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The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between supplier development practices (SDPs) and supplier-buyer relationship practices from the supplier’s perspective (SBRSP), and seek to understand how specific SDPs may impact a buyer’s operational performance as well as supplier-buyer relationship practices.

The authors conducted a survey of 512 respondents from the different manufacturing firms in India and applied structural equation modelling to test a structural model that proposes the impacts of various efforts of SDPs on a buyer’s performance as well as SBRSP.

The study concludes that SDPs and SBRSP together improve the relationship between a buyer and supplier, and this improved relationship leads to competitive advantages (CAs) followed by profitability. Results indicate that supplier perspective of buyer-supplier relationship can be improved under the condition of SDPs and SBRSP together. SDPs are driven by productive measure and competitive pressure, whereas customer uncertainty is found to be statistically insignificant.

The study was carried out in North Maharashtra Industrial Zone of India, where the auto sector and machine/components manufacturing firms have been established for a considerable period of time. Results of the study are limited to manufacturing organizations predominantly focussing on the automobile sector and machine/components manufacturing firms.

This study provides significant insights into the specific impact of various SDPs and SBRSP for both academics and practitioners. SDPs along with SBRSP practices lead to improvement in the relationship leading to CAs. SBRSP suggests that trust, long-term commitments and the supplier’s perspective are important practices for relationship improvement.

The current study attempts to identify what are the success factors for the supplier-buyer relationship from the supplier’s perspective and SDPs and how the supplier-buyer relationship can be improved under the condition of SDPs and SBRSP. Hence, the aim is to develop a more thorough understanding of the outcomes of a supplier-buyer relationship improvement from both buyer’s and supplier’s perspective, under the conditions of supplier development to achieve CAs leading to profitability. Furthermore, the study analyses the effect of the improved supplier-buyer relationship for achieving CAs leading to profitability.

This paper aims to address the supplier selection (SS) problem under dynamic business environments to optimize the procurement cost of spare-parts in the context of a mining equipment company (MEC). Practically, involved parameters’ value does not remain constant as planning periods due to fluctuation in the demand and their market dynamics. Therefore, dynamicity in the parameter is considered as an important factor when a company forms a responsive chain through most eligible suppliers with respect to planning periods. This area of study may be considered for their complexities to the approaches toward order-allocations with bi-products of unused and repair spare-parts.

An integrated methodology of analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and mixed-integer non-linear programming (MILP) is implemented in the two stages during each planning periods. In the first stage, AHP is used to obtain the relative weights with respect to each spare-parts of each criterion and based on that, the ranking is evaluated in accordance with case considered. And in the second stage, MILP is formulated to find the allocations of each spare-part with two distinct approaches through Model-1 and Model-2 separately. Moreover, Model-1 and Model-2 are outlined based on the ranking and efficient parameters-value under cost, limited capacities, quality level and delay lead time respectively.

The ranking and their optimal order-allocation of potential suppliers are obtained during consecutive planning periods for both unused and repair spare-parts. Subsequently, sensitivity analysis is conducted to deduce the key nuggets with the comparison of Model-1 and Model-2 in the changing of capacity, demand and cost per spare-parts. From this analysis, it is found that suppliers who have optimal parameter settings would be better for order-allocations than ranking during the changing planning period.

This paper points out the situation-specific approach for SS problem for a mining industry which often faces disruptive supplying environments. The managerial implication between ranking and parameters are highlighted through Model-1 and Model-2 by sensitivity analysis.

It provides useful directions for managers who are involved in the procurement of spare-parts in the mining environment. For this, suppliers are selected for order-allocation by using Model-1 and Model-2 in the dynamic business environment. The solvability of the model is presented using LINGO 17. Furthermore, the case company selected in this study can be extended to other sectors.

This study focuses on the dynamic relationship between organizational actors and engaged scholars involved in a normative assessment conducted in a public organization managing major projects.

We build on a 15-month engaged scholarship experience carried out in the Ministry of Transport of Quebec. We explain and analyze the normative assessment process, using a storytelling approach and vignettes to explore four situated learning moments.

This study offers a deeper understanding of how normative assessment is conducted, and how situated and collective learning occur throughout. We find that both organizational actors and researchers learn through this process and synchronize their mutual learning such that researchers actually participate in a larger organizational transformation.

Like any qualitative endeavor, this research is context-specific. We offer several research avenues to extend the applicability of findings.

This article could inspire organizations and scholars to collaborate on normative assessment during organizational transformation. This approach is of particular interest in the context of a worldwide pandemic where public and private organizations all have to adapt to new sanitary, economic, technological and social realities.

In a context marked by growing concern for the research-practice gap and the relevance of scholarship, our study illustrates the development of a mutually beneficial collaboration between practitioners and researchers that enhances understanding of complex organizational phenomena and issues.

This research highlights the relevance of engaged scholarship and supports normative assessment as a social process to generate mutual learning.

This study aims to address the critical need for innovative financing solutions in the global housing sector, focusing specifically on Malaysia’s distinct housing finance system encompassing both conventional and Islamic loans. The primary objective is to develop a transformative housing finance model that addresses affordability challenges and reshapes the Malaysian housing landscape.

The study presents an alternate housing finance model for Malaysia, integrating lower monthly payments and reduced household debt. Key variables include house price appreciation rates, interest rates, initial guarantee fees and loan-to-value ratios. Inspired by the Help to Buy (HTB) scheme, the model aligns with proven global initiatives for enhanced affordability, balancing payment amounts, loan interest rates and acceptable price thresholds.

The study’s findings promise to address affordability disparities and reshape Malaysia’s housing finance landscape. The emphasis is on introducing a structured repayment plan that offers a sustainable path to homeownership, particularly for low-income families. Incorporating the future value adaptation concept, inspired by reverse mortgages and Islamic finance, enhances adaptability, ensuring long-term sustainability despite economic shifts.

The proposed model promotes widespread access to homeownership, offering practical solutions for policymakers to improve affordability, prompting adaptable risk management strategies for financial institutions and empowering potential homebuyers with increased flexibility.

The study introduces a transformative housing finance model for Malaysia, merging elements from reverse mortgages, Islamic finance and the HTB scheme, offering potential applicability to similar systems globally.

This study aims to shed light on the experience of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in balancing three main pillars: the environmental criteria, the reduction of CO₂ emissions and the economic growth. Based on the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) framework, it will assess the causal relationship between economic indicators such as gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, trade openness and energy use and environmental indicators such as CO₂ emissions.

The analysis relies on a period of 40 years (1981–2020) where data is extracted from the World Bank database. This study uses the unit root test for time series stationarity, the optimal lag length test, the “Johansen” test for co-integration and the vector error correction model.

The paper concludes to two major findings. On a short-term basis, CO₂ emissions and economic indicators are negatively correlated, whereas on a long-term basis, there is no association between CO₂ emissions and economic indicators in the UAE.

The research ends with important recommendations. It illustrates the importance of rationalizing the use of primary resources and the necessity to embrace successful and efficient policies in the energy production.

More specifically, UAE is urged to address the problem of CO₂ emissions in the electricity sector and increase awareness of the use of environmentally friendly processes in the transport and industrial sectors. While setting their economic agendas, UAE are encouraged to meet environmental criteria and invest in renewable energy projects such as “Shams 1”, the largest solar power plant outside of Spain and the USA.

The current study is significant in its research on the environmental impact of economic development, trade openness and energy use policies in the UAE. It uses CO₂ emissions as an environmental proxy and evaluates the environmental policies adopted in the UAE to reduce its impact.

The central purpose of the research presented in this paper is to synthesize the current state of the field in qualitative methods in international organizational change research and to provide a call to researchers to use this type of methodology more frequently. The intent is to provide readers with an overview of how and when qualitative research methods should be used for investigating important theoretical and empirical questions in management research.

The authors developed several working hypotheses based on their own experiences in using an extensive array of qualitative methods in organizational change research. They coupled this with an extensive literature search to understand how these methodologies have been used to date. The findings from the literature search were analysed to uncover where there are gaps in the work and how organizational change and other management scholars can effectively use qualitative methods to advance their understanding of international change phenomena, given the unique questions and situations confronted in various contexts. The authors include an array of examples to show how qualitative research has been used to successfully test theories, uncover new phenomena, find connections between various situations, and provide a deep understanding of contextual influences on organizational change.

The authors' findings include several examples and ideas of how and when scholars can use qualitative methods to advance understanding of international change phenomena. This provides a much richer, deeper, and more nuanced understanding of many of the phenomena and issues under investigation by employing the more observational and human‐centric techniques available through the use of qualitative methods. Several of the implications of context are only observable through some of the qualitative methods discussed, such as ethnography, case studies, interviews, observations, and their respective analysis methods. Qualitative research can be employed successfully and fruitfully in organization studies' contexts to: help uncover new organizational phenomena; build and test theories of change; and create new methods that researchers can use specifically in international change studies.

The paper is the only one of its kind, bringing a cohesive and focused review of qualitative methods studies in international organizational change research. It provides readers and the field with a menu of ways to effectively use qualitative methods and a description of where and how to bring in these methods to answer questions and uncover new themes that are not effectively dealt with through the use of more commonly employed quantitative methods and analyses.

The average employee spends a total of 18.6 h every two months on password-related activities, including password retries and resets. The problem is caused by the user forgetting or mistyping the password (usually because of character switching). The source of this issue is that while a password containing combinations of lowercase characters, uppercase characters, digits and special characters (LUDS) offers a reasonable level of security, it is complex to type and/or memorise, which prolongs the user authentication process. This results in much time being spent for no benefit (as perceived by users), as the user authentication process is merely a prerequisite for whatever a user intends to accomplish. This study aims to address this issue, passphrases that exclude the LUDS guidelines are proposed.

To discover constructs that create security and to investigate usability concerns relating to the memory and typing issues concerning passphrases, this study was guided by three theories as follows: Shannon’s entropy theory was used to assess security, chunking theory to analyse memory issues and the keystroke level model to assess typing issues. These three constructs were then evaluated against passwords and passphrases to determine whether passphrases better address the security and usability issues related to text-based user authentication. A content analysis was performed to identify common password compositions currently used. A login assessment experiment was used to collect data on user authentication and user – system interaction with passwords and passphrases in line with the constructs that have an impact on user authentication issues related to security, memory and typing. User–system interaction data was collected from a purposeful sample size of 112 participants, logging in at least once a day for 10 days. An expert review, which comprised usability and security experts with specific years of industry and/or academic experience, was also used to validate results and conclusions. All the experts were given questions and content to ensure sufficient context was provided and relevant feedback was obtained. A pilot study involving 10 participants (experts in security and/or usability) was performed on the login assessment website and the content was given to the experts beforehand. Both the website and the expert review content was refined after feedback was received from the pilot study.

It was concluded that, overall, passphrases better support the user during the user authentication process in terms of security, memory issues and typing issues.

This research aims at promoting the use of a specific type of passphrase instead of complex passwords. Three core aspects need to be assessed in conjunction with each other (security, memorisation and typing) to determine whether user-friendly passphrases can support user authentication better than passwords.

Optimum balance of intestinal microbiota can be modulated by such dietary means as probiotics and prebiotics. Combination of probiotics and prebiotics could improve the survivality of probiotic candidate due to availability of substrate for its fermentation and confer greater advantages to the host. The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential of prebiotics as functional foods.

The paper explores the selection criteria for prebiotic, their postulated health benefits and safety aspects for their inclusion in infant formula. Potentiality of prebiotics for their exploitation as functional foods has also been delineated.

Probiotics, when applied in conjugation with prebiotics give rise to another possibility in microflora management technique known as synbiotics, which could improve the survivality of probiotic candidate and confer greater advantages to the host. Inclusion of prebiotics like fructo‐oligosaccharide and galacto‐oligosaccharide as infant formula ingredients is suggested. Health benefit properties of prebiotics suggest their application as functional foods.

Ingestion of cultured milk products containing probiotic cultures and prebiotics may provide health benefits in terms of colonization and normalization of intestinal flora and could be recommended for consumption as functional foods.

The purpose of this paper is to identify research priorities to guide transportation stakeholders in their practice, education, and research.

A literature review of published, conference proceedings, agency reports, books, and web site documents was conducted, aiming at the identification of the diverging strategies and practices undertaken by transportation stakeholders in order to be able to generate initial meaningful insights about a sustainable transportation system.

Sustainable transportation systems are in certain way a new paradigm where a business-as-usual approach is not possible. Vehicle makers produce more energy efficient vehicles. Nevertheless, fossil fuel is still the predominant source of energy. Regarding the level of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, non-motorized transport modes are preferable over motorized transport modes, and public transportation modes preferable to private transportation modes. It is also import to include environmental consideration along the design, construction, maintenance, and operation of the transportation infrastructure. While vehicles powered by alternate fuel such as biofuel, electricity, and/or fuel cell are becoming more popular, shifting to more sustainable transport modes would also require changes on commuter behaviors and individual preferences.

The paper discusses the efforts that are underway for decoupling transport and CO₂ emissions, being useful for transportation stakeholders to implement or improve the effectiveness of their potential or current sustainability transport initiatives through the identification of strategies, opportunities, and barriers.

Although there is plenty of good information about sustainability and transportation modes in literature, most of the articles analyzed focus on specific factors of the whole transportation system. The originality/value of this paper is found in the holistic perspective, here presented, of the state of the art issues that a sustainable transport system would encompass.

The explosive growth of high‐density packaging has created a tremendous impact on the electronics assembly and manufacturing industry. Ball Grid Array (BGA), Chip Scale Packaging (CSP), Direct Chip Attach (DCA), and flip‐chip technologies are taking the lead in this advanced manufacturing process. Many major equipment makers and leading electronic companies are now gearing up for these emerging and advanced packaging technologies. In this paper, they will be briefly discussed.