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This paper analyses J1 League and J2 League clubs during the period 2011–2020 to anticipate financial distress.

Data were collected for 29 professional football clubs competing in the J1 and J2 League for the financial years ending 2011–2020. Analysis was conducted using Altman’s Z-score methodology and additional statistical tests were conducted to measure differences between groups.

The results show significant cases of financial distress amongst clubs in both divisions and that clubs that have played predominantly in the J1 League are in significantly poorer financial health than clubs that have played predominantly in the J2 League. Overall, the financial situation in Japanese professional football needs to be monitored, a position that could be exacerbated by the economic crisis, caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

While the financial situation for a majority of the clubs in the J-League presents an austere picture, comparison with clubs in other leagues across Asia and Europe and understanding the different policies set by these leagues would enable us to understand whether the phenomenon of financial distress is common to other clubs and leagues across different countries and continents.

The paper recommends that J-League visit the existing club licensing criteria and implement equitable cost-control measures, such as implementing a cap on acceptable losses over a specified period or restricting overall expenditures as a percentage of the club’s revenue.

The paper extends the evidence base of measuring financial distress in professional team sports and is also the first paper of its kind to examine this in relation to Asian professional football.

Rice is an important grain in Indian scenarios, and the purpose of the research work is to identify the attributes which can be the possible barriers in the traditional rice supply chain network.

A multilevel conceptual model is developed based on the literature review, and a field study is conducted by administering a questionnaire from the experts. Fuzzy logic methodology and a ranking score method is applied to identify the rice supply chain performance and the barriers of the traditional rice supply chain network.

The rice supply chain performance index for the traditional rice supply chain network is obtained, and the performance of the existing rice supply chain is found to be “fair”. The “information flow” is the attribute that can be a critical weak attribute in the traditional rice supply chain network. A proposed model of the blockchain technology-enabled rice supply chain network is developed as a solution for the “information flow” barrier.

The present research work is focussed on the generalized rice supply chain model of the Indian scenario, and more detailed studies can be carried out based on the regional issues.

The rice supply chain plays an important role in Indian economic development, and hence the current research paper focusses on identifying the barriers and the performance of the existing rice supply chain network.

The study investigates the connections that university buildings and campuses establish with their environments and the effects of their environments on universities. Many factors influence the location of universities in a particular region. The initial university settlement and the subsequent facilities needed by university branches, colleges, or faculties are related to each other by the time parameter Istanbul, a historical city that is also Turkey’s largest, hosts several state and founding universities. This study investigates the connections between the urban areas where university campuses in Istanbul are located within the city and the specific characteristics of universities.

We evaluate the data on university locations in the city to determine the relationships between their establishment date, size, type, place of location in the city, and unique characteristics. The analysis is based on data for occupancy rate, satisfaction level, university ranking, and space area per student.

Results: Campus areas are affected by the availability of public transport and other amenities in urban areas. There are also interactions between meeting students’ satisfaction, university ranking, and public perceptions of the university and campus location in the city.

This study investigates the connections between the urban areas where university campuses in Istanbul are located within the city and the specific characteristics of universities.

Small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) that operate with modest financial investments and commodities face numerous challenges to remain in business. One major philosophy used by SMEs these days is the implementation of lean manufacturing to get solutions for various issues they encounter. But is lean getting sustained over time? The purpose of this research is to design a Sustainable Lean Performance Index (SLPI) to assess the sustainability of lean systems and to pinpoint the variables that might be present as potential lean system inhibitors which hinder the sustainability of leanness.

A multi-level sustainable lean performance model is constructed and presented based on the literature research, field investigation and survey conducted by administering a questionnaire. Fuzzy logic approach is used to analyse the multi-level model.

SLPI for the SMEs is found using fuzzy logic approach. Additionally, the ranking score system is applied to categorise attributes into weak and strong categories. The performance of the current lean system is determined to be “fair” based on the Euclidean distance approach and the SLPI for SMEs.

This work is concentrated only in South India because of the country’s vast geographical area and rich and wide diversity in industrial culture of the nation. Hence, more work can be done incorporating the other parts of the country and can analyse the lean behaviour in a comparative manner.

The generalised sustainable lean model analysed using fuzzy logic identifies the inhibitors and level of performance of SMEs in South India. This can be implemented to find out the level of performance in the SMEs after a deeper study and analysis around the SMEs of the country.

The sustainable assessment of lean parameters in the SMEs of India is found to be very less in literature, and it lacks profundity. The model established in this study assesses the sustainability of the lean methodology adopted in SMEs by considering the lean and sustainability attributes along with enablers like technology, ethics, customer satisfaction and innovation with the aid of fuzzy logic.

Democratic countries all over the world are embarking on initiatives to empower citizens through public participation. One of the tools used by countries to promote public participation is the enactment and implementation of freedom of information (FOI) legislation, as it is the case with South Africa and Zimbabwe. Despite having legislation reaffirming the need for people’s right to know, practices in South Africa and Zimbabwe indicate the opposite. The purpose of this study is to explore FOI models in South Africa and Zimbabwe, with a view to recommend ways in which people’s right to know can be promoted.

This qualitative study used interviews to collect the data from 12 FOI experts in South Africa and Zimbabwe, who were selected through the snowball sampling technique. Data collected through interviews were supplemented by the data collected through document analysis.

The study concluded that the key role players need to make efforts to ensure that the right to know, which is associated with FOI, is being realised in both countries. FOI legislation, in both countries, is imprecise and needs to be revised to ensure effective implementation.

The study demonstrates that FOI is a necessary tool for people to be involved in decision-making in government. People’s rights to know can be achieved by successfully implementing FOI legislation.

The study aims to determine the impact of sustainable manufacturing on environmental performance through government regulation and eco-innovation in Indonesian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The results indicate sustainable manufacturing plays a significant role in SMEs' environmental performance and regulations, and eco-innovation can moderate it. It also reveals that government regulation has a positive and significant effect on environmental performance. Moreover, eco-innovation has a positive and significant effect on environmental performance.

The findings of this study indicate that SMEs can embrace sustainable manufacturing practices and achieve their long-term sustainability goals by adhering to regulations, collaborating with stakeholders and implementing eco-friendly innovations.

This research uncovers ground-breaking perspectives on the evolution of scientific knowledge about the impact of eco-innovation, regulatory measures and sustainable manufacturing practices on the environmental performance of SMEs.

This article explores the migration intentions (MIs) embedded in population movements from rural to urban areas in Bangladesh. In this country, urban-centric development policies have made cities epicentres of commerce and industrialisation, offering significant employment and livelihood opportunities. This rapid transformation has generated several socio-psychological factors that are influencing the willingness of rural populations to migrate to cities for better jobs, lifestyles and services.

The present study adopted the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) as a conceptual model to assess the behavioural and psychological factors underlying MIs.

The results of the structural equation modelling (SEM) indicate that MIs are mainly influenced by subjective norms (SN) and, to a lesser extent, attitudes towards migration (ATM) and perceived behavioural control (PBC).

The analysis drew on an original dataset built through interviews with migrants from rural areas employed in the ready-made garment (RMG) industry in four selective areas of the Metropolitan City of Chittagong.

We study the potential effects of pension underfunding on corporate investment, financial constraints and improved employee bonding using 10 Pacific-Basin countries (including the United States, Australia, and eight Asian countries) at heterogeneous economic development stages and different regulatory environments. We document that corporate pensions are significantly underfunded in most countries of our sample in the period of 2001–2017, when interest rates were ultralow in most countries. In addition, firms from countries with stronger employee protection and more generous retirement benefits tend to show higher levels of underfunding in their defined benefit (DB) pension plans. To the extent of pension underfunding imposing constraints on corporate investment, we find that firms in these countries can face more constraints on investment when their pension is underfunded.

Regarding human resource and labour relations management, academia focuses mainly on cities; however, rural areas are an integral part of China's economic structure. This study focuses on the movie projection industry in China's rural areas and explores how human resource practices (HRPs) are transformed and the labour process is reconstructed in digital transformation.

We adopt a case study of a rural movie projection company. The company's HRPs reconstructed the labour process of movie projection, and they have been promoted as national standards. Data were collected from in-depth interviews, files and observations.

Rural movie projection companies combine high-performance and paternalistic HRPs in the media industry's digital transformation. HRPs and digital technology jointly reconstruct the labour process. First, the HRPs direct labour process practices towards standardisation. Second, the digital supervision platform guides the control style from simple to technical, placing projectionists under pressure while increasing management efficiency. Third, rural movies made using digital technology have disenchanted rural residents. Accordingly, the conventional relationships between the “country and its citizens,” “individuals themselves,” and “models and individuals” have been removed, and a new relationship between “individuals themselves” is formed thanks to the novel HRPs.

This research plays a crucial role in exposing researchers to the labour process of rural movie projection, which is significant in China but often ignored by Western academia and advances the Chinese contextualisation of research on labour relations.