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Where does one need to intervene in to be most effective? The purpose of this study is to rank areas of the resource system, according to how much of a change can be expected from interventions in an area, in relation to the problem of depleting resources.

Principles of structured analysis are used to model how society uses resources. From this model, nine intervention areas are defined. These intervention areas are ranked in terms of effectiveness, through the use of the analytic hierarchy process.

To be most effective, one must prioritize intervention areas as follows: material inputs to the operation phase; process inputs to the operation phase; products’ longevity; process inputs to the manufacturing phase; and material inputs to the manufacturing phase.

Most decisions are not made on the basis of rigorous analysis but by using heuristics (rules of thumb). The results of this study are expressed as rules of thumb. They can help decision makers prioritize what is most important, but without imposing new ways of working.

In the construction domain, heuristics that generalize the impact of actions (content), instead of intervention areas (context), currently seem to prevail. The heuristics of this study generalize the impact of intervention areas. Therefore, they provide an extra perspective for many decision makers. This extra perspective can help reduce mistakes that are typically made by oversimplifying matters.

This chapter establishes the conceptual and analytic framework for the book. It relates not only to much of the existing work in evolutionary and institutional economics, but also to work in cultural science and cultural semiotics domains as well as in media convergence and transmedia studies. The central concept it first deploys is ‘innovation systems’ as applied in national, regional, international and sectoral contexts. It then builds on the general theory of economic evolution by Kurt Dopfer and Jason Potts and reviews the tools this theory provides to carry out a meso-level analysis of industries co-innovating and converging. It then proposes a new concept – ‘cross-innovation’ – to refer to the emergence of new structures and ‘rules’ at the boundaries of existing industries.

This paper aims to explore the market dynamics that led to a shift in Swedish consumers' alcohol preferences from schnapps to wine. Specifically, the study investigates how the Swedish state influenced consumers' alcohol habits and highlights the role of governance units in shaping consumer culture.

The study reconstructs the historical memory of the “Operation Vin”, a strategic marketing campaign implemented by Systembolaget from 1957 to 1985, to conceptualize the past and to uncover the structures and change dynamics of the Swedish alcohol market system. Following this approach, the research contrasts historical data from multiple sources with market-oriented ethnographical data and traces the trajectory of how the consumption of alcohol has changed as a consequence of the Swedish state’s initiatives.

The study offers two contributions to the literature in marketing and consumption history. Firstly, it uncovers the lines of actions (framing and settlement) involved in creating marketing systems and shaping consumer culture. Secondly, it explores how the state strategically leveraged its social skills to promote a specific type of alcohol consumption (wine) and to induce the Swedish consumer to cooperate in the refashioning of the alcohol field.

The authors aspire for this paper to offer valuable insights into how a state, as a governance entity, can shape consumer culture through a strategic blend of various regulatory measures, both gentle and forceful. The authors emphasize the pivotal role of social skills in fostering cooperation during the implementation of a new alcohol policy.

This paper provides valuable insights into the role of the Swedish state in shaping consumer culture and explores the strategic actions and marketing systems involved, contributing to marketing and consumption history literature.

One of the important goals of trade facilitation is to lower the costs of trade that serve as a barrier to the developing countries from enjoying the benefits of increased trade and becoming integrated into global supply chains that account for nearly 60 percent of global trade today. The high trade costs that are plaguing most developing countries is mainly incurred from the lack of adequate trade-related infrastructure and low quality of institutions that hinder the efficient flow of goods across and within borders. Therefore, the trade facilitation rules that are contained in FTAs among bilateral trading partners are inevitably aimed at deepening their participation in the global value chain network. However, an observation of the FTAs concluded by Korea and the trade facilitation rules contained therein shows that the current trade facilitation rules in bilateral FTAs may be of little practical use for countries that lack the capacity to be involved in the international production activities in the first place. From the development perspective, the current WTO negotiations on trade facilitation which take full account of the special and differential treatment needs of the less developed country members appear more likely to contribute to providing the trading environment that is free from the barriers to trade that have inhibited the less developed countries from integration into the global supply chains and the benefits thereof.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the selection of decision-making approaches at manufacturing companies when implementing process innovations.

This study reviews the current understanding of decision structuredness for determining a decision-making approach and conducts a case study based on an interactive research approach at a global manufacturer.

The findings show the correspondence of intuitive, normative and combined intuitive and normative decision-making approaches in relation to varying degrees of equivocality and analyzability. Accordingly, the conditions for determining a decision-making choice when implementing process innovations are revealed.

This study contributes to increased understanding of the combined use of intuitive and normative decision making in production system design.

Empirical data are drawn from two projects in the heavy-vehicle industry. The study describes decisions, from start to finish, and the corresponding decision-making approaches when implementing process innovations. These findings are of value to staff responsible for the design of production systems.

Unlike prior conceptual studies, this study considers normative, intuitive and combined intuitive and normative decision making. In addition, this study extends the current understanding of decision structuredness and discloses the correspondence of decision-making approaches to varying degrees of equivocality and analyzability.

This paper presents a generic simulation model to determine the equipment mix (quay, yard and intra-terminal transfer) for a Container Terminal Logistics Operations System (CTLOS). The simulation model for the CTLOS, a typical type of discrete event dynamic system (DEDS), consists of three sub-models: ship queue, loading-unloading operations and yard-gate operations. The simulation model is empirically applied to phase 1 of the Yangshan Deep Water Port in Shanghai. This study considers different scenarios in terms of container throughput levels, equipment utilization rates, and operational bottlenecks, and presents a sensitivity analysis to evaluate and choose reasonable equipment ratio ranges under different operational conditions.

In this research, using an analytical framework on factors affecting the quality of auditing services, we consider factors that affect an expectations gap in providers and users of auditing services related to factors affecting auditing quality. Effective factors studied in this regard are professional features, including the professional role of individuals in the auditing process (auditors against preparers of financial statements), professional experience of individuals, professional rating and size of auditing firms. The first statistical society consists of certified public accountants (CPAs) working in the auditing organization and audit firms in Iran, and the second statistical society consists of all investment companies that operate under the supervision of the Tehran Stock Exchange Organization. Based on the results of the research, the role of professionals in the auditing process is not effective as an independent auditor or financial statements provider, as well as the professional experience of individuals in the expectations gap from factors affecting auditing quality, while the size and qualities of the auditing firms were influenced by the expectations gap of individuals in the field of auditing regulation.

The article examines the possible long-run and short-run impact of regulatory quality on stock market performance in Nigeria for 1996–2019 period.

The study adopts autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds test and cointegrating regression techniques.

Findings reveal that regulatory quality positively and significantly influences the performance of stock market, which strengthens the view that market-enhancing governance can engender an improvement in stock market performance. The study further demonstrates that quality of the regulatory environment is a critical component of market operations, since the improvement of the operation of stock market performance depends on appropriate policy measures, which could be the outcome of improved governance.

It is suggested that, while improving the institutional environment is a challenge to regulators, there is need for strong and effective regulatory mechanism to enhance the development of stock market in the country.

Based on the two competing hypotheses and limited attention, previous studies accorded the role of regulatory quality in the performance of stock market in the context of Nigeria. This study assessed the gap in the literature by taking the task of validating the impact of regulatory quality on stock market development.

Intuitionistic linguistic fuzzy information (ILFI), characterized by linguistic terms and intuitionistic fuzzy sets (IFSs), can easily express the fuzzy information in the process of muticriteria decision making (MCDM) and muticriteria group decision making (MCGDM) problems. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of aggregation operators (AOs) and applications of ILFI.

First, some meaningful AOs for ILFI are summarized, and some extended MCDM approaches for intuitionistic uncertain linguistic variables (IULVs), such as extended TOPSIS, extended TODIM, extended VIKOR, are discussed. Then, the authors summarize and analyze the applications about the AOs of IULVs.

IULVs, characterized by linguistic terms and IFSs, can more detailed and comprehensively express the criteria values in the process of MCDM and MCGDM. Therefore, lots of researchers pay more and more attention to the MCDM or MCGDM methods with IULVs.

The authors summarize and analyze the applications about the AOs of IULVs Finally, the authors point out some possible directions for future research.

This article examines the opportunities to create optimal conditions for individuals with autism, to work successfully within the contemporary workplace and improve their well-being. These opportunities arise from digital technology (DT) development, enabling the work environment to be remodeled by providing new possibilities and ways of working. The author discusses both technology-based as well as non-technological accommodations supporting overcoming the workplace challenges faced by employees with autism.

A qualitative research was conducted with the use of in-depth interviews with 21 individuals with expertise in the field.

Possible technology-based work environment modifications and non-technological managerial practices facilitating work integration and the long-term well-being of individuals with autism were proposed. These solutions address four main problems: (1) effective communication; (2) time management, task prioritizing, and organization of work; (3) stress management and emotion control; and (4) sensory sensitivity.

Proposed solutions include primarily the wide usage of electronic mediated forms of communicating based on non-direct and non-verbal contact; a flexible approach towards work organization; accurate stress monitoring systems; and an individualized approach toward office space arrangements limiting external stimuli.

All this could lead not only to an increase in employment in individuals on the autism spectrum but also influence the improvement of the job performance of already employed. Modifications introduced could improve the long-term well-being of all employees, both with autism and neurotypical ones.