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This study aims to predict the volume changes and collapse potential (CP) associated with the changes in soil suction by using the pressure cell and the effect of initial load on soil suction. Three types of gypseous soils have been experimented in this study, sandy gypseous soil from different parts of Iraq. A series of collapse tests were carried out using the oedometer device [single oedometer test (SOT) and double oedometer test (DOT)]. In addition, large-scale model with soil dimensions 700 × 700 × 600 mm was used to show the effect of water content changes in different relations (collapse with time, stress with time, suction with time, etc.).

A series of collapse tests were carried out using the oedometer device (SOT and DOT). In addition, a large-scale model with soil dimensions 700 × 700 × 600 mm was used to show the effect of water content changes in different relations (collapse with time, stress with time, suction with time, etc.).

The CP increases with the increasing of the void ratio for each soil. For each soil, the CP decreased when the initial degree of saturation increased. Kerbala soil with gypsum content (30%) revealed collapse value higher than Tikrit soil with gypsum content (55%) under the same initial conditions of water content and density, this is because the higher the Cu value of Kerbala soil is, the more well-graded the soil will be. Upon wetting, the smaller particles or fractions of the well-graded soil tend to fill in the existing voids, resulting in a lower void ratio as compared to the poorly graded one. Consequently, soils with high Cu value tend to collapse more than poorly graded ones. The compressibility of the soil is low when loaded under unsaturated condition, the CP for samples tested in the DOTs under stress level 800 kPa are greater than those obtained from collapse test at a stress level of 200 kPa.

The initial value of suction for all soils increases with initial water content decreases.

Good companies innovate. In the process, they consider target markets, target customers, new product or service offerings, and the positioning of these relative to competitors. This forms a basic strategy for the innovation. However, the lesson of competitive dynamics today is that innovation effort stops short of its ultimate potential if it does not also embrace the business model possibilities provided by the innovation itself. This short article provides a strategic lens for considering the efficacy and power of a business model for a product or service innovation.

The current paper is grounded in the empirical results of an ongoing longitudinal study (undertaken by the authors team in the U.S., Canada and Ukraine) aimed at exploring the structure, characteristics, evolution, and performance outcomes of organizational business models.

The business model’s key characteristics are customer value (the “effectiveness side” of the equation, i.e., doing right things for customers that the latters are ready to appreciate and pay for, but not always to the focal firm) and business value (the “efficiency side” of the equation, reflecting translation of the customer value into profit). Importantly, our evidence strongly reveals the dynamic nature of the business model construct, implying that the companies evolve in terms of these two dimensions.

The recommendations part of the article is primarily based on the in-depth analysis of the recent history of large companies that were struggling to: sustain customer value, and develop and apply internal product and production platforms to increase operating efficiency, and hence business value. All these firms had either slipped into or were in the danger of slipping into Impostor status, and were seeking ways to regain and sustain their Innovation advantage, often over newer entrants in their respective industries.

Introduction of the Business Model Value Matrix allowing to analyze the current company’s business model; practical recommendations regarding getting to and remaining in the Winner quadrant

In today’s uncertain business environment, Industry 4.0 is regarded as a viable strategic plan for addressing a wide range of manufacturing-related challenges. However, it appears that its level of adoption varies across many countries. In the case of a developing economy like India, practitioners are still in the early stages of implementation. The implementation of Industry 4.0 appears to be complex, and it must be investigated holistically in order to gain a better understanding of it. Therefore, an attempt has been made to examine the Industry 4.0 implementation for the Indian manufacturing organization in a detailed way by analyzing the complexities of relevant variables.

SAP-LAP (situation-actor-process and learning-action-performance) and an efficient interpretive ranking process (e-IRP) were used to analyze the various variables influencing Industry 4.0 implementation. The variables were identified, as per SAP-LAP, through a thorough review of the literature and based on the perspectives of various experts. The e-IRP has been used to prioritize the selected elements (i.e. actors with respect to processes and actions with respect to performance) of SAP-LAP.

This study ranked five stakeholders according to their priority in Industry 4.0 implementation: government policymakers, industry associations, research and academic institutions, manufacturers and customers. In addition, the study also prioritized important actions that need to be taken by these stakeholders.

The results of this study would be useful in identifying and managing the various actors and actions related to Industry 4.0 implementation. Accordingly, their prioritized sequence would be useful to the practitioners in preparing the well-defined and comprehensive strategic roadmap for Industry 4.0.

This study has adopted qualitative and quantitative approaches for identifying and prioritizing different variables of Industry 4.0 implementation. This, in turn, helps the stakeholder to comprehend the concept of Industry 4.0 in a much simpler way.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an instrument to measure the influence of coronavirus (COVID-19) on international travellers’ behaviour.

Data were collected from 500 respondents in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to develop and validate a multi-item scale to measure international travel behaviour post-COVID-19. The initial pool of items was validated by using exploratory factor analysis. The first-order reflective and the assessment of hierarchical factor structure were done through structural equation modelling by using SmartPLS 3.

Findings revealed a hierarchical three-level scale for measuring international traveller’s behaviour. The first level consists of six sub-dimensions of 19 items. These six sub-dimensions can be used as a formative measure of three dimensions of general impact, attitude and preference and cleanliness and safety. These three dimensions form the third level for the meta construct of traveller’s behaviour.

The proposed scale will provide policymakers and managers with an improved understanding of the change in travellers’ behaviour due to the COVID-19 crisis or any future pandemic.

The scale can be used by the tourism and hospitality industry to access the impact of COVID-19 or any other future pandemic on traveller’s behaviour.

Since the outbreak of the novel COVID-19, almost all international travel has come to halt. A diverse measuring instrument to measure traveller’s behaviour is not available in extant literature. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first of its kind which has developed and validated a scale for measuring traveller’s behaviour during and post COVID-19.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate market power in the Chinese pork supply chain. The authors aim to explain why a steady rise in prices is observed in the sector, apart from existing evidence on incomplete/asymmetric cost pass-through and concerns of growing concentration and consolidation in the sector.

This study uses a new empirical industrial organization model for both oligopoly and oligopsony power to measure the degree of market power exerted on consumers and hog farmers simultaneously.

By examining annual panel data across provinces in China, the authors find that both oligopoly and oligopsony powers exist in the pork supply chain. In particular, the authors determine that a higher degree of market power is found to influence prices paid to hog farmers than prices paid by pork consumers. Estimates of key elasticities in the Chinese pork supply chain are also updated based on the structural model estimation and the latest data.

Due to the lack of data at a more granular level of geography, the authors are only able to estimate market power by three major economic regions.

The findings provide useful information for future policy analyses of Chinese food markets. First, the pork-packing industry should be of great concern in terms of market power and its influence on consumers’ and farmers’ welfare. It is essential to take into consideration market power in the pork supply chain before making any public policy regarding the pork market. Furthermore, following economic theory and experience from developed countries, large meat packers will eventually vertically control hog farmers given their stronger oligopsony power over the upstream. Vertical integration may be the next important issue in terms of food market competition. Finally, the results may also draw the government’s attention to investigating market competition in all major food markets.

The empirical evidence draws attention to the issue of food market competition in one of the largest and most important meat-packing markets in China. The authors hope to encourage further discussions on pork and hog market regulations and related public policies.

Two effects simultaneously shape the future soybean meal (SBM) demand in China: the income effect on meat consumption and the transition effect due to commercial feed usage in animal production. The income effect has been studied intensively in previous research and results in rapidly growing animal product consumption. The commercial feed transition effect, however, is not well understood. The accurate forecast of SBM demand requires an integration of both effects. This study aims to contribute to the commodity forecast literature: by estimating the non-commercial to commercial feed effect and then comparing to the income effect.

This research addresses the gap in the literature by considering the diffusion path of commercial feeding technology when forecasting China's future SBM demand. The paper addresses the following five objectives to accomplish this goal. Objective 1: estimate income elasticity of demand for meat; Objective 2: estimate the current commercial feeding gap; Objective 3: analyze the reasons for low SBM feeding ratios; Objective 4: estimate future SBM feeding ratios; Objective 5: forecast future soybean demand in China.

China needs 33 years from 2009 to achieve the SBM feeding ratio of 98 percent. The difference in future derived demand for SBM mainly comes from the transition effect of animal production industry in China. The income effect only contributes on average 2.1 percent of the theoretical SBM consumption quantity over the next 20 years. The feeding technology diffusion effect, however, causes an additional 3.6 percent annual compound growth rate on the demand increase for SBM over the same time periods. The livestock industry's transition effect is roughly equivalent to 1.5 times the income effect.

Policy makers, industry managers, and analysts will now have not only a more accurate estimate of future SBM demand, but also a better understanding of the structural components of that estimation. In particular, the role of commercial feed adoption is explicitly estimated.

This research is the first to estimate the effect of the shift from non-commercial to commercial feeding systems on overall SBM demand. The results show that not accounting for the diffusion of new commercial feeding technology creates under the estimates of future SBM demand.

Improved performance in operational (lean) and environmental (green) dimensions has been extremely critical to the global competitiveness of organizations. As the performance of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is influenced by various external and internal factors, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the lean–green performance of Indian manufacturing SMEs by investigating the influential relationships of various factors along with the set of lean and green practices adopted by the firms.

The study employs a holistic approach by integrating multiple case study and data envelopment analysis (DEA) in eight manufacturing SMEs to verify a set of five propositions relating issues such as organizational factors, quality and environmental management certifications, implementation of lean and green practices with operational and environmental performance in Indian SMEs. Within-case analysis and cross-case analysis are used for a qualitative investigation of cases while DEA with four input variables, two desirable output variables and one undesirable output variable, is used for quantitative investigation with returns to scale (RTS) and damages to scale (DTS) analysis.

The RTS/DTS results suggest that Indian SMEs exhibit decreasing RTS and increasing DTS, implying that they need to decrease their operational sizes in order to improve the operational and environmental performance. The possible alternative and more practical strategy could be to introduce new technology innovation and holistic adoption of manufacturing excellence initiatives such as lean and green.

The research findings provide insights into the lean and green performance enhancement approach in the context of SMEs. The study extends key managerial implications and policy-related guidelines.

Supply chain integration (SCI) is one of the most distinctive dimensions in achieving long‐term competitive advantage in the business world. Although considerable state‐of‐the‐art studies regarding the SCI concept and its dimensions have been conducted, empirical research by using the data from agri‐food firms in China to examine the relationship between SCI and firm performance attract little attention. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of SCI on firm performance in pork supply chains in China.

The study follows a causal research approach and survey methodology to collect data from 229 pork processors. The SCI‐firm performance link is examined in two relationships: the pork processors with their upstream pig (meat) suppliers and with their downstream customers. Partial least squares method was used to test the causal relationships.

The results suggest that internal integration and buyer‐supplier relationship coordination are significantly related to firm performance in both relationships. Information technology integration is not significantly related to both upstream and downstream relationships. Logistics integration significantly contributes to pork processors' performance in relationships with downstream customers.

The extension of the SCI construct contributes to supply chain management theory in the context of China.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the personnel attributes perception on reliable and valid health and safety (H&S) practices within small- and medium-sized construction enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa. It explores whether these valid and reliable H&S practices could be implemented based on the demographic attributes, namely, years of experience in the construction industry, number of years working in the current organisation and educational level.

A mixed method approach was used to conduct this research, namely, Delphi and questionnaire survey. A structured questionnaire consisting of 31 H&S practices categorised into five major H&S practices was developed from extensive literature review and the participation of 20 purposive sampled H&S experts. Sixteen H&S experts completed four iterations. A convenient sample of 1,450 SMEs was obtained. In total, 228 questionnaires were returned, of which 216 responses were useable for analysis. The data were analysed using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis to determine the validity, reliability and acceptability of the H&S practices. Finally, one-way ANOVA and t-test were conducted to determine personnel attributes perception on the implementation of the H&S practices.

The five major H&S practices (constructs), namely, upper management commitment and involvement in H&S, employee involvement and empowerment in H&S, project supervision, project H&S planning and communication in H&S and H&S resources and training, were retained as reliable and valid practices of H&S within construction SMEs at project level. One-way ANOVA established no statistical significant difference on the respondents’ perception of the H&S practices. However, t-test revealed statistically significant difference on the respondents’ perception on, upper management commitment and involvement in H&S and H&S resources and training. The respondents with post-matric qualification strongly agreed that upper management are committed and involved in H&S.

The findings may help construction SMEs to use these H&S practices to manage H&S in their projects. The SMEs may also consider the level of education of their personnel when implementing H&S practices of upper management and H&S resources and training.

The free and harmonically forced flexural vibrations of missiles resting on fixed or mobile launch platforms are considered. A general matric formulation is given for the problem in which the effects of variable boundary conditions at the base support, variable axial loads along the missile length, variable stiffness and material properties, variable mass, variable mass moment of inertia, variable shear stiffness, and variably distributed forcing functions are treated. The problem is matrically formulated in standard eigenvalue form, and no special coding should be required for organizations that are currently solving eigenvalue problems on electronic digital computers. For a particular problem only fundamental data are needed for filling in the element locations of the matrices involved, and almost all calculations are performed within the computer. The matric formulation presented herein is also valid for partially and completely restrained cantilever beams.