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The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of what (service) experience is and examine it using three distinct perspectives: customer experience (CX), employee experience (EX) and human experience (HX).

The present conceptualization blends the marketing and organizational behavior/human resources management (OB/HRM) disciplines to clarify and reflect over the meaning of (service) experience. The marketing discipline illuminates the concept of CX, whereas the OB/HRM discipline illuminates the concept of EX. The concept of HX, which transcends CX and EX, is examined in light of its recent development in service research. For each of the three concepts, key themes are identified, and future research directions are proposed.

Because the goal that individuals seek to achieve depends on the role they are enacting, each of the three perspectives on experience (CX, EX and HX) should have a different focal point. CX requires to focus on the process of solving customer goals. EX necessitates to think in terms of organizational context and job content that support employees. Finally, the focus of HX should be on well-being via enhanced gratification, and reduced violation, of basic human needs.

This paper offers an interdisciplinary perspective on (service) experience and simultaneously addresses CX, EX and HX in order to reconcile the different perspectives on experience in service research.

The food supply chain worldwide has suffered severely due to the COVID-19 pandemic countermeasures. Previous research suggests that business model innovation (BMI) could be a viable solution for recovering from the pandemic and fostering organizational resilience. This study analyzes the capabilities that enable food companies to innovate their business model and thereby increase organizational resilience.

Results were obtained using a multiple-case study approach consisting of 15 companies along the entire food supply chain. Managers and decision-makers were interviewed, and the collected insights were enriched with additional material.

The results show several capabilities that enable companies to innovate their business model due to disruption. These capabilities are categorized into four phases based on the processual representation of BMIs.

This study contributes to the understanding of BMI in the food supply chain and provides empirical evidence on the potential for business recovery through BMI.

Reports and experiences suggest that several developing African economies are faced with entrepreneurial-impeding forces such as lengthy bureaucratic processes and poor regulatory space. The study examines a general trend in “doing business performance” among selected African countries and uses the case of Ghana to explore how particular indicators or forces affect the development and deployment of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) policies.

Comparative analysis of six African economies on their ease of doing business score. This is followed by a critical review of the literature to develop a six-point explanatory framework to explore the relative position of the six countries on the ease of doing business scores. Using Ghana as a critical case study, the authors deploy an in-depth case study analysis via in-depth interviews of relevant stakeholders to validate the information from secondary sources.

The study observes that the nature of leadership, socio-cultural imperatives, economic structure and policy and the role of domestic institutional players and international players have implications for the extent to which the state creates an enabling environment for SMEs and entrepreneurial activities. The role of supportive cultural software that will help drive SME and entrepreneurial growth has been established. The study contends that different aspects of national culture do have implications for the tendency for people to be business-minded or to have the ability to take risks. The demand and supply sides are crucial in promoting SME growth.

The study develops a framework that helps explore elements to help explain ease of doing business scores and the viability of SMEs in Africa. These elements were validated through qualitative interviews as well.

As a response to global population growth and increasing demand for food, farmers have been complementing traditional agriculture practices with vertical farming (VF) and indoor hydroponic systems. To facilitate the growth of the VF industry, this paper aims to identify business model elements and their configurations that lead to high firm performance.

The research goals were met by conducting literature reviews coupled with a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) on five business model elements, “superior” OR “strong” performance as two possible outcomes, and the top-ranked global VF growers listed in the Crunchbase Database.

From the fsQCA results, it was observed that several business model configurations lead to strong firm performance. Vertical farms growing in urban settings and having strong customer engagement platforms, coupled with a presence of business-to-business (B2B) sales channels, are more consistently associated with superior performance. These results imply that the decision configuration of location, along with customer engagement activity and sales activity are differentiating factors between good firm performance and superior firm performance in the case of vertical farms.

This paper contributes to expanding the knowledge of business model theory, business model configurations and VF management, providing specific guidelines for vertical farm owners and investors related to decision-making for higher firm performance, as well as positive environmental, social and economic impact.

The paper aims to provide companies with a better understanding of the needs of institutional investors to improve the disclosure of sustainability information by companies. The study investigates the changed information needs of institutional investors resulting from the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR).

This study uses an internet-based survey instrument amongst institutional investors to gain insights into their needs regarding sustainability information. The authors received 155 responses in total and use descriptive statistics and t-tests to analyse the survey data.

The results demonstrate that the implementation of the SFDR challenges institutional investors, as it affects their decision process. Additionally, the findings still indicate a lack of available corporate sustainability information, making it even more challenging for institutional investors to make appropriate investment decisions. Respondents suggest that information on climate-related risks is more important than the European Union (EU) Taxonomy metrics for meeting the SFDR requirements.

The findings are mainly restricted to the opinion of European investors. However, the evidence contributes to the existing literature by investigating institutional investors' information needs in the new regulatory landscape.

As the study provides insights into institutional investors' needs, reporting companies recognise the relevance of transparently providing sustainability information to be further considered in the investment process of institutional investors despite the regulation. The findings can help regulators develop uniform and global sustainability reporting standards.

This paper is the first to provide evidence on sustainability information requested on the institutional investors' side. The survey gathers primary data from professional investment members unavailable in databases or reports.

The purpose of this paper is to study current practices in adopting blockchain technology amongst export companies in West Sweden and to capture their CEOs’ knowledge of and attitudes towards blockchains.

Factors enabling or hindering the adoption of blockchains were identified from a comprehensive literature review and a survey of 72 chief executive officers (CEOs) of export-oriented firms in West Sweden, all with turnovers exceeding €2m, regarding their knowledge of and attitudes towards blockchains.

Blockchain technology is not currently perceived to provide benefits that would outweigh the costs of introducing it into West Sweden’s export firms. Nevertheless, the findings suggest that such technology, though currently too immature to meet today’s industrial requirements, could experience more widespread use if certain key factors (i.e. lower cost, traceability, improved security or trustworthiness and new blockchain-enabled business models) are prioritised.

Answered by 72 CEOs, the survey achieved a response rate of 6%, meaning that the findings are only exploratory. Even so, they offer new insights into CEOs’ attitudes towards blockchain technology.

The CEOs reported comparatively limited knowledge of and experience with implementing blockchains, the lack of which has hampered their large-scale implementation in multi-actor supply chains.

Negative sentiment amongst CEOs towards blockchain technology may lower on-the-job satisfaction amongst tech personnel aspiring to develop and implement blockchain applications in their firms.

Knowledge of and attitudes towards blockchain technology amongst top-level managers, as well as about factors enabling or hindering its adoption, guide managers in crafting strategies for implementing blockchains in their organisations and maximising the benefits therein. Unlike past studies focussing on technological aspects or views of experts and middle-management, the study was designed to capture the views of CEOs.

Organisation concepts consist of prescriptive ideas concerning how to manage or organise. The simultaneous use of multiple concepts in an organisation may create synergies but also confusion and conflicts. This paper aims to explore how change agents deal with the simultaneous use of multiple organisation concepts within a single organisation.

A qualitative case study of a Norwegian energy company using lean, agile and design thinking.

The findings show that change agents compare the concepts with each other and recognise commonalities and differences. They also match individual concepts and tools to the nature of tasks, the different phases of projects/initiatives based on their perceived maturity or internal communities. Most agents emphasise similarities between concepts and complementarities between tools. This approach creates a versatile toolbox for improvement.

Companies making use of multiple organisation concepts should continuously discuss and actively manage the tensions that exist between concepts while establishing a unified approach and common culture for improvement.

This study offers a novel understanding of how change agents make sense of different approaches to improvement within a single organisation.

Recent scholarship has explored higher education institutions’ (HEIs) role in transitioning to a sustainable society, but empirically, questions remain regarding their impact on the sustainability of surrounding areas. This study aims to examine the correlation between HEIs’ sustainability actions and local sustainability performance.

This study uses a linear regression model and principal component analysis to examine the sustainability performance of 105 US metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) using the US cities sustainable development goal (SDG) index, which hosts 427 HEIs known for sustainability efforts. The weighted HEI sustainability performance score is calculated based on the QS sustainability universities ranking.

The correlation between MSA and HEI sustainability performance exhibits a mix of positive and negative associations, with individual and interlinked SDGs serving as proxies. These correlations encompass a wide range of goals, from economic aspects of SDG 1, 2, 3, 7, 9, social aspects of SDG10 and 16, to socio-environmental aspects of SDG12.

Further exploration is needed to identify the causal mechanisms behind associations between SDG measures and HEI sustainability performance, whether influenced by the institution, the individual or both.

This study suggests that HEIs are already associated with some aspects of community sustainability, but greater contributions to a broader array of sustainability measures are possible.

The correlation found between HEI sustainability actions and SDG10, 12 and 16 index performance in an MSA highlights a connection between HEIs and the attainment of societal goals.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine the correlation between HEI and MSA sustainability performance in the US through individual and interlinked SDG proxies. It provides novel empirical evidence that demonstrates an association between HEI and some aspects of community sustainability performance.

This paper aims to explore the significance of resource sharing in business to capture new market opportunities and securing competitive advantages. Firms enter strategic alliances (SAs), especially for designing new products and to overcome challenges in today’s fast changing environment. Research projects have dealt with the creation of SAs, however without concrete referencing the impact on selected supply chain resources. Furthermore, academia rather focused on elaborating the advantages and disadvantages of SAs and how this affects structural changes in the organization than examining the effects on supply chain complexity and performance.

The authors collected and triangulated a multi-industry data set containing primary data coming from more than 200 experts in the field of supply chain management along and secondary data coming from Refinitiv’s joint ventures (JVs) and SA database and IR solutions’ database for annual reports. The data is evaluated in three empirical settings using binomial testing and structural equation modeling.

The results show that nonequity SAs and JVs have varying degrees of impact on supply chain resources due to differences in the scope of the partnership. This has a negative impact on the complexity of the supply chain, with the creation of a JV leading to greater complexity than the creation of a nonequity SA. Furthermore, the findings prove that complexity negatively impacts overall supply chain performance. In addition, this study elaborates that increased management capabilities are needed to exploit the potentials of SAs and sheds light on hurdles that must be overcome within the supply network when forming a partnership. Finally, the authors give practical implications on how organizations can cope with increasing complexity to lower the risk of poor supply chain performance.

This study investigates occurring challenges when establishing nonequity SAs or JVs and how this affects their supply chain by examining supply networks in terms of complexity and performance.

This paper examines the main drives of encouraging Iranian investors in the Turkish real estate market, focusing on the interface between push factors and pull factors that drive them abroad.

This paper examines the main drives of encouraging Iranian investors in the Turkish real estate market, focusing on the interface between push factors and pull factors that drive them abroad. For this purpose, the trend of housing price growth in Iran and Turkey was compared. The review of the 11-year trend of rates shows that housing prices in both countries have been continuously rising, and these prices have undoubtedly experienced increasing shocks in Iran. For further analysis, 13 main variables leading to the repulsion of investment in Iran's housing market and 15 variables shaping the attractiveness of investment in Turkey were identified in this sector. Thirty experts subsequently ranked the significant variables based on a closed-end questionnaire using quantitative strategic planning matrix. Examining housing investment elasticity in Turkey also shows that “Turkey's economic stability compared to neighboring countries” and “acquiring Turkish citizenship through real estate investment” are among the most important variables. On the other hand, the pressure variables of housing investment in Iran were “decrease in the value of the Iranian currency in recent years,” “currency price fluctuations” and “severe fluctuations and instability in the Iranian housing market.”

Examining housing investment elasticity in Turkey also shows that “Turkey's economic stability compared to neighboring countries” and “acquiring Turkish citizenship through real estate investment” are among the most important variables. On the other hand, the pressure variables of housing investment in Iran were “decrease in the value of the Iranian currency in recent years,” “currency price fluctuations” and “severe fluctuations and instability in the Iranian housing market.”

From a theoretical standpoint, foreign investment is in support of Turkey and harmful to Iran because the Turkish government is bolstering investment attractiveness to bring increased capital inflows into this country. Practically speaking, Turkey has aimed to create a rational framework for investors by strengthening and changing its economic system, as well as amending existing constitutions in this domain. Nevertheless, Iran resists any changes in its economic system and legislation. Therefore, a wide range of attractiveness and repulsion variables has led to the migration of Iranian investors to Turkey. In the present study, such variables are illuminated.