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Accurate prediction of order demand across omni-channel supply chains improves the management's decision-making ability at strategic, tactical and operational levels. The paper aims to develop a predictive methodology for forecasting near-real-time e-commerce order arrivals in distribution centres, allowing third-party logistics service providers to manage the hour-to-hour fast-changing arrival rates of e-commerce orders better.

The paper proposes a novel machine learning predictive methodology through the integration of the time series data characteristics into the development of an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system. A four-stage implementation framework is developed for enabling practitioners to apply the proposed model.

A structured model evaluation framework is constructed for cross-validation of model performance. With the aid of an illustrative case study, forecasting evaluation reveals a high level of accuracy of the proposed machine learning approach in forecasting the arrivals of real e-commerce orders in three different retailers at three-hour intervals.

Results from the case study suggest that real-time prediction of individual retailer's e-order arrival is crucial in order to maximize the value of e-order arrival prediction for daily operational decision-making.

Earlier researchers examined supply chain demand, forecasting problem in a broader scope, particularly in dealing with the bullwhip effect. Prediction of real-time, hourly based order arrivals has been lacking. The paper fills this research gap by presenting a novel data-driven predictive methodology.

Under the impact of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), this paper contributes in the deployment of the Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT)-based system, namely AIoT-based Domestic Care Service Matching System (AIDCS), to the existing electronic health (eHealth) system so as to enhance the delivery of elderly-oriented domestic care services.

The proposed AIDCS integrates IoT and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies to (1) capture real-time health data of the elderly at home and (2) provide the knowledge support for decision making in the domestic care appointment service in the community.

A case study was conducted in a local domestic care centre which provided elderly oriented healthcare services to the elderly. By integrating IoT and AI into the service matching process of the mobile apps platform provided by the local domestic care centre, the results proved that customer satisfaction and the quality of the service delivery were improved by observing the key performance indicators of the transactions after the implementation of the AIDCS.

Following the outbreak of COVID-19, this is a new attempt to overcome the limited research done on the integration of IoT and AI techniques in the domestic care service. This study not only inherits the ability of the existing eHealth system to automatically capture and monitor the health status of the elderly in real-time but also improves the overall quality of domestic care services in term of responsiveness, effectiveness and efficiency.

Many e-commerce companies adopt a product customization platform offering various choices for customers to configure products to better satisfy their needs. However, a method to effectively measure customer satisfaction is lacking. This paper aims to investigate customers' perception of time in the online configuration process of customized products and seeks to propose time perception as the measurement of the effectiveness of online product customization.

An online laptop customization system was used in an empirical experiment to collect respondents' answers in a set of research questions. Regression and correlation analysis were conducted to investigate the factors affecting customers' satisfaction as well as the relationships with time perception.

The experimental results reveal several factors in customers' perception of time during the online product customization process. First, customers tend to overestimate the amount of time spent in a short-duration task but underestimate the amount of time spent in a long-duration task. Second, customers' perceptions of time are significantly correlated with their satisfaction with the configured products, and perceived time is moderately correlated with their satisfaction with the configuration process. Third, the difficulty of customization tasks and customers' motivation to process information also significantly affect customers' perceptions of time.

This paper advances the research on time perception by developing a new relative segmentation-based method to estimate the subjective perception of time. This study also makes several contributions to product customization research: the authors fill a research gap in the field of product customization by incorporating customers' perceptions of time into the measurement of customer satisfaction and by identifying the significant relationships among customers' perception of time, the ease of task selection, the customers' motivation to process information, and customers' satisfaction with customized products. These results aid in the design of online product customization systems.

Over the last few decades, some researchers have analysed the role of total quality management (TQM) as a precursor of innovation. However, the relationship between TQM and organisational innovation remains unclear and contradictory. The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework intended to clarify the complex effect that the implementation of a TQM system has on organisational innovation, where market orientation (MO) and knowledge management (KM) play a mediator role.

Data in this study come from a survey of 706 Spanish CEOs. The results were analysed employing structural equation modelling to determine how TQM, MO and KM influence innovation.

The results of the empirical study show that there is a curvilinear effect between TQM and organisational innovation. Both MO and KM perspectives play a mediator role between TQM and innovation.

Managers should be aware that management based on TQM help organisations not only to get higher quality but also to be market oriented and better manage their knowledge; what will help them to develop innovations.

This research sheds light on the question of the relationship between TQM and organisational innovation that has received mixed conclusions in the literature. There is evidence in this research that the relationship between TQM and innovation responds to a curvilinear relationship, where high levels of TQM favour a more than proportionate effect on the development of innovation. It also clarifies the mechanisms by which this effect is produced, with MO and KM as mediator variables.

Past research has generally purported that market orientation (MO) leads to superior firm performance, despite emerging evidence suggesting that the highest levels of MO are not always rewarded. Drawing on resource-based view and MO literature, the authors posit that too much MO may be as detrimental as too little for firms seeking to achieve better performance, and that moderate MO capabilities may be the most beneficial. Furthermore, the authors propose and test for organizational confidence as a first potential moderator of the MO-performance inverted U-shaped link.

The authors use Computer-Assisted-Text-Analysis (CATA) methodology assess constructs from annual reports matched with a 5-year longitudinal dataset of 2,245 firm-year observations drawn from the S&P 500.

The results not only support the presence of an inverted U-shaped link between MO and firm performance, but also identify organizational confidence as an important moderator of this newly uncovered curvilinear relationship.

When it comes to the effect of MO on firm performance, there can be indeed be “too much of a good thing,” and managers should be aware of the trade-offs that come attached with overcommitting to a MO strategy.

The authors contribute to extant research on the MO–performance link by moving beyond simple linear relationships and identifying an inverted U-shaped relationship between MO and firm performance. This newly found curvilinear relationship may explain and reconcile prior contradicting findings on the benefits of MO. Organizational confidence is also found to trigger a shape-flip of the MO–performance link, thereby suggesting a new boundary condition.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

Drawing on the social exchange theory, the authors extend the high-reliability literature by examining employees' subjective experience of working in contexts engaging in mindful organizing (MO). Ultimately, they ask the question about how MO affects employees' attitudes and behavior toward work and organization, such us organizational commitment (OC), motivation to work and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), in ordinary business settings. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue.

The authors surveyed 307 employees from various industries, using paper-and-pencil questionnaires. A series of hierarchical regression analyses and structural equation modeling were performed to test our hypotheses.

The authors found that MO is positively related to employees' affective and normative commitment to an organization, and that affective commitment is positively related to motivation to work and OCB. The study also reveals that the affective commitment has a partially mediating role in the MO – motivation and MO – OCB relations. Although several researchers argue that the effectiveness of MO may be higher in an uncertain environment, the authors’ study indicates that the environment does not moderate the relationship between MO and OC.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first attempts to explore the effects of MO in a traditional (i.e. nonhigh reliability) business context. Furthermore, their findings prove that MO not only leads to higher reliability and greater safety, as previous studies show, but it also positively affects performance-related attitudes and behavior.

The subject of this paper is high temperature corrosion in chlorine and hydrogen chloride gaseous environments. The discussion will be limited to metals and alloys such as iron and carbon steel, iron‐chromium alloys and stainless steels, nickel and nickel alloys which are of interest in the petroleum industry.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.