Search results

This study aims to provide an overall framework that connects and explains a macro-perspective of the findings from the five studies of this special issue. Through this, we aim to answer two main questions: How can Lean and Industry 4.0 be integrated, and what are the outcomes for workers from such integration?

The special issue received 64 papers that were evaluated in multiple stages until this final sample of five papers that describe different facets of the integration between Lean and Industry 4.0 and their relationship with worker activities. In this introduction, we review the main findings of these five studies and propose an integrative view and associated propositions. A discussion provides directions to advance the field further.

The framework shows that when Lean and Industry 4.0 are integrated, companies will face two types of tensions, dialectical and paradoxical, which require different managerial approaches. By managing such tensions, the Lean-Industry 4.0 integration can help improve social performance, as well as develop systematic problem-solving and cumulative learning capabilities. Five important themes for this field of research are outlined: the importance of work routines, legitimation, competence, sense and mental flexibility.

This study brings a new theoretical perspective to the integration of Lean with Industry 4.0-related digital technologies. The results go beyond the usual view of improving operational performance and dig into the effects on workers. It also shows that the integration process relies on and can enhance human capabilities such as learning and problem-solving.

This paper aims to provide a starting point to discuss how social enterprises can drive systemic change in terms of social impact through operations and supply chain management.

This paper reviews existing literature and the four papers in this special issue and develops a conceptual framework of how social enterprises and their supply chains create social impact and further enable systematic change.

Our paper finds that social impact and systemic change can be shaped by social enterprises at three different levels of analysis (organization, supply chain and context) and through three enablers (cognitive shift, stakeholder collaboration and scalability). Such dimensions are used to position current literature and to highlight new research directions.

This paper proposes a novel understanding of operations and supply chain management in social enterprises intended as catalysts for systemic change. Based on this premise we distinguish different practices and stakeholders to be considered when studying social impact at different levels. The conceptual framework introduced in the paper provides a new pathway for future research and debate by scholars engaged at the intersection of social impact, sustainable operations and supply chain management.

Emphasizing the increasing role of talent management (TM) as a global phenomenon and a source of sustainable competitive advantage for organizations, this study aims to present a scoping review of empirical literature on TM, examining the transition of TM from a phenomenon-driven to a theory-driven field.

Using a scoping review, this study analyzed 200 empirical studies published between 2010 and 2023 on TM.

The results indicate that TM is extensively studied in nationally operated, large, private, engineering-led organizations in Anglo-Saxon countries. The study highlights the necessity for more empirical studies and statistically robust evidence to establish the effectiveness of TM.

This review intends to provide a vision and direction for future researchers, guiding TM towards becoming a theory-driven field characterized by widely accepted theoretical frameworks and research designs.

The findings of this study may not be generalizable to other types of organizations or cultural contexts, as it primarily focused on large private engineering-led organizations in Anglo-Saxon countries.

This paper offers a comprehensive view of the definitions, contextualization, conceptualization, frameworks, practices, processes and under-explored areas of TM, which are essential for its development as a discipline.

A large number of organisations are moving towards adopting Industry 4.0 (I4.0), and simultaneously, the emphasis on attaining sustainability development goals is also increasing. Hence, it is imperative to understand the interplay between I4.0 and sustainability. However, the literature addressing the same is still in infancy. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to fill this gap in the literature by exploring the potential sustainability impacts of I4.0 on the organisations and society in terms of sustainability risks.

To gain an understanding of sustainability aspects in the I4.0 context, relevant literature is gathered using Scopus and Web-of-Science database. An in-depth review of 51 research papers is performed to determine the sustainability risks associated with I4.0.

From the study, a total of 16 sustainability risks are identified, and I4.0 sustainability risk taxonomy is developed. The proposed taxonomy extends the sustainability implications of I4.0 beyond the triple bottom line umbrella and includes the organisational perspective as well. Furthermore, the study provides future research avenues to scholars by positing five potential research questions under different risk management stages.

The study provides an understanding of sustainability risks associated with the adoption of I4.0. The findings will help practitioners streamline their production and operation processes by finding out possible solution to the sustainability risks of their smart factories in advance. The present research will act as a stepping stone towards I4.0 sustainability. The proposed research questions will assist the future researchers in extending the field of I4.0.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies to address the topic of sustainability risks in the context of I4.0.

The purpose of this study is to address the relationship between multinational corporations (MNCs) and grand challenges. Stressing the moderating impact of stakeholders and governments, it frames and introduces the six contributions of the special issue, equally divided into those illustrating how MNCs contribute to the existence of grand challenges and those exploring how MNCs contribute to addressing grand challenges.

Based on a review of the existing literature on the relationship between MNCs and grand challenges and recent developments in mainstream international business, the viewpoint emphasizes the need to move beyond a one-sided focus on the positive contributions of MNCs to grand challenges.

The special issue contributions reveal that even established MNCs are actively engaged in strategic efforts to perpetuate unsustainable practices and minimize the impact of societal rules and stakeholders. The contributions also highlight the complications when MNCs aim to tackle grand challenges.

Displaying positive practices of how MNCs contribute to the solution of grand challenges should not be considered a functional substitute for regulatory action, contrary to the frequent assertion of MNCs and their political representatives.

This special issue is the first one in IB to address the relationship between MNCs and grand challenges from an empirical vantage point.

This is a special issue of Chinese Management Studies and this study aims to engage with debates on innovation in China and to provide new insights for innovation research in the context of China, seeking to develop a greater understanding of the concept of “innovation with Chinese characteristics”.

This study reviews the Chinese innovation management literature in general and the selected papers in this special issue in particular and proposes two new directions for future research.

The nine papers that constitute this special issue present research on important aspects of innovation in China, ranging from the effectiveness of government subsidisation for innovation, the impact of fiscal decentralisation on innovation, the role of management behaviour in promoting (or discouraging) innovation and the effects of differing business models on innovation. These papers shed valuable new light on the theory and practice of innovation in China. The papers are discussed in the context of four primary arguments about innovation management in China identified from the broader literature in the field. These relate to the pattern of China’s innovation performance over time, the reasons for its effectiveness, the role of alliances and influences of indigenous factors. It is also shown that management of the internationalisation of innovation and of efficient internal innovation are two important directions for future research on Chinese innovation in an era of de-globalisation.

The studies presented here provide valuable contributions to theory building in innovation research, as well as some important ideas for directions of future research on innovation in China in the new era of de-globalisation.

The lack of conceptual approaches for organizing and expressing capabilities, usage and impact of intelligent machines (IMs) in work settings is an obstacle to moving beyond isolated case examples, domain-specific studies, 2 × 2 frameworks and expert opinion in discussions of IMs and work. This paper's purpose is to illuminate many issues that often are not addressed directly in research, practice or punditry related to IMs. It pursues that purpose by presenting an integrated approach for identifying and organizing important aspects of analysis and evaluation related to IMs in work settings. 

This paper integrates previously published ideas related to work systems (WSs), smart devices and systems, facets of work, roles and responsibilities of information systems, interactions between people and machines and a range of criteria for evaluating system performance.

Eight principles outline a straightforward and flexible approach for analyzing and evaluating IMs and the WSs that use them. Those principles are based on the above ideas.

This paper provides a novel approach for identifying design choices for situated use of IMs. The breadth, depth and integration of this approach address a gap in existing literature, which rarely aspires to this paper’s thoroughness in combining ideas that support the description, analysis, design and evaluation of situated uses of IMs.

This study investigates the asymmetric influence of renewable energy consumption (REC) and trade openness (TO) in the pathway of decarbonizing of Indian economy.

By exploiting fifty years of annual time series data spanning from 1970 to 2019 with the augmentation of nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag technique with the consideration of GDP and industry value added (IVA) as control variables.

Our This research not only demonstrates the asymmetric association among the employed variables but also shows that negative shock to REC stimulates emissions, where as positive shock on the same policy variable promotes environmental quality improvement. Negative shock to TO is found to be associated with the corresponding increase of environmental quality, but the positive shock on the same intensifies environmental pollution. IVA is also found to be associated with intensifying environmental squalor. In addition, the research provides the empirical evidence of existence of “EKC” hypothesis in India as long-run coefficient associated with GDP looks smaller than short-run coefficient of GDP.

It was difficult to include may other causal variables due to nonavailability of data pertaining to those variables.

Moreover, some policy guidelines have also been recommended for India at the end that may aid India to achieve net zero emissions by 2070.

This is an original research paper carried out by the authors and has not yet been submitted elsewhere.

This study’s main objective is to explore the ISO 9001 implementation model and identify a future research agenda. This is important because not all organizations find it easy to implement ISO 9001, and not all organizations get positive benefits after implementing it.

The paper presents a comprehensive review of the literature on ISO 9001 implementation models using the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews (PRISMA) methodology to systematically review the existing literature on ISO 9001 implementation models. Relevant studies published from 2003 to early 2023 are explored to reveal the research landscape, gaps and trends.

Many ISO 9001 implementation methods have been developed for actual implementation in organizations, including models, frameworks, special variable considerations, application uses and integration. These methods were developed and applied to cover gaps regarding constraints, unbeneficial, special conditions, implementation objectives and organization types in ISO 9001 implementation. Current issues and future research on ISO 9001 implementation models were found, namely ISO 9001 implementation models specific to SMEs, ISO 9001 implementation levels, ISO 9001 implementation models that are agile to change, and affordable certification models.

Only a few researchers have systematically reviewed the literature or taken a bibliometric approach in their analyses to provide an overview of the current trends and links to ISO 9001 implementation models. The ISO 9001 standard is a general standard and can be applied by all organizations with the implementation method left to the implementer. Many implementation methods have been developed, but several implementation obstacles and disadvantages are still found. It is important to know the extent of current research and discover future research gaps regarding methods of implementing the ISO 9001 standard.

This conceptual, multi-voiced paper aims to collectively explore and theorize family entrepreneuring, which is a research stream dedicated to investigating the emergence and becoming of entrepreneurial phenomena in business families and family firms.

Because of the novelty of this research stream, the authors asked 20 scholars in entrepreneurship and family business to reflect on topics, methods and issues that should be addressed to move this field forward.

Authors highlight key challenges and point to new research directions for understanding family entrepreneuring in relation to issues such as agency, processualism and context.

This study offers a compilation of multiple perspectives and leverage recent developments in the fields of entrepreneurship and family business to advance research on family entrepreneuring.