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To follow and maintain an appropriate distance to the selected target person (STP), the mobile robot is required to have capabilities: the human detection and tracking and an efficient following strategy with a smooth manner that does not appear threatening to the STP and surroundings. The efficient following strategy must integrate the STP position and the obstacle information to achieve smooth and safe human-following behaviors, especially in unknown environments where robot does not have understandings in advance. The purpose of this study is to propose a robust-adaptive-behavior strategy for mobile robots.

This paper presents a robust-adaptive-behavior strategy (RABS) based on the fuzzy inference mechanism to help the robot follow the STP effectively in various unknown environments with the real-time obstacle avoidance, both indoor and outdoor and on different robot platforms. In which, the traversability of robots’ unknown surrounding environments is analyzed by using the STP position and the obstacle information obtained from the two dimensional laser scan, whose purpose is to choose the highest-traversability-score direction (HTSD) and an adaptive-safe-following distance (ASFD). Then, the HTSD, the ASFD and the current velocity of the robot are considered as inputs of the fuzzy system to adjust its velocity smoothly.

The proposed RABS is verified by a set of experiments using a real big-heavy autonomous mobile robot (BH-AMR), with the dimension 0.8 × 1.2 (m), weight 150 (kg), full-load 500 (kg), aiding smart factories. The obtained results have shown that the proposed RABS equips the BH-AMR with the ability to follow the STP smoothly and safely even when the robot is moving at the maximum speed 1.5 (m/s).

In this paper, the autonomous mobile robot considers all environments as unknown even when it is working in mapped environments. This limitation is presented clearly in the future works section.

This proposed method can be used to help the autonomous mobile robot support persons in factories, hospitals, restaurants, supermarkets or at the airports.

This paper presents a RABS, including three new features: a fuzzy-based solution to help human-following robots maintain an appropriate distance to the STP safely and smoothly with the maximum velocity 1.5 (m/s); the proposed fuzzy-based solution, an adaptive vector field histogram and a new approach for the STP tracking is combined to follow the STP and avoid the collision simultaneously in unknown indoor and outdoor environments; the proposed RABS is considered for BH-AMRs (with the dimension 0.8 × 1.2 (m), weight 150 (kg), full-load 500 (kg)) to serve real tasks in smart factories.

Collision avoidance is considered as a crucial issue in mobile robotic navigation to guarantee the safety of robots as well as working surroundings, especially for humans. Therefore, the position and velocity of obstacles appearing in the working space of the self-driving mobile robot should be observed to help the robot predict the collision and choose traversable directions. This paper aims to propose a new approach for obstacle tracking, dubbed MoDeT.

First, all long lines, such as walls, are extracted from the 2D-laser scan and considered as static obstacles (or mapped obstacles). Second, a density-based procedure is implemented to cluster nonwall obstacles. These clusters are then geometrically fitted as ellipses. Finally, the combination of Kalman filter and global nearest-neighbor (GNN) method is used to track obstacles’ position and velocity.

The proposed method (MoDeT) is experimentally verified by using an autonomous mobile robot (AMR) named AMR SR300. The MoDeT is found to provide better performance in comparison with previous methods for self-driving mobile robots.

The robot can only see a part of the object, depending on the light detection and ranging scan view. As a consequence, geometrical features of the obstacle are sometimes changed, especially when the robot is moving fast.

This proposed method is to serve the navigation and path planning for the AMR.

(a) Proposing an extended weighted line extractor, (b) proposing a density-based obstacle detection and (c) implementing a combination of methods [in (a) and (b) constant acceleration Kalman and GNN] to obtain obstacles’ properties.

The qualitative (focus group) portion of this study aims to examine the perceptions and opinions of corporate and nongovernmental organization (NGO) executives in Vietnam about corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs, issues and priorities in Vietnam, the role of various external stakeholders in supporting CSR practices and how corporates and NGOs can work together to support each other’s CSR agendas. The quantitative (survey) portion of this study aims to examine how Vietnamese companies across different sectors prioritize CSR issues and goals, budget for CSR, report on CSR and centrally (or decentrally) manage CSR programs.

This is a qualitative and quantitative research study of executives in NGO, multinational and domestic-only firms operating in Vietnam. Qualitative (focus group) data were collected from 20 participants in three focus groups. Quantitative data were collected through an online survey of respondents from 186 companies throughout Vietnam.

The focus group findings support the research literature that CSR agenda and priorities amongst Vietnamese domestic companies are strongly influenced by long-standing norms, values and religious beliefs embedded in the Vietnamese culture that support their role in charitable giving and improving the welfare and well-being of Vietnamese citizens. The findings also indicate that CSR and sustainability programs are more fully funded and developed by multinational subsidiaries in Vietnam who have more capital and human resources to support their initiatives. The survey findings indicate that enhanced reputation, attracting new customers, securing more sustainable supply chains, developing innovative or new products/services and improving risk management are the top five business goals amongst the 186 companies surveyed.

While the qualitative research uncovered important trends and issues in CSR amongst NGO and corporate participants, the focus was limited to the defined geographic areas of two main urban hubs.

This paper aims to explore factors influencing apartment price volatility in the two biggest cities in Vietnam, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

The study uses the supply and demand approach and provides a literature review of previous studies to develop four main hypotheses using four determinants of apartment price volatility in Vietnam: gross domestic product (GDP), inflation rate, lending interest rate and construction cost. Subsequently, the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) is used to analyze a monthly data sample of 117.

The research highlights the important role of construction costs in apartment price volatility in the two largest cities. Moreover, there are significant differences in how all four determinants affect apartment price volatility in the two cities. In addition, there is a long-run relationship between the determinants and apartment price volatility in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Limitations related to data transparency of the real estate industry in Vietnam lead to three main limitations of this paper, including: this paper only collects a sample of 117 valid monthly observations; apartment price volatility is calculated by changes in the apartment price index instead of apartment price standard deviation; and this paper is limited by only four determinants, those being GDP, inflation rate, lending interest rate and construction cost.

The study provides evidence of differences in how the above determinants affect apartment price volatility in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, which helps investors and policymakers to make informed decisions relating to the real estate market in the two biggest cities in Vietnam.

This paper makes several recommendations to policymakers and investors in Vietnam to ensure a stable real estate market, contributing to the stability of the national economy.

This paper provides a new approach using VECM to analyze both long-run and short-run relationships between macroeconomic and sectoral independent variables and apartment price volatility in the two biggest cities in Vietnam.

The recent decades have witnessed the rising frequency and severity of infectious diseases in the international context and their detrimental impacts on the corporate world as a result of growing interconnection among nations. This study aims to examine the effect of previous infectious diseases (H5N1, H1N1 and MERS) on the disclosure of corporate social responsibility (CSR) among listed Chinese firms from 2006 to 2017.

Firm-level financial and CSR data of Chinese non-financial listed firms are from the China Stock Market and Accounting Research database. The data on corporate governance are collected from Bloomberg financial database. Three infectious diseases under examination are H5N1 (2006–2007), H1N1 (2009–2010) and MERS (2015–2016). This study uses the fixed-effect estimations to account for time-invariant differences among the firms in the sample.

The results reveal that Chinese firms disclose less CSR information during the time of public health crises, and this impact is more pronounced in small-sized and low-growth firms. Besides, the analysis suggests that Chinese firms are becoming more resilient to infectious diseases.

The findings provide implications for corporate stakeholders to understand corporate policies under uncertainties and inform vulnerable businesses to develop an appropriate CSR strategy in preparation for future health calamities.

This study provides new insights into how businesses react to previous epidemics and pandemics at different scales other than the COVID-19 pandemic. Besides, the findings shed light on the dynamic of firms’ CSR engagement during and after the infectious outbreaks.

The purpose of this paper is to validate measures of professional self-efficacy for detecting and responding to child abuse and neglect presentations, and then evaluate a clinical training programme for health professionals in a tertiary-level hospital in Vietnam.

A prospective, cohort design was used and professional self-efficacy was measured immediately prior to, and shortly after, training 116 nurses and doctors in emergency settings. Longer-term follow-up was measured six months later.

Linear mixed modelling showed that there was a statistically significant improvement in efficacy expectations for both suspected and known cases of child abuse and neglect between the pre- and post-test measures at zero and six weeks. These improvements did not persist to the six-month follow-up.

The training succeeded in improving detection and clinical response to child abuse and neglect presentations but not faith in the provision of ongoing support for children and families.

Practice change in emergency settings in Vietnam can be achieved using a sustainable theoretically driven training programme.

Building the capacity of health professionals to respond to cases of child abuse and neglect relies on the strength of the community and support services within which the hospital is located.

Measures of self-efficacy expectations and outcome expectations for responding to child abuse and neglect presentations in emergency settings in Vietnam are now validated.

Decision-making seems simple, but, in reality, it is not an easy task to decide the cause for its profound result or consequence, leading to inevitable failures. Therefore, a leader must recognize whether there is something incorrect so as to avoid bad results. A good leader is a person who carefully reviews and analyzes aspects of a problem, knows the strengths and weaknesses of his organization and evaluates what the advantages or risks are. It cannot be denied that the appropriate options will reap many benefits to the business. For such important things, this paper will discuss the dilemma of Viettire, a tire distributor company in Vietnam. Accordingly, its CEO was worried about what strategic option he should adopt to approach the Myanmar market while ensuring a strategic fit to its company’s resources and capabilities and also to the overall market demands of the tire industry environment in both countries. However, with different ideas, the expansion strategies in this new market become controversial. The General Director and Founder of Viettire were wondering how Viettire could expand its existing business into Myanmar. To expand the company to new emerging market in Myanmar, Hoang Nguyen – CEO of Viettire – had conducted a strategic analysis of external environment factors to define the opportunities and threats when doing business in Myanmar by using Porter’s five forces model, S.W.O.T and competitive advantages analysis. The results indicated that Myanmar’s business environment is highly risky for foreign investors because of uncertain political, economic, social reforms in the process. Among three options, namely, exporting, licensing and wholly owned, however, Option 2 is illustrated as the best strategy for its dilemma.

Postgraduate/Graduate Business level.

As for a market mechanism, what produces, how and for whom, is not the business’s demand but the consumer’s demand. The business sells only what the market needs, not what it has. In the period of increasingly competitive conditions, stabilizing and expanding markets are a prerequisite for survival. If stability is seen as a “defensive” way, expansion is a “defensive attack” like trying to hold on the “pie” that the market gives to itself. This strategic action is to strengthen regular, close relationships with existing customers and establish new customers. As a result, the potential market is transformed into a target market. Hence, decision-making of which market, which method is the issue that a leader has to think the choice to avoid risks. Mr Hung, Viettire’s co-owner, suggests that Myanmar should be taken into account as a company’s new entry, thus exploring this potential market to increase the company’s growth and profitability. In the progress, Viettire’s marketing team had been doing a thorough tire market investigation in Myanmar. It was concluded that this emerging country, especially Yangon City, was the most suitable for those who were willing to embark on an overseas investment expansion. They believe this was a good opportunity to gain market share compared with other entrants and competitive rivals; if Viettire hesitated to invest, others definitely had jumped in with a first-mover advantage. However, the CEO, Mr Hoang, was worried about what strategic option he should adopt to approach this new market while ensuring a strategic fit to its company’s resources and capabilities and also to the overall market demands of the tire industry environment in both countries.

Understand the basic decisions that firms contemplating foreign expansion must make: which markets to enter, when to enter those markets and at what scale. Recognize the current strategic decisions an organization is facing: positioning, portfolio and market expansion approach. Learn how to develop an effective strategic plan. Be familiar with different strategies for competing globally and their pros and cons. Evaluate various strategic options and decisions in accordance with a company’s resources and capabilities.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

CSS 11: Strategy.

Proactive risk assessment suggests that risk assessment should emphasize the consequences that it might cause and the opportunities it might create for firms. Hence, this study aims to validate risk impact on supply chain performance in the context of the Vietnamese construction sector. Also, a complex network, in which multiple risk factors mutually affect, impede or promote each other, is developed to assist managers in tackling unpredictable risks proactively. In particular, the authors investigate whether certain risks could be considered either challenges or opportunities for businesses in turbulent times to improve SC performance.

The construction industry is the focal study context as it is one of the most essential industries in charge of providing accommodations, infrastructures and employment for society. 289 valid responses used in this research are from a large-scale survey result, supported by a Japanese government project promoting sustainable socio-economic development in Vietnam.

From the study findings, the authors find that external risk brings opportunities for supply chain performance. Meanwhile, demand risk, when it occurs, can reduce the danger level of operational risk, which is an interesting finding of this research. It is evident that when multiple risk factors mutually affect, impede or promote each other, it provides a more meaningful examination of mutually interconnected supply chain risks.

Practitioners should perceive risks as an opportunity than a threat. This study contributes to preventing risks and guaranteeing an effective and efficient supply chain by tackling unpredictable risks in a disruptive period. Moreover, data on validating research models collected during the Covid-19 pandemic and Ukraine and Russia conflicts reflect the topicality of this study.

The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship among financial development (FD), economic growth, urbanization and human capital (HC) in Vietnam.

This study uses various wavelet tools, including wavelet coherence, wavelet correlation and scale-by-scale Granger causality test, to re-visit the lead–lag structure among economic growth, FD, urbanization and HC in Vietnam from 1980 to 2017.

The main findings indicate that economic growth and urbanization improve HC at the medium and low frequencies, whereas FD negatively affects HC from 1989 to 2017. Furthermore, the scale-by-scale Granger causality results confirm a uni-directional causality relationship between economic growth to HC at low and high frequencies. In contrast, a bi-directional causality relationship between urbanization and HC is found in the long run.

Policy implications have emerged based on the empirical results from this study. The Vietnamese Government should continue supporting economic integration, implementing investment promotion policies and focussing on foreign direct investment using green technologies.

The impact of FD on HC at different time scales has largely been ignored in Vietnam. This study substantially contributes to the existing literature regarding HC and FD. This analysis is one of the earliest attempts to examine the effects of economic indicators on HC in the time-frequency analysis.

This study aims to point out the importance and the relevance of sustainability issues and the need for their enhancement in the contemporary model of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as the top priority for business entities. Furthermore, it also highlights ways to enhance sustainability in the contemporary CSR model in the fast fashion industry of developing countries.

Literature review has been extensively done through available databases, including ProQuest and ScienceDirect.

This study delivers a full insight into the current state of research on the CSR model and sustainability in developing countries. The prevalent corporate environmental sustainability practices of global apparel brands are identified to propose ways to enhance sustainability in the contemporary CSR model.

The growth of fast fashion industry brings the risks of unsustainability to developing countries. Thus, it is a must for the garment and textile companies to enhance a sustainable CSR model through promoting sustainable leadership and integrating corporate culture.

To the best of author’s knowledge, this study is the first to emphasise the role of sustainable leadership in promoting a sustainable CSR model in the fast fashion industry of developing countries.