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This paper underscores the importance of conducting studies that examine the experiences of women transport entrepreneurs within the context of the intersectionality of patriarchal culture, the challenges posed by insufficient infrastructure on business operations and the dominance of the male-dominated transport industry.

This paper is based on a concise literature review.

The intersectionality of these factors significantly influences women's prospects, opportunities and barriers as they navigate the entrepreneurial realm within the transportation sector. Understanding these complexities is essential to devise targeted strategies and policies that foster gender equality, promote inclusive economic growth and empower women entrepreneurs in this vital industry.

This paper synthesises existing research on family business, entrepreneurship and business operations in Africa.

This article has the potential to empower women in family-owned transportation businesses, promoting gender diversity and inclusivity. It achieves this by highlighting and encouraging women's leadership, leveraging their unique strengths, and fostering education and mentorship. As a result, the research is expected to drive industry growth, enhance customer satisfaction, and cultivate a more collaborative work culture. This emerging research is anticipated to transform these businesses, enabling women to become progressive leaders, thereby ensuring sustained success and fostering innovation in the transportation sector.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) promotes society, reduces risk, and encourages ethical business practices. Due to its relevance, we study how CSR influences firms' sustainable development. We analyze data from 427 New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)-listed firms from 2008 to 2022. The Refinitiv environmental and social score is used to measure CSR, whereas for firms' sustainable development we rely on corporate sustainable growth rate (SGR) and market-based metrics. The analysis employs various econometric techniques, including ordinary least square, fixed effect regression, two-stage least square, generalized method of moment, and simultaneous quantile regression. The results indicate that CSR has a positive and significant effect on firms' sustainable development across all models. This relationship supports the notion that socially responsible business can contribute to long-term financial sustainability in line with “stakeholder theory”, indicating that companies should accommodate the concerns of various stakeholders, including society and the environment, to achieve sustainable development. We evaluate how the conditional distributions of SGR and firms’ value are affected by CSR, categorizing them into high, moderate, and low regimes. The quantile regression estimates indicate that the effect of CSR is more pronounced at upper quantiles, followed by moderate and low regimes. These findings underscore the importance of considering CSR in assessing the SGR and enterprises market value. We also confirm that our results are robust under range of different econometrics' methods. Finally, we enlighten current literature, and our research has useful policy implications for management and investors.

This study aims to explore how to overcome and address the loss of exploratory innovation, thereby achieving greater success in exploratory innovation. This phenomenon of loss occurs when enterprises decrease their investment in and engagement with exploratory innovation, ultimately leading to an insufficient amount of such innovation efforts. Drawing on dynamic capabilities, this study investigates the relationship between organizational foresight and exploratory innovation and examines the moderating role of breakthrough orientation/financial orientation.

This study used survey data collected from 296 Chinese high-tech companies in multiple industries and sectors.

The evidence produced by this study reveals that three elements of organizational foresight (i.e. environmental scanning capabilities, strategic selection capabilities and integrating capabilities) positively influence exploratory innovation. Furthermore, this positive effect is strengthened in the context of a high-breakthrough orientation. Moreover, the relationships among environmental scanning capabilities, strategic selection capabilities and exploratory innovation become weaker as an enterprise’s financial orientation increases, whereas a strong financial orientation does not affect the relationship between integrating capabilities and exploratory innovation.

Ambidexterity is key to successful enterprise innovation. Compared with exploitative innovation, it is by no means easy to engage in exploratory innovation, which is especially important in high-tech companies. While the loss of exploratory innovation has been observed, few empirical studies have explored ways to promote exploratory innovation more effectively. A key research implication of this study pertains to the role of organizational foresight in the improvement of exploratory innovation in the context of high-tech companies.

This paper contributes to the broader literature on exploratory innovation and organizational foresight and provides practical guidance for high-tech companies regarding ways of avoiding the loss of exploratory innovation and becoming more successful at exploratory innovation.

This paper delves into cross-border E-business, unraveling its intricate dynamics and forecasting its future trajectory.

This paper projects the prospective market size of cross-border E-business in China for the year 2023 using the GM (1,1) gray forecasting model. Furthermore, to enhance the analysis, the paper attempts to simulate and forecast the size of China’s cross-border E-business sector using the GM (1,3) gray model. This extended model considers not only the historical trends of cross-border E-business but also the growth patterns of GDP and the digital economy.

The forecast indicates a market size of 18,760 to 18,934 billion RMB in 2023, aligning with the consistent growth observed in previous years. This suggests a sustained positive trajectory for cross-border E-business.

Cross-border e-commerce critically shapes China’s global integration and traditional industry development. The research in this paper provides insights beyond statistical trends, contributing to a nuanced understanding of the pivotal role played by cross-border e-commerce in shaping China’s economic future.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how successful lean six sigma (LSS) manifests in the Australasian (Australian and New Zealand) context relative to the context in the USA in terms of LSS project definition, structure and practices.

In-depth investigation through case studies – 12 Australian/New Zealand cases and 4 US cases – on the implementation mechanisms of successful LSS initiatives.

A significant difference was found between Australasian and US definitions of an LSS project. However, firms in both regions followed similar project selection, initiating and execution practices. LSS reporting structures were found to be well-established in US organizations, but none of the Australasian organizations were found to be equipped with such a structure, although the effectiveness of LSS implementation success remained unaffected.

Sufficient uniformity of LSS was found across two regions implying its usefulness/generalizability, but the findings are based only on 12 cases.

The paper provides the groundwork to develop a unique LSS model for Australasian organizations to improve processes in an effective and efficient manner.

The aim of this study is to empirically investigate the impact of marketing analytics capability on business performance from the perspective of RBV theory.

This study used a survey method to gather information from 225 food processing SMEs registered with the Ghana Enterprise Agency (GEA) in Ghana’s eastern region. A structural equation modeling (SEM) path analysis was used to assess the impact of marketing analytics capability (MAC) on the performance of SMEs.

The results of the study show that MAC significantly and positively affect the financial performance (FP), customer performance (CF), internal business process performance (IBPP) and learning and growth performance (LGP) of Ghanaian SMEs. The findings of this study also illustrated the significance of MAC determinants, including marketing analytics skills (MAS), data resource management (DRM) and data processing capabilities (DPC), in achieving SME success in Ghana.

The research’s conclusions give RBV theory strong credence. The results of this study also provide credence to previous research finding that SMEs should view MAC and its determinants (i.e. DRM, DPC, MAS) as a crucial strategic capability to improve their performance (i.e. FP, CF, IBPP, LGP). With regard to its contribution, this study broadens the body of knowledge on MAC and SME performance, particularly in the context of an emerging economy.

Operational excellence (OpEx) is a proven philosophy focusing on continuous improvement in processes and systems for superior performance and efficiency. It plays a crucial role in the energy sector, acting as a catalyst for safety, customer satisfaction, sustainability and competitiveness. This research aims to assess OpEx methodologies in Oman’s energy sector, examining methods, approaches, motivations and sustainability.

This study applies qualitative analysis methodology, involving interviews with 18 industry experts, from the energy sector in a sizeable energy country.

The analysis revealed a growing demand, particularly, in the oil and gas industry, driven by emerging business needs. Qualitative data analysis has identified 10 themes such as implemented methodologies, motivation drivers, deployment approaches, sustainability factors, benefits and challenges. Additionally, new themes emerged, including influencers to start OpEx, resource requirements, enablers for successful OpEx and systems.

This research was limited to Oman and the findings drawn from Omani energy companies may have limited applicability to energy companies in other regions. Therefore, if these findings were to be used, the validation of the findings in relation to other countries should be conducted, to ensure the validity of the context and outcome.

These findings contribute to understanding OpEx dynamics in the Omani energy sector, offering valuable insights for effective utilisation and organisational goal achievement. Furthermore, the study offers valuable insights on how to effectively employ OpEx initiatives in the energy sector to achieve their goals and create value. It addresses the lack of knowledge, offers a framework for successful OpEx implementation, bridges the theory-practice gap and provides insights for optimal utilisation.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical study on assessing OpEx methodologies in the energy sector, and therefore it serves as a foundation for many future studies. The study provides a theoretical foundation for the OpEx methodologies in terms of organisational readiness for successful OpEx implementation.

This paper aims to market analysis on the base many factors. Market analysis must be done correctly to increase the efficiency of smart grid technologies. On the other hand, it is not very possible for the company to make improvements for too many factors. The main reason for this is that businesses have constraints both financially and in terms of manpower. Therefore, a priority analysis is needed in which the most important factors affecting the effectiveness of the market analysis will be determined.

In this context, a new fuzzy decision-making model is generated. In this hybrid model, there are mainly two different parts. First, the indicators are weighted with quantum spherical fuzzy multi SWARA (M-SWARA) methodology. On the other side, smart grid technology investment projects are examined by quantum spherical fuzzy ELECTRE. Additionally, facial expressions of the experts are also considered in this process.

The main contribution of the study is that a new methodology with the name of M-SWARA is generated by making improvements to the classical SWARA. The findings indicate that data-driven decisions play the most critical role in the effectiveness of market environment analysis for smart technology investments. To achieve success in this process, large-scale data sets need to be collected and analyzed. In this context, if the technology is strong, this process can be sustained quickly and effectively.

It is also identified that personalized energy schedule with smart meters is the most essential smart grid technology investment alternative. Smart meters provide data on energy consumption in real time.

This case is used in Darden's required first-year course, “Strategic Thinking and Action.”

In 2015, Steve and Heidi Crandall, the founders of Devils Backbone Brewing, LLC (DBB), were looking back on eight years of unanticipated success and significant growth. DBB had created a destination, a brand, and beer that drew people from all over, and it was the largest craft brewery in its region. The entire community, not just loyal beer drinkers, had supported DBB. In addition to funding and zoning accommodations, so many local residents had built their own economic lives around what had been their “little brewery that could.”

But the success had brought challenges, specifically in terms of growth. DBB was consistently not meeting demand in its existing markets and was receiving complaints about out-of-stocks. The Crandalls and their team had to figure out how to grow with, or preferably ahead of, demand for DBB's product. Should DBB build further capacity despite an already exhausted line of credit? Should it employ a contract brewer despite the local authenticity concerns such a move might stir up? Or should it just keep trying to manage business within its existing footprint, comfortably serving its loyal customer base?

Digital technologies create myriad innovation opportunities and have inspired the establishment of many new start-ups in recent years. Despite the growing knowledge on digital entrepreneurship, few studies explore how start-ups exploit these opportunities to achieve entrepreneurial success. The purpose of this paper is to explore start-ups’ capabilities for successful delivery of digital artefacts in a cloud computing infrastructure.

Empirical data were collected during a qualitative case study of an established start-up in the Chinese market by interviewing 41 interviewees. Informed by the notion of dynamic capabilities and using the Gioia methodology, the case firm's life cycle was analysed in detail.

The study identifies start-ups’ ordinary and dynamic capabilities for successful development and delivery of digital services. The findings provide insights into a portfolio of start-ups’ capabilities, namely adaptation, networking, reengineering and refinement.

The study suggests that start-ups’ capabilities and underlying entrepreneurial actions determine the degree to which adoption of digital technologies create and transfer value to customers. The study offers specific insights into how start-ups successfully develop and deliver digital artefacts in a cloud infrastructure based on entrepreneurs' prior expertise, vision and accumulated experience.