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The distribution sector has been hard hit by the energy/ecology crisis. Higher fuel costs coupled with reduced availability of many energy sources have adversely affected distribution activities. Growing levels of pollution have caused global concern. As a part of the physical distribution activity, the transportation modes have been particularly vulnerable to the energy/ecology crisis because they rely so heavily on energy resources. It is important that those involved in physical distribution understand the distribution‐energy/ecology interface. Recognition of the effects that the energy/ecology crisis has had, and will have, on distribution is an integral part of logistics planning and control. The energy/ecology crisis will not go away and it behoves the physical distribution manager, educator and public policy maker to: (1) Understand the Problem, (2) Recognise how the problem pertains to him directly and/or indirectly, and (3) Determine how he and others will react to the problem in the future.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the current transformation occurring in the global workforce due to changing demands from employees and how they stay engaged in the workplace. Companies realize that appealing to talent with benefits and good pay is no longer enough, and it is time to embrace new tactics to attract and retain personnel.

CEO Brynne Herbert of MOVE Guides, a leading company in relocation management, looks at how companies have leveraged talent mobility to engage employees and the fragmented, manual processes they use that are no longer suitable for global organizations looking to streamline relocation and offer employees a simpler, more powerful approach.

The author explores how companies can use technology, like Software as a Service (SaaS), to take aim at optimizing their talent mobility programs and eradicate their inefficient and time-consuming manual operations. Using survey data, a case study from international bank Société Générale and other findings, Brynne discusses how the financial juggernaut was able to implement a cloud-based SaaS platform that updated their HR, finance and payroll and management.

Leveraging technology to attract and engage talent will be ever important in today and tomorrow’s global landscape. Therefore, the companies that move the fastest – and the most strategically – to get the right talent to the right place at the right time will have the competitive edge.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how the Norwegian Government incorporated its responsibility for human rights into the investment practices of its Global Pension Fund and how human rights issues were negotiated when exclusion was considered.

Drawing on a series of interviews the authors analyse the way in which responsibility for human rights has been translated into the practices of the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global.

The paper documents how a large investment fund used several mechanisms to address human rights risks. The authors demonstrate that different logics among actors sometimes impeded addressing human rights issues. The findings demonstrate that sovereign wealth funds (SWF) can be held accountable for human rights.

The paper illustrates the difficulty of co-operation between actors with different logics. This can result in institutional conflict, but also in positive outcomes for human rights.

Attempts to introduce human rights into state investments may result in increased institutional complexity. The findings indicate that state investors can address human rights issues, but that the ability to do so is diminished where divestment creates political tension.

Large investors can influence companies on specific human rights issues.

This is one of the first empirical investigations of the human rights practices of a SWF. The authors contribute to the literatures on accounting and human rights, SWF and institutional theory.

This paper seeks to summarize the development of a systematic approach to assessing executive potential by studying a major medical device manufacturer that aimed at substantially increasing its pipeline of candidates for top executive positions through programs designed to identify and assess high potential leaders.

The study illustrates a range of issues pertinent to developing integrated approaches to succession planning, including identification of criteria suitable to the culture of the organization and its strategic challenges, sound assessment of candidates and integration of program efforts with development needs of high potential managers. The approach developed in the case provided consistent criteria for assessing leadership potential in a global corporation and relied on methods derived from assessment centers.

Events of the case led to the development of systematic and integrated processes promoting succession planning and executive development. The program has been well received by high potential managers and seems to have yielded benefits in retention of top executive talent.

Since program development, 64 percent of candidates nominated with high degrees of confidence have been promoted and 70 percent have experienced either functional or cross‐business‐unit moves – compared with a 20 percent promotion rate and a 38 percent attrition rate for individuals not participating in the process.

The paper discusses the events that led to the development of systematic and integrated processes promoting succession planning and executive development.

In 2004, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Bangkok, Thailand, and UN-HABITAT collaborated on an eco-housing project in the Asian region (UNEP, 2010). The aim was to promote eco-housing as a key disaster preventive measure in the Asia-Pacific region. Eco-housing is an evolving concept that applies sustainability principles into the entire lifecycle of a housing project: from design, through construction and maintenance to the “end of life” activities. The concept applies environmentally friendly and sustainable approaches to the design, site assessment, material selection, energy management, water management, and waste management to the household and community level. The project addressed four key areas: (1) knowledge building, (2) educational initiative, (3) networking, and (4) implementation. The eco-housing project involved countries such as Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Sri Lanka. It was implemented in the 2004 tsunami-affected areas in Banda Aceh and Calang, Indonesia. As part of the tsunami recovery projects, an “eco-village” was established in Lagoswatta, located in the Kalutara district near Colombo in Sri Lanka. It was supported by Sarvodaya, one of the local NGOs. UNEP and UN-HABITAT initiated the eco-housing project in 2004 to build capacity and to increase awareness on this issue. A Regional Expert Group on eco-housing was established to provide technical input and train national architects on this concept. This study was focused on the eco-village project in disaster recovery from the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004. In particular, it focused on the case study in Sri Lanka: “The project has implemented passive cooling techniques, solar panels on houses, segregation of waste, composting of bio-degradable waste, recycling of inorganic waste, sub-terra system for recycling waste water, and roof top water harvesting. Site layout and landscaping has been done to minimize disturbances to site, provide shading and improve indoor ventilation” (UNEP, 2010).

To understand the reasons that accounting academics leave the tenure-track academic pipeline.

Survey study was conducted of PhD graduates who left the tenure-track accounting pipeline over a 22-year period.

We located and surveyed accounting PhD graduates who have opted out of the tenure-track. These opt-outs included those who have left academia entirely and those who have moved into non-tenure-track positions. Survey results indicate that dissatisfaction with research expectations is the most significant factor for faculty now employed in non-tenure-track positions. Although there were no gender-related differences in the number of faculty who left the tenure-track but stayed in academia, there were some gender differences in the importance of family-related factors in motivating the move off of the tenure-track.

The study examines the importance of the “push” and “pull” factors associated with changing career paths in academia that have been identified in the literature. The study finds some differences in influential factors between accounting academia and other fields. Sample size is a potential limitation.

The study provides recommendations for PhD program directors and for hiring institutions to help reduce the number of opt-outs.

Retention of qualified faculty who are dedicated teachers improves students’ educational outcomes.

This is the first study to examine factors that drive accounting academics to opt-out of the tenure-track.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze the interdependence of project complexity factors (PCFs) in metro rail projects using the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL). The study provides qualitative and quantitative analysis of project complexities factors and their relationships. The results of the study facilitate effective project planning, proactive risk management and informed decision-making by stakeholders.

This study employs a case-based method for identifying PCFs and a DEMATEL method for analyzing the interdependence of complexity factors in metro rail projects. Initially, PCFs were identified through an extensive literature review. To validate and refine these factors, semi-structured interviews were conducted with thirty experienced professionals, each having 5–20 years of experience in roles such as project management, engineering, and planning. Further, elevated and underground metro rail projects were purposefully selected as cases, for identifying the similarities and differences in PCFs. A questionnaire survey was conducted with various technical experts in metro rail projects. These experts rated the impact of PCFs on a five-point Likert scale, for the evaluation of the interdependence of PCFs. The DEMATEL technique was used to analyze the interdependencies of the PCFs.

Metro rail projects are influenced by project complexity, which significantly impacts their performance. The analysis reveals that “design problems with existing structures,” “change in design or construction” and “land acquisition” are the key factors contributing to project complexity.

The study of project complexity in metro rail projects is limited because most of the studies have studies on examining complexity in mega projects. The existing literature lacks adequate attention in identifying project complexity and its effects on metro rail project performance. This research aims to bridge this gap by examining project complexity and interdependencies in metro rail projects.

This study aims to explore the leaky pipeline issue (attrition of working women due to motherhood) in the Indian information technology (IT) sector. The study analyses the effect of organisational and supervisory support perceptions on the use of flexible work options and its relationship with career outcomes in terms of job satisfaction, work-life conflict and turnover intentions.

A survey questionnaire to test the hypotheses was returned by 203 working women of the Indian IT sector belonging to three categories, namely, women undergoing treatment for infertility, pregnant women and women who had recently given birth at the time of the survey.

The findings state that the use of flexible work options significantly reduce work-life conflict, decrease the intention to turnover and increase job satisfaction, with organisational and supervisory perceptions playing a significant moderating role.

The findings are based on self-reported responses. Nevertheless, the study provides insights into the work-life priorities of Indian women at the time of motherhood and opens up specific research opportunities to address the leaky pipeline due to pregnancy and childbirth.

Organisations should take genuine initiatives to effectively use the flexible work options and provide supervisory training for increased sensitivity to help reduce role conflict and let working women make informed choices in their careers and lives at the time of childbirth.

The paper could be the first known paper to study this special category of working women at the threshold of motherhood in the Indian IT sector.

This paper aims to explore the voices of women describing the perceived barriers for advancing to leadership positions in healthcare.

A systematic search was conducted through Elton B Stephans Company (EBSCO) host research platform using the databases Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) Complete, Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE) Complete and American Psychological Association (APA) PsycInfo. Nine papers were selected for this review. Thomas and Harden's (2008) method of thematic synthesis was used drawing from eight qualitative papers and one mixed methods paper describing women's lived experiences in, or advancing to, leadership positions in the healthcare sector. Analysis was conducted using three steps of thematic synthesis: the inductive coding of the text, the development of descriptive themes and the generation of analytical themes.

Through the method of thematic synthesis, six descriptive themes (barriers) emerged: internalised feelings, work–life balance, lack of support, stereotypes, discriminatory behaviours and organisational culture. From these, three analytical themes were identified: personal, interpersonal and organisational.

This review looked at nine papers and documented women's voices. However, the women were in disparate geographical areas across the world and did not consider the specific cultural context in which the women were located. The healthcare sector is very large, and therefore, whilst there are shared commonalities, the disparateness could be a limitation.

Barriers were categorised as either structural barriers or attitudinal barriers to determine the policy and practice.

This research is crucial to better understanding what remedies need to be implemented to address gender disparity in the sector.

To examine the EU ‘Short Sea Shipping’ (SSS), its ‘motorways of the sea (MoS)’ and green ports, within short sea maritime logistics.

To present past research and report recent developments speculating on future trends.

The dominance of SSS over road is questioned; as road transport has expanded, hubs are expected to become larger and fewer with feeders. Road transport is not certain to follow SSS and its four motorways. This result was responsible for the relocation of industry from West to East and North–East inter-port competition.

The SSS ship size and port are undefined; specific data on these concepts are unavailable.

‘Door-to-door’ services are highly sought after in this sector, but difficult to establish.

The green element introduced here, mainly for ports, will dominate future discussions because of the high importance given to climate change.

This chapter outlines for the first time the development of the policy on EU Eco-ports, the relocation of industry, the West–East port competition, the MoS and the long-term deterioration of SSS logistics which is likely to persist in the future.