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In the context of global economic downturn and intense competition, firms are increasingly resorting to supply chains to acquire capital support and achieve sustainability. This study aims to investigate the effect of supply chain finance (SCF) on corporate sustainability performance (CSP) and identifies SCF-related recipes for CSP.

Based on a sample of 1,038 firms that disclose CSP – namely, corporate financial performance (CFP) and environmental, social and governance performance (ESGP) – the authors use a quasi-replication method consisting of empirical analysis with fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to investigate SCF’s effects on CSP.

The authors find that SCF has a “doing well by doing good” effect on CSP. CFP can promote the positive effect of SCF and ESGP while ESGP’s positive effect on SCF and CFP is nonsignificant. In addition, heterogeneity tests show that SCF’s promoting effect on CSP is affected by high-low CFP and ESGP. The fsQCA results verify the empirical findings and reveal five SCF-related recipes for achieving high CSP.

This study has the following two limitations. First, we do not consider how SCF affects CSP in different industries. There is a need to investigate whether industry heterogeneity changes SCF’s effects on CSP, especially in prominent industries, such as the energy industry, with its high susceptibility to ESGP, and the manufacturing industry, with its extensive application of SCF. It will be important to investigate these industries to better understand SCF’s role in sustainability. Second, we study the secondary supply chain – namely, core firm–suppliers and core firm–customers. The authors do not consider financial institutions (e.g. banks and guarantee institutions). SCF modes that include the participation of financial institutions, such as factoring financing and reverse factoring financing, cater more to the capital needs of diversified firms. In the future, studying specific industries that have made significant contributions to the application of SCF along with others that are more sensitive to environmental governance could better highlight the effect of SCF on sustainability and help supply chain managers understand the application value of SCF. Future research could also extend SCF participants into multiple roles to explore separate effects. Tracking financing demanders, fund providers and credit guarantors could capture SCF characteristics more comprehensively. Methodologically, it will be challenging to accurately measure SCF networks in terms of quantification. In future work, this could be performed with the help of artificial intelligence.

First, our findings indicate that SCF has a “doing well by doing good” effect on core firms. SCF can not only overcome the capital shortage of SMEs but also provide significant benefits to core firms. Second, our findings provide SCF-related recipes to help firms fulfil ESGP obligations without sacrificing CFP under the pressure to “do good.” The authors provide valuable insights and diverse recommendations to help supply chain managers, marketing executives and researchers adjust supply chain management strategies. Third, this work can guide executives in various fields to adopt SCF to achieve sustainability as a risk-mitigation strategy by means of marketing.

This study identifies better, more straightforward SCF-related recipes for CSP (consisting of CFP and ESGP) using a quasi-replication analysis that improves upon conventional methods such as regression analysis, which have limited power. The authors provide valuable insights and diverse recommendations to help managers pursue sustainable development. The findings point to practical guidelines and feasible solutions that can support well-founded operational strategic and management decision-making, which can enhance a firm’s competitiveness under uncertainty and a sluggish economy.

This study aims to investigate the impact of supply chain concentration (SCC) on corporate research and development (R&D) investment and determine the moderating roles of industry concentration and financing constraints on the relationship between SCC and R&D investment.

The study collected data from Chinese listed companies, used the fixed effects model to test the research hypotheses and further used the two-stage Heckman test and propensity score matching (PSM) to address potential endogeneity issues.

The result reveals a negative impact of SCC on corporate R&D investment. In addition, industry concentration mitigates the negative impact of SCC on corporate R&D investment, but financing constraints strengthen the negative impact.

This study introduces the concept of SCC and empirically tests its effect on R&D investment, further explaining the lack of corporate innovation. This study inspires companies to strengthen SC management and weigh the level of SCC with environmental factors.

This paper aims to determine a suitable anti-wear and friction-reducing compounding additive for lithium greases (LG) by investigating the effects of three single additives potassium borate (PB), zinc dialkyl dithiophosphate and molybdenum dialkyl dithiophosphate (MoDDP) and two compound additives on the friction, wear and extreme pressure properties of LG.

The effects of the above five additives on the friction, wear and extreme pressure properties of LG were investigated using an SRV-5 friction tester. An X-ray photoelectron spectrometer was used to analyze the various elements presented on the wear surface as well as the types of compounds.

The compound additive suitable for grease consists of PB and MoDDP, which have excellent friction reduction, anti-wear and extreme pressure properties. And a boundary protection film consisting of oxide and MoS₂ is formed on the friction surface, thus improving the friction reduction and anti-wear performance of the grease.

This study can improve the anti-wear and friction-reduction performance of greases, which is of great importance in the field of industrial lubrication. The results of this paper are expected to be useful to researchers and academics of grease.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-11-2022-0350/

This study aims to examine how three types of information technology (IT) capability (supplier technological capability, customer technology-sensing capability and relatedness of IT infrastructure) facilitate knowledge acquisition by the customer when the supplier is dominant in the supplier-customer relationship.

The unit of analysis was project. The authors designed two different questionnaires that were responded by the project manager of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) software supplier and the contact person of the customer organization in the same project, respectively. The two questionnaires were matched by means of project name. The final sample included a total of 136 projects. The authors used ordinary least squares to test the research hypotheses.

The authors found that supplier power advantage negatively influenced knowledge acquisition by the customer. The three types of IT capability did not have direct impacts on knowledge acquisition. The moderating effect of customer technology-sensing capability was not significant either. However, supplier technological capability and relatedness of IT infrastructure attenuated the negative effect of supplier power advantage on knowledge acquisition, indicating that both factors promoted knowledge acquisition.

Knowledge acquisition is important for the success of software implementation in the supplier-customer relationship. There is limited evidence in the literature on how to apply externally oriented IT capability to enhance knowledge management, improve knowledge acquisition and manage the business relationship that is typically dominated by the software supplier. The authors provide evidence to examine related issues.

Increased ethanol accumulation during ethanol fermentation generates stress in yeast cells, which finally reduces the fermentation performance and efficiency. Trehalose, a potential stress protectant, has been reported to regulate the response of yeast to diverse environmental stresses. This study aimed to explore how exogenous trehalose application affects the survival, transcriptome and antioxidant enzymes of Wickerhamomyces anomalus grown under ethanol stress conditions.

Exogenous trehalose was applied to the growth condition of W. anomalus, and optical densitometric method was used to detect contents of intracellular trehalose and MDA and activities of CAT and SOD. The survival was evaluated using spot analysis. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified through transcriptomics analysis.

The results showed that ethanol stress induced the accumulation of intracellular trehalose, with further exogenous trehalose application improving the survival and alleviating oxidative stress in ethanol-stressed W. anomalus. Transcriptomic results showed that trehalose has pleiotropic regulating effects on ethanol-stressed W. anomalus since most DEGs annotated to energy metabolism, amino acid metabolism, translation, folding, sorting and transport were affected post trehalose addition. Therefore, it is found that trehalose protected W. anomalus against ethanol stress, and these findings provide interesting insights into the mechanistic role of trehalose in improving ethanol stress tolerance of W. anomalus.

(1) Protective effect of exogenous trehalose addition on the survival of ethanol-stressed W. anomalus was proved. (2) Exogenous trehalose addition could partly alleviate oxidative stress induced by ethanol stress and affect transcriptome in W. anomalus.

Based on the conservation of resources theory, the authors propose a research model depicting the positive relationship between team reflexivity and work-to-family enrichment via the mediation of thriving at work, with the moderation of transformational leadership. This paper aims to discuss the aforementioned idea.

The authors collected data from 367 employees in 79 teams at three time points. The authors test the model by using a multilevel moderated mediation analysis.

Results of this paper indicate that thriving at work partially mediates the relationship between team reflexivity and work-to-family enrichment. Furthermore, transformational leadership enhances the positive relationship between team reflexivity and thriving at work.

Organizations are advised to encourage employees' involvement in team reflexivity, facilitate their thriving at work and raise managers' awareness of work-family issues. Exemplary measures include nurturing open communication and providing training programs that encourage positivity in the workplace. By doing so, organization could strengthen the relationship between team reflexivity and work-to-family enrichment.

This research demonstrates the positive relationship between team reflexivity and work-to-family enrichment, deepening theoretical understanding of the antecedents of the construct. The findings of moderated mediation analysis shed light on the mechanism through which team reflexivity affects work-to-family enrichment, and the role that transformational leadership plays.

In this study, solid formaldehyde, benzoguanamine and butanol were used to synthesize butylated benzo-amino resin by one-step-two-stage method.

This research first examined the influence of solid formaldehyde content on the hydroxymethylation phase. Subsequently, the effects of butanol content, etherification time and hydrochloric acid content on the formation of benzo-amino resin during the etherification stage were studied in detail. In addition, the reaction process was further analyzed through interval sampling withdrawing during the hydroxymethylation and etherification stages. Finally, the synthesized benzo-amino resins were used in the production of high solid content polyester and acrylic coatings and the properties of that were also evaluated.

Based on the experimental findings, the authors have successfully determined the optimal process conditions for the one-step-two-stage method in this study. The hydroxymethylation stage demonstrated the most favorable outcomes at a reaction temperature of 60°C and a pH of 8.5. Similarly, for the etherification stage, the optimal conditions were achieved at a temperature of 45°C and a pH of 4.5. Furthermore, the investigation revealed that a ratio of benzoguanamine to solid formaldehyde to n-butanol, specifically at 1:5.2:15, produced the best results. The performance of the resulting etherified benzo-amino resin was thoroughly evaluated in high solid content coatings, and it exhibited promising characteristics. Notably, there was a significant enhancement in the water resistance, solvent resistance and glossiness of canned iron printing varnish coatings.

Amino resin, a versatile chemical compound widely used in various industries, presents challenges in terms of sustainability and operational efficiency when synthesized using conventional methods, primarily relying on a 37% formaldehyde solution. To address these challenges, the authors propose a novel approach in this study that combines the advantages of the solid formaldehyde with a two-stage catalytic one-step synthesis process. The primary objective of this research is to minimize the environmental impact associated with amino resin synthesis, optimize resource utilization and enhance the economic feasibility for its industrial implementation. By adopting this alternative approach, the authors aim to contribute toward a more sustainable and efficient production of amino resin.

This paper analyzes the advance selling and pricing strategies of fresh products supply chain where the e-retailer provides wholesale contract or agency contract to the fresh products supplier.

This paper constructed a two-period sequential-move game of fresh products supply chain members.

This analysis showed that the supply chain members had different preferences for contracts under different market conditions. The advance selling of fresh products was not a decision of the seller, but also required the support of other supply chain members. And the advance selling strategy was not always beneficial to all supply chain parties. Under the two contracts, there were market conditions in which the profits of supply chain members were Pareto-improved through the implementation of advance selling.

The model presented in this study focuses solely on the context of monopoly, overlooking the competition from alternative suppliers or retailers. Consequently, exploring the competitive landscape within the fresh products supply chain, particularly in relation to pre-sale pricing, emerges as a crucial avenue for further investigation. By employing empirical research methods, valuable insights are gleaned, thereby significantly augmenting the existing body of relevant theories.

The decision to pre-sell fresh products should be based on market conditions. Supply chain members can control production costs and fresh products circulation losses to maximize profits.

From the perspective of game theory, this study analyzed the optimal advance selling and pricing strategies of fresh products supply chain members under two kinds of contracts. These results can provide practical implications for fresh products suppliers and e-retailers.

This study aims to empirically examine the relationship between Internet use and personal privacy risk perceptions, the mediating effect of trust and the moderating effect of satisfaction on that relationship, which is exactly conducive to the practice of personal information protection.

A moderated mediation model will be employed to test the hypothesized relationships using the 2017 Chinese Society Survey data.

The authors find that Internet use positively relates to citizens' risk perceptions toward privacy security, and trust partially mediates the relationship between Internet use and privacy risk perception. In addition, the analysis of moderating effects showed that satisfaction with social life significantly enhances the negative impact on individuals' privacy risk perceptions of interpersonal trust. The positively moderating effect of satisfaction with local governments' work mainly reveals the relationship between interpersonal trust (or institutional trust) and citizens' privacy risk perception. Moreover, satisfaction with Internet platforms positively moderates the relationship between consumer trust and privacy risk perception.

This article contributes to the social risk amplification framework by applying it to the personal privacy information protection field, which was rarely discussed before. It also enriches privacy research by identifying the internal mechanism of how Internet use influences citizens' risk perceptions towards privacy information leakage.

This paper aims to implement quality of service(QoS) dynamic optimization for the integrated satellite-terrestrial network(STN) of the fifth-generation Inmarsat system(Inmarsat-5).

The structure and operational logic of Inmarsat-5 STN are introduced to build the graphic evaluation and review technique(GERT) model. Thus, the equivalent network QoS metrics can be derived from the analytical algorithm of GERT. The center–point mixed possibility functions of average delay and delay variation are constructed considering users' experiences. Then, the grey clustering evaluation of link QoS is obtained combined with the two-stage decision model to give suitable rewards for the agent of GERT-Q-learning, which realizes the intelligent optimization mechanism under real-time monitoring data.

A case study based on five time periods of monitoring data verifies the adaptability of the proposed method. On the one hand, grey clustering based on possibility function enables a more effective measurement of link QoS from the users' perspective. On the other hand, the method comparison intuitively shows that the proposed method performs better.

With the development trend of integrated communication, STN has become an important research object in satellite communications. This paper establishes a modular and extensible optimization framework whose loose coupling structure and flexibility facilitate management and development. The grey-clustering-based GERT-Q-Learning model has the potential to maximize design and application benefits of STN throughout its life cycle.