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The article addresses the optimization of safety stock service levels for parts in a repair kit. The work was undertaken to assist a public transit entity that stores thousands of parts used to repair equipment acquired over many decades. Demand is intermittent, procurement lead times are long, and the total inventory investment is significant.

Demand exists for repair kits, and a repair cannot start until all required parts are available. The cost model includes holding cost to carry the part being modeled as well as shortage cost that consists of the holding cost to carry all other repair kit parts for the duration of the part’s lead time. The model combines deterministic and stochastic approaches by assuming a fixed ordering cycle with Poisson demand.

The results show that optimal service levels vary as a function of repair demand rate, part lead time, and cost of the part as a percentage of the total part cost for the repair kit. Optimal service levels are higher for inexpensive parts and lower for expensive parts, although the precise levels are impacted by repair demand and part lead time.

The proposed model can impact society by improving the operational performance and efficiency of public transit systems, by ensuring that home repair technicians will be prepared for repair tasks, and by reducing the environmental impact of electronic waste consistent with the right-to-repair movement.

The optimization model is unique because (1) it quantifies shortage cost as the cost of unnecessary holding other parts in the repair kit during the shortage time, and (2) it determines a unique service level for each part in a repair kit bases on its lead time, its unit cost, and the total cost of all parts in the repair kit. Results will be counter-intuitive for many inventory managers who would assume that more critical parts should have higher service levels.

The purpose of the research was to evaluate the relationship between income and the recycled materials used in order to rate the business related to circular repair services under the burden of economic development in the countries of the European Union.

The analytical processes explore data from 2010 to 2020. The countries were divided into clusters according to economic maturity (Human Development Index (HDI), real Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita). Subsequently, the relationships were evaluated through the income indicators (for the 13 population groups), and the circular materials use rate indicator. The three indicators decomposed into five specific metrics were employed. The commonly applied characteristics of the descriptive analysis, Pearson's correlation coefficient and the panel regression analysis were engaged in the investigation.

The results demonstrated the vast disparities between income and circular materials use. In the more economically developed countries, their levels were twice higher as the less-developed countries. However, there is a meaningful positive relationship between them. The greatest attention was paid to the panel regression analysis applied to the relationship between income and circular economy (CE) use. The results showed that in a majority of the cases (different income categories), there is a significant positive relationship. When comparing the outcomes of the regression models between the groups of the countries according to their economic development, a closer relationship was clearly demonstrated in the countries with a lower level of development (Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Hungary).

Besides the specific strengths, the study also shows some limitations identified mainly on the data side. The latest data on the consumption of circular materials come from 2020, so they do not cover the period related to the pandemic crisis. It is believed that there may have been some changes in income during the pandemic, and they may have harmed CE. Furthermore, there is to note that some limitations occur in the analytical process. The incompleteness of the data can also be included here as certain data is not available; hence, it was estimated directly by the Eurostat statistical authority.

At the same time, the following are currently considered among the primary barriers: financial restrictions, insufficient infrastructure, weak government support and obstacles on the global market. Consumers, industry leaders and the government are the most influential stakeholder groups in overcoming barriers. Higher demand for repair services will also initiate further development of business activities in this area at various regional levels. Progress in the repair services economy will continue to require extensive efforts in the future. Systematic coordination of activities at multiple levels of government together with manufacturers, designers, educational institutions, community institutions and individuals will be essential.

Socioeconomic characteristics such as sex, age and education represent crucial predictors of consumer behavior. Therefore, the authors would like to focus future research on analyzing these characteristics and examine all the conceptual frameworks of consumer behavior and its positioning in detail within CE and the strategies related to the repair service. Discussing this issue through follow-up research will allow for solving complex transformational and political tasks related to the repair service strategies within CE. It will also inspire the discussion frameworks and multidisciplinary solutions to this issue affecting the fields of human geography, sociological, ethnographic and political sciences.

In less-developed countries, wage change can have a more substantial impact on the development of the CE. Also, a closer relationship between business in the field of repair services with income and the use of circular materials was manifested in the same way.

This paper is an appraisal using the life cycle assessment (LCA) of paint repair for heritage buildings based on the green maintenance model.

Calculation procedures of green maintenance model within cradle-to-site boundaries of LCA approach were undertaken. The calculations evaluate embodied carbon expended from paint repair of Gunongan, Banda Aceh and Melaka Stamp Museum, Melaka.

The findings show that the type and number of coats applied will determine the lifespan of the paint. The lifespan of paint influences the frequency of its repair, thus affecting environmental maintenance impact (EMI).

Green maintenance model is not confined to heritage buildings and can be applied to any repair types, materials used and building forms. The model supports and stimulates research dedicated to the sustainable development of cultural heritage. This results in the attainment of environmentally focused conservation, promoting sustainable repair approach and inculcating sustainable development of the historic environment.

Green maintenance model highlights the efficiency of repair options that may be adopted for heritage buildings, thus cultivating skills and knowledge in cultural heritage and sustainable development.

The paint repair appraisal of heritage buildings in different countries and localities, which share similar tropical climate, can be undertaken. It demonstrates how different approaches by relevant agencies to the paint repair of heritage buildings impact on embodied carbon expenditure.

This paper aims to develop a specific type of mobile nonrigid support friction stir welding (FSW) robot, which can adapt to aluminum alloy trucks for rapid online repair.

The friction stir welding robot is designed to complete online repair according to the surface damage of large aluminum alloy trucks. A rotatable telescopic arm unit and a structure for a cutting board in the shape of a petal that was optimized by finite element analysis are designed to give enough top forging force for welding to address the issues of inadequate support and significant deformation in the repair process.

The experimental results indicate that the welding robot is capable of performing online surface repairs for large aluminum alloy trucks without rigid support on the backside, and the welding joint exhibits satisfactory performance.

Compared with other heavy-duty robotic arms and gantry-type friction stir welding robots, this robot can achieve online welding without disassembling the vehicle body, and it requires less axial force. This lays the foundation for the future promotion of lightweight equipment.

The designed friction stir welding robot is capable of performing online repairs without dismantling the aluminum alloy truck body, even in situations where sufficient upset force is unavailable. It ensures welding quality and exhibits high efficiency. This approach is considered novel in the field of lightweight online welding repairs, both domestically and internationally.

This research examines the relationship between the timeliness in announcing the discovery of a data breach and consumer trust in an e-commerce company, as well as later trust-rebuilding efforts taken by the company to compensate users impacted by the breach.

A survey experiment was used to examine the effect of both trust-reducing events (announced data breaches) and trust-enhancing events (provision of identity theft protection and credit monitoring) on consumer trust. The timeliness of the breach announcement by an e-commerce company was manipulated between two randomly assigned groups of subjects; one group viewed an announcement of the breach immediately upon its discovery, and the other viewed an announcement made two months after the breach was discovered. Consumer trust was measured before the breach, after the breach was announced, and finally, after the announcement of data protection.

The results suggest that companies that delay a data breach announcement are likely to suffer a larger drop in consumer trust than those that immediately disclose the data breach. The results also suggest that trust can be repaired by providing data protection. However, even after providing identity theft protection and credit monitoring, companies that fail to promptly disclose a breach have lower repaired trust than companies that promptly disclose.

This study contributes to the literature on e-commerce trust by examining how a company's forthrightness in reporting a data breach impacts user trust at the time of the disclosure of the data breach and after subsequent efforts to repair trust.

Cyber-attacks that generate technical disruptions in organisational operations and damage the reputation of organisations have become all too common in the contemporary organisation. This paper explores the reputation repair strategies undertaken by organisations in the event of becoming victims of cyber-attacks.

For developing the authors’ contribution in the context of the Internet service providers' industry, the authors draw on a qualitative case study of TalkTalk, a British telecommunications company providing business to business (B2B) and business to customer (B2C) Internet services, which was a victim of a “significant and sustained” cyber-attack in October 2015. Data for the enquiry is sourced from publicly available archival documents such as newspaper articles, press releases, podcasts and parliamentary hearings on the TalkTalk cyber-attack.

The findings suggest a dynamic interplay of technical and rhetorical responses in dealing with cyber-attacks. This plays out in the form of marshalling communication and mortification techniques, bolstering image and riding on leader reputation, which serially combine to strategically orchestrate reputational repair and stigma erasure in the event of a cyber-attack.

Analysing a prototypical case of an organisation in dire straits following a cyber-attack, the paper provides a systematic characterisation of the setting-in-motion of strategic responses to manage, revamp and ameliorate damaged reputation during cyber-attacks, which tend to negatively shape the evaluative perceptions of the organisation's salient audience.

This study argues that online user comments on social media platforms provide feedback and evaluation functions. These functions can provide services for the relevant departments of organizations or institutions to formulate corresponding public opinion response strategies.

This study considers Chinese universities’ public opinion events on the Weibo platform as the research object. It collects online comments on Chinese universities’ network public opinion governance strategy texts on Weibo, constructs the sentiment index based on sentiment analysis and evaluates the effectiveness of the network public opinion governance strategy adopted by university officials.

This study found the following: First, a complete information release process can effectively improve the effect of public opinion governance strategies. Second, the effect of network public opinion governance strategies was significantly influenced by the type of public opinion event. Finally, the effect of public opinion governance strategies is closely related to the severity of punishment for the subjects involved.

The theoretical contribution of this study lies in the application of image repair theory and strategies in the field of network public opinion governance, which further broadens the scope of the application of image repair theory and strategies.

This study expands online user comment research to network public opinion governance and provides a quantitative method for evaluating the effect of governance strategies.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-05-2022-0269

This paper aims to investigate the formation of an inter-organizational collaboration network that made it possible to repair 2,516 mechanical respirators that were inoperative in Brazil during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A qualitative approach was used in a single case study with semi-structured interviews. The interviewee selection process was non-probabilistic through snowball sampling.

The results suggest that society, through different social groups with their different roles, can organize itself quickly through the formation of collaborative networks, and this organizational configuration can be an alternative for facing crises where actions isolated would be insufficient or slow to urgently address complex situations.

This paper aims to (1) demonstrate that society, through different social groups with their different roles, can organize itself quickly through the formation of collaborative networks; (2) favor the understanding and dynamics of the formation of a network; and (3) contribute to a possible replication of this initiative in future contexts.

The case portrays an unprecedented formation of a collaboration network involving more than 144 organizations that mobilized quickly in a complex context of a pandemic and that generated remarkable results through the reintroduction of equipment that were responsible for the preservation of thousands of lives during the year from 2020.

This study examines the impact of servitization in the form of repair and maintenance services on consumers' quality perceptions, purchase intentions and recommendation intentions while considering consumer frugality as a moderator in the retail ready-to-wear sector.

A quantitative approach based on consumer research was pursued. Study 1 tested the research model using a fictitious ready-to-wear brand within an experimental design. To increase the generalizability of results, Study 2 retested the model with a well-known ready-to-wear brand. For both studies, regression, mediation and moderation analyses were conducted in SPSS.

Both studies showed that servitization positively influences perceived quality. Servitization positively affects purchase intentions and recommendation intentions indirectly via the mediating role of perceived quality. Frugality moderates the relationship between servitization and perceived quality for the fictitious brand (Study 1), whereas it is not significant for a well-known ready-to-wear brand (Study 2). Servitization positively influences perceived quality regardless of consumers' frugality levels for a stronger brand.

This study suggests and tests an original conceptual model that relies on signaling theory. It is among the first studies to examine the impact of servitization on retail fashion consumers' quality perceptions and consequent purchase and recommendation intentions. This study also contributes to the literature by presenting empirical findings based on consumer research on servitization while considering frugality as a moderator.

Bundling products with additional services can contribute to quality perceptions and consequently to purchase and recommendation intentions for ready-to-wear brands.

The study analyzes the relationship between homeownership and financial investment of households in the context of emerging markets like India. It also examines how homeownership affects the portfolio decisions of Indian households.

Using the nationally representative All-India Debt and Investment Survey of 2019 and employing an instrumental variable approach, the authors analyze the relationship between homeownership and the share of financial assets held by Indian households. The study also employs several sensitivity checks, including alternate estimation techniques and alternative definitions of the housing variables, and accounts for additional factors to ensure that the authors are able to capture the effect of homeownership on the outcome variable.

The analysis suggests homeownership crowds out financial investment in India due to high repair and maintenance costs. The negative effect is mainly observed in urban households. Further, the findings imply that homeownership leads households to reallocate their asset portfolio. Homeowners have a lower share in liquid short term deposits, indicating the high liquidity risk of their portfolios. On the other hand, homeownership increases the share of long term retirement funds along with no effect on risky asset share. The authors observe that the crowding out effect is more striking for younger households and poorer households with low income, and the effect is lower for indebted households.

The findings underscore the need for financial awareness programs so that housing does not crowd out liquid investments of households. Additionally, the results highlight that policies should first focus on young and poor households as the negative effect is more prominent for these groups. Finally, there is scope for policies to support repair and maintenance costs incurred by vulnerable households to reduce the negative effect of housing on liquid financial investments.

This paper is among the few studies that provide insights into how homeownership relates to financial investment and portfolio decisions in the context of an emerging economy. Furthermore, the heterogeneous effects based on poor economic status and age underscore the need for complementary policies.