exacerbated by CEOs who are younger, more competent and overconfident; however, this negative association is mitigated by CEOs who are female. This paper also finds that gender plays a more important role among CEO characteristics. Collectively, the findings highlight the potential opportunities to better understand the role of various CEO characteristics that jointly affect CSR.

First, this is the first study providing a comprehensive empirical analysis of how various CEO characteristics jointly affect CSR. Prior studies that focus on standalone CEO characteristics offer an incomplete picture of the relation between a single CEO characteristic and a firm's CSR performance. The current study thus extends the research field by examining the association between seemingly unrelated CEO characteristics and CSR performance. The results also highlight that gender is the critical factor moderating the relationship between CEO power and CSR performance when it is compared with CEO age, ability and overconfidence. Second, the authors add to the literature on employee selection by showing that female CEOs mitigate the negative effect of managerial power on CSR performance. Although the currently available empirical research in management control systems focuses on ex-post analyses of moral hazard mitigation for incumbent employees, both the economics and management literature acknowledge ex ante evidence suggesting that employee selection is even more important. Our findings may provide insight into the selection of CEOs.