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This study aims to investigate the influence of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and geopolitical risk (GPR) on the relationship between internal cash flow and external financing in an emerging market, Saudi Arabia. It also examines the role of asset tangibility and financial crisis in establishing this relationship.

The sample was taken from non-financial sector companies listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange between 2002 and 2019. The data were analyzed using panel data regression analysis, including ordinary least squares and fixed effects model. The author addresses potential endogeneity through the generalized method of moments.

This study found that both EPU and GPR reduce the sensitivity of external financing to internal cash flow. This implies that firms depend more on internally generated funds during periods of increased EPU and GPR. Besides, this study found that the influence of EPU and GPR on the sensitivity of external financing to internal cash flow is more (less) negative for more tangible firms (during the financial crisis period). This result implies that Saudi firms boasting a higher level of tangibility are more flexible when it comes to seeking external financing. However, the presence of uncertainty during the crisis period makes the external financing costly, and therefore, firms will be less likely to raise funds from external sources.

This study has important implications for managers, policymakers and regulators. First, the paper findings provide insights for corporate decision-makers in helping them to focus on internal funds to finance their investment during uncertain times. Second, the findings help managers to understand the role of asset tangibility in raising external funding when firms face financial constraints due to uncertainty. Third, this study also helps corporates to focus on internal funds to finance their investment during the crisis period because EPU and GPR increase the cost of external finance. Finally, the results provide guidelines for policymakers and regulators to make appropriate policy measures to increase the easy availability of external finance during periods of increased EPU and GPR.

This paper is the first to shed light on the impact of internal funds on external financing while paying close attention to the role of EPU and GPR.

This paper aims to identify the conditions under which encroachment is a viable strategy for a manufacturer to gain competitive advantage and achieve higher profitability in the presence of the store-brand.

This paper proposes game-theoretic models in a two-echelon supply chain consisting of a manufacturer (him) and a retailer (her), in which he distributes his national brand through the retailer, and endogenously determines whether to establish a new direct sales channel to sell the national brand when the retailer introduces her store-brand.

Analytical results show that the bar for the manufacturer to encroach the end market in the presence of the store-brand is always higher than that for him to encroach in the absence of the store-brand. Although incurring channel competition, encroaching with the national brand in the presence of the retailer's store-brand can lead to either a win-lose or win-win result for the manufacturer and the retailer. Numerical studies claim that, higher brand substitution can push down the retailer's enthusiasm to introduce her new brand. Counterintuitively, when the retailer introduces her store-brand, higher brand substitution does not necessarily push up the manufacturer's enthusiasm to respond with national-brand encroachment. When consumer preferences for the two brands are heterogeneous, a higher consumer preference for the retailer's store-brand results in the retailer's higher enthusiasm to introduce her store-brand and the manufacturer's lower enthusiasm to encroach with his national brand.

This study can help researchers to better understand the retailer's store-brand introduction, manufacturer encroachment and their interaction theoretically, and further provide decision support for enterprises to choose brand and channel strategies in practice.

This study aims to assess the nexus among oil price (OP), renewable energy consumption (REC) and trade balance (TB) for India using annual time series data for the time period 1985–2019. In particular, the authors examine whether REC improves India's TB in the context of high oil import dependence.

The study uses autoregressive distributed lags (ARDL) bound testing approach that has the advantage of yielding estimates of long-run and short-run parameters simultaneously. Moreover, the small sample properties of this approach are superior to other multivariate cointegration techniques. Fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS) and dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) are also applied to test the robustness of the results. The causality among the series is investigated through block exogeneity test based on vector error correction model.

The findings based on ARDL bounds testing approach indicate that OPs exert a negative impact on TB of India in both long run and short run, whereas REC has a favorable impact on the TB. In particular, 1% increase in OPs decreases TBs by 0.003% and a 1% increase in REC improves TB by 0.011%. The results of FMOLS and DOLS corroborate the findings from ARDL estimates. The results of block exogeneity test suggest unidirectional causation from OPs to TB; OPs to REC and REC to TB.

The study underscore the importance of renewable energy as a potential tool to curtail trade deficits in the context of Indian economy. Our results suggest that the policymakers must pay attention to the hindrances in augmentation of renewable energy usage and try to capitalize on the resulting gains for the TB.

Climate change is a major challenge for developing countries like India. Renewable energy sector is considered an important instrument toward attaining the twin objectives of environmental sustainability and employment generation. This study underscores another role of REC as a tool to achieve a sustainable trade position, which may help India save her valuable forex reserves for broader objectives of economic development.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that probes the dynamic nexus among OPs, REC and TB in Indian context. From a policy standpoint, the study underscores the importance of renewable energy as a potential tool to curtail trade deficits in context of India. From a theoretical perspective, the study extends the literature on the determinants of TB by identifying the role of REC in shaping TB.

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), inherently vulnerable entities, prompting a pivotal question of how to enhance SMEs’ organizational resilience (OR) to withstand discontinuous crises. Although digital innovation (DI) is widely acknowledged as a critical antecedent to OR, limited studies have analyzed the configurational effects of DI on OR, particularly stage-based analysis.

Underpinned by the dynamic capabilities view, this study introduces a multi-stage dynamic capabilities framework for OR. Employing Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), digital product innovation (DPI), digital services innovation (DSI) and digital process innovation (DCI) are further deconstructed into six dimensions. Furthermore, we utilized fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to explore the configuration effects of six DI on OR at different stages, using data from 94 Chinese SMEs.

First, OR improvement hinges not on a singular DI but on the interactions among various DIs. Second, multiple equivalent configurations emerge at different stages. Before the crisis, absorptive capability primarily advanced through iterative DPI and predictive DSI. During the crisis, response capability is principally augmented by the iterative DPI, distributed DCI, and integrated DCI. After the crisis, recovery capability is predominantly fortified by the iterative DPI, expanded DPI and experiential DSI. Third, iterative DPI consistently assumes a supportive role in fortifying OR.

This study contributes to the extant literature on DI and OR, offering practical guidance for SMEs to systematically enhance OR by configuring DI across distinct stages.

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings and leverage manipulation and the moderating effects of internal and external supervision.

The authors draw on a sample of Chinese non-financial A-share-listed firms from 2013 to 2020 to explore the effect of ESG ratings on leverage manipulation. Robustness and endogeneity tests confirm the validity of the regression results.

ESG ratings inhibit leverage manipulation by improving social reputation, information transparency and financing constraints. This effect is weakened by internal supervision, captured by the ratio of institutional investor ownership, and strengthened by external supervision, captured by the level of marketization. The effect is stronger in non-state-owned firms and firms in non-polluting industries. The governance dimension of ESG exhibits the strongest effect, with comprehensive environmental governance ratings and social governance ratings also suppressing leverage manipulation.

Firms should strive to cultivate environmental awareness, fulfil their social responsibilities and enhance internal governance, which may help to strengthen the firm’s sustainability orientation, mitigate opportunistic behaviours and ultimately contribute to high-quality firm development. The top managers of firms should exercise self-restraint and take the initiative to reduce leverage manipulation by establishing an appropriate governance structure and sustainable business operation system that incorporate environmental and social governance in addition to general governance.

Policymakers and regulators should formulate unified guidelines with comprehensive criteria to improve the scope and quality of ESG information disclosure and provide specific guidance on ESG practice for firms. Investors should incorporate ESG ratings into their investment decision framework to lower their portfolio risk.

This study contributes to the literature in four ways. Firstly, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is among the first to show that high ESG ratings may mitigate firms’ opportunistic behaviours. Secondly, it identifies the governance factor of leverage manipulation from the perspective of firms’ subjective sustainability orientation. Thirdly, it demonstrates that the relationship between ESG ratings and leverage manipulation varies with the level of internal and external supervision. Finally, it highlights the importance of governance in guaranteeing the other two dimensions’ roles by decomposing overall ESG.

This study investigates the relationships among digital transformation, technological innovation, industry–university–research collaborations and labor income share in manufacturing firms.

The relationships are tested using an empirical method, constructing regression models, by collecting 1,240 manufacturing firms and 9,029 items listed on the A-share market in China from 2013 to 2020.

The results indicate that digital transformation has a positive effect on manufacturing companies’ labor income share. Technological innovation can mediate the effect of digital transformation on labor income share. Industry–university–research cooperation can positively moderate the promotion effect of digital transformation on labor income share but cannot moderate the mediating effect of technological innovation. Heterogeneity analysis also found that firms without service-based transformation and nonstate-owned firms are better able to increase their labor income share through digital transformation.

This study provides a new path to increase the labor income share of enterprises to achieve common prosperity, which is important for manufacturing enterprises to better transform and upgrade to achieve high-quality development.

The major objective of this research work was to evaluate various physico-chemical characteristics, such as, chemical composition, antioxidant capacity, objective color and texture profile analysis (TPA) of the wheat flour/chickpea flour (CF) blends, so that nutritious baked products could be consumed by the type-2 diabetic persons.

Wholegrain wheat flour (WGF) and white wheat flour (WWF) were substituted with CF at 0 to 40% levels. These wheat flour/CF blends were analyzed for proximate composition, the prepared dough and baked breads were tested for objective color, antioxidant capacity as trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC), malondialdehyde (MDA) and total phenolic content (TPC) and TPA.

WGF had the highest TEAC (117.42 mM/100g) value, followed by WWF (73.98 mM/100g) and CF (60.67 mM/100g). TEAC, MDA and TPC values varied significantly among all the three flour samples.

Inclusion of whole chickpea (without dehulling) flour in such type of blends would be another interesting investigation during the future research studies.

These research findings have a great potential for the production of these baked products for human consumption on an industrial scale.

Production of breads using wheat flour and CF blends would benefits the consumers.

Production of Arabic and pan breads using wheat flour and CF blends would, therefore, combine the benefits of both the needed proteins of plant origin and the health-promoting bioactive compounds, in a most sustainable way for the consumers.

Building from calls for greater interdisciplinary research in interpreting family business phenomena, we integrate research on work–family conflict, detachment and burnout from both organizational and family studies. Using the characteristic work–family integration of family business settings as a backdrop we develop theoretical arguments that emphasize the reconciliatory role of interdisciplinary perspectives to explain the ostensibly contradictory findings in extant research. The diminishing barriers separating work and life spheres occurring in most global industries illustrate the importance of conceiving the study of work–life phenomena through recursive, rather than linear, logics and emphasizing the relevance of family business research in providing a contextual foundation for interdisciplinary discussions.

This theoretical paper integrates perspectives from the literatures on organizational behavior and family systems theory to form six propositions on the relationship between work–life integration and the antecedents and consequences of burnout and psychological detachment.

This paper explores the nuances that overlapping work and family roles might be a source of both harmony and discord in family firms. In doing so, our research contributes to the growing relationship between family systems theory and family business research, and creates the foundation for future empirical studies on the psychological dynamics that underlie work–family integration.

This research advances a novel perspective on the interactions between work–family integration and burnout and detachment, and does so by noting that the way the family business literature treats work–family integration may apply to any employee that experiences tension between these different spheres of their identity.

The rapid development and high penetration of digitalization have triggered profound changes in the energy sector. The purpose of this study is to integrate the government digital transformation into the analysis framework and discuss its impact on urban energy efficiency and its realization mechanism.

Using the “Information Benefit Pilot City” (IBC) policy as a quasi-natural experiment, and drawing on data from 285 prefecture-level cities in China from 2008 to 2019, this paper discusses how digital government affects urban energy efficiency by using difference-in-differences (DID).

The results show that digital governance significantly improves energy efficiency, and this conclusion remains reliable even after a series of robustness tests, endogeneity processing and sensitivity analysis. Heterogeneity results show that resource-based, eastern, high economic development level and high urbanization rate city digital government construction are more conducive to improving energy efficiency. The mediating effect shows that the influence mechanism of digital government on energy efficiency mainly includes reducing carbon emission, promoting green technology innovation and attracting talents.

(1) From the perspective of government digital transformation, this study supplements the way to improve energy efficiency and also expands the social dividend of government governance transformation. (2) Through quasi-experimental analysis of IBC policy, this paper solves the problem of difficulty in quantifying the government's digital transformation indicators. (3) The impact heterogeneity and realization mechanism are further discussed and the specific ways of digital government's impact on energy efficiency are revealed.

This study aims to examine the impact of an organization’s internal and external corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives on employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment.

Drawing on the social identity perspective, the authors proposed and tested a mediation model to understand the psychological mechanisms underlying the effects of CSR. The study sample comprised 263 employees from Italian manufacturing firms.

Our findings indicate that external CSR orientation is positively associated with employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Furthermore, the mediating effect of job satisfaction partially explains the positive relationship between external CSR orientation and organizational commitment. Moreover, we found that the positive impact of external CSR on employee outcomes is strengthened when combined with internal CSR.

This research has practical and theoretical implications for organizations seeking to enhance employee engagement and commitment through CSR initiatives and sheds light on how CSR can shape employee attitudes and behaviors toward the organization.

This study brings a novel contribution to the field by examining the impact of both internal and external CSR initiatives on employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment.