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South Korea has faced many social issues due to long working hours, lack of rest areas, and poor rest facility environments for cleaners, security guards, department store workers, etc. Discussions have been ongoing about mandating the installation of rest facilities. From August 18, 2022, Article 128–2 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, concerning the installation of rest facilities, was enforced. Consequently, employers in all industries are required to install rest facilities, and laws have been established to ensure these facilities meet certain standards. Accordingly, this study investigated the current status of rest facility installations and the awareness of the law's enactment in Korean industrial sites. The results, analyzed by gender, age, managerial status, industry, and size of the business, indicated that younger people were less satisfied with the rest facilities. Managers were more knowledgeable about the legal regulations than workers. In the service industry, compared to other industries, smaller businesses were less likely to have rest facilities and were less aware of the legal regulations. The results of this study are expected to be used as basic data to help establish the rest facility installation laws in Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The profitability (ROA) of US and European defense companies are influenced by past profitability, debt policy, company size, and defense specialization. Taking into account the effect of these variables, individual company characteristics and time specificities, the profitability of US defense companies remains higher than that of European companies. Moreover, US defense firms are more profitable when specialized in defense, while European companies are more dependent on the civilian market and its evolution. The position of a company in the SIPRI ranking has a negative impact on American companies' profitability, while it positively influences European companies' profitability. These results could be due to excessive fragmentation (of orders and industries) on the European market and high concentration on the US market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firm innovation is of vital importance to New Zealand's economy, but we understand little about how different human resource (workforce) factors influence innovation approaches (product/services innovation, process innovation, and innovation speed). We explore three human resource (HR) factors: workforce knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs), workforce attraction, and workforce retention, using a sample of New Zealand private sector firms (n = 402). Regression analysis shows all HR factors are significant predictors of all innovation approaches. Further analysis shows workforce KSAs is dominant towards product/service innovation, workforce attraction is dominant towards process innovation, and workforce retention is dominant towards innovation speed. Moderating effects by firm size are found showing small-sized firms out innovate large-sized firms when workforce KSA are high, despite small-sized firms having, on average, weaker HR factors and innovation approaches than large-sized firms. We highlight the organisational implications across small – and large-sized firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shuttle-based storage/retrieval system (SBS/RS) is a new type of automatic warehouse system. More and more enterprises choose it because of its dense storage structure, small footprint, high efficiency, and many other advantages. Each enterprise has different requirements for system efficiency, the number of storage units, and the size of the warehouse. It makes sense to study the design of the minimum cost Shuttle-Based Storage/Retrieval System under the limitation of warehouse space size to meet enterprise requirements on the number of cargos and enterprise needs on system efficiency. An optimization model to minimize the system cost is established, and a heuristic algorithm is designed in this paper. Through the experiment, we identified that different system selection schemes and the configuration of facilities in the system under different throughput capacity requirements. The relationship between the system's total cost, unit cost, and design scheme of the system is found. This study can guide designers and planners to design a more reasonable system. Under the different needs of enterprises, build a Shuttle-Based Storage/Retrieval System with the lowest cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to give statistical significance to the measurement of spatial concentration in the context of entropy-based approaches. We simulate confidence intervals based on a null hypothesis able to capture systematic spatial concentration of firms from random patterns, and dissimilarities between the distributions of firms and employees. We implement this two-step methodology to the European manufacturing economy, and we find a substantive spatial clustering of establishments whereby the spatial divergence between employees and firms is significant both for small-scale industries typically considered as localized because of industry-specific Marshallian external economies and for those industries characterized by considerable internal scale economies. We suggest that a high heterogeneity in firm size may have positive implications for aggregate competitiveness at the sectoral level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to examine the effect of company growth, company size (SIZE), capital structure, (DER), and profitability (ROE) on company value (PBV) in manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. The sample consisted of 194 companies, with 49 selected using purposive sampling techniques. The study used multiple linear regression analysis and company financial statement data from 2018-2020. The coefficient of determination function is to measure how much influence between Company Growth, Company Size, Capital Structure, and Profitability on Company Value. The results of statistical testing show that the company's growth partially affects the value of the company. The size of a large or small company will not be able to affect its value. It also shows that if the company increasingly uses long-term debt to finance its assets, it can increase the value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Medical departments have evolved from a position of support to one of strategic leadership. The number of tasks and the complexity of interactions in which they are involved is increasing. However, the spectrum of their activity in the sector differs significantly from one company to another. Therefore, the aim of this study was to describe their situation within the pharmaceutical industry, analyzing the positions, functions, and profiles of their professionals. Methods: This study consisted of an online survey containing 25 questions grouped into four blocks (structure, medical direction, training, and activities and responsibilities). Medical departments in the Spanish pharmaceutical industry of different sizes and scope were invited to participate. The survey took place in 2021, with a designated response period of three months. It is important to note that all responses collected during this time were treated as anonymous. Results: Thirty companies participated. A total of 93.3% of respondents worked for an international laboratory, with a size of 0–5 or 11–20 people (20.7%). For 27.6% of the companies, the number of medical advisors per medical department was 1 or 4, with varying numbers of medical scientific liaisons (1, 6–10, and > 20). A total of 56.7%, 33.3%, and 6.7% indicated that the country manager, head of regional medical affairs, and head of global medical affairs, respectively, had a solid-line reporting relationship with the medical directorate. Medical directors were mostly graduates in medicine (86.2%) with a doctorate (34.5%), and medical managers were mainly graduates in medicine (77.8%) and pharmacy (66.7%). Conclusions: This study reveals that respondents predominantly work in internationally focused laboratories, with professionals ranging from experienced medical directors to managers with 6–20 years of experience, each with distinct roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aims of this research are to investigate the reasons for adopting big data (BD) and big data analytics (BDA), determine their extent of usage, and identify potential obstacles to their adoption in a developing country, Egypt. Motivation: Prior literature criticized the audit profession for the slow adoption of BDA, and little is known about the adoption of BD and BDA in developing countries. The reluctance to incorporate BD and BDA into auditing can be attributed to their potential obstacles. In addition, prior studies focused on the Big-4 audit firms in developed countries with little known about adopting BD and BDA in local audit firms and developing countries. Design/methodology/approach:To achieve the objectives of this study, 16 audit practitioners with various positions, specializations, and experience levels were interviewed. The 16 participants belong to audit firms of different sizes: international audit firms, local audit firms, and a governmental auditing agency. Thematic analysis was employed through using the MAXQDA software package to analyze the data. Main findings: The findings revealed that the reasons for using BD and BDA go beyond improving audit efficiency and effectiveness and satisfying clients. All audit firms collect and analyze large volumes of traditional accounting data. However, the Big-4 firms manage and analyze non-financial data and new data items as complementary audit evidence. Also, it was found that the type of audit firm affects the use of these technologies, with international firms being superior to other firms. The Accountability State Authority lags behind other audit firms in adopting BD and BDA. Furthermore, it was found that some obstacles to adopting BD and BDA arise due to the specific characteristics of the Egyptian context, while others are universal. Practical implications/Managerial impact: Determining the reasons for and obstacles to adopting BD BDA is useful for audit firms and regulators to remove these obstacles and encourage using such new audit technologies. The findings might help developers of BDA software packages to enhance their packages to meet auditor requirements. Moreover, academic scholars can benefit from the findings of this study by gaining an understanding of the main differences between developed and developing countries in relation to adopting BD and BDA. Novelty/Contribution: This study was conducted in Egypt, a developing country with a an underdeveloped audit environment. Therefore, this study enriches the relevant literature by providing information about BD and BDA in an unexplored developing environment. Besides, it delves deeper into the reasons and obstacles to using BD and BDA in external financial auditing in a developing country. Also, it adds to the literature by identifying the most common BDA software packages and techniques that auditors use in a developing country. Moreover, it considers audit practitioners' viewpoints on audit firms of various sizes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines capacity-constrained oligopoly pricing with sellers who seek myopic improvements. We employ the Myopic Stable Set solution concept and establish the existence of a unique pure-strategy price solution for any given level of capacity. This solution is shown to coincide with the set of pure-strategy Nash equilibria when capacities are large or small. For an intermediate range of capacities, it predicts a price interval that includes the mixed-strategy support. This stability concept thus encompasses all Nash equilibria and offers a pure-strategy solution when there is none in Nash terms. It particularly provides a behavioral rationale for different pricing patterns, including Edgeworth price cycles and states of hyper-competition with supply shortages. We also analyze the impact of a change in firm size distribution. A merger among the biggest firms may lead to more price dispersion as it increases the maximum and decreases the minimum myopically stable price. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trade distance is an important constraining factor underpinning the emergence of social and economic interactions of complex systems. However, agent-based studies supported by the granular analysis of distances are limited. Here, we present a complexity method that places the actual geographical locations of individual firms in Japan at the epicentre of our research. By combining methods derived from network science together with information theory measures, and by using a comprehensive dataset of Japanese inter-firm business transactions, we evaluate the effects of spatial features on the structural patterns of the economy. We find that the normalised probability distributions of the distances between interacting firms obey a power law like decay concomitant with the sizes of firms and regions. Furthermore, small firms would reach large distances to become customers of large firms, while trading between either only small firms or only large firms tends to be at smaller distances. Furthermore, a time evolution analysis suggests a reduction in the overall average trading distances in last 20 years. Lastly, our analysis concerning the trading dynamics among prefectures indicates that the preference to trade with neighbouring prefectures tends to be more pronounced at rural regions as opposed to the larger central conurbations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature in the field of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) is developing in Türkiye as well as over the world. However, theses and papers written in Turkish are waiting to be disseminated. This paper aims to investigate LSS in the Turkish context with the purpose of identifying the current state, gaining insight and exploring future directions. This paper implements the systematic literature review methodology to identify and review all relevant studies in Turkish literature. This paper covers the literature on LSS in Türkiye from 2004 to 2021. As a result, a total of 32 theses and 29 papers were investigated in detail. This paper not only focuses on years, sectors, areas etc. of the studies, but also analyses the contents of papers in relation to enterprise size, project prioritization, and quality tools used in DMAIC phases, and improvements after implementation in terms of descriptive and content analysis. The results show that, although there are many LSS implementations in Turkish context, they could not be shared with global academic area due to the national language usage. LSS implementations have an increasing trend in last years and highly focused on manufacturing sector and large companies. The lack of structured way of applying LSS, especially not using project prioritization and selection methodology takes attention. This paper shows the gaps and future directions in Türkiye for researchers and provides a groundwork to develop a roadmap for Turkish organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firm-level innovation in sub-Saharan Africa remains under-researched. To address this gap, this paper examines the obstacles to innovation faced by small, micro, and medium-sized enterprises (SMMEs) in South Africa. Using the 2018 Business Innovation Survey, we apply the double-hurdle model to investigate factors determining a firm's decision to invest, and the intensity of innovation. Our results show that cost and institutional obstacles were significantly more important as disincentive factors for medium-sized enterprises while knowledge obstacles were significant disincentive factors for large enterprises. In addition, market obstacles hampered investment among large enterprises. Interestingly, none of these factors was found to deter innovation intensity among small and micro enterprises. The study findings suggest that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to innovation policy and intervention programmes to support innovation within firms of different sizes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we analyze how firm-level capabilities and characteristics affect firm innovation activities and innovation outputs in seven Latin American countries in 2016. We include eight innovation activities in accordance with OECD/Eurostat. Using data from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys for manufacturing and services, we distinguish two steps in the innovation process: firm engagement with innovation inputs and the translation of innovation inputs into innovation outputs. The empirical results demonstrate the importance of considering the broad spectrum of innovation activities rather than only focusing on R&D for the production of innovation outputs. The estimates underscore the significance of the impact of economic structure (firm size and sector) on innovation focusing at the micro level. They also suggest a role for government policies in reducing innovation gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Receivers and intermediary establishments typical to urban areas have unique freight behaviour and are understudied, particularly in developing countries. This paper uses establishment-based freight survey data to examine their freight generation patterns in the Chennai metropolitan area, India. Three sets of Simple Linear Regression (SLR) models, three single predictor proportional odds logit models, one multiple linear regression model, and one multiple predictor proportional odds logit model with business size (employment, area, and operational age) and indicators of establishment category as regressors are developed each for both freight production and freight attraction. Partial proportional odds logit models are developed in a few cases to overcome the limitations of proportional odds logit models. The best SLR model varied with the establishment category for freight production and attraction. The establishment area model is the best among single predictor proportional odds logit models. The multiple predictor proportional odds logit models marginally improved the fit over single predictor models. The proportional odds logit model results show that the establishment category has a greater impact on freight generation levels than business size variables. Since earlier studies rarely focused on receivers and intermediary establishments, policymakers may benefit from the developed models and study insights while estimating freight demand and developing freight policies. • Receivers and intermediary establishments' freight generation is studied. • Partial Proportional Odds (PO) logit models are developed for freight attraction. • Area model is the best single predictor PO logit model for freight generation. • Establishment type affects freight generation more than business size variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 outbreak has had severe economic consequences across the globe. The crisis emanating from the pandemic has caused demand and supply side shocks, more far reaching than any crisis in living memory. We use a new data set from the 2020/21 Egyptian Industrial Firm Behavior Survey to examine determinants of firms' resilience during the pandemic. Crisis present the opportunity for what Schumpeter (In Economics of the Recovery Program, McGraw-Hill, 1934) calls creative destruction. Have manufacturing firms been all hit by the crisis equally, or were less efficient firms more likely to exit or downsize their activities thereby 'cleansing' the market? Two sets of factors affect firm dynamics and survival: (1) firms' innate characteristics and; (2) firm behavior, which captures the extent to which good management, innovation, the adoption of advanced technologies and worker training, have provided an opportunity for firms to adapt their business models and show greater resilience in coping with the crisis. We illustrate the vulnerability of private, smaller, informal firms and those that are not located in industrial zones. Second, pre-COVID behavioral characteristics matter for firm dynamics. The food sector and sectors identified as 'COVID sectors' show more resilience. Some behavioral traits vary by sector and are more influential depending on firm size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forced degradation, also known as stress testing, is used throughout pharmaceutical development for many purposes including assessing the comparability of biopharmaceutical products according to ICH Guideline Q5E. These formal comparability studies, the results of which are submitted to health authorities, investigate potential impacts of manufacturing process changes on the quality, safety, and efficacy of the drug. Despite the wide use of forced degradation in comparability assessments, detailed guidance on the design and interpretation of such studies is scarce. The BioPhorum Development Group is an industry-wide consortium enabling networking and sharing of common practices for the development of biopharmaceuticals. The BioPhorum Development Group Forced Degradation Workstream recently conducted several group discussions and a benchmarking survey to understand current industry approaches for the use of forced degradation studies to assess comparability of protein-based biopharmaceuticals. The results provide insight into the design of forced degradation studies, analytical characterization and testing strategies, data evaluation criteria, as well as some considerations and differences for non-platform modalities (e.g., non-traditional mAbs). This article presents survey responses from several global companies of various sizes and provides an industry perspective and experience regarding the practicalities of using forced degradation to assess comparability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the association between industrial structure and regional economic resilience during five different crises in Czechia, focusing on the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russo-Ukrainian war. The effects of economic diversity, sectoral structure, factor intensity of production, and firm size structure on regional resistance were tested. We found that regional patterns of resistance varied significantly from one crisis to another. There were only two major cases where a positive association with regional resistance turned into a negative from one shock to another: public services that absorbed unemployment during the Great Recession and shed labour in the austerity crisis, and capital-intensive industries that exhibited a positive statistical effect on regional resistance during the transitionary shock and the Great Recession, while their contribution to regional labour markets during the Covid-19 pandemic and the War was negative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to contribute to the burgeoning research on corporate governance and research and development (R&D) by exploring the contingent role of firm size and its crucial role in defining conditions for competitive advantage. Using a generalised method of moments (GMM) estimator and a sample of U.S. publicly traded pharmaceutical firms from 2009 to 2018, we test several hypotheses related to the role of firm size in the relationship between corporate governance and R&D investment. Our findings show the importance of institutional context and point out the configurations of governance practices that lead to high and low levels of R&D investment. We find that the effect of corporate governance on R&D investment is contingent upon firm size. Larger and smaller firms differ in building and employing their strategic decisions. Our results indicate that larger firms facilitate R&D investment than smaller firms, showing that these firms are more prone to seek variation and visibility for accessing better resources. Our findings are relevant for firms aiming to implement strong governance mechanisms to track their R&D activities and for policymakers interested in promoting R&D investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental management is becoming a popular practice in many organisations. However, the transition from old to new practices does not come without any challenges. Numerous studies have argued that the process of adopting a new practice such as environmental management will depend on firms' absorptive capacity, i.e. the ability of firms to identify, acquire and transform external information and knowledge. However, absorptive capacity alone does not guarantee success. To deliver the intended outcomes, absorptive capacity works in conjunction with other internal and external factors. Based on a configuration perspective, this study used data from 107 manufacturing firms to identify an asymmetric role played by absorptive capacity with factors, such as firm size, decentralisation, customer engagement and global environmental awareness in supporting the practice of environmental management. This study contributes to the development of knowledge in environmental management literature and provides several practical recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning is the key for people to become different, have an identity and expand their creativity and dedication. That is also the key for a business to continuously grow in capacity, contributing to the overall development of the organization. The goal of this article is to explore the impact of organizational learning and organizational agility on innovation performance. Create cutting-edge solutions and improve corporate innovation performance by enhancing organizational learning and organizational agility across the business. In particular, businesses need to transform strongly to promptly adapt to market changes. The article uses quantitative research methods with the sample size of 295 enterprises in Vietnam. The results show that organizational learning and the general aspect of organizational agility measured in the study: sensing agility and responding agility have a positive impact on innovation performance. Thereby, suggestions to improve organizational agility and innovation performance basing on enhancing the positive impact of organizational learning are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on the sharp declines in exports during the global financial crisis and consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic, we empirically estimate the propagation of demand shocks from customers to their suppliers through firm-level input-output linkages in Japan. We find economically significant propagation of demand shocks and show that the strength of the propagation depends on firm sizes. During the global financial crisis, negative demand shocks hitting large exporters propagate to their large suppliers but not to their small suppliers. In contrast, during the pandemic, most of the firms damaged by the pandemic are small, and the negative demand shocks hitting these small firms also propagate to their small suppliers. Our results highlight the heterogeneous nature of demand shock propagation across firms, suggesting the existence of a specific route in an input-output network through which demand shocks easily propagate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The thorny issue and contradictory conclusions on dividend payments and firm value are not ending any time soon. The existence of a divergence of findings in the literature suggests the need for further empirical studies on this subject matter. Therefore, this study focuses on how a firm's cash flow influences dividend payments in Ghana. Using data from 2015 to 2020, pooled ordinary least squares and random effects estimation, this study provides evidence of dividend payments in Ghana. The results show that dividend payments are influenced by a firm's net cash flow from operations, free cash flow to equity, firm size, and age. The relevant macroeconomic variables for dividend payments are inflation and gross domestic product growth. Another finding is that the more nonfinancial firms take on the characteristics of financial firms, the less dividends they pay. Managers of listed firms in Ghana should grow the size of their firms; however, this should be done in a manner not to expropriate value to managers as predicted in the Jensen agency problem associated with free cash flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to analyze the influence of the current ratio, inventory turnover, debt to equity, and company size on profit growth in various sub-industry companies listed on the Indonesian stock exchange. The sample in this study were 22 companies for the research period of 2015-2017, with the sampling method used purposive sampling. The test used in this study is the classic assumption test (normality test, multicollinearity test, heteroscedasticity test, and autocorrelation test), multiple linear regression is used as an analysis tool and to test the hypothesis used t-test, f-test and R² test. The linear regression equation answers Y = -60.03827 + 23.127291X1 + 9.931366X2 + 7.706515X3 - 2.907177X4. The results of the study show that there is a positive and significant influence between the Current ratio on earnings growth, indicating that poor company liquidity will affect the decline in the value of profits in various subindustry companies. Inventory Turnover has a positive and significant effect indicating the effectiveness of inventory turnover to increase profit growth in various sub-industry companies. Debt to Equity and company size have no effect on profit growth in various industrial Sub companies listed on the Indonesia stock exchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to examine the Analysis of the Effect of Leverage, Profitability, Firm Size, Sales Growth and Institutional Ownership on Tax Avoidance. The object of this research is a manufacturing company in the consumer goods industry sector (goods consumer industry). The sample used in this study was 115 samples consisting of 23 companies for 5 years. With purposive sampling technique, the method used is multiple regression analysis, classical assumption test and descriptive statistics. The results showed that Leverage had no effect on tax avoidance, Profitability had a positive effect on tax avoidance, Firm size had no effect on tax avoidance, Sales Growth had a negative effect on tax avoidance, and Institutional ownership had no effect on tax avoidance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the impact of company size on the application of human resources (HR) investments. Data were collected through a questionnaire distributed to 610 SMEs in the Czech Republic. Properly completed questionnaires were obtained from 581 enterprises. The data were evaluated using the Chi-square test of independence, Kolmogorov-Smirnov normality test, Kruskal-Wallis test, and analysis of variance. Research questions were divided into four groups. The first group examined the application of HR investments as a reward, and the second group as a tool for increasing the interest in employment with the company. Another group focused on human capital management (HCM) and its impact on corporate financial performance. The last group dealt with HCM to improve the competitive advantage and the market position of the company. The results show that company size has a significant impact on the application of HC investments. In all groups, large enterprises (150+ employees) make investments to a greater extent than smaller companies. As for sector, the highest rating was recorded for companies operating in logistics and transport. The overall evaluation shows that large companies use the items more often, and no significant differences were recorded between different sectors. The findings may help large enterprises to realize that investment in human capital is long-term, increases competitiveness, and generates indirect returns. Small enterprises can also make investments in human capital, although to a limited extent, and it is not advisable to totally avoid such investments. The limitations are in the selected research method, the number of questions and respondents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This research aims to determine the influence of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors on market performance. The study shows the perspective of ESG on market performance. The study attempted to test the relationship between ESG and Tobin's Q and the effect of control variables. Design/methodology/approach: The study used panel data from a sample covering 720 firms and ran a fixed-effects model regression during the 2007–2019 period for eight European countries' listed companies. Findings: The findings reveal that ESG positively impacts Tobin's Q. According to the findings, high company ESG performance boosts market performance via the moderator effect of competitive advantage. The results indicate that all control variables are significant. The firm's leverage has a negative relationship with ESG. The size of the firm impacts ESG positively. Also, the results prove that the firm's size and industry positively affect Tobin's Q. Research limitations/implications: The findings of this study suggest that managers, practitioners and authorities interested in learning about ESG scores (ESGSs), market performance and competitive advantage might draw intriguing conclusions from the data. Managers can identify the appropriate levels of competitive advantage that improve market performance. Practitioners must determine whether fit, size, growth, leverage and industry could enhance market performance. The findings also give authorities and the board of directors information on future growth opportunities for the company and the country. Originality/value: The research presents a vision of how ESG factors affect market performance. This study aims to identify the positive link between ESGSs and European market performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of data-driven innovation and information quality on the adoption of blockchain technology on crowdfunding platforms through adopting a mono method quantitativae approach. Micro-level theoretical perspectives have been less explored in studies of successful crowdfunding innovation than macro-level theoretical perspectives. Furthermore, crowdfunding platforms' performance varies because of issues like trust, information asymmetry, and transparency of funds flow, among others. There is a solution to these issues in the form of Blockchain Technology (BCT). While BCT has been adopted and used by other businesses, its adoption and usefulness for crowdfunding platforms have not been studied. We investigate crowdfunding platform success using the "task-technology fit theory" and "resource-based view theory". Authors collected primary level data from task owners of crowdfunding platforms to test the hypotheses. The proposed theoretical model is tested with a sample size of 314 business units, and the proposed hypotheses are tested using Warp PLS 7.0. We also control for the type of crowdfunding activities for our study. The study will help in understanding and improving the success of crowdfunding tasks on crowdfunding platforms. Additionally, it will contribute to TTF and RBV theory as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes the China high- and new-technology enterprise (HNTE) program implemented in 2008 as a quasi-natural experiment. Difference-in-differences (DID) estimate with matching data from the China Industrial Enterprise Database, the China Customs Database and the HNTE Certification Database for 2006–2010 is used to study the impact of HNTE certification on enterprises' export product quality. The results show that, overall, HNTE certification promotes the upgrading of export product quality. Moreover, the improvement of innovation ability brought by HNTE certification is an important channel to promote such upgrades. A series of robustness tests also confirm the above conclusions. In addition, heterogeneity analyses are conducted based on the enterprise size, ownership and trade mode, respectively. The results show that the mechanism by which HNTE certification policy promotes export product quality through the improvement of enterprise innovation ability is more significant in non-SOEs and general trading enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzed the impact of location, accreditation, and faculty size on the ranking of elite business schools. It used descriptive statistics and inferential analysis (analysis of covariance) to establish the effect of location on the business schools’ ranking while also controlling the influence (impact) of the covariates (accreditation and faculty size) on the outcomes. It found that location and accreditation type do not significantly affect the business schools’ ranking. The size of the faculty impacted the rankings of the programs. However, the pairwise comparison of the critical factors shows that faculty size and accreditation are more impactful in European business schools than in China, the United States/ Canada, and other regions. Finally, smaller business schools (mainly in Europe) pursue Triple Crown accreditation to compete with more extensive, U.S.-based programs, favoring only the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business accreditation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

reating favorable conditions in the business sphere is one of the main priorities of the European Union, while each member country implements the objectives of the EU strategy in its national strategic documents. The goal of this paper is modeling respectively quantifying the effect of the death of business entities in Slovakia in 2019 and 2020 from selected factors using logistic regression. We decided to find out which of the selected factors (legal form of the enterprise; size group according to the average registered number of employees; region; economic activity performed by the enterprise) most influenced the death of enterprises in the period before and during the pandemic, which will allow us to determine the most and the least threatened categories of enterprises. The analysis was based on the business demography database, while the processing itself was carried out using the statistical tool SAS Enterprise Guide 7.1. The results of the analysis during the COVID-19 pandemic showed a significant impact of the factor legal form of the enterprise - mainly in the group of enterprises owned by natural persons, then a statistically significant impact of the factor size group of enterprise with an average registered number of employees 0-1 and finally a significant impact of the factor economic activity of the enterprise, mainly in the field of services. The smallest but statistically significant effect was manifested in the region factor, while the region in the east of Slovakia can be considered the most threatened from the point of view of the demise of enterprises. An interesting fact is that the influence of individual categories of factors on the closure of a enterprises in the case of micro-enterprises with one employee is very similar to the situation throughout Slovakia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to analyze and determine the effect of Profitability, Liquidity, Company Size on Tax Planning with Transparency as a moderating variable in Food And Beverage Companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in 2018- 2022. The data source in this study uses secondary data, namely the annual financial statements of Food And Beverage companies in 2018-2022. The research population was 30 Food And Beverage companies for 2018-2022. This study uses the Purpose Sampling method and there are 20 company samples processed using IBM SPSS Statistics 26. The results of this study indicate that Profitability, Liquidity, and Company Size have a significant negative effect on Tax Planning. Transparency is not able to moderate the effect of Profitability, Liquidity, Company Size on Tax Planning, but the presence of Transparency as a moderating variable can approach the standard test value on the effect of Profitability, Liquidity, and Company Size on Tax Planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability reporting requires consistency and interdependency of financial accounting and managerial accounting. Accounting is closely entangled with the eco control (EC) in organisations. The quality of (sustainability) reporting and the disclosures is only as good as the quality and consistency of accounting data captured. Therefore, accounting choices and practises have an important role to play in sustainability reporting. This study explores the mechanism through which accounting informs EC. Through the independent and serial use of two levers, first 'interdependency' between financial accounting and management accounting and second, though the use of 'digitalized information' as a moderating variable, it is probed as to how EC are shaped. An empirical investigation is undertaken by carefully curating primary data, analysed through partial least squares structural equation modelling technique to inform broader debates in the 'sustainability reporting' literature concerning the mechanisms through which EC, are influenced by accounting mechanics, choices and disclosures. Sound EC contributes to sustainability accounting and governance to meet needs of the firms direct and indirect stakeholders without comprising the firm's ability to meet the needs of future stakeholders. The study established that the interdependency between the financial accountants and the management accountants output, mediates the effect of a consistent financial language on EC practises and this effect is independent of the firm size or the industry category. This article brings to the fore, the interplay of FA and MA in informing the environmental controls. The under researched perspective addressed by this study is that EC are highly interdependent with the consistency and comprehensiveness of accounting that informs it which in turn is effected by the cooperation and coordination (interdependency) between FA and MA information providers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore the nexus of market power, innovation and financial fragility by means of a macroeconomic agent based model whose core is the Dixit-Greenwald-Stiglitz (DGS) theory of firm behaviour, which nests the Greenwald-Stiglitz characterization of the firm as a borrower that runs the risk of bankruptcy in the Dixit-Stiglitz monopolistic competition setting. The optimal firm's size is increasing with net worth and productivity. Net worth increases with profits while productivity increases through R&D and innovation. Simulations show that in the presence of market power firms are more innovative and financially robust and less prone to bankruptcy. These features have not surfaced so far in standard characterizations of monopolistic competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to analyze the effect of Profitability and Leverage on Tax Avoidance with Company Size as a Moderating Variable (Empirical Study of Manufacturing Companies in the Various Industries Sector Listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange for the 2017-2021 period). The data source for this research uses secondary data in the form of financial reports published on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. In taking the sample for this study using a purposive sampling method and the samples used in this study were 12 companies. The data analysis technique used is hypothesis testing which is processed using the WarpPLS 7.0 application. Based on the results of this study it was found that Profitability has a significant negative effect on Tax Avoidance, Leverage has no effect on Tax Avoidance, Company Size does not moderate the effect of Profitability on Tax Avoidance, and Company Size does not moderate the influence of Leverage on Tax Avoidance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to determine the role of environmental performance, profitability and emission volume in increasing the spread of carbon emissions by moderating company size. This research uses quantitative methods with causality and the data methods used in this research are descriptive statistics, panel data regression, classical assumption tests, hypothesis tests and coefficient of determination using Eviews 12. The population of this research is mining sector companies listed on the Stock Exchange Indonesia from 2019 to 2022. The sample was determined based on the purposive sampling method, with a sample size of 20 so that the total observations in this study were 78 observations. The data used in this research is secondary data. The data collection method uses the documentation method via the official website www.bei.co.id Hypothesis testing uses the t test. Based on the results of panel data linear regression, it shows that the influence of environmental performance with carbon emission disclosure explains that environmental performance is the company's ability to create a green and clean environment. In accordance with legitimacy theory, social relations between companies and society require companies to comply with norms that apply in society, one of which is by protecting the environment, if the company wants to gain legitimacy from society. Then company size can moderate the influence of environmental performance and emission volume on carbon disclosure. The reason company size moderates environmental performance on the disclosure of carbon emissions is that the higher the level of assets of a company, the greater or greater the disclosure of social information made by the company. So it provides a commitment to the interests of the company but must provide benefits to its stakeholders. So that partial profitability has no effect on carbon emissions disclosure, while the volume of carbon emissions has an effect on carbon disclosure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigating the movements and site fidelity of individuals enhances our understanding of population ecology and structure. Killer whales occur around the coast of Iceland; however, information on the connectivity between different regions is limited to herring grounds, where they are observed frequently. In this study, we used photo-identification data to investigate the movements and site fidelity of whales within (South and West) and outside (Southwest, Northwest, Northeast and East) Icelandic herring grounds. Additionally, we used a 10-year photo-identification dataset in the South to investigate long-term site fidelity patterns to a single location. Of the 440 individuals sighted more than once, nearly half (48%) moved between herring grounds and site fidelity was higher within, compared to outside, herring grounds. Outside herring grounds, individuals showed: more movement from Southwest to West compare to South, indicating this region is not exclusively a passage between herring grounds; low site fidelity to the Northeast with fewer photographic matches to other regions, suggesting individuals found here may be part of an offshore population that occasionally visits the area; and low proportion of matches to other regions in the Northwest and East, although small sample sizes precluded firm conclusions. Finally, long-term residency of killer whales in the South showed dynamic patterns, likely caused by prey availability and/or environmental changes. This study elucidates the complexities of killer whale occurrence and connectivity within the North Atlantic and suggests population structure that should be further investigated for appropriate regional conservation assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the impact of information and communication technology (ICT) investment on the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) profitability in the Indian context. Design/methodology/approach: This study used a framework based on the ICT investment and firm size, measuring the impact on profit before depreciation, interest, tax and amortisation of MSME by taking a random sampling of 300 Indian MSME manufacturing firm's secondary data from the Prowess database. This framework was analysed using the design of experiment (DoE) technique. Findings: The study showed that ICT investment has a significant positive relationship with profitability. This study examines the different ICT investment levels to predict investment strategies and fine-tune profit targets. The critical finding is that ICT investment maximises profit at one million rupees. This discovery aids MSME leaders' sustainable business decision-making. Research limitations/implications: This study has an explicit limit to the Indian context, where the firm requirements of countries are different, and these findings need to be validated with many operating variables and applied to more firms with more data. Even so, as a theoretical implication, this study took a novel approach to ICT adoption (through ICT investment) in the Indian MSME sector with guiding levels of ICT investment for each type of firm (i.e. micro, small and medium). This study opens new avenues for investigating researchers and stakeholders by exploring other factors responsible for ICT adoption. Practical implications: This study uniquely provides practitioners with the functional level of ICT investment for MSMEs in the Indian context. These finding guides top management to make strategic ICT adoption decisions with information symmetry. At the same time, these findings suggest financial institutions astern their credit programme to provide credit for ICT investment in MSMEs. Social implications: This study highlights the value of ICT as a practical resource for business owners that significantly makes MSMEs more informed and profitable, thus creating more jobs and incrementing the country's gross domestic product (GDP). Originality/value: This study offers unique empirical findings on how decision makers in MSMEs maximise profits through optimal ICT investment levels depending upon the firm size in an emerging economy like India. There is evidence in the study to conclude that ICT is a need of MSME and has implications for firm performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Existing theories on the determining factors of corporate investment decisions raise the importance of financial market imperfections in explaining investment behavior. Many factors have been proposed as drivers of investment, mainly in developed economies, while emerging countries have almost been neglected. The main purpose of this study is to examine the effect of financing constraints on the investment behavior of a small context, namely, Jordan, with an imperfect environment. Design/methodology/approach: This study considers panel data regressions from the industrial companies traded at the Amman Stock Exchange with a total of 1,058 firm-year observations. Findings: The results are able to demonstrate that business size, tangibility, market-to-book ratio, profitability, financial slack and leverage are major drivers of investment choices. The results support the importance of information asymmetry in explaining the investment behavior of firms. Nonetheless, the Q-theory is in place, as is firm agility. Practical implications: Policies to reduce information asymmetry are immediately needed to help firms increase investments by providing them with access to training, technology and market information. They also should enhance the firms' opportunities for growth. Moreover, they should make it easier for businesses to access financial slack, such as by improving access to credit and financial institutions. They also can work to improve the financial infrastructure to meet the financing needs of businesses. Finally, smaller businesses should be assisted by improving their ability to invest and grow. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is one of the first studies, if any, to investigate this issue in a distinct environment. Despite the unique characteristics of Jordan, the findings are applicable to other countries that experience comparable political and economic circumstances because Jordan has traits common to many emerging nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The technical efficiency of water companies plays a crucial role in ensuring the reliable and sustainable delivery of clean and safe drinking water. It also influences the effective management of water and wastewater services. Services of this kind, usually provided by a monopoly supplier, offer operators no market incentives to innovate, or improve their efficiency. So, the mission of the regulatory institutions is to simulate a competitive environment. The main aim of this contribution is to use Network Data Envelopment Analysis (N-DEA) to assess and benchmark the technical efficiency of 14 water and wastewater companies offering their services in Slovakia from 2019 - 2021. The methodology of N-DEA allows us to assess the activity's cost and delivery efficiency, and its overall technical efficiency. We show that full cost efficiency was achieved by two small and one large water companies operating in different regions. Three of the largest suppliers of water and wastewater services and one small company achieved the efficient delivery of water services. Overall efficiency was achieved by one large company in 2021 and one small company in 2019 and 2020. The outcome of our empirical analysis demonstrates the excellent skills of managers in technically efficient companies, regardless of company size and region. That outcome may be of interest to regulatory institutions and the management of individual water companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A survey was conducted in this study to determine the general characteristics of the agricultural machinery manufacturing industry in the Konya region. To achieve this, 50 enterprises of various scales, considered representative of the sector, were selected and included in the study. When evaluating the enterprises based on size, it was found that 52% of them were small-scale enterprises. The average age of business owners is 53 years, with 35 years of industry experience, and 47% of them have primary school education. While a total of 1204 workers are employed in the enterprises participating in this study, there is an average of 24.5 workers per enterprise. Of the total personnel, 78.3% consisted of workers, followed by engineers with an average of 5.5%, accountants with 5.3%, marketers with 5% and technicians with 4%. Only 34% of enterprises cooperate with KOSGEB and 8% with TUBITAK in R&D and P&D activities. In addition, it was determined that 18% received consultancy from universities. Present findings shed light on the developments in the sector as well as understanding the situation of agricultural machinery manufacturing industry enterprises in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the level of corporate governance quality (CGQ) of firms in sub-Saharan Africa and the factors that determine this CGQ as a build-up of the study of Waweru (Waweru, Managerial Auditing Journal 29:455–485, 2014). The study's sample comprises 104 companies listed on the respective stock markets of nine sub-Saharan African countries. The data are collected from annual reports from 2007 to 2019, a total of 1108 firm-year observations. Both static and dynamic panel data models are used in the analyses. The study established that the CGQ of firms in Sub-Saharan African capital markets is weak thus disputing the findings of Waweru (Waweru, Managerial Auditing Journal 29:455–485, 2014). The study also concludes that IFRS adoption, asset tangibility, ownership concentration, audit quality, firm size and national regulatory quality are the most consistent predictors of CGQ of firms in sub-Saharan Africa. The other determinants of CGQ include listing tenure, business operating tenure, leverage, firm growth opportunities and macroeconomic misery index. The novelty of this study stems from its consideration of a larger cross-country panel dataset from sub-Saharan Africa to extend the work of Waweru (Waweru, Managerial Auditing Journal 29:455–485, 2014). Again, the study's introduction of the economic misery index and regulatory quality variables as determinants of CGQ extends the agency theory by demonstrating how macroeconomic factors and the quality of the national regulatory environment can influence governance at the firm level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how Malaysian businesses integrate Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into their business sustainability practices. First, we capture the extent of SDG integration in three stages: SDG adoption, strategic SDG integration, and SDG as a priority at board level. We find that 68.2% of sample firms reported SDG adoption in 2019, with six SDGs prioritized per firm on average. However, only 17.1% of these firms demonstrated SDG as a priority at board level. We find that firm size, profitability, ownership concentration, and board size have a positive impact on SDG adoption, while firm size and board size also have a positive impact on the extent of SDG integration into firms' business sustainability management. Next, using the publication of the Sustainability Reporting Guide 2018 as a natural experiment, we divide firms into three groups according to the pace of their SDG integration: innovators, immediate, and late adopters. We find that innovators tend to be larger in size and more profitable and have more concentrated ownership. Promoting SDG integration via mandatory reporting, a measure-manage approach, does progressively influence businesses to contribute to sustainable development. However, the extent and pace of SDG integration vary considerably among firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to determine the influence of company size, leverage, sales growth, and financial distress on tax avoidance moderated by independent commissioners in property and real estate sector companies listed on the IDX for the 2019-2022 period. The independent variables in this research are company size, leverage, sales growth, and financial distress. The dependent variable in this research is tax avoidance. The moderating variable in this research is independent commissioner. This population study includes companies listed on the IDX in 2019-2022. The analysis technique used is panel data regression analysis with eviews v.10 software and Microsoft Excel. The results of this research show that company size has no significant effect on tax avoidance, leverage has a positive and significant effect on tax avoidance, sales growth has no significant effect on tax avoidance, financial distress has a negative and significant effect on tax avoidance. independent commissioners have a positive and significant effect on tax avoidance, independent commissioners can moderate company size on tax avoidance, independent commissioners are able to moderate leverage on tax avoidance. Independent commissioners cannot moderate sales growth against tax avoidance. Independent commissioners cannot moderate financial distress towards tax avoidance in property and real estate sub-sector companies listed on the IDX for the 2019-2022 period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This study aims to seek to analyse the relationships between profitability, productivity, external debt and growth in SMEs. The authors also analyse firm size and age as explicative variables of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) growth. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper the data were collected for 3309 SMEs for the period 2010– 2019. The authors estimate the model using the system generalised method of moments dynamic estimator. Findings – The results show that after a certain level of profitability, this determinant positively impacts SME growth. Productivity influences positively the firm growth. There is a positive effect of external debt on SME growth, which can be explained by the insufficiency of internally generated funds. The authors obtained a negative signal between size and firm growth, contradicting Gibrat’s Law (1931). Moreover, the results suggest that SMEs grow less after a certain age, suggesting that small firms grow less after reaching the minimum scale of efficiency. Practical implications – For SME owner-managers, this study enhances the importance of profitability and labour productivity for firm growth. For policymakers, the results suggest the need for favourable conditions for SMEs in accessing external finance. Originality/value – Profitability negatively impacts on SME growth. However, the authors found that above a certain level of profitability, probably, as firms accumulate retained earnings, profitability has a positive effect on SME growth. Moreover, this study shows that labour productivity and debt positively impact on SME growth, evidencing the importance of the availability of financial resources to sustain the growth of these firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Private-sector urban and community forestry (U&CF) is a major segment of the green industry with substantial socio-ecological and economic contributions to urban and sub-urban communities. The COVID-19 pandemic reportedly caused heterogeneous impacts on businesses, the workforce, and various sectors of the overall economy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the perceived impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on private businesses carrying out U&CF activities in the Southern United States. Methods: Using data collected through an online survey distributed across the Southern USA in 2021, we developed and estimated an empirical model to evaluate the factors describing the perceived impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on U&CF businesses in the region. Results: Results suggest that COVID-19 had, on average, a neutral impact on the U&CF activities performed by the private sector in the study region, but the perceived impacts varied by the industry types. Results from the ordered logistic regression suggest that nursery and garden supply stores were more likely than other businesses to have a positive impact of COVID-19 on the U&CF segment of their business. Similarly, business metrics such as the size of the company in terms of annual sales and revenues or longevity in the business were found to be signifi cant factors explaining the COVID-19 impacts on U&CF business. Conclusions: Our study fi ndings are useful for U&CF decisionmakers for better planning, preparedness, and programming of U&CF activities and businesses in the southern USA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Risk management is a critical aspect of the performance and growth of insurance firms. This study examined the effects of the underwriting capacity of listed insurance companies on their financial performance in selected countries in the sub-Saharan African region. It is argued in the study that internally controlled factors (underwriting capacity) generate risks faced by the insurance firms. The study makes use of secondary data gathered from the annual audited financial statements of the studied insurance organizations. For the period of 2010 to 2019, data from eight (8) chosen sub-Saharan African nations and forty-five (45) insurance companies were used. With the help of dependent variables (ROA, ROE, and Tobin's Q), explanatory variables (shareholders fund, underwriting profit, reserves, earning asset ratio, gross premium, and the ratio of ceded reinsurance), and moderating variables (firm size, economic growth, and inflation rate), the data were analyzed using the system GMM estimation technique. The results from the study reveal that the pattern of effects of underwriting capacity variables differ in terms of the measurement used for performance indicator. In particular, the study found that shareholders' funds, underwriting profit, reserves, earning asset ratio and gross premium written exert significant effects on the performance of the insurance firms, although the effects vary depending on whether ROA, ROE, or Tobin's Q is used as a performance indicator. Underwriting profit was found to have unambiguous significant and positive effects on all the performance indicators while reserves had significant negative effects on all the performance indicators of insurance firms. The ratio of ceded reinsurance was however found to have no significant impact on the performance of listed insurance firms in the selected Sub-Saharan African countries. Optimal risk and shareholder's fund management strategies are therefore recommended in the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]