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Regulated differently in modern constitutions, emergency rule is a case of awkward, and dilemmatic, legal fine-tuning of an ambivalent political move that leads the executive of a democratic regime to the verge of the constitutional system. For that reason, as an utmost situation, emergency rule becomes a testing field for the resilience of the constitutional order. It affects its own foundations, the basic rights, and thus the constitutional capability to make possible their fulfilment. It also serves to appraise the workings of democratic regimes and, accordingly, the type of legitimacy derived from their institutional performance. Furthermore, it provides a vantage point to watch the reactions of both their representatives and their publics. Focussed on the COVID-19 pandemic, this chapter compares the cases of Germany and Spain through their legal regulations of emergency rule and their governments’ responses. Having rather analogous emergency legislations, from 2020 through 2022, there have been significant differences in their decision-making patterns.

The study aims to understand the influence of supplier development (SD) activities on supplier satisfaction through the lens of social capital theory (SCT) and to understand the mediating role of the buyer–supplier relationship (BSR) in improving supplier satisfaction (SS).

The research is based on survey of 110 key informants belonging to 50 medium to small supplier companies in the Indian automotive sector. We employed the PLS variance-based modelling technique for the data analysis.

The investigation resulted in a comprehensive framework for SD activities influencing SS. Further findings recognize a positive influence of SD activities such as payment terms and BSR, which are components of structural social capital on the SS. SD activities such as quality management and delivery, which are indicators of relational capital, affect SS through the mediation of BSR.

The study confirms the role of BSR in SS. The deliberations can help the managers of buyer and supplier firms and researchers to classify and strategize SD activities to improve performance and BSR to become preferred customers through SS.

This paper aims to advance recent literature on the performativity of accounting by examining how project accounting affects a project organization’s ability to deliver a relevant project outcome, such as a product or a building, for a receiving client organization.

The paper draws on a longitudinal case study of a 41.4-billion-kroner (5.5-billion-euro) Danish project of constructing 16 new public hospitals. Its objective was to reduce the average unit costs and improve the quality of patient care. Each hospital construction was managed by a separate project organization and handed over to a separate receiving hospital organization. The project organizations applied a common approach to project accounting. The paper relies on Michel Callon’s concepts of performativity and sociotechnical agencement – approaching project accounting as an arrangement of devices.

The paper shows that the project-accounting agencement simultaneously supported and undermined the project organizations’ ability to deliver hospitals relevant to the receiving hospital organizations. The agencement performed hospital designs, disciplined project actors and guided decision-making, thus supporting the overall work of the project organizations. It also, however, compelled the project organizations to compromise on hospital designs when unexpected events occurred. These compromises led to the delivery of hospitals, which largely prevented the receiving hospital organizations from achieving the project’s objective.

This paper advances our limited understanding of the dynamic and complex relationship between project accounting and the relevance of project outcomes. It introduces the concept of a “contronymity device” to capture the way project accounting simultaneously produces two opposing consequences, both supporting and undermining the enactment of a particular reality. The paper lastly enriches our understanding of how project-accounting devices impact hospital organizations’ operating cost structures and challenge patient care capabilities.

This paper examines the moderating role of capital structure decisions in the relationship between research and development (R&D) investment and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) performance.

Based on panel data of 1,357 European SMEs from 2014 to 2020, this study employs a generalized method of moments (GMM) regression to examine the R&D-performance link through the moderating role of capital structure.

The results show that R&D investment and equity financing positively and significantly influence SMEs performance. Debt financing, however, is negatively and significantly associated with SME performance. In addition, we show that capital structure choice significantly moderates the relationship between R&D investment and SME performance. Specifically, debt financing attenuates the positive impact of R&D investment on SMEs performance, whereas equity financing accentuates this relationship.

This study helps policymakers formulate appropriate policies to overcome the challenges of underinvestment in R&D projects to enhance SMEs performance.

Our findings provide new evidence on R&D-performance literature by refining the deeper understanding of the role of capital structure, which has previously been examined in partial and fragmented ways.

Corporate leadership and environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance are closely intertwined, as effective corporate leadership can facilitate the achievement of strong ESG performance. Thus, the purpose of the study is to investigate the impact of corporate board leadership on the ESG performance of listed firms.

The sample has been taken from the listed firms of the Nifty 500 index spanning the period of 10 years from 2012 to 2022. Dynamic panel data estimations are applied through a fixed effect model.

The findings of this study revealed that board size, board independence and board qualification have a significant positive influence on ESG performance. It is evident that good corporate governance practices can positively influence ESG performance by fostering accountability, transparency and ethical behavior, as well as better integrating ESG considerations into their decision-making processes and ensuring that ESG issues are prioritized at the highest levels of management. Further findings also revealed that chief executive officer (CEO) duality has a significant negative relationship with ESG performance, which goes against the belief of stakeholder theory.

It has practical implications for policymakers, as they can enact new regulations pertaining to the CEO’s position in the organizations to make corporate governance responsible for improved sustainability and ESG performance.

There are very few studies analyzing the impact of corporate board structure on ESG performance related to emerging markets. Thus, this study contributes to that literature by using the methodology GMM panel data for the first time as per our knowledge

This study aims to investigate the stakeholders’ (employers and students) involvement in economics and management programs quality assurance in Italian universities from the external audit perspective.

The research tests if employers are positively associated with the coherence between program objectives and job prospects, and if student involvement is positively associated with student orientation, tutorship and flexibility for specific types of students (differently abled students and working students). Based on data from the Italian Agency for Quality Assurance (ANVUR) in Italian universities, this study selects a sample of 44 bachelor and master university programs.

When a program coordinator assures coherence between competencies included in the study plan and job prospect, the employers’ involvement in the plan and management of the program increases and becomes more effective. High-quality services regarding student orientation, tutorship and flexibility for specific types of students increase the students’ involvement in university governance.

Findings contribute to literature extending the stakeholder theory in universities, better specifying how employers and students may play a key role in improving the quality assurance of teaching activities.