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Sustainability in family businesses is an increasingly important and ever-evolving topic in business research, due to the demands of sustainable development agendas for all types of companies. This study conducts a comprehensive literature review on sustainable entrepreneurship (SE) using bibliometric analysis, content analysis, and a systematic literature review. The systematic literature review helps in finding the 554 SE-related articles. The bibliometric and content analysis was carried out on these articles. The study also analyzed the recent articles separately to identify research gaps and current trends. The study identifies the research to be diversified in six broad themes: 'sustainable entrepreneurial enterprise', 'relationship between social entrepreneurship and the sustainable ecosystem', 'publications from different angles', 'model, framework, and conceptual papers', 'involvement of new entrants', and 'influence of financial support' and 'green start-ups'. The future research directions will help scholars identify clear research gaps to explore this area further. Researchers can focus on green agritourism, advanced recycling methods, eco-centric models, frameworks, operational procedures, financing partnerships, and transitioning into the digital era. Article highlights: Identifies research diversification in six themes and carried out literature review and content analysis. Article highlights five fresh research avenues. Several research directions in each broad research avenue are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of a highly dynamic environment, there has been a notable focus on the development of innovative knowledge assets. The objective of this paper is to investigate whether there is a relationship between CEO power and innovative knowledge assets, and to examine the joint moderating effect of firm size and firm age on that relationship. This can help to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) like 8: promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth and 9: promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation. This paper empirically tested the hypotheses based on a sample of manufacturing firms listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 2009 to 2019. The fixed effect model was employed to examine the relationship between CEO power and innovative knowledge assets, as well as the joint moderating effect of firm size and firm age. The research results showed that there is a significant positive relationship between CEO power and innovative knowledge assets. Moreover, the significant positive relationship between CEO power and innovative knowledge assets is stronger in larger and older firms. This paper contributes to the existing literature on CEO power and firm innovation, and also offering valuable insights for firms seeking to develop innovative knowledge assets. Article Highlights: CEO power has significant positive impact on innovative knowledge assets. Firm size and firm age moderate the relationship between CEO power and innovative knowledge assets. Firm size and firm age can interact with each other to affect the relationship between CEO power and innovative knowledge assets [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autonomous shipping is introduced to increase the competitiveness of inland shipping and promote a modal shift toward sustainable transport. This innovation has the potential to disrupt the existing inland shipping industry paradigm. This paper identifies the characteristics of autonomous inland shipping through the lens of the diffusion of innovation theory. A systematic literature review, based on the PRISMA 2020 guidelines methodology, was conducted. The existing literature aligns well with the theory and reveals most of the innovation variables and relevant actors. The result indicates that the literature on this topic is limited but still developing, and the paper presents opportunities for agendas in business, innovation, and transportation research. Further discussion shows industry implications, using a generalized transport cost model and stakeholder analysis to emphasize the motivations for sustainable transport through the adoption of autonomous shipping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empathy is a specific moral aspect of human behavior. The global workplace, and thereby a consideration of employee stakeholders, includes unique behavioral and ethical considerations, including a consideration of human empathy. Further, the human aspects of workplaces are within the domain of human resources and managerial oversight in business organizations. As such, human emotions and interactions are complicated by daily work related expectations, employee/employer interactions and work practices, and the outcomes of employees' work routines. Business ethics, human resources, and risk management practices are endemic aspects within workplaces. Increasingly, the understanding of models of AI-reliant business practices underscores the need for the consideration of the ethical aspects of AI impacts on employees in the workplace. This paper explores a systematic ethical lens of the opportunities and the risks of AI ideation, development, and deployment in business-employee relations practices beyond a compliance mindset, and that introduces a further set of workplace considerations. Empathy is concerned with human intentions. As such, attributive ethical indications of the role of AI in the workplace and its impacts on employees is necessary. Moreover, this paper uses a cognitive lens of empathy and focuses on artificial morality related to the ethical concerns, implications, and practices of AI development, deployment, and workplace practices that may impact employees in a variety of business aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The present paper examines the existing literature on how FinTech and RegTech contribute to business sustainability and the sustainability of new-age technology firms. It highlights the opportunities and challenges faced by new age technology firms, especially in emerging markets, in ushering in business sustainability and provides insights to attain economic stability, growth, and social and environmental sustainability through FinTech and RegTech. Methodology: We conducted a systematic literature review using the SALSA (Search, Appraisal, Synthesis, and Analysis) framework to examine existing literature on the topic of the current study. To analyse the evolution and development of this domain, we extract published literature from Scopus using search strings based on the PICOC (Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome and Context) framework population, without considering any time frame. Thematic synthesis is used for data extraction and further classification of literature to synthesize the current body of knowledge and ascertain future research agendas in FinTech, RegTech and sustainability. Finding: We find that FinTech has favourable influence on banks, SMEs and agriculture performance but is a significant challenger to the traditional finance industry. Although, there is suggestive evidence in favour of cyber security being a factor for FinTech adoption, further evidence is still required. Results highlight differences in market penetration of FinTech in developed and emerging economies, and demographic factors like the age of the population and demographic dividend of the emerging economies play an important role in the rise of FinTech in emerging economies. RegTech has continuously evolved to address the challenges posed by evolving financial technologies, with a focus on improving internal control systems. This study outlines the future research agenda in terms of protection against non-compliance, money laundering, terror financing, and cyber security, which are other major reasons for the adoption of RegTech. RegTech has also shown a positive impact on preventing financial crime, reducing compliance costs, and easy onboarding of clients. Practical implications: This paper reveals the connection between FinTech and RegTech and business sustainability, the factors that influence their adoption, and the challenges of adopting these technologies. The findings underscore the issues that policymakers must tackle to promote responsible FinTech adoption, striking a balance between innovation and sustainability. Originality: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study examining and presenting a structured literature review of the existing literature on the impact of FinTech/RegTech on business sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the international environment changes, frequent geopolitical crises continue to hinder the healthy development of global stock markets. To analyze in-depth the risk contagion path between the international stock market and geopolitics under the impact of extreme events, this paper explores the tail risk interactive contagion mechanism and dynamic effects of the double-layer network between the international stock market and geopolitics from the perspective of complex networks. Empirical research finds that geopolitical conflicts exacerbate risk contagion among international stock markets, and there are significant differences in risk contagion between developed and emerging economies. The analysis of the complex interaction effect in the double-layer network of the international stock market and geopolitics shows that the intralayer risk spillover effect of geopolitics in the short term is significantly higher than that of the stock price volatility network layer. Finally, the study on the dynamic changes of the double-layer network connectedness between the international stock market and geopolitics found that the shock of extreme events, such as military conflict and public health security, is an important factor in triggering the cross-contagion of risks. The research conclusions provide new ideas for preventing the cross-contagion of geopolitical risks in the stock markets of various countries under the evolution of the global political and economic pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asset and debt management are two essential managerial tasks in any firm. The traditional view holds that asset management is the primary driver of real estate investment trust (REIT) returns for the following reasons: (1) interest tax shields are not a source of incremental value for REITs and (2) the plain tangibility of real estate assets helps to diminish the financial distress costs of REITs. This paper examines empirically whether debt management also matters for the operating returns (i.e., ROA, ROE, ΔROA or ΔROE) of a portfolio of REITs. Both applying a novel dynamic decomposition method to ΔROA or ΔROE and also defining ROA and ROE under the net income and the funds from operations metrics guide the empirical approach of this paper. Our findings show that the effects of debt management on REITs' operating profitability cannot be ruled out. However, the direction of these effects appears to be opposite to that of asset management. These results call for renewed and further investigations into the optimal capital structure questions for REITs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the association between audit committee characteristics (ACC) and risk disclosure (RD) of firms, focusing on the moderating effect of audit quality (AQ). The importance of RD to investors and stakeholders is that such a practice offers a better evaluation of the overall risk profile of companies. Based on agency theory complemented by the resource dependence theory, this paper therefore suggests that effective audit committees have an effect of reducing information asymmetry while increasing audit quality monitoring capacities and consequently enhance risk disclosure practices. In this respect, the literature sources were reviewed, and a hypothetical framework was developed to test the hypotheses. The sample selection comprises 54 companies with non-financial companies listed in the Egyptian Exchange Market, EGX100, for the period 2018 to 2021, which amounts to 216 observations. According to the results, ACC, such as size and financial expertise, are significant for RD, while ACC relating to meetings and independence are less important for RD. The study further established that AQ moderates the relationship between ACC and RD, implying that the significant influence of ACC is stronger when AQ is high. These inferences are of essence to policy makers and companies in understanding the implication of ACC on RD and the relation to high-quality audits in improving the effectiveness of audit committees. It underlines the importance of audit committees in giving assurance about transparency and accountability in financial reporting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geopolitics events have a significant impact on financial markets in the process of global economic integration and financial liberalization. Focusing on the 2022 Russia-Ukraine conflict, this paper utilizes the TVP-VAR network connectedness approach to investigate its specific impacts on the connectedness of major global financial markets. It examines the dynamic evolution of high-frequency and low-frequency shocks on market correlations during the pre-conflict, initial, and stalemate stages, revealing the changes in risk transmission paths. Findings show that the conflict led to increased market interconnectedness. Low-frequency became a major part of the total spillover, signaling long-term structural changes. The stock and foreign exchange market initially responded swiftly, serving as starting points for risk diffusion. The commodity market has been risk receivers throughout the conflict period. Intra-market and cross-market linkages have also changed. The German stock market was the main source of risk spillovers in the conflict, influencing international market linkages. In the global financial market network, several stock markets were the primary risk transmitters in the early stage of the conflict, while foreign exchange markets took on this role during the stalemate period. In addition, gold continues to play a safe-haven role. Furthermore, the TVP-VAR model is used to quantitatively assess the extent of the impact of the conflict on the spillover effects of major global financial markets at different time points and lags. Based on these findings, this paper constructs diversified portfolios and proposes a series of targeted risk management recommendations, which provide a theoretical basis for future policy formulation under similar crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In developing countries, entrepreneurial firms are increasingly advocating a shift from conventional marketing strategies, paving the way for innovative approaches like entrepreneurial marketing. This paper investigates the moderating role of market turbulence over the impact of entrepreneurial marketing over Performance of Entrepreneurial Firms. We have developed the framework while taking the support of contingency perspective. We adopted a quantitative research methodology and collected the data using survey technique from 384 entrepreneurial firms, and the managers and owners were contacted for the responses. The collected data, after ensuring the reliability and validity has been evaluated using Smart PLS 3. Structural equation modelling has been applied to evaluate the research framework. The findings revealed that six out of seven identified constructs of entrepreneurial marketing hold a significant impact over performance of entrepreneurial Firms. Additionally, the moderating role of market turbulence has also found significant which is the major significance of the study. The paper ends up by identifying the limitations faced while conducting research and giving recommendations for future researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the field of artificial intelligence, the portfolio management problem has received widespread attention. Portfolio models based on deep reinforcement learning enable intelligent investment decision-making. However, most models only consider modeling the temporal information of stocks, neglecting the correlation between stocks and the impact of overall market risk. Moreover, their trading strategies are often singular and fail to adapt to dynamic changes in the trading market. To address these issues, this paper proposes a Deep Reinforcement Learning Portfolio Model based on Mixture of Experts (MoEDRLPM). Firstly, a spatio-temporal adaptive embedding matrix is designed, temporal and spatial self-attention mechanisms are employed to extract the temporal information and correlations of stocks. Secondly, dynamically select the current optimal expert from the mixed expert pool through router. The expert makes decisions and aggregates to derive the portfolio weights. Next, market index data is utilized to model the current market risk and determine investment capital ratios. Finally, deep reinforcement learning is employed to optimize the portfolio strategy. This approach generates diverse trading strategies according to dynamic changes in the market environment. The proposed model is tested on the SSE50 and CSI300 datasets. Results show that the total returns of this model increase by 12% and 8%, respectively, while the Sharpe Ratios improve by 64% and 51%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assumes that quality management enhances organizational agility, and that organizational agility is a dynamic capability that mediates the effect of quality management on performance in services. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the mediating role of organizational agility (customer agility, partner agility, and operational agility) in the link between quality management and performance in the hotel industry. A mediation model is used with data from 365 hotels located in Spain. The findings show that there is partial mediation, since quality management is positively and indirectly related to hotel performance through partner and operational agility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper first documents the impacts of property age on the operational efficiency, portfolio risk and market valuation of REITs. Based on the findings, we examine three possible explanations why REITs own older properties. Using a comprehensive property-level data set of U.S. equity REITs from 1995 to 2020, we construct a firm-level property age measure based on the age of individual properties held by REITs. Controlling for important firm characteristics, we find that REITs holding more older properties exhibit lower operational efficiency, lower firm value and higher firm risk than their counterparts. Moreover, while the stockholders do not enjoy higher stock returns, we find evidence that managers of REITs that carry more aged properties in their portfolios earn significantly higher compensation. This is consistent with agency cost associated with managerial opportunism. Furthermore, REITs that own more properties in the same locations as their headquareters and those with higher geographic concentration of properties tend to hold older properties. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis based on geographic locations of older properties. We, however, do not find evidence supporting the growth hypothesis associated with core-plus or value-add investment strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While an increasing number of telecommunications firms are adopting green innovation (GI), research on the conditions under which innovation and collaboration decisions are made is still lacking. This paper proposes a mathematical model integrating innovation level, trust, and knowledge investment dimensions. Innovation and collaboration behaviors are discussed under various scenarios. A simulation is conducted with an evolutionary game theory approach to observe the effect of different parameters on innovation formation. The simulation analysis presents the optimal strategies for each scenario. Research on the green innovation behaviors of telecom operators and the impact of innovation strategies on operations and revenue have reference significance for telecom operators when it comes to selecting favorable innovation strategies, finding suitable partners and forming a relatively stable cooperative relationship in the industrial ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the impact of different types of innovations—such as process, product, and R&D—on labor productivity and employment across several African nations. Utilizing data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey, the study constructs pseudo-panel data based on legal status, firm size, and industry type and employs the propensity score matching and the dose–response model to explore the relationship between innovation and labor market outcomes. The descriptive analysis indicates that 2,673 firms are engaged in at least one of the innovation activities, and 250 firms do not have any innovation activities. The propensity score matching finds that the overall combined effect of all types of innovation is statistically significant and has a positive effect on the employment of non-production workers and skilled workers, but it harms their productivity. Not only this, but it has also a negative impact on the productivity of permanent, and unskilled workers. The only positive impact goes to the productivity of production workers. Except for skilled labor, no segments of the labor force have been impacted by product innovation, but it has statistically significant influences on the productivity of all types of workers, still, production workers received a positive influence. It also finds that process innovation positively influences the productivity of production workers and the employment of skilled, non-production, and production workers. On the other hand, permanent, non-production, and skilled employees respond negatively to process innovation. Regarding R&D innovation, except for production workers, all are negatively impacted and statistically significant. On employment creation, R&D has also a positive and statistically significant impact on employment except for permanent employees. On top of this, the findings of the dose–response function are also in line with the propensity score matching method except for the combined effect of innovation on production workers. In other words, the intensity has a declining dose effect while innovation has a growing effect by the propensity score method for production workers. Additionally, the dose–response function shows a strong positive correlation between the intensity of innovation and skilled workers with various trends as well as permanent employees. The effect is initially diminishing for unskilled workers and non-production workers, but it gradually increases over time. In general, the finding challenges the assumption that innovation uniformly improves productivity, instead revealing a more complex dynamic where job creation comes at the cost of lower productivity in certain labor segments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A competent management workforce is crucial to achieve the effectiveness and efficiency of health service provision and to lead and manage the health system reform agenda. However, the traditional recruitment and promotion approach of relying on clinical performance and seniority provides limited incentives for competency development and improvement among hospital managers in Iran. There is limited evidence on the competency development needs of hospital managers in Iran that can guide setting training and development direction. This study aims to identify the competency development needs of three management levels (senior, mid-level, and frontline) in public hospitals and explore the difficulties that managers experienced. Methods: The study adopted a cross-sectional survey using the validated management competency assessment partnership (MCAP) tool. The MCAP tool, consisting of 82 behavioral items that measure six core management competencies, was distributed to 162 public hospitals in 19 provinces in Iran between September 2021 and March 2022. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics including the mean and standard deviation, chi-square test, independent-samples t-test, and one-way analysis of variance. Results: In total, 1051 managers completed the survey either online or on paper. Peer and team conflict, employee performance, loss of skilled staff, and supervisor confrontation were the five difficulties most often encountered by all three levels of managers. The survey confirmed that only a small proportion of managers had the opportunities to participate in formal and informal management-related education/training, such opportunities were much lower for middle and frontline managers (P < 0.001). Middle managers were less confident in their demonstration of the core management competencies than that of senior and frontline managers (P < 0.001). Managers who completed management training organised internally by the hospitals consistently received higher mean competency scores for all competencies (P < 0.001). Conclusion: The study provides compelling evidence highlighting the importance of developing strategies to systematically enhance the capabilities of hospital managers, particularly mid-level managers. Incentives to encourage hospital managers to participate in both formal and informal management training, along with the commitment from hospitals to establish mechanisms that build management capacity, support managers, and guide the preparation and recruitment of management positions, are essential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to constrained resources, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) often have a low capacity to innovate. While research has focused chiefly on empowering SMEs' innovation through tangible factors, this paper explores the contribution of intangible factors towards innovation under frugality conditions. We address this gap using data collected from Indonesian SME automobile component manufacturers. We employ the expanded CDM (Crepon Duguet Mairesse) model that divides innovation into three stages: effort, output, and productivity. The findings showed that in addition to common tangible factors, intangible factors contribute to all stages of innovation, though tangible factors appear to exert greater influence. The direct impact of product innovation on firm performance is moderated by tangible factors, whereas the indirect impact is moderated by intangible factors. By examining how intangible and tangible factors simultaneously empower SMEs' innovation and hence firms' performance, we significantly contribute to advancing the theory of frugal innovation, the competition and strategy theory, and the extended resource-based view (ERBV). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrating the prescriptive and linear approach of NSD with the non-linear approach of service design can enhance value cocreation orientation in service innovation. Then, the objectives of this study are to explore these complementarities, propose an integrated model that enhances value cocreation in service innovation, and evaluate this model. The methodology involved a systematic literature review, focus group, and brainstorming session to propose the model, followed by evaluation through three case studies and expert interviews. As results, the model's main feature is the development of each service prerequisite through the service design cycle, prescriptively incorporating customer input throughout the service innovation process. Expert interviews and model application indicated that the model achieved its objectives, as the development of each service element was based on a deep understanding of customer demands and their active participation, resulting in services with high potential for resource integration and value cocreation. After applying and evaluating the model, this study provides evidence that (i) hybrid waterfall-cyclic dynamic contributes to managing complexity in service innovation, while maintaining customer focus and creativity; (ii) recurring studies of customer needs in distinct service innovation phases, each focusing on a specific service element, contribute to enriching the understanding of such needs; (iii) active customer involvement in proposing and selecting each service prerequisites across service innovation phases tends to enhance resource integration and value cocreation; (iv) waterfall and cyclic hybrid approach for service innovation contributes to generating detailed service prerequisites specifications, leading to more effective implementation; and (v) customer-centered dynamics throughout the service innovation process contribute to promoting cross-departmental integration, embedding customer needs across the organization. This paper contributes to deepening the discussion on implementing value cocreation in service innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This research aims to examine how electronic human resource management (E-HRM) impacts perceived organizational performance (OP) and job performance (JP) in telecommunications organizations, with a particular emphasis on the mediating effect of HR service quality (HRSQ). Research methodology: A questionnaire was developed based on a validated process. Data were collected from 430 employees among the telecommunication companies. However, only 400 questionnaires were valid for the statistical analysis. We use smart PLS and structural equation modeling using Smart PLS v3.2.2 to examine the direct and indirect relationships. Results and findings: The results of this research revealed that E-HRM has a direct, significant, and positive impact on perceived job performance, as well as organizational performance. Moreover, HRSQ significantly mediates the relationships between E-HRM and job and organizational performance. Empirical implications: The research introduces empirical several consequences that are discussed later in this paper. The results highlight the importance of designing and implementing E-HRM systems that support organizational workflow and allow employees to do a variety of tasks more efficiently. Originality: Existing research has shown a link between e-HRM and HR service quality; nonetheless, these studies highlight e-HRM's potential impact on perceived performance, at both the job and organizational performance levels. The study contributes to the HRM literature by identifying how E-HRM might boost perceived performance by improving HR service quality. As a result, the study serves as a foundation for future theoretical developments in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses multivariate Hawkes processes to model the transactions behavior of the US stock market as measured by the 30 Dow Jones Industrial Average individual stocks before, during and after the 36-min May 6, 2010, Flash Crash. The basis for our analysis is the excitation matrix, which describes a complex network of interactions among the stocks. Using high-frequency transactions data, we find strong evidence of self- and asymmetrically cross-induced contagion and the presence of fragmented trading venues. Our findings have implications for stock trading and corresponding risk management strategies as well as stock market microstructure design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the influence of community characteristics (community leaders' enthusiasm and community members' offline activities) on destination brand equity (destination brand image and destination brand awareness) by considering value co-creation in virtual tourism communities. By obtaining 344 usable questionnaires, it was possible to perform structural equation modeling to test hypotheses. This study finds that virtual tourism community leaders' enthusiasm and community members' offline activities have positive influences on community members' value co-creation behavior, which consequently impacts destination brand image and destination brand awareness. Furthermore, community members' value co-creation behavior partially mediates the influence of community leaders' enthusiasm on destination brand image and destination brand awareness. This study contributes by offering new evidence for destination brand equity antecedents, enriching virtual tourism community literature, and guiding community leaders in fostering positive member behavior, while providing valuable insights for local brand managers and destination management organizations in tourism planning and policy formulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, "gazelles"—a small set of high-growth firms—have attracted considerable interest from researchers for their capacity to contribute significantly to the competitiveness of nations. However, in management literature, the research on this topic is still incomplete, and a broad but focused review is needed to understand the phenomenon fully. Therefore, the paper aims to analyse in depth the literature on "gazelles" published in the Business, Management, and Accounting and Decision Sciences fields, shedding light on opportunities arising from emerging research topics related to the phenomenon. In meeting this aim, the work is built on a systematic literature review, and Elsevier's Scopus database was selected and scanned to access publications. The analysis identifies in the sample under investigation the quantitative characteristics (temporal distribution of publications, journals included in the sample, and methodological approach adopted by authors), as well as seven main topics resulting from the qualitative coding process (performance, policy and employment, innovation, entrepreneurship, corporate governance and decision-making, human resources, and strategy). Finally, a comprehensive outlook and a critical analysis of the state-of-the-art research on these specific high-growth firms have been provided through the proposal of a conceptual framework. This study also proposes a research agenda for scholars while providing insightful suggestions from a practical point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stock investment is an economic activity characterized by high risks and high returns. Therefore, the prediction of stock prices or fluctuations is of great importance to investors. Stock price prediction is a challenging task due to the nonlinearity and high volatility of stock time series. Existing deep learning models may not capture the periodic and non-periodic features of stock data effectively. In this paper, we propose a novel model that leverages Complete Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (CEEMD), Time2Vec, and Transformer to better capture and utilize various patterns in stock data for enhanced prediction performance, and we call it ETT. CEEMD decomposes the stock data into different frequency components based on their intrinsic scales. Time2Vec provides a time vector representation that captures both periodic and non-periodic patterns while being invariant to time scaling. Transformer learns the long-term dependencies and global information from the data. We apply ETT to predict stock prices in the Chinese A-share market and compare it with several baseline models. The results show that ETT reduces the mean squared error (MSE) by an average of 4% and increases the average cumulative return by 58% on the CSI 100 and Hushen 300 datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As PhD programmes across disciplines face many questions about return on investment and the many challenges in pursuing the degree, popular discourse surrounding leaving academia has included questions of whether PhD holders regret their PhD. Using a heterogenous choice model, this study shows that despite the many detractors, those who do complete the degree largely affirm their decision. But when examining personal and employment factors including sociodemographics, field of study, job sector, and level of relatedness between the PhD field and field of work, we found that when controlling for how well the PhD prepared individuals for their current employment, background and employment characteristics predicted higher levels of affirmation of the PhD decision in three phases: 1) in general, 2) in the same field, and 3) at the same institution. In particular, this paper found that students of colour were more likely to affirm their decisions perhaps indicating the importance of the credential to the individual but also to the importance individuals place in realizing structural diversity among advanced degree holders across disciplines. These findings illustrate the importance of efforts to improve climate in PhD programmes as well as expanding pathways into careers across sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines whether and how non-state-owned enterprise (non-SOE) business groups affect a firm's green innovation. On the basis of a sample of A-share listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2007 to 2021 and hand-collected business group data, we document a negative association between non-SOE business groups and corporate green innovation. Furthermore, we identify two different mechanisms that may explain this relationship from various perspectives: firms' motivation for benefit maximization and the ability to lighten government environmental regulations. We also find that this negative correlation is more pronounced in competitive industries and is related to reduced executives' environmental awareness, reduced intensity of environmental regulation, and greater official pressure to promote. Our findings not only help improve the existing literature on business groups and corporate green innovation but also provide empirical evidence that non-SOE business groups can negatively affect corporate green innovation. Highlights: Compared with a single firm, non-SOE business groups are negatively associated with firms' green innovation. Non-SOE business groups can inhibit firms' green innovations by the motivation of firms' benefit maximization and the ability to lighten government environmental regulation. The effects of non-SOE business groups on green innovation vary across external environment policy and internal executives charter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to examine the impact of environmental protection, economic development, social responsibility, and governance on the sustainable development of enterprises. In the context of green products in China, consumer willingness to purchase these products is a crucial factor influencing a company's approach to sustainable operations. The research model proposes four hypotheses and focuses on analyzing the significant relationships between them. We used a questionnaire survey to survey N = 230 consumers about their thoughts on green products for the sustainable development of enterprises. We applied structural equation model to the whole data analysis. Our research has identified green products as crucial success factors for business sustainability. The findings reveal that companies offering environmentally friendly products in the market can: (1) enhance their corporate social responsibility and (2) contribute to sustainable development. Our results demonstrate several positive correlations: environmental protection is positively linked to governance, economic development is positively correlated with governance, social responsibility is positively associated with governance, and governance, in turn, is positively related to corporate sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how women on boards influence corporate governance of firms across 60 countries. Using instrumental variables that provide robust results, we find that the percentage of female directors on the board is positively associated with corporate governance mechanisms. In particular, a greater representation of women directors increases the governance and social disclosure in Japan, China, and the UK, and the social and environmental disclosure in 57 countries, the proportion of women employees, the total number of employees, the percentage of independent directors' board meeting attendance, and marginally increases the percentages of overall board and audit committee meeting attendance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital innovation in the stock trading portal system may cause variations in herding behavior between the 2008 financial crisis and the pandemic crisis. Using the new digital technology has resulted in a rapid growth of turnover ratio and facilitated easy access to the internet trading portal systems, leading to a significant surge in trade volume. Focusing on the role of digital trading during the recent crisis, this paper proposes a new perspective on investigating herding behavior through the cross-sectional absolute deviation of returns (CSAD) model. Trade volume and its variance are crucially associated with herding behavior during a crisis. During this period, investors respond more promptly to exogenous shocks by rebalancing their portfolios due to digital innovations in the digital trading system compared to the past. This study utilizes panel fixed effects models and 2SLS models of daily panel data on Korean and China Shanghai A stock markets in Asia from January 2005 to 2021. The findings strongly support the new hypotheses, indicating that trade volume and its variance are significantly associated with herding behaviors in the pandemic crisis and that its impacts differ from those of the 2008 financial crisis in Asia. Recent digital innovations tend to have a more direct influence on herding behavior, albeit less indirectly through the surge in trade volume on the digital trading system. This study contributes to the extant literature by exploring the influence of digital innovation and digital trading on herding behavior during the recent crisis. The findings can be used to analyze herding behavior in foreign exchange, bond, and housing markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mining industry is facing a technological shift with Industry 4.0 creating new conditions for mining. This is often referred to as Mining 4.0. To succeed through the technological shift, the industry need to handle several challenges wisely, such as how to utilise the new digital technology to promote sustainable work environments, how to recruit skilled workers to the industry, and how to manage organisational challenges as a result of the technological shift. This scoping literature review examines a large field of literature on how Mining 4.0 might affect the mining industry in areas such as work environment, competences, organisation and society, and what can be done to promote sustainability going forward. The paper also identifies several areas that have not been explored in previous research. These include empirical studies on the effects of the technological shift brought about by Mining 4.0 on work environments, and how to attract younger generations to mining to ensure sustainability in the industry going forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This conceptual paper explores the persistent gap between research, practice, and theory in management, hindering the practical applicability and relevance of academic research. It investigates the Socio-Economic Approach to Management (SEAM) as a participatory and collaborative model aimed at effectively bridging this gap. The paper examines the evolution of management theories and the emergence of SEAM as an innovative solution to align theory and practice, highlighting its potential to integrate theory, research, and practice in organizational management. The paper conducts a comprehensive literature review to demonstrate how action research, as incorporated in SEAM, facilitates transformative organizational development and fosters collaborative problem-solving. SEAM's methodology offers a win-win collaboration for both managers and scholars, resulting in actionable knowledge with practical applications. Additionally, it includes a case study involving DBA executive education to illustrate SEAM's practical application. Despite its strengths, SEAM faces criticisms and challenges, including concerns about subjectivity, rigor, contrasting approaches, validity, and generalizability. However, the paper emphasizes SEAM's contributions to action research, offering a fresh perspective that transcends context-specificity and provides multidimensional modeling of outcomes. It emphasizes measurement and quantitative assessment of qualitative impacts, integrating qualitative, quantitative, and financial data to better understand organizational complexity. In conclusion, the paper underscores SEAM's significance in promoting research relevance, enhancing management practices, and fostering better understanding between researchers and practitioners, particularly within the realm of DBA executive education. By advocating for SEAM as a bridge between theory and practice, the paper encourages a more collaborative and effective approach to meet the demands of a dynamic management landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we explore if leadership development programs can be applied to bridge the gap between labour unions and the management. By describing and discussing three different programs we can see that joint leadership development programs can promote collaboration between labour unions and the management. The paper argues that such programs need to be built on a premise that more actors than just formal managers can exercise leadership and contribute to organizational development. The paper also discusses why such programs are more easily achievable in a Norwegian setting. However, to make lasting improvements leadership development programs also need to include large organizational development elements, like the co-generative learning model (Elden and Levin (1991) Participatory Action Research. Sage, Newbury Park, pp 127–142). Sufficient time, resources and focus, including assessments of employees' needs and internal politics, is needed to not only bridging the gap between labour unions and the management, but also to bring in "ordinary" employees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate social responsibility initiatives (CSRIs) have gained significant attention in the context of growing stakeholder expectations for environmental protection, competitive pressure, and utilizing existing resources for any organization's sustainability. Although prior scholars investigated the CSRI consequences in the sustainability context, these investigations examined them in isolation. Thus, exiting research lacks a single nomological framework to consider green intellectual capital (GIC) and green human resource management (GHRM) despite their importance. Accordingly, this paper investigates the impact of CSRIs on sustainability performance (SP) in the tobacco industry, using the resource-based view (RBV) theory as a foundation. Besides, this paper investigates the pivotal roles of GIC and GHRM in the CSRI–SP linkage. Data were collected from 324 managers at Pakistani tobacco firms and analyzed using WarpPLS 7. Findings indicate that GIC and GHRM resources significantly influenced tobacco firms' sustainability. Furthermore, this paper found that GIC and GHRM serially mediated the CSRIs–SP relationship. Based on RBV, this paper provides valuable insights for decision-makers and academics in the green HRM context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a comprehensive bibliometric analysis aimed at mapping the convergent landscapes of artificial intelligence (AI) and financial technology (Fintech), fields poised for significant disruptive potential in global financial services. Given the rapid integration of AI within financial operations, this research investigates the publication trends, key contributing nations, and prevalent themes within this intersection, crucial for understanding the trajectory of Fintech innovations and their alignment with AI advancements. Employing a robust methodology utilizing VOSviewer and the Scopus database, the analysis distilled insights from 298 selected papers, focusing on co-authorship, bibliographic coupling, and keyword occurrences to highlight the global influential works and primary research hubs. Key findings reveal that AI and Fintech are not only predominant themes but are also the nucleus of emerging scholarly discussions, with the United States, China, and India leading in contributions. These nations, alongside others like France and the United Kingdom, form critical nodes in our analysis, indicating a robust interconnection of global research efforts. This study introduces the novel application of advanced bibliometric techniques to dissect dense academic outputs, offering a granular view of how AI influences financial technologies. The implications of this research are manifold; it provides a strategic blueprint for academics, industry practitioners, and policymakers to understand the focal areas of AI in Fintech, suggesting an amplified focus on collaborative innovations and policy-making that aligns with technological advancements. Future research should expand the analysis to include diverse databases and explore the integration of AI across various financial sectors, emphasizing the socioeconomic impacts, ethical considerations, and regulatory challenges posed by AI-driven financial services. This extended focus will enhance our understanding of AI's role in shaping the future of Finance, ensuring comprehensive coverage of this dynamically evolving field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Management of global value chains by manufacturing firms requires detailed consideration of the relationships with partner firms and the risks involved in operating in different countries, especially emerging markets. Value chains in the mining equipment sector are particularly interesting, since production of many components is outsourced to third-party firms, and supply chains often include regional distribution centers and also after-sale service of equipment. The mining equipment business in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is populated by multinational manufacturers that operate in three value chain structures. Each arrangement presents a somewhat different risk and return profile: greater local presence offers greater upside profit opportunity, while exporting to another company in the DRC entails lower country risk. This study explores the majority of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) selling into the mining industry in the DRC. Through interviews and secondary data, we create a detailed look at the operation of the global value chains used by these firms. The contribution of the paper is to further develop our understanding of the operation of global value chains, and to show how and why, despite similar circumstances, different MNEs pursue different strategies in the same country and industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following 2019 immigration raids at seven Mississippi poultry plants and the beginning of mass infection in meatpacking plants early in the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, Mississippi meatpackers announced a "labor shortage" and lobbied for government intervention to force workers back into the plants. Like many newly declared "essential" workers, some Mississippi poultry workers pressed their advantage, walking out for higher wages. But barriers to worker unity emerged, highlighting ways that Indigenous Guatemalan immigrant workers and US-born Black workers are differentially exploited by the industry, creating deeply felt differences along lines of race and citizenship. Comparing the events of 2019 and 2020 to earlier moments in which Mississippi's poultry capitalists periodically declared "labor shortages" to divide and reshuffle their workforce, this paper explores how poultry corporations use their influence within state institutions to leverage criminalization, debt, and the deprivation of basic subsistence to recapture workers. Finally, we explore how workers of divergent backgrounds struggle to "make" class relationships across difference and leverage collective power to challenge meatpacking corporations' exploitative practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to enhance the understanding of how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can bolster their resilience to supply chain disruptions by engaging and aligning cross-functional staff in the process of developing supply chain resilience (SCRES). Employing process theory, the study adopts a multiple case-study methodology involving 18 Danish production SMEs across two iterative phases: an exploratory phase encompassing eight case companies, and a subsequent refinement phase involving an additional ten case companies. Utilizing a mixed-method approach comprising semi-structured interviews, card sorting exercises, observational studies, and a questionnaire survey, the research proposes a four-stage process for enhancing SCRES. This process includes: 1) mapping the supply chain, 2) identifying vulnerabilities and capabilities within each function, 3) prioritizing and creating cross-organizational alignment, and 4) developing action plans. The refined approach, validated through the ten Danish SMEs in the refinement phase, offers a practical and relevant framework for companies seeking to mitigate vulnerabilities and enhance capabilities in their supply chains. By strengthening SMEs' resilience against supply chain disruptions, this approach serves as a potential model for other companies striving to achieve SCRES. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leveraging on ten case studies, the paper examines the Supply Chain Finance (SCF) innovation process through a multiple stakeholder perspective (buyers, suppliers, and SCF providers). The aim is to identify the phases of the process impacted by Artificial Intelligence (AI), as well as its benefits and challenges. AI affects several activities in the Initiation phase of the innovation process, supporting the SCF provider's commercial activities and contributing to assessing the buyer's creditworthiness, detecting fraud, or proposing the right SCF solution. In the Implementation phase, AI supports assessing the supplier's credit rating, categorizing and onboarding suppliers, and fastening the administrative tasks. Formulating 9 propositions, this study supports the theory related to the SCF by providing empirical evidence about the role of AI in the SCF innovation process and also identifying the resulting benefits and challenges for all the actors involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article discusses the importance of the distributor in the Pacific Coast wholesale paper trade during a war-time economy. The author points out the growing importance of paper to the war effort in areas such as paper cups and plates for mass feeding of soldiers and paper goods for packaging of materials. Many of the paper products that are need for the war effort are manufactured throughout the United States with many being east of the Rocky Mountains. The paper distributor allows those placing orders to receive their order from one location and to place one order for a variety of materials. Several problems faced by distributors, such as lack of manpower and union restrictions, are also discussed.

CEOs in United States firms have experienced significant compensation gains since the late 1970s. A key component of these compensation packages are stock options, which now represent a larger share of total compensation. This reliance on stock options may encourage CEOs to focus on short-term performance, potentially incentivizing excessive risk taking to boost the firm's stock price. We utilize a sample of publicly traded firms in order to comment on the extent to which compensation and risk taking are related, and in particular, if compensation is associated with risky corporate behaviors. We use data from S&P 1500 firms and their Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) for the period of 2006–2022, sourced from Compustat and Execucomp databases. In this paper, we proxy firm-level risk-taking behavior through Altman's Z-score and stock volatility. To address the likely endogeneity of compensation, we employ a Two-Stage Least Squares approach; we instrument CEO tenure and firm size and include two sets of policy and asset pricing controls. Ultimately, we find a strong positive relationship between CEOs' stock and options awards and risk taking as represented by Altman's Z-score and stock volatility. By contrast, CEO's total compensation is reversely correlated with Altman's Z-score and stock volatility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper developed a closed-loop supply chain network (CLSCN) optimization model with corporate social responsibility (CSR), recycling, remanufacturing, refurbishing, and transaction cost on a supply chain consisting of manufacturers, retailers, a new product demand market, and a retailer-refurbished product demand market. The manufacturers produce substitutable products using raw materials from two sources, new and recycled. The retailers, in turn, face the demands of new products and retailer-refurbished products, and recycle from the new product demand market. We investigated a number of cases, and our results indicate that CSR can enhance CLSCN performance but more to the party closest to the demand market. It also shows that consumer behavior, competition, CSR investment, and sustainable practices (new material procurement, recycling, refurbishing, re-manufacturing, and environmental costs), play an essential role in CSR and closing the loop. With higher landfill cost, more willingness to return from consumers, less disutility for consumers to return, higher level of recycling and refurbishing, and higher re-manufacturing rate, CSR level tends to improve. Policy-makers can use these findings to encourage firms to improve CSR in CLSCN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The deep integration of the new generation of information technology and the real economy provides a new impetus to world economic growth. How manufacturing enterprises, as important microeconomic units, achieve high-quality development through digitalization has drawn much attention from scholars. This article uses the 2012 World Bank survey data of Chinese manufacturing companies to reveal the effect and mechanism of digitalization on innovation performance. This paper suggests that (1) the increasing degree of firms' digitalization significantly promotes the consumers' acceptance for corporate innovation; (2) digitalization can bring inclusive contributions to corporate innovation performance; (3) exploitative innovation and exploratory innovation play a partial mediating role in digitalization and innovation performance, while their mechanisms are quite different: The positive mediating effect of exploratory innovation neutralizes the negative suppressing effect of exploitative innovation, and the former one is the main driving force for realizing positive innovation performance. Collectively, these findings provide a theory-based understanding of the impacts of digitalization, while also guiding what executives should expect from the use of rapidly emerging digital technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological innovation activities are the most effective way to achieve corporate leapfrog development. Based on the Porter effect theory, this paper uses panel data on Chinese manufacturing firms from 2015 to 2018 to construct two-way fixed effects and threshold effects models to explore the impact mechanism of research and development (R&D) investment on corporate total factor productivity (CTFP) under heterogeneous environmental regulations. Baseline regression results indicate that R&D investment significantly promotes CTFP. Meanwhile, we also test the robustness of baseline regression results by replacing the dependent variable, shortening the time windows and adding omitted variables. Moreover, heterogeneity analyses indicate that the contribution of R&D investment to CTFP is more significant in the subgroup regressions of non-SOEs, CEO-dual enterprises and non-heavily polluting enterprises. Economic consequence analysis shows that R&D investment contributes to green innovation performance, financial performance and corporate social responsibility performance by increasing CTFP. Additionally, there is heterogeneity in the moderating effects of market-incentivized environmental regulation (MER), command-and-control environmental regulation (CER) and public participation environmental regulation (PER). MER and PER have moderated mediating effects, but CER does not have a moderated mediating effect. Extended analysis shows that according to the threshold effect test findings, two thresholds exist for MER and one threshold each for PER and CER in the relationship between R&D investment and CTFP. Our findings have important implications in that the government should adopt differentiated environmental regulation policies to support companies in actively carrying out innovation activities, thereby promoting high-quality development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the relationship between capitalized Research and Development (R&D) expenditures under IFRS and innovation performance measured by patent data. Under IFRS, development expenditures are capitalized when the success of an R&D investment is highly likely. Hence, such capitalization could be a leading indicator for future innovation performance. We analyze this question based on a hand-collected sample of R&D capitalization data under IFRS and patent data from the European Patent Office's Worldwide Patent Statistical Database. We find that the capitalization rate of R&D is positively related to future patent applications and citations as measures of future innovation performance. We also find a positive association with measures of future financial performance. The results imply that the rate of R&D capitalization is informative and can be considered a leading indicator for future innovation performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, utilizing the Chinese context, we investigate whether and how the regional gambling culture affects bond risk premiums. Using a lottery-based measure of the local gambling culture, our empirical results show that this culture significantly increases the risk premium of local bonds via an increase in corporate risk preferences, including operating, investment and internal control risks. Our findings are robust to various sensitivity tests, including gambling crime measures of the gambling culture and endogeneity tests. In addition, we find that regional crackdowns on gambling, legal environment and corporate information quality effectively all restrain the bond risk premium caused by the local gambling culture. Finally, we find that only the investor-pay credit rating can identify the bond investment risk caused by the local gambling culture, while bonds issued by firms located in high gambling areas are more prone to default. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the impact of green credit policy on the green innovation of heavily polluting enterprises by taking the implementation of the "Green Credit Guidelines" in 2012 in China as an exogenous shock. Using the sample of industrial enterprises from the Chinese Industrial Enterprises Database, our empirical results show that, after 2012, the quantity of green innovation represented by the number of green utility model patents and green invention patents is significantly reduced in heavily polluting enterprises. The quality of green innovation represented by the knowledge complexity of green patents increases significantly. The conclusions are valid in a series of robustness tests. The implementation of green credit policy strengthens both the internal financial constraints and the external financial constraints of heavily polluting enterprises. Mediating effect tests reveal that the strengthened internal financial constraints hinder green innovation, while the strengthened external financial constraints promote the knowledge complexity of green patents. There are also firm-level and region-level heterogeneities. The negative effect of green credit policy does not differ between the listed enterprises and non-listed enterprises. It is greater on the green invention patents of the non-state-owned firms. The green innovation of the foreign-owned enterprises declines in all aspects: green utility model patents, green invention patents, and knowledge complexity. Regional intellectual property protection can only significantly mitigate the negative effect on the green utility model patents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stock price prediction plays an important role in financial decision-making, enabling investors and analysts to make informed choices regarding trading and investment strategies. Traditional statistical methods have been utilized for the prediction of stock price, but it is often difficult for them to capture complex patterns, adapt to changing market conditions, handle large datasets, and automatically extract relevant features. Recent advancements in machine learning and deep learning offer promising solutions to address these challenges. In this paper, we propose a new approach to enhance the stock price prediction by leveraging generative adversarial networks (GANs) and transformer-based attention mechanisms. GANs are utilized to generate synthetic stock price data, and incorporating market sentiment and volatility. Attention mechanisms will selectively concentrate on the important features and patterns in the data, which may do good to the identification of key market indicators which will impact stock prices. By integrating market social media news which can tell about the sentiment and volatility, our model aims to improve the accuracy and robustness of stock price forecasts. We also address the limitations of GANs and attention mechanisms separately used in stock price prediction, such as unrealistic data generation and overfitting, by employing regularization techniques and incorporating additional data sources. Experimental evaluations using real-world stock market data will be conducted to compare the performance of our proposed models with conventional approaches. The findings of this research have implications for investors, financial analysts, and other stakeholders who are engaged in the stock market ecosystem, providing valuable insights for the investment strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the implied barrier option characteristics of controlling shareholders' equity pledge loans and establishes a pricing model for the equity pledge rate that simultaneously considers the down-and-in put implied barrier option and the dividend policy. Meanwhile, the pricing model is used to empirically calculate the equity pledge rates of A-share listed companies in China from the viewpoint of application. The findings are as follows. (i) The probability of the pledged stock price falling below the closing line increases monotonically about the equity pledge rate, and the probability of the stock price falling below the closing line is higher under a fixed dividend policy than the corresponding probability under a fixed dividend yield policy. (ii) The equity pledge rate has an inverse relationship with the loan maturity and volatility. (iii) The equity pledge rate on controlling shareholders' equity pledges varies in the same direction as the loan interest rate. (iv) The relationship between the change in the equity pledge rate level and the fixed dividend is affected by the merits of the firm's performance. The equity pledge rate level has an inverse variation relationship with the fixed dividend yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's economic landscape, with its increasingly brief economic cycles and ever-changing market conditions, forecasting has become more critical than ever. In the specific case of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), a crucial aspect is to anticipate the state of bankruptcy due to the low life expectancy of this type of company. A requirement that has been recommended by several international organizations such as the European Union, especially because SMEs contribute significantly to job creation and added value and to overcoming the effects of economic crises. Despite the progress in this field, there are economies that have been little or poorly addressed by the literature. This is the case for Spain, an economy where SMEs account for a significant share of its business landscape. To close this gap, this paper addressed the problem of predicting the insolvency of Spanish SMEs from a Machine Learning perspective. Leveraging a dataset encompassing financial and non-financial data from 58,267 Spanish SMEs spanning the period 2009–2020, we adjusted several decision tree models to address two scenarios of practical value in the Spanish context. Additionally, we conducted a thorough analysis of the most influential predictors of insolvency from a financial perspective. To empower Spanish SMEs, we provided them with a free software tool implementing the best models for the considered scenarios. The tool is intended to serve as an additional means to proactively and early assess solvency status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The strategic management of supply chains, by ensuring closed-loop manufacturing processes and a constant reduction of industrial waste, is an essential pillar of sustainability. This is the pattern behind the, so-called, circular supply chains. The effective adoption of this paradigm demands the supply chains actors to establish robust integration and relationships, so that waste and by‐products of an industry or industrial process become the raw materials for others. This circular network is defined as industrial symbiosis. Starting from a background on this topic, this working paper explores the potential of blockchain as enabling technology of Industry 4.0 to disseminate industrial symbiosis practices within the modern industrial scenario. A preliminary two-step framework, i.e., conceptual and operative, is presented including insights and win–win synergies showing the potential of blockchain technology in supporting informative flows of industrial symbiosis. Preliminary field experiences are suggested, along with existing limitations and perspectives on future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]