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This chapter addresses the two important themes that we believe characterise how the platform-based gig economy operates. The first of the two themes explores the shifting boundaries of the triangular business model and its place within the wider, evolving capitalist structure. The triangular business model is the foundation of the platform-based gig economy and consists of the digital platform, the producer/worker and the end consumer. The digital platform acts as the intermediary and provides a market for exchange of goods and services between the workers and the end consumers. The fluidity of the triangular relationship has left the platform-based gig economy beyond the reach of the traditional neo-liberal regulatory system leading to the blurring of employee and employer relations. The second theme is based on the exploration and application of the Marxist concept of surplus value creation and its appropriation within the gig structure. Here, the authors seek to show the exploitation of the worker as a participant in the triangular business model. Given that the worker bears the majority of the entrepreneurial risk and provides capital they ought to receive a proportion of the surplus value created from the transaction. The authors have established the increasing dominance of platforms within the triangular business model and the enhanced scope for exploitation of workers in form of poor remuneration standards due to employee status ambiguity and the appropriation of a disproportionate amount of surplus value flowing to the platform owners.

This purpose of this paper is to propose a model for the relationship between corporate real estate management (CREM) practices and an organisation's sustainable competitive advantage. Corporate real estate (CRE) plays an important but poorly recognised role in organisational competitiveness.

The model was developed from the strategic management, organisational competitiveness, and CRE literatures. A total of 162 CREM practices from the literature were connected, where possible, with cost, innovation and differentiation sources of sustainable competitive advantage. Clustering similar practices allowed the summarising of competitive effects in those clusters and each of the sources of sustainable competitive advantage. Technical CREM practices were the focus of analysis as they constitute the traditional core of CREM.

Many gaps were identified in the theoretical connections between practices and sources of sustainable competitive advantage. Overall, cost dominated as the mode of competition most affected by the practices. Cost, innovation and differentiation made roughly equivalent positive contributions, but cost was most negatively affected by CREM practices.

The model is conceptual and provides a framework for aligning CREM practices with an organisation's competitive strategies, to build CRE‐based strategic capabilities for competitiveness, and to optimise practices' competitive effects. The holistic model directly links core CRE techniques with business outcomes and establishes a framework for further exploration of this important relationship.

Organisational competitiveness, CRE, and CREM are seldom studied. This paper provides a useful connecting framework for CRE researchers and practitioners to research and advance efforts to realise CRE value for organisations.

The aim of this study is to show in detail the theoretical and practical foundations of a new feasibility technique for cash flow forecasting (CFF) based on triangular fuzzy numbers.

One of the most complicated problems business people face is determining if they have enough cash to be able to meet all future payments of a specific period. The uncertainty of forecasting the data to solve the problem suggests that a model based on fuzzy logic tools may provide a good way to obtain new techniques to ensure the feasibility of cash flow management.

This study shows how a specific company can obtain a quantitative idea of the risk of not being able to meet payments in a specific period. This idea can be put into practice with the usual computer tools.

This work presents a technique to predict the feasibility of CFF using triangular fuzzy numbers. There are other fuzzy numbers with which we can model the study problem and that offer certain advantages over to triangular ones.

A qualitative procedure is currently used to calculate the feasibility of a CFF. This work represents a step forward since it shows how to model quantitative feasibility.

The originality and value of this contribution consists of providing a complete model for a feasibility technique of CFF, as well as several proposals to mechanize the calculations and make the results more intuitive by means of spreadsheet graphs.

This paper examines the circumstantial state of mediated work to develop a conceptual framework exemplifying the determinants of voice of workers in triangular employment relationships. These workers are in work context involving two or more firms – agency/platform and clients/client firms.

Paralleling employee voice research in the triangular employment relationship context, the authors theorised the influencing forces at four levels to propose 12 distinct antecedents of triangular workers' voice. External level (2) – legal employer ambiguity and legal regulation and protection; employment context level (3) – availability and presence, assignment duration and autonomy; firm level (3) – institutional complexity, cost and control and governance structure conflicts; individual level (4) – perceived relative equity, voice skill, self-identity and transition opportunity.

The triangular workers' voice determinants framework provides a comprehensive outlook on how the external, employment context, firm and individual forces influence voice of workers in triangular employment relationships.

Emanating from the framework are propositions that can be empirically tested for validation. Hence, as with conceptual papers, this paper is limited by non-empirical testing.

Managers of workers in these employment relationships should be cognizant of the different levels of forces that can influence their voice.

This paper contributes to the employee voice literature by presenting a four-level framework that demonstrate a holistic view of how triangular workers' voice is influenced.

As the modern manufacturing twining seamlessly with logistics operations for value adding services, logistics service is becoming more and more significant. Under this research background, the purpose of this paper is to introduce an innovative evaluation model for customer satisfaction using fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP).

This model uses triangular fuzzy concept to determine the weight of each index so that subjective or objective weighting is addressed. A case study from two large express companies in China is used to demonstrate the feasibility and practicality of the proposed model for examining customer satisfaction.

One of the key findings is that Company B has higher customer satisfaction than Company A due to its quick response and flexible logistics strategy. This paper has several contributions. First, A FAHP-based customer satisfaction evaluation model is proposed for the logistics service. Second, the triangular fuzzy concept is introduced to determine the weight of each index so as to addresses the limitation of subjective or objective weighting method. Third, a case study demonstrates the implementation of the model.

First, this paper considers the fuzzy AHP for the customer satisfaction evaluation. Comparing with other multi-criteria decision-making methods like data envelopment analysis, evidential reasoning approach, and multi-attribute value theory will be carried out in the near future. Second, the manufacturing modes like make-to-order, make-to-stock, and mass-customized production may have different logistics support so that the final products may reach the final targets quickly. How to evaluate various mode-based logistics and their customer satisfactions have great significance. Finally, Big Data-enabled customer satisfaction evaluation approaches may be a possible solution.

Based on the data from questionnaire, it is found that, in practical applications, manufacturing enterprises should amend the index system according to the specific business scope and the production characteristics. Manufacturing enterprises need to collect large amounts of data through market research and conduct the measurement on the related coefficient between the measurement indicators and customer satisfaction degree. After that, they can make sorting and filtering on the measurement index according to the measurement results.

Customer satisfaction is very important to manufacturing and logistics enterprises due to its time constraints. The physical products with services like logistics are paid close attention to by the final customers.

The contribution of this paper is as follows: a FAHP-based customer satisfaction evaluation model is proposed for the logistics service; triangular fuzzy concept is introduced to determine the weight of each index so as to addresses the limitation of subjective or objective weighting method; a case study was used to demonstrate the implementation of the model. One of the key findings is that Company B has higher customer satisfaction than Company B due to its quick response and flexible logistics strategy.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a new systematic method for a multi-unit organization to cope with the cost allocation problem, which is an extension of the reciprocal method. As uncertainty is the inherent characteristic of business environments, assuming changes in engaged parameters is almost necessary. The outputs of the model determine the total value of each unit/business lines or product.

In the proposed method, contrary to existing models, business units are able to transfer their costs to other units, and also, not necessarily transfer the total costs of support units completely. The DEMATEL approach, which finds all relationships between different parts of a system, is also applied for computing effects of the units’ expense paid to each other. Moreover, a fuzzification approach is used to capture linguistic experts’ judgments about related data.

Being closer to the real-world problem in comparison to the previous approach, the proposed systematic approach encompasses the other cost allocation models.

Applying the proposed model for a system like a multi-unit organization, the total price of each unit/business line can be obtained. Moreover, this cost allocation process guides the related decision-makers to better manage the expenses that each unit pays the others.

In the existing studies, business units cannot pay expense support units. However, in the proposed method, the business units are able to pay expenses for other units, and also, not necessarily pay total expenses for support unit completely. Moreover, considering engaged parameters as fuzzy numbers makes the proposed model closer to real-world problems.

Grounded in two primary theories such as (1) the triangular alignment model and (2) the technology–organization–environment framework, this paper aims to develop appropriate scales to measure the e-sourcing experience index (EEI).

The sample includes a total of 630 e-sourcing platform users in the US and India who have already utilized e-commerce platforms. Item response theory and factor analysis were used for the psychometric analysis. Measurement invariance was established between the Indian and US participants, indicating similar conceptualization of the items across the two cultures.

The study's results demonstrated that users have a better experience when online sourcing platforms provide adequate resources for making sourcing decisions, finding potential buyers and managing sourcing activities more efficiently. From the perspective of e-sourcing platforms, suppliers' performance and users' experiences can be improved when businesses address the concerns indicated in the five factors.

The study's objective was to develop the EEI in order to assess suppliers' experiences with e-sourcing platforms. Due to the diffusion of innovation theory (DOI), different stages of adaptation may cause varied experiences and relationships with buyers.

From a theoretical perspective, this study is one of the few to combine triangular alignment model (TAM) and technology–organization–environment (TOE) theories and to develop a reliable and valid scale (EEI) for user experiences with online sourcing platforms. Based on the previous scales, the EEI was found to be well in line with the established theories on traditional apparel sourcing, and, at the same time, considered the particulars of e-sourcing practices.

This study aims to analyze the mediating effect of brand love (BRL) on the relationship between service quality and brand addiction (BRA) among Islamic banks. Past studies have noted that customer satisfaction as the primary means of studying customer behaviour needs to be reconsidered because even satisfied customer switch brands, and the dissatisfied customer have repurchasing intentions. Therefore, considering BRL and BRA can be a new way of studying customer behaviour in Islamic banking.

This study used a structured questionnaire administered to 380 customers of Islamic banks. The study used structural equation modelling and Process Macro test in the analysis.

The empirical findings of this study suggest that service quality is positively and significantly related to BRL and that BRL positively and significantly relates to BRA. Furthermore, the findings indicate that BRL mediates the relationship between service quality and BRA.

The findings of this study have revealed that the triangular theory of love and expectation-confirmation theory can be combined to explain the relationship between service quality and loving relationships among customers of Islamic banks.

The study provides ways in which service providers can use service qualities to manage BRL and addiction. Based on the positive and significant relationships, managers of Islamic banks can build service qualities that are vital for creating BRL and BRA.

The link between service quality, BRL and BRA is not adequately established, especially in Islamic banking. This is important to be established because studying consumer psychology is currently considered a vital strategy for customer repurchasing and switching barriers in the modern banking business. Furthermore, integrating two theories, the triangular theory of love and expectation-confirmation theory, provide a new way of combining two theoretical aspects from different disciplines.

Many organizations have reported significant benefits after the implementation of Lean Six Sigma (LSS). Embracing LSS requires asking some important questions: How Lean Six Sigma Readiness (LESIRE) can be measured? How can an organization identify the barriers for LESIRE? Answers to these questions are critical to both academicians and practitioners. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

This study illustrates the development process of a Lean Six Sigma Readiness (LESIRE) evaluation model to assess an organization’s readiness for LSS deployment using the fuzzy approach. The model was developed from 4 enablers, 16 criteria and 46 attributes of LSS, identified through a literature review.

To demonstrate the efficiency of the model, this study testing the LESIRE evaluation model in three Indian SMEs. Using experts’ ratings and weight, the researchers calculated the Fuzzy Lean Six Sigma index (FLSS) which indicates the LESIRE level of an organization and the Fuzzy Performance Importance Index (FPII) that helps to identify the barriers for LESIRE.

The main limitations of this study are that it did not consider the failure factors of LSS for model development and the LESIRE was only tested in manufacturing industries. Thus, future researchers could focus on developing a model with failure factors. The results obtained from the SMEs show that LESIRE is capable of assessing LESIRE in an industrial scenario and helps practitioners to measure LESIRE for the future decision making process.

The LESIRE model is easy to understand and use without much computation complexity. This simplicity makes the LESIRE evaluation model unique from other LSS models. Further, LESIRE was tested in three different SMEs, and it aided them to identify and improve their weak areas, thereby readying them for LSS deployment.

The main contribution of this study it proposes a LESIRE model that evaluates the organization for FLSS and FPII for LESIRE, which is essential for the organization embarking on an LSS journey. Further, it improves the readiness of the organization that is already practicing LSS.