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We explored the moderating impacts of product modularity and supply chain visibility for sustainability and operational initiatives, which entails a dramatic rethinking and reorganization of the production processes of manufacturing enterprises. Moderating effects of product modularity and supply chain visibility on links among supply chain pressure, technological pressure, sustainable practices, operational performance, and sustainability performance were included. A conceptual model was developed following the resource-based view and dynamic capability theories. Well-designed questionnaires collected data, and the total sample size for data analysis was 490 responses from small- and medium-sized manufacturing firms in Pakistan. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the proposed hypothesis. The first finding revealed that operational performance and sustainable performance both improve when companies implement sustainable practices. The second finding drawn from the data was that supply chain pressure and technological pressure have a positive effect on sustainable practices. The major finding of this work was grounded in the product modularity perspective, we argue that the relations among supply chain pressure, technological pressure, sustainable practices, operational performance, and sustainability performance are affected and moderated. The moderating effect of supply chain visibility existed and it has a positive moderating effect for the relationships from sustainable practices toward operational and sustainability performance. Surprisingly, moderating impact of visibility on relations from supply chain pressure and technological pressure towards sustainable practices was not significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Managing change in organizations is a laborious task that consumes value added time in various segments of the product lifecycle including design and development, production, delivery, and product disposition. Product lifecycle management plays an important role in minimizing the time required for managing engineering changes. This research aims to perform an extensive survey of the literature in this area. There is no consolidated review available in this area summarizing advances in engineering change management vis-à-vis product lifecycle management. Thus, the paper gives an overview of product lifecycle management-based thinking and change management. This review puts forward the most relevant research regarding the practices and frameworks developed for managing engineering change in an organization. These include model-based definition, digital twin, process-based semantic approach, service-oriented architecture, Unified Modeling Language, and unified feature modeling. The gaps between the extents of conformance to success factors have been identified as extent of integration, standardization, versatility of application, support of existing systems, and the extent of product lifecycle management support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Risk management is an essential way for farmers to reduce uncertainty. In this research, a stratified random sampling method was used to survey 350 maize farmers in four different agro-ecological regions in Bangladesh. Using the multivariate probit model, this study explored the possible correlation between farmers' perceptions of catastrophic risks and their attitudes towards risk sources—as well as the possible correlation between contract farming, diversification and precautionary savings as risk management strategies. The results confirm the relevance of risk management adoption decisions and reveal that the use of one risk management tool may simultaneously influence the use of another risk management tool. In addition, the research results also show that age, education level, extension experience, monthly household income, farming areas, land ownership and risk aversion nature are the most important factors that affect the adoption of risk management strategies. The research results provide further explanation and information and provide a platform for decision-makers to predict appropriate risk management strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The restoration of the ancient Silk Road intends to reconnect China with Africa, the Middle East, and Europe through a railway network, airports, roads, seaports, and an optical fiber system. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has three components. One Belt, One Road (OBOR) is based upon two parts of the BRI; the maritime Silk Road and the Silk Road economic belt. OBOR is based upon six economic corridors. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is the smartest corridor under OBOR, which passes only through Pakistan, and after completion, will provide a safe and cheap route for China to import oil and energy. CPEC is a multidimensional project under which much infrastructure development initiative has been started to improve the infrastructure and economic development of Pakistan. Infrastructure development is an essential requirement in economic growth, one which further leads to industrialization and is helpful in economic development. The present study was conducted in Pakistan and explored how infrastructure development under the CPEC is useful for the sustainable development of Pakistan, as well as which kind of infrastructure development projects have been included in the CPEC to improve the socio-economic paradigm of Pakistan. A sample of 500 respondents was selected through a multistage sampling technique from the two-node cities. A questionnaire survey was used to collect primary data. The results of the study show that the CPEC is a catalyst for Pakistan to improve its socio-economic conditions and to achieve sustainable development. The participants of the survey agreed that CPEC will improve the socio-economic paradigm of Pakistan and will be helpful in the achievement of sustainable development goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]