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The purpose of this paper is to describe an information logistic framework for continuous dependability improvement that is applied within Sweden to improve the operational availability performance of the railway system.

The applied study approach is a case study of the Swedish iron ore transports, described from the perspectives of the infrastructure manager and the operator of the rolling stock. Qualitative data were collected through interviews, workshops and document studies, while quantitative data were collected through databases. As a framework for analysis, international standards within the dependability area were applied. Finally, the conclusions of the study were verified by key informants.

Information logistics provides methodologies and technologies to support continuous dependability improvement through monitoring of the operational availability performance and its included aspects of reliability performance, maintainability performance and maintenance support performance.

The operational availability performance of technical systems is crucial to provide a quality of services that fulfils the requirements of stakeholders. Hence, continuous dependability improvement is necessary to keep pace with increasing stakeholder requirements and ongoing system degradation to enable stakeholder satisfaction. The framework is based on best practices and international standards.

The proposed framework includes an integration of methodologies and technologies from the information technology and dependability management areas that considers both railway infrastructure and rolling stock.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe how a risk‐based dependability approach can be used to link maintenance performance measurement and management to overall objectives within an organization. Design/methodology/approach – The applied study approach is a case study at Trafikverket (the Swedish Transport Administration). Qualitative data were collected through interviews, workshops and document studies, while quantitative data was collected through data bases. As a framework for analysis, international standards within the risk and dependability areas were applied. Finally, the conclusions of the study were verified by key informants. Findings – Through the proposed risk‐based dependability approach, critical availability goals are communicated with and involve top management. The approach also contributes to enhanced data and information quality by pinpointing critical data and information for dependability management activities. The proposed availability indicator can be used to monitor the effect of dependability management activities aimed at different indenture levels of the infrastructure and related to the responsibility of different hierarchical levels of the organization, e.g. different maintenance echelons. Practical implications – The proposed approach strengthens the internal control of an organization by supporting the achievement of: objectives that are aligned with and support the mission; operations with an effective and efficient use of resources; reliable operational and financial reporting; compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Originality/value – By integrating risk management in the work with availability goals included in the balanced scorecard, a more holistic and risk‐based dependability management practice is achieved.

Trade credit (TC) provides access to capital for construction contractors globally and is an important source of finance in both developed and developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to explore key factors underpinning construction suppliers’ decisions to provide TC to Ghanaian construction firms.

Primary data from a structured survey of 75 construction suppliers are analysed. Principal component (factor) analysis explores complex structures among suppliers’ decision-making variables.

Underlying constructs of decision criteria exist among seven key factors: financial profile of the contractor; parties’ profit margins; asset portfolio and project particulars; TC quantum and repayment terms; age and experience of the contractor; contractor corporate image; and parties’ cash flows.

This is a new decision criteria framework for suppliers and contractors, who utilise TC.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on inter‐neighbourhood variation in the rental apartment market in Greater Cairo, Egypt, and its potential influence on property prices and performance of hedonic pricing models.

The paper delves into the issue of whether comparables from different neighbourhoods are homogeneous enough to be aggregated in hedonic pricing models. This paper extends the research on rental‐property market segmentation by investigating the existence of apartment submarkets determined by neighbourhoods.

Results show that parameters are unstable across neighbourhoods and Chow test provides further support for utilising spatial hedonic pricing models.

This paper provides further support for spatial hedonic pricing models using empirical evidence from Greater Cairo, Egypt. The paper finds that explanatory and predictive powers of hedonic pricing models are improved when separate hedonic equations are estimated for each neighbourhood in Greater Cairo. The paper does not provide an elaborate solution for implementing spatial models in Greater Cairo but rather supports the notion that one has to be developed.

The purposes of the study are to: contribute evidence on the role played by ordinary commercial firms in providing finance to other firms by granting trade credit to customers; and test some theories about the motives of small and medium‐sized firms in extending such trade credit.

The Generalised Method of Moments is applied to an unbalanced panel of small and medium‐sized firms in the Canary Islands (Spain). Analysis of data from a unique database is used to obtain consistent estimations and to test some proposed hypotheses about the determinants of extending trade credit.

The study finds that: firms with greater access to financial markets can serve as a credit channel for clients that have difficulties in obtaining institutional financing (thus supporting the theory of financial advantage with respect to trade credit); firms can reduce transaction costs through financing clients (thus confirming that “transaction motives” are significant in granting trade credit); and that trade credit between firms known to each other reduces problems associated with information asymmetry in financial arrangements.

The findings represent correlated inferences, rather than proven causal relationships. Moreover, some results are interpretive in nature; more detailed data and analyses could assist in investigating the relationships noted here.

The paper contributes to the scarce empirical literature about the motives for granting trade credit by small and medium‐sized firms. This is also the first study to analyse this behaviour from a dataset of firms in the Canary Islands (Spain).

Complaints about lower agricultural farm-gate price and higher consumer price have emerged in China in recent years. The large gap between dairy farm-gate price and consumer price gives rise to worries that China's dairy industry is characterized by strong degree of oligopoly. The purpose of this paper is to take the dairy processing industry as an epitome of China's food industry, and use a new approach to investigate whether it is oligopolistic and/or oligopsonistic.

Based on a new proposed Primal-Dual Solow Residual model, the authors first test the hypothesis that there are significant oligopoly and oligopsony powers in China's dairy sector, and the latter is stronger. The authors then turn to measure these two kinds of market power using regressions of the model.

The estimation results show that firms in the sector have both strong oligopoly and oligopsony power, but the latter is stronger than the former. Meanwhile, with the continuous reinforcement of competition in China's dairy sector, market power in both the upstream and downstream has decreased slightly.

This paper is the first to simultaneously test oligopoly and oligopsony power in China's dairy sector. The empirical results explicitly imply that more attention should be paid to the raw milk purchase market.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is two‐fold. First, it studies whether output volatility and growth are linked at the firm‐level, using data for German firms. Second, it explores whether the link between volatility and growth depends on the degree of credit market imperfections. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use a novel firm‐level dataset provided by the Deutsche Bundesbank, the so‐called Financial Statements Data Pool. The dataset has time series observations for German firms for the period 1997‐2004, and the authors use information on the debt‐to‐assets or leverage ratio of firms to proxy for credit‐constraints at the firm‐level. As additional proxies for the importance of credit market imperfections, we use information on the size and on the legal status of firms. Findings – The authors find that higher volatility has a negative impact on growth for small and a positive impact for larger firms. Higher leverage is associated with higher growth. At the same time, there is heterogeneity in the determinants of growth across firms from different sectors and across firms with a different legal status. Practical implications – While most traditional macroeconomic models assume that growth and volatility are uncorrelated, a number of microeconomic models suggest that the two may be linked. However, it is unclear whether the link is positive or negative. The paper presents additional evidence regarding this question. Moreover, understanding whether credit market conditions affect the link between volatility and growth is of importance for policy makers since it suggests a channel through which the credit market can have long‐run welfare implications. The results stress the importance of firm‐level heterogeneity for the effects and effectiveness of economic policy measures. Originality/value – The paper has two main novel features. First, it uses a novel firm‐level dataset to analyze the determinants of firm‐level growth. Second, it analyzes the growth‐volatility nexus using firm‐level data. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first paper, which addresses the link between volatility, growth, and credit market imperfections using firm‐level data.

To analyse Sukuk Prihatin (SP), the first-ever retail digital sukuk issued by the Government of Malaysia in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, as part of the national economic recovery plan. The issuance of SP was oversubscribed, even upsized, resulting in the government announcing its intention to issue similar types of sukuk in the future. In light of this, the purpose of this study is to understand the motivation for retail investors to invest in SP.

The purposive sampling method was applied via a self-administered survey, while the cross-sectional data were empirically tested using the SmartPLS 3.2.9 structural equation modelling. An integrated model of the theory of planned behaviour and social cognitive theories was used in determining investors’ intention to invest in SP.

The findings of this research revealed that attitude (ATT) towards SP investment (SPI), social norms (SN), perceived control (PBC) regarding SPI, sukuk features (SF), tax incentives (TI) and the spirit of unity and brotherhood (SUB) were significant determinants of investors’ willingness to invest in SP. This research also provided evidence for significant national pride-moderated interactions of ATT, SN, PBC, SF, TI and digitisation on investment intention.

The outcome of this study could assist governments and policymakers to structure sukuk and other debt-based capital market products to attract retail investors who would be willing to invest in the development of the nation in the midst of a crisis.

This study is the first of its kind to investigate various relevant predictors, which have been derived from behavioural, contextual and motivational perspectives. These predictors could influence investors’ perceptions of an innovative sukuk like SP, which was issued in the midst of a pandemic. The value of this study is its possible use by governments and policymakers to further develop debt-based capital market products that have the dual function of an investment vehicle and a source of funds for the economic recovery of a nation.

Railway transport maintenance plays an important role in delivering safe, reliable and competitive transport services. An appropriate maintenance strategy not only reduces the assets’ lifecycle cost, but also will ensure high standards of safety and comfort for rail passengers and workers. In recent years, the majority of studies have been focused on the application of risk-based tools and techniques to maintenance decision making of railway infrastructure assets (such as tracks, bridges, etc.). The purpose of this paper is to present a risk-based modeling approach for the inspection and maintenance optimization of railway rolling stock components.

All the “potential failure modes and root causes” related to rolling stock systems are identified from an extensive literature review followed by an expert’s panel assessment. The failure causes are categorized into six groups of electrical faults, structural damages, functional failures, degradation, human errors and natural (external) hazards. Stochastic models are then proposed to estimate the likelihood (probability) of occurrence of a failure in the rolling stock system. The consequences of failures are also modeled by an “inflated cost function” that involves safety-related costs, corrective maintenance and renewal (M&R) costs, the penalty charges due to train delays or service interruptions as well as the costs associated with loss of reputation (or loss of fares) in the case of trip cancellation. Lastly, a time-varying risk-cost function is formulated to determine the optimal frequency of preventive inspection and maintenance actions for rolling stock components.

For the purpose of clearly illustrating the proposed risk-based inspection and maintenance modeling methodology, a case study of the Class 380 train’s pantograph system from a Scottish train operating company is provided. The results indicate that the proposed model has a substantial potential to reduce the M&R costs while ensuring a higher level of safety and service quality compared to the currently used inspection methodologies.

The railway rolling stocks should be regularly inspected and maintained so as to ensure network availability and reliability, passenger safety and comfort, and operations efficiency. Despite the best efforts of the maintenance staff, it is reported that a considerable amount of maintenance resources (e.g. budget, time, manpower) is wasted due to insufficiency or inefficiency of current periodic M&R interventions. The model presented in this paper helps the maintenance engineers to assess the current maintenance practices and propose or initiate improvement actions when needed.

There are few studies investigating the application of risk-based tools and techniques to inspection and maintenance decision making of railway rolling stock components. This paper presents a modeling approach aimed at planning the preventive repair and maintenance interventions for rolling stock components based on risk measures. The author’s model is also capable of incorporating real measurement information gathered at each inspection epoch to update future inspection plans.

The purpose of this paper is to deal with questions of instability and economic crises, deriving theoretical arguments from Marx's and Schumpeter's works and presenting relevant empirical evidence for the case of the US food manufacturing sector.

The paper attempts to interpret the economic fluctuations in the US food sector and find causal relationships between the crucial variables dictated by Schumpeterian and Marxian theory, such as technological change, output and profitability. In this context, a number of relevant techniques have been used, such as de‐trending, cointegration analysis, white noise tests, periodograms, cross‐correlations and Granger causality tests.

Most economic variables in the food manufacturing sector exhibit a similar pattern characterized by periodicities exhibiting a short‐term cycle, a mid‐term cycle and a long‐term cycle. Also, the economic variables investigated follow patterns which are consistent with the total economy. Furthermore, a relatively rapid transmission of technology in the economy takes place along with bidirectional causality between technology and output/profitability, which can be interpreted as indicating an ambivalent relationship in the flow of cause and effect. These findings give credit to certain aspects of the Schumpeterian and Marxist theories of economic crises, respectively.

This paper contributes to the literature in the following ways: first, it introduces a relevant methodological framework building on Schumpeterian and Marxist insights. Second, it uses several variables to study the economic fluctuations instead of delimiting its analysis, for instance, to industrial output. Third, the results are discussed in a broader political economy context, related to the US economy, as a whole.