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This paper aims to develop a conceptual framework of the implementation of the contact points (CPs) between Lean Six Sigma practices and Industry 4.0 technologies.

A systematic literature review was carried out based on two samples. A first sample containing 78 articles was analyzed through bibliometric indicators. After that, a second sample of 33 articles was analyzed in-depth according to research questions.

The conceptual framework involves 13 CPs between Lean Six Sigma (LSS) practices and I4.0 technologies (what), going through the technical requirements needed (how), categorized as information technology (IT), automation and competence requirements, to finally present the main results reported in the literature (why).

This paper presents an innovative perspective of interactions between digital technologies and LSS practices, expanding knowledge about Digital LSS. Such perspective gives emphasis to the importance of technical requirements, such as communication and connectivity protocols, network topology, machine-to-machine communication (M2M), human–machine interfaces (HMI), as well as analytical and digital skills.

The managerial implications regarding the digitalization of LSS practices address the investments required for the acquisition and maintenance of cyber-physical systems (CPS). Moreover, there is a need for the development of skills so that operators can successfully use the new technologies in a context of continuous improvement.

This paper presents a conceptual framework covering 13 CPs between LSS practices and Industry 4.0 technologies, the technical requirements and the expected results. It is hoped that this framework can assist future research and operational excellence projects towards digitalization.

A pronounced rise in postpandemic immigration is creating consumption opportunities and challenges for countries worldwide. Past research has shown that immigrant homeownership indicates advanced consumer acculturation. However, critical factors which differentiate immigrant decisions to purchase a home remain underexplored. This study aims to examine the importance of different identity resources in determining homeownership gaps between immigrant groups in Spain during a dynamic decade.

A mixed methods research design with triangulation was used. First, the critical “historical research method” is used to empirically assess 15,465 household-level microdata files from the National Immigrant Survey of Spain. Second, the analysis is corroborated through informant interviews, an evaluation of digital news archives and other historical traces such as relevant advertisements in Spain from 2000 to 2009.

Results provided an account of immigrant homeownership whereby foreign-born consumers leveraged resources to promote social identities aligned with an advanced level of acculturation through housing investment during this period. Furthermore, marketing focused on specific targets of ethnic minority consumers coupled with government policies to promote immigrant homeownership reinforced the “Spanish Dream” as a new paradigm for housing market integration.

Spain provides an unprecedented historical context to explain marketing-related phenomena due to a perfect storm of immigration, job availability and integration supports. Contrary to popular wisdom, immigrant consumer homeownership gaps are not solely a result of differences in income and economic mobility, but rather an advanced acculturation outcome driven by personal and social investments in resources that lead to consumer identities.

The purpose of this paper is to present an update on the progress of the design and reliability of stretchable interconnections for electronic circuits.

Finite element modelling (FEM) is used to analyse the physical behaviour of stretchable interconnects under different loading conditions. The fatigue life of a copper interconnect embedded into a silicone matrix has been evaluated using the Coffin‐Manson relation and FEM.

The mechanical properties of the substrate and the design of the metal interconnection play an important role on the fatigue lifetime of circuit. In the case of copper embedded into a PDMS Sylgard 186, more than 2,500 tensile cycles have been observed for a periodic deformation of 10 per cent.

Reliability results are limited and need further work to create a more accurate empirical model to estimate the lifetime of stretchable interconnections.

The combined use of FEM and experimental analysis enable a more reliable design of the stretchable metal interconnections. The proposed horseshoe design offers the benefit of reduced permanent damage during elongation.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate electromechanical properties of a new stretchable interconnect design for “fine pitch” applications in stretchable electronics.

A patterned metal interconnect with a zigzag shape is adhered on an elastomeric substrate. In situ home‐built electromechanical measurement is carried out by the four‐probe technique. Finite element method is used to analyze the deformation behavior of a zigzag shape interconnect under uniaxial tensile loading.

The electrical resistance remains constant until metal breakdown at elongations beyond 40 percent. There is no significant local necking in either the transverse or the thickness direction at the metal breakdown area as shown by both scanning electron microscopy micrographs and resistance measurements. Micrographs and simulation results show that a debonding occurs due to the local twisting of a metal interconnect, out‐of‐plane peeling, and strain localized at the crest of a zigzag structure.

In this paper, the zigzag shape is, for the first time, proven as a promising design for stretchable interconnects, especially for fine pitch applications.

In the past 15 years stretchable electronic circuits have emerged as a new technology in the domain of assembly, interconnections and sensor circuits and assembly technologies. In the meantime a wide variety of processes with the use of many different materials have been explored in this new field. The purpose of the current contribution is for the authors to present an approach for stretchable circuits which is inspired by conventional rigid and flexible printed circuit board (PCB) technology. Two variants of this technology are presented: stretchable circuit board (SCB) and stretchable mould interconnect (SMI).

Similarly as in PCB 17 or 35 μm thick sheets of electrodeposited or rolled‐annealed Cu are structured to form the conductive tracks, and off‐the‐shelf, standard packaged, rigid components are assembled on the Cu contact pads using lead‐free solder materials and reflow processes. Stretchability is obtained by shaping the Cu tracks not as straight lines, like in normal PCB design, but as horseshoe shaped meanders. Instead of rigid or flexible board materials, elastic materials, predominantly PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane), are used to embed the conductors and the components, thus serving as circuit carrier. The authors include some mechanical modeling and design considerations, aimed at the optimization of the build‐up and combination of elastic, flexible and rigid materials towards minimal stress and maximum mechanical reliability in the structures. Furthermore, details on the two production processes are given, reliability findings are summarised, and a number of functional demonstrators, realized with the technologies, are described.

Key conclusions of the work are that: supporting the metal meanders with a flexible carrier prior to embedding in an elastic substrate substantially increases the reliability under mechanical stress (cyclic uniaxial stretching) of the stretchable interconnect and the transition areas between rigid components and stretchable interconnects are the zones which are most sensitive to failure under mechanical stress. Careful design and technology implementation is necessary, providing a gradual transition from rigid to flexible to stretchable parts of the circuit.

Technologies for stretchable circuits, with the same level of similarity to standard PCB manufacturing and assembly, and thus with the same high potential for transfer to an industrial environment and for mass production, have not been shown before.

This paper, through examining the judgment on Case C-131/12 and the European Union (EU)’s Proposal for a General Data Protection Regulation, aims to demonstrate to the records management (RM) profession, the importance of being proactively involved in records creation identification and the challenges of performing sound retention analyses for newly emerging activities. It also serves as a call to the RM profession that more active participation in law-making processes is needed.

The research selects the current right to be forgotten phenomenon as an illuminating case and examines it with fundamental RM concepts and principles, in particular those relating to records creation and retention. The research process consists of three major parts: one, the establishment of an analytical framework based on RM theories; two, description of the selected case that is relevant to the analysis; and three, the application of the analytical framework to the described case.

Records retentions are much needed for the activities of data controllers that are now established by the most recent Judgment of the European Court of Justice pertinent to the right to be forgotten and the proposed General Data Protection Regulation. The determination of retention periods for such activities requires an RM framework that synthesizes the identification of digital records and the various types of value associated with the different usages of records. It is also observed that the data protection legal framework does not address RM considerations, or at least, not in any explicit, easily recognizable manners.

Records retentions are much needed for the activities of data controllers and/or processors that are now required by the Judgment of the European Court of Justice and the proposed EU General Data Protection Regulation, yet the legal framework does not offer any assistance in establishing retentions. It is also observed that the data protection legal framework fully acknowledges the importance of records but fails to address RM considerations – at least, not in any explicit, easily recognizable manners.

The findings are expected to be instructive to data controllers and/or processors, in particular with respect to records creation identification and records retention establishment in their organizations. It is also expected that the observations generated during the analysis process could shed light on the development of the RM profession.

The right to be forgotten in the digital world has newly acquired complications, and it has the potential to affect not just the privacy right but also the rights considered conflicting to it, such as the rights of freedom of press and freedom of expression/speech. Efficient and effective RM programs should be able to assist their parent organizations in dealing with this complicated situation through creating and managing records that support the compliance of regulatory requirements on the one hand and the balancing of competing rights on the other hand.

The research appears to be the first of its kind according to the literature search conducted within the accessibility scope of the researcher.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the business strategy and its strategic orientation in the context of Indian banking sector. While past research has focussed on internal factors, organizational performance and organizational design, present research intends to fill the gap by assessing the strategic archetypes for Indian banking.

A review of literature resulted in 14 items covering various aspects of strategy orientation. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain insights from bank managers. The study is based on responses received from 330 banking officials working in various functional areas of banks in India.

Using factor analysis, the 14 items are reduced into four major factors: competition, cost, innovation and customer need. In terms of strategic preferences, the finding indicates that respondents have given higher rating for both market share (25 percent) and new products (25 percent), followed by cost (16 percent), competition (15 percent) and service (13 percent).

With the dominant preference for market share and new products, authors proposed a market share-new product matrix and identified four quadrants: low return, resource constraint, complacency and optimal performance. The study offers guidance to managers to frame and assess the bank strategy.

This paper addresses how local retailers remain resilient in negotiating the lead up to and immediate aftermath of two major disasters (Typhoons Nesat and Nalgae) within a developing urban context (Dagupan City, Pangasinan). It highlights the specific mechanisms by which urban traders engage the Philippines’ more pervasive and highly resilient “culture of disaster” vis-à-vis conditions of chronic natural hazard.

This study relies predominately on the traditional anthropological techniques of participant observation and informal/semi-structured interviews to gather relevant project data. Supplementing these two core methods are findings derived from secondary sources like local and provincial newspapers, government records, public and university libraries, and census findings.

Findings suggest that a continual cycle of disaster impact and response does not overtly affect small retailers’ entrepreneurial initiative. It becomes clear that a persistent threat of natural hazards fosters a rather fatalistic sense of self-reliance.

Study was designed and funded as a quick-response study; therefore, the research timeframe was rather compressed and the informant pool somewhat limited.

The Philippines is widely recognized as a “culture of disaster” given its volatile position along the Pacific’s “Ring of Fire” and “Typhoon Alley.” This distinction assumes added dimension as the effects of global climate change become increasingly pervasive at the local level.

This paper adds ethnographic detail to a growing body of data on small business resilience within disaster prone areas of the Global South amid intensifying global climate change.

The context of this chapter is the use of data and advanced data analytics in a commercial setting. Privacy is considered as protection from vulnerability, whereby vulnerability is understood as the state of being exposed to the possibility of being harmed, either physically or emotionally, or in fundamental rights other than privacy. Therefore, privacy's policy instruments, in particular data protection law, could be seen as a means to reduce the risk of harm resulting from data use. Such harm is probabilistic and often uncertain, which, however, does not exclude analyzing costs and benefits of regulatory data protection policies. When balancing privacy protections and opportunities for knowledge gain, regulatory policy could be viewed as superior, when it expands the range of possible trade-offs between vulnerability protection and gaining socially beneficial knowledge.