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After the completion of this case study, students will be able to understand the importance of being close to local people when embarking on social business; understand that clear purpose and good decision-making can lead to great outcomes; and learn that innovation is crucial to ensure sustainability of both business and impact.

The case highlights the journey of Laiterie du Berger (LDB), a social enterprise in the agribusiness industry and the challenges faced as it expands and innovates. LDB’s roots lie in its commitment to social impact, aiming to uplift the Fulani livestock farmers and address socioeconomic issues. The company’s business model prioritizes people over profits, focusing on sustainable development and poverty alleviation. The LDB case showcases the challenges and opportunities in the agribusiness industry. LDB’s commitment to social impact, demonstrated through its support for farmers and sustainable farming practices, has been integral to its success. As the company expands and innovates, it faces critical decisions that require balancing financial growth with social responsibility. By embracing development, innovation and collaboration, LDB can continue to be a catalyst for positive change in the agribusiness industry while staying true to its roots and the principles that have defined its journey.

This case study is designed for bachelor’s and master’s degree students in the field of entrepreneurship and innovation, as well as MBA students. The case focuses on social entrepreneurship with the example of an agribusiness company located in Senegal, prioritizing social impact and quality of life. The case study explores the dynamics of the sector, including expansion strategy, innovation initiatives and the dilemma of balancing social mission and profit that social entrepreneurs may be facing. By analyzing this real-world situation of LDB, students will have the opportunity to enhance their decision-making skills.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship

Although governments have used social media platforms to interact with the public in an attempt to minimize anxiety and provide a forum for public discussion during the pandemic, governments require sufficient crisis communication skills to engage citizens in taking appropriate action effectively. This study aims to examine how the National Health Commission of China (NHCC) has used TikTok, the leading short video–based platform, to facilitate public engagement during COVID-19.

Building upon dual process theories, this study integrates the activation of information exposure, prosocial interaction theory and social sharing of emotion theory to explore how public engagement is related to message sensation value (MSV), media character, content theme and emotional valence. A total of 354 TikTok videos posted by NHCC were collected during the pandemic to explore the determinants of public engagement in crises.

The findings demonstrate that MSV negatively predicts public engagement with government TikTok, but that instructional information increases engagement. The presence of celebrities and health-care professionals negatively affects public engagement with government TikTok accounts. In addition, emotional valence serves a moderating role between MSV, media characters and public engagement.

Government agencies must be fully aware of the different combinations of MSV and emotion use in the video title when releasing crisis-related videos. Government agencies can also leverage media characters – health professionals in particular – to enhance public engagement. Government agencies are encouraged to solicit public demand for the specific content of instructing information through data mining techniques.

Due to the uniqueness of individual construction projects, identifying the dominant risk factors is needed for risk mitigation in ongoing and future projects. This study aims to identify the dominant construction supply chain risk (CSCR) factors, based on studies conducted between 2002 and 2022.

The study adopts the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis (PRISMA) procedure to identify, screen and select relevant articles in order to provide a bibliography and annotation of the prevalent risks in the supply chains. A descriptive analysis of the findings then follows.

The study’s findings have highlighted the three most prevalent risks in the construction supply chain (poor communication across project teams, changes in foreign currency rate, unfavorable climate conditions) as reported in literature, that project teams need to pay closer attention to and take proactive steps to mitigate.

Due to limitations imposed by the chosen research methodology, tools, time frame and article availability, the study was unable to examine all CSCR-related papers.

The results will serve as a useful roadmap for risk/supply chain managers in the construction industry to take strategically proactive steps towards allocating resources for CSCR mitigation efforts.

Context-specific research on the impact of social and cultural risks on the construction supply chain would be beneficial, due to emerging social network risk factors and the complex socio-cultural settings.

There is presently no study that has reviewed extant studies to identify and compile the dominant risk factors (DRFs) associated with the supply chain of construction projects for ranking in the supply chain risk management process.

The case examines the development and launch of an exchange-traded fund (ETF) based on JUST Capital's socially responsible corporate ranking methodologies. The case provides a market overview of Environment, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) and socially responsible investing (SRI), what has driven growth in those areas worldwide, and several best-practice investment approaches. Following the overview, the case describes the founding and development of JUST Capital, explores JUST Capital's ranking methodologies, and presents the decision point faced by the CEO: requisite selection of one of three strategies in order for JUST Capital to generate “self-sustaining” revenue.

The application of integrated project delivery (IPD) in conjunction with building information modeling (BIM) and Lean Construction (LC) as the efficient method for improving collaboration and delivering construction projects has been acknowledged by construction academics and professionals. Once organizations have fully embraced BIM, IPD and LC integration, a measurement tool such as a maturity model (MM) for benchmarking their progress and setting realistic goals for continuous improvement will be required. In the context of MMs literature, however, no comprehensive analysis of these three construction management methods has been published to reveal the current trends and common themes in which the models have approached each other.

Therefore, this study integrates systematic literature review (SLR) and thematic analysis techniques to review and categorize the related MMs; the key themes in which the interrelationship between BIM, IPD and LC MMs has been discussed and conceptualized in the attributes; the shared characteristics of the existing BIM, IPD and LC MMs, as well as their strengths and limitations. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews (PRISMA) method has been used as the primary procedure for article screening and reviewing published papers between 2007 and 2022.

Despite the growth of BIM, IPD and LC integration publications and acknowledgment in the literature, no MM has been established that holistically measures BIM, IPD and LC integration in an organization. This study identifies five interrelated and overlapping themes indicative of the collaboration of BIM, IPD and LC in existing MMs' structure, including customer satisfaction, waste minimization, Lean practices and cultural and legal aspects. Furthermore, the MMs' common characteristics, strengths and limitations are evaluated to provide a foundation for developing future BIM, IPD and LC-related MMs.

This paper examines the current status of research and the knowledge gaps around BIM, IPD and LC MMs. In addition, the highlighted major themes serve as a foundation for academics who intend to develop integrated BIM, IPD, and LC MMs. This will enable researchers to build upon these themes and establish a comprehensive list of maturity attributes fulfilling the BIM, IPD and LC requirements and principles. In addition, the MMs' BIM, IPD and LC compatibility themes, which go beyond themes' intended characteristics in silos, increase industry practitioners' awareness of the underlying factors of BIM, IPD and LC integration.

This review article is the first of a kind to analyze the interaction of IPD, BIM and LC in the context of MMs in current AEC literature. This study concludes that BIM, IPD and LC share several joint cornerstones according to the existing MMs.

The theory of managerial discretion and the direct insights it provides in the understanding of the varying impact strategic and operational actions have on organizational change and business fortunes is an area of research potential underexplored in the UK. This study aims to establish whether the measurement of managerial discretion is constant between the two similar societal corporate frameworks of the UK and the USA listed markets.

The extant managerial discretion ranking model, established in the USA, is empirically assessed for its validity and effectiveness across a sample of high- and low-discretion companies from the FTSE 350.

Using accounting measures, a clear and significant difference is established between UK high and low managerial discretion entities. The results prove to be significant in enabling the differential comparative analysis of the institutional characteristics of corporates.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no study of this nature has been conducted previously in the UK context. While the original model developed in the USA is now several decades old, the UK results reflect similar industry rankings as found originally in the USA, subject to some differences considered to be a result of the changing nature of global business since the 1990s. This study opens a new seam of novel research, which has the potential to uncover, at a granular level, the differential mores and character of management ethics, styles and practices in such issues as organizational change, corporate culture, governance and social responsibility.

This paper presents an historical reconstruction of the radicalisation of Alan Fox, the industrial sociologist and a detailed analysis of his early historical and sociological writing in the classical pluralist phase.

An intellectual history, including detailed discussion of key Fox texts, supported by interviews with Fox and other Biographical sources.

Fox’s radicalisation was incomplete, as he carried over from his industrial relations (IR) pluralist mentors, Allan Flanders and Hugh Clegg, a suspicion of political Marxism, a sense of historical contingency and an awareness of the fragmented nature of industrial conflict.

Recent academic attention has centred on Fox’s later radical pluralism with its “structural” approach to the employment relationship. This paper revisits his early, neglected classical pluralist writing. It also illuminates his transition from institutional IR to a broader sociology of work, influenced by AH Halsey, John Goldthorpe and others and the complex nature of his radicalisation.

Spatial olfactory design in the library appears to be a practical approach to enhance the coordination between architectural spaces and user behaviors, shape immersive activity experiences and shape immersive activity experiences. Therefore, this study aims to explore the association between the olfactory elements of library space and users’ olfactory perception, providing a foundation for the practical design of olfactory space in libraries.

Using the olfactory perception semantic differential experiment method, this study collected feedback on the emotional experience of olfactory stimuli from 56 participants in an academic library. From the perspective of environmental psychology, the dimensions of pleasure, control and arousal of users’ olfactory perception in the academic library environment were semantically and emotionally described. In addition, the impact of fatigue state on users’ olfactory perception was analyzed through statistical methods to explore the impact path of individual physical differences on olfactory perception.

It was found that users’ olfactory perception in the academic library environment is likely semantically described from the dimensions of pleasure, arousal and control. These dimensions mutually influence users’ satisfaction with olfactory elements. Moreover, there is a close correlation between pleasure and satisfaction. In addition, fatigue states may impact users’ olfactory perception. Furthermore, users in a high-fatigue state may be more sensitive to the arousal of olfactory perception.

This article is an empirical exploration of users’ perception of the environmental odors in libraries. The experimental results of this paper may have practical implications for the construction of olfactory space in academic libraries.

The importance of service firms cooperating with digital platforms is widely acknowledged. The authors study three contractual relationships (fixed-cost, cost-sharing, and profit-sharing) between service firms (specifically hotels) and digital platforms in a highly fragmented service supply chain to examine which of these contract types optimizes profits.

The authors extend prior models analyzing the optimal expected total profit from the travel service firm (hotel)–digital platform relationship, providing new insights into each contract type’s ability to coordinate decentralized systems and optimize profits for both parties.

This study finds that fixed cost contracts cannot coordinate the decentralized system. Cost-sharing contracts can coordinate the decentralized system but only allow one channel profit split. In contrast, profit-sharing contracts may not always perfectly coordinate the decentralized system but support alternative profit allocations. Practically, both profit-sharing and cost-sharing contracts are preferable to fixed-cost contracts.

The paper includes implications for travel service firm managers to consider when structuring contracts with digital platforms to focus on profit optimization. Profit-sharing contracts are most preferable when cost and revenue data are fully shared between parties, while cost-sharing contracts are preferable over fixed-cost contracts.

This study extends prior investigations into the utility of different contract types on the optimal profit of a travel service firm (hotel)-digital platform provider relationship. The research fills a gap in the literature concerning the contracts used in these relationship types.