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AbstractInternationalization makes possible the competitive development of firms. This study proposes a methodology for the selection of international markets that identifies the most favourable international destinations for the paper and paperboard export industry in Colombia. For this purpose, a set of 23 factors divided into 5 categories are defined through literature: costs, trade barriers, logistics, environment and culture, and economy. This comprehensive model is applied to a set of 15 exporting firms and a combination of the multi-criteria models Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), and Evaluation Based on Distance from Average Solution (EDAS) is used for its development. The results indicate that the priority factors when choosing an international market are import costs (0.1974), transit time (0.1392), transport frequency (0.1174) and international transport costs (0.0971). Also, considering these priorities, the most viable markets for companies in this sector are Netherlands (0.9894), the United Kingdom (0.9740), Belgium (0.9409) and Germany (0.9351). The results obtained represent the identification of new possible alternative markets for Colombian companies in the paper sector to expand their international reach and develop in significantly more attractive and convenient markets according to their priorities. Also, this article contributes significantly to the development of methodologies for international markets exploration.

ABSTRACTPredictive maintenance strategies are becoming increasingly more important with the increased needs for automation and digitalization within pulp and paper manufacturing sector.Hence, this study contributes to examine the most efficient pre-processing approaches for predicting sensory data trends based on Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) neural networks. To validate the model, the data from two paper pulp presses with several pre-processing methods are utilized for predicting the units’ conditions. The results of validation criteria show that pre-processing data using a LOWESS in combination with the Elimination of discrepant data filter achieves more stable results, the prediction error decreases, and the predicted values are easier to interpret. The model can anticipate future values with MAPE, RMSE and MAE of 1.2, 0.27 and 0.30 respectively. The errors are below the significance level. Moreover, it is identified that the best hyperparameters found for each paper pulp press must be different.

Vietnam’s pulp and paper industry has contributed significantly to socio-economic growth but is also one of the industries with a very high risk of environmental pollution. Stems from the goal of economic growth coupled with environmental protection operations in Vietnam, this study examines the factors affecting the implementation of environmental management accounting (EMA) in manufacturing enterprises in Vietnam’s pulp and paper industries. The data used in the study were collected through survey questionnaires in the form of face-to-face interviews or sent by e-mail or post to survey respondents at 290 manufacturing enterprises pulp and paper in provinces and cities of Vietnam. Survey subjects are managers (directors, deputy directors, chief accountants) and accountants who have knowledge of EMA in these enterprises. The survey results were obtained from 250 valid survey questionnaires used in this study. This study uses Cronbach’s alpha analysis, exploratory factor analysis, and linear regression analysis using SPSS 20 statistical software. The results show that coercive pressure, normative pressure, awareness of the benefits of applying EMA, environmental strategy, managers’ perception, and qualifications of accountants have a positive impact on EMA implementation. In which, coercive pressure has the strongest impact, and awareness of the benefits of applying EMA has the weakest impact on EMA implementation in these enterprises.

AbstractSolid waste management has become one of the critical environmental concerns in developing countries. Information and communications technology have revolutionized traditional organizational management processes, increased efficiency, and significantly reduced paper use. The recruitment process in higher education institutes (HEIs) includes job applications and certificates of degree, and previous job-related documents. Such recruitment policies are causing paper waste and need the attention of policymakers. This study aims to provide empirical evidence for a policy shift that can have a broader impact on the environment. The current study aims to contribute to the existing research by considering the traditional recruitment approaches of public sector HEIs in Pakistan as a source of solid waste. The study highlights the previously disregarded aspect of the research on solid waste and explores the traditional practices of government-owned HEIs that lead to excessive amounts of paper waste. A mixed-methods approach is performed to confirm this hypothesis. We observed newspaper advertisements and then floated a questionnaire among employees of the HEIs. Findings confirm that traditional recruitment is one of the primary antecedents of paper waste generation. Results suggest that technology-driven recruitment reduces paper waste and leads to sustainable development.

Using the stewardship theory and theory of fear of failure as the underlying theory, the study focuses on investigating CEO characteristics and disability employment of listed firms in India. The study employed descriptive statistics and feasible generalised least square (FGLS) assumption to analyze data from 80 Indian listed firms with 800 firm-year observations from 2010 to 2019. We find that CEO age and CEO tenure have a strong and positive correlation. The first findings show that ageing CEOs are insignificant to exhibit any levels of disability employment in India. This study suggests that ageing CEOs do not see disability employment as a welfare cost or employment that can lead to a consequential profit. The second findings show that firms with long-tenured CEOs exhibit a higher level of disability employment. This outcome does not conflict with the assumption that the CEO has a sense of responsibility to achieve what is right and protect the firm’s assets. Lastly, the study shows that female CEOs exhibit higher levels of disability employment in India. The study is limited to firms with data on people with disabilities. Using the Indian stock market as the only study source may affect the study’s generalisation. Also, small firms that employ disabled persons are not on the stock market and may potentially undermine the study’s scope. Examining CEO characteristics (CEO age, CEO tenure and CEO gender) on disability employment deepens disability studies in emerging markets.

AbstractThe destination’s tourism managers strategically invest in meeting infrastructure, aiming to host congresses and leverage the economic and social benefits of tourism to foster sustainable economic growth, inclusive employment and the realization of Sustainable Development Goal targets. Their efforts contribute to promoting a thriving economy, equitable job opportunities, and a sustainable future for all, as a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). However, the mere fact of having basic facilities is not enough for the destination to be competitive in this segment. The aim of this paper is to identify those core factors that increase the competitiveness of the tourist destination in the congress segment. To identify the strengths and weaknesses of the congress tourism segment in the region of Extremadura, a study based on IPA (Importance-Performance Analysis) has been carried out on 21 determining factors selected from interviews with experts in the sector and after a thorough literature review. The diagram resulting from the IPA analysis has allowed us to obtain the strategic factors and theoretical and practical implications for both publics and private stakeholders. The result of this paper confirms the fundamental role of the public administration in improving the competitiveness of the congress tourism destination and key factors that directly affect the good development of congress tourism in a territory, such as the good relationship between public and private agents involved in the sector, tourism promotion and transport.

ABSTRACTThe paper explores the barriers that impact operational excellence plans, when considering continuous improvement and Industry 4.0 practices. The paper is pioneering and transversal, considering organizations with different expertise, in 10 different countries. The study makes a joint quantitative and qualitative analysis and proposes a framework to show the impact on human resources and operations management. For this, it carries out a quali-quantitative study, carried out with the aid of a semi-structured questionnaire, sent to 91 organizations. The quantitative study was performed using interdependent multivariate analysis, resulting in an exploratory factorial study and exploration of principal components. The qualitative study evaluated propositions that impact operations management. The results show the variables that impact the operations management and human resources, in terms of quality, technologies and processes, when considering the implementation of an operational excellence plan and Industry 4.0 practices.

AbstractThis paper assesses the evolution of last 43 years in counterfeit research with respect to sources of knowledge (i.e. journals, authors, institutions, countries) and research themes. The oldest paper on this subject discovered in the Scopus database was published 43 years ago, yet a time frame was not specified. Sources of knowledge are assessed on research productivity (quantitative) as well as impact (qualitative). Research themes, key areas of focus within the counterfeit research landscape, are identified and discussed to conceptualize our understanding of the field. Via a systematic literature review, 713 peer-reviewed academic articles published in 282 journals from 1978 to 2021 were selected as the sample for this study. The systematic review technique was chosen as compared with narrative reviews of the literature it focuses on open, extensive, and detailed approaches to literature searches, in addition to conforming to the scientific criteria utilised in primary research, namely transparency, rigour, comprehensiveness, and reproducibility. A database of references and citations was created for analysis. The data was analyzed to prepare comparative tables. Further, the Leximancer software was used to generate lexical conceptual trends. This data was further analyzed to identify emerging themes. The Journal of Business Ethics had the highest number of articles and citations, followed by the Journal of Business Research and Business Horizons. Ian Phau (14 articles) and Michael D. Smith, (9 articles) were the most prolific authors. Joseph Nunes and Ian Phau attained the highest number of citations, cited 658 and 577 times respectively. Eight major research themes were identified: products, piracy, model, price, firms, digital, supply, and ethical. Each theme was analyzed over time. The major research areas analyzed across the articles over time were Technology (particularly “Technology” and “Software” topics) and Ethics (particularly “IP” and “Legislation”). The identification of these research area captures the essence of the paper’s uniqueness and contribution to this field of research. This is the first systematic literature review in counterfeit literature that captures multi-decade sources of knowledge in business journals.

AbstractMotivated by the increasing interest of auditing regulators, organizations, and researchers in outsourced internal audit function (OIAF), this paper examines how outsourced IAF provider is connected with timely audit reporting, and particularly explores the moderating influence of client-specific expertise on the relationship between outsourced IAF provider and audit report timeliness. A sample of Omani-listed firms over the period 2013–2019 and pooled regression analysis with robust standard errors are utilized. The findings reveal that the external IAF provider is slightly related to reduced delay in the audit report. In particular, the reduction is more pronounced when the external IAF provider has client-specific expertise and increases audit timeliness. These results are robust after conducting a sensitivity analysis. This paper presents the importance of outsourced IAF providers, particularly those with clients’ expertise, in supporting the best practices of external audits and timely reporting.

ABSTRACTThe research activity proposed in this paper is framed within the context of the concurrent engineering applied to the complex aeronautical system development. The main objective is to extend the aircraft design parameters with those of manufacturing and supply chain including, among others, logistics aspects, quality management, risk production, resources and materials availability. This surely complicates the design problem due to an enlargement of the alternatives populating the solutions tradespace. However, it provides a great opportunity to gain agility, variety and competitive advantages in the nowadays global market. The formulation and implementation of the new value-driven methodology, here-proposed, offers advantageous benefits to the decision-maker, as also highlighted by the aeronautical application case addressed in this paper.

ABSTRACTIndustry 4.0 technologies create a connected ecosystem that allows for real-time monitoring, control, and optimization. This enables the manufacturing industry to move the ultimate goal of their businesses from lean to leagile. Then, to meet the needs of leagile manufacturing, an integrated production planning and scheduling system is needed. The academic world responds to the need by the growth of papers. Many methodologies, models, frameworks, and methods have been proposed. Literature abounds on classifying them, yet it remains inconclusive mainly on their applicability to Industry 4.0. In this regard, this paper conducts a literature review aiming to show the state of the art and discover the most promising production planning and scheduling method for Industry 4.0 among the many. Lastly, on the basis of this study, recommendations on possible future research directions are provided for researchers, and the design of the next-generation production planning and scheduling system for Industry 4.0 is also suggested.

AbstractThe aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between early-career employees’ emotional exhaustion and turnover intention in the information technology sector. Given the scarce empirical evidence on how turnover intention and emotional exhaustion can be reduced among early-career employees, ethical leadership was investigated as a mediator in this relationship based on the Social Exchange Theory (SET). Furthermore, using the Conservation of Resource Theory (COR), this study sought to understand the moderating role of a specific organizational ethical climate (i.e. self-interest climate) in the relationships among emotional exhaustion, ethical leadership, and turnover intention. Data was collected using convenience sampling from 243 early-career employees working in small and medium enterprises in the information technology sector. The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) indicated that early-career employees’ emotional exhaustion significantly increases their turnover intention. This effect was found to be mediated by low ethical leadership and moderated by the self-interest ethical climate. However, the findings did not support the moderating effect of the self-interest ethical climate on the relationship between ethical leadership and employees’ turnover intention. This study contributes to the existing knowledge on COR and SET by incorporating the antecedents of turnover intention, which have a significant impact on employees’ decision-making regarding withdrawal. Additionally, the study addresses the underexplored topic of specific ethical climates and their effects on employees. By examining how a key antecedent of turnover intention operates within an organizational self-interest ethical climate, this paper advances our understanding of this complex phenomenon. A discussion of the study’s limitations and suggestions for future research conclude the paper.

AbstractThere is still controversy regarding the relevance of cash flow versus accruals. Relevant information can be assessed in multiple ways, including its value relevance and predictability. This paper then compares the value relevance and predictive value of accruals and cash flow measures to determine entities’ stock value and future cash flows, respectively. The data was obtained from 484 consolidated annual reports of 121 companies listed on Euronext between 2018 and 2021. Data assessment used a linear regression model. The findings suggest that cash flow measures have a more significant influence on stock prices than profit or loss (about 40% versus 20%, based on the models’ explanatory power). Furthermore, historical cash flows are proven to be a better predictor of future cash flows than profit or loss (90% versus 80%). Furthermore, neither accrual nor cash flow measures forecast future profit or loss significantly (below 35% in all cases). Findings also indicate a reduced capability of accrual or cash flow measures to forecast future profit or loss. This paper contributes to the ongoing debate on the relevance of cash flow versus accrual measures, which still presents differing conclusions. As part of its innovation, it compares profit or loss with multiple cash flow measures, such as non-GAAP measures and the concept introduced by the IASB in its exposure draft for operating cash flow. Additionally, the study examines the potential impacts and benefits of changes proposed in the IASB’s exposure draft, including how they can affect stock prices and forecast future cash flows.

AbstractThe paper’s main aim is to analyze five constructs of organizational culture, AI-supported leadership, AI-supported appropriate training of employees, teams’ effective performance, and employee engagement, and their relationship through the prism of artificial intelligence on a sample of large and medium-sized Slovenian companies. The second aim of the paper is to test the proposed model with two different statistical techniques in the scope of structural equation modeling (SEM) that enable us to assess linear (PLS-SEM) and non-linear relationships (CB-SEM) among the constructs. The empirical research included 437 medium-sized and large Slovenian companies. From each company, a CEO or owner participated in our research. The findings of the research with both techniques show that organizational culture had no impact on AI-supported appropriate training of employees and was not significant as well as that organizational culture had an impact on AI-supported leadership. The impact of AI-supported leadership on AI-supported appropriate training of employees were supported only for the PLS-SEM model. The impact of AI-supported leadership for employees on teams was positive. Contrary to that, the impact of AI-supported leadership for business solutions on teams was non-significant. In both cases, AI-supported appropriate training of employees’ impact on teams was strong and positive. Also, employee engagement impact on teams was positive and statistically significant with PLS-SEM and CB-SEM methods. The research yields important implications for companies seeking to integrate artificial intelligence effectively in their operations. It emphasizes the critical role of AI-supported leadership in driving positive outcomes, such as improved employee training and enhanced team effectiveness. Companies should focus on developing leaders who can leverage AI tools to foster a skilled and engaged workforce. By adopting data-driven decision-making processes and incorporating insights from structural equation modeling, organizations can develop effective AI integration strategies. These provide valuable guidance for enhancing human resource management practices and achieving successful AI adoption across companies. The findings contribute to the formation of new views in the field of artificial intelligence implementation in the companies and show companies a broader picture of which aspects of human resource management need to be improved.

ABSTRACTPurpose: Nowadays, systematic literature reviews (SLRs) and meta-analyses are often placed at the top of the study hierarchy of evidence. The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the trends in SLRs of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) throughout the years.Methods: Medline database was searched, using a highly focused search strategy. Each paper was coded according to a specific ICD-10 code; the number of RCTs included in each evaluated SLR was also retrieved. All SLRs analyzing RCTs were included. Protocols, commentaries, or errata were excluded. No restrictions were applied.Results: A total of 7,465 titles and abstracts were analyzed, from which 6,892 were included for further analyses. There was a gradual increase in the number of annual published SLRs, with a significant increase in published articles during the last several years. Overall, the most frequently analyzed areas were diseases of the circulatory system (n = 750) and endocrine, nutritional, and metabolic diseases (n = 734). The majority of SLRs included between 11 and 50 RCTs each.Conclusions: The recognition of SLRs’ usefulness is growing at an increasing speed, which is reflected by the growing number of published studies. The most frequently evaluated diseases are in alignment with leading causes of death and disability worldwide.

AbstractThe main aim of this paper is to examine the determinants that contribute to the establishment of a risk management committee (RMC) in a firm. Unlike previous studies, this paper investigates the types of ownership structure, comprising family, institutional, government, managerial, and foreign ownership, as the factor that leads to the establishment of an RMC. This is based on the observation of 2,173 non-financial public listed firms from 2015 until 2017 in the Malaysian business market. By using logistic regression, the results depict that government and foreign ownership are significantly and positively related to the establishment of an RMC. In contrast, the establishment of an RMC in family and managerial ownership firms shows a negatively significant effect. The results indicate that family and managerial ownership have less of an agency problem in the firm, thus requiring less monitoring as compared to other types of ownership, which require more monitoring, especially in terms of managing risks, which affirm the argument of the agency theory. As a result, this study provides empirical evidence on the determinants of the establishment of RMCs and informs regulators and policymakers about the potential requirement for RMC establishment in Malaysian non-financial publicly traded firms.

AbstractThis paper examines the impact of governance factors on the effectiveness of credit, market, operational, and aggregate risk disclosures in banks. The study measures the effectiveness of risk management disclosure by assessing the level of compliance with local and international banking regulations in the UAE. By controlling for year-fixed effects and other bank-level factors, the empirical analysis reveals that the influence of governance factors on the effectiveness of risk management disclosure varies depending on the type of risk being addressed (credit, market, operational, and aggregate). Moreover, the paper distinguishes between two prominent banking models, Islamic and Conventional, in line with the UAE’s banking landscape. The results indicate that differences in the effectiveness of risk management disclosure are observed mainly in the context of market risk between Islamic and Conventional banks. These findings hold significant practical implications not only within the UAE but also beyond its borders. By understanding the key governance factors that impact risk management disclosures, banks in the UAE can enhance their risk management practices and compliance with regulations. The insights gained from this paper can guide policymakers, regulators, and industry practitioners in implementing measures to improve risk management effectiveness. Furthermore, the results contribute to the broader academic literature on risk management and governance in the banking sector, offering valuable knowledge for researchers and scholars worldwide.

AbstractHigher education institutions (HEIs) are profoundly vested in knowledge-based endeavors. It emphasizes creating a knowledge-based atmosphere and recognizing knowledge as an intellectual capital. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of factors such as top management support, the perceived degree of collegiality, and organizational culture (OC) in fostering trust among members of HEIs and enabling individual readiness for knowledge management (KM). The faculty members affiliated with India’s HEIs provided the data for this study. At AMOS, data was analyzed using EFA, CFA, and SEM. The present study suggests that perceived collegiality and organizational culture are crucial for increasing faculty members’ trust in their own preparedness for implementing knowledge management in higher education institutions. This paper determined that to promote and enhance institutional KM activities, it is crucial that individuals’ trust is encouraged. The findings of the study are relevant for policymakers, practitioners, and service recipients at HEIs. In addition, the results contribute a novel model to the field of knowledge administration in the higher education sector.

AbstractThe main aim of the study is to improve the quality of bias tyres, reduce manufacturing waste, and increase the yield of the tyre manufacturing process in a leading tyre manufacturing company in South India. This paper aims to show how Lean Six Sigma tools can be used to address and tackle non-valued added activities. It is of concern to the top management that non-value-added activities in the value stream are increasing and affecting the financial performance of the business. One of the authors, who is pursuing research on identifying success factors of implementing lean in process industries in India, as part of his field study had interacted with people of different hierarchical levels of the company to unravel the main causes of the non-value added activities in the production process. Lean Six Sigma methodology (LSS) was applied and the problem was evaluated by the DMAIC method (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control). The LSS Methodology was coupled with Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to prioritize the causes of the waste. The actual name of the company is disguised for confidentiality, and the case is devised based on the initial findings of the study in a tyre-manufacturing firm. This paper provides some key insights into the adoption of Lean Six Sigma practices in an Indian tyre-manufacturing environment. Lean Six Sigma practices are still in the developing stages in tyre manufacturing environments, and this study is an attempt to apply these practices successfully in such manufacturing environments.

AbstractThis study reviews metaverse literature related to the business discipline. Our first search yielded 323 papers, further filtered based on predefined standards. Accordingly, since our research focuses on the metaverse of business, we limited the Scopus search results by choosing only two categories: business, management, and accounting, as well as economics, econometrics, and finance. Using the PRISMA flowchart, this study reviewed 29 selected documents published by publication outlets in Scopus. The study reveals that most metaverse-business studies employed qualitative methods and were categorized as conceptual papers because the research is in its infancy. Marketing has become the dominant business area since most studies relate metaverse with various marketing activities. Besides, management information and finance come second and third in the number of publications. This result indicates that through metaverse, businesses can attract new customers, retain existing customers, improve firm operations, and streamline business processes. This study’s novelty is investigating metaverse studies related to business function areas, which is absent in metaverse literature. One limitation of this study is the single database, namely, Scopus. Further study may employ other databases like Web of Science or Google Scholar. Besides, future studies may explore more metaverse studies concerning more specific topics, such as accounting, auditing, and banking.

AbstractNowadays we can find a lot of studies on entrepreneurship which give more emphasis to the field’s health-related issues. On the other side, it is unknown how far an entrepreneur’s mental health is impacted by their environment. In this article, we intend to contribute to existing literature by emphasizing the relationships between mental health and business. Our result is achieved by employing a two-step research methodology: 1) We use bibliometric approaches to analyze contributions to business and economics research and provide a comprehensive mental health discussion in entrepreneurship and business environment in general by looking at the most significant foundation papers. 2) To back up these conclusions, a content analysis of the most relevant academic papers was carried out utilizing a broader database, describing the correlation between the studies of mental health and entrepreneurship at the individual and organizational levels.

AbstractThe research questions that are solved in this paper are as follows: (1) how the value relevance of accounting information evolved from a developing country perspective and (2) how the accounting reform impacts on value relevance. This study aims to assess the value relevance of accounting information released by non-financial firms listed on the Vietnam stock exchange for the period of 2010–2020. Our paper will contribute more supportive empirical evidence about the usefulness of value relevance research through doing research in Vietnam as a developing country, where experiences switching from a planned economy to an open economy and the regulations change continuously. We provide useful literature overview and important implications for both equity investors and standard setters. Based on usefulness information theory and asymmetric information theory, research hypotheses are designed. The study then uses the Ohlson price model to test these hypotheses. In the model, the explanatory variables, namely, book value per share, earnings per share, and share prices as independent variable, are examined; panel corrected standard error estimator (PCSE) is applied. The findings reveal that both earnings and book value of equity exhibit a positive and significant effect on stock prices. Earnings explain the higher variation in stock market values on the Vietnam Stock Exchange compared to book value of equity. The study, however, finds a decreasing trend in the change of the value relevance over the period 2010–2020 and accounting reforms in 2014 did not improve the value relevance.

AbstractThis study empirically examined the relationship between entrepreneurial financial literacy, access to credit, and the sustainability of small businesses in Ethiopia. The study used cross-sectional data collected from 293 owner-managers of small businesses through a survey questionnaire in 2022. It used structural equation modelling to analyze the results. Therefore, the paper’s empirical evidence revealed that entrepreneurial financial literacy contributes to small business sustainability. The findings also show that access to formal credit financing mediates entrepreneurial financial literacy- small business sustainability nexus. In this regard, the paper contributes to the literature on small businesses by demonstrating the importance of entrepreneurial financial literacy and access to formal credit financing for the sustainability of small businesses in Ethiopia, considering the knowledge-resource-based view.

AbstractBased on Real Options Theory and taking the perspective of growth options exercising, as well as Tobit model, this paper explores how Japanese enterprises adjust ownership structures in their affiliates as a portfolio in China. Empirical results show that: both demand uncertainty and industry growth opportunity in China enhance Japanese enterprises’ ownership expansion in their affiliates as a real option portfolio; Industry competition and capability to control and coordinate the affiliates strengthen the roles of uncertainty and industry growth opportunity play in enhancing Japanese enterprises’ ownership expansion within these affiliates as a portfolio. This paper enriches studies on growth options exercising and illustrates that the logic for real options establishing should not be simply and directly transplanted to real options exercising indiscriminately. Conclusions derived from this paper are of great significance for MNEs’ growth option exercising by adjusting ownership structures in their affiliates as a portfolio within a host country according to changes in the focal host market.

AbstractTo forestall future financial crises, risk governance has been embraced as a line of defense. Therefore, this paper seeks to synthesize the risk governance literature, identifying gaps, and suggesting direction for future research, through a systematic literature review (SLR). Analyzing 151 papers from the Scopus and Web of Science databases, this paper finds a steady increase in academic work on risk governance. Using the theory, context, characteristics, and methodology (TCCM) framework, the study emphasizes the importance of chief risk officers, geographical context coverage, and effectiveness and regulation of risk governance. Methodologically, endogeneity issues are a major concern for researchers, agency theory (AT) being the most popular theory used. Finally, moderating and mediating variables that affect risk governance are identified as important but under-explored. While providing practitioners and policymakers with a framework, empirical testing is encouraged. The study contributes to SDG Goal 8, Target 10 of strengthening financial institutions and promoting a resilient financial system.

AbstractIn this paper the virus theory is applied to gain insight into the intra-organizational diffusion and evolution of the Balanced Scorecard. The study draws on longitudinal data about the use of the Balanced Scorecard in a Norwegian bank, by interviews with managers and rich internal documents. The findings suggest that virus theory offers a diverse set of theoretical mechanisms that can describe a multitude of organizational processes in the evolution of a management idea. Specifically, it is found that the case organization was infected directly through top management´s contact with the idea and indirectly through an external institution. Interestingly, there was an incubation period and the idea was lingering in the organization without implementation. However, organizational immunity to the idea was averted by management, and new routines and structures led to replication. Furthermore, the idea mutated to resemble more a measurement than a strategical tool. The concept was eventually deactivated in the organization but may still lie dormant. The paper concludes that virus theory is well-suited for analysing the intra-organizational diffusion and evolution of management ideas. In this way, virus theory can fill in some of the blind spots of management fashion theory.

AbstractEntrepreneurship education, the process of knowledge, skill, competency, and attitude development, aims to maximize the effectiveness of the entrepreneurial capacity building. The pandemic boosted the digital transformation of higher education and brought the online incubation platform NETMIB to life. This paper introduces this unique platform solution and utilizes online opportunities for skill and attitude assessment. An online survey-based research method was applied, and an online Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) Index was developed as a valid scale for measuring entrepreneurial attitudes in online incubation programs. Based on the findings, student idea owners in the online incubation process have a significantly higher propensity to engage in business activities and a stronger desire for independence and achievement. The findings of this paper can contribute to the targeting and development of educational interventions in the incubation programs, and the online EO Index can be a useful tool among the performance measures of various incubation programs.Summary: Entrepreneurship education, the process of knowledge, skill, competency, and attitude development, aims to maximize the effectiveness of the entrepreneurial capacity building. The pandemic boosted the digital transformation of higher education and brought the online incubation platform NETMIB (Network of multidisciplinary ideation and business model generation) to life. This paper introduces this unique platform solution of online incubation and utilizes online opportunities for skill and attitude assessment. Since education aims to influence entrepreneurial capacity, measured by attitudes, the paper develops a self-assessment tool for online entrepreneurship education. Hypothesizes that there are significant differences in the attitudes of the members according to their role in the online incubation process. An online survey-based research method was used, and an entrepreneurial attitude construct was created concerning the member’s desire for innovation, personal control, achievement, and self-esteem. Based on the findings, student idea owners in the online incubation process have a significantly higher propensity to engage in business activities and a stronger desire for independence and achievement. The findings of this paper contribute to the targeting and development of educational interventions in incubation programs, and the online Entrepreneurial Orientation Index can be a useful tool among the performance measures of various incubation programs.

AbstractSince the birth and subsequent ratification of United Nations’ Agenda 2030 for sustainable development, local businesses are working assiduously to re-strategize and adapt to the changing external environment including responsible consumptions and production in order to gain competitive advantage and improve their performance. To facilitate this call, our paper is aimed to analyse the implications of strategic orientation on firm performance, and develop a model to explain the mediating role of organizational innovation capability on the relationship between strategic orientation and firm performance with a focus on a lower middle-income country where such studies are largely inadequate. Our paper is anchored on positivists’ ontology and quantitative approach. Cross-sectional survey data have been elicited from formalized small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that are registered with Ghana Enterprise Agency. Our hypotheses have been tested using Partial Least Square and Andrew Hayes Macro Process techniques. Our results have showed that the dimensions of strategic orientation (marketing, entrepreneurship, and technology) exert positive and significant effects on firms’ innovation capability and performance. Besides, organizational innovation capability significantly mediates the relationships between marketing and technological orientations and firms’ performance. This study is among the very few to provide strategic orientation model to enhance organizational innovation and performance in the context of lower middle-income country. The emergency of contextual variables that impact on organizational innovation and firm performance would go a long way to guide managers, owners and regulators to develop robust strategies that could enhance the realization of sustainable development goals in the long term.

AbstractThe purpose of this study was mapping the future research path by determining the progress of literature on spin-off decisions in Islamic banking from 1:2012 to 5:2022. The analysis, however, was limited to the author, source, and keywords. Scopus, Dimensions, and Google Scholar are some of the databases utilized for this bibliometric analysis. The inclusion criteria were English articles on spin-off decision in Islamic banking in the form of journal articles and proceeding papers. Biblioshiny R-package and VOSviewer software were used to analyze a total of 63 publications. Our investigation indicates that studies focusing on spin-off decisions in Islamic banking grew at a 23.08 percent annual rate during the years of observation. This study involved 117 authors where MNR Al Arif from UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta was a prolific author with 11 publications (h-index 8). Furthermore, when compared to other journals, Al-Iqtishad: Jurnal Ilmu Ekonomi Syariah publishes the most papers. The study of spin-offs is most popularly studied in Indonesia, considering that those are the main development strategy for Islamic banking. Popular keywords in this topic relate to banking performance, such as profitability, liquidity and efficiency. As a result, researchers are focusing their efforts on determining the impact of spin-offs on the performance of Islamic banks although there is no consensus so far. The investigation also provides an overview of the future agenda.

AbstractThis paper examines the sensitivity of tax revenue performance to IFRS adoption in Africa and the implication for tax policy. The study investigated how IFRS adoption affects the level of tax revenue performance in Africa. This study is one of the foundational studies, which has investigated IFRS adoption and tax revenue performance at both macro and cross-country levels. This approach presents better inclusive evidence to support tax reforms and provides the basis to validate tax regulatory apprehensions and suspicions of the adverse impact of IFRS adoption. The paper uses data from six African countries: Botswana, Ghana, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and South Africa for the analyses. The data are sourced from World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Annualised data from 1996 to 2020 are used. The paper employs Pooled Mean Group (PMG) as the primary estimator and is validated by Panel Dynamic Ordinary Least Square (DOLS). The results showed that IFRS adoption could pose a significant risk to tax revenue mobilisation in Africa as evident by the significant negative long-run estimates. The results further revealed short-run positive IFRS effects. This is affirmed by the country-level analyses and trajectory of tax revenue performance across the sample periods of 1996 to 2020 for the selected countries during the pre- and post-IFRS era. It is therefore safe for African countries to pursue tax-targeted IFRS reforms to minimise the possible adverse effect of IFRS on tax revenue.

AbstractThe main goal of this paper is to analyze the factors that influence the auditor’s decision to disclose goodwill impairment as a key audit matter (KAM). For this analysis, we use a logit model to determine the factors that influence auditors’ disclosure of a goodwill impairment as a KAM. Our sample comprises 92 companies listed in the stock market indices of Germany (DAX 30), Belgium (BEL 20), Spain (IBEX 35), France (CAC 40), the Netherlands (AEX), and Portugal (PSI 20) as of the 2017 fiscal year-end. The results show that in highly profitable companies or in those with strong corporate governance, the auditor is less likely to disclose goodwill impairment as a KAM. Findings also show that the economic significance of goodwill holds significant influence over the auditor’s decision-making even in companies with strong governance structures. The contribution of this paper is the provision of direct evidence on what motivates auditors to disclose goodwill impairment as a KAM. Findings show a direct relationship between profitability, corporate governance, and the disclosure of goodwill impairment as a KAM.

ABSTRACT In a world bombarded with unprecedented challenges, it is paramount for organizations to embrace resilience in all their processes, albeit supply chain management. In the wake of ever-intensifying race for digital transformation, it is crucial for organizations to follow structured roadmaps towards building digital supply chain resilience (DSCR) through striking a balance between supply chain resilience (SCR) and supply chain vulnerabilities (SCV), in a manner that does not erode profits, neither expose the organization to increasing vulnerabilities. The paper addresses the evolution of SCR, the SCR and SCV drivers, and recommends investment in particular Industry 4.0 (I4.0) enablers. The outcomes of this paper are (a) a discussion of the complementary relationship between SCR and SCV drivers; (b) a thorough understanding of the possible contributions of I4.0 technologies towards DSCR; and (c) a roadmap for future research into the integration of SCR drivers and SCV constrained by the resilience fitness space (RFS).

AbstractThe main objective of this paper is to bring together scattered literature on knowledge sharing, and analyse them to provide a better understanding of the concept and to suggest emerging directions for future research. The review went through three stages: setting the review protocol, administering the review, and reporting the review. The paper systematically reviewed 110 articles under three research streams: (1) knowledge sharing enablers (2) knowledge sharing processes, and (3) knowledge sharing outcomes. The paper found that little is known about the kind of knowledge that better contributes to develop the competencies required for specific market, there is over-concentration on knowledge sharing enablers than barriers, knowledge sharing process is not linked to the overall firm objective and strategy, and financial outcomes of knowledge sharing has been studied more than nonfinancial outcomes. Based on these findings, organisations have been advised to design knowledge sharing processes in line with their overall business objective, strategy, and resources at their disposal to maximise the benefits of knowledge sharing.

ABSTRACTA literature review on the order picking process in warehouses is presented for delineating the trends in time of research topics in this field. A total of 269 journal papers published between 2007 and 2022 were retrieved from Scopus. After a methodological classification, descriptive analyses were performed on authors, journals, subject area and top publishing countries. Bibliometric tools were used to map the topics covered by the reviewed studies, categorise them and determine possible relationships. Papers’ contents were evaluated in terms of eight categories, including five typical issues of order picking systems, plus three aspects dealing with the characteristics of the application. Insights about the extent to which these aspects have been covered in the literature are derived; relationships between the various aspects of the picking process are also delineated. Suggestions for future research activities are finally deducted, offering researchers and practitioners strong bases for works on order picking systems.

AbstractThis study investigates the interactive influence of two dimensions of perceived organizational prestige (POP) on ethical decision-making (EDM). The study also examines the moderating effect of the decision-maker’s financial situation on the POP-EDM relationship. A Survey data from 356 tax accountants in two public-interest organizations were analysed using partial least square structural equation modelling. The study found that perceived external prestige (PEP) dimension of POP predicts EDM. Self-perceived prestige (SPP) dimension of prestige does not directly predict EDM but is a significant antecedent of PEP. Furthermore, decision-maker’s financial situation does not moderate PEP-EDM relationship. The paper holds implications for image-building policies for public-interest organizations. Towards improving EDM, the paper recommends for organizations to focus on PEP-enhancing programs. This paper is foremost in establishing POP-EDM relationship. Further, the paper contributes to social identity theory by examining the EDM effect of both social identity motivations and potential ethical pressures on tax accountants.

AbstractThis paper provides an explorative and interrogative profile of digital capital on SMEs within the agricultural food sector, focusing on SME farmers. Digital capital is deemed the new capital essential for farmers. The paper examines the opportunities and threats offered by digital capital and explores how it influences agricultural SME performance and how it leads to digital inequalities. The study purposively sampled three South African agricultural provinces and adopted a purposive sampling technique to collect quantitative and qualitative data. With the undoubted contribution of SMEs to social and economic fronts, the study chronicled how digital capital has improved the value chain processes while unearthing the barriers to digital tools access. It emerged that SMEs face many adoption challenges; hence it is debatable to link positive SME performance to digital capital adoption. It emerged that agricultural SMEs mostly adopt complimentary service digital tools, indicating that digital capital is a catalyst for inequalities. While the government has implemented some initiatives to promote digital capital adoption, such interventions remain inadequate. The study contemplates other initiatives that could be adopted to address the barriers SMEs face in this digital era, hence closing the inequalities gap within the industry. SMEs should be subject to public policy support and protection, particularly on digital capital incentives and sponsorship. The government must regulate some digital capital tools which are more harmful than productive.

AbstractThe paper examines the influence of opt-in e-mail marketing on consumer behaviour. The study attempts to extend the Stimuli–Organism–Response (S–O–R) theory that has been broadly explored in consumer research. Following a critical review of the literature organisation approach, a hypothetical model has been proposed for this study, based on identified factors, such as, informational value, entertainment-based message content, layout, visual appeal, attitude toward e-mail advertising and intention towards the sender in the context of opt-in email marketing. Data were collected in South Africa through an online survey of 436 opt-in e-mail marketing subscribers. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to measure the proposed hypotheses of the study. The research results suggest that even during a pandemic, e-mail marketers could employ certain features in promotional and informational e-mail marketing communication, particularly informational value, entertainment-based message content, layout, visual appeal, as a means to design their e-mail marketing messages and plan e-mail advertising campaigns. The findings of the study are intended to advance the e-mail marketing knowledge base to help marketers during a pandemic, such as COVID-19. The paper provides marketers with relevant insights on how to effectively engage with e-mail subscribers.

AbstractOwing to the significant role of financial sector reforms in economic growth, several studies have examined its transmission channels. This paper focuses on the stock market channel by investigating the impact of financial sector reforms on stock market growth in Ghana from 1990 to 2019. A multidimensional index was constructed to measure the financial sector reforms. Employing fully modified least squares (FMOLS) and error-correction models, the findings reveal that financial sector reforms promote stock market growth in Ghana in the long run. By disaggregating the financial sector reforms, the findings reveal that competitive reform has the highest impact followed by behavioural and privatisation reforms respectively. Finally, the findings reveal a bi-causal relationship between financial sector reforms and stock market growth. The paper thus implores the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to reinforce its supervisory role, policy implementation, and investor protection laws to ensure greater compliance with the reforms. In addition, macroeconomic policies that are helpful to the growth of the capital market must be deepened to stimulate expected growth in the Ghanaian stock market.

AbstractThis paper primarily aims to determine the demographic and socio-economic characteristics affecting households’ investment choices in Tanzania using data from the FinScope survey which was done in 2017. The study employed multivariate analytical technique. The results of the paper reveal that increase in education level lowers the likelihood of individual household to invest in informal groups as well as agricultural ventures. Also, the study shows that men are more risk averse and less likely to invest in the informal groups, investment accounts as well as personal businesses. It is also revealed that urban households may easily access financial products due to the presence of a good number of financial institutions located in urban compared to rural areas, and that urban households rarely participate in agricultural activities due to lack of enough land in townships. Finally, the paper confirms that employed households are more likely to make a good financial decision because most of them are believed to have good education which enable them to access formal financial literacy education. Consequently, the study opines that, because most of households, as revealed in the survey from which the employed dataset is based, are hailing from rural settings where agriculture is the main economic activity, we establish that agricultural ventures require a complete revamp for Tanzania to become a middle-income economy through its industrialization agenda.

ABSTRACTThe manufacturing industry faces a new revolution, grounded on the intense digitalization of assets and industrial processes and the increasing computation capabilities imposed by the new data-driven digital architectures. This reality has been promoting the Digital Twin concept and its importance in the industrial companies’ business models. However, with these new opportunities, also new threads may rise, mainly related to industrial data protection and sovereignty. Therefore, this research paper will demonstrate the International Data Spaces reference model’s application to overcome these limitations. Following a pilot study with a Portuguese machine producer/maintainer enterprise, this paper will demonstrate the development of a cutting and bending machine Digital Twin, leveraged on an International Data Spaces infrastructure for interoperability, for the plastic and metal industry and its importance to introduce this machine manufacturing company in a new business-to-business marketplace from the EU project Market 4.0.

AbstractThis paper examines the impact of various corporate governance characteristics on the disclosure of corporate social responsibility (CSR) information in the context of developing markets during the COVID-19 pandemic. We used data from the annual reports of the top 100 companies listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange from 2019 to 2021 to investigate the relationship between board independence, board size, CEO duality, foreign ownership, government ownership, and the disclosure level of CSR reporting. We employed a content analysis to measure CSR disclosure level by using the CSR reporting index (CSRRI) with 17 items. The panel regressions including three techniques like the pooled-ordinary least squares (OLS), fixed effects model (FEM), and random effects model (REM), were used to analyze the data, and FEM) shows its best fit to the model. The results suggest that board independence and government ownership correlate positively and significantly with companies’ decisions to disclose CSR information. In contrast, board size, CEO duality, foreign ownership and was found to be insignificant. Our study extends the literature on CSR particularly in developing countries where governments play a significant role in promoting economic development. It also evaluates the CSR disclosure level of the top listed companies in Vietnam. Since then, the paper’s results provide several insights to the policymakers to identify the corporate governance characteristics that will promote CSR reporting in Vietnam’s listed companies.

AbstractThe services sector continues to play a major role in the transformation of economies. For instance, the tourism sub-sector, which is a key segment of the service sector has become one of the major contributors to economic transformation in developing economies. Given this prospect, stern competition has been created among tourism firms across the globe. However, the tourism sectors in most developing countries continue to grapple with competitive pressure challenging their competitive sustainability. Drawing on the theory of change, the purpose of this paper is to investigate factors that drive the competitive sustainability of small and medium enterprises in the tourism sector in Ghana. Data was collected from 310 SMEs in the tourism sector through the administration of a structured questionnaire and analyzed using Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling. The results show that price sensitivity, site maintenance, and entrepreneurial competency have a positive and significant effect on the competitive sustainability of small and medium enterprises in the tourism sector. By implications, the paper provides managers of tourism facilities with an encompassing mechanism aimed at improving tourism sites, enhancing the entrepreneurial competencies of staff, and adopting pricing strategies to enhance the competitive sustainability of the tourism sector from a developing country’s perspective. The study advances theories on tourism competitive sustainability.

AbstractPrior research on social networks and consumer technology usage has used diverse theoretical frameworks to study the extent to which social networks, in their various forms, are related to consumer technology usage. However, the adoption and utilization of these theoretical frameworks has led to fragmentation of findings, and a lack of consistency in the conceptualization and operationalization of key social network constructs. There is, therefore, a need for a comprehensive systematic review of studies on the interrelations between social networks and consumer technology usage, with a view to identifying the common areas of focus, major weaknesses, emerging trends, and directions for future research. Using the Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcomes (PICO) framework, this paper relies on five research questions to examine the various frameworks that have been used to study social networks in relation to consumer technology usage, as well as their shortcomings in terms of consistency in conceptual frameworks, the research contexts commonly studied, areas of study focus as well as emerging trends. The paper concludes by proposing future areas of research, which include: the development of a theoretical framework to guide the study of the relationship between social networks and consumer technology usage; the moderating roles of consumer demographic characteristics; the mediating role of consumer behavioral characteristics; and the influence of technology-enabled social networks in conditioning consumer attitude towards technology and consumer technology usage in different contexts.

AbstractThis paper contributes to the literature by separately examining the impact of board characteristics and ownership structure on upward and downward earnings management of non-financial firms listed on Hanoi Stock Exchange and Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange. In our research, we conduct Pooled OLS, Fixed and Random effect models, and Generalized least squares. Then, we run a regression with the System Generalized Method of Moments (System GMM) to find the most appropriate model. Firms with high average board age, high ownership concentration, and high financial leverage tend to manage earnings downward. High managerial ownership tends to reduce downward earnings management. Firms with high state ownership reduce upward earnings management. Stakeholders should be more cautious of firms with high average board age, high ownership concentration, high financial performance, and high financial leverage as they tend to manage earnings. Previous studies combined upward and downward earnings management in one regression model, therefore ignoring the chance to investigate the impact of board characteristics and ownership structure on earnings management in each case. The impact of a factor on upward and downward earnings management may be different, and the combination of them in one regression model can drive the findings of previous studies toward errors of unknown directions. Therefore, assessing the effects of board characteristics and ownership structure on earnings management in each case is necessary. To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first to do so.

AbstractThis paper aims to minimize the emissions in the supply chain consisting of a vendor and a buyer under carbon regulations. Emissions from the supply chain are generated by several operations, namely production, transportation and storage, and are sought to be reduced by implementing a carbon tax policy. To cope with the carbon policy, the vendor is actively looking for the best strategy to reduce emission rates, one of which is by investing in green technology. Besides being able to reduce the amount of carbon produced, the investment made can also save the amount of energy needed in the production process. To support the investment, the government provides green incentives, the amount of which is determined based on the achievement of emission reduction targets. The objective of the proposed model is to simultaneously determine the review period, safety factor, number of shipments and green investment such that the joint total cost is minimised. An efficient method is developed in this paper to obtain the optimum solution for the model. A numerical example and a sensitivity analysis are provided to illustrate the application of the model and to examine the impact of key parameters on model behaviour and performance. The result indicates that the implemented green policies, namely carbon tax, green incentive and green investment, can improve the economic and environmental performances of the supply chain.

AbstractThe purpose of this paper is to review existing literature on the consequences of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption in Europe with a specific focus on different enforcement environments. Following prior studies, we adopt the critical review approach. We begin the review in Europe and then provide a comparative analysis among four countries based on their enforcement environment. Academic papers were collected from high-quality ranked journals. The literature was analysed on different streams, including comparability, audit services liquidity and earning management. Our critical review indicates that the consequences of IFRS adoption depend on the country’s enforcement environment. If a country has strong enforcement, then the consequences of IFRS adoption are more pronounced for both positive and negative consequences. This was the case for the UK and Germany. If a country has a weak enforcement environment, the consequences are less pronounced, as was the case for Spain and Italy. The consequences of IFRS adoption include increased comparability, audit fees, liquidity, earnings management and investment. If a country is to realise the benefits of IFRS adoption fully, it is not sufficient to just adopt the standards; there must be a strong enforcement environment. The paper makes suggestions for further research in the context of IFRS consequences.

AbstractThe main purpose of this paper is to empirically analyze the impact of excise tax on excisable goods consumption, brand loyalty and health awareness in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) market. The research is conducted based on the self-administered questionnaire collected from the residents of the UAE. The snow-ball sampling technique is used to collect the data set during 2022. A total of 559 usable questionnaires were analyzed. This paper uses the multiple regression analysis model (OLS) to test the study hypothesis. The findings of the research show that implementation of excise tax has no significant impact on the consumption of excisable goods. The findings show a positive relation between implementation of excise tax and customers’ brand loyalty. Likewise, the excise tax implementation has a positive impact on the health awareness among the residents of the UAE for the consumption of excisable goods. The findings of this paper would provide insights to the policymakers for formulating the future excise tax policies and extending the scope of excise tax to the other unhealthy products in the emerging market (UAE). This paper provides evidence supporting the impact of implementation of excise tax on the consumption, brand loyalty and health awareness of the individual consumers in the emerging economy. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to research and test the consumption behavior of individuals through the collection of primary data set since the excise tax is implemented in the Gulf Cooperation Council specially in the UAE economy which includes the excisable products, i.e., tobacco, carbonated drinks, energy drinks, sweetened beverages and electronic smoking devices.

ABSTRACTThis paper develops a pattern that guides manufacturing system designers and engineers in the identification of requirements and solutions throughout the systems engineering lifecycle. The presented design pattern guides decision-making about the requirements and solutions related to the design and operation of manufacturing plants, lines, cells, and workstations. The research presented in this paper builds on a prior version of the Manufacturing System Design Decomposition, Version 9.2 (MSDD 9.2), which established the requirements and solutions for making effective manufacturing system design decisions. By incorporating decision-centric design and model-based systems engineering tools, MSDD 9.2 is expanded to Manufacturing System Design Decomposition, Version 10.0 (MSDD 10.0) which offers innovative design capabilities in being able to capture and relate all applicable manufacturing system design information as a single source of truth. The design pattern seeks to guide the objective evaluation and introduction of new manufacturing systems, technologies, and products for the manufacturing enterprise.

Advanced Planning Systems (APS) can contribute to improved decision-making and enhanced efficiency along complex food supply chains. This paper presents a systematic literature review of three increasingly important supply chain planning (SCP) tasks supported by APS, namely Supply Chain Network Design (SCND), Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) and Production Planning & Scheduling (PP&S). Furthermore, academic literature on the implementation of software tools for SCP practices is investigated. The literature review reveals that multiple models for SCP practices have been developed. Empirical literature including case studies on the implementation of APS is sparse. The findings suggest that developed models for the examined planning tasks are implemented to a limited extent in practice. The study can help practitioners in the food industry to get insights regarding the opportunities by the areas of SCP examined in this paper. A theoretical framework providing research propositions to enhance the understanding of APS implementation is introduced.

One of the goals of the Industry 4.0 paradigm is the sustainable success within a mass customization environment, which in turn, depends on the manufacturing efficiency of the transformation processes. In this paper we propose to represent manufacturing efficiency within the context demand fulfillment. The main original contribution of this paper are two demand fulfillment analytical expressions. Their novelty is on the way they are expressed, that is, in terms of the structural elements that define a mass customization environment. Their usefulness was put to the test via a Discrete Event Simulation (DES) model of two different demand fulfillment strategies (namely inventory-oriented level and capacity-oriented chase strategies). The obtained results suggest that the analytical expressions act as a fairly good trend indicator of the missed demand values increase/decrease. A discussion of the managerial implications of these findings are presented at the end of this document.