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This study aims to validate the link between production manipulation and a firm’s performance variability (fundamentals and stock returns). It explores whether executives' risk-taking incentives encourage production deviations around the normal level during uncertainty.

Utilizing panel data of manufacturing firms from Compustat over three decades, the study investigates production management practices during economic uncertainty. The Economic Policy Uncertainty Index (EPU) is employed as a key metric. The empirical strategy involves documenting the effect of economic uncertainty on overproduction and underproduction, examining the role of executive compensation and assessing the impact on risk.

The research finds that risk-taking incentives increase over/underproduction, particularly amplifying the extent of underproduction during uncertainty. Production deviation rises, indicating that firms take greater risk by engaging in abnormal business operations. The study’s results are robust against various econometric methods, emphasizing the influence of risk-taking incentives on corporate production decisions.

While providing valuable insights, the study acknowledges inherent limitations, including factors influencing production decisions beyond risk-taking incentives. Further research could explore additional determinants for a comprehensive understanding.

The findings highlight the potential dark side of executive compensation that motivates suboptimal risk-taking decisions, impacting risk, cost of capital and firm performance. Policymakers and compensation committees can use these insights to design efficient systems that mitigate moral hazard problems associated with productivity changes.

The study emphasizes the broader social implications of production manipulation under uncertainty. It prompts discussions on the ethical considerations of managerial opportunism, its potential consequences for stakeholders and market dynamics.

This study contributes to the literature by examining the role of economic uncertainty on production manipulation and the influence of risk-taking incentives. It extends the earnings management literature by considering real activity manipulation and emphasizing the importance of decomposing production deviation into positive and negative values.

Advancements in responsive manufacturing have been supporting companies over the last few decades. However, manufacturers now operate in a context of continuous uncertainty. This research paper explores a mechanism where companies can “elastically” provision and deprovision their production capacity, to enable them in coping with repeated disruptions. Such a mechanism is facilitated by the imitability and substitutability of production resources.

An inductive study was conducted using Gioia methodology for this theory generation research. Respondents from 20 UK manufacturing companies across multiple industrial sectors reflected on their experience during COVID-19. Resource-based view and resource dependence theory were employed to analyse the manufacturers' use of internal and external production resources.

The study identifies elastic responses at four operational levels: production-line, factory, company and supply chain. Elastic responses that imposed variable-costs were particularly well-suited for coping with unforeseen disruptions. Further, the imitability and substitutability of manufacturers helped others produce alternate goods during the crisis.

While uniqueness of production capability helps manufacturers sustain competitive advantage against competitors during stable operations, imitability and substitutability are beneficial during a crisis. Successful manufacturing companies need to combine these two approaches to respond effectively to repeated disruptions in a context of ongoing uncertainties. The theoretical contribution is in characterising responsive manufacturing in terms of resource heterogeneity and resource homogeneity, with elastic resourcing as the underlying mechanism.

Modular capacity units enable rapid reconfiguration, providing tactical flexibility to efficiently meet customer demand during disruptions and ensuring sustainability. Moreover, the Physical Internet (PI) enhances the potential of modular capacity in addressing efficiency, sustainability, and resilience challenges. To evaluate the sustainability and resilience advantages of the PI-enabled reconfigurable modular system (PI-M system), this paper studies a PI-enabled sustainable and resilient production-routing problem with modular capacity.

We develop a multi-objective optimization model to assess the sustainability and resilience benefits of combining PI and modular capacity in a chemical industry case study. A hybrid solution approach, combining the augmented e-constraint method, construction heuristic, and hybrid adaptive large neighborhood search, is developed.

The experimental results reveal that the proposed solution approach is capable of obtaining better solutions than the Gurobi and the existing heuristic in a shorter running time. Moreover, compared with the traditional system, the PI only and traditional with modular capacity systems, PI-M system has significant advantages in both sustainability and resilience.

To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to integrate the PI and modular capacity and investigate sustainability and resilience in the production-routing problem.

In this study, it is analyzed the validity of the exchange rate pass-through (ERPT) effect and the effect of interest rate and output level on the inflation rate (IR) in Brazil, Russia, India, China and Turkey (BRIC-T) between the years 1995Q1 and 2022Q4.

The methods such as the panel unit root test developed by Westerlund (2012), the LM bootstrap panel cointegration test developed by Westerlund and Edgerton (2007), the common correlated effects (CCE) estimator developed by Pesaran (2006) and the augmented mean group (AMG) estimator developed by Eberhardt and Bond (2009) that take into account the cross-section dependency are applied for analysis.

As a result of the findings, it is determined that the ERPT effect is valid in Turkey, Brazil, Russia, India and China and the cost channel is valid only in China. Finally, it is found out that output level positively affects inflation in Turkey, Brazil, Russia, India and China.

All these results indicate that the economies of Turkey, Russia, Brazil and India have a fragile structure, especially in terms of inflation. Therefore, the central bank of these countries should maintain exchange-rate stability to implement the inflation-targeting strategy successfully. In this context, central bank independence should be increased in these countries in achieving this objective. Also the results indicate that it is still early to consider whether BRIC-T countries and accordingly the Belt and Road Initiative will be an alternative against the domination of the USA and European Union (EU) on international trade system or it will substitute them.

In this study, it is tested that the impact of interest-rate (NIR), exchange-rate (FER) and output level (IPI) on general level of prices. Besides, it is analyzed that whether production level affects the IR. Also, the study investigates the economic issues such as ERPT effect and cost channel. The study analyzes whether China's Belt and Road Initiative is successful or not. In this study, we used the panel data methods that allow for structural breaks and cross-section dependency. For these reasons, this study differs from other studies in the literature both in terms of scope and methods used.

Under the rural revitalization, the effect of China's implementation of rural prefabricated housing is not obvious. Cost has become the biggest obstacle to its development. Therefore, it is necessary to study the factors influencing the cost of prefabricated buildings in villages and clarify the focus of cost control.

This paper focuses on the whole process of prefabricated housing construction in villages in China and uses grounded theory to identify and screen out 27 related factors that affect the construction cost of prefabricated buildings. A system dynamics model is used to dynamically analyze the influencing factors. The engineering examples in rural areas of southern Shaanxi are simulated. Finally, five key factors that influence cost are obtained. Based on this, cost control countermeasures are proposed for rural prefabricated housing in southern Shaanxi.

The results show that: the key factors affecting the cost of prefabricated buildings in villages include the selection of production methods, the degree of design standardization, the quality of construction personnel, the level of construction technology and the circulation cycle of molds. The cost of prefabricated housing in villages can be controlled through five aspects: mass production of components, design exchange and feasibility analysis, improvement of employee professionalism, strict selection of construction schemes and technologies and improvement of mold turnover rate.

The system dynamics model applied in this paper is based on the idealized state. The system boundary is narrow and has a certain subjectivity. It needs further detailed research to make it closer to the engineering practice. In addition, this paper applies the rural engineering example in southern Shaanxi to carry out a single case study, and the universality of the research results needs to be further tested. There are many village construction projects and building types, so the research results can be further enriched through large sample research.

Rural construction is an important step in the implementation of rural revitalization. Exploring the factors that affect the key costs of prefabricated buildings in villages and towns in view of the particularity of rural areas will help provide a reference for their cost control and help the rural development of prefabricated houses.

The research results of this paper can provide a reference for the development of prefabricated buildings in other rural revitalization areas.

Different from the traditional research on urban prefabricated buildings, this paper focuses on rural areas and explores the core factors affecting the cost of prefabricated buildings from the micro level. This study establishes a system dynamics model suitable for the cost control of prefabricated housing at the village level and provides methods for its cost control. Based on the identified key factors affecting costs, cost control measures were proposed for prefabricated housing tailored to the unique characteristics of villages.

This paper aims to provide a reference for the development of digital transformation from the perspective of manufacturing process links.

This paper applies canonical correlation analysis based on digital technology patents in the key links of manufacturing industries (product design, procurement, product manufacturing, warehousing and transportation, and wholesale and retail) and the related indicators of economic benefits of regions in China.

(1) The degree of digitalization of manufacturing process links is significantly correlated with economic benefits. (2) The improvement of the degree of digitalization in the “product design” link, the “warehousing and transportation” link, the “product manufacturing” link and the “wholesale and retail” link has significant impacts on the economic benefits of manufacturing industry. (3) The digital degree of the “procurement” link has no obvious influence on the economic benefits of manufacturing industry.

The research results can provide reference for the formulation and implementation of micro policies. The strategy of improving the level of digital transformation of key links of manufacturing industry is put forward to better promote both the digital transformation of manufacturing industry and economic development.

This paper innovatively studies the relationship between digitalization of manufacturing process links and economic benefits. The findings can provide theoretical and empirical support for the digital transformation of China's manufacturing industry and high-quality development of economy.

The study investigated the impact of perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) on employees' turnover intention in professional team sports organizations, focusing on employee identification and co-production’s role in this context.

Data were collected from 225 employees in professional team sports organizations, with analysis conducted via partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

The results indicated that perceived CSR negatively impacted turnover intention. Employee identification mediated the relationship between perceived CSR and turnover intention. Moreover, co-production moderated the relationship between perceived CSR and employee identification, affecting the mediating role of employee identification between perceived CSR and turnover intention.

Prioritizing CSR offers benefits beyond improving an organization’s public image. It also plays a crucial role in enhancing internal organizational dynamics. Specifically, it helps to increase employee identification with the company, reduce turnover intentions, and promote co-production. These outcomes, when combined, lead to the development of a stronger, more cohesive, and resilient organization.

This study provides empirical evidence of the influence of perceived CSR on employee identification and behavior within professional team sports organizations. It underscores the importance of enhancing employee identification to reduce turnover intention.

The purpose of this study is to scrutinize the connection between creativity and innovation in the context of public healthcare. This is achieved by applying the theoretical concept of employee-driven innovation (EDI) to explore employees’ perceptions of their creative engagement in innovation processes, as well as to capture the managerial implications of setting up such processes in the sector.

A critical discourse analysis (CDA) is applied as a methodological lens to capture the interaction between the macro-level production and meso-level distribution of innovation discourse (top-down), and the micro-level perception of, and response to, the same (bottom-up). This study is based on a qualitative approach and is set in the public healthcare system of the Autonomous Province of Trento, Northeast Italy. In total, 26 semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 healthcare professionals. For triangulation purposes, observation and document analysis were also performed.

The findings of this study reveal that tensions are present between the macro-level discourses and the meso-level strategies around innovation, and the micro-level perceptions of employees’ creative engagement in innovation processes. Healthcare professionals’ creative efforts are not easily recognized and supported by top management, which in turn does not receive a framework of reference in policies acknowledging the importance of human skills and creativity in innovation processes.

That this is a single case study implies a limitation on the generalizability of its results, but the results may nevertheless be transferable to similar empirical contexts. Therefore, a multiple case study design would be preferable in future studies in order to study EDI strategies and policies across various types of organizations in the public sector. Moreover, apart from CDA, other theoretical and methodological lenses can be applied to investigate the interaction between top-down organizing and bottom-up responses to innovation.

This study contributes to the EDI literature by providing a more integrative understanding of EDI in the public sector, demonstrating the importance of scrutinizing the interactions between employees and top-level management.

This paper explores the steps/countermeasures taken by buying and distributing firms to address supply chain disruptions caused by COVID-19.

This study employs a multiple case study methodology and conducts 36 semi-structured interviews with senior managers of nine different firms producing, procuring or distributing products from China and other highly impacted South Asian regions (Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India).

Results reveal that buying firms are moving to agile production, focusing on tier-1 supplier risk, enhancing inbound material visibility and temporarily closing production facilities to respond to the challenges posed by COVID-19. Furthermore, distribution centres are modifying their inventory policies, evaluating alternative outbound routes and sources of supply to manage disruptions caused to their business operations amid COVID-19 outbreak.

Supply chain firms can use the countermeasures provided in this study to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and make the best out of this pandemic.

This study contributes to the supply chain literature by exploring the countermeasures taken by firms to mitigate the impact of COVID-19. In particular, this study explores such countermeasures from the perspective of two different entities (buyers and distributors) along the supply chain. Firms can use the countermeasures highlighted in this study to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the supply chain.

Lean manufacturing (LM) concepts have been widely adopted in diverse industrial sectors. However, no literature review focusing on case studies describing LM implementation is available. Case studies represent the actual implementation and provide secondary data for further analysis. This study aims to review the same to understand the pathways of LM implementation. In addition, it aims to analyse other related review questions, such as how implementing LM impacts manufacturing capabilities and the maturity level of manufacturing organisations that implemented LM, to name a few.

A literature review of case studies that discuss the implementation of LM during the last decade (from 2010 to 2020) is carried out. These studies were synthesised, and content analyses were performed to reveal critical insights.

The implementation pattern of LM significantly varies across manufacturing organisations. The findings show simultaneous improvement in manufacturing capabilities. Towards the end of the last decade, organisations implemented LM with radio frequency identification, e-kanban, simulation, etc.

Reviewing the case studies documenting LM implementation to comprehend the various nuances is a novel attempt. Furthermore, potential future research directions are identified for advancing the research in the domain of LM.