Search

Purpose: "The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on service innovation during the past two decades and provide an analysis of sources of publication, citations and authorship using bibliometric analysis techniques (VOSviewer)." This paper aims to assesses the important trends, enhance the academic debate, identify research gaps and propose future directions and a research agenda. Design/methodology/approach: This paper examines 176 articles in English language published from 2002 to 2022 from the Scopus database by adopting the bibliometric technique using VOSviewer software. This paper analyzes the different levels and boundaries of service innovation using bibliometric analysis of "service innovation research" using VOSviewer software. The methodology analyzes the number of citations, co-citations, keywords, authors, journals and countries. Findings: The review of the past 20 years indicates a substantial growth in the number of good research publications on service innovation. The UK, the USA, Sweden and Australia dominate this research area with the most articles published to date under the subject area of "Business management." The review highlighted that most of the studies on service innovation focused on products, companies and processes in the services industry. The most critical factors behind service innovation failure are improper management and lack of knowledge. The citation analysis revealed various research implications and directions for the future. Research limitations/implications: This study focuses only on service innovation and excludes research on performance management and control. Thus, future studies may explore this area of research in future studies. Only research articles were analyzed; conference papers, reports, manuals and white papers from practice were excluded. Research implications indicate that future studies on service innovation would be essential for organizational excellence, not process excellence. Originality/value: This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the current status and essential trends of research on service innovation. This study identifies the research gaps and provides a clear research agenda for understanding the various elements of service innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Micro-finance has a significant role in the better performance of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). This study aims to provide a comprehensive picture of the existing literature on the role of micro-finance and its approaches in MSMEs. Design/methodology/approach: This work performs a bibliometric analysis using a data set of 631 articles collected from the Scopus database. The Bibliometrix R package and Vosviewer are used to conduct performance analysis and scientific mapping. Performance analysis shows the publication trend, key authors, journals and top influential articles. Science mapping through a bibliographic coupling network of documents is prepared to discover the intellectual structure of the field. Findings: This review has identified the four major themes: access to finance and schemes, women empowerment and poverty alleviation, the performance of micro-finance institutions and recent development in micro-financial institutions. With the help of these research themes, the paper also highlights future research agendas. Originality/value: This paper enriches the understanding of the role of micro-finance services in performance of entrepreneurship with the bibliometric review of top contributors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to assess the short- and long-run effects of the interaction between institutional quality and financial development (FD) on the competitiveness of the WAEMU economy over the period 2007–2018. Design/methodology/approach: The methodology consisted of cross-referencing a synthetic indicator of FD with indicators of institutional quality and then estimating an auto regressive distributed lag model. Findings: The results of the pooled mean group and dynamic fixed effect estimation show a positive and significant impact of this interaction on the competitiveness of the economy in the long run. In the short run, the results are quite similar to those in the long run for the direct effects but different for the crosses. Also, the analysis of country specificity shows that the results are similar to those in the short run since the interaction between FD and institutional quality (political stability and government effectiveness) negatively affects the competitiveness of Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Mali, and positively affects the competitiveness of Benin and Senegal. Social implications: These results suggest the need for effective policies to improve the quality of institutions to enhance the mobilization of financial resources through FD to ensure the competitiveness of economies. Improving the quality of the political and institutional environment is a prerequisite for economic competitiveness. Originality/value: The paper is in line with the New Institutional Economics that developed in the 1970s. This referential framework is a heterogeneous body of work that encompasses works whose common point is the determination of the role of institutions in economic coordination. Unlike previous studies, which have focused on the contribution of the interaction between institutional quality variables and FD on economic growth, this paper analyzes the effects of this interaction on economic competitiveness. It, therefore, constitutes a contribution to this literature and aims primarily to fill this gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study, a conceptual paper, aims an answer the question, how significant cluster ambidexterity is for the resilience of individual clusters. Design/methodology/approach: The authors draw up an abductive synopsis of empirical information and relevant theoretical sources. A case study is used to illustrate some of the findings. Findings: The results of the analysis show that the ambidexterity of a cluster can contribute to its resilience when adverse external developments arise. Ambidexterity proves to be simultaneously a common strategy of key cluster actors and a mechanism for coping with critical situations and developments that can be activated by the cluster actors and may – eventually – lead to cluster resilience. While ambidexterity does not guarantee cluster survival, it can contribute significantly to their economic resilience under adverse conditions. Research limitations/implications: The concept is developed on a limited empirical basis and would need to be tested and deepened by comparing a wide range of case studies from different clusters. Practical implications: A better understanding of the importance of ambidexterity for the development of industrial clusters contributes to a better fine-tuning of cluster support policies. Originality/value: Ambidexterity as a concept originating from business administration has so far only been rudimentarily tapped for empirical and theoretical cluster research. The paper identifies and develops a path how this could be accomplished to a greater extent in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The studies that explore the impacts of national intellectual capital on informal economy are scant. Moreover, the effect of an external factor such as institutional quality that moderates this relationship has largely been neglected in previous studies. Institutions are considered important pillars to accumulate national intellectual capital and reduce shadow economy. As such, this paper aims to investigate how institutional quality moderates the effects of national intellectual capital on informal economy in 17 Asian countries from 2000 to 2018. Design/methodology/approach: This paper uses the generalized method of moments techniques, which allow cross-sectional dependence and slope homogeneity in panel data, to examine the moderating role of institutional quality on the relationship between national intellectual capital and informal economy. Various tests are conducted to ensure the robustness of the findings. Findings: Empirical findings from this paper indicate that an increase in national intellectual capital and institutional quality declines the informal economy. Interestingly, better institutional quality aggravates the negative effects of national intellectual capital on reducing the size of informal economy. The author also finds that enhancing international trade and economic growth results in a decrease in the informal economy in Asian countries. Practical implications: Empirical findings offer policymakers an indication of the relationships between national intellectual capital, institutional quality and informal economy, pointing out that national intellectual capital and institutional quality should be strengthened to allow Asian countries to limit the informal economy. Originality/value: This study provides a conceptual model through which the moderating role of institutional quality on the national intellectual capital–informal economy nexus can be recognized. This approach has thus far not been investigated in the existing literature. To the best of the author's knowledge, this study makes an original contribution to the empirical of national intellectual capital and informal economy nexus and produces new insights into the fields of the moderating effects of institutional quality on this nexus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the smart economic development (SED) patterns in Europe in relation to competitiveness. Motivational focus corresponds to global events: the fourth industrial revolution, transition to a low-carbon economy, economic shocks (such as the 2008 financial crisis, Brexit or the coronavirus pandemic), which requires rethinking development policies, targeting competitiveness increase and reducing imbalances in economic development. Design/methodology/approach: The analysis includes self-organising neural networks cluster analysis and correlations, comparative analysis of SED indicators structure and cumulative index estimation with World Economic Forum (WEF) global competitiveness index. The panel data set of 19 years from 2000 to 2018 for 30 European countries. Findings: Overall, cross-country examination suggests that European countries of higher competitiveness illustrate higher estimates in SED. The key determinants are juridical fairness, social responsibility, competence building, intelligence and welfare employment to develop smart patterns for reaching higher competitiveness. Research limitations/implications: The limitations relate to the particular sample of European countries and gathering statistical data and a methodology of the SED index calculation. In addition, the paper contains a macroeconomic environment focus on competitiveness estimation. Further research may be improved with micro and mezzo environment incorporation at a cross-country analysis level. Practical implications: By linking well-known terms of competitiveness and economic development with a concept of smartness, new approaches to policymaking emerged. The methodology presented in this paper has implications for territorial cohesion policies, competitiveness and branching strategies. The combination of SED sub-indexes and WEF GCI might aid a more accurate ex ante measurement. Social implications: The findings are essential for fostering a smart approach in economic development for long-term competitiveness. Originality/value: This paper provides original empirical evidence about the relationship between SED and competitiveness and adds new knowledge that smartness becomes a way for building countries' competitiveness by identified two profiles of SED patterns by development stages, namely, integrated to economic development and institutional-based which is divided to focus and balanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Most studies explore the success of mergers and acquisitions through ex ante analyses based on the compatibility of resources and capabilities between the acquirer and target. As more than half of them fail, there seems to be room for enhancing our understanding of when and how acquisitions can actually improve firms' competitiveness. Diverging from these conventional approaches, the authors posit that attention should be at the strategic level. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to explore the existence of compatibility between acquirers' and targets' competitive strategies and its effect on post-acquisition business performance. Design/methodology/approach: Through the Thomson Reuters Eikon financial and acquisition databases, the authors built a unique data panel of 174 acquirer–target matched acquisitions in the manufacturing sector from 24 different countries between 2000 and 2020. The authors used a two-step System-GMM approach to address the hypotheses proposed in this paper. This methodology allowed to isolate and easily compare the differential effects of each possible combination of strategic similarity and dissimilarity between the target and acquiring company on the latter's post-acquisition strategies. Findings: The need to unravel the motives behind successful acquisitions has gained enormous interest in recent years among academics and managers to improve – or maintain – firm competitiveness. Through a panel data of 174 acquisitions among manufacturing firms (2000–2020), this study shows that differentiated firms improve their business performance by acquiring firms with similar strategies; nevertheless, their performance worsens if the acquired firm follows a cost-leadership strategy. Concerning acquirers with a cost-leadership strategy, the lack of clear behavioral patterns suggests that the lower knowledge absorption capacity associated with these firms might be a decisive factor in being able to assimilate and efficiently exploit the acquired firm's knowledge. Originality/value: Overall, this approach offers a new and valuable perspective for practitioners because it improves understanding of the possible causes of merger failure and opens new attentions to consider in maximizing success and long-term competitiveness. The results of this study bring, thus, an unexpected result to this research: the importance of the acquirer's strategy beyond the similarity or dissimilarity of the strategies of the acquirer and the acquired company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This conceptual paper aims to develop the vision of a novel policy tool called the digital industrial cluster (DIC) thought for a future context shaped by digital economies and Industry 4.0. The DIC departs from the industrial cluster's precepts and take them into the digital agglomeration phenomenon. Design/methodology/approach: This research uses a discursive and theoretical approach. To create a clear picture related to the research topic, this paper reviews the literature on how industrial clusters deal with digital transformation. The review takes a particular interest in industrial clusters, information and communication technologies, Industry 4.0 and policy tools for digital agglomeration. Findings: The research develops the vision of the DIC as a new policy tool, building its foundations on both industrial clusters and digital economies; furthermore, the DIC was compared with other policy tools based on digital agglomeration to understand the similarities, differences and advantages of the former. Finally, this paper discussed where the DIC could find its way toward implementation and what externalities could be expected from doing so. Practical implications: This research could be useful for policymakers and cluster organizations looking to deploy policy tools that take advantage of industrial clusters and digital transformation. Besides, the theoretical foundations presented could lead researchers to empirical identification of early incarnations of the DIC. Originality/value: This paper develops theoretical principles for a new policy tool that connects industrial clusters, digital agglomeration and Industry 4.0 for the first time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to identify the basis of the technological anxiety phenomenon by defining the differences and similarities in terms of barriers of the implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies across industrial processing sector. Design/methodology/approach: This paper presents a qualitative, exploratory research, and the authors apply the cross-case study method. The study is based on interviews with representatives of 11 medium-sized and large companies from industrial processing sector; specifically, the authors focus on three industries: automotive, food and furniture. Findings: The research showed that there are similarities as well as differences in terms of identified barriers between individual industries. Taking into account the various dimensions of technological anxiety, similarities are visible, in particular, in the case of Internal processes and infrastructure and human resources, while in the other two dimensions, i.e. strategic planning and standards and security, differences between the sectors were noted. Practical implications: The developed list of barriers can be a starting point for middle and senior managers of manufacturing companies to understand the sources of technological anxiety. The planning and introducing preventive and protective tools during Industry 4.0 implementation may reduce the occurrence of technological anxiety and thus ensure a smoother adoption of technologies 4.0, while respecting the organizational culture. Originality/value: This work contributes to in-depth understanding of multifaced technological anxiety phenomenon. This paper classifies dimensions of existing barriers, increases the awareness on the difficulties during transformation process and, thus enables the improvement of the use of company's internal potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the construction of a valid and reliable measure for the competitiveness of cities that excludes the drivers of competitiveness from the index construction. Not incorporating these drivers in the index avoids the problem of assuming relative contributions (i.e. weights) of these drivers on competitiveness as a maintained hypothesis. Design/methodology/approach: From the definition that competitiveness is the ability of a city to sustain prosperity, this study derives a model called the hedonic well-being index (HWI) in which prosperity is measured by using the consumption of goods and service including leisure. This study then uses secondary data sources to construct an exploratory HWI (assuming a Cobb Douglas functional form) and compare this index to three benchmarks, namely, income, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and the World Happiness Report (WHR) index. This study also review the component expenditure of the index across geographical locations. Findings: The HWI is better predicted by the WHR index (a subjective well-being index) than by the GDP per capita (a measure of output), owing to the inclusion of leisure and household production absent in per capita GDP. This study explored and found regional variations in the distribution of the expenditure components in the HWI. Originality/value: This paper demonstrates the feasibility of constructing an exploratory HWI to measure the competitiveness of cities using secondary data. The reliability of the index can be improved using primary data in future research. Separating the drivers from the definition of competitiveness allows testing of the contribution and interaction of these drivers on competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Amidst the backdrop of a wide array of structural developments that have revolutionized the competitive landscape of Indian commercial banking, this paper aims to empirically examine the role of two external monitoring mechanisms – competition and concentration on financial stability and further highlights the significance of bank-level heterogeneity in the nexus. Design/methodology/approach: The study uses the Lerner index, defined through a translog specification, as a measure of market power. A system generalized method of moments technique accounts for the dynamic associations among the competition-concentration-stability nexus. The study further examines the moderating effect of ownership, size and capitalization on the nexus. The study also uses the Boone indicator and comments on the competition-bank stability relationship after controlling for bank governance. Findings: The findings indicate that banks are less stable in a more competitive and higher concentrated environment. Exploring bank-level heterogeneity, first, the authors report that as competition increases, state-owned banks have greater incentives to undertake risky activities than private and foreign banks, which point to implicit sovereign guarantees that characterize the former. Second, the authors document an adverse influence of competition on the soundness of larger banks consistent with the "too-big-to-fail" assertion. Third, results corroborate the disciplinary role of regulatory capital and lend support to stricter capital norms under Basel III in a more competitive environment. Originality/value: This paper is perhaps the first to capture competition and concentration in a single model; to reconcile conflicting evidence on competition-risk nexus; to shed light on the joint effect of competition and Basel accords for Indian banks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to determine whether the way competitiveness is measured matters, as well as to analyze the relationship between tax burden and economic competitiveness using a variety of model specifications. Design/methodology/approach: This paper uses statistical models aimed at finding the relationship between taxes and different measures of economic competitiveness, such as gross domestic product per capita, employment and a third-party competitiveness index. Other variables are also considered, and statistical procedures such as lag specifications and "white period" errors are used to address problems of endogeneity and serial correlation. Findings: The models find no robust relationship between taxes and competitiveness. Certain models find correlations between the tax burden of specific income groups with economic competitiveness, but these vary in direction and are difficult to interpret. This follows past research, which shows different results depending on the period analyzed, measure of competitiveness and other variables used. Originality/value: This paper looks at many of the different measures of competitiveness, control variables and periods that are used in the previous literature and shows how any changes to these model specifications cause inconsistent results. This paper highlights that, because results can vary greatly depending on the model, researchers and policymakers must be careful when drawing any conclusions from relationships between taxes and economic competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The paper aims to relook at the notion of competitiveness in the challenging times of pandemic. The failure of global value chains caused many nations despite their state of economic development to struggle for necessary items. The goal of achieving profitability abated by having self-sufficiency, specifically in the manufacturing sector where unlike services, the production processes jolted. Under this backdrop, the paper attempts to project local industry clusters as a panacea for achieving resilient competitiveness. Design/methodology/approach: To explore the credibility of clusters as an important tool to prepare nations towards a resilient future, a correlation between the state of cluster development in a country and its national competitiveness has been tested. Besides, any difference in the notion of state of cluster development between least developing countries, developing countries and developed countries has also been tested. The paper uses the data from World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report. Findings: Strong support for the research hypothesis has been found. High positive correlation exists between the state of cluster development and national competitiveness. The state of cluster development is found to be significantly different among three categories of countries. Originality/value: Clusters have been promoted in academic literature, policy circles and the business community for many advantages. This paper is a novice attempt to showcase these can serve as an instrument to prepare economies for self-sufficiency and a resilient future by performing an objective evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to systematically review the economic complexity literature to advance the knowledge on its contribution to building regional competitiveness. Design/methodology/approach: In this study, we did a systematic review of 111 relevant papers. In this regard, we did a thematic analysis on all the collected papers, which led to a two-level processed approach. In the first level, the contributions of the reviewed articles have been classified into three main streams. In the second level, the findings under each contribution category are analyzed and explained. This approach led to a thematic network demonstrating economic complexity and the dynamics of regional competitiveness and a set of managerial and policy implications. We followed a multiple processed approach for the systematic review of 95 papers that reveals considerable contributions in three categories, including measurement techniques, criticisms and exploratory studies. Findings: Despite some critiques and the undertaken evolution in measurement techniques of complexity, economic complexity has become a well-known method mainly for regions' competitiveness dynamics. Our review demonstrates a nested network of economic complexity dynamics that drives policy advice concerning countries' status in their development path. The provided set of policies includes guidelines for underdeveloped and developing countries and general policy implications, applicable for all regional contexts for building competitiveness dynamics. Originality/value: This research contributes to the literature on competitiveness from the window of economic complexity. The study allows a deep understanding of regions' productive structure role in their development and competitiveness. A set of policies for building regional competitiveness is provided concerning the study's findings. The literature gaps are identified, and future research ideas are provided for using economic complexity methodologically and logically to boost regional competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Cities remain an understudied unit of analysis for understanding the motives of multinational enterprises' (MNE) foreign direct investment (FDI), with subnational locations in International Business (IB) research to date predominantly captured via the phenomenon of agglomeration. As regional integration projects, such as the European Union and to a lesser degree NAFTA, increasingly reduce the importance of national institutional environments, this paper argues regional and subnational levels become more important for studying MNE location choice. This paper aims to evaluate the explanatory contribution of regional and subnational levels of analysis to understanding MNE location choice. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative deductive bottom-up multiple-case study research design is adopted to study the city location choices and FDI motives of six automotive and six commercial banking companies. These purposefully sampled manufacturing and service MNEs have different home countries and regional orientations. Data on their foreign investments across the extended Triad of Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific were collected for the time period of 2000–2021. Findings: Findings suggest that different classes of city tend to attract specific types of FDI and that these patterns might vary across sectors and be influenced by the regional strategic orientations of MNEs. Industry-specific findings reveal the importance of related and support industries and partners in a city location for the automotive MNEs, while the commercial banks seek investment opportunities in cities that allow acquisition targets that have an attractive customer based and will improve their local market knowledge. Originality/value: The findings provide evidence in support of MNEs in manufacturing and service industries perceiving the attractiveness of three city types in different ways across the Triad regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: While conventional views of foreign investment activity primarily relate to efficiency-seeking investments, the authors argue that most other outward foreign direct investments (OFDIs) likely have positive effects on income development in the home region. Data on the US urban system not only illustrates this but also shows that this impact is not equal in all city-regions. The purpose of this paper is to develop an explanation as to why high- and low-income cities are associated with self-reinforcing cycles of OFDI activity that have different home-region impacts. Design/methodology/approach: Conventional views assume that inward foreign direct investments (IFDIs) have a positive impact on target regions, while OFDIs are often treated as the flip side of this story, being seen as having negative effects by shifting jobs and income abroad. This paper counters this logic by developing a conceptual argument that systematically distinguishes different types of OFDIs and relates them to economic development effects in the home (investing) region. Findings: Using a co-evolutionary conceptualization, this paper suggests that many high-income cities are characterized by a virtuous cycle of development where high, successful OFDI activity generates both positive income effects as well as incentives to engage in further OFDIs in the future, thus leading to additional income increases. In contrast, it is suggested that low-income cities are characterized by what we refer to as vicious cycles of development with low OFDI activity, few development impulses and a lack of incentives and capabilities for future investments. Originality/value: This paper develops a counter-perspective to conventional views of OFDI activity, arguing that these investments have a positive impact on regional income levels. The authors develop a spatially sensitive explanation which acknowledges that OFDIs do not trigger a linear process but are associated with diverging inter-urban development paths and may contribute to higher levels of intra-urban inequality. From these findings, the authors derive conclusions for future research and public policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how the technology acceptance model (TAM) and structural equation modeling (SEM) might be used to assess customer acceptance of financial apps aiming at paving the road for enabling a cashless society in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Design/methodology/approach: Using a convenience sample of 600 users of the BenefitPay app in the Kingdom of Bahrain, this study used the quantitative research approach to obtain 427 usable responses. Following a descriptive study to establish a framework for the data and a subsequent inferential analysis using SEM with confirmatory factor analysis, the research hypotheses were tested. Findings: The results of this study back up what is claimed in the TAM theory literature, which shows that banking customers in the Kingdom of Bahrain who use e-payment methods are more likely to use BenefitPay if it is both easy to use and useful. BenefitPay systems behavioral intention to use was also highly influenced by aspects like ease of use and usefulness, which enable the development of cashless societies. Research limitations/implications: This research work contribution is described through exploring how a cashless society is developed using electronic apps by studying the case of the Kingdom of Bahrain. The Kingdom of Bahrain is unique, and hence the knowledge obtained from studying it cannot be applied mechanically to any other nation. Instead, the paper seeks to explain the motivations behind Bahrain's move toward a cashless society, to analyze the difficulties and potential benefits of this transition and to spark much-needed conversations on how having less cash or none would affect the economies. Bahrain's BenefitPay systems can be seen as a current pushing force toward cashless society; thus, understanding how people in the Kingdom of Bahrain adopt e-payment techniques is vital. Originality/value: The TAM conceptual model is experimentally validated in this study using cutting-edge methods like SEM with value creation for banking sector management, making it stand out from similar research. This research may prove useful in laying the groundwork for a cashless society in the Kingdom of Bahrain by analyzing the key elements that affect the BenefitPay app. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The paper aims to examine the moderating role of both the perceived value and perceived trust in the relationship between the ease of use, perceived risk, perceived usefulness and quality of website and the Palestinian millennials' behavioral intention toward online shopping. Design/methodology/approach: A survey questionnaire was carried out targeting 357 Palestinian millennials. In total, 311 valid responses were processed and analyzed using PLS-SEM model fitting approach. Findings: The findings demonstrate that the impact of ease of use, perceived usefulness and website quality on online shopping behavioral intention are reinforced by perceived value and perceived trust, while the effect of perceived risk is weakened. This implies that improving convenience and lowering non-monetary costs such as time and effort will enhance the customers' perceived value and, as a result, their shopping behavioral intention. In addition, one of the most significant barriers to online shopping is a lack of trust. Therefore, once trust is established, shopping willingness rises, and vice versa. Research limitations/implications: As this study focused on consumers from a developing country, it neglected the cross-cultural issue; thus, future studies may have to make a comparison of other samples from various nations to gain a deeper understanding. Furthermore, this research focused on the ease of use, perceived risk, perceived usefulness and perceived quality of the website to predict the customer's behavioral intention toward online shopping, which shows significant results, indicating that more research is needed to look at these independent variables as predictors of customers purchasing decision. Practical implications: Online shopping is a critical topic that has significant impact on the business world. Investigating the moderating role of perceived trust and perceived value on Palestinian millennials' online shopping behavioral intention during COVID-19 might give useful information for organizations developing policies and strategies to create direct sales using social media platforms. Furthermore, the findings might also be valuable for management studies and academics to better understand consumers' intentions when it comes to commercial internet buying. Originality/value: The empirical nature of this paper gives a thorough explanation of the phenomena of online shopping from a developing country. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first empirical study that examines the moderating effect of perceived trust and perceived value on Palestinian millennials' online shopping behavioral intention during COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to study whether international niche market leaders (INMLs) gained their leading position as early mover or diligent follower, and assess whether they leveraged hard or soft forms of technological, supply pre-emption and customer lock-in advantage mechanisms. Design/methodology/approach: Empirical material stems from qualitative and quantitative data on a sample of 20 niche companies from the Basque Country (Spain) that operate in business to business markets. Findings: The sample predominantly followed an early entrant strategy and applied soft measures to reach niche market leadership. Research limitations/implications: Findings imply that early entering fosters conquering leadership in niche markets, that pioneer advantage is easier to sustain in niches than in mainstream markets, and that soft measures are more effective in niche markets than in larger markets. A limitation to our findings is that they follow from explorative research on a sample of firms from a reduced geographic setting. Practical implications: Hidden champions and INMLs can be important sources of technological progress and economic value for the localities that host them. Therefore, despite their traditional low profile and the fact that they are not always the largest firms around, policymakers may want to pay more attention to this type of companies. Originality/value: Tot he best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first paper to research entry timing and its outcome for market leadership with regard to niche players or hidden champions-type of firms. It introduces an original taxonomy to operationalize and distinguish between hard and soft measures to leverage advantage mechanisms related to market entry timing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Given the dominant share of India in global production of fruits and vegetables, this paper intends to analyze the export competitiveness of India and other major food exporters in the world trade. The purpose of this study is to examine export structure, substitutability and complementarity of selected fresh and processed fruits and vegetables of top ten food exporters for the period 2010-20. Design/methodology/approach: Balassa's (1965) revealed comparative advantage (RCA) index was used to measure RCA indices of selected fruits and vegetables under study. Also, revealed symmetric comparative advantage (RSCA) and normalized RCA (NRCA) indices have been calculated. Further, Spearman rank correlation coefficients were computed to analyze changes over the study period for India and other competing countries. The export data have been sourced from UN Comtrade, an electronic database of United Nations, as well as World Trade Statistical Review, a database of World Trade Organization. The analysis was undertaken at Harmonized System (HS) four-digit classification for the period 2010-20. Findings: The results disclosed an improvement in India's comparative advantage over the period of 2010-20 in HS 07 product category, whereas the advantage ceded to other competitive nations in HS 08 product category. Further, Spearman rank correlation coefficients revealed that India faces competition from countries like China, Indonesia, Brazil, Thailand, Argentina and European Union for HS 07 product category, while countries like Mexico, Indonesia, Brazil and Thailandare the major competitors of India in HS 08 product category. Originality/value: The paper expands the existing agricultural trade literature in three ways. First, it is one of the very few studies that have analyzed RCA for Indian fresh and processed fruits and vegetables using three different types of indices, namely, Balassa's RCA, RSCA and NRCA. Second, the authors provide a number of comparisons related to RCA for Indian fruits and vegetables with other top food exporters in the world for a period of 10 years (2010-20). Third, the authors contribute to agricultural trade literature by assessing the substitutability or complementarity of India in the export of fruits and vegetables with other competing nations by using Spearman rank correlation coefficients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Relying on mergers and acquisition transaction-level data set and adopting a more region-specific approach with a focus on industry-region pairs, this paper aims to examine how cross-border acquisitions (CBAs) have an effect, in terms of technological spillover and collaboration, on European regional clusters. Design/methodology/approach: Adopting an industry-region pair approach, this study is based on a quantitative analysis of regional clusters belonging to 262 European regions and 25 patenting industries. Different thresholds of industrial specialization are used to identify clustering industries within a region. Invention performance at the regional cluster level is defined through two sets of different measurements to assess the impact of CBAs on invention quantity performance and internal and external technological collaboration. Findings: The results reveal that CBAs have a positive and significant impact on the number of patents as well as the number of internal and external technological collaborations and that this effect is persistent over time. Furthermore, through exploring the interindustry technological spillover effect of CBAs registered in the same region of a cluster but outside the cluster itself, the authors found that CBAs in a regional cluster are inclined to produce technological spillovers within the cluster but no significant effects in the other industries of the region. Originality/value: This paper is an attempt to empirically explore CBAs and technological spillover in European regional clusters. Therefore, it contributes to the debate, thanks to the use of an industry-region pair approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to test the existence of the so-called industrial district effect on innovation (iMID effect) in Spain and Italy and to compare the intensity of this effect between both countries. There is previous evidence of this effect for Spain, although, to the best of the authors' knowledge, it has never been measured for Italy. Design/methodology/approach: Innovation intensity by local production system is measured using patents per million employees and analysed using the mean, the median, 3D maps and statistical tests. Findings: Industrial districts generate between a third and a quarter of all technological innovations in Spain and Italy. The evidence about the district effect in innovation in Spain is consistent with previous studies. The novelty is that there is also evidence of this effect for Italy and its intensity is higher than for Spain. Almost one-half of the industrial districts fit in the most innovative quartile of local production systems, and they are located in the most innovative part of each country. Research limitations/implications: Limitations of this study include minor database issues. Implications include new focus on the general relevance of industrial districts as highly innovative local production systems and top innovators. Practical implications: Reorientation of territorial and innovation policies. Social implications: Effect on development and well-being through technical progress. Originality/value: This article provides, for the first time, to the best of the authors' knowledge, a measurement of the industrial district effect on innovation in Italy. The paper compares the results between Spain and Italy and allows for generalization of previous evidence, concluding that highly innovative industrial districts are not "rare diamonds", revealing as an alternative and an extraordinarily powerful place-based innovation model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to shed light on the experience of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in balancing three main pillars: the environmental criteria, the reduction of CO2 emissions and the economic growth. Based on the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) framework, it will assess the causal relationship between economic indicators such as gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, trade openness and energy use and environmental indicators such as CO2 emissions. Design/methodology/approach: The analysis relies on a period of 40 years (1981–2020) where data is extracted from the World Bank database. This study uses the unit root test for time series stationarity, the optimal lag length test, the "Johansen" test for co-integration and the vector error correction model. Findings: The paper concludes to two major findings. On a short-term basis, CO2 emissions and economic indicators are negatively correlated, whereas on a long-term basis, there is no association between CO2 emissions and economic indicators in the UAE. Research limitations/implications: The research ends with important recommendations. It illustrates the importance of rationalizing the use of primary resources and the necessity to embrace successful and efficient policies in the energy production. Practical implications: More specifically, UAE is urged to address the problem of CO2 emissions in the electricity sector and increase awareness of the use of environmentally friendly processes in the transport and industrial sectors. While setting their economic agendas, UAE are encouraged to meet environmental criteria and invest in renewable energy projects such as "Shams 1", the largest solar power plant outside of Spain and the USA. Originality/value: The current study is significant in its research on the environmental impact of economic development, trade openness and energy use policies in the UAE. It uses CO2 emissions as an environmental proxy and evaluates the environmental policies adopted in the UAE to reduce its impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Driven by the evidence from the literature on the significance of mobile (m-)payment in economic growth and productivity and at the same time the relative dismal adoption of this service, the purpose of present paper is to elucidate the merchants' m-payment adoption from the perspective of trust, drawing upon the game theory framework, in the Malaysian context. Design/methodology/approach: An online survey consisting of 302 respondents was carried out to investigate the impact of trust and opportunism on merchants' perceived trustworthiness using a two-staged structural equation modeling–neural network approach to determine the significance and relative importance of variables. This study also applies a game-theoretic approach to analyze the impact of trust on the relationship between merchants and m-payment service providers. Findings: The results indicate a positive and statistically significant relationship between merchant trust, merchant opportunism and perceived trustworthiness, and a statistically significant negative relationship was found between m-payment provider opportunism and perceived trustworthiness. The findings from the prisoner's dilemma two-player model indicate that the scenarios of mutual trust and mutual opportunism as paradigmatic of cooperation and defection produce the best and worse outcomes, respectively. An intriguing result was the positive impact of merchant opportunism on perceived trustworthiness, which indicates a very calculative orientation of merchants in m-payment contracting. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is among the first attempts to propose a game theory approach to the interaction between merchants and m-payment providers under the framework of trust and opportunism. A game theory study in the context of m-payment adoption can contribute to the theoretical literature by providing insights into the decision-making processes of merchants. By incorporating trust and opportunism into the game theory model, we can gain a better understanding of how they affect the decision-making process and overall adoption rates. The conclusions and implications provide useful insights for managers of both m-payment platforms and merchants in this relational exchange. The results of the present research can provide insights into the factors that influence merchant decisions and guide them toward suitable partnerships for successful adoption and can guide authorities for policy interventions and supporting adoption efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explain the effects of innovation, specialisation, qualifications and sectoral structure on the resilience of German regions (municipal level) facing the Great Recession in 2008/2009. Design/methodology/approach: To calculate the effects of various variables on the resilience of German regions against the Great Recession, the authors use quantile regressions. To measure resilience, the authors create a number of indexes representing different parts of the economy: resistance performance index, recovery performance index, shift-share resistance index, shift-share recovery index, manufacturing resistance index, manufacturing recovery index, service resistance index and service recovery index. Findings: The results of this study confirm that locations with employment growth before the crisis and with a good industry structure show better employment dynamics during and after the crisis. The authors find evidence for positive relationship between innovativeness, qualification, the share of the service sector, specialisation and resistance. The authors obtain positive results for related variety and both resistance and recovery. The share of the manufacturing sector only shows a positive relationship with recovery. Originality/value: The authors expand the existing literature in three aspects: First, instead of using regions as observation units, the authors conduct the analyses on the basis of municipalities and their surroundings. By doing so, the authors reduce the modifiable area unit problem because the authors do not rely on regions defined for administrative reasons. Second, the authors apply quantile regressions to detect nonlinear effects. Third, in addition to the resilience of the whole economy, the authors also study the resilience of the manufacturing and service sectors separately and examine the resilience of the local shift effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Cluster management organizations (CMOs) have emerged over the past few decades as intermediaries that support the competitiveness of place-based clusters of economic activity. Despite their economic origins, policymakers are now starting to experiment with a broader use for cluster policies that seeks to leverage CMOs to tackle societal challenges in approaches aligned with the concept of creating shared value (CSV). However, there remains a void in conceptual understanding around the specific roles that CMOs might play in overcoming the barriers faced by their members for CSV, which this paper aims to address. Bridging this gap presents an opportunity for cluster practitioners and policymakers in a context in which environmental and social sustainability are at the top of policy agendas. Design/methodology/approach: Based on analysis of literature around collaborative approaches to CSV for mitigating transaction costs, the authors define the contours of a new conceptual framework for the roles that CMOs can play in fostering collective CSV. The authors illustrate how the different components of the framework are reflected in emerging cluster practice in the context of a new wave of European cluster-based projects tackling CSV elements. Findings: The resulting framework reconciles the concepts of clusters and CSV by explicitly positioning CMOs as intermediaries for facilitating the CSV strategies of their members. CMOs embrace emergent strategy making that targets (tangible and intangible) collective CSV capabilities and addresses collective CSV challenges. Collective CSV can provide a theoretical anchor guiding future cluster policies to fully leverage the transformative potential of CMOs. This conceptual framework opens a promising empirical research agenda, particularly around evaluating the plurality of impacts of CMOs. Originality/value: By stressing the social impact of CMOs alongside their well-understood economic impacts, and by enabling a categorization of functions that can support the monitoring of CMO activities toward collective CSV strategies, the framework provides a novel basis for inspiring further empirical research into the evidencing of these roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the resilience of clusters and cluster policies in the face of external shocks, such as the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic. It explores the concept of resilience in clusters and the factors that contribute to their ability to withstand and recover from crises. The article presents empirical studies that examine the response of clusters to external shocks and highlights the importance of factors such as sectoral diversification, innovation, workforce qualifications, and social networks in enhancing cluster resilience. It also discusses the potential of ambidexterity and digital transformation in cluster policies, as well as the role of cluster management organizations in promoting collective shared value. The article concludes by suggesting the need for further research to understand the drivers and outcomes of resilience in clusters and to develop effective policies that balance economic and societal objectives. [Extracted from the article]

Purpose: This study aims to further develop the CLC stage/path's identification model that distinguishes between path's emergence (emergence stage), path's development (growth stage), path's sustainment (maturity stage), path's decline (decline stage) and path's transformation (renewal stage), and by applying it, define the current stage/path of the Demarcated Douro Region (DDR) cluster. The Port wine industry, which is the dominant industry of the DDR cluster, is at the maturity/decline stage – is the same for the cluster itself? Design/methodology/approach: It is a case study with a longitudinal perspective based on the analysis of the dynamics of the parameters of cluster evolution using available secondary sources (cluster identity/brand; number of firms; number of employees; network; innovation; policies and regulations; and external markets – exports), especially addressing the past decade, that represent the stage of maturity/decline of the cluster's dominant Port wine industry. Findings: The conclusion is that since the 1990s the Demarcated Douro Region has gone through a "path transformation" where during the following 20 years new "anchors" for the cluster were gradually introduced, such as Doc Douro Wines, new forms of consumption of Port wine, tourism and olive oil. Since 2010 the cluster has entered a growth stage/(new) path's development, where these "anchors" are in steady growth. The Douro brand is becoming more internationally recognized and established, the number of firms and employees is increasing, the network is restructuring with the creation of cluster-specific official institutions, innovation is especially reflected with increasing heterogeneity through diversification of the clusters into new activities and regulations and policies are supportive for expansion – all these parameters are indicating the rise of the new cycle for the cluster. Thus, the DDR cluster represents an attractive business environment and requires attention from regional policymakers to support the cluster's development. Especially institutions have been highlighted as internal factors driving clusters growth, European integration as an external factor and firms' strategies of diversification and internationalization as an appropriate de-locking mechanism for new path's development. Research limitations/implications: This research contributes to the CLC theory by further developing and applying a CLC stage/path identification model. It provides a better understanding of the dynamics of the DDR cluster that diverge from its dominant industry life cycle, which is relevant for regional policies and firms' strategies. This study has its limitations. It provides an exploratory application of the theoretical framework proposed, and consequently, no general conclusions are possible yet. More empirical studies with different clusters in different stages are necessary to test the framework. Practical implications: These findings are useful to policymakers when designing their policies for cluster development but also for clusters' entities and actors when making their strategic decisions as it allows based on the verification of the established parameter of CLC to identify its current stage/path of development. Originality/value: The paper presents a theoretically grounded model for CLC identification and for the first time to the best of the authors' knowledge applies it to a cluster case – the DDR cluster. This case applies the proposed model and illustrates its usefulness. The model provides the tools for a better understanding of cluster dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to survey the current landscape of artificial intelligence (AI) applications in higher education institutions (HEIs) and recommend future directions. Design/methodology/approach: This paper reviews the recent trends, showcases the applications and provides future directions through a review of current uses of AI in HEIs. Findings: The results of this study highlight successful applications of AI technologies in three main areas of college operation: student learning experience; student support; and enrollment management. Research limitations/implications: This review has important implications for early adopters of AI by HEIs in providing a competitive advantage. The limitation lies in the scope of the review. It is not comprehensive and does not cover other areas of college operations. Originality/value: This is the first review about AI in higher education. It is of value in building future research and serving as a framework for AI applications in HEI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Based on the rankings of the global competitiveness index and the fragile states index, this paper aims to suggest alternative approaches to shed some light on the effectiveness of rankings in helping emerging economies improve their competitiveness from an institutional standpoint. Design/methodology/approach: The statistical analysis consisted of a two-stage analysis; the first stage consisted of constructing an updated Alternative Institutional Quality Index (AIQI), intending to design a comparative measure between dimensions over time. The second stage consisted of evidencing the structure of each of the observed dimensions' variance to evidence the existing changes or gaps of the AIQI and its components. The authors incorporated the Kruskas–Wallis (KW) model to test the results. Findings: This paper demonstrates that the analyzed countries generally maintain their competitive position, even though changes in their scores are reflected. This makes invisible the development and progress factors generated by the countries that are mainly found with low scores and only reflect stable structures that allow them to maintain their position. Research limitations/implications: The current study has a limitation because it concentrated on a few selected indicators based on the literature review. The limitations of this research may be overlooked in the future by adding additional variables and observations. The paper could be improved by including intra- and inter-regional approaches to control based on the occurrence of specific circumstances (i.e. informal institutions, economic development or factor endowments). Practical implications: The paper contributes to the applicable measurement of competitiveness and its structural change over time. Originality/value: This paper proposed an alternative and simple methodology to assess the evolution of the competitiveness indicators; this methodology could be used to measure structural changes at different levels, which may be an input for the design and implementation of policies to foster competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the evolution of the phenomenon of industrial districts and explores the broader regional innovation systems that consist of multiple industrial districts. Design/methodology/approach: This paper uses a combination of network analysis and patent analysis techniques to analyze the social structure of Montreal tech agglomeration and its innovation. Findings: The findings indicate that the cores of modern regional innovation systems are composed of densely collaborating organizations belonging to different industrial clusters, and these organizations are responsible for the most radical innovations. The analysis also reveals the importance of brokers and international ties in generating radical innovations. Research limitations/implications: The findings of our paper extend the initial concept of industrial district and call for the need to no longer focus exclusively on individual clusters, but to take into consideration broader competitive regional innovation systems that are composed of multiple clusters. The current trend of the core of such systems to be composed of organizations from multiple clusters indicates that the traditional understanding of industrial district confined to the borders of specific industry is no longer relevant and there is a need to revise the conceptualization of clusters and further analyze the social fabric of broader regional innovation systems. In future, such intense collaboration within the core of the regional innovation system network may give rise to new industrial and technological configurations. It is important to further investigate these structures, because they have important implications for innovation and are responsible for new innovation patterns. Practical implications: To boost innovation in specific localities, policymakers could encourage collaboration between different clusters and support interdisciplinary projects and programs. Those would help the local community generate radical innovations. Social implications: Using this research, local policymakers could help local companies understand and explore international markets, as well as focus on attracting multinational firms that are leaders in their respective fields. Finally, local policymakers could further support important cluster intermediaries Originality/value: This paper offers original contributions to the studies of industrial districts as it explores a competitive ecosystem composed of multiple industrial districts and analyzes how these industrial districts interact and where the most innovative solutions lie in the social fabric of this big ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper presents an empirical contribution to the literature on cluster evolution, highlighting the decline phase. The analysis focuses on the footwear sector in Rio Grande do Sul (RS) state, in southern Brazil, where an important footwear cluster is located, which was once considered one of the world's largest footwear clusters. The purpose of this study is to analyse the transformation of this footwear industrial sector since the beginning of the 2000s using several sectoral statistics. Design/methodology/approach: This paper presents an empirical and longitudinal study that comprises the sourcing of 20 years of secondary data, based on official sources. The main data analysed were production, price, industrial structure, labour market and foreign market. Findings: The main results indicated a significant reduction in production, export and employment. In addition, a precarization of the labour market was observed, with lower wage levels, even with an increase in the formal qualification of labour over time. The finding is that the RS footwear sector underwent a huge structural change and lost the status of a worldwide supercluster. This decline occurred due to two central factors: an external shock related to China's entry into the international and Brazilian domestic markets, accompanied by a slowdown in the Brazilian economy since 2015; and the difficulty of local firms responding to the new challenges. Research limitations/implications: Synthesizing the findings, it is understood that this paper contributes to registering the trajectory of decline over time of the footwear sector in RS. In this sector, the Sinos Valley cluster is located, historically known as a footwear producing and exporting supercluster. This cluster loses the characteristic of a "supercluster", but it still remains an important footwear cluster in Brazil. Therefore, this study reinforces the existence of fragilities already pointed out by the literature in Schimtz (1999) and, more recently, in Schmidt (2020). The need to address a set of fragilities remains current, both at the micro- and meso-levels. This is key to reversing the decline trajectory of the cluster and the sector. Moreover, as recent studies on clusters point out, one still must think about the impact of another ongoing paradigmatic transformation concerning the use and development of Industry 4.0 technologies. Thus, the central challenge is to think about and implement new public and private policies. The historical, economic and social relevance of the sector and the cluster demand efforts to reverse the decline. Originality/value: This study focuses to contribute to the discussion about the decline of the footwear production in the region by analysing secondary data regarding the industrial sector. This is an analysis at the meso-level (industry). The authors understand that the originality of the research lies in the longitudinal analysis for a recent period (past 20 years) that captures the greatest current crisis experienced by the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to analyse to what extent Italian industrial districts (IDs), with their traditional manufacturing specialization, experimented a territorial servitisation process in terms of spread of specifically professional and technological knowledge-intensive business services' activities over the period 2012–2018. Design/methodology/approach: This paper articulates knowledge-intensive business services activities in two types, technological knowledge-intensive business services and professional knowledge-intensive business services. It tracks their growth and their co-location with manufacturing sectors in Italian IDs by means of firm employment data and location quotients. Firm employment data is extracted from Statistical Archive of Active firms (ASIA) data set provided by Italian National Institute for Statistics (ISTAT). ASIA data is matched with ISTAT territorial identification of Italian local labour systems and IDs. Findings: In 2018, Italian IDs featured, next to their traditional over-specialisation in manufacturing activities, an under-specialisation in knowledge-intensive business services' activities. Nevertheless, the dynamic analysis carried out over the period 2012–2018 shows that IDs firm employment in technological knowledge-intensive business services and professional knowledge-intensive business services grew at a higher rate than the national average. Originality/value: The novelty of this paper is to distinguish between technological knowledge-intensive business services and professional knowledge-intensive business services and to measure the presence and the growth of these two different types of knowledge-intensive business services in Italian IDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the role of business support organisations (BSO) in overcoming barriers to the adoption of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies, especially in disseminating knowledge on such technologies among cluster firms. Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on in-depth interviews conducted in 2021 with representatives of BSO in three manufacturing clusters (furniture, metal and automotive) in the Wielkopolska region in Poland. Findings: Companies in clusters face important barriers impeding the adoption of I4.0 technologies, in particular, the unawareness of the characteristics and potential of those technologies. BSO might be particularly helpful in overcoming this barrier by supporting knowledge dissemination among companies. This study's analyses suggest they can do so in three roles: as knowledge gatekeepers, as brokers of purposeful knowledge transfer and as facilitators of spontaneous knowledge diffusion. Evidence suggests that different types of organisations are more likely to be associated with each of these three roles, despite such a combination of the three often being in one place: public agencies are gatekeeping, selecting and passing on certain knowledge on I4.0; research-oriented organisations (such as technology parks) play a knowledge transfer brokerage role; industry associations and cluster initiatives are actively facilitating spontaneous knowledge diffusion. Originality/value: This paper is a contribution to the emerging literature on digital transformations of clusters by investigating the difficulties preventing firms from adopting I4.0 technologies and the roles BSO can take on to support overcoming them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to understand the contribution of research and transfer institutes (RTIs) to digitising in traditional Marshallian industrial districts (IDs). This study answers how to digitise small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) in IDs capitalising on RTIs? As collective actors, RTIs introduce change in local/regional innovation systems where they are embedded. Design/methodology/approach: This paper uses qualitative evidence based on interviews and secondary data analysis on digitising the Vinalopo Footwear district in Spain. Findings: This paper provides empirical insights about how RTIs perform research and development (R&D) and non-R&D activities to digitise, facilitated by leading firms that frequently engage with RTIs. Subsequently, leading firms interact and diffuse Industry 4.0 within their networks of SMEs. RTIs activate digitising in districts avoiding the manifested reluctance of SMEs to engage with them, capitalising on leading firms' networks orchestration. Research limitations/implications: Because of the chosen research approach, the findings are limited to the chosen setting and method. Practical implications: This paper includes implications for policymakers, responding to the paradox of how to activate knowledge transfer from RTIs to SMEs, when the latter are reluctant to use RTIs. Originality/value: This paper fulfils an identified need to study how to digitise IDs and clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: State-owned enterprises' (SOEs) goals are perceived as two-sided blades, providing goods or services to the public on one side and escalating the government's wealth on the other side. Treating the SOEs, government encounters the problem of injection strategy or privatize them. At the same time, managers have the option to formulate the SOEs strategy to boost performance. By using Miles and Snow's typology strategy and the above factors, this paper investigates those impacts on Indonesia's SOEs' performance. This study aims to propose strategic typology as the main predictor with other variables such as the size, ownership structure, market competitiveness and capital subsidy on SOEs. Design/methodology/approach: The study uses archived SOEs' financial data from 2014 to 2018 to predict the financial performance using ordinal logistic regression analysis. The additional factors, such as firm size, ownership structure, market concentration and capital subsidy, are incorporated. Findings: The result demonstrates that SOEs strategic typology, market concentration, size, ownership structure and capital subsidy significantly affect Indonesia's SOEs' performance. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper is the first elaborating government policies for SOEs, such as capital subsidy and state ownership, on the perspective of Miles and Snow's strategy-performance relationship. Correspondingly, the paper contributes to examine the Indonesian characteristic SOE type with the performance. No single study has previously explored this relationship in the context of SOE in Indonesia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and cities and how the relationship between multinational enterprise (MNEs) and local firms facilitates regional cleantech innovation. Design/methodology/approach: Using a combination of social network analysis, regression analysis and interview analysis, the authors map and analyze a cleantech cluster to investigate the relationship between MNEs and local firms and the resulting effects on cleantech innovation. Findings: The findings of the paper indicate that FDI plays a crucial role in cities and their local clusters by acting as a broker between a diverse set of actors: firms, institutions, universities, financial and other intermediaries. Additionally, connectedness to MNEs improves local firms' innovation. Research limitations/implications: This study is not free of limitations, mainly, because of the aspects that the analysis is based on one city and one cleantech hub. Further research could verify whether the findings of this paper hold in other cities and industries. Practical implications: The findings, elucidating the connection between MNEs and local firms, as well as MNEs being important brokers in the local system, and the resulting impact, will help policymakers to take appropriate actions and support the local cleantech innovation. It is important to not only attract high-quality FDI into local clusters, but also to create and support collaborations between foreign firms and local actors, because colocation does not automatically leads to positive spillovers and a lot depends on how MNEs are integrated into the local milieu. Social implications: The present paper argues that FDI plays an important role in local cleantech innovation and it is important to integrate foreign firms in local social networks. Originality/value: The authors analyze FDI patterns in an emerging industry at the city and local cluster level using a unique database containing the information on relationships between MNEs and local firms, as well as interview data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to review and try to understand the importance of complexity management for maritime business to gain competitiveness in global business environment. The purpose of the study is to discuss and evaluate managing change and requirements of understanding the complexity management. Design/methodology/approach: To find peer-reviewed journal publications, a large scientific database used by searching Web of Science and Scopus as the most relevant abstract and citation databases that provide peer-reviewed literature data for many different academic disciplines and selected papers evaluated from the maritime business context. Findings: As a conceptual paper, the contribution of the study is to offer practical/required management applications with the help of six proposes for making better management decisions to confront future challenges to catch organizational competitiveness and success. With adaptation of complexity management, maritime stakeholders able to create an important core competency. Research limitations/implications: The research has some limitations and further research into this area should be extended. This study is designed as a first step to provide an insight to the field and to understand the main views of the subject. Subsequently, complexity management in maritime business is a slightly deficient area of research, which offers remarkable research opportunities. First, it would be fruitful to collect qualitative data to examine the current issues and changing business environment of the maritime business. Second, it would be helpful develop quantitative models to offer practical solutions from the maritime stakeholders' point of view according to loading/discharging/transportation requirements. Future studies should deepen the subject with the help of simulation models of operations or agent based applications of stakeholder problems or vessel/ship-owner management implementations to understand changing circumstances of new business environment for the sake of managing complexity. Practical implications: As the core point of view in strategic management; "achieving and sustaining" competitive advantage in organizations always takes an important place in organizational survival. With the help mentioned proposes stakeholders of the system could understand the ways of dealing with the complexities of new business world which enhances organizational competitiveness. Social implications: Maritime business could be defined as a social ecosystem which has it is own dynamics and customs. Socio-eco systems, like all complex systems, show unique non-linear dynamics in space and time which could be tough to define via classical quantitative methods. Organizations co-exist and co-evolve with their environment. It is possible that organizations effect their environment and gain some control over it while at the same time affected from environment and should steer the new trends. Originality/value: The originality of the study lies in highlighting the importance of change management as a handler of complexity management for maritime business. The contribution of the paper is to indicate expected opportunities and challenges of smart changes for relevant readiness of maritime business for better management decisions, benefiting maritime business stakeholders by simultaneously enhancing effectiveness to confront future demands to achieve organizational competitiveness. With the help of proper complexity management lenses organizations could able to create their source of competitive advantage that represents capacity to align and enable required functions under tough contextual environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether the implementation of sustainable business models contributes to improving a firm's performance during a global crisis, such as the one caused by COVID-19. Based on the triple bottom line theory, the paper explores the relation between the creation of value through solid corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies, United Nations (UN) Global Compact's (GC) business model proposals and Global Reporting Initiative's (GRI) reporting scheme. Design/methodology/approach: The present paper studies companies within the European Union, focusing specifically on the long-term impact of using the world's most widely used standards for sustainability reporting – the GRI's standards and/or the UNGC management models, as well as on the firm's performance based on the financial results during COVID-19 crisis. To achieve this goal, the study analyses the share price of firms publicly listed in the FTSEMIB (benchmark index of Italy's largest trading platform) out of those companies that are implementing the UN and GRI's tools. Findings: Findings show how a commitment to sustainable business models and long-term CSR strategies can contribute to firm's ability to overcome periods of economic crisis. Furthermore, implementing GRI standards and UNGC guidelines within the business model seems to have a positive impact in overcoming a hard context such as COVID-19. In addition, it contributes to a better understanding of stakeholders' needs, consumer profiling and value creation. Originality/value: This study evaluates firms' business models, considering the effects of decisions made in the context of COVID-19. The role of UNGC and GRI is evaluated in terms of their contribution to firms' financial performance and corporate reputation during a context of hardship. Consequently, this study contributes to academia and practice, adding value in areas related to strategic planning and business model design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]