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This paper compares impact of Industry 4.0 / emerging information and communication Technologies (ICTs), for example, Internet of things (IOT), machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and cloud computing, on 22 organisational performance indicators under nine combinations of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) and quality management systems (QMS).

Survey of 105 Indian organisations was done about their experience of using QMS, Lean Six Sigma and emerging ICTs. Respondents included both manufacturing and service enterprises of different scales and sectors. The responses collected were compared, and statistically significant difference among them was evaluated using chi-square test.

The study confirmed statistically significant difference among 20 organisational performance indicators under different combinations of QMS, LSS and ICTs. These indicators include quality performance, delivery performance, sales turnover, inventory level and so forth. However, for two indicators, namely, absenteeism and throughput, significant difference in responses was not established.

All possible combinations of QMS, LSS, only LSS tools and ICTs were not studied because of either theoretical impossibility (e.g. using LSS without LSS tools) or practically rare situations (e.g. organisations using ICTs and LSS without QMS). Furthermore, the impact from different sequences of implementing QMS, LSS and ICTs can be studied.

Using this study, practitioners can identify which LSS, Quality System and ICT combination results in best performance and quick success. On theoretical front, the study confirms impact of LSS and QMS on organisational performance.

This study evaluates organisational performance under several possible combinations of QMS, LSS, and emerging ICTs, which was so far unexplored.

This study aims to investigate the influence of supply chain (SC) complexity on the effectiveness of resilience capabilities in mitigating SC disruptions. Hypotheses about direct and moderating influences of complexity on resilience capabilities and performance change after disruption are built and quantitatively tested.

Partial least square-based structural equation modelling with formative constructs was used as an overall approach. Secondary data on SC disruptions, related performance change and resilience practices were collected from multiple sources through a predefined procedure. The collected data were systematically encoded prior to performing statistical analysis.

SC structural complexity is found to have a significant positive relation with performance improvement after disruption, along with resilience capability; it also positively moderates the resilience–performance link.

The SC complexity factors the authors considered in this study do not include dynamic forms because of the nature of data collected. Future research may attempt to include and test whether the results of this study also hold when additional complexity parameters are taken into account.

Managers are often trying to reduce SC complexity. This study implies that some level of complexity is beneficial also for a better recovery of operational performance affected because of disruption. Resilience capabilities become more effective when leveraged on complexity in the SC.

This is the first study to empirically investigate the influence of SC complexity on the resilience–performance link.

Managing Executives occupy a pivotal role in the acquisition process. It is virtually inconceivable that major Merger and Acquisitions (M&As) could proceed without their personal sponsorship (Hayward & Hambrick, 1997). They are central to the negotiation and signing for such deals and it is these negotiations that raise questions over how the target company should be run post-acquisition, how it should be configured to fit within the newly expanded group and what sort of strategy may be appropriate for the future. Managing Executives embody their firm’s strategies and so are intimately connected with these issues of organisational fit and strategic rational. With negotiations focussed upon the future of their businesses and their personal places in corporate history, these contests can be very dramatic. The high stakes are evident in the substantial levels of acquired Managing Executive departure post-acquisition. Whilst we can observe that many acquired Managing Executives subsequently leave the enlarged firm, little evidence to date answers the question of why they have been retained or replaced?

The purpose of this paper in the editorial review of manuscripts to highlight the emergent aspects of original thinking that provide new perspectives on issues central to management.

A synoptic perspective of a very broad range of topics covered in research by scholars is provided: education, corporate value, quality, corporate social responsibility, risk behavior, managing reputation, expatriation, growth and creativity. In this particular review, the editor emphasizes those facets of the paper that shed original, new light on management. Also, the areas where research provides a theoretical basis for consulting or managerial practice are highlighted to illustrate how research can be of practical relevance.

Some of the insights gained clearly indicate the importance of research. For example, tighter or more rigorous governmental regulations on food quality are unlikely to contribute to the enhancement of firms’ capability in improving food quality. The government needs to do much more than only regulate. Then, there is empirical reaffirmation that guan-xi with government matters: better the relationships, the higher corporate value but only if the firm is in private hands, not for state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Then, the Chinese local firms’ nexus with foreign, and international corporations influences their corporate social performance. Even more fascinating, a bank’s risk behavior is dependent on the structural composition of the board of directors. Indeed, research shows that a gender mix in fact lowers the propensity toward taking a high risk. Then, through reflecting upon their deep researches, the authors derive a theoretic framework for coping with reputation loss following a financial restatement. Here, authors showed SOEs to suffer much more in the event of restatement than the privately owned enterprises. Then, in a piece of innovative research of expatriation, authors relate a spectrum of the Chinese cultural values to performance. In a cross-country (civilization) study, the research motivation is: Whether SMEs in China, India and Pakistan are confronting the same environmental challenges? As expected, the answer would be yes in some aspects and no in others. This a significant finding, as the Chinese are raised on a milieu of suppressing one’s emotions: emotional expressiveness can contribute to creativity!

In this paper, the editor highlights some aspects on the original thinking of the authors within this issue of Chinese Management Studies. Also, the editor highlights on how research contained herein is contributing to managerial (consulting) practice.

The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of the psychosocial work environment on the turnover of civil service cadre officers in rural areas in Bangladesh.

Physical intimidation, mental health and well-being, organisational impediments, decision latitude, psychological job demands and social interaction were developed as variables to examine in relation to job satisfaction and turnover. This study gathers 406 responses from Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) cadre officers in rural areas to test the hypotheses.

The findings indicate that physical intimidation increases employee turnover, whereas psychosocial job demand decreases it. Physical intimidation reduces job satisfaction, whereas decision flexibility and social interaction enhance job satisfaction, hence reducing the turnover of civil service cadre officers in rural Bangladesh.

This research contributes to the creation of context-specific and targeted public sector support, particularly the interventions and policies addressing the work environment in rural areas.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of a comprehensive global database on volcanic unrest (WOVOdat) as a resource to improve eruption forecasts, hazard evaluation and mitigation actions.

WOVOdat is a centralized database that hosts multi-parameter monitoring data sets from unrest and eruption episodes of volcanoes worldwide. Its online interface (https://wovodat.org/) allows interactive data analysis and comparison between volcanoes and eruption styles, which is needed during volcanic crises, as well as to perform basic research on pre-eruption processes, teaching and outreach.

WOVOdat aims to standardize and organize the myriad of monitoring data types at the global scale. Users can compare changes during a crisis to past unrest episodes, and estimate probabilities of outcomes using evidence-based statistics. WOVOdat will be to volcanology as an epidemiological database is to medicine.

The success of eruption forecast relies on data completeness, and thus requires the willingness of observatories, governments and researchers to share data across the volcano community.

WOVOdat is a unique resource that can be studied to understand the causes of volcanic unrest and to improve eruption forecasting.

WOVOdat is the only compilation of standardized and multi-parameter volcano unrest data from around the world, and it is freely and easily accessible through an online interface.

This is a study of how members of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) produce their talk, using the principles of ethnomethodological conversation analysis. The focus is on two interralated phenomena of the openings of turns. Recurrently, the first words of the turns, i.e., greetings and self‐identification, are followed with a resonse space during which members display their orientation to coparticipants through allusions to prior speakers. Positive references to prior speakers are stated directly and addressed explicitly, typically through a phrase such as: “I identified with X and what X said,” wheras critical remarks are stated implicitly and without any address. Through this procedure, members establish their individual position in each meeting without posing challenges to other members. The allusions occasions initiation of a subsequent topic of the turn that characteristically is biographically relevant for the speaker. This procedure of organization of talk permits AA meetings to handle delicate issues in a sociable, nonconfrontive way.

The purpose of the paper is to discuss the “Q-Step in the Community” programme, part of the Q-Step Centre based in the Sociology Department at Manchester Metropolitan University, designed to help address the skills gap in quantitative methods (QM) that is evident across parts of the UK higher-education sector. “Q-Step in the Community” is a data-driven work-based learning programme that works in partnership with local organisations to provide placement opportunities for final year undergraduates and postgraduates. Students conduct a quantitative research project, which is typically identified by the placement provider.

The authors use quantitative and qualitative feedback from students and placement providers, along with our own reflections on the process to evaluate the placement programme. Data were collected through a focus group and email interviews with placement providers, along with a questionnaire, which was distributed to “Q-Step in the Community” alumni.

Data-driven work-based learning opportunities allow students to develop and demonstrate their quantitative skills and support networking opportunities whilst also developing valuable soft-skills experience of the workplace that develops their career-readiness. In addition, those opportunities provide valuable research for placement providers, which support their sustainability and enhance their service delivery.

The research focusses solely on one programme at one university offering quantitative data driven work-based learning opportunities at undergraduate and post-graduate level. It is not possible to make valid comparisons between those who do a placement with those who do not.

Views of key stakeholders in the process have been sought for this research, which can be useful to consider for others considering developing similar programmes for their students.

A major source of external funding for US airports comes from issuing municipal bonds. Credit rating agencies evaluate the bonds using multiple factors, but the judgments behind the ratings are not well understood. This paper examines if airport rate-setting methods affect the bond ratings of US airports.

Using a set of unbalanced panel data for 58 hub airports from 2010 to 2019, we examine the effect of the rate-setting methods and other airport characteristics on Fitch’s airport bond rating.

We find that compensatory airports consistently receive a very high bond rating from Fitch. The probability of getting a very high Fitch rating increases by ∼28 percentage points for a compensatory airport. Additionally, the probability of getting a very high rating is about 33 percentage points higher for a legacy hub.

The study uses Fitch bond ratings. Future studies could examine if S&P’s and Moody’s ratings are also influenced by airport rate-setting methods and legacy hub status.

The results uncover the linkage between bond ratings and their determinants for US airports. This information is important for investors when assessing airport creditworthiness and for airport operators as they manage capital project financing.

This is the first study to evaluate the effects of rate-setting methods on airport bond rating and also the first to document a statistically significant relationship between airports’ legacy hub status and bond ratings.

The purpose of this study is to provide information on how citizens in nine countries across Europe perceive egg product quality and the importance of a product's sustainability attributes (animal welfare, country of origin and production method) in egg purchases.

The data were gathered in 2021 via an online survey in nine European countries (Finland, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Romania and Denmark). A total of 3,601 responses were collected. As methods of analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), independent samples t-test, paired samples t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were conducted when investigating the quality dimensions of egg products and the differences amongst the sociodemographic groups.

Citizens in European countries considered animal welfare aspects, production method and country of origin important when purchasing egg products. Citizens' perceived quality of egg products was related to two dimensions (i.e. product properties and responsible production), and there were differences in perceptions by sociodemographic groups (i.e. age, gender, education and country of residence). Responsible production was most valued by younger women with higher education. Also in the Netherlands and Romania, citizens had stronger preferences for product properties compared to responsible production, whilst in Germany, responsible production was appreciated more than product properties.

The study provides new information on citizens' perceived egg product quality and the role of a product's sustainability attributes in egg purchases. Furthermore, the results bring novel insights on the differences in perceptions amongst citizens living in nine European countries.