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The purpose of this paper is to analyze the natural convection heat transfer and irreversibility characteristics in a quadrantal porous cavity subjected to uniform temperature heating from the bottom wall.

Brinkmann-extended Darcy model is used to simulate the momentum transfer in the porous medium. The Boussinesq approximation is invoked to account for the variation in density arising out of the temperature differential for the porous quadrantal enclosure subjected to uniform heating on the bottom wall. The governing transport equations are solved using the finite element method. A parametric study is carried out for the Rayleigh number (Ra) in the range of 10³ to 10⁶ and Darcy number (Da) in the range of 10⁻⁵-10⁻².

A complex interaction between the buoyant and viscous forces that govern the transport of heat and entropy generation and the permeability of the porous medium plays a significant role on the same. The effect of Da is almost insignificant in dictating the heat transfer for low values of Ra (10³, 10⁴), while there is a significant alteration in Nusselt number for Ra ≥10⁵ and moreover, the change is more intense for larger values of Da. For lower values of Ra (≤10⁴), the main contributor of irreversibility is the thermal irreversibility irrespective of all values of Da. However, the fluid friction irreversibility is the dominant player at higher values of Ra (=10⁶) and Da (=10⁻²).

From an industrial point of view, the present study will have applications in micro-electronic devices, building systems with complex geometries, solar collectors, electric machinery and lubrication systems.

This research examines numerically the buoyancy driven heat transfer irreversibility in a quadrantal porous enclosure that is subjected to uniform temperature heating from the bottom wall, that was not investigated in the literature before.

The purpose of this paper is to conduct a large-sample empirical examination of how intangible supply chain complexity impacts firm performance in light of a firm's organizational structure.

The study uses panel data from 2,580 Indian manufacturing firms and constructs empirical proxy for intangible supply chain complexity, i.e. CHQ distance from major cities. The proposed conceptual model is grounded in the dynamic capability view (DCV) and social network theory (SNT). Multivariate regression analyses are performed to investigate the effect of intangible complexity on firm performance.

Results show that intangible supply chain complexity, as proxied by “CHQ distance from major cities”, negatively affects firm performance and a firm's organizational structure plays an important role in conceiving CHQ locational strategies. Firms with interconnected supply chain and social network (e.g. business group firms) have a higher propensity to locate their CHQs farther away from major cities, and business group firms that have more distantly located CHQs experience better financial performance compared to independent firms (with less network resources).

In light of the supply chain literature and relevant theories, the study conceptualizes intangible supply chain complexity as “CHQ distance from major cities” and deepens our understanding of the relationship between intangible complexity and firm performance in light of organizational structure. Further, it develops an objective understanding of intangible supply chain complexity by relying on secondary panel data.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how over-reliance on buyer-supplier relational capital (created through the interconnected supply chain and social network) impacts firm performance in the context of the emerging market, i.e. India.

The study uses the Prowess database (on Indian firms) to identify the firms that rely heavily on relational capital and employs panel data regression analyses to test the effect of relational capital on firm performance (supply chain performance and financial performance).

The results show that over-reliance on relational capital leads to lower supply chain performance (proxied by supply chain cycle) and financial performance (proxied by Tobin's Q). The results also reveal that supply chain performance mediates the relationship between over-reliance on relational capital and financial performance. Together, these results indicate that over-reliance on relational capital created through the interconnected supply chain and social network for supply chain management may negatively affect a firm's competitive advantage, which in turn can significantly impede its financial performance.

In light of the supply chain literature and relevant theories, the study develops an objective understanding of over-reliance relational capital created through the interconnected supply chain and social network, by relying on a large panel dataset of manufacturing firms and hence contributes to the supply chain literature. Also, it presents a novel idea to operationalize the measure for relational capital using the Prowess database.

The purpose of this paper is to examine cash dividends and stock repurchases in Canada from 1988 to 2006 and their relationship with earnings.

The study uses logistic regressions to examine the likelihood of paying dividends and the timing of repurchases and OLS regressions to examine the level of payout.

The fraction of dividend‐paying firms declines from 1988 to 2001 and then slightly rebounds until the end of the sample period in 2006. Firm size, profitability, investment opportunities, and catering incentives explain the likelihood of paying dividends. Unlike US firms, Canadian repurchase‐only firms do not become important payers in terms of either the percentage of firms or the level of payout. Dividend‐only firms pay out significant amounts of cash. Firms with both regular dividends and regular repurchases pay out the largest amount. The payout of different groups of payers is determined by their earnings. Testing firms with both regular dividends and regular repurchases reveals that earnings, undervaluation, and availability of cash explains the timing of repurchases but earnings mainly explains the level of repurchases.

Canadian data are unavailable after 2006, which precludes investigating the potential implications of the financial crisis beginning in 2007.

This is the first paper to analyze the evolution of the relationship between payout and earnings in Canada.

The purpose of this research is to analyze survey results on the perception of dividends by managers of dividend‐paying firms listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX).

Managers from a sample of 291 dividend‐paying TSX‐listed Canadian firms were surveyed about their views on dividends.

The most important factors influencing dividend policy are the level of current and expected future earnings, the stability of earnings, and the pattern of past dividends. Despite dramatic differences in the level of ownership concentration between Canadian and US firms, their corresponding managers' views on the determinants of dividends are similar. Canadian managers believe that dividend policy affects firm value but express little agreement with the theory of a residual dividend policy. They express strong support for the signaling and lifecycle explanations for paying dividends, but not for the bird‐in‐the‐hand, tax‐preference and dividend clientele, agency cost, or catering explanations. Compared with non‐dividend payers, Canadian dividend‐paying firms are significantly larger and more profitable, have greater cash reserves and ownership concentration, and have fewer growth opportunities.

This study updates and expands previous survey‐based research on dividends and provides new evidence from managers of Canadian firms.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically study the relationship between informed trading and overall corporate governance mechanisms.

A broad range of governance characteristics are used to measure the governance structure of firms in the Toronto Stock Exchange. The risk of informed trading is estimated using a PIN measure that avoids biases induced by trade classification errors. Our proxies for informed trading are regressed on measures of corporate governance.

Our most important result is that the observed trade‐off between CEO compensation and informed trading holds only for large firms. There is no correlation between CEO cash compensation and the risk of informed trading in small and medium sized firms. We find evidence that cross‐sectional differences in the risk of informed trading are explained by a firm's governance structure.

Research finding a trade‐off between CEO compensation and informed trading merits closer examination.

Limitations on insider trading, and more broadly on informed trading, may involve different costs and benefits for large firms than for medium and small firms.

This paper expands the set of governance characteristics shown to interact with informed trading activity. The Toronto market is well suited to focusing on relations between informed trading and firm‐level governance characteristics.

There has been a steady increase in the amount of research and theorising in the area of interorganisational research, especially with regard to buyer‐seller arrangements in marketing channels (Andersen and Narus 1990, Bergen et.al., 1992, Boyle et.al., 1992). Alternative interorganisational governance models, such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, and sole‐sourcing are the reality of modern business management (Borys and Jemison 1989, Buckley and Casson 1988), and so interfirm governance has become a strategic management issue. The much‐cited work of Porter (1985, 1991) has focused on the optimal linkage of interfirm activities, and regards the planning and governance of interfirm relations as an important competitive strategic issue, a point reiterated by Heide (1994). The issue of channel relationships has been one of concern for both practitioners and academics, and theories such as those of transaction cost analysis (TCA), agency theory, and relational norms have on the one hand shed much light on the problems, and on the other provided a fruitful backdrop to much empirical research. Less attention has been given to the effects of time on these notions, both in the literature and in empirical research. In this article we provide an overview of the theories, and attempt an integration. The purpose of this article is to focus on transaction cost economics (TCE) and relational exchange theory to provide an overview of the areas of interorganisational research where relationships play a role. A number of areas where the theories diverge and converge are outlined. More importantly, we endeavour to bring the effects of time into consideration, and to develop propositions for further research.

This paper aims to present the classification, representation and extraction of adhesively bonded assembly features (ABAFs) from the computer-aided design (CAD) model.

The ABAFs are represented as a set of faces with a characteristic arrangement among the faces among parts in proximity suitable for adhesive bonding. The characteristics combination of the faying surfaces and their topological relationships help in classification of ABAFs. The ABAFs are classified into elementary and compound types based on the number of assembly features exist at the joint location.

A set of algorithms is developed to extract and identify the ABAFs from CAD model. Typical automotive and aerospace CAD assembly models have been used to illustrate and validate the proposed approach.

New classification and extraction methods for ABAFs are proposed, which are useful for variant design.

Block chain technology (BCT) has emerged as a promising solution for the co-ordination and aid mechanism issues in the context of humanitarian supply chain (HSC). However, implementation of BCT in HSC discerns several barriers. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify and model the block chain implementation barriers in the context of HSC.

In the present study, 14 potential barriers to BCT adoption in HSC have been identified through literature survey. The survey comprises white papers, pilot studies, conference proceedings and journal articles. Further, the identified barriers were finalised in consultation with a team of experts. The team comprised experienced stakeholders working in the humanitarian domain and BCT development. The barriers were categorised into four (technological, organisational, exogenous and economic) perspectives adopting the kappa statistics. Further, the barriers were prioritised using fuzzy best worst method (FBWM) approach. Later, sensitivity analysis was performed to check the robustness and viability of the model.

The findings from the study indicate that the barriers, such as “data privacy, ownership, and security issues” (B1), “funding issues and cost complexity” (B3) and “technological complexities” (B8), are relatively more influential. The HSC stakeholders and BCT developers are required to identify the safety mechanism against the misuse of victim’s data. The funding issues and technological complexities are interrelated and need synergetic cooperation between blockchain developers, donors, humanitarian organisations (HOs) and other HSC stakeholders. Further, “lack of awareness and understanding among stakeholders” (B6) and “interoperability, collaboration and cross-pollination among HOs” (B5) were identified as least influential barriers to BCT adoption in HSC.

In literature, limited study has been observed on determining barriers to BCT implementation. A more systematic method and statistical confirmation is necessary to establish further new confronting barriers. This study is limited to Indian context.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is first of its kind to use an FBWM approach for prioritising the barriers to BCT adoption in the context of HSC. The study provides potential barriers to BCT and categorises them into four different perspectives, along with their degree of influence.