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This study aims to investigate the relationship between absorptive capacity, relational capital and interorganizational relationship performance and examine the moderating effect of contractual governance on this relationship.

This study used a quantitative design, analyzing data collected through a survey questionnaire. The sampling frame consisted of 111 cross-industry, small and medium-sized manufacturers in Malaysia. The research model was analyzed using structural equation modeling.

The results show that interorganizational relationship performance is positively influenced by relational capital and absorptive capacity. While absorptive capacity has a positive effect on relational capital, this study finds empirical evidence that contractual governance weakens the effect of absorptive capacity on relational capital. Furthermore, this study also examines the hitherto under-researched moderating effect of contractual government on absorptive capacity and relational capital and their relationship with interorganizational relationship performance.

This study provides insights into the interorganizational relationship among SMEs and explains the nature of knowledge management in this context. This study shows the potential role of absorptive capacity in building close cross-border interorganizational relationships.

This study aims to examine the effect of Industry 4.0 technology on resilience in established cross-border supply chain(s) (SC).

A literature review provides insight into the resilience capabilities of cross-border SC. The research uses a case study of operational international SC: the producers, importers, logistics companies and UK Government (UKG) departments. Semi-structured interviews determine the resilience capabilities and approaches of participants within cross-border SC and how implementing an Industry 4.0 Internet of Things (IoT) and capitals Distributed Ledger (blockchain) based technology platform changes SC resilience capabilities and approaches.

A blockchain-based platform introduces common assured data, reducing data duplication. When combined with IoT technology, the platform improves end-to-end SC visibility and information sharing. Industry 4.0 technology builds collaboration, trust, improved agility, adaptability and integration. It enables common resilience capabilities and approaches that reduce the de-coupling between government agencies and participants of cross-border SC.

The case study presents challenges specific to UKG’s customs border operations; research needs to be repeated in different contexts to confirm findings are generalisable.

Operational SC and UKG customs and excise departments must align their resilience strategies to gain full advantage of Industry 4.0 technologies.

Case study research shows how Industry 4.0 technology reduces the de-coupling between the SC and UKG, enhancing common resilience capabilities within established cross-border operations. Improved information sharing and SC visibility provided by IoT and blockchain technologies support the development of resilience in established cross-border SC and enhance interactions with UKG at the customs border.

The purpose of this paper is to explore issues relating to imposing a ban on the importation of asbestos-contaminated building materials (ACBMs) in the Australian context to better understand the multiple accountabilities and consequences.

This study undertakes a qualitative content analysis of the multiple accountabilities and stakeholder expectations using the lens of actor–network theory. This study further explores the weaknesses and complexities associated with implementing a complete ban on asbestos, ensuring that only asbestos-free building materials are imported to Australia. This study uses data collected from 15 semi-structured interviews with stakeholders, responses from the Australian Border Force to a questionnaire and 215 counter accounts from the media, the Australian Government, industry organizations, non-governmental organizations and social group websites during the period from 2003 to 2021.

This study reveals that stakeholders' expectations of zero tolerance for asbestos have not been met. This assertion has been backed by evidence of asbestos contamination in imported building materials throughout recent years. Stakeholders say that the complete prevention of the importation of ACBMs has been delayed because of issues in policy implementations, opaque supply chain activities, lack of transparency and non-adherence to mandatory and self-regulated guidelines.

Stakeholders expect public and private sector organizations to meet their accountabilities through mandatory adoption of the given policy framework.

This research provides a road map to identify the multiple accountabilities, their related weaknesses and the lack of implementation of the necessary protocol, which prevents a critical aspect of legislation from being effectively implemented.

Purpose of this study is to explore the nature of relationship between internationalization of firms, sustainability of their supply chains, and the extent of their green innovations. Understanding of the relationship between these constructs is important because of the ever increasing sustainability awareness of consumers in the leading economies of the world. This awareness is now compelling importers of goods from cheap-labor countries to ensure that their suppliers comply with sustainability regulations. This compliance becomes very challenging because of the lack of control on second-tier and third-tier suppliers in a supply chain. First-tier suppliers in this case may drive this effort but need to be motivated enough to do so. In case of environmental sustainability, green innovation (GI) may provide a gradual, and thus more affordable and practical, move toward more eco-friendly ways. As far as the motivation to commit to sustainability and GI is concerned, internationalization and export business expansion may act as one of the most effective motivators for these suppliers. However, the nature of relationship between these three constructs, i.e. internationalization of firms, sustainability of their supply chains and the extent of their GI requires a better understanding.

The work uses a novel data set collected from 146 medium and large textile firms operating in Pakistan. The partial least square-structural equation modeling approach is used for data analysis.

All three constructs of internationalization, GI and sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) are significantly associated and thus complement each other.

This work uses a novel agency theory perspective to analyze the relationship between internationalization, GI and SSCM. In that sense, the findings indicate that internationalization could be one of the incentives that can be used by the principals to deal with agents’ goal conflict and information asymmetry.

This paper contributes to studies on the relationship between dynamic capabilities (DCs) and performance by showing how domain-specific DCs – international dynamic marketing capabilities (IDMCs) – affect the international performance of exporting firms in the context of extreme environmental dynamism – during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The authors focus on a sample of 277 exporting manufacturers from the post-transition economy of Poland. The authors use hierarchical multiple regression analysis to test this study's hypotheses.

This study's findings show that deployment of IDMCs by export manufacturers in the context of environmental jolts contributes to better performance, and this relationship is mediated by adaptation to foreign markets and product development capability. Additionally, this study's results reveal that the significant and positive indirect effect of IDMCs on international performance (through mediators) is, however, weakened under conditions of extreme environmental dynamism.

The limitations pertain to the cross-sectional nature of this study and the research sample, characterised by the dominance of export manufacturers of final products, the dominance of manufacturers operating in the business-to-business sector, or in the business-to-business and business-to-customer sectors simultaneously.

The study provides suggestions to managers on how to build resilience in international markets during turbulent times. These activities involve investments in IDMCs that support activities centred around product development and adaptation to foreign markets.

The novel construct of IDMCs is introduced and operationalized. The study empirically tests the direct and indirect relationship between IDMCs and performance contingent upon extreme environmental dynamism. The results demonstrate the boundary conditions for the effectiveness of these domain-specific DCs in such a research setting.

This article aims to explore the concept of chain value of the public port system in Ecuador from the perspective of importing/exporting companies, analyzing how perceived value in the use of port services affects customer satisfaction and the intermediate links of the influence of trust and commitment on customer loyalty.

Relying on a survey of 634 Ecuadorian companies with experience in international trade as port users and a theoretical framework well-established in the literature on consumer behavior, the empirical study found evidence of a positive and significant relationship with the knowledge of chain effects.

The findings confirm the chain effect and reveal ways to maintain an ongoing satisfactory, trust and committed relationship with users, thereby ultimately gaining and maintaining their loyalty. The conclusions suggest how this postulate can help to close the gap referred to the effective management of port services, and point out that port managers should be concerned with a continuous in-depth understanding of the perceived value and its chain effects.

The authors add evidence of the use of the postulate of the chain of effects on these dimensions, whose applicability is very well established, tested and consensual for the doctrine in industrial marketing. In contrast, it is scarcely present in the port relationship with its users.

This study empirically aims to examine the relationship between Bangladesh’s pharmaceutical industry growth and macroeconomic indicators such as the inflation rate, gross domestic product (GDP) growth, foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows, exchange rate and export growth through the long- and short-run relationship.

Using the time series data from 1986 to 2020, this study was developed based on the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) framework for co-integration. In contrast, the Toda–Yamamoto Granger Causality approach was also used for finding the direction of causality.

This study used the ARDL bounds test, which found strong co-integration among the variables, indicating a long-term relationship between them. In the long run, inflation, exchange rate and export growth significantly positively influence the pharmaceutical industry’s growth. Surprisingly, an FDI inflow has a negative impact. In the short term, the exchange rate and GDP growth were found to influence the growth of the pharmaceutical industry positively. Bidirectional causality between the growth of the pharmaceutical industry and the exchange rate was also identified using the Granger causality approach.

This paper emphasizes developing the policy as well as making concrete decisions regarding the development of the pharmaceutical industry and economic development in Bangladesh. The results also highlight the necessity for strategic macroeconomic management to support this sector’s long-term development and global competitiveness.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is conducted to identify the short- and long-run relationship of pharmaceutical industry development with the economic indicators and progress, where no study has been found on this dimension.

This study aims to investigate the effect of organizational ambidexterity (OA) and organizational green culture (OGC) on corporate sustainability (CS) while incorporating the mediating role of green innovation (GI) to provide a detailed insight into CS. The study also presents a research framework based on the Organizational Ambidexterity theory and Natural Resource-based view to explain the factors contributing to CS.

Using stratified sampling, the study collected data through survey-based empirical research from 307 textile companies registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) or the All-Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA). The collected data were analysed using path analysis, mediation analysis and moderation analysis through smart PLS-SEM version 4.0 to assess the composition and causal association of factors.

The study found a significant relationship between OA and OGC with CS. Furthermore, the study revealed that green innovation partially mediates the relationship between OGC and CS. The proposed research framework can be valuable for promoting and recommending actions to enhance CS.

The study on CS in the textile sector of Pakistan has limitations such as a narrow focus, cross-sectional design and reliance on self-reported data. Future research should explore additional factors, conduct longitudinal research, investigate contextual factors, scrutinize specific green innovation practices and broaden the scope of the study to include SMEs and other textile organizations.

The research framework can help senior executives to foster CS by promoting OGC, OA and GI. Practitioners and academicians can also utilize or further investigate the proposed framework for validation and to foster CS.

This study fills gaps in the existing literature by investigating the mediating effect of GI between OGC and CS. The proposed research framework provides a comprehensive understanding of the factors contributing to CS based on the Organizational Ambidexterity theory and Natural Resource-based view.

Severe disruptions to maritime supply chains, including port closures, congestion and shortages in shipping capacity, have occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper’s purpose is to explore flexibility-based countermeasures that enable actors in maritime supply chains to mitigate the effects of disruptions with different characteristics.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with shipping lines, shippers, forwarders and ports. Data on the COVID-19 pandemic's effects and countermeasures were collected and compared with data regarding the 2016–2017 Gothenburg port conflict.

Spatial, capacity, service and temporal flexibility emerged as the primary countermeasures, whilst important characteristics of disruptions were geographical spread, duration, uncertainty, criticality, the element of surprise and intensity. Spatial flexibility was exercised in both disruptions by switching to alternative ports. During the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring capacity flexibility included first removing and then adding vessels. Shipping lines exercising service flexibility prioritised certain cargo, which made the spot market uncertain and reduced flexibility for forwarders, importers and exporters that changed carriers or traffic modes. Experience with disruptions meant less surprise and better preparation for spatial flexibility.

Understanding how actors in maritime supply chains exercise flexibility-based countermeasures amid disruptions with different characteristics can support preparedness for coming disruptions.

Comparing flexibility-based measures in a pandemic versus port conflict provides insights into the important characteristics of disruptions and the relevance of mitigation strategies. The resilience of maritime supply chains, although underexamined compared with manufacturing supply chains, is essential for maintaining global supply chain flows.

Effective green supply chain management (GSCM) has become a potentially valuable tool of securing competitive advantage and improving operational performance (OP) as competition is no longer exists between the firms but within green supply chains. The aim of this empirical study is to determine the link between GSCM practices (GSCMPs) and OP within the manufacturing sector of Bangladesh mediated by perceived competitive advantage (PCA). GSCMPs were divided into three further dimensions: green eco-design (GED), green supply chain partnering (GSCP) and internal green orientation (IGO).

The study selected 376 individuals as respondents who work as the top-level managers and the members of the Board of Directors at different Bangladeshi manufacturing firms through purposive sampling. A partial least square-based structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was utilized to identify the relationships between the three dimensions of, GSCMPs, and the single dependent variable, OP.

The study identified that two factors, GED and GSCP, have significant positive relationships with OP. On the other hand, another factor, IGO has a statistically insignificant relationship with OP. Regarding the mediating effects, the study identified that PCA can fully mediate the insignificant relationship between IGO and OP, and partially mediate the significant relationship between GSCP and OP. On the contrary, PCA has no mediating effect on the relationship between GED and OP.

This empirical study is an effort that examined the role of GSCMPs on the OP in the Bangladeshi manufacturing context. It is believed that this empirical investigation will prompt future theoretical studies and empirical experiments to enrich academia. Further, the findings of this study can serve as foundational guidance for policymakers and/or managers studying the formulation and implementation of GSCMP-related policies and strategies.