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The postponement boundary problem entails that duties and cross-border trade complexity can lead companies to geographically postpone operations to downstream global facilities. The present study aims at investigating the problem to provide insights into the drivers behind the choice of different postponement strategies for global food supply chains.

A single case study was conducted considering an Italian company exporting olive oil toward the United States. Two global postponement strategies, previously formalized in the literature, were tailored for food supply chains. A multi-methodological approach was adopted, combining data obtained through exploratory case research with empirically grounded analytical modeling. A sensitivity analysis was also performed, to investigate outcomes related to the considered problem when changing key parameters.

Bulky and heavy packing materials account for a big percentage of finished products' volume and weight, and this can deeply affect strategies' cost-effectiveness. Postponing packaging operations could allow for taking advantage of lower tariffs levied on bulk goods, contributing to significantly lower duties to be paid. However, important trade-offs could arise related to the required investments, and the fiscal regulatory frameworks must be carefully examined.

This study offers an empirical investigation of the postponement boundary problem, which is largely unexplored in the current literature. It also tackles an understudied empirical context as global food supply chains. It summarizes the drivers behind and explores the costs related to the implementation of different strategies, offering an original quantitative approach that could support practitioners' decision-making. Lastly, it formalizes five propositions that could pave the way for further research inquiries.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate a supply chain consisting of a producer and multiple suppliers of a type of component needed for the production of a certain product. The effects of carbon emission taxes, quality of components and human inspection errors as well as the collaboration among the supply chain members are considered.

A mathematical model is formulated for a non-collaborative supply chain, and the optimal policy is shown to be the solution of a constraint optimization problem. The mathematical model is modified to the case of a collaborative supply chain and to account for inspection errors. Algorithms are provided, and a numerical example is given to illustrate the determination of the optimal policy.

This study offers a new conceptual and analytical model that analyzes the production problem from a supply chain perspective. Human resource management practices and environmental aspects were incorporated into the model to reduce risk, optimally select the suppliers and properly maximize profit by accounting for human inspection error as well carbon emission taxes. Algorithms describing the determination of the optimal policy are provided.

This study provides practical results that can be useful to researchers and managers aiming at designing sustainable supply chains that incorporate economic, environmental and human factors.

This study can be useful to researchers and managers aiming for designing sustainable supply chains that incorporate economic and human factors.

This paper aims to focus on a comparison study of the visible stability of natural blue dye consisting anthocyanin molecules extracted from Clitoria ternatea in coating films.

The coating films were prepared by mixing the blue dye with poly(acrylamide-co-acrylic acid) in three different weight ratios. Samples were coded as 10PBA, 15PBA and 20PBA, where PBA is the abbreviation for poly acrylamide-co-acrylic acid, blue dyes and anthocyanin. The number at the beginning of each code represents the weight percentage of poly(acrylamide-co-acrylic acid) to natural blue dye. The mixtures were applied on separate glass substrates to form coating films. Another set of samples were prepared for the comparison study with a commercial acrylic clear coat (cc) applied on the surface of the 10PBA, 15PBA and 20PBA coating films. These coating films were coded 10PBAcc, 15PBAcc and 20PBAcc. The purpose of the clear coat is to observe how it affects the colour stability of the blue coating films with respect to time. All samples were exposed to the ultraviolet (UV) source, an 18 W Philips TL-D 18w/830 UV fluorescent lamp. The UV lamp was placed 15 cm above the surface of the samples for 35 days. The colour of the coatings was measured using CIE L*a*b* colour space coordinate.

The results obtained show 10PBA and 10PBAcc have the highest colour stability after 35 days of exposure to UV light. The reflectivity of the coating films was also measured during exposure to UV lamp. Reflectivity measurements also showed that 10PBA and 10PBAcc coating films had the highest reflective stabilities.

The potential of using natural blue dye consisting anthocyanin in coating film to obtain high colour stability.

The coating film developed in this work is suitable to be applied on glass substrates.

The application of anthocyanin dye extracted from the Clitoria ternatea L. as a colourant in coating films

The purpose of this paper is to observe the colour and thermal stability of natural red dye consisting of anthocyanin with addition of different aqueous acids and applied as coating films.

The natural red dye was extracted from Hibiscus sabdariffa L. (roselle) flowers and mixed with 1 per cent hydrochloric acid, 5 per cent acetic acid, 5 per cent citric acid and 5 per cent oxalic acid. All the dye samples were exposed to heat and UV-B to observe the colour stability by calculating the half-life and rate of reaction. In coating film application, each of the dye samples was mixed with 25 wt% of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and applied on to a glass substrate. The coating samples’ colour stability was observed by using CIE L*a*b* colour space coordinates. The coating films’ weight loss stability against temperature was observed by using thermogravimetric analysis.

Addition of hydrochloric acid enhances the thermal and UV stability of the anthocyanin natural dye. This can be observed from the calculation of the half-life of the dye. The half-life values for the thermal and UV stability studies were 1,155 hours and 210 hours, respectively. In coating films, the sample with addition of acetic acid showed the highest colour stability with colour difference (ΔE*) value 8.95.

The coating films developed in this work are not suitable to be applied on metal substrates due to the presence of water, which can contribute to the corrosion formation.

The coating films developed in this work are suitable for washable coating application. In other words, they are non-permanent coatings applied on a glass substrate.

Development of water-based coatings from PVA binder with anthocyanin colourant is introduced in this study.

This study aims to measure the extent of mandatory and voluntary risk reporting and investigate the impact of competition, corporate governance and ownership structure on risk reporting practices in annual reports of Egyptian companies.

A number of theoretical perspectives including proprietary cost, agency theory, stakeholder theory, political cost, signalling theory and legitimacy theory are used to derive research hypotheses and identify the potential determinants of risk reporting practices in the annual reports of Egyptian companies. The annual reports of 105 listed companies for 2007 were examined to measure the extent of risk reporting and examine potential determinants of risk reporting. An unweighted disclosure index, based on Egyptian Accounting Standards (EAS) 25, has been used to measure the level of mandatory risk reporting while content analysis – sentence approach – is used in coding voluntary risk reporting. Multiple regression analysis is used in evaluating the relationships between competition, corporate governance, ownership structure and risk reporting.

The results indicate a low level of compliance with mandatory risk reporting requirements. A low extent of voluntary risk reporting with a tendency to report more backward-looking and qualitative risk disclosure compared to forward-looking and quantitative risk disclosure is indicated. Agency theory and proprietary cost provide explanations for the variation of risk reporting in corporate annual reports. It is suggested that competition, role duality, board size, ownership concentration and auditor type are key determinants of risk reporting practices in Egypt.

The scoring and classification process suffers from inherent judgment limitations and subjectivity, which cannot be entirely eradicated. The study applies a cross-sectional approach and examines risk reporting practice and its determinants at one point in time. However, longitudinal research may provide a better understanding of risk reporting practices of Egyptian companies. The use of only one proxy of competition is one of the limitations of this study.

The findings regarding mandatory disclosure level and nature of voluntary risk disclosure should be on concern to regulatory authorities and standard-setters.

The study aims to contribute to risk reporting research through addressing not only mandatory but also voluntary risk reporting in emerging economies in general and Egypt in particular. In addition, examining the impact of competition on risk reporting is a main contribution of this study.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of voluntary risk management disclosure (VRMD) on firm value (FV).

This study uses content analysis approach to collect the VRMD data. FV is represented by three variables: market capitalization, Tobin’s Q and market to book value of equity ratio. Based on a sample of 395 firms listed on the main market of Bursa Malaysia in 2011, this study uses multivariate statistical tests to examine the association between VRMD and FV.

Based on the regression analysis, this study found that the VRMD has a positive and significant relationship with FV. Even though the authors hypothesize that damaging voluntary risk management disclosure (DVRMD) will have a negative and significant relationship with FV, the regression analysis shows that the DVRMD is not significantly related to FV. As expected, the relationship between beneficial voluntary risk management disclosure (BVRMD) and FV is positive and significant. The findings provide evidence that should be of interest especially to firms in terms of deciding upon whether to provide or avoid disclosing voluntary risk management information to their stakeholders.

Notwithstanding the critical empirical findings, this study is limited to only focusing on a one year data. The authors acknowledge the fact that findings from a one year data might not be easily generalized to other time periods. The authors believe a stronger argument could be obtained from evidence based on a longitudinal study or data that incorporate multiple economic conditions. The study highlights the fact that risks management information is important to investors in Malaysia when they make their investments decisions.

To date, regulatory bodies emphasize more on financial risk management disclosure through the enforcement of MFRS 7; while non-financial risk information is less emphasized in current guidelines such as Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance (MCCG) (2012) and Recommended Practice Guide 5 (Revised), which only requires firms to disclose information about non-financial risk management without specific details. As this study has provided evidence on the significance of non-financial risk management disclosures in the capital market, this study could be useful for the regulatory bodies to develop more detailed guidelines on non-financial risk management disclosure in the future.

Most of prior literatures are found to focus on the study of factors that influence the VRMD (such as Linsley and Shrives, 2006; Abraham and Cox, 2007; Hassan et al., 2009; Ismail and Abdul Rahman, 2011). Studies about the effects of voluntary risk management information disclosure is however very scant. Miihkinen (2013) studied the effects of risk management disclosure on information asymmetry. This paper adds to Miihkinen (2013) by investigating the relationship between VRMD and FV. This paper is expected to be the first to investigate on the empirical usefulness of VRMD in a developing country.

This study investigates a production process that requires N kinds of components for the production of a finished product. The producer orders the various kinds of components from different suppliers and receives the orders in lots at the beginning of each production cycle. Similar to situations often encountered in real life, the lead times are random variables with known probability distributions so that a production cycle starts whenever all N kinds of components become available. Each of the lots received at the start of a production run contains both perfect and imperfect quality components. Once all N kinds of components become available, the producer initiates a screening process to detect the imperfect components. The production of the finished product uses only perfect quality components. The imperfect components are removed from inventory whenever the screening process is completed. The percentage of components of perfect quality present in each lot is a random variable with a known probability distribution.

This production process is described and modeled mathematically and the optimal production/ordering policy is derived based on the mathematical model.

The formulated mathematical model resulted in the determination of the optimal policy consisting of the optimal number of finished items ordered to be produce during each production run, the number of components ordered from each supplier, and the reorder point. The derived closed form expression for the optimal lot size depends on the minimum of the number of perfect quality components in a lot, whereas the reorder point is determined based on the maximum lead time.

The modeling approach and results of this study provide practical implications that may be beneficial to both production and supply chain managers as well as researchers.

This modeling approach that incorporates decision-making related to the logistics of acquiring the components and accounts for the probabilistic nature of the lead times and quality of components addresses a gap in the logistics/production literature.

The healthcare sector in India is witnessing phenomenal growth, such that by the year 2022, it will be a market worth trillions of INR. Increase in income levels, awareness regarding personal health, the occurrence of lifestyle diseases, better insurance policies, low-cost healthcare services, and the emergence of newer technologies like telemedicine are driving this sector to new heights. Abundant quantities of healthcare data are being accumulated each day, which is difficult to analyze using traditional statistical and analytical tools, calling for the application of Big Data Analytics in the healthcare sector. Through provision of evidence-based decision-making and actions across healthcare networks, Big Data Analytics equips the sector with the ability to analyze a wide variety of data. Big Data Analytics includes both predictive and descriptive analytics. At present, about half of the healthcare organizations have adopted an analytical approach to decision-making, while a quarter of these firms are experienced in its application. This implies the lack of understanding prevalent in healthcare sector toward the value and the managerial, economic, and strategic impact of Big Data Analytics. In this context, this chapter on “Predictive Analytics in Healthcare” discusses sources, areas of application, possible future areas, advantages and limitations of the application of predictive Big Data Analytics in healthcare.

This chapter contributes to the overall tourist satisfaction to local economies using sustainable practices. The aim therefore is to analyse to what extent the characteristics of a product and service can bridge the gap between locals and visitors. This chapter is based on secondary data. We find evidence for six themes which are considered to be the most theoretical issue affecting the studies on street food in tourism considered in the analysis.

Results show that street food tourism, as a new paradigm, can be a viable option while thinking the process of sustainable tourism development in emerging destinations. Our findings have clear implications for the fast growing literature on overtourism and related perverse impacts (conceptual contribution) giving also additional options to Destination Marketing Organisations' (DMOs) managers in terms of strategy to combat tourismphobia analysed in the study. Proposals for future research will also be outlined.

The literature about the dynamics of Muslims' awareness and perception of waqf has been generally scarce,especially in Nigeria. As renewed efforts are emerging to develop a new waqf regime in the country, this study examines this aspect in Gombe metropolis, Nigeria, with a view to identifying the key factors shaping people's perception and awareness towards waqf.

To achieve the objective of this study, primary data were collected through a survey among 494 business owners in the Gombe metropolis. The data were then analysed using probit and Tobit regression models.

The study found that altruistic behaviour, religiosity level, educational level and young age are among the factors that determine people's perception and awareness towards donating to waqf among business owners in Gombe. Altruism and young age embolden businesspersons to recognise the effectiveness of waqf institutions in solving socioeconomic challenges.

The findings of this study imply that waqf has huge potential in the study area and that with well-structured, organized waqf education programmes within the business community using diverse avenues, a robust waqf sector can be developed.

As far as the study area and the entire Nigerian Islamic economics and finance landscape is concerned, the study has explored a novel research area. Given the infant stage of empirical studies on waqf in Nigeria, there are virtually no previous attempts to examine the awareness and perception of businesspersons towards waqf; variables that are key to the development of an effective sector.