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Discusses the variety of production control situations within process industries. Following a literature review, a typology is introduced which discriminates between two extreme types of process industries: batch/mix and process/flow businesses. Reviews the research in production and inventory control in each of the extreme types. Identifies a control framework for operations management in process/flow businesses. Notes that although detailed scheduling approaches for batch/mix businesses exist, a control framework for the latter is missing. Concludes that operations management in batch process industries needs considerable research attention.

This study identifies the conventional elements of the vending marketing mix and how they vary across academic segments in the context of a typical French university.

To determine the elements of the vending marketing mix, the author conducts interviews with international industry experts and undertake 170 direct observations at various universities to verify the differences between the marketing mix proposals of dissimilar target markets.

The results reveal significant variances across all elements of the marketing mix, with distribution characteristics being the most frequently adapted element across various markets, followed by promotion- and product-related parameters, while pricing characteristics are most commonly standardised.

Vending operators should pay particular attention to marketing decisions related to the product assortment length, selection of appropriate locations, availability of smart payment options and feedback communication channels. The results reveal significant variances across all elements of the marketing mix indicating that vending operators apply strategies to reach different market segments. However, there is a high degree of standardisation within vending channels.

Though vending channels are an important retail format, prior studies do not investigate their marketing mixes. This is the first attempt to empirically establish the conventional elements of the vending marketing mix and to measure its variation across customer segments.

The economy today is characterized by the change in its structure from manufacturing to service production. In some communities, the process has been accelerated as existing firms choose to relocate to more economically favorable sites. The economic prospects of such communities will be determined in part by their ability to accommodate and adapt to this structural transformation. The purpose of the article is to illustrate the application of shift‐share analysis as one method by which these changes can be monitored. South Bend and Elkhart, Indiana serve as case studies.

The purpose of this study is the examination of the properties of waste water obtained from a ready‐mixed concrete plant and its utilization potential as mixing water for concrete production.

Samples of waste water from several points of a water recycling process from a ready‐mixed concrete plant were examined for their chemical properties (Cl^‐, SO₄^2‐, alkalies, total solids, pH) and compared with the specifications applied for concrete mixing water. Also samples of dry sludge powder from the water‐recycling process tank were taken and tested for their chemical composition, particle size distribution, mineralogical composition and thermogravimetrical results. The water samples were examined for their behavior in concrete specimens with and without admixtures and also for their effect in water demand and setting times in cement pastes.

All tests showed that waste water is suitable for concrete mixing water and that it can be used without any treatment or dilution, thus contributing to water saving.

Waste water from ready‐mixed concrete plants is classified as waste hazardous for disposal due to its high pH value (over 11.5). Very few ready‐mixed concrete plants that recycle waste water follow a complicated process through multiple overflows and a stage of neutralization, with HClaq addition.

It is obvious that the results of this investigation contribute to the protection of the environment from hazardous waste water disposal and the ready‐mixed concrete industry from fresh water costs and any additional cost for buying and conserving an unnecessarily complicated water‐recycling system.

The purpose of this paper is to explore and discuss to what extent and why women's entrepreneurship contributes to rural economic viability and gender equality in an advanced welfare state.

The authors use detailed register data to explore men's and women's rural businesses in the most common industries for rural women entrepreneurs in the Swedish welfare state. Based on a literature review, the authors develop hypotheses and analyse how family, business and industry factors influence earnings.

Women's rural entrepreneurship is important for rural viability, as women's businesses provide a wide range of services necessary for life in rural areas. Although women's rural businesses are not significantly smaller than those of men, women's income is lower and more sensitive to business and industry variables. Marriage has positive effects for the earnings of men but negative effects for the earnings of women. The authors argue that the results are contingent on the gendering of entrepreneurship and industries, as well as on the local rural gender contracts. For these reasons, the importance of women entrepreneurs for rural viability is not reflected in their own incomes. Hence, women's rural entrepreneurship does not result in (economic) gender equality.

Entrepreneurship scholars rarely explore women's rural entrepreneurship, and particularly not in the Global North or Western welfare states. Therefore, this empirical study from Sweden provides novel information on how the gender order on the business, industry and family levels influences the income of men and women entrepreneurs differently.

The purpose of this paper is to address the specific challenges with which resource‐based cities are faced when they begin along the path of industrial transformation and to employ empirical studies to determine whether relevant reforms in resource‐based cities (taking Pingxiang, one of the first round of resource‐exhausted cities acting as pilot cities in the national sustainable development transformation program, as an example), promoted by local government in recent years, have brought significant changes to their development modes and facilitated the real transition.

The paper carried out some empirical studies from different angles: employing the “vertical table graph” method, to turn Pingxiang's statistical data (1997‐2010) into a graph that visually shows Pingxiang's economic and social development; comparing several major economic and social development indicators (especially the energy consumption per unit of GDP) of 11 cities within Jiangxi Province in order to learn Pingxiang's relative positions; based on time series data from 1997 to 2009, calculating the change rates, the variation coefficients and the shift‐share indexes of industrial structure so as to measure the quality of Pingxiang's structural transformation; comparing the above results with the cities of Jiaozuo, Benxi and Dalian; and comparing economic and social development state of 16 resource‐based cities (which are all among the list of 44 national resource‐exhausted cities) from the perspective of “green GDP”.

Although Pingxiang has gained great progress in economic development, its industrial structure is not rational enough, and shows great dependence on mining industry with a too high share of the secondary industry and a too small proportion of the tertiary industry. Its heavy dependence on resources and investment does not suggest a fundamental change in development modes. Accordingly, the city's development idea should be switched from GDP‐orientation to sustainable development. It should proceed with the optimization of the industrial structure adjustment, increase manpower capital investment and develop new green substitutable industries, so as to catalyze the success of transition.

This integration of empirical analysis methods from three angles in multivariate statistical analysis, environmental economics, and industrial economics is novel in the field of research on resource‐city and industry change. It not only could be of some help in decision making for Pingxiang municipal government, but also could provide reference for other cities dependent on resource exploitation.

Bill Freudenburg’s concept of recreancy is used as a frame for explaining processes that perpetuate questionable regimes of emergency response planning. The specific instance of tar sands upgrading in Alberta, Canada, is used as a case in point. When recreancy is institutionalized so that the results correlate across permitted hazardous facilities, it must be concluded that recreancy is less of a situational response than a normative dynamic.

Industrial policy as practiced by the Japanese is aimed at creating comparative advantage for its industry. This article emphasises Japan's integrated approach to industrial policy. Examples of the application of industrial policy to specific industries are presented. The importance of incorporating the effects of such industrial policies for an analysis of competition in international markets is highlighted. Then, some appropriate strategic countermeasures to such industrial targeting are discussed.

The task of this paper is to examine the changes taking place in the skill‐employment mix of 13 industry sub‐groups within the British engineering industry and to propose a suitable projection technique for manpower forecasting.

This paper aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the supply chain learning (SCL)–performance relationship based on the existing empirical evidence.

We sampled 54 empirical studies on the SCL–performance relationship. We proposed a conceptual research framework and adopted a meta-analytical approach to analyse the SCL–performance relationship.

The results of the meta-analysis confirm the positive effects of SCL on the performance of both firms and supply chains. In addition, building on the knowledge-based view, we found that learning from customers has a stronger positive effect on performance than does learning from suppliers, while joint learning has a stronger positive effect on performance than does absorptive learning. Business knowledge had a greater effect on performance than did general knowledge, process knowledge or technical knowledge, while explicit knowledge had a stronger effect than tacit knowledge. Moreover, the SCL–performance relationship is moderated by performance measure and industry type but not by regional economic development, highlighting the broad applicability of SCL.

This study is the first meta-analysis on the SCL–performance relationship. It differentiates between learning from customers and learning from suppliers, examines a more comprehensive list of performance measures and tests five moderators to the main effect, significantly contributing to the SCL literature.