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1 – 10 of 15Nur Faiza Ishak and Vinesh Thiruchelvam
The purpose of this study is to discuss policy review in the interest of sustainable innovations in Malaysia’s public procurement. This study also offers the overall relationship…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to discuss policy review in the interest of sustainable innovations in Malaysia’s public procurement. This study also offers the overall relationship between existing policies related to sustainable innovations in public procurement and the coherences towards the four dimensions of sustainable innovations.
Design/methodology/approach
This study outlines the current policies in Malaysia which are related to sustainable innovation initiatives and explores the cohesiveness that appears disconnected and understood separately. Policy content analysis is conducted on the current policies related to sustainable innovations in the context of Malaysia’s public procurement.
Findings
This study observed that the current policies related to sustainable innovations in public procurement are actually interconnected with each other through a hierarchical framework. This study also demonstrates that the 12th Malaysia Plan has comprehensively encompassed every aspect of the environment, social, economic and innovation to contribute to one primary goal – green economic growth.
Research limitations/implications
The proposed policy framework is expected to be beneficial for the administrator executive among the civil servant to connect the independent policies and, at the same time, contribute to the overall goal of green economic growth. Through a broad policy structure too, this study helps the industry player to recognize their potential in any area related to sustainable innovation.
Originality/value
The policy framework illustrated is new to the literature, especially in Malaysia’s context. The compilation of current policy grounded by the 12th Malaysia Plan has not been presented in any publications.
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Astha Sharma, Dinesh Kumar and Navneet Arora
The purpose of the present work is to improve the industry performance by identifying and quantifying the risks faced by the Indian pharmaceutical industry (IPI). The risk values…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the present work is to improve the industry performance by identifying and quantifying the risks faced by the Indian pharmaceutical industry (IPI). The risk values for the prominent risks and overall industry are determined based on the four risk parameters, which would help determine the most contributive risks for mitigation.
Design/methodology/approach
An extensive literature survey was done to identify the risks, which were also validated by industry experts. The finalized risks were then evaluated using the fuzzy synthetic evaluation (FSE) method, which is the most suitable approach for the risk assessment with parameters having a set of different risk levels.
Findings
The three most contributive sub-risks are counterfeit drugs, demand fluctuations and loss of customers due to partners' poor service performance, while the main risks obtained are demand, financial and logistics. Also, the overall risk value indicates that the industry faces medium to high risk.
Practical implications
The study identifies the critical risks which need to be mitigated for an efficient industry. The industry is most vulnerable to the demand risk category. Therefore, the managers should minimize this risk by mitigating its sub-risks, like demand fluctuations, bullwhip effect, etc. Another critical sub-risk, the counterfeit risk, should be managed by adopting advanced technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence, etc.
Originality/value
There is insufficient literature focusing on risk quantification. Therefore, this work addresses this gap and obtains the industry's most critical risks. It also discusses suitable mitigation strategies for better industry performance.
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Van Hau Nguyen, Thi Hao Nguyen, Lan Huong Mai, Thi Thu Phuong Nguyen, Thi Mai Lan Nguyen and Thi Phuong Linh Nguyen
The purpose of this paper is to investigate factors affecting Vietnamese people’s sustainable tourism intention (IN) with extended the theory of planned behavior (TPB).
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate factors affecting Vietnamese people’s sustainable tourism intention (IN) with extended the theory of planned behavior (TPB).
Design/methodology/approach
Preliminary quantitative research was carried out before large-scale formal quantitative research with a sample size of 628 Vietnamese people. Using the partial least squares structural equation modeling method with the SmartPLS tool, measurement and structural models 3.0 were evaluated before testing the research hypotheses about the influence of factors on the IN of sustainable tourism.
Findings
This study uses the extended TPB model with original constructs and two additional constructs, travel motivation (TM) and moral reflectiveness (MR), to find out the factors affecting the sustainable tourism IN of Vietnamese people. All hypotheses are accepted, except for the hypothesis about the relationship between TM and attitude toward sustainable tourism. MR has been shown to have a more positive and stronger (insignificant) effect than other factors of the proposed research model on sustainable tourism IN. Thereby, this study contributes both theoretically and practically to policymakers, researchers and tourism enterprises in promoting sustainable tourism IN.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitation of this paper is the deliberate sampling method and targeting the demographic proportion corresponding to the population has lost the randomness of the survey sample.
Practical implications
The findings indicate that state management agencies and tourism enterprises in Vietnam need to pay attention to communication to raise awareness of environmentally oriented tourism and promote the ability to participate in sustainable tourism at a reasonable price as well as the opportunity for easy access and, at the same time, take measures to influence TM and have communication strategies that address the ethical value of participating in sustainable tourism.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first empirical study to contribute to the existing literature on tourism by integrating TPB constructs with TM and MR to predict sustainable tourism IN.
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Hasyim Haddade, Askar Nur, Muhammad Nur Akbar Rasyid and Abd Raviq R.
The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the strategy and innovation of the Faculty of Adab and Humanities in developing the quality of education in digital era by using…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the strategy and innovation of the Faculty of Adab and Humanities in developing the quality of education in digital era by using anthropology of education approach.
Design/methodology/approach
In accordance with the research purpose to demonstrate the strategy and innovation of the Faculty of Adab and Humanities in developing the quality of education in the digital era using an educational anthropology approach, the method used is descriptive qualitative, which refers to data in the form of interviews obtained from the field.
Findings
The results of this research indicate that there are strategies and innovations to develop the quality of higher education at the Faculty of Adab and Humanities in the digital era. These include adjusting the curriculum with the context of the era, implementing the learning process based on research and reinforcing on aspects of digital literacy among students through the innovation of the library based on digital.
Originality/value
This study can be considered in the process of evaluating policies related to quality reinforcing strategies and innovations at the Faculty of Adab and Humanities in facing the challenges of the times. The study is only limited to tracing and analyzing strategies and innovations to reinforce education in the Faculty of Adab and Humanities and their impact on human resource development. For further research, it can be done in more detail and depth and on a larger scale.
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Ana Elena Builes-Vélez, Juliana Restrepo and Juan Diego Diego Martínez
This paper aims to identify how the faculties of a Colombian University have understood the concept of sustainability and the way they have embedded it into their training.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to identify how the faculties of a Colombian University have understood the concept of sustainability and the way they have embedded it into their training.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative research was done using documentary and content analysis which allowed researchers to recognize features correlated to sustainability which are needed to promote and act for social equity, ecological care and economic development.
Findings
It was found that most faculties at the university do not conceptualize it; ergo, courses are designed neither for promoting sustainability nor sustainable education. Besides this, almost no level of integration was identified among faculties on this topic.
Research limitations/implications
Many people agree education for sustainability is a key action to overcome the complex challenges the planet is facing; nevertheless, the prejudice that training to solve sustainability problems is an exclusive task of certain disciplines is common. This misunderstanding reduces the possibilities of pursuing a sustainable future, considering that these issues affect all humankind and that they can only be solved through interdisciplinary and collaborative work.
Practical implications
The paper also outlines some actions that Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (UPB) can take to consider sustainability issues, and they are as follows: identification of competencies to include in the curricula; recognition of the potential of integrating education for sustainable development (ESD) into the curricula by strengthening the competencies and capacities; strengthening the competencies and capacities of the academic staff through ESD training processes; articulation of research with the curricula in such a way that the results of research processes permeate the curricula.
Social implications
This study has some limitations. For instance, regarding the survey, the size of the sample may seem too small, a bigger sample will allow better information for the results. Regarding the case studies, a greater diversity of programs could have provided a wider range of results. Despite these limitations, for UPB, the study shows a snapshot of the literature review and the articulation of sustainable development and climate change education (CCE) in all programs the university has. The implications of this paper and research are the following. First, it reiterates the importance of having within the same institution a common language to talk about sustainability. Second, it recognizes the competencies and skills that should considered when implementing ESD and CCE in curricula.
Originality/value
This idea corresponds to a lack of debate about what the term signifies and means. It is believed that, as sustainability has been highly researched in the past two decades, it is a cross-cutting element in any faculty proposal; however, due to the complexity of the term, it is understood differently by each member of the same academic community, affecting their ability to design a systemic and systematic curriculum that enables to educate for sustainable goals.
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Mohsen Rajabzadeh, Seyed Meysam Mousavi and Farzad Azimi
This paper investigates a problem in a reverse logistics (RLs) network to decide whether to dispose of unsold goods in primary stores or re-commercialize them in outlet centers…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper investigates a problem in a reverse logistics (RLs) network to decide whether to dispose of unsold goods in primary stores or re-commercialize them in outlet centers. By deducting the costs associated with each policy from its revenue, this study aims to maximize the profit from managing unsold goods.
Design/methodology/approach
A new mixed-integer linear programming model has been developed to address the problem, which considers the selling prices of products in primary and secondary stores and the costs of transportation, cross-docking and returning unwanted items. As a result of uncertain nature of the cost and time parameters, gray numbers are used to deal with it. In addition, an innovative uncertain solution approach for gray programming problems is presented that considers objective function satisfaction level as an indicator of optimism.
Findings
According to the results, higher costs, including transportation, cross-docking and return costs, make sending goods to outlet centers unprofitable and more goods are disposed of in primary stores. Prices in primary and secondary stores heavily influence the number of discarded goods. Higher prices in primary stores result in more disposed of goods, while higher prices in secondary stores result in fewer. As a result of the proposed method, the objective function satisfaction level can be viewed as a measure of optimism.
Originality/value
An integral contribution of this study is developing a new mixed-integer linear programming model for selecting the appropriate goods for re-commercialization and choosing the best outlet center based on the products' price and total profit. Another novelty of the proposed model is considering the matching percentage of boxes with secondary stores’ desired product lists and the probability of returning goods due to non-compliance with delivery dates. Moreover, a new uncertain solution approach is developed to solve mathematical programming problems with gray parameters.
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Benedetta Coluccia, Pamela Palmi and Mladen Krstić
The present study is aimed at developing a multi-level framework for assessing circularity in agri-food industries by providing the user with a step-by-step approach and selecting…
Abstract
Purpose
The present study is aimed at developing a multi-level framework for assessing circularity in agri-food industries by providing the user with a step-by-step approach and selecting a customized set of indicators capable of accurately assessing the circular economy (CE) level.
Design/methodology/approach
The framework is composed of four stages. In the first stage, a CE theoretical model based on operations, product and services, culture, organization and ecosystem criteria has been implemented and adapted to the agri-food sector. In the second stage, users are required to collect a set of indicators capable of measuring each criterion. In the third stage, a weight is assigned to each indicator using analytical hierarchy process (AHP). Lastly, a geometric multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) model, called axial distance-based aggregated measurement (ADAM) model, is used to normalize, assess and aggregate the results and produce final scores for the different alternatives to be ranked based on their final circularity scores.
Findings
The model can be a useful tool to support corporate decisions in the CE, making entrepreneurs aware of their starting level. It indicates the extent to which companies are implementing circular business models across different dimensions and, thus, where they are still lacking.
Originality/value
Beyond the attempts to measure the circularity of corporate performance from a purely environmental perspective, the study adopts a holistic view, considering the complexity and disruption of all the principles of the CE.
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Gonzalo Lorenzo, Juan Antonio López-Núñez, Alejandro Lorenzo-Lledó and Jesús López-Belmonte
The aim of the study is to conduct a thematic review of assessment tools and types of activities in the application of robotics to autistic students during the period 1996–2021…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of the study is to conduct a thematic review of assessment tools and types of activities in the application of robotics to autistic students during the period 1996–2021 using Web of Science and Scopus. The sample consisted of 119 documents.
Design/methodology/approach
Nowadays, emerging technologies have become increasingly prevalent across various fields of knowledge. In this regard, robotics is being increasingly applied in the educational environment. The characteristics of this tool are the ones that best suit the needs of autistic students.
Findings
Results reveal that 16.80% of the studies used automatic measurement systems, whilst 15.96% of the studies used user observation and recording techniques. As for the tasks, 37.80% were focussed on imitation tasks. Amongst the practical implications is the need to include tasks that could be developed collaboratively in the regular classroom.
Originality/value
With this research, it is intended to disseminate in the scientific community what are the characteristics that should have the interaction activities between a robot and autistic students. In addition, the type of tool needed to evaluate the improvements in the interaction is proposed.
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