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In this paper, an analysis is performed to find the solution of a nonlinear ordinary differential equation that appears in a model for MHD viscous flow caused by a shrinking sheet.

The cases of two dimensional and axisymmetric shrinking have been discussed. When the sheet is shrinking in the x‐direction, the analytical solutions are obtained by the Hankel‐Padé method. Comparison to exact solutions reveals reliability and high accuracy of the procedure, even in the case of multiple solutions. The case of sheet shrinking in the y‐direction is also considered, with success.

When the sheet shrinks in the x‐direction, the analytical solutions are obtained by Hankel‐Padé method. Also, when the sheet shrinks in the y‐direction, the obtained results with Hankel‐Padé method are presented.

Comparison to exact solutions reveals reliability and high accuracy of the procedure and convincingly could be used to obtain multiple solutions for certain parameter domains of this case of the governing nonlinear problem.

The numerical solutions are given for both two‐dimensional and axisymmetric shrinking sheets by using Hankel‐Padé method. It is clear that the Hankel‐Padé method is, by far, more simple, straightforward and gives reasonable results for large Hartman numbers and suction parameters.

A key issue for B2B industrial firms is to better understand the drivers of customer value and contract renewal decisions, due to the long-term supplier-customer relationships. When the B2B firm is operating across national boundaries, there is added complexity to the renewal decision, because the drivers are also influenced by cultural considerations. The purpose of this paper is to examine the main drivers of customer value creation and contract renewal intentions, for a large B2B firm operating in both the USA and Japan and compare the two data sets.

The company, which provided the data for the study, is a US Fortune 100 firm in the facilities management industry, operating worldwide. Data were collected using a survey questionnaire from a sample of the firm’s customers in two of its largest markets, the USA and Japan. The authors used PLS to analyze the data, and compare and contrast the drivers.

The findings highlight both similarities and differences across the two countries for the most influential drivers of customer value and contract renewal. Although no differences were found when examining the effect of relational drivers on contract renewal, differences were observed for utilitarian drivers: product quality and price.

The authors expected the relational drivers of contract renewal to be stronger in the high-context culture of Japan, but found that there were no differences with the US market. While relational drivers are important in the decision-making process in both countries, it seems that managers should focus more on price considerations in Japan. In contrast, product quality is relatively more important in the USA, when negotiating contract renewals with customers.

Noticeably absent from the B2B services literature is its application to international markets. In particular, research is lacking on the specific drivers of customer value and contract renewal intentions in the USA and Japan, despite the importance of long-term on-going contractual relationships in these markets. This study has provided additional insights into the complex world of contract renewal between international buyers and sellers of large industrial systems.

The literature on supply chain risk management (SCRM) has investigated a multitude of supply chain risks. This paper aims to make a case for the importance of managing the risk of knowledge loss in the supply chain management (SCM) function and incorporating knowledge loss as a critical risk within the SCRM process.

This paper adopts a knowledge-based view of the SCRM process and attempts to bring to light insights based on a synthesis of the relevant literature. The authors conducted a systematic literature review of peer-reviewed articles published between 1998 and 2019. Further, a case study was conducted to illustrate the significance of the risk of knowledge loss in the SCM function in terms of how it operates and why it has such a significant impact on performance.

Knowledge loss is a relatively neglected type of supply chain risk that can be added to the existing typologies. This paper argues that knowledge loss in the SCM function has the propensity to significantly impact the performance of the focal firm, exacerbate other types of supply chain risk and impede risk mitigation efforts. We put forth several strategies that supply chain managers can adopt to mitigate the risk of knowledge loss in their function.

This paper generates an exploratory opening that could pave the way for a systematic theory of knowledge loss as a supply chain risk and future empirical research. The study culminates in a number of important insights and initiatives for supply chain managers to recognize and manage the risk of knowledge loss.

This paper argues for the importance of incorporating the risk of knowledge loss in SCRM research and practice. It also provides an examination of some promising angles for future research in SCRM from a knowledge-based perspective.

Outstanding features such as thermal conductivity and superior electrical conductivity of nanofluids unfold a new window in the context of their extensive applications in engineering and industrial domains. The purpose of this study to simulate numerically the magneto-nanofluid flow and heat transfer over a curved stretching surface. Heat transport is explored in the presence of viscous dissipation. At the curved surface, the convective boundary condition is adopted. Three different nanoparticles, namely, copper, aluminium oxide and titanium dioxide are taken into consideration because of easily available in nature.

The basic flow equations are framed in terms of curvilinear coordinates. The modelled partial differential equations are transformed into a system of non-linear ordinary differential equations by means of appropriate similarity transformation. The subsequent non-linear system of equations is then solved numerically by using the Runge–Kutta–Felhberg method with the shooting scheme via bvp4c MATLAB built-in function. Impacts of various physical parameters on velocity, pressure and temperature distributions, local skin-friction coefficient, local Nusselt number and wall temperature are portrayed through graphs and tables followed by a comprehensive debate and physical interpretation.

Graphical results divulge that augmenting values of the magnetic parameter cause a decline in velocity profiles and stream function inside the boundary layer. The magnitude of the pressure function inside the boundary layer reduces for higher estimation of curvature parameter, and it is also zero when the curvature parameter goes to infinity. Furthermore, the temperature is observed in a rising trend with growing values of the magnetic parameter and Biot number.

This research study is very pertinent to the expulsion of polymer sheet and photographic films, metallurgical industry, electrically-conducting polymer dynamics, magnetic material processing, rubber and polymer sheet processing, continuous casting of metals, fibre spinning, glass blowing and fibre, wire and fibre covering and sustenance stuff preparing, etc.

Despite the huge amount of literature available, but still, very little attention is given to simulate the flow configuration due to the curved stretching surface with the convective boundary condition. Very few papers have been examined on this topic and found that its essence inside the boundary layer is not any more insignificant than on account of a stretching sheet. A numerical comparison with the published works is conducted to verify the accuracy of the present study.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the two-dimensional flow of Maxwell fluid with power law heat flux and heat source over a stretched surface.

The governing partial differential equations are reduced into ordinary differential equations by applying similarity transformations. Series solutions of velocity and temperature are found by adopting homotopy analysis method (HAM).

It is found that the velocity decreases by increasing Deborah number and suction parameter. It is also observed that the heat generation parameter leads to a decrease in temperature. Furthermore, the numerical values of local Nusselt number decreased with an increase in Deborah number.

A useful source of information for the investigators on the field of non-Newtonian fluids with heat transfer.

This paper discusses the boundary layer flow of Maxwell fluid with power law heat flux in the presence of heat source.

This paper looks into the rotating flow of an incompressible viscous fluid over an exponentially stretching continuous surface. The flow is governed by non‐linear partial differential equations. A non‐similar solution is developed after transforming the governing equations using two different numerical techniques namely Keller‐box and shooting methods. The influence of the non‐dimensional local rotating parameter Ω on the velocity fields and skin friction coefficients is analyzed and discussed.

In this paper, the authors have used the well‐known numerical methods, Keller‐box and shooting.

It is observed that for the increase in the rotation velocity of the frame there is a reduction in the boundary layer thickness and an increase in the drag force at the surface.

The present study is concerned with the boundary layer flow of a rotating viscous fluid over an exponentially stretching sheet. Numerical solutions are found. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first investigation of the topic.

The purpose of this paper is to theoretically study the problem of the unsteady boundary layer flow past a permeable curved stretching/shrinking surface in the presence of a uniform magnetic field. The governing nonlinear partial differential equations are converted into ordinary differential equations by similarity transformation, which are then solved numerically.

The transformed system of ordinary differential equations was solved using a fourth-order Runge-Kutta integration scheme. Results for the reduced skin friction coefficient and velocity profiles are presented through graphs and tables for several sets of values of the governing parameters. The effects of these parameters on the flow characteristics are thoroughly examined.

Results show that for the both cases of stretching and shrinking surfaces, multiple solutions exist for a certain range of the curvature, mass suction, unsteadiness, stretching/shrinking parameters and magnetic field parameter.

The paper describes how multiple (dual) solutions for the flow reversals are obtained. It is shown that the solutions exist up to a critical value of the shrinking parameter, beyond which the boundary layer separates from the surface and the solution based upon the boundary layer approximations is not possible.

This chapter covers the effect of country's economic and political situation on sustainability reporting disclosure (in particular the corporate social responsibility aspect). The first section discusses the previous empirical studies in this topic. Based on this, the second section develops the theoretical framework in order to examines the moderating role of a country's economic activities (GDP) and political or institutional quality (IQ) on the relationship between corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD) and a banks' operational, financial and market performance. For this purpose, we used ordinary least square (OLS), panel fixed-effect regression and IV-GMM to estimate the parameters of the models. We find that the CSRD scores negatively influences bank's performance. The moderator of CRSD and the level of economic activities have a positive influence on that bank's performance. However, the moderator (CRSD and country's institutional quality), while showing positive relationship with bank's performance, has a significant effect only on bank's operational and financial performance.

Fintech businesses have the tendency to revolutionize the entire world. Especially, the tasks associated with banking needs, and therefore, there is a significant scope for Fintech in the banking industry. Although when the country’s major population is unbanked and most of the population is also financially excluded, then the scope of Fintech gets exaggerated for microfinance institutions (MFIs), and therefore, the significance of Fintech for MFIs is much higher than the commercial and Islamic banks. Hence, this chapter has been written purposively to illuminate the impact, role, significance and implications of Fintech for MFIs in Pakistan in order to boost the knowledge and understanding of diverse stakeholders. The specialty of this chapter is that it is written specifically with reference to Pakistan as there is least research work with respect to the application of Fintech in MFIs. Similarly, the chapter also contains the anatomy of the value chain activities of MFIs and their linkage with the role of Fintech applications in boosting the performance of MFIs. Last, but not the least, the chapter also has a detailed discussion on factors that are required to boost the usage of Fintech in the MFI sector. Therefore, this chapter is pervasive for academicians, researchers, entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs and students for grasping, understanding and applying recent knowledge towards the betterment of academic and pragmatic activities.