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This study first examines whether the capital structure served as a mediator between financing mix and firm performance. Furthermore, the authors investigate whether this mediation effect was moderated by the financial environment. Grounded in the pecking order theory (POT) and dynamic capability view (DCV), this study extends these concepts by configuring all links to a moderated mediation model.

The study uses the structural equation modelling (SEM) approach and multiple regression analysis using “Hayes PROCESS macro” to empirically examine the model using data collected from 384 informal micro-firms operating in Bangladesh.

In the mediation analyses, results found that capital structure was a mediator in the link between financing mix and firm performance. In further moderated mediation analyses, outcomes confirmed that this mediation effect was moderated by the financial environment.

This investigation shows paths for future research including implications for theory advancement and intervention development.

This investigation offers the first step towards examining a moderated mediation effect, using POT and DCV, of the relationship between financial environment, financing mix, capital structure and firm performance.

Marketing capabilities of large- and medium-sized enterprise is well understood and focused, but little research has been done on microenterprise, especially in informal sector microenterprise. The purpose of this paper is to investigate what are the marketing capabilities of informal microenterprises (IMs) that could be sources of competitive performance.

At first, a literature review and pilot study was used to develop a list of marketing capabilities of IM street food vending. Then a quantitative approach was undertaken where questionnaire was developed and distributed to 42 street food vendors and 52 customers in Bangkok, Thailand. The collected data were analyzed using a descriptive statistic, principle component analysis, hierarchical cluster analysis, and k-mean clustering technique.

Analysis revealed that IM street food vending has some unique marketing capabilities compared to formal restaurant. From the vendors’ point of view, it was found that cheaper pricing and quicker food delivery were the major contributors. On the other hand, from the customer point of view, convenient location, flexible business hours, fulfill customer food requirements, and cooking demonstration were noted significant.

Policy makers and development agencies could be developed using various policy strategies such as business development support services as a tool to support IM operators.

This study provides a first step toward marketing capabilities of IM and makes several contributions to the literature.

Understanding the micro-start-up resources and its relationships with entrepreneurial orientation and performance is unique because it operates a business in a poor resource setting. However, poor resource settings of micro-start-up are not adequately examined into the literature in relation to entrepreneurial orientation and performance. Therefore, grounded on resource-based view, this paper aims to attempt to examine the relationships between resource capital, entrepreneurial orientation and performance in a developing country context.

To establish this, the authors conducted a survey among 180 micro-entrepreneurs from Bangladesh and analyzed the data using the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach.

The results demonstrate the mediating role of entrepreneurial orientation on the relationship between human and financial resources and performance, while having partial mediating influence between social resource and performance, therefore indicating the importance of resources for determining business outcomes for micro-entrepreneurs.

These results extend theoretical explanations of micro-entrepreneurship within the poor resource setting context. The findings have implications for identifying micro-firms likely to succeed for the purpose of strategic allocation of resources and supports; they also provide future research avenues.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no previous study has established that entrepreneurial orientation plays a critical and mediating role between resource capital and micro-firm performance in a poor resource setting.

In urban streets of developing countries, informal e-rickshaw operation can contribute to the development of economically viable, citizen-oriented and environmentally friendly transport systems. Even though informal e-rickshaw operation is important, significant gaps are apparent in the literature in relation to e-rickshaw sustainability issues and policies, and the development of a methodology grounded in a robust theoretical base. The current paper aims to address these gaps by integrating stakeholder theory (ST) and resource dependency theory (RDT) as we consider the linkage between e-rickshaw operation and the sustainability concept.

We apply fuzzy quality function deployment (QFD), integrated with the 0–1 non-linear optimisation technique, to identify optimal policies for the e-rickshaw informal sector on Khulna city's urban streets in Bangladesh.

The results suggest that optimal policies should be formalised to regularise e-rickshaw operation. Appropriate supervision and monitoring; infrastructural support for battery charging, parking, battery recycling and solar panel installation; and training and development should all be provided.

The theoretical and managerial implications of our results are discussed, with future research suggestions presented.

To the best of our knowledge, no previous study has used ST and RDT in e-rickshaw sector research. We recognised that the stakeholder settings for sustainability policies can well influence the behaviour of informal e-rickshaw operators while allotting the necessary resources to this sector. This move assists researchers and policymakers to understand the stakeholders and resource dependency sustainability requirements of this sector and the implementation of the required policies.

Sustainable development goals and the climate change agenda are becoming widely promoted topics of research for the 21st century. The role of cities is increasingly recognised as central to investigating these topics. Yet, the field of informal sector entrepreneurship which so many urban entrepreneurs in developing countries depend upon is seldom considered. To redress this imbalance, this study aims to develop a decision model in accordance with institutional theory (IT) and resource dependency theory (RDT) for city managers to deploy. The model identifies and prioritises optimal strategies to address the three areas of sustainability requirements environment society and economy within the study context of Bangladesh.

This study used a mixed methods research design. In the qualitative part, the authors identified the three areas of sustainability requirements (i.e. environment, society and economy) and their corresponding strategies involving the informal sector that operates within the urban environment. In the quantitative part, the authors applied fuzzy quality function deployment (QFD) integrated with the 0-1 non-linear optimisation technique to identify optimal strategies.

The findings show that strategies such as legitimate frameworks, waste management, allocation of urban public space and training programs contribute in important ways to the three areas of sustainability requirements.

The proposed decision model will assist policy-makers and city managers to prioritise sustainability requirements and implement optimal strategies to address those requirements.

Through the integration of IT and RDT, the decision model developed in this study is unique in its application to urban-based informal entrepreneurship in the context of developing countries. The effective application of the fuzzy QFD approach and the optimisation model in the context of urban-based informal entrepreneurship also offers unique contributions to the field of study.

The main objective of this study is to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on earnings management practices in China using a sample of family and non-family enterprises. More specifically, this study aims to examine whether the COVID-19 pandemic causes variation in Chinese listed family and non-family enterprises' operations, as reflected in the level of real earnings management (REM).

This study uses three standardised REM indicators, namely, the abnormal level of cash flows from operations, the abnormal level of production costs and the abnormal level of discretionary expenses. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions are applied to compare the earnings management of Chinese family and non-family enterprises during the pre-pandemic period (2017–2019) and the pandemic period (2020).

The authors find that Chinese listed non-family enterprises tend to participate in more REM activities than family enterprises before the COVID-19 outbreak. However, the opposite is true during the pandemic. The authors also find that COVID-19 has increased the involvement of family and non-family enterprises in REM activities.

The results of previous studies based on REM using Chinese listed firms may not be applicable under the new social background of COVID-19. As the period after the COVID-19 outbreak is relatively recent, Chinese researchers have yet to study it comprehensively. The present study is amongst the first empirical attempts investigating the effect of a pandemic financial reporting by investigating whether and how the burst of the COVID-19 crisis affected financial reporting through the earnings management practices of listed Chinese family and non-family enterprises. Such information is crucial because it can provide analysis for all stakeholders to make better decisions.

This study investigates supply chain management (SCM) practices in a specific fast fashion apparel (FFA) industry. The impacts of SCM practices on competitive advantage (CA) are investigated via mediating roles of supply chain agility (SCA) and partnership quality (PQ). Resource advantage (R-A) theory, in addition to resource-based view (RBV) and dynamic capability theories, is used as theoretical underpinning.

A mixed-method approach is adopted: a qualitative field study and survey research. Data from 296 apparel manufacturers in Bangladesh are analyzed using the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach, involving reflective and formative, first- and second-order constructs and mediation tests using the Hayes PROCESS macro.

Both SCM practices and PQ significantly affect SCA. SCM practices are found to directly enhance CA, but, counterintuitively, only marginally. Only through mediations of SCA and PQ do SCM practices enhance CA significantly. This is a departure from past research that has postulated direct effects between SCM practices and CA.

This research is confined to the FFA industry and one national setting, Bangladesh. The data analyzed is also cross-sectional, with customary limitations on the temporal dimension.

SCM practices contribute to CA, but only through the mediation of PQ and SCA. This is an important directive to practitioners. Also, the second-order reflective measures for each construct indicate the specific SCM practices needed to maximize CA.

This study contributes to the literature on SCM practices in FFA industry, specifically the mediating roles of PQ and SCA, resulting in new, more nuanced findings that are important in dynamic business settings, driven by new theoretical perspectives incorporating R-A theory, which has hardly been utilized before in SCM research.

Sharing economy-based service platforms are a relatively new way of delivering services that have received increasing attention from both practitioners and researchers. However, current research in the area is still developing in terms of offering practical insight in conjunction with a decision model that may help to determine optimal strategies for efficient service design in the sharing economy from a service triad perspective. Exploring this gap in the literature, this paper aims to develop and apply a decision model that enables managers to identify and prioritise the efficiency attributes of sharing economy-based services. It also aids in designing optimal strategies to enhance efficiency over time based on the insights obtained from users (buyers and sellers) and platform providers.

This study adopts a mixed-methods approach. The qualitative approach comprised an extensive literature review followed by in-depth interviews, and the quantitative approach adopted the quality function deployment (QFD) integrated optimisation technique to design and prioritise the most optimal strategy emanating from the application of a decision model.

The findings revealed that establishing global distribution, continued technological research and development (R&D) and enhancing the transactional platform are the most important strategies in the context of sharing economy platform providers (e.g. accommodation-based-platform service providers). This study also revealed that as the importance weights of the efficiency attributes changed over time, so too did the portfolio of strategies used to attain an optimal efficiency level.

The decision model brings a richer conceptual understanding of the dynamic changes over time that occur in the business ecosystem. It also allows managers of sharing economy-based platforms to select optimal strategies and make astute decisions towards achieving efficient service design.

This study aims to investigate the conditional direct and indirect effects of supply chain relational capital (RC) on supply chain sustainability via sustainability governance.

In line with the study’s aims, a quantitative survey-based approach was adopted. This study uses a random sample of 272 manufacturing firms from the apparel industry in Bangladesh. This study assesses the measurement model using partial least square-based structural equation modelling and test the proposed hypotheses using the Hayes PROCESS.

The results reveal that the indirect effect of supply chain RC on supply chain sustainability via sustainability governance is significant. While at low levels of network complexity (NC), the conditional indirect effect of supply chain RC on supply chain sustainability via sustainability governance is significant, this study finds that such indirect effects are insignificant at high levels of NC. This study further shows that NC positively moderates the relationship between supply chain RC and supply chain sustainability.

While previous studies have demonstrated the role of RC in adopting sustainability practice, this study explores this link further by investigating the conditional direct and indirect effects of supply chain relational capital on supply chain sustainability via sustainability governance.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature on effectiveness of entrepreneurship education by empirically assessing the role of university entrepreneurial education in entrepreneurship development and reporting the results.

A quantitative method was applied for this study. This research was preplanned and structured. Based on the previous literature, hypotheses have been developed. The sample is composed on the basis of a simple random sampling and consists of 200 students. The method of data collection was face-to-face interview with a self-administered questionnaire. The data were statistically interpreted using factor and regression analysis.

The present paper explores and examines the factors and variables of different kinds of entrepreneurial education at the university level. Specifically, at first, this paper addresses the possible entrepreneurial education factors in terms of generalized, motivational, and augmented entrepreneurial education via comprehensive literature review. Second, the paper focuses on the relationship between entrepreneurial education at the university level and entrepreneurship development. The results of this study show a strong positive relationship between different kinds of entrepreneurial education on entrepreneurship development.

The implications of these findings are highly relevant to the universities, policy makers, practitioners, and relevant agencies in regard to their policy-setting process in the entrepreneurship development context. This is because entrepreneurship education at the university level has been recognized to have an impact on student, group, and society. This finding also improves the understanding of donors and development partners about the extent to which a quality entrepreneurship education can play a role in economic development. Wrong specification of research models has a significant impact on research outcome and may even mislead decision-setting process. Therefore, this paper encourages further research that examines the measurement model of these three kinds of entrepreneurial education for entrepreneurship development.

This study provides a first step toward generalized, motivational, and augmented entrepreneurial education at the university level in Bangladesh.