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The forest products processing industry is a key component of the forestry economy, and the level of companies’ operating efficiency directly affects its profitability and market competitiveness.

In order to deeply study the operation status of forest product processing industry, this paper takes the panel data of 70 listed forest product processing companies from 2015 to 2022 as the basis, and adopts BBC, CCR and DEA-Malmquist models to measure the operating efficiency of these companies. Meanwhile, the Tobit model is applied to deeply explore the impact of innovation input on operating efficiency.

The results of the paper show that: (1) the overall operating efficiency of listed forest product processing companies performs well, and the improvement of technology level promotes the growth of total factor productivity; (2) innovation input plays a significant positive role in listed forest product processing companies, which positively affects the operating efficiency.

A scientific and reasonable evaluation of the operating efficiency of listed forest product companies is of great practical significance to the development of the forestry industry The study of forest product processing industry is of key significance to the social economy.

This paper explores the improvement of production and operation efficiency of forest products processing enterprises for the purpose of in-depth analysis of the current situation of China's forest products processing enterprises, which is conducive to improving the innovation and operation efficiency of China's forest products processing enterprises, and realizing the high-quality development of China's forest products processing industry.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the gendered ideas and ideals attached to an imagined ideal Entrepreneur in a post-industrial rural community in Sweden. While research has not yet clearly explained how the ideal entrepreneur is constructed, the result, i.e. the gendered representations of entrepreneurs, is well-researched. Previous results indicate a prevalent portrayal of entrepreneurship as a predominantly masculine construct characterised by qualities such as self-made success, confidence and assertiveness.

Ethnographic fieldwork was conducted in a community that is attempting to re-brand itself through garden tourism. Through inductive reasoning, this study analyses the gendered ideas and ideals regarding the community’s imagined ideal Entrepreneur who is to help the community solve its problems.

This study finds that the community forges the Entrepreneur into an imagined masculine ideal as holy, a saviour and a god and is replacing its historical masculine ironmaster with a masculine Entrepreneur. This study develops forging as a metaphor for the construction of the masculine ideal Entrepreneur, giving the community, rather than the entrepreneur himself, a voice as constructors. From social constructionism, this study emphasises how gendered ideas and ideals are shaped not only by the individual realities but more so in the reciprocal process by the realities of others.

The metaphor of forging adds an innovative theoretical dimension to the feminist constructionist approach and suggests focusing on how the “maleness” of entrepreneurship is produced and reproduced in the local. Previously, light has been shed on how male entrepreneurs perform their identities collectively; the focus of this study is on the social construction of this envisioned Entrepreneur within a rural community. The development of forging thus contributes as a way of analysing entrepreneurship in place. The choice of an ethnographic study allowed the authors to be a part of the real-life world of community members, providing rich data to explore entrepreneurship and gender.

Academics and businesses alike have begun to recognise sustainability as a vital component of supply chain competitive advantage in recent years. Inconclusive results have been found in empirical studies of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) that have ignored contextual variables concerning the dynamic role of firm capability in favour of testing alternative assumptions about the effect of various elements of the triple bottom line (TBL) on firm performance outcomes. The present study examines whether and how firm capabilities mediate the connection between SSCM, from a TBL standpoint, and firm financial performance outcomes.

Using the stakeholder theory, the study employed 325 survey responses from firms operating in different industries in Ghana (a less-researched context but one that plays a key role regarding SSCM practices) and the partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM) technique to simultaneously assess the relationships amongst the variables.

It was discovered that the connections between all the TBL facets of SSCM practices and firm performance are positive and significant, and these relationships are mediated by firm capabilities.

By examining the underlying variables and relationships that contribute to the establishment of the rather complex relationship between SSCM practices from a TBL perspective and the performance of a firm, the research contributes to current knowledge on SSCM practices, firm capabilities and firm performance.

Humane Entrepreneurship (HumEnt) is strongly purpose-oriented and characterized by a focus on inclusiveness and social and environmental sustainability, with attention to both internal and external stakeholders and their needs. In the attempt to provide new research in this field, this study aims to conduct an empirical investigation within the theory of HumEnt and, in particular, of the Human Resource Orientation (HRO) model among Italian Small and Medium-size Enterprises.

Based on quantitative data, this study used a deductive approach to investigate the relationship between the HumEnt model and firms’ relational embeddedness with different types of stakeholders (value chain stakeholders and societal stakeholders, respectively). More concretely, to investigate the relationships between the dimensions of the HumEnt model and firms’ relational embeddedness, partial least squares structural equation modeling was applied.

Findings of this study suggest that Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) directly contributes only to value chain embeddedness. However, the results also show that if EO is mediated by an HRO (i.e. companies with a high HRO), a high level of societal embeddedness is also present.

This study represents a first attempt to provide comprehensive empirical evidence about the different dimensions characterizing the HumEnt theoretical model, and to highlight their relevance in supporting companies’ relational embeddedness capacity with different categories of stakeholders.

In many parts of the world, labor shortages are likely to affect the activities of SMEs. Consequently, SMEs needs to adopt attractive HRM practices. This study analyzes the impact of one type of sustainable HRM (SD-HRM) on employees’ attraction and retention factors such as employees’ motivation, the quality of image and customer satisfaction in SMEs context. It also looks at the impact of SME managers’ value-intentions, calculative (egoist-strategic) and non-calculative (altruist-institutional) on this relationship.

Drawing on part of a survey of 409 Quebec SME managers’ commitment to sustainability, a mediation model is used to consider the impact of the manager’s values-intentions on potential workforce attraction and retention factors.

The results show that the implementation of SD-HRM practices has a positive impact on the outcomes considered, as it was expected, but show the counterintuitive results that it is altruistic values (non-calculative), rather than egoistic values, that helps to maximize the desired effects.

SME managers could adopt SRHRM practices to attract and retain employees. To maximize positive impacts, they might strategically integrate this approach while remaining authentic to their altruistic values. Purely institutional intentions are insufficient. By being both personally committed and strategic, managers can improve both employee well-being and organizational performance.

The original aspect of this research is the integration of expectations of spin-offs (positive or neutral) in relation to SD-HRM, based on the values and intentions of SME managers. This allows to recognize the multiple profiles, justifications and objectives of SMEs, which do not form a monolithic whole and need to be understood and supported by considering their differences.

Purpose: The assessment of the linkage between quality and several SDGs is crucial due to the significant impact quality has on multiple dimensions. This study employs a comprehensive methodology to elucidate the various dimensions of quality. Additionally, it examines the relationship between quality and multiple SDGs, a topic that has not been previously investigated.

Design/Methodology/Approach: The question arises here that how maintaining quality leads to sustainability; well this question is answered in this study through a content analysis of previous studies and showing the importance of theme quality in various aspects of sustainability like TBL, sustainable development goals (SDGs), etc.

Findings: Quality has proven to be an admirable approach towards sustainability. The risen need for sustainability has brought many perspectives of the world. It can be environmental, social and economic and further these aspects have their own areas for improvement. The complexity of the structure of sustainability requires a basic common area to be focused on, and in this study, quality has proven to be one.

Implications: Through the SDGs it can be derived that each goal had an area where quality needed to be worked on. The several zones of quality are interlinked. Quality of life will automatically improve the education, health water and sanitation services. Therefore, the focus should be laid on attaining sustainability through quality. Quality is achieving excellence in something or a substance that satisfies the requirements needed from it or the resources are utilised effectively and efficiently.

Originality/Value: This study uses a holistic approach in which dimensions of quality have been explained and further the linkage of quality with different SDGs was assessed which has not yet been explored earlier.

Purpose: The study aims to analyse and discuss the effect of COVID-19 on businesses. The chapter discusses the various machine learning (ML) tools and techniques, which can help in better decision making by businesses in the present world.

Need for the Study: COVID-19 has increased the role of VUCA elements in the business environment, and there is a need to address the challenges faced by businesses in such environment. ML and artificial learning can help businesses in facing such challenges.

Methodology: The focus and approach of the chapter are in the context of using artificial intelligence (AI) and ML techniques for decision making during the COVID-19 pandemic in a VUCA business environment.

Findings: The key findings and their implications emphasise the importance of understanding and implementing AI and ML techniques in business strategies during times of crisis.

Practical Implications: The chapter’s content is in the context of using AI and ML techniques during the COVID-19 pandemic and in a VUCA business environment.

Climate change has led to a rise in the frequency, intensity and scope of droughts, posing significant implications for businesses. This study examines the impact of local community drought levels on audit pricing. Additionally, it explores the moderating effects of high-tech industries, auditor busyness and the level of local community concern regarding the drought crisis.

This study employs a mixed-methods approach to rigorously test the research hypotheses. The quantitative phase of the study utilizes a sample of 1,278 firm-year observations from Iran’s capital market. For the analysis of the quantitative data, ordinary least squares regression with clustered robust standard errors is used. Additionally, this research supplements its quantitative findings with qualitative evidence obtained through semi-structured interviews with 19 Iranian audit partners.

The results suggest that firms operating in provinces facing severe droughts experience notably higher audit fees. Furthermore, the positive relationship between drought and audit fees is weakened when auditors are busy, local community concern regarding the drought crisis is high or the firm operates within high-tech industries. These findings are supported by a range of robustness checks and qualitative evidence gathered from the field.

This research contributes to the growing literature on climate change by examining the influence of local community drought levels on audit pricing within an Iranian context. Additionally, our study sheds light on how high-tech industries, auditor workload and the level of local community concern regarding the drought crisis moderate the relationship between drought and audit fees. Importantly, our study pioneers in providing mixed-methods evidence of the association between drought severity and audit fees.

This study aims to explore and empirically test variables influencing material delivery schedule inaccuracies?

A mixed-method case approach is applied. Explanatory variables are identified from the literature and explored in a qualitative analysis at an automotive original equipment manufacturer. Using logistic regression and random forest classification models, quantitative data (historical schedule transactions and internal data) enables the testing of the predictive difference of variables under various planning horizons and inaccuracy levels.

The effects on delivery schedule inaccuracies are contingent on a decoupling point, and a variable may have a combined amplifying (complexity generating) and stabilizing (complexity absorbing) moderating effect. Product complexity variables are significant regardless of the time horizon, and the item’s order life cycle is a significant variable with predictive differences that vary. Decoupling management is identified as a mechanism for generating complexity absorption capabilities contributing to delivery schedule accuracy.

The findings provide guidelines for exploring and finding patterns in specific variables to improve material delivery schedule inaccuracies and input into predictive forecasting models.

The findings contribute to explaining material delivery schedule variations, identifying potential root causes and moderators, empirically testing and validating effects and conceptualizing features that cause and moderate inaccuracies in relation to decoupling management and complexity theory literature?

The present study aims at quantifying the likely impacts of an environmental tax on macroeconomic variables and pollution in Iran.

The computable general equilibrium model, which allows the prediction of the economy-wide effects of any change in policy instruments, is applied.

The main findings reveal that gross domestic product, private consumption and income in both urban and rural areas will follow a declining trend as a result of environmental tax imposition. In a scenario with the highest level of tax, the predicted percentage change to the gross domestic product and private consumption is estimated at −21.32 and −40.96, respectively. In the same scenario, pollution emissions would decrease by 12.4–22.6% for CO2, CH4 and N2O.

This study uses a general equilibrium model to examine the effects of the carbon tax on environmental issues and household welfare, considering the unique conditions and regulations of Iran. While the related literature examines the CO2 tax, the current study covers more pollutants, including CO2, CH4, N2O, CO, SO2 and NOx. In addition, a distinguishing feature of the current study is that it applies a modified version of the social accounting matrix (SAM) database, which includes the heavy subsidies of energy products. Another significant feature of the current study is that it examines tax policy while tax rates are exerted endogenously (compared to previous studies).