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Management soundness is essential for the effectiveness of any industry, most especially in any Islamic financial sector, whereby fairness and justice are the key factors to be observed. This paper aims to examine the management soundness of the takaful industry regarding their asset quality, re-takaful and actuarial and earning and profitability.

This study obtained quarterly data from 2019Q1 to 2021Q4 from the Islamic Financial Services Board across Malaysia, Brunei, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. The panel data modelling with random-effect and fixed-effect estimators were used for the analysis.

The finding revealed a strong relationship between re-takaful and earnings with management soundness and a weak relationship between asset quality and management soundness. In addition, the result established a significant and strong association between management soundness and earnings and profitability. Therefore, re-takaful and profitability contributed more to the management soundness of the takaful industry than asset quality during the study. An increase in earnings and profitability to enable the takaful industry to pay the claims, especially in calamity, and more focus on the quality of the asset they invested in could enable the smooth running of their day-to-day business affairs.

More attention is required on the quality of assets in their portfolio for the sustainability of the takaful industry to fulfil their underlying objectives. Management soundness in the takaful industry should address the challenges of managerial lathery, which some studies linked with operational inefficiency because of unskilled personnel in the takaful industry. This could benefit takaful clients, irrespective of religion, to attain their associated share of benefits from the Islamic insurance industry.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical study that examined the effectiveness of takaful management across Malaysia, Brunei, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates.

In the quest for better construction workforce management, this chapter explored the background of workforce management and related theories, models, and practices. Through a review, the chapter provided meaning to the concept of construction and workforce management. The chapter concluded that while the construction industry worldwide is important to the economic growth of the countries where it operates, the industry’s management of its workforce is challenged by several problems. These problems include the nature of the industry, skill shortage, unhealthy working environment, and poor image of the industry, among others. Also, while the construction industry is rich in diversity, this has been a major source of problems for workforce management. The chapter further revealed that to improve workforce management and attain better-performing construction organisations, careful recruitment, effective training, providing a safe working environment, putting policies to promote diversity, and ensuring innovativeness, among others, are essential.

This research explores perceptions of knowledge management processes held by managers and employees in a service industry. To date, empirical research on knowledge management in the service industry is sparse. This research seeks to examine absorptive capacity and its four capabilities of acquisition, assimilation, transformation and exploitation and their impact on effective knowledge management. All of these capabilities are strategies that enable external knowledge to be recognized, imported and integrated into, and further developed within the organization effectively. The research tests the relationships between absorptive capacity and effective knowledge management through analysis of quantitative data (n = 549) drawn from managers and employees in 35 residential aged care organizations in Western Australia. Responses were analysed using Partial Least Square-based Structural Equation Modelling. Additional analysis was conducted to assess if the job role (of manager or employee) and three industry context variables of profit motive, size of business and length of time the organization has been in business, impacted on the hypothesized relationships.

Structural model analysis examines the relationships between variables as hypothesized in the research framework. Analysis found that absorptive capacity and the four capabilities correlated significantly with effective knowledge management, with absorptive capacity explaining 56% of the total variability for effective knowledge management. Findings from this research also show that absorptive capacity and the four capabilities provide a useful framework for examining knowledge management in the service industry. Additionally, there were no significant differences in the perceptions held between managers and employees, nor between respondents in for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. Furthermore, the size of the organization and length of time the organization has been in business did not impact on absorptive capacity, the four capabilities and effective knowledge management.

The research considers implications for business in light of these findings. The role of managers in providing leadership across the knowledge management process was confirmed, as well as the importance of guiding routines and knowledge sharing throughout the organization. Further, the results indicate that within the participating organizations there are discernible differences in the way that some organizations manage their knowledge, compared to others. To achieve effective knowledge management, managers need to provide a supportive workplace culture, facilitate strong employee relationships, encourage employees to seek out new knowledge, continually engage in two-way communication with employees and provide up-to-date policies and procedures that guide employees in doing their work. The implementation of knowledge management strategies has also been shown in this research to enhance the delivery and quality of residential aged care.

This paper aims to explore the challenges and opportunities of blockchain technology adoption from the lens of the technological–organisational–environmental (TOE) framework for operational excellence in the UK automotive industry context.

The research methodology of this study follows a systematic review approach, which analyses existing academic published research papers in the top 35 academic journals. There was no specific timeframe established for this study and shortlisting the articles through a set of used keywords. A sample of 71 articles was shortlisted and analysed to provide a discussion on technological and management challenges and opportunities of blockchain adoption from the lens of the TOE framework for operational excellence.

The findings of this study present significant theoretical and managerial implications and deep understanding for firms seeking to understand the challenges and opportunities of blockchain adoption for their operational excellence.

The systematic literature approach was considered for the present study to explore existing academic papers on technological and management challenges and opportunities from the lens of TOE framework for operational excellence, whereas a more specified method meta-analysis can be considered for future research. The study has been explored in the UK automotive industry context, which has been considered as the limitation of generalisation across countries and industries.

This paper represents the most comprehensive literature study related to the technological and management challenges and opportunities of blockchain from the TOE framework angle for operational excellence.

Increased market segmentation is likely to be an emerging trend in management education in Australia. To date management education has been “production oriented”, concentrating on functional areas such as accounting, marketing and human resource management. The formal, institutionalised management education industry has sought to turn out functional specialists (B. Com., B. Bus. (accounting)) or generalist managers (M.B.A., B. Bus. (management)) with an underlying assumption that these graduates will function effectively in any industry.

Contemporary literature reveals that, to date, the poultry livestock sector has not received sufficient research attention. This particular industry suffers from unstructured supply chain practices, lack of awareness of the implications of the sustainability concept and failure to recycle poultry wastes. The current research thus attempts to develop an integrated supply chain model in the context of poultry industry in Bangladesh. The study considers both sustainability and supply chain issues in order to incorporate them in the poultry supply chain. By placing the forward and reverse supply chains in a single framework, existing problems can be resolved to gain economic, social and environmental benefits, which will be more sustainable than the present practices.

The theoretical underpinning of this research is ‘sustainability’ and the ‘supply chain processes’ in order to examine possible improvements in the poultry production process along with waste management. The research adopts the positivist paradigm and ‘design science’ methods with the support of system dynamics (SD) and the case study methods. Initially, a mental model is developed followed by the causal loop diagram based on in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and observation techniques. The causal model helps to understand the linkages between the associated variables for each issue. Finally, the causal loop diagram is transformed into a stock and flow (quantitative) model, which is a prerequisite for SD-based simulation modelling. A decision support system (DSS) is then developed to analyse the complex decision-making process along the supply chains.

The findings reveal that integration of the supply chain can bring economic, social and environmental sustainability along with a structured production process. It is also observed that the poultry industry can apply the model outcomes in the real-life practices with minor adjustments. This present research has both theoretical and practical implications. The proposed model’s unique characteristics in mitigating the existing problems are supported by the sustainability and supply chain theories. As for practical implications, the poultry industry in Bangladesh can follow the proposed supply chain structure (as par the research model) and test various policies via simulation prior to its application. Positive outcomes of the simulation study may provide enough confidence to implement the desired changes within the industry and their supply chain networks.

Manufacturing industries are facing dynamic challenges in today’s highly competitive world. In the recent past, integrating Industry 4.0 with the lean six sigma improvement methodologies has emerged as a popular approach for organizational excellence. The research aims to explore and analyze critical success factors of lean six sigma integrated Industry 4.0 (LSSI).

This research study explores and analyzes the critical success factors (CSFs) of LSSI. A three-phase study framework is employed. At first, the CSFs are identified through an extensive literature review and validated through experts’ feedback. Then, in the second phase, the initial list of CSFs is finalized using the fuzzy DELPHI technique. In the third phase, the cause-effect relationship among CFSs is established using the fuzzy DEMATEL technique.

A dyadic relationship among cause-and-effect category CSFs is established. Under the cause category, top management commitment toward integrating LSSI, systematic methodology for LSSI and organizational culture for adopting changes while adopting LSSI are found to be topmost CSFs. Also, under the effect category, organizational readiness toward LSSI and adaptability and agility are found to be the uppermost CSFs.

The study offers a framework to understand the significant CSFs for LSSI implementation. Insights from the study will help industry managers and practitioners to implement LSSI and achieve organizational excellence.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, CSFs of LSSI are not much explored in the past by researchers. Findings will be of great value for professionals in developing long-term operations strategies.

This research attempted to establish the underlying dimensions of supply chain management practices, blockchain technology and supply chain performance in the Indian dairy industry. Additionally, the study proposes a conceptual model that shows the mediating effects of blockchain technology in the relationship between supply chain management practices and supply chain performance.

Structural equation modelling (SEM) is incorporated to examine the proposed model using SPSS and AMOS version 24. The study population includes 119 registered Indian dairy processing units operating in Uttar Pradesh and New Delhi (source: Dairy – India). Individual registered dairy processing unit's top four executives, that is Head of the Dairy Processing Plant, Supply Chain head and Marketing Head, and IT head are chosen as the respondents of the study, which renders the sample size of 476. Judgmental sampling based on the organisation's market position and plant production capacity (i.e. one lakh litre per day) has been set as the benchmark for selecting the dairy processing units. The executives are selected as respondents as they are well-versed in the phenomenon of supply chain management practices, blockchain technology and supply chain performance compared to other staff working in the dairy industry. The data was collected from December 2021 to March 2022 through judgmental sampling. The target sample size was 476, but only 286 questionnaires were received in a completed state and were further used for analysis.

Manufacturing practices, information sharing, distribution management, inventory management and blockchain technology have a significant and positive impact on supply chain performance in the Indian dairy industry. Furthermore, the research demonstrates that blockchain technology partially mediates the relationship between supply chain management practices and supply chain performance in the context of the Indian dairy industry.

This research is focused on the Indian dairy industry operating in only two states, namely New Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. More research is needed to determine whether SCM practices and the prospects for blockchain technology among channel members are universally applicable to merchants in non-dairy products. Similar investigations should be carried out on dairy industry operating in various formats and in numerous geographic locations. Further, case studies can be conducted by future researchers to learn how supply chain management methods are deployed, what precisely these practices entail and what costs and time demands are required by these practices in context of small independent retailers across different germane expanse.

While the available literature on the research area is spread out, the influence of blockchain technology in the Indian dairy industry has not yet been sufficiently analysed. Therefore, the research article focused on exploring underlying dimensions of the constructs of supply chain management practices, blockchain technology adoption and supply chain performance in the context of the Indian dairy industry.

The ethical principles that potential tourism/hospitality employees bring to this industry have, only in the last decade or so, begun to receive research scrutiny. Fundamental ethical beliefs, it is suggested, are likely to have wideranging implications in regard to issues such as management style and workstress problem‐solving, particularly in the face of perceived indifference or injustice among prospective employers and supervisors. Ethical beliefs accompanying prospective employees are likely to be attended by expectations regarding the validity and efficacy of particular workstress problem‐solving strategies perceived to be displayed by tourism industry management. This study has examined four basic ethical principles that are at the core of optimal employee functioning: efficiency, reliability, Initiative and hardwork; the paper has also examined a range of perceived tourism industry management workstress response strategies among a sample of potential tourism industry employees, particularly as those perceptions may be mediated by basic workplace ethical beliefs. Major perceived workstress problem‐solving responses by tourism industry management were found to involve the enhancement of workplace trust, workplace communication, and global management change within the workplace. More highly rated ethical ideals involved showing initiative and responsibility, whereas lower rated ideals were efficiency and hardwork. It was also revealed that ideal ethical ratings for initiative, responsibility and efficiency were higher than perceived ethical expectations among tourism industry management; potential tourism industry employees rated hardwork lower than they believed tourism industry management would so do. The response of trust emerged as the most valued of the workstress alleviation responses, and was found to be associated with most of the ethical principles. The global management change response was also found to be associated with similar ethical principles, though to a lesser degree; the communication workstress response was also found to be a prominent management workstress response expectation, though was not revealed to be predictive of the four workplace ethical principles. Implications of these findings for human resource management operations within the tourism/hospitality industry, and for further research directions, are presented.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the critical success factors of environmental management accounting practices in Malaysian manufacturing industry.

A pilot study was carried out on a sample of 60 manufacturing companies from Malaysian manufacturing industry. A survey instrument including 25 measurement items was designed to identify the level of environmental management accounting practices implementation in the Malaysian manufacturing industry. Descriptive statistical analysis and reliability analysis were used to analyze the data with SPSS software.

Findings indicate that environmental safety is one of the critical success factors that play the key role in ensuring the safety awareness at workplace. Companies in the manufacturing industries need to obtain critical success factors of environmental management accounting practices implementation to enhance performance, particularly for Malaysian manufacturing industry.

The limitation of this study has been the difficult to find the literature on environmental management accounting practices in the Malaysian manufacturing industry. Another limitation is this study only conducted to 60 manufacturing companies from Malaysian manufacturing industry.

For practical implications, the development of instruments in this study may be valuable tools to evaluate Environmental Management Accounting Practices (EMAP) in Malaysian manufacturing industry. This study also provides important guidelines for Malaysian manufacturing industry to implement EMAP. This research finding would provide new insights for the critical success factors of EMAP to improve performance in Malaysian manufacturing industry.

This study makes a new contribution to environmental management accounting practices in Malaysian manufacturing industry. This study also provides important information for decision makers involved in environmental management accounting practices implementation and also provides useful reference for future researchers in this research area.