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The aim of this research is to explore how a programmatic multi-project context influences project-based firms (PBFs) in organizing their relations with other PBFs and suppliers in a project-based industry.

A multiple case study research is conducted. Data are collected from two case studies in the construction infrastructure sector. Eleven interviews with contractors and other suppliers are the primary source of data collection. The data are complemented by procurement documents and expert consultations.

The findings show that within a programmatic multi-project context, PBFs settle relations with (1) key partners for program management capacity, PBFs establish relations with (2) main contractors to divide projects and (innovation) tasks, and PBFs intensify relations with (3) suppliers to ensure continuity and expertise.

The study contributes to the body of project management literature by exploring PBF’s relations with other PBFs and suppliers in a multi-project context. Based on empirical data, the study provides a distinction in layers presenting distinct levels of PBF’s supplier relations. This layer structure provides an excellent starting point for future studies exploring the program perspective of PBFs in the integrated supply chain.

Given the increase in programmatic multi-project context for project-based domains, discussed in both literature and practice, this study explores the effect of programs on relations of PBFs with other PBFs and suppliers. The study distinguishes PBF’s relations with the different suppliers in three layers and discusses the characteristics of these relations.

This study delves into the transformation of UAE-Israel relations, which transitioned from a long-term rivalry to a formal peace agreement in 2020. It aims to uncover the multifaceted elements that influenced both nations’ pursuit of bilateral negotiations, with a special emphasis on the role of unofficial collaboration.

Employing a case study approach, the research traces the evolution of the UAE-Israel ties, mapping their progression from covert collaborations to public accords. This exploration is set against a backdrop of political, economic, and societal factors that have historically characterized the broader Israel-Arab conflict. Real-world dynamics and theoretical constructs are analyzed in tandem to derive comprehensive insights.

Key drivers for the transformation of UAE-Israel relations included the threat from Iran, internal disturbances, economic stresses, and the strategic advantages of discreet diplomacy. Exogenous catalysts like the Covid-19 pandemic and Israel's annexation plans in 2019-2020 played pivotal roles, capitalizing on pre-existing covert collaborations and shared regional interests. Constructive strategies, notably inducements, effectively reshaped their adversarial relationship. The resultant U.S.-mediated agreement conferred strategic, security, economic, and diplomatic benefits to both parties. Importantly, the potency of conengagement conflict management strategy, especially when bolstered by exogenous factors and growing mutual interest, emerged as a game-changer in terminating longstanding rivalries.

This study offers a unique perspective on Israel-UAE relations, emphasizing the significance of covert engagements, inducements, and the innovative conengagement strategy in conflict resolution. By examining a relationship devoid of direct armed conflict, the research underscores the interplay of economic, political, and societal factors in reshaping rivalries. This case study serves as a testament to the potential for transformative change in enduring disputes when the right conditions and strategies align, supplementing conventional perspectives and offering valuable implications for policy and mediation initiatives in the Middle East.

The changing roles of the United Nations (UN) and national institutions have made addressing climate change a critical concern for many multinational enterprises’ (MNEs) survival and growth. This chapter discusses how such institutions, which vary in their nature and characteristics, shape firm strategies for climate change adaptation. Exploring different versions of institutional theory, the chapter demonstrates how and why institutional characteristics affect typical patterns of firm ownership, governance, and capabilities. These, in turn, influence companies’ internationalisation and climate-change strategies. Climate change poses challenges to how we understand firms’ strategic decisions from both an international business (IB) (HQ–subsidiary relations) and global value chains (GVC) (buyer–supplier relations) perspective. However, climate change also provides opportunities for companies to gain competitive advantages – if firms can reconfigure and adapt faster than their competitors. Existing IB and GVC research tends to downplay the importance of climate change strategies and the ways in which coherent or dysfunctional institutions affect firms’ reconfiguration and adaptation strategies in a globally dispersed network of value creation. This chapter presents a perspective on the institutional conditions that affect firms’ climate change strategies regarding ownership, location, and internalisation (OLI), and GVCs, with ‘investment’ and ‘emerging standards’ playing a significant role. The authors illustrate the discussion using several examples from the Global South (i.e. Bangladesh) and the Global North (i.e. Denmark, Sweden, and Germany) with a special emphasis on the garment industry. The aim is to encourage future research to examine how a ‘business systems’, or varieties of capitalism, institutional perspective can complement the analysis of sustainability and climate change strategies in IB and GVC studies.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the supervening loss of inter-organisational trust in long-term commercial contracts. The underlying research question is whether contract law – the legal institution regulating economic exchanges – should intervene and enable a party to a long-term commercial contract to extricate itself from a situation where a relationship of trust has broken down irretrievably.

This paper uses doctrinal methodology and theoretical conceptualisation to answer the underlying research question. The legal instrument chosen for analysis purposes is the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts. This paper also draws on extant literature on inter-organisational trust (including conceptual and empirical studies) to support the arguments and propositions. Furthermore, this study proceeds to assess the substantive justifiability of the proposed remedial measure using four normative values: legal certainty and predictability, protection of the performance interest, economic efficiency and the preservation of the relation.

The central argument put forward in this paper is the reformulation of draft Article 6.3.1 proposed by the UNIDROIT Working Group on Long-Term Contracts, which confers a novel right to terminate for a compelling reason. This paper presents a multidimensional model of inter-organisational trust that would serve as the conceptual framework for the proposed reformulation of the provision and establishes a coherent juridical basis for the legal solution that would accord with the Principles of International Commercial Contracts’ general remedial scheme. As for the normative assessment, this paper demonstrates that the proposed remedial measure would significantly promote efficient outcomes and positively serve the norms of legal certainty, protection of the performance interest and the preservation of the relation.

This paper addresses the lacuna in current legal scholarship in relation to the adverse socio-economic effects following trust violation and deterioration in inter-organisational relationships. Additionally, the propositions and findings should contribute to the workings of the UNIDROIT in adopting new rules and principles that would serve the special requirements of cross-border trade.

This study aims to perform a systematic literature review to organize the abundance of information on employee relations (ER) and sustainable organizations. Moreover, this study identifies the research gaps by investigating the review of ER’ mediating and moderating variables and the relationship between ER and sustainable organizations.

This study is based on the systematic literature review methodology involving 257 studies in the final stage. The Scopus and Google Scholar databases with search criteria “employee relations” and “employee relations and sustainable organization” were used to achieve the research objective. After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, researchers come to the distribution of the articles based on the subthemes, geographical region, types of methods, top authors with affiliation and complete research articles based on the citation. In the final stage, this study concluded with the conceptual model comprising mediators and moderators of ER as well as the mediating and moderating variables of the relationship between ER and sustainable organizations.

The reviewed literature shows that employee relation is an optimal strategy for retaining employees via proper disclosure of human resources (HRs) and ER Index. This study included the top six publishers, namely, Emerald, Elsevier, Sage, Springer, Taylor and Francis and Wiley Online Library, to do an exhaustive review on a specific topic. The findings indicate that after COVID-19, the ER index, HR disclosures and the sustainability of ER are among the new and required paradigm shifts needed to manage a crisis impact and perform productively. The mediator and moderator variables that can improve employee–employer relationships are organizational trusts, organizational justice, perceived job satisfaction, organizational structure and firm ownership. On the other hand, variables that mediate and moderate the relationship between ER and sustainable organizations are organizational climate, organization trust, organization culture, perceived organization support, psychological empowerment, firm ownership, leadership behavior and attitude, respectively. The findings concluded that harmonious and cordial ER are pertinent in building sustainable organizations and accomplishing organizational goals.

The mediating and moderating variables that have been identified can be helpful for enthusiastic researchers in contributing to empirical research. Practitioners and managers can use the findings in making an effective organizational model that develops good employee–employer relationships and helps create a culture of trust and harmony. This study focuses on exploring the variables of ER, which strengthens employee–employer relationships and supports organizations to stay agile and attain sustainability to endure in the future.

This study insights on the specific mediating and moderating variables of ER and sustainable organizations. Till date, studies exploring constructs of ER and sustainable organizations are still in deficit. Better employee relation reflects and leads to a more resilient organization. Future researchers should explore the connection between pandemics and ER which is done insufficiently in the present time.

This study advocates the importance of taking an evolutionary perspective in the strategic configuration of closed-loop supply chains (CLSC) in the transition to a circular economy. Building on the supply chain management and industrial dynamics research domains, an evolutionary analytical framework was developed and applied in the empirical context of the ongoing industrial transition to e-mobility.

This study is designed as an in-depth exploratory case study to capture the multi-layer dynamic complexities and their interplay in CSLC development. The empirical investigation was based on two-year interactions between the authors and various departments in a leading European heavy vehicle manufacturer. The proposed evolutionary analytical framework was used for investigating the dynamics of four CLSC configurations through ten possible trajectories.

The findings demonstrate that the evolution of each CLSC configuration comes with multiple challenges and requirements and point out the necessity for the co-development of technologies, product design and production, and infrastructure through long-term relationships among key supply chain actors. However, this evolutionary journey is associated with multiple dilemmas caused by uncertainties in the market and technology developments. All these factors were properly captured and critically analyzed, along with their interactions, thanks to the constructs included in the proposed evolutionary analytical framework.

The proposed evolutionary framework is applicable for examination of SC transformation in the context of market and technology development, and is particularly relevant for transitioning from linear SC to CLSC. The framework offers a single actor perspective, as it does not directly tackle dynamics and effects of actions taken by SC actors.

The developed framework can support SC managers in identifying, framing, and comparing alternative strategies for CLSC configuration in the transition process.

This study proposes the framework for understanding and guiding the evolutionary process of CLSC development. Its uniqueness lies in the integration of concepts from innovation and evolutionary theories coming from industrial dynamics and SCM literature streams.

Due to the increased pollution and global warming, the banking sector is also implementing green practices in their operations to improve business ethics. However, there are few studies that have looked at how green practices affect performance outcomes. Considering this, the study aims to examine the impact of green banking adoption practices (GRBP) on consumer-related performance outcomes (i.e. consumer green satisfaction, consumer green perceived quality, consumer green trust, environmental friendliness and continuing relations with bank). The study used resource-based view theory and triple bottom line in connecting GBRP and consumer-related performance outcomes.

The data was gathered via a Likert scale questionnaire from banking personnel and consumers using a non-probability purposive sampling technique. The data of GRBP was collected from the banking employees, whereas the data for consumer-related performance outcomes were gathered from the banking consumers, and “Partial least square-structural equation modeling” (PLS-SEM) was used to examine research hypotheses.

The results of PLS-SEM reveal that GRBP positively affects consumer green trust, green perceived quality and green satisfaction. However, GRBP does not have any impact on environmental friendliness. The results further reveal that GRBP largely affects consumer green trust followed by green perceived quality and green satisfaction, respectively. Moreover, consumer green perceived quality, green trust and environmental friendliness positively affect the continuing relationship with the bank.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study in the context of green banking, i.e. two-dimensional, as it examines the impact of GRBP on consumer-related performance outcomes and confirms that GRBP enhances consumer-related performance outcomes. The findings of the study provide numerous insights to bank managers, environmentalists and policymakers.

The research paper aims to explore how tour guides can contribute to regenerative tourism and the ways in which natureculture guiding practices align with stakeholder interests and the perspectives of tourism futures.

The ethnographic study used a multispecies approach to nature-based tourism in Arctic Norway and Sápmi, incorporating a Sámi methodology and non-human relationality.

The tour guides recognise that they are part of a more-than-human world and practice ethics that are responsible for their relations to non-human actors. Transformative experiences that are active learning opportunities can strengthen a sense of care within the tourists and pose as potential regenerative incomes in local communities, instead of extractive industries. Local knowledge and Sámi ways of being have a vital role in the tour guides' natureculture practices, which can revitalise cultural heritage and strengthen Indigenous empowerment.

The article suggests that tourism management and local governments must prioritise the support of tour guide initiatives involving restorative properties for socio-ecological systems. Citizen science and cultural activities are some ways that can generate a thriving ecosystem and create meaningful interactions between local communities and tourists.

The research highlights the unique role of tour guides as intermediaries who can translate regenerative principles into action, communicate the essence of place and take part in innovative collaborations. Tour guide practices align with the stakeholder view that tourism futures should benefit the communities and respect ecological limits.

This study aims to determine whether inter-organisational communication, based on four communicational dimensions (willingness, behaviour, commitment and quality), influences the performance of strategic alliances.

To achieve this objective, from a relational perspective, a qualitative approach was adopted, resorting to five small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)/cases in Portugal. Interviews with the key informants of these SMEs and documentary analysis were used to collect data.

Based on the cases analysed, the results show that communication is fundamental, valued and implemented in the SMEs studied. However, this is informal communication, reflecting the cooperation established and not based on contracts. In these SMEs, communication is the basis for understanding the alliance’s objectives and their fulfilment, which creates satisfaction in the partners and the alliance’s success. Communication also allows an alliance to be maintained and develop continuously, creating bonds between the partners.

Without that communication, alliance performance will not be possible. The study is relevant as it indicates management practices in strategic alliances based on inter-organisational communication, aiming for good performance. Therefore, it contributes to advancing knowledge about strategic alliances through the innovative link with inter-organisational communication and its applicability.

This study is new and innovative because it contributes to the literature in the area of strategic management, as it presents phenomena to do with inter-organisational communication and its relation with strategic alliances in SMEs, as well as advancing knowledge about the relational perspective. In addition, the application and development of inter-organisational communication, in all its communicational dimensions, are the basis for maintaining alliances over time and their performance.

Today’s small enterprises are forced to rethink their business-as-usual management and shift toward corporate sustainability. The empirical paper responds to a crucial quest for many modern leaders and entrepreneurs, specifically small business owners in emerging economies. This paper aims to answer what they can do to increase long-term financial performance and enhance stakeholder satisfaction, thereby contributing to long-term business sustainability.

Using a convenience sampling, data were collected from a sample of 280 business leaders and entrepreneurs of small enterprises across industries in an emerging economy of Thailand. This study used a sustainable leadership research framework. Factor analysis and multiple regression analysis were used for data analysis.

Seven valid and reliable leadership factors were uncovered as new underlying leadership constructs to examine business sustainability in small entrepreneurial enterprises in Thailand. Results from multiple regressions revealed two significantly positive factors or drivers (i.e. trusting, innovative team orientation and strong, shared vision) for enhanced two sustainability performance outcomes (i.e. financial performance and stakeholder satisfaction). The findings thus contribute to advance our limited knowledge about the contextualised constructs and possible theoretical development of the developing research realm.

Successful small entrepreneurial organisations in Thailand and other emerging economies that wish to improve their business sustainability are suggested to adopt the essential leadership and management practices (i.e. trusting, innovative team and strong, shared vision). Future studies may examine data from a larger sample size and other countries to expand our limited understanding in different contexts.

The resulting practical insights can be used to guide business leaders, entrepreneurs, practitioners and policymakers towards making strategic priorities and investments for improved business competitiveness, resilience and sustainability in small entrepreneurial enterprises. Overall, this study may be a starting point for further investigation on developing entrepreneurial growth and business sustainability in small sustainable enterprises across emerging economies.

The paper responds to calls for more contextualised research studies in the evolving multidisciplinary field of entrepreneurial leadership and business sustainability, particularly in an emerging economy of Thailand. It also unveils the essential strategic leadership factors that positively drive business sustainability in small entrepreneurial firms. And, it empirically examines the effects of diverse strategic leadership factors and multiple sustainability performance outcomes in a single study. It further proposes an emergent leadership-performance model for entrepreneurial business sustainability in the context-specific study. Above all, it advances the currently limited empirical knowledge in the emerging research front towards more sustainable futures.