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National cultures significantly explain cross-country differences in the relation between asset growth and stock returns. Motivated by the notion that managers in individualistic and low uncertainty-avoiding cultures have a higher tendency to overinvest, this study aims to show that the negative relation between asset growth and stock returns is stronger in countries with such cultural features. Once the researchers control for cultural dimensions, proxies associated with the q-theory, limits-to-arbitrage, corporate governance, investor protection and accounting quality provide no incremental power for the relation between asset growth and stock returns across countries. Evidence of this study highlights the importance of the overinvestment hypothesis in explaining the asset growth anomaly around the world.

This study aims to examine the effect of social influence, environmental concerns and altruism on consumer purchase intention of eco-fashion (PIEF). In addition, this study, exploring the essential behavioral outcomes influenced in marketing, seeks to deepen the existing insight in this area.

To obtain the required data, the authors surveyed a group of people with previous experience in the purchase of eco-friendly apparel. The research hypotheses were tested using the structural equation modeling technique.

According to the results, social influence had the most significant impact on PIEF. Also, environmental concerns and altruism had a significant effect on PIEF. The results further indicated that eco-fashion purchase intention, in turn, influenced consumer willingness to engage in eWOM and pay a price premium.

The results of the present study guide marketing practitioners for the segmentation of target consumers, as the information on consumers’ natural needs and desires in a socio-cultural context is of significant use to fashion managers to understand their customers deeply. This information also helps them discover better ways of designing their marketing campaigns.

This paper contributes to research by advancing an understanding of how consumers make eco-fashion consumption decisions in purchasing apparel and provides businesses with managerial insights into devising marketing strategies to promote eco-fashion consumption, which facilitates fashion companies’ development of a sustainable fashion supply chain.

Este estudio examina el efecto de los factores influencia social, preocupación medioambiental y altruismo en la intención de compra de moda ecológica (PIEF) por parte de los consumidores. Además, este estudio, que explora los importantes resultados conductuales influenciados en el área del marketing, pretende profundizar en los conocimientos existentes en esta área.

Se encuesto a un grupo de personas con experiencia previa en la compra de ropa ecológica. Las hipótesis de la investigación se contrastaron con SEM.

La influencia social fue la que más influyó en el PIEF. Asimismo, la preocupación por el medio ambiente y el altruismo tuvieron un efecto significativo en el PIEF. Los resultados indicaron además que la intención de compra de moda ecológica, a su vez, influía en la disposición del consumidor a participar en el eWOM y a pagar un sobreprecio.

Los resultados del presente estudio orientan a los profesionales del marketing en la segmentación de los consumidores objetivo, ya que la información sobre las necesidades y deseos naturales de los consumidores en un contexto sociocultural es de gran utilidad para que los gestores de la moda conozcan en profundidad a sus clientes. Esta información también les ayuda a descubrir mejores formas de diseñar sus campañas de marketing.

El artículo contribuye a la investigación al avanzar en la comprensión de cómo los consumidores toman decisiones de consumo de moda ecológica en la compra de prendas de vestir y proporciona a las empresas ideas de gestión para diseñar estrategias de marketing que promuevan el consumo de moda ecológica, lo que facilita a las empresas de moda el desarrollo de una cadena de suministro de moda sostenible.

环境关注和利他主义等因素对消费者购买环保时装意向（PIEF）的影响。此外, 这项研究探讨了在营销领域有影响的重要行为结果, 试图深化这一领域的现有见解。

我们调查了一组有购买生态友好服装经验的人使用结构方程模型（SEM）方法对研究假设进行了检验。

社会影响对PIEF的影响最大。此外, 对环境的关注和利他主义对PIEF也有重大影响。结果进一步表明, 环保时装的购买意向反向影响了消费者参与eWOM和支付价格溢价的意愿。

且结果只限于环保时装消费。

本研究的结果为营销从业者提供了关于细分目标消费群体的指导。消费者在特定社会文化背景下的自然需求和欲望等信息对于时尚经理人深入了解他们的顾客来说有重要作用, 而这些信息也有助于他们探索更好地设计营销活动的方法。

为企业提供了设计促进环保时装消费的营销策略的管理建议。这促进了时尚公司发展可持续时尚供应链, 为该领域研究做出了贡献。

This study aims to explore how sustainable business models (SBM) can be developed within agri-innovation systems (AIS) and emphasize an integration of the two with a systemic understanding for reducing food loss and value loss in postharvest agri-food supply chain.

This study conducted longitudinal qualitative research in a developing country with food loss challenges in the postharvest supply chain. This study collected data through multiple rounds of fieldwork, interviews and focus groups over four years. Thematic analysis and “sensemaking” were used for inductive data analysis to generate rich contextual knowledge by drawing upon the lived realities of the agri-food supply chain actors.

First, this study finds that the value losses are varied in the supply chain, encompassing production value, intrinsic value, extrinsic value, market value, institutional value and future food value. This happens through two cumulative effects including multiplier losses, where losses in one model cascade into others, amplifying their impact and stacking losses, where the absence of data stacks or infrastructure pools hampers the realisation of food value. Thereafter, this study proposes four strategies for moving from the loss-incurring current business model to a networked SBM for mitigating losses. This emphasises the need to redefine ownership as stewardship, enable formal and informal beneficiary identification, strengthen value addition and build capacities for empowering communities to benefit from networked SBM with AIS initiatives. Finally, this study puts forth ten propositions for future research in aligning AIS with networked SBM.

This study contributes to understanding the interplay between AIS and SBM; emphasising the integration of the two to effectively address food loss challenges in the early stages of agri-food supply chains. The identified strategies and research propositions provide implications for researchers and practitioners seeking to accelerate sustainable practices for reducing food loss and waste in agri-food supply chains.

This study aims to investigate the feasibility of employing a multi-objectives integer-programming model for effective allocation of resources for cyberfraud mitigation. The formulated objectives are the minimisation of the total allocation cost of the anti-fraud capacities and the maximisation of the forensic accounting capacities in all cyberfraud incident prone spots.

From the literature survey conducted and primary qualitative data gathered from the 17 licenced banks in South Africa on fraud investigators, the suggested fraud investigators are the organisation’s finance department, the internal audit committee, the external risk manager, accountants and forensic accountants. These five human resource capacities were considered for the formulation of the multi-objectives integer programming (MOIP) model. The MOIP model is employed for the optimisation of the employed capacities for cyberfraud mitigation to ensure the effective allocation and utilisation of human resources. Thus, the MOIP model is validated by a genetic algorithm (GA) solver to obtain the Pareto-optimum solution without the violation of the identified constraints.

The formulated objective functions are optimised simultaneously. The Pareto front for the two objectives of the MOIP model comprises the set of optimal solutions, which are not dominated by any other feasible solution. These are the feasible choices, which indicate the suitability of the MOIP to achieve the set objectives.

The results obtained indicate the feasibility of simultaneously achieving the minimisation of the total allocation cost of the anti-fraud capacities, or the maximisation of the forensic accounting capacities in all cyberfraud incident prone spots – or the trade-off between them, if they cannot be reached simultaneously. This study recommends the use of an iterative MOIP framework for decision-makers which may aid decision-making with respect to the allocation and utilisation of human resources.

The originality of this work lies in the development of multi-objectives integer-programming model for effective allocation of resources for cyberfraud mitigation.

In this article, we offer a contribution to the ongoing study of food by advancing a conceptual framework and interdisciplinary research agenda – what we term “food system resilience”. In recent years, the concept of resilience has been extensively used in a variety of fields, but not always consistently or holistically. Here we aim to theorise systematically resilience as an analytical concept as it applies to food systems research. To do this, we engage with and seek to extend current understandings of resilience across different disciplines. Accordingly, we begin by exploring the different ways in which the concept of resilience is understood and used in current academic and practitioner literatures – both as a general concept and as applied specifically to food systems research. We show that the social-ecological perspective, rooted in an appreciation of the complexity of systems, carries significant analytical potential. We first underline what we mean by the food system and relate our understanding of this term to those commonly found in the extant food studies literature. We then apply our conception to the specific case of the UK. Here we distinguish between four subsystems at which our “resilient food systems” can be applied. These are, namely, the agro-food system; the value chain; the retail-consumption nexus; and the governance and regulatory framework. On the basis of this conceptualisation we provide an interdisciplinary research agenda, using the case of the UK to illustrate the sorts of research questions and innovative methodologies that our food systems resilience approach is designed to promote.

This study aims to examine how the adoption of digital technologies affects the business competitiveness of countries in Latin American and European countries.

This study used a structural model based on factors representing the pillars of the Global Competitiveness Index: financial system, adoption of information and communication technologies (ICT), skills, labor market, product market, macroeconomic stability, business dynamism and gross domestic product (GDP) purchasing power parity (PPP) as a percentage of the total world value. The authors considered 17 Latin American and 28 European countries. The model was analyzed by partial least squares-structural equation modeling.

ICT adoption in Latin American countries is a strong predictor of business dynamism (66% of the variance), skills (81% of the variance), product market (75% of the variance), labor market (42% of the variance) and financial system (49% of the variance). Similarly, ICT adoption in European countries is a strong predictor of business dynamism (35.6% of the variance), skills (72.2% of the variance), product market (51.6% of the variance), labor market (81.7% of the variance, but with a negative path coefficient) and financial system (38% of the variance).

Latin American countries should create policies to build skills to increase ICT adoption, and improve business and labor market dynamism. A theoretical implication is that the authors propose two structural models based on the GCI that best explains competitiveness in Europe and Latin America.

Using GCI data, the authors present empirical evidence on the predictors of competitiveness across 17 Latin American and 28 European countries with a special focus on the adoption of digital technologies.

This study aims to analyse how multinational corporations (MNCs) organise value chain activities to penetrate new market segments. It contributes by expanding traditional decisions regarding the vertical fine-slicing of value chain activities (whether performed internally or externally) and the consideration of resource-sharing decisions (integration or separation) for each value chain function.

The authors draw on primary data collected from two case study firms operating in the large emerging Chinese market: Volvo Construction Equipment AB and Epiroc AB. In-depth cases illustrate how foreign MNCs expand into new market segments and simultaneously target both the lower-priced mid-market and the premium segments in the Chinese mining and construction industry.

The results reveal that product diversification creates challenges for managers who must oversee new (vertical) value chains, often simultaneously. Beyond geography and modes of governance, managers must decide whether to integrate or separate value chain activities for the new product lines. The study identifies four main strategic choices for firms to address this complexity, focusing on the decision to internalise or externalise (i.e. within or across organisational boundaries) and integrate or separate value chain activities between different product lines.

This study builds upon the internalisation theory and recent international business contributions that focus on value chain configurations to explain MNCs’ product diversification as a growth strategy in a host emerging market. It also sheds light on the choice of conducting new activities in-house or externally and elucidates firms’ managerial decisions to operationally integrate or separate individual value chain activities. The study provides insights into the drivers explaining managerial decisions to configure value chain activities across product lines and contributes to the growing body of literature on MNC activities in emerging economies by highlighting that product diversification impacts entry mode diversity and resource sharing across units.

The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of sports sponsorship on brand equity using two managerially related outcomes: price premium and market share.

This study uses a best–worst discrete choice experiment (BWDCE) and compares the outcome with that of the purchase intention scale, an established probabilistic measure of purchase intention. The total sample consists of 409 fans of three soccer teams sponsored by three different competing brands: Nike, Adidas and Puma.

With sports sponsorship, fans were willing to pay more for the sponsor’s product, with the sponsoring brand obtaining the highest market share. Prominent brands generally performed better than less prominent brands. The best–worst scaling method was also 35% more accurate in predicting brand choice than a purchase intention scale.

Future research could use the same method to study other types of sponsors, such as title sponsors or other product categories.

Sponsorship managers can use this methodology to assess the return on investment in sponsorship engagement.

Prior sponsorship studies on brand equity tend to ignore market share or fans’ willingness to pay a price premium for a sponsor’s goods and services. However, these two measures are crucial in assessing the effectiveness of sponsorship. This study demonstrates how to conduct such an assessment using the BWDCE method. It provides a clearer picture of sponsorship in terms of its economic value, which is more managerially useful.

This study examines the relationship between environmental building certification Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM-NL) and office rents in the Dutch office market.

A hedonic price model was used to assess the impact of BREEAM certification on office rents. The study is based on 4,355 rent transactions in the period 2015 to mid-2022, in which 331 transactions took place in certified office buildings and 4,024 transactions in non-certified office buildings.

The results provide empirical evidence on quantitative economic benefits of BREEAM-certified offices in the Netherlands. After controlling for all important office rent determinants, the results show a rental premium for certified office buildings of 10.3% on average. The green premiums highly differ across submarkets and vary between 5.1 and 12.6% in the five largest Dutch cities. Additionally, the results show significant positive correlation between BREEAM-NL label score and rents, whereby better performing buildings generally command higher rents.

The study contributes to the current literature on green building economics by providing, as one of the first, empirical evidence on the existence of financial benefits for BREEAM-certified office buildings in the Dutch office market.

The authors consider the mutual benefits of the ceding company and reinsurance company in the design of reinsurance contracts. Two objective functions to maximize social expected utilities are established, which are to maximize the sum of the expected utilities of both the ceding company and reinsurance company, and to maximize their products. The first objective function, additive, emphasizes the total gains of both parties, while the second, multiplicative, accounts for the degree of substitution of gains of one party through the loss of the other party. The optimal price and retention of reinsurance are found by a grid search method, and numerical analysis is conducted. The results indicate that the optimal solutions for two objective functions are quite different. However, optimal solutions are sensitive to the change of the means and volatilities of the claim loss for both objective functions. The results are potentially valuable to insurance regulators and government entities acting as reinsurers of last resort.

In this paper, the authors apply relatively simple, but in the view significant, methods and models to discuss the optimization of excess loss reinsurance strategy. The authors only consider the influence of loss distribution on optimal retention and reinsurance price but neglect the investment factor. The authors also consider the benefits of both ceding company and reinsurance company to determine optimal premium and retention of reinsurance jointly based on maximizing social utility: the sum (or the product) of expected utilities of reinsurance company and ceding company. The authors solve for optimal solutions numerically, applying simulation.

This paper establishes two optimization models of excess-of-loss reinsurance contract against catastrophic losses to determine optimal premium and retention. One model considers the sum of the expected utilities of a ceding company and a reinsurance company's expected utility; another considers the product of them. With an example, the authors find the optimal solutions of premium and retention of excess loss reinsurance. Finally, the authors carry out the sensitivity analysis. The results show that increasing the means and the volatilities of claim loss will increase the optimal retention and premium. For objective function I, increasing the coefficients of risk aversion of or reducing the coefficients of risk aversion of will make the optimal retention reduced but the optimal premium increased, and vice versa. However, for objective function 2, the change of coefficient of risk aversion has no effect on optimal solutions.

Utility of the two partners: The ceding company and the reinsurance company, may have different weights and different significance. The authors have not studied their relative significance. The simulation approach in numerical methods limits us to the probability distributions and stochastic processes the authors use, based on, generally speaking, lognormal models of rates of return. This may need to be generalized to other returns, including possible models of shocks through jump processes.

In the recent two decades, reinsurance companies have played a great role in hedging mega-catastrophic losses. For example, reinsurance companies (and special loss sharing arrangements) paid as much as two-thirds of the insured losses for the September 11, 2001 tragedy. Furthermore, large catastrophic events have increased the role of governments and regulators as reinsurers of last resort. The authors hope that the authors provide guidance for possible balancing of the needs of two counterparties to reinsurance contracts.

Nearly all governments around the world are engaged in regulation of insurance and reinsurance, and some are reinsurers themselves. The authors provide guidance for them in these activities.

The authors believe this paper to be a completely new and original contribution in the area, by providing models for balancing the utility to the ceding insurance company and the reinsurance company.

我們探討分出公司和再保險公司在再保險合約的設計上、如何能達至互利互惠。研究確立了兩個目標函數，分別為把分出公司和再保險公司兩者之預期效用的總和最大化，以及把它們的產品最佳化。第一個目標函數是加法的，強調兩個參與方的總增益;而第二個目標函數則是乘法的，這個目標函數，闡釋參與方因另一方虧損而有所收益之取代度。再保險的最佳價格和自留額是利用網格搜索法找出的，數值分析也予以進行。研究結果顯示，兩個目標函數的最佳解決方案甚為不同。唯最佳解決方案會對就這兩個目標函數而言的追討損失的波動、以及其平均值之改變產生敏感反應。研究結果將會見其價值於作為在萬不得已的時候的再保險人的保險業規管機構和政府實體。

在這學術論文裡，我們採用了相對簡單、但我們認為是重要的方法和模型，來探討超額賠款再保險策略的優化課題。我們只考慮虧損分佈對最佳自留額和再保險價格的影響，而不去檢視投資因素。我們亦考慮對分出公司和再保險公司兩者的利益，來釐定最佳保費和再保險的自留額，而這兩者則共同建基於把社會效益最大化之上：再保險公司和分出公司的預期效益的總和 (或其積數) 。 我們採用類比模仿方法、來解決尋求在數字上最佳解決方案的問題。

本研究建立了就應對嚴重虧損而設的兩個超額賠款再保險合約的優化模型，來釐定最佳的保費和自留額。其中一個模型考慮了分出公司和再保險公司兩者各自的預期效益的總和。另外的一個模型則考慮了兩者的預期效益的積數。透過例子，我們找到了保費和超額虧損再保險自留額的最佳解決方案。最後，我們進行了敏感度分析。研究結果顯示、若增加追討損失的平均值和波動，則最佳自留額和保費也會隨之而增加。就第一個目標函數而言，若增加風險規避係數、或減少這個係數，則最佳自留額會隨之而減少，但最佳保費卻會隨之而增加，反之亦然。唯就第二個目標函數而言，風險規避係數的改變，對最佳解決方案是沒有影響的。

• – 有關的兩個夥伴之效用性：分出公司和再保險公司或有不同的份量和重要性。我們沒有探討兩者的相對重要性。

• – 我們以數值方法為核心的類比模仿研究法、使我們局限於機率分配和一般而言建基於投資報酬率對數常態模型之隨機過程的使用。我們或許需要調節研究法。以能概括其它回報收益，包括透過跳躍過程而可能達至之沖擊模型。

– 有關的兩個夥伴之效用性：分出公司和再保險公司或有不同的份量和重要性。我們沒有探討兩者的相對重要性。

– 我們以數值方法為核心的類比模仿研究法、使我們局限於機率分配和一般而言建基於投資報酬率對數常態模型之隨機過程的使用。我們或許需要調節研究法。以能概括其它回報收益，包括透過跳躍過程而可能達至之沖擊模型。

在過去20年裡，再保險公司在控制極嚴重災難性的損失上曾扮演重要的角色。例如、再保險公司 (以及特殊的損失分擔安排) 為了2001年9月11日的災難事件而支付多至保險損失的三分之二的費用。而且，重大的災難性事件使政府及作為最後出路再保險人的調控者得扮演更重要的角色。我們希望研究結果能為再保險合約兩對手提供指導，以平衡雙方的需要。

全球差不多每個政府都參與保險和再保險的管理工作，有部份更加本身就是再保險人。研究結果為他們的管理工作提供了指導。

我們相信本學術論文、提供了平衡分出保險公司和再保險公司效用性的模型，就此而言，本論文在相關的領域上作出了全新和獨創性的貢獻。