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This chapter investigates the geographical variations and approaches that shape the implementation of smart city projects on a global scale. Recognizing the significant influence of contextual factors on smart city initiatives, this chapter aims to comprehend the dynamics that drive the objectives and approaches of smart city projects across different countries. This chapter provides an overview of the strategic and geographical factors that impact smart city implementation, considering organizational drivers and practices, such as the Hofstede model in context. It explores the role of citizen-based, technology-based, and decision-making-based development in smart city implementation. Moreover, this chapter examines the strategic, cultural, socioeconomic, and geographical differences that influence smart city projects worldwide. It analyzes the geographical influence and internal drivers of smart city projects, focusing on Europe, North America, Latin America, and East and South Asia. This analysis offers insights into diverse approaches to smart city development, encompassing top-down and bottom-up approaches. By examining various perspectives and experiences from smart city initiatives worldwide, this chapter sheds light on the challenges and opportunities associated with implementing smart city strategies in different contexts.

This chapter examines the significance of green innovation and technologies for sustainable business in Asia, focussing on the issues and challenges confronted by contemporary sustainable business models. The concept of sustainable development is introduced, which seeks to minimize negative impacts on ecosystems and preserve the environment for future generations. This chapter's methodology entails a comprehensive review of existing literature and research on green innovation, green technology, and sustainable business models in Asia. The expansion of ‘green’ energy is directly proportional to the global demand for energy resources. Understanding how green innovation influences a company's capacity for sustainable development is essential for identifying the factors that influence sustainable business models and their economic consequences. Green innovation practices encompass a variety of factors, including government regulations, preferences, supplier competence, and consumer concerns. Green technologies, such as green human resource management (HRM) practices and green innovation practices, play a crucial role in attaining sustainable development by conserving energy, protecting the environment, and enhancing business efficiency. Businesses that adopt green innovation acquire a competitive edge and enhance their performance. This chapter emphasizes the importance of green innovation research and application for business stability in Asia, where sustainability and green concepts are acquiring momentum. Customer, government, and societal pressures further emphasize the significance of green innovation in businesses. For the success of ecological innovation practices, collaboration and knowledge-sharing among various stakeholders are crucial. The adoption of green innovation practices is influenced by external environmental impacts, stakeholder pressure, and organizational support. Green technology innovation, which concentrates on resource conservation, energy efficiency, and environmental protection, is crucial to the sustainability of a business. This chapter concludes by emphasizing the importance of business sustainability in achieving environmental and economic goals and assuring sustainable corporate development. Long-term success requires an understanding of the process of value creation, delivery, and capture within sustainable business models.

One of the most marginalized communities in India is the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community which commonly experiences discrimination. Many studies have countered that the LGBT community faces high discrimination in the banking and financing industry. As a result, this study concentrates on this marginalized community and its acceptance and continuation habit regarding mobile wallets. Consequently, this study has considered continuance intentions as a response to confirm the progress of the mobile-wallet industry. Also, this study tried to study the relationship between behavioral intention (BI) and continuous intention (CI) which is seriously lacks in the library of literature. The research operationalized the stimulus–organism–response (SOR) framework for the conceptual model and surveyed 100 self-proclaimed members of the LGBT community in India. The analysis has been done using the partial least structure (PLS). The findings demonstrate that variables like perceived trust (PT) directly influence the BI. On the other hand, variables like perceived ease of use (PEoU), social influence (SI), and satisfaction (S) doesn’t influence BI of the LGBT Community. The main outcome was a favorable association between BI and CI. It will help the stakeholders to understand how important this new market avenue is and how it can be explored. To ensure safe and secure transactions, a group think tank composed of important parties (financial institutions, mobile-wallet providers, the government, security specialists, etc.) should make recommendations. Mobile-wallet providers will attain benefit from this study’s understanding of user categories and ability to tailor their service offers as per the community.

Today the research area on technology acceptance is mainly dependent on the theory of technology acceptance model (TAM). The TAM was used in this study primarily for the purpose of providing a basis for determining the impact of various external variables on the adoption of edtech platforms. The TAM is a theory of information systems that suggests steps for learners to take as they adopt and use new technologies. The primary TAM variables for adoption of edtech platforms are evaluated in this study: perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU) by using the factors – perceived enjoyment (PE), information quality, electronic-word of mouth (e-WOM), perceived compatibility, computer self-efficacy and objective usability. By analyzing and defining the relationship between the external variables with respect to the adoption of edtech platform among students, we hope to contextualize the TAM model. The end result provides a clearer understanding of TAM and its growth as a useful model for technology adoption studies and for clarifying the relationship between the uptake of edtech platforms and technological acceptability. The study employed a qualitative methodology and selected publications and research papers about the adoption of technology. These were then carefully assessed, analyzed and scrutinized for the terms of how students adopted edtech platforms. It was proposed that the adoption of an edtech platform may result from proper training in technology usage and its application to real-world scenarios.

This research aims at explaining the phenomenon of the “black children” (heihaizi), a very little-known generation who lived with concealment under the one-child policy in China. The one-child policy was officially introduced to nationwide at the end of 1979 by permitting per couple to have one child only, later modified to a second child allowed if the first was a girl in rural China in 1984. It was officially replaced by a nation-wide two-child policy and most existing research focused on the parents’ sufferings and policy changes. The term “black children” has been mainly used to describe their absence from their family hukou registration and education. However, this research aims at expanding the meaning of being “black” to explain the children who were concealed more than at the level of family formal registration, but also physical freedom and emotional bond. What we do not yet know are the details of their lived experiences from a day-to-day base: where did they live? How were they raised up? Who were involved? Who benefited from it and who did not? In this way, this research challenges the existing scholarship on the one-child policy and repositions the “black children” as primary victims, and reveals the family as a key figure in co-producing their diminished status with the support of state power. It is very important to understand these children’s loss of citizenship and human freedom from the inside of the family because they were concealed in so many ways away from public view and interventions. This research focuses on illustrating how their lack of access to continued, stabilized, and reciprocally recognized family interactions framed their very idea of self-worth and identity.

Key enabling technologies (KETs) are a set of six technological components that work together to address social challenges and build advanced for sustainable economies. Industry 5.0, the next industrial development, is designed to capitalize on specialists' unique creativity while also collaborating with powerful, intelligent, and precise technologies. Industry 5.0 outsourced repetitive and monotonous activities to robots/machines requiring employees to perform activities that involve critical thinking and are based on the 6R (Recognize, Reconsider, Realize, Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle), to improve production quality. With numerous supporting technical advancements, advanced and quick manufacturing concentrating on the interaction of machines and humans may be produced. Maintaining healthcare and nursing care, evaluating patients' health requirements using KETs, and giving care with manpower are all major advancements in Industry 5.0 today. Future studies may focus on providing healthcare using mainly technology and, therefore, no human workers. This chapter highlights healthcare advances in Industry 5.0, where KETs and people collaborate to create and innovate. In this framework, the purpose of this chapter is to present the deployment of KETs in the nursing patient care process.

Introducing the concepts of equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), the chapter provides an overview of frameworks and approaches used to manage workforce diversity. First, the authors introduce the notion of the old deal based on the uneven relationship between human diversity, nature, and technological innovation. The chapter then explores the new deal between humans, nature, and technology. The authors are providing cases from the EU, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Iceland to show the emergence of the new deal in managing diversity.

Buying online has become a widespread and common activity for consumers, and, for many organizations, e-commerce has become a very profitable alternative to sell their products and services, also allowing them to leverage their strategy in new geographical markets immediately. Although the literature on the subject is comprehensive, there is a gap in identifying the holistic constructs that are the determinants of consumers' choice of an online store. This research resorts to an exploratory study, based on a nonsystematic literature review, seeking to identify these constructs. The results obtained allowed us to identify the following constructs: consumer behavior, customer experience, web content, catalog, terms and conditions, customer support, perceived value, trust, security and privacy, satisfaction, and loyalty. Customer experience, satisfaction, and loyalty constructs stand out from a strategic perspective.