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The purpose of this research is to determine the convenience of using a contract model as an integration mechanism for decision-making in a decentralized supply chain of small agricultural producers in a developing country, taking as hypothesis coordinated chain achieves better management. The analysis is based on information obtained by direct inquiry to 99 small producers in the region, about planning, production, marketing and distribution in the chain, supplemented with secondary information sources.

As a methodology an analysis of maturity in the chain based on the Capability Maturity Model Integration is done, whose evaluation is later analyzed as a fuzzy logic model, with the support of the fuzzy logic of the MATLAB toolbox, to study the convenience of the use of the contract against the other mechanisms, and to establish an approximation to the level of readiness of the chain toward integration.

Results obtained show that the small farmer supply chain studied, from a maturity perspective, has a strong disposition for the use of contracts as an integration mechanism.

The supply chain for small producers presents a high dispersion, little consolidated offer capacity and lack of coordination. Limitations in terms of information and criteria unification are a challenge for future research. Results have socioeconomic implications for small producers and can serve as a guide to formulate policies by the governments in Latin American countries.

As practical implications, it can be stated that the use of supply contracts is a real mechanism that can be implemented in this type of chain, to break the mistrust between the echelons and improve the supply chain performance. This research will allow to establish support programs from local governments for the sustainability and improving income of small producers. In addition, contracts will allow to formalize the linkage of small producers to a sustainable commercial network.

Small agricultural producers in developing countries live in unfavorable conditions, with socioeconomic limitations. This work offers an alternative for their productive activity development that will allow them access to marketing chains in a safe way and improve their living conditions.

Previous studies related to the maturity toward the chain integration and fuzzy logic as a hybrid methodology, were not found in the literature, and less even applied to a chain of small agricultural products.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how consumers respond to environmental claims of three types contained in promotional messages attributed to one respected “green” brand and one mainstream leisure clothing.

A mall‐intercept questionnaire‐based survey in one city in Australia collected responses from 380 respondents, who rated environmental claims contained in promotional messages delivered via garment tags attached to T‐shirts.

Shoppers responded more positively to product‐related messages than cause‐related messages. They found environmental claims to be more credible if attributed to the green brands than to the neutral brand.

Future research might focus on the “green” market segment rather than interacting with the general population, and devise niche marketing strategies to clothes retailers. There is also room for more vivid pro‐green statements as test stimuli, perhaps generated by in‐depth qualitative research.

Though consumers are becoming increasingly green‐minded, the result is not necessarily more consumption of green products, but “better” consumption behaviour in general. Retailers should build a store image that clearly transmits their green credentials, as a proxy for the quality and nature of merchandise they carry.

Relatively little is known about green brands and environmental message appeals in clothes marketing, and no study has yet focused on Australia.

Trade liberalization policies pursued by the Pacific Forum Island Countries (FICs) have been further cemented as an appropriate strategy for economic growth through the recently adopted trade agreements. Proponents of trade liberalization also argue that free trade leads to improvements in environmental quality. According to the “environmental uznets curve” (EKC) hypothesis there would initially be some environmental degradation, but as income rises through free trade, demand for higher environmental quality would lead to improvements in the quality of the environment. It is suggested that FICs should have complementary environmental and social policies to ensure that the environment is sustainably managed and the poor are not left out in the new economic environment. Free trade amongst the FICs therefore is not a case of “two gains for one”. That is, we cannot expect both a rise in per capita income and environmental quality to be delivered simultaneously without the adoption of complementary environmental and social policies. The vulnerable environment of the FICs cannot wait for environmental quality based on the EKC hypothesis.

This paper aims to analyse, the issue concerning the quality of inward foreign direct investments (FDI) by empirically investigating the role of four sustainability determinants of FDI, namely, economic, environmental, social and governance using data from 22 developing countries of the Asian region over a period from 2000–2016.

The methodology adopted to achieve this purpose is dynamic panel estimation (two-step difference generalised method of moments) by developing three econometric models. The data is sourced from the World Development, Worldwide Governance Indicators, International Telecommunication Union and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

The econometric results indicate that, in general, control of corruption, political stability and electricity consumption influence sustainable FDI favourably; and CO₂ emissions lower the extent of sustainable FDI. The result underlines deficiencies in the information technology aspect, which has a non-significant yet positive relationship with sustainable FDI. A pertinent finding of this study is that the past value of FDI inflows increases the current year’s FDI inflows in developing countries.

The findings related to gender and information technology aspects found in this paper will be of interest to both researchers and policymakers for substantially reorienting the sustainability attributes to foreign investment.

The authors’ main contributions are to encapsulate the conceptual framework into an empirical model by combining all the four dimensions, namely, environmental, economic, social and governance for developing countries.

Examines the role of trade in promoting sustainable economic development in Sub‐Saharan African (SSA) countries. Opponents of trade liberalization argue that it results in environmental degradation. While there may be adverse environmental impacts from certain trade‐related economic activities, trade expansion could lead to increase in income that could be used to fund poverty reduction programs. Factors such as lack of macroeconomic and political stability, high labour costs, low skills and inability to tap into international marketing networks have inhibited trade expansion in the region. Firms in SSA could exploit their export potential by forming links with counterparts in the advanced countries. Advocates for governments in SSA to move away from command and control mechanisms towards market‐based incentive mechanisms.

Real flight is cognitively demanding; accordingly, both indicators and display panel layout should be user-friendly to improve pilot-aircraft interaction. Poor pilot-interface interactions in aircrafts could result in accidents. Although a general reason of accidents is improper displays, relatively few studies were conducted on interfaces. This study aims to present an optimization model to create intuitively integrated user-friendly cockpit interfaces.

Subjectivity within most usability evaluation techniques could bring about interface design problems. A priori information about indicator’s possible locations may be available or unavailable. Thus different analytical approaches must be applied for modifications and new interface designs. Relative layout design (RLD) model was developed and used in new interface designs to optimize locations of indicators. This model was based on layout optimization and constructed in accordance with design requirements, ergonomic considerations with the pilot preferences. RLD model optimizes interface design by deploying indicators to the best locations to improve usability of display panel, pilot-aircraft interaction and flight safety.

Optimum interfaces for two problem instances were gathered by RLD model in 15.77 CPU(s) with 10 indicators and 542.51 CPU(s) with 19 indicators. A comparison between relative and existing cockpit interfaces reveals that locations of six navigation and four mechanical system indicators are different. The differences may stem from pilots’ preferences and relativity constraints. Both interfaces are more similar for the central part of the display panel. The objective function value of relative interface design (Opt: 527938) is far better than existing interface (737100). The RLD model improved usability of existing interface (28.61 per cent considering decrease in the objective function values from 737100 to 527938.

Future cockpit and new helicopter interface designs may involve RLD model as an alternative interface design tool. Furthermore, other layout optimization problems, e.g. circuit boards, microchips and engines, etc. could be handled in a more realistic manner by RLD model.

Originality and impact of this study related to development and employment of a new optimization model (RLD) on cockpit interface design for the first time. Engineering requirements, human factors, ergonomics and pilots’ preferences are simultaneously considered in the RLD model. The subjectivity within usability evaluation techniques could be diminished in this way. The contributions of RLD model to classical facility layout models are relativity constraints with the physical constrictions and ergonomic objective function weights. Novelty of this paper is the development and employment of a new optimization model (RLD) to locate indicators.

In this paper, the authors use a new methodology, called paper affiliation index, to create finance journal ranking using expert judgment and research impact, both of which are based on secondary, objective measures, thus making it possible to produce lists every year without human manipulation at virtually no cost.

Bibliometrics. Python implementation.

A new ranking with 65 finance journals.

This procedure helps to reduce bias and to deal with known problems associated with current methodologies. The data used in the methodology comes from public sources; the procedure is therefore easily replicable. This methodology is not subject-dependent and thus can be transferred to other realms of knowledge. Once the bibliometric institutional data has been gathered, the procedure is not computationally costly: a Python implementation of the algorithm executes the whole computation in a few seconds. Results seem to correct the pernicious Matthew effect which is so evident in citation-based methods.

The institutional classification created includes all institutions that have contributed papers to the field of finance. The procedure helps to reduce bias and to deal with known problems associated with current methodologies. The data used in the methodology comes from public sources, the procedure is therefore easily replicable. The methodology is not subject-dependent and thus can be transferred to other realms of knowledge. Once the bibliometric institutional data has been gathered, the procedure is not computationally costly.

The purpose of this study is to understand the effects of self-risk perception and health consciousness on the intention to purchase organic food. The study also explored external factors, such as social networking, culture and their impact on attitude, self-risk perception and purchasing organic food.

This study uses a quantitative research method to collect data from New Zealand and Fiji (N = 701). The data analysis used the partial least squares path modeling technique (PLS-PM) to test the proposed model.

The empirical results revealed that self-risk perception positively influenced organic food intention. The results show that the health consciousness level strengthens the relationship between self-risk perception, beliefs, values and purchase intention. The health consciousness level dampens the relationship between social networking and purchase intention.

The findings of this study provide valuable insights into the guidance and promotion of Fijian and New Zealand's organic food industry. This study enables marketers to develop health-related promotional tactics to stimulate organic food sales. It gauges organic food promoters to use social media-oriented consumer networking to spread health awareness swiftly.

This comprehensive study extends the literature by scrutinizing the profundity of self-risk perception and health consciousness in influencing and explaining consumers' purchase intentions. Aside from ample growth in the study of organic food purchase intention, which commonly replicates simple relationships, this study ascertains deeper meaning and new relationships to understand the moderating role of health consciousness levels in organic food studies, expanding the theory of planned behavior.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of high-speed railway (HSR) on industrial pollution emissions using the data for 285 prefecture-level cities in China from 2004 to 2016.

The research method used in this paper is the multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) model, which is an effective policy effect assessment method. To further address the issue of endogeneity, the DID integrated with the propensity score matching (PSM-DID) approach is employed to eliminate the potential self-selection bias.

The results show that the HSR has significantly reduced industrial pollution emissions, which is validated by several robustness tests. Compared with peripheral cities, HSR exerts a greater impact on industrial pollution emissions in central cities. In addition, the mechanism test reveals that the optimised allocation of inter-city industries is an important channel for HSR to mitigate industrial pollution emissions, and this is closely related to the location of HSR stations.

Previous studies have paid more attention to evaluating the economic effects of HSR, however, most of these studies overlook its environmental effects. Consequently, the impact of HSR on industrial pollution emissions is led by using multi-period DID models in this paper, in which the environmental effects are measured. The results of this paper can provide a reference for the pollution reduction policies and also the coordinated development of economic growth and environmental quality.

This paper aims to provide new evidence that the US phytosanitary regime is associated with a restrictive market access environment for fruit and vegetable products. One chief reason seems to be that the US regime uses a positive list approach, under which only authorized countries can export.

The methodology of the paper is primarily qualitative. This paper reviews the US sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS) system and its scope for use to protect markets, in addition to protecting life and health. The approach is institutional and political economic.

For most products, only a portion of global production is authorized for export to the USA. Even among authorized countries, only a small proportion is actually exported. As a result, the number of countries exporting fresh fruit and vegetables to the USA is far lower than those exporting to countries like the EU and Canada, but it is on a par with markets known to be restrictive in this area, such as Australia and Japan. Using a data set of fruit and vegetable market access and political contributions, this paper also provides evidence showing that domestic political economy considerations may influence the decision to grant market access to foreign producers.

The US SPS system has not previously been analyzed in this way, and the distinction between negative and positive list approaches is highlighted in terms of its implications for third-party exporters. Similarly, the analysis of political contributions is novel and suggestive of an important dynamic at work in the determination of the US policy.