Search results

Financial problems of football clubs during economic crises (such as COVID-19 pandemic) highlight the necessity of achieving economic sustainability. In addition, the economic sustainability of football clubs is accepted as a principle of the development of sports business. Therefore, it is reasonable to conduct a study with the aim of examining economic sustainability in the field of sports club management.

The present study adopted a qualitative approach to research and used semi-structured interviews in order to develop a framework for the economic sustainability of football clubs. A total of 13 members of football clubs in the Iranian premier league participated in this study.

The findings highlighted the fact that a number of factors, including media and social networks, entrepreneurship and development of club business, commercialization of the club, privatization, investment and ownership, strategic communication plan, financial management and management instability, promoted the economic sustainability of football clubs and improved their financial performance.

This study highlighted the importance of the changes in the structure of football clubs and the strategic plans for promoting entrepreneurship and commercialization. Moreover, it underlined the major role of the environmental and management components of football clubs in their financial sustainability.

This study aims to explore the managerial conception of the determinants and barriers of sustainability integration into management control systems (MCS) of manufacturing companies in Sri Lanka. Although existing literature has explored the factors that influence the adoption of specific management controls to handle environmental and social issues, the role of management conception has been underrepresented. Specifically, literature is scarce in identifying contextual and organisational factors that influence corporates beyond mere adoption of controls but to integrate with regular controls, especially in developing countries such as Sri Lanka.

A multiple case study approach has been used to identify the management conception of barriers and enablers for sustainability control integration. The analysis is conducted based on a theoretical framework extending the work of Gond et al. (2012) and George et al. (2016). To obtain an in-depth and multifaceted view, semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers in charge of different functional departments of five manufacturing companies.

The findings identified managers’ perceived factors, such as environmental impact, stakeholder pressure (customer, competitor and regulatory authorities) and top management commitment, showing a clear difference between strongly and weakly integrated companies. Contrary to the literature, domestic regulatory pressure and multinational ownership do not sufficiently drive MCS sustainability integration.

The findings have implications for managers and practitioners to anticipate the potential barriers and determinants of sustainability integration and provide guidance to take proper measures to deal with them when designing and implementing their MCS.

The study adds value to the literature by presenting a theoretical framework based on the triangulation of different theories to recognise the significance of management idea in sustainable integration. Furthermore, because sustainable integration of MCS is a novel idea, this research is one of the earlier attempts to highlight problems from the perspective of developing countries.

This chapter is devoted to sustainable human resource management that leads to sustainable competitiveness. It features the ways human resources can be managed to carry out sustainable goals and the impact of sustainability on employees' attitudes and behaviours. The aim of this study is to explore the complex objectives of sustainability and human resource management and empirically investigate the dynamic relationship between human resources in science and technology and sustainable competitiveness in the case of 35 European countries. Our contribution emphasizes this interrelationship and its causality. For this research, we applied a vector auto-regression (VAR) model, and the Granger causality method to examine the relationship between human resources in science and technology and sustainable competitiveness. A panel data included 314 observations between 2012 and 2021. The panel VAR for analysing the impulse response function was enriched with the 5% and 95%, using Monte Carlo simulations. The research results revealed bidirectional causality in the European countries between human resources in science and technology and sustainable competitiveness. Human resources in science and technology trigger sustainable competitiveness and vice versa. As an element of originality, our study demonstrates that human resources in science and technology contribute to sustainable performance, and, on the other hand, a more competitive and sustainable environment contributes to the development of human resources in science and technology. Thus, the chapter outlines the role of human resources in science and technology with regard to sustainable human resource management (HRM), and how to navigate these objectives so that they can positively influence sustainable competitiveness.

The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of nonfinancial sustainability reporting (NFSR) on enterprise value moderated by the management legitimate authority (MLA) for companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange.

To this aim, 190 firms were assessed during 2014–2019. This study used Arianpoor and Salehi’s indicators. The scoring method for NFSR, environmental sustainability reporting (ESR), social sustainability reporting (SSR) and governance sustainability reporting (GSR) was based on Zimon et al. Also, the CEO pay slice index was used to calculate the management’s legitimate authority. Tobin’s Q was used as a standard measure for the firm value, providing a suitable means of comparison.

The results revealed that NFSR affects enterprise value positively. In addition, ESR and SSR positively affect the enterprise value. However, GSR did not affect the enterprise value. MLA affects the relationship between NFSR/ESR/SSR/GSR and enterprise value, resulting from the effect of MLA on firm-related information quality and transparency.

Linking NFSR and management’s legitimate authority to firm value will enable managers to lead in helping firms enhance transparency and disclosure, improving their reporting standards and increasing the enterprise value. This, in turn, will ultimately result in better sustainability and governance practices.

The results can help understand that analysts and investors somehow consider discussions related to the NFSR in decisions related to the company’s value, and positive market reactions to these practices’ disclosures can motivate firms to improve value and performance.

The majority of prior research in this field has focused on developing countries. An international perspective is critical, and this study helps draw a more contextualized picture of sustainability than before. In addition, the present research explored the management’s legitimate authority role, which is considered an innovative aspect.

This study examines how carbon tools, including carbon accounting and management tools, can be created, used, modified and linked with other traditional management controls to materialise and effectuate organisations’ response strategies to multiple interacting logics in carbon management and the role of sustainability managers in these processes.

This study utilises the construct of accounting toolmaking, which refers to practices of adopting, adjusting and reconfiguring accounting tools to unfold how carbon tools are used as means to materialise responses to multiple interacting carbon management logics. It embraces a field study approach, whereby 38 sustainability managers and staff from 30 organisations in New Zealand were interviewed.

This study finds that carbon toolmaking is an important means to materialise and effectuate organisations’ response strategies to multiple interacting carbon management logics. Four response strategies are identified: separation, selective coupling, combination and hybridisation. Adopting activity involves considering the additionality, detailing, localising and cascading of carbon measures and targets and their linkage to the broader carbon management programme. In adjusting carbon tools, organisations adapt the frequency and orientation of carbon reporting, intensity of carbon monitoring and breadth of carbon information sharing. Through focusing on either procedural sequencing, assimilating, equating or integrating, toolmaking reconfigures the relationship between carbon tools and traditional management control systems. Together, these three toolmaking activities can be configured differently to construct carbon tools that are fit for purpose for each response strategy. These activities also enact certain roles on sustainability managers in the process of representing, communicating and/or transferring carbon information knowledge, which also facilitate different response strategies.

The study demonstrates the various carbon toolmaking practices that allow organisations to handle the multiple interacting logics in carbon management. The findings provide suggestions for organisations on how to adopt, adjust and reconfigure carbon tools to better embed the ecological logic in organisations’ strategies and operations.

The authors identify how carbon toolmaking materialises and effectuates organisations’ responses to multiple interacting logics in carbon management.

Food manufacturing supply chain systems are the most relevant wheels of the world economy since they provide essential products supporting daily life. Nevertheless, various supply inefficiencies have been reported to compromise food safety in different regions. Sustainable supplier management and digitalization practices have become cornerstone activities in addressing these shortcomings. Therefore, this paper proposes an integrated method for sustainability management in digital manufacturing supply chain systems (DMSCS) from the food industry.

The Intuitionistic Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (IF-AHP) was used to weigh the criteria and subcriteria under uncertainty. Second, the Intuitionistic Fuzzy Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (IF-DEMATEL) was applied to determine the main DMSCS sustainability drivers whilst incorporating the expert's hesitancy. Finally, the Combined Compromise Solution (CoCoSo) was implemented to pinpoint the weaknesses hindering DMSCS sustainability. A case study from the pork supply chain was presented to validate this method.

The most important criterion for DMSCS sustainability management is “location” while “manufacturing capacity” is the most significant dispatcher.

This paper presents a novel approach integrating IF-AHP, IF-DEMATEL, and CoCoSo methods for sustainability management of DMSCS pillaring the food industry.

Achieving social sustainability has become a critical challenge in global supply chain networks, particularly during complex crises such as terrorism. The purpose of this study is to explore how institutional forces influence the social sustainability approaches of logistics service providers (LSPs) in high terrorism-affected regions (HTAR). This then leads to investigating how the key factors interact with Institutional Theory.

An exploratory multiple-case study research method was used to investigate six cases of different-sized logistics LSPs, each in an HTAR. The data was collected using semistructured interviews and triangulated using on-site observations and document analysis. Thematic analysis was used in iterative cycles for cross-case comparisons and pattern matching.

The findings interact with Institutional Theory and the three final-order themes. First, management processes are driven by coopetition and innovation. Second, organizational resources, structure and culture lead to an ineffective organizational design. Finally, a lack of institutionalization creates institutional uncertainty. These factors are rooted in many other first-order factors such as information sharing, communication, relationship management, capacity development, new process developments, workforce characteristics, technology, microlevel culture and control aspects.

This study answers the call for social sustainability research and enriches the literature on social sustainability, Institutional Theory and LSPs in HTARs by providing illustrations showing that institutional forces act as driving forces for social sustainability initiatives by shaping the current management processes. Conversely, the same forces impede social sustainability initiatives by shaping the current organizational designs and increasing institutional uncertainty.

With the increasing concern over environmental pollution and global warming, companies are required to act responsibly to mitigate these environmental issues. Their activities should adhere to the standards of environmental sustainability. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the impact of green supply chain management (GSCM) and total quality management (TQM) on environmental sustainability, with environmental management practices (EMP) as the moderating factor.

A quantitative study was adopted using the management data from various manufacturing companies in Jordan. A total of 362 responses were collected, and the proposed hypotheses were tested using a structural equation model.

The study findings revealed that both GSCM and TQM significantly and positively influenced environmental sustainability. The impact of TQM on environmental sustainability was higher than that of GSCM. Moreover, no evidence was found on the moderating role of EMP.

The study’s results highlighted to the decision-makers the main practices to expand the quality implementation across their supply chain to improve environmental sustainability. The study also demonstrated the reasons behind the insignificance of EMPs in strengthening the relationships between GSCM, TQM, and environmental sustainability.

While there are very few studies examining the relationships between GSCM and TQM on environmental sustainability. This study adds to the literature body as one of a few empirical studies that tested the integrated effect of GSCM and TQM practices within the context of the manufacturing industry in a developing country. Moreover, this study takes a holistic approach by tapping into EMP to confirm whether it moderated the relationships between GSCM, TQM, and environmental sustainability.

This study explores practitioners' perspectives on and definitions of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM), which are then compared to academic definitions to identify new implications for researchers, educators and practitioners.

An abductive, explorative and qualitative approach was followed in the form of a review and classification of 31 academic definitions of SSCM as well as 30 interviews with supply chain (SC) practitioners.

The practitioners' answers show a lack of awareness of upstream and downstream challenges as the practitioners' focus on practices within the practitioners' firms, where the economic and environmental dimensions prevail. However, the practitioners highlighted understudied topics in SSCM: human resources policies, leadership for sustainability and ethics.

This research stimulates discussion on how to teach an SSCM course and which directions to follow to ensure that research has an impact on practices. Practitioners' focus on the practitioners' everyday practices confirms that practice-based theories, amongst others, are relevant in the field and that more interdisciplinary research is needed to highlight the contributions of human resource management (HRM) and business ethics to SSCM.

The proposed framework clearly defines the scope of the practices and research (upstream or downstream of the SC or within the firm), which will allow practitioners to contribute to SSCM more holistically.

Educators and researchers have a crucial role to play in clarifying the meaning of SSCM for students who are future practitioners and consumers. Interacting more with practitioners could help.

This research is targeted not only to researchers and practitioners but also educators.

Operationalizing R-imperatives in firms is seen as vital to bolstering circularity through reduce, reuse and recycle and building circular supply chains (CSCs). However, this process introduces various uncertainties to firms within CSCs. This is a gap that still requires an in-depth analysis, particularly to answer the question of how firms align the operationalization of R-imperatives with uncertainty management to improve sustainability performance and accelerate the transition toward CSCs.

This paper fills this gap through a multiple-case study, whereby nine firms from varying structures, regions and manufacturing industries were examined. Qualitative content analysis was employed to examine the collected primary (27 semi-structured interviews) and secondary data (internal management reports, publicly available corporate reports and website content).

The findings support the evidence that the operationalization of R-imperatives is not a straightforward process. Within-firm and SC uncertainties largely emerged and made the building of CSCs complex. Consequently, strategies aimed at reducing uncertainty were paramount to managing uncertainties and enhancing sustainability performance. For instance, implementing durable or modular designs helped firms easily reuse, repair and recycle products. In turn, firms achieved material efficiency and contributed to extending the life cycle of products.

This paper explains how firms can align R-imperatives operationalization with uncertainty management to improve sustainability performance and enhance CSCs. Accordingly, firms should complement R-imperatives operationalization with proactive uncertainty management and an assessment of all environmental, economic and social sustainability dimensions.

This paper fills a critical gap in circular supply chain management literature by unveiling its linkage with uncertainty management and sustainability performance. Empirical insights from nine firms within CSCs are provided to guide scholars and managers interested in implementing R-imperatives.