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Due to the fierce market competition, many organizations seek global suppliers because of lower procurement costs and better product quality. However, selecting suitable global suppliers is one of the complicated decision-making tasks for decision-makers due to the involvement of various qualitative and quantitative factors. The primary purpose of this research is to design an integrated approach for global supplier selection and order allocation in the context of developing an environment-friendly supply chain under data uncertainty.

Initially, the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) is used to calculate the selected criteria weights. After that, the weights obtained from FAHP are inserted into the fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (FTOPSIS) to examine the performance of selected suppliers and determine their final ranks. Finally, the obtained results from FTOPSIS are incorporated into the multi-choice goal programming (MCGP) model, which involves multi-aspiration levels to allocate the optimal order quantity to the selected global suppliers.

A real-time case study of the automotive industry is presented to demonstrate the efficiency and practicality of the suggested approach. The case study and sensitivity analysis results show that the proposed model effectively tackles suppliers' evaluation and order allocation data uncertainty.

Incorporation of risks, environmental management and economic factors during global supplier selection in the automotive sector has not been given much attention in the past literature. So, this research aims to fulfill the gap by developing an integrated approach that can tackle data uncertainty effectively.

Since the development of the COVID-19 vaccinations, questions surrounding race have been prominent in the literature on vaccine uptake. Early in the vaccine rollout, public health officials were concerned with the relatively lower rates of uptake among certain racial/ethnic minority groups. We suggest that this may also be patterned by racial/ethnic residential segregation, which previous work has demonstrated to be an important factor for both health and access to health care.

In this study, we examine county-level vaccination rates, racial/ethnic composition, and residential segregation across the U.S. We compile data from several sources, including the American Community Survey (ACS) and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) measured at the county level.

We find that just looking at the associations between racial/ethnic composition and vaccination rates, both percent Black and percent White are significant and negative, meaning that higher percentages of these groups in a county are associated with lower vaccination rates, whereas the opposite is the case for percent Latino. When we factor in segregation, as measured by the index of dissimilarity, the patterns change somewhat. Dissimilarity itself was not significant in the models across all groups, but when interacted with race/ethnic composition, it moderates the association. For both percent Black and percent White, the interaction with the Black-White dissimilarity index is significant and negative, meaning that it deepens the negative association between composition and the vaccination rate.

The analysis is only limited to county-level measures of racial/ethnic composition and vaccination rates, so we are unable to see at the individual-level who is getting vaccinated.

We find that segregation moderates the association between racial/ethnic composition and vaccination rates, suggesting that local race relations in a county helps contextualize the compositional effects of race/ethnicity.

Existing research on collaborative innovation mechanisms from the perspective of global operation is very limited. This paper aims to address the research gap by studying the factors influencing globally distributed teams’ innovation performance, especially how effective knowledge sharing between distributed teams promotes collaborative team innovation.

This research proposes a model to investigate how collaborative knowledge sharing affects global operations [team dispersion, task orientation, information and communication technology (ICT) usage] and innovation performance based on the data collected from 167 managers in 40 local Chinese IT and offshoring firms. Using the theory of Cognitive Diversity and Innovation Diffusion and Synergy, separate hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the proposed model.

The findings of this study demonstrate that effective collaborative knowledge sharing plays a crucial role in enhancing innovation performance in a global operation. Specifically, innovation capacity can be improved by task orientation, ICT usage and team dispersion.

This research study contributes to the development of global distributed operations and innovation among distributed teams in multinational corporations.

In response to increasing demand for a fully customized and individualized home environment, mass customization (MC) has been suggested as an effective strategy to fulfill the customer’s customization needs while keeping production cost-effectiveness. However, in current practice, the implementation of the MC in the industrialized housing industry has not achieved an ideal level. Little effort was devoted to customer value generation and achieving lean production in a multi-disciplinary MC environment. In this concern, a highly efficient and flexible production information system is expected to capture accurately the customer’s demand and efficiently perform work planning for encouraging customer involvement and mass efficiency production.

To gain an insight into the development of the MC production information system for the housing industry and to depict the interaction among system modules, this study used a design science research methodology for a case study of customized cabinet production information system development.

A prototype of the production information system was proposed in this paper, supported by three information technologies to facilitate the MC implementation in the millwork manufacturer. A focus group discussion method was carried out for evaluating the system feasibility and the subsequent survey analysis on the virtual reality (VR) interface experiment. The evaluation process results showed that the VR interface is an effective medium for design information communication and encourages customer involvement. Most participants believed that the proposed production information system could generally benefit the MC implementation and improve production efficiency.

This study integrated lean production principles along with building information modelling, VR and discrete-event simulation in the production information system to assist the manufacturer in effectively handling variant product information and enabling quicker reactions in response to diverse customer requirements in housing industries. The coordination among system modules and the managed information flow could be a valuable reference for future MC production system development in housing industries.

This study investigates how reward type (single vs. plural), reward characteristic (utilitarian vs. hedonic) and product involvement (high vs. low) affect the design of reward programs.

A 2 ✕ 2 ✕ 2 fractional factorial experimental design is constructed to explore the main factors influencing the effectiveness of reward programs on a sample of 436 Chinese customers.

The results indicate that reward type is an important determinant of customers' preference toward reward programs. Plural rewards are preferable to a single reward when the alternatives provide the same benefits, particularly in the low level of product involvement. In the high level of product involvement, reward characteristic has a significant effect on customers' preference. Hedonic rewards are more effective in building a program's value than utilitarian rewards. Moreover, reward characteristic interacts with reward type, positively impacting customers' preference toward reward programs.

This study suggests that managers should consider the effects of reward type, reward characteristic and product involvement to formulate attractive reward programs for sustainable business in China.

Numerous studies highlight the importance of knowledge transfer between projects, but the influence factors are still debated. As a contribution to the identified gap, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of organizational context, project characteristics and social relations in the inter-project knowledge transfer within the project-based organizations (PBOs).

This paper collects the data through 268 sample questionnaires from Chinese construction sectors and applies the structure equation modeling to analyze knowledge transfer between projects in PBOs.

The results indicate the organizational context (meeting system, reward system and shared culture) and project characteristics (similarity and urgency) are antecedents affecting social relations (communication, trust and reciprocity) between project teams, and their social relations further influence the effectiveness of inter-project knowledge transfer.

The study highlights the role of organizational context and effect of social relations for inter-project knowledge transfer in PBOs, and provides valuable suggestions for knowledge and project management in PBOs.

Laser cleaning, as a new type of cleaning technology, has the advantages of environment-friendliness, better selectivity, better controllability and higher efficiency compared to traditional chemical cleaning or grinding. This paper aims to use ultra-fast surface laser cleaning equipment built in laboratory to study the influence of different energy density (7.6, 11.5 and 15.3 J/cm²) on corrosion resistance of the aluminum alloy A7N01P-T4, a high-speed train body material.

SEM, white light interferometer, EDS and XPS were used to analyze the surface morphology, roughness, element content and oxide layer composition of aluminum alloy before and after cleaning. The corrosion resistance was studied by electrochemical experiments and exfoliation corrosion experiments.

The results showed that new oxide scale was formed on the surface after laser cleaning. The changes of surface roughness and chemical composition of oxide scale made a significant influence on corrosion behaviors. Better corrosion resistance was obtained with the energy density increased, and at the energy density of 11.5 J/cm², aluminum alloy exhibited the best corrosion resistance.

The paper only studies specific aluminum alloys and is not universal. Laser cleaning equipment is set up for the laboratory and has not yet been put into industrial production.

This paper indicated that ultra-fast laser processing was a new direction for the development of industrial equipment surface cleaning and carried out ultra-fast laser of aluminum alloy surface cleaning had certain research significance for its corrosion resistance.

Compared with the conventional cleaning methods such as air abrasives grinding or chemical cleaning, laser cleaning has advantages of environment-friendliness, better selectivity, better controllability and higher efficiency. Laser cleaning can not only protect the environment, but also improve cleaning efficiency.

Changes in the surface of aluminum alloys after ultra-fast surface laser treatment were found, and the mechanism of changes in aluminum alloy corrosion properties was clarified.

Lesson study (LS) is generally regarded as a pathway for teachers' professional development and a method for teachers' instructional research. LS has been regarded as having the potential to drive large-scale reform but little is known about how it does so from a district level. Therefore, this paper aims to reveal how lesson study promote district education reform.

This study offers an in-depth case study of how District Y of Shanghai, China, took LS as the primary method in promoting its District Project of Building Curriculum Leadership in Schools. By analyzing the key project documents and achievements in project promotion, and interviews with the major Project leaders at District and school levels, this study explored the practice and impact of LS as a tool to promote district reform.

In the District Project, LS has been a medium to address each individual school's real problems of practice and turn them into reform vision and reform will in alignment with District goals. Five levels of school curriculum texts have been planned, designed, translated, implemented, reflected on, updated and mutually adjusted systematically through LS to ensure consistency in transforming District reform vision into classroom practice. Different models of teaching-research community building were found in sampled project schools and professional expertise was built with district support to promote reform. The curriculum leadership development through LS has shaped reform leader schools and formed a collection of LS exemplars circulated in schools as high-quality curriculum packages, which laid the foundation for district-wide reform.

The innovative practice of LS in China's education reform has expanded its reach from within one classroom to the entire district curriculum system and made it an important tool to drive large-school district-based education reform.

At the heart of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) are substantial trade preferences, which coupled with the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) grant a wide range of goods produced in qualified African countries duty-free access to the USA. To be AGOA-eligible, countries are assessed annually on their progress in undertaking appropriate economic, institutional and human rights reforms. This paper seeks to cover new grounds by exploring whether exports of apparel to US crowds out EU-15's imports from Africa.

This paper employs the gravity model to gauge trade displacement effects from the EU to the US due to AGOA, and whether the more relaxed special waiver embodied in AGOA's apparel provision causes non-knitted exports to EU-15 to be crowded out. The basic gravity model, which posits that trade between two countries is positively influenced by the economic size and negatively affected by the distance between them, is augmented with other trade inhibiting and trade facilitating variables.

The gravity model provides no evidence of trade displacement but, instead, provides support for the hypothesis of complementarity of African exports to the two key markets. A strong positive impact of the bilateral trade between the US and Africa on the EU–African trade is evident mainly before the phasing out of the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC). This paper finds that Special Rule beneficiaries' exports to the two markets still complement each other, but for every percentage increase in exports to the USA, there is a less than proportionate increase in exports to EU-15 indicating a higher utilisation of the special waiver. This paper also provides evidence for complementary apparel exports to both LDCs (least developing countries) and non-LDCs, with stronger effects on non-LDCs and the non-knitted sector.

Future work could consider the longer lifespan of AGOA following its latest renewal in 2015. This would allow one to also capture the ongoing changes in EU trade arrangements in particular implementation of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). This new agreement comes with more flexible rules of origin requiring single transformation step instead of the double step. As most African nations are still in the process of adopting EPAs, new research can shed more light on complementary or displacement effects once these agreements are adopted.

Since the main intent of AGOA is to enhance Africa's integration into the global economy by encouraging trade and investment, generate employment and increase productivity and per capita income growth, its impact on Special Rule beneficiaries' exports to the US has been extensively examined. However, the indirect effects of this trade agreement on African exports to other key markets providing similar preferences such as the EU has not been fully explored. This study also covers new grounds by examining whether there has been any apparel trade displacement from the EU to the US, as a result of the Act, over 2001–2016 period right from AGOA's inception.

Have you been to a smart restaurant, and how were its services? A common limitation of hospitality studies stems from the lack of research on how service quality is shaped within smart technology. This study aims to fill this literature void not merely to reiterate the importance of technology but also to recast service quality through the lens of information technology. It synthesizes the 5-S model of smart service quality (AKA SSQ) as a new conceptualization of service quality application in smart hospitality contexts such as smart restaurants.

This study undertook a qualitative research design based on theoretical synthesis from service quality, information technology and attention restoration. Drawing from online review comments and semistructured interviews from smart restaurants, the authors improvised the SSQ model to identify the essence of smart service in smart dining establishments.

“5-S” reflects an extension of the literature to denote a new SSQ abstraction pertinent to s-servicescape, s-assurance, s-responsiveness, s-reliability and s-empathy. A nomological network was posited to better understand the importance of smart design and consequence of SSQ.

The emergence of smart dining gives rise to smart restaurants, which puts technology at center stage. As consumers are becoming increasingly comfortable with self-service technology, auto-payment and ordering systems and robotic services, technology in foodservice will continue to play an essential role to better serve diners. Geared with advanced innovations and intelligent devices, smart restaurants are now more than mere eateries. It is a trend and a lifestyle.

This novel SSQ concept adds new nuances to the literature by acknowledging the technological essence in today’s hospitality industry. By integrating smart technology into the service quality paradigm, the authors are able to observe several interesting behaviors exhibited during smart dining, including tech-induced restoration, which opens a new avenue to understand how attention restoration could be attained through immersion in a technologically advanced setting. By synthesizing theoretical essence from service quality, attention restoration and information technology, the authors are able to create a new dialog that should warrant a forum of discussion in future studies.