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This article examines the issues related to US foreign‐trade zones as perceived by the zone managers. A longitudinal study of foreign‐trade zone managers was conducted. The results of the two surveys and an extensive dialogue with foreign‐trade zone managers suggest a continuing lack of awareness and understanding of the benefits of zone operations on the part of potential zone users. Implications are discussed from a marketing management perspective.

In the previous decade several studies have appeared that touch upon the subject of inter‐organisational strategic alliances (SA). Our knowledge on international SAs and the factors that govern these alliances is still limited. This paper will develop a model for the governance structure in international SAs. Based on a number of case studies, it is argued that three factors govern international SAs. These are relational, ethical and institutional factors. These three factors govern exchange in international SAs, contain opportunism and prevent defection from SAs.

This research paper highlights the economic impact on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) due to Coronavirus outbreaks. It proposes factors that influence the strengthening and survival of SMEs.

In this research, resilience is reflected in the following aspects hope, problem resolution and persistence. This quantitative study analyses a purposive sample of 120 small and medium-sized firms in India. The study's primary data are the responses to questionnaires issued to respondents, analyzed and hypotheses formed and tested using the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique.

The study results show that all the variables significantly reduce the impact of COVID-19 on SMEs. The presented model is expected to help researchers, business modelers, analysts and real professionals with further studies in the SME context.

This new approach adds to the business resilience knowledge of SMEs and has practical implications for manufacturing organizations seeking to become robust during and after COVID-19.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the importance of service quality aspects from the perspective of University of Tehran Central Library users. It also aims to measure how successful the library has been in meeting users' needs by providing good and reliable services.

The research was conducted among library users. In order to meet the objectives of the study, SERVPERF methodology was used. Information was gathered via questionnaires which consisted of structured questions. All the closed ended questions were designed to elicit responses on a five‐point Likert scale to measure both respondent satisfaction and perception of service quality.

The results show that, although University of Tehran Central Library has conducted several programs for improving its services, because of the lack of identifying the most important aspects of service quality in their customers' ideas, the efforts for providing customer satisfaction has failed to a great extent.

This paper will be helpful to libraries planning to implement a quality management system to improve their quality service and increase customer satisfaction through continuous improvement.

The concept of service quality assessment through SERVPERF is relatively a new concept among Iranian libraries and there is a lack of previous studies using this methodology in assessing perceived quality of academic libraries. Thus, this paper can be used as a guide for academic libraries that are interested in measuring customer satisfaction in order to excel in offering high quality services.

This study aims to use institutional and upper echelons theories to comprehensively investigate the intricate interplay between TMT legal expertise and firms' adaptive strategies in legal contexts, notably within emerging economies. It explores how upper echelons experiences shape opportunistic compliance strategies, impacting value and risk perceptions. Drawing on upper echelons theory, the research probes how TMT legal expertise molds firms’ involvement in significant lawsuits, accounting for influential roles. It scrutinizes TMT’s impact on legal strategies, positing that managerial discretion emerges from environmental factors, organizational attributes and executive traits. The study underscores TMT’s internal incentives and external factors’ interplay, molding strategic legal engagement.

To validate this framework, statistical analysis is performed on data from 2,584 Chinese-listed firms. The data set spans 2010–2015, with 5,713 material lawsuits. Chosen due to reliable institutional-level incentives data from the China Market Index Database, years 2016–2019 are excluded for methodological disparities. Moreover, 2007–2009 is omitted to mitigate the potential financial crisis impact. This study’s 11,272 observations ensure robust empirical exploration, offering insights into the interplay of TMT legal expertise, institutional factors and firms’ legal strategies.

The study reveals that firms led by executives with legal expertise are more prone to engage in significant lawsuits, indicating strategic use of legal skills. TMT age moderates this, with older teams less likely to engage. TMT tenure’s effect remains unclear due to tenure-risk preference complexity. Institutional factors matter; less legally mature regions reduce managers’ legal risk intention. Results confirm hypotheses and highlight executive human capital’s impact on firms’ legal strategies.

This study acknowledges contributions while highlighting limitations, including the need for detailed distinctions in lawsuit roles and exploration of heterogeneous TMT power dynamics. Further research is proposed for nuanced power dynamics and comprehensive TMT legal background data. The study advances upper echelons theory by introducing TMT legal expertise as a factor influencing strategic lawsuit behavior. It challenges institutional theory by showing the adaptable legal context, beyond fixed constraints. Moderating factors – group risk attitude and external knowledge – deepen understanding of upper echelons’ impact. Enhanced data collection is encouraged to address limitations and refine findings.

This study’s implications extend to managerial practices. Firms should acknowledge the dynamic legal system, using TMT legal expertise for strategic legal challenges. Executives should pragmatically approach regulations. While legal professionals enhance compliance, caution is needed in selecting TMT members with legal expertise due to the risk of misusing it for unnecessary litigation, potentially misaligned with financial performance goals.

This study combines institutional and upper echelons theories to explore TMT legal expertise’s impact on firms’ adaptive strategies in emerging economies. It challenges the idea of a universally constraining legal environment and highlights how TMT legal expertise enhances firms’ management of complex legal risks. The research introduces TMT legal expertise as an influencing factor in strategic lawsuits, revealing nuanced relationships between legal contexts and strategic decisions. The findings enrich upper echelons theory, challenge conventional institutional views and identify moderating factors that deepen the understanding of upper echelons’ influence in legal landscapes.

This paper aims to test and compare the relative efficacy of three measuring instruments of service quality (namely Higher Education PERFormance (HEdPERF), SERVPERF and the moderating scale of HEdPERF‐SERVPERF) within a higher education setting. The objective was to determine which instrument had the superior measuring capability in terms of unidimensionality, reliability, validity and explained variance.

After a pilot test, data were collected from students in two public universities, one private university and three private colleges in Malaysia between January and March 2004, by the “contact person” route. From a total of 560 questionnaires, 381 were usable: a response rate of 68.0 per cent. This sample of nearly 400,000 students in Malaysian tertiary institutions was in line with the generalized scientific guideline for sample size decisions. Data were subjected to regression analysis.

A modified five‐factor structure of HEdPERF is put forward as the most appropriate scale for the higher education sector.

Since this study only examined the respective utilities of each instrument within a single industry, any suggestion that the HEdPERF is generally superior would still be premature. Nonetheless, the current findings do provide some important insights into how these instruments of service quality compare with one another.

The single dominant factor on this study is “access”, which has clear implications for institutions' marketing strategies.

This is believed to be the first study of its kind carried out among consumers of the higher education service.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically test a new industry‐specific scale, HEdPERF (Higher Education PERFormance) to capture the authentic determinants of service quality within higher education sector.

The primary goal of this research was to test and compare the relative efficacy of HEdPERF against SERVPERF in order to determine which instrument had the superior measuring capability.

In terms of unidimensionality, reliability, and validity, HEdPERF explained variance within the higher education setting better in comparison to SERVPERF.

Since this study only examined the respective utilities of each instrument within a single industry, in only one national setting, any suggestion that the HEdPERF is generally superior would still be premature.

The current findings do provide some important insights into how the instruments of service quality compare with one another, in a typical higher education context.

An attempt is made in the paper, to develop critical insights into comparative evaluation of service quality measurement instruments.

The authors analyse a growth model to explain how economic fluctuations are primarily driven by productive capacities (i.e. capacity utilization driven by innovations and know-how) and productive inefficiencies.

This study’s methodology consists of the combination of the economic growth model, à la Solow–Swan, with a sigmoidal production function (in capital), which may explain growth, poverty traps or fluctuations depending on the relative levels of inefficiencies, productive capacities or lack of know-how.

The authors show that economies may experience economic growth, poverty traps and/or fluctuations (i.e. cycles). Economic growth is reached when an economy experiences both a low level of inefficiencies and a high level of productive capacities while an economy falls into a poverty trap when there is a high level of inefficiencies in production. Instead, the economy gets in cycles when there is a large level of the lack of know-how and low levels of productive capacity.

The authors conclude that more capital per capita (greater savings and investment) and greater productive capacity (with less lack of know-how) are the economic policy keys for an economy being on the path of sustained economic growth.

This article stresses the importance of investment to the firm and the economy. The author argues that the level of investment is largely determined by the balance between the expected rate of return and the cost of capital.