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The advent of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) and the requirements imposed on companies still need to be clarified. Companies still strive to understand I4.0 requirements and technological, organizational, operational and management challenges. Current literature on I4.0 underlies the importance of a roadmap with structured steps to achieve the benefits of I4.0, mainly focused on augmenting operational performance. Therefore, this paper proposes a roadmap to implement I4.0 focused on operational management concepts, mainly aiming to augment operational performance and bridge the gap between theory and practice regarding roadmaps focused on the operational management dimension.

This paper follows a research approach divided into the following stages: a literature review to analyze the I4.0 roadmaps and identify the main components of I4.0; development of the proposed I4.0 roadmap presented; field research to test the roadmap by collecting data from a manufacturing company in the automotive industry; validation of the roadmap through modeling and simulation.

The authors presented a production line design with real-time control, fast response, shop floor coordination and predictive capacity. The results prove that the proposed I4.0 roadmap augments operation performance in the investigated automotive company. The main results were work in process reduction, lead time reduction, output increase, real-time control, shop floor coordination and fast response.

The main novelty of the proposed roadmap is to move toward I4.0 implementation with a focus on the operational management dimension. The roadmap has an innovative combination of the two approaches – lean manufacturing and factory physics – a straightforward roadmap with only three steps: (1) requirements, (2) real-time control and (3) predictive capacity, a structured definition of the approaches and operational management concepts fundamental in each step.

The use of quality management (QM) to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) is a topic of growing interest in academia and industry. The IAQ (International Academy for Quality) established Quality Sustainability Award in 2020, a testament to this growing interest. This study aims to investigate how QM philosophies, methodologies and tools can be used to achieve sustainable development in organizations.

Five large manufacturing organizations – three from India and two from China – who reported their achievements about using QM in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were studied using multiple sources of data collection. A detailed within-case and cross-case analysis were conducted to unearth this linkage's practical and theoretical aspects.

The study finds that QM methodologies effectively met the five organizations' UNSDGs. These organizations successfully used OPEX (Operational Excellence) methodologies such as Lean, Kaizen and Six Sigma to meet UNSDGs 7, 11, 12 and 13. Moreover, UNSG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) is the most targeted goal across the case studies. A cross-case analysis revealed that the most frequently used quality tools were Design of Experiments (DoE), Measurement Systems Analysis (MSA), C&E analysis and Inferential statistics, among other essential tools.

The study's sample size was limited to large-scale manufacturing organizations in the two most populous countries in the world. This may limit the study's generalizability to other countries, continents, or micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Additionally, the study's conclusions would be strengthened if tested as hypotheses in a follow-up survey.

This practical paper provides case studies on how to use QM to impact SDGs. It offers both descriptive and prescriptive solutions for practitioners. The study highlights the importance of using essential QM tools in a structured and systematic manner, with effective teams, to meet the SDGs of organizations.

The study shows how QM can be used to impact UNSDGs, and this is very important because the UNSDGs are a set of global objectives that aim to address a wide range of social and environmental issues. This study could motivate organizations to achieve the UNSDGs using essential QM tools and make the world a better place for the present and future generations.

This case study is the first to investigate at a micro-level how QM can impact UNSDGs using live examples. It uses data from the IAQ to demonstrate how QM can be integrated into UNSDGs to ensure sustainable manufacturing.

Effective facility management (FM) can reduce environmental effects on buildings throughout their life cycle. This study aims to investigate the challenges in implementing building information modelling (BIM) for FM in government buildings in Thailand.

Eight government-building facility experts were interviewed using an in-depth interview method to identify FM challenges. The collected qualitative data were analysed via thematic analysis to ensure data saturation. The final questionnaire was designed with 45 FM problems, classified into management, technical and human resource problems, to collect quantitative data from 54 government FM officers. The data were used to prioritise the severity and frequency of the FM problems using the severity index (SI) and relative importance index (RII).

Management problems have the highest impact, with an average SI of 0.285, followed by human resource (average SI = 0.266) and technical (average SI = 0.264) problems.

This study identifies the government-building FM problems in Thailand that are critical to the development of a BIM execution plan (BEP) guideline. The findings can facilitate strategy development for government-building operations and management in line with the public procurement and supply administration of Thailand. These findings can serve as a guideline to inform the development of a BIM Roadmap for integration into the national digital roadmap and the Thailand 4.0 policy to mitigate construction-related environmental and climate issues.

This paper aims to understand the difficulties faced by Latin American oil and gas (O&G) companies in adopting integrated practices aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Agenda.

A Delphi study was conducted with 14 experts with extensive knowledge and experience in the O&G sector to collect opinions and investigate sustainable practices in the Latin American context.

A consensus was reached after two rounds, demonstrating a unified view of sustainability experts on the difficulties faced by O&G companies to adopt practices aligned with the SDGs. The difficulties identified through the Delphi method were allocated into five clusters named: “public sector and governments,” “civil society,” “corporate issues,” “technology and innovation” and “financial aspects.” These clusters were used to discuss the main challenges associated with implementing business practices that recognize the SDGs and their achievement as a synergistic reinforcing system rather than an additive structure.

This study provides further insights into the underexplored subject relating to the challenges experienced by Latin American O&G companies in the implementation of the SDGs, adopting the perspective of academic and industry experts in this field. The findings can help professionals in O&G companies implement sustainable practices, policymakers in debates about futures laws and regulations and academic in future research.

Despite successfully adopting building information modelling (BIM) for design and construction, its adoption in post-construction is critically lagging. This study aims to investigate the adoption of BIM for post-construction in Nigeria. Specifically, it aims to investigate the barriers hindering BIM adoption, propose strategies to facilitate its integration into the post-construction phase and examine the relationship between the barriers and strategies towards adopting BIM for post-construction.

This study employs a quantitative approach to gather numerical data on BIM perceived barriers among International Facility Management Association (IFMA) members. The study also develops strategies from an extensive literature review and combines them with insights from preliminary investigation. The data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics.

The top perceived barriers among the professionals are lack of BIM awareness, software availability issues and difficulties using new technologies. Institute training/workshops on BIM software for the professionals in the organisation, including BIM software courses in various related professional exams, and encouraging adoption of BIM from the grassroots, such as higher institutions, emerge as the top strategies. The findings further show a significant relationship between the barriers and strategies, emphasising the recognition that understanding barriers prompts the active development and implementation of strategies.

This study holds originality in its examination of the relationship between the barriers and strategies associated with BIM adoption in Nigerian Architecture, Construction, Engineering and Operation.

The purpose of this paper is to assess green marketing as an influential factor in the purchase of real estate. In this study, the consumer citizenship behaviour of young individuals will be studied with an assessment of real estate purchase intention, strategic green marketing orientation (GMO) and tactical GMO.

The sample frame consists of young consumers from India’s metropolitan cities. The respondents were in the range of 18 to 35 years of age. These cities provide a high standard of living, more career options and better educational opportunities. Five separate sections of a standardised questionnaire were used, and a structural equation model was used to assess a total of 393 valid replies.

Green marketing impacts the behaviour that influences the desire of young customer to buy green real estate.

As the focus of this study is primarily on major cities, future research may study similar behaviour in non-metropolitan cities. The study can also be conducted among consumers of other age groups.

The originality, to the best of the author’s knowledge, exists in examining how young consumers’ opinions about green marketing impact their intentions to purchase green houses and real estate in India. This study will be accessible to all parties involved in the housing and real estate industries.

Forests are negatively affected from rapid world population increase and industrialization that create intense pressures on natural resources and the possibility of an achieving circular economy. Forests can be considered as essential resources for providing sustainable society and meeting the requirements of future generations and circular economy. Therefore sustainable production tools as part of circular economy can be handled as one of the basic indicators for achieving circular economy. Accordingly the main purpose of this study is developing a novel rough – fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making model (MCDM) for evaluation sustainable production for forestry firms in Eastern Black Sea Region.

For determining 18 criteria weights a novel Rough PIPRECIA (PIvot Pairwise RElative Criteria Importance Assessment) method is developed. Eight decision-makers (DMs) participated in the research, and to obtain group rough decision matrix, rough Dombi weighted geometric averaging (RNDWGA) operator has been applied. For evaluation forestry firms fuzzy MARCOS (Measurement of alternatives and ranking according to COmpromise solution) method was utilized.

After application developed model the fourth alternative was found as the best. Sensitivity analysis and comparison were made to present the applicability of this method.

Development of novel integrated Rough PIPRECIA-Fuzzy MARCOS model with emphasis on developing new Rough PIPRECIA method.

This study aimed to identify and assess the barriers to implementing modular construction systems (MCS) in developing country's architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry, targeting built environment professionals from Nigeria and South Africa.

The study adopted a quantitative research method, using a structured questionnaire to seek the opinions of the professionals on the identified categories of barriers.

Results indicated that all identified categories of barriers were statistically significant using a one-sample t-test at p = 0.05 significance level which indicates they are critical towards the implementation of MCS in developing countries. Assessment of the opinion of the professionals using the Kruskal–Wallis scale showed that they hold similar views on the barriers to the adoption of MCS. Pearson correlation shows a high correlation coefficient amongst the barrier categories and an acceptable level of significance (p = 0.05).

This study is limited to two significant African countries (Nigeria and South Africa) selected based on the gross domestic product (GDP). Further studies can consider developing countries outside Africa and investigate broader respondents.

The study provides implications on the barriers affecting MCS in developing countries for the academia, industry and government to have an insight into the barriers and make informed decisions and policies.

The research satisfies the need to study the barriers affecting the MCS in developing countries that can mitigate housing deficits. This innovative construction method has been adopted and implemented in developed countries, and the result has been positive.

The purpose of this paper is to fill a gap in the literature regarding the open innovation management approaches that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can use to access digital technologies and incorporate them into their organizational processes. The research question is: What organizational and process-level managerial actions do SMEs take to successfully access and implement digital technologies within their organizational processes?

Using Guertler et al.'s (2020) Action Innovation Management Research (AIM-R) framework, this study examines the digital transformation experiences of 10 European SMEs to gain insights into the managerial actions that foster successful digital transformation.

The findings of the paper reveal two major contributions. First, a digital transformation roadmap for SMEs is proposed, with a focus on accessing external resources and reconfiguring internal ones to ease their digital transformation journey. Second, three distinct paradoxes that influence the digital transformation process in SMEs are highlighted, providing useful insights into the challenges and tensions SMEs face during this journey.

This paper provides a unique perspective on the digital transformation of SMEs by examining the managerial actions required for successful technology adoption and revealing the paradoxes that may emerge during this transformative process. The findings form the basis for future research, deepening our understanding of digital transformation in SMEs and providing actionable advice to managers and practitioners navigating this journey.

This study aims to contribute to the understanding of the innovation environment of a developing nation through the Triple Helix model, revealing the existing inter-relationships between the three Helixes of Academia–Industry–Government. It sets out to find out the relationship and impact of the three Helixes on the most crucial stage of the innovation process: the commercialisation of patents, and to ascertain if there is a varying impact determined by patent ownership.

This cross-sectional study uses the survey method based on the views expressed by 220 Sri Lankan registered patent holders and categorised by organisational and individual ownership. The sample is drawn from the database of the National Intellectual Property Office of Sri Lanka and patents registered through the Patent Cooperation Treaty, extracted from the World Intellectual Property Organisation Patent Scope database. The survey was carried out in 2019 and limited to patents registered during the period 2010–2014.

The empirical findings indicate weak inter-relationship between Academia support, Industry support and patent commercial success, while the support of the Government Helix is non-significant in the commercial stage. The findings also indicate two different support standards existing in each Helix for the two ownership groups.

The study is limited to a five-year window in a relatively early period in the country’s innovation policy development. The study model is also limited by the non-inclusion of mediators such as government-backed affiliated agencies and academia technical transfer offices which if incorporated would improve the study model and be more reflective of the actual environment and their role as change agents bridging the transition to a hybrid Triple Helix.

The study findings capture the inter-relationships of the Triple Helix existing in a developing country at the most crucial stage of the innovation process. It helps policymakers identify the gaps in each Helix that stands wanting and take measures to rectify them by creating a more favourable National Innovation System. An innovative environment that will facilitate patent holders achieve higher technological transfers and commercial success rates.

The findings disclosure of two different support standards existing in each Helix for the two patent ownership groups poses a challenge for policymakers and challenges the core objective of increasing the commercial success of patents granted. The findings strengthen the need for a more robust support system to be put in place that would empower and facilitate the individual patent owner to increase the share of economic value arising from this underutilised patent group.

This study contributes by furthering the Triple Helix model in a social context and micro-setting by operationalising the theoretical practices. The study also gives insight into each Helix’s interaction and contribution during the most crucial stage of innovation management in a developing economy and its impact on the two categories of patent ownership which is scarce.