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This paper aims to provide a review of the challenges facing the reform of SOEs, and to address the impacts of SOE reform on business executives, on the base of literature review and empirical data collected in Guangzhou, China.

A qualitative research on the base of literature review, supported by empirical data collected from surveys, interviews, and focus group discussion.

Although China has made significant achievement in economic reform and the transition into a market system and civil society since 1978, there are still fundamental challenges associated with the reform of state owned enterprises (SOEs). It seems that privatisation will not necessarily solve the complex problems associated with SOEs. This paper suggests that a balanced approach reflecting the best of SOE provision and triple bottom line management appears to provide the best way forward for continuing prosperity in China. The current direction of SOE reform seems to have been driven by privatisation and economic rationalism, rather than a more balanced economic and social strategy. If this trend continues, the challenges for business executives, and the general society, can be overwhelming, and not lead to a more sustainable economy, let alone society, in the medium to long term.

Reform of SOEs has impacted on China fundamentally. Against the common view that business managers are the social group that is benefiting from SOE reform, this paper focuses on factors affecting the economic and social status of business executives, especially the challenges associated with the reform of SOEs. Supported by primary and secondary data sources, it draws attention to the situation that although the economic and social status of business executives continues to rise in China, insecurity and stress on business executives are growing. Reforms associated with changing SOEs are viewed as possible sources of challenges facing the Chinese economy and business life. Current SOE reform seems to have focused on the economic bottom line. A more balanced approach in the reform of SOEs is suggested for a more sustainable economy and society.

The purpose of this paper is to address issues related to strategic management in Australia and China, to compare similarities and differences across two countries.

Data were collected from structured surveys and interviews amongst managers undertaking Master of Business Administration study in China and Australia.

The research suggests that there is much to be done in enhancing strategic management. The poor positioning of both Chinese and Australian businesses indicates the need for new public policies and debate. Some directions might include encouragement of exports, rethinking and refining bilateral and multilateral trade agreements, e.g. the current FTA being negotiated between Australia and the USA appears to be based on political considerations more than economic. At national, regional and local levels there is a requirement for industry policy and systematic implementation. Small to medium enterprises need encouragement to operate strategically, with passion and commitment, for the benefit of the enterprise and the nation. Promoting and sharing good practice is one effective way to achieve this. In China, the issues are very similar. Local and regional governments in particular have enormous influence in shaping economic policy and business regulation. The new national policy agenda towards “green DP” rather than the more narrow GDP is another indicator of the need for renewed effort to broaden the strategic management agenda at national and international level in China. The full entry into WTO further underlines the importance of this requirement, particularly the need for a triple bottom line strategic approach.

This paper uses management survey data to offer a useful auditing mechanism and a mirror to existing practices and performance in both China and Australia.

The purpose of this paper is to see whether ethical and sustainable corporate strategy is not just an “add on” for good community relationships and publicity, and whether companies across the globe are approaching sustainability differently.

This paper is based on the assumption that company publications reflect the principle and philosophy of its business approach.

The paper identifies stark differences in global sustainability practice, with the USA, in particular, falling behind in terms of sustainability leadership, compared with similar organisations in both the European Union and the Asia Pacific region.

This paper implies that US multinationals need to improve their sustainability practice and to begin to think in terms of triple bottom line management, ethical standards and governance.

This paper implies that corporations need more effort in developing and managing ethics and sustainability as part of their competitive advantage and corporate strategy.

The original contribution of this paper is that it provides valuable insights into how different organisations are in reality putting sustainability first.

This paper aims to propose a “Four-F (finding facts, fostering alternates, fulfilling implementation and feasibility testing)” action plan to global food service businesses (FSB) such as restaurants (dine-in/take away) to build resilience during times of global crises. The 2019 Coronavirus disease and FSBs apply as working examples elaborating the proposed Four-F action plan with several managerial implications for the internal and external stakeholders of FSBs.

The method involves reviewing and coding 108 articles using the PRISMA approach, then applying findings to develop the Four-F action plan integrating multiple theoretical concepts (such as stakeholder, crisis management and dynamic capabilities).

There are two key findings. First, though all four crisis phases should be considered by decision-makers as part of their contingency planning process, the pre and post-crisis stages need higher attention. Second, the Four-F action plan provides specific recommendations to FSBs stakeholders (consumers, suppliers and government) for each crisis phase (pre-crisis, crisis emergence, crisis occurrence and post-crisis).

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper that has incorporated multiple theoretical frameworks (stakeholder theory, crisis management and dynamic capabilities) within the FSBs context and provided the Four-F action plan for decision-makers to understand and manage crisis phases.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to identify, evaluate and structure the research that focusses on omni-channel retailing from the perspective of logistics and supply chain management; and to reveal the intellectual foundation of omni-channel retailing research.

The paper applies a multi-method approach by conducting a content-analysis-based literature review of 70 academic papers. Based on the reference lists of these papers, the authors performed a citation and co-citation analysis based on the 34 most frequently cited papers. This analysis included multidimensional scaling, a cluster analysis and factor analysis.

The study reveals the limited consideration of logistics and supply chain management literature in the foundation of the omni-channel retailing research. Further, the authors see a dominance of empirical research as compared to conceptual and analytical research. Overall, there is a focus on the Western retail context in this research field. The intellectual foundation is embedded in the marketing discipline and can be characterised as lacking a robust theoretical foundation.

The contribution of this research is identifying, evaluating and structuring the literature of omni-channel research and providing an overview of the state of the art of this research area considering its interdisciplinary nature. This paper thus supports researchers looking to holistically comprehend, prioritise and use the underpinning literature central to the phenomena of omni-channel retailing. For practitioners and academics alike, the findings can trigger and support future research and an evolving understanding of omni-channel retailing.