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The Internet of Things has received enormous attention. Despite the lucrative potential, this study tries to look beyond the hype to understand how IoT impacts firm performance. Based on the information processing theory, we intend to explore how IoT influences the financial performance of firms. Firms, which realise the urgent need to adopt IoT might encounter a diverse set of challenges, like whether adoption will be profitable, the level of commitment they should devote, and whether to adopt as a first or second-mover. We want to comprehend such adoption challenges on the Indian manufacturing firm's financial performance. This study uses panel data from BSE 500 listed manufacturing firms and conducts multivariate analysis to understand the relationship between the IoT implementation proxies: IoT adoption, first-mover advantage, and firm performance in the light of IoT commitment and experts. The result indicates that IoT implementation has an insignificant effect on manufacturing firm performance. Meanwhile, the consideration of IoT commitment and experts jointly can enable a manufacturing firm to reap significantly positive financial outcomes. In other words, the IoT commitment and expertise positively moderate the relationship. The finding is useful to the decision-makers to address the firm-level adjustment before the mere introduction of IoT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the rise in e-commerce demand and the increase in urban population growth, the complexity of grocery product distribution has increased, leading to adverse effects on city inhabitants. To address these issues, we propose a two-echelon city logistics system that incorporates urban consolidation center located outside the city. This system aims to restrict the entry of heavy commercial vehicles during shopping hours while promoting the use of electric light commercial vehicles. We develop a two-echelon location routing problem model to minimize total costs and reduce carbon emissions while determining the optimal composition of vehicle fleets and routes. The model was solved using the particle swarm optimization with differential evolution method. Our findings indicate that a combination of heavy and electric light commercial vehicles is most effective in minimizing economic and environmental impacts. This research contributes a novel approach to urban logistics, providing integrated solutions for economic and environmental sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanocrystalline cobalt ferrites co-substituted with rare earth Ho and Er (CoFe 2-2 x Ho x Er x O 4 , 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.10) have been synthesized via the sol-gel method. X-ray Diffraction (XRD) confirmed the single-phase spinel structure with reduced crystallite sizes (65 nm–12 nm), micro-strain (ε) and increased lattice constant (a) with Ho–Er co-substitution. Rietveld refinement and theoretical computation revealed Ho and Er occupancy at octahedral sites and Fe and Co ions redistribution between the tetrahedral and octahedral sites. Infrared spectroscopy, Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) supported the formation of the desired spinel structure, aggregated spherical morphology, chemical stoichiometry and elemental states. Magnetic measurements showed a systematic decrease in saturation magnetization (M s), magnetocrystalline anisotropy (K 1), coercivity (H c) and Curie temperature (T c) with Ho–Er co-substitution. Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) exhibited asymmetric resonance peaks, reduced resonance field (H r), linewidth (ΔH pp) and deviation in Lande g values. Impedance spectroscopy revealed two conduction mechanisms (holes and electrons) with distinct activation energies (E aI and E aII). Modulus spectrum analysis confirmed the thermally activated sample-electrode effects and the Nyquist plots indicated the dominant contribution of the grain boundary resistance to the conduction process. A notable enhancement in the dielectric constant (ε′) was observed with Ho–Er co-substitution. The ac conductivity (σ ac) followed the Jonscher Power Law (JPL). The temperature-dependent frequency exponent s(T) , suggests the existence of two conduction mechanisms: non-overlapping small polaron tunneling (NSPT) and correlated barrier hopping (CBH). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Road freight transportation sustainability is gaining increasing importance due to an ever-increasing freight movement, globalisation and operational flexibility. The transport managers across the globe are finding it difficult to manage the increasing risks in its operation and implementation of risk-mitigation strategies under economical sustainability. However, very few literatures have examined the impact of sustainable risk management practices on road freight transportation. Our study addresses this important gap in the literature by proposing an integrated fuzzy failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) approach in the selection of risk-mitigation strategy on the trucking industry. Our findings direct to the managers that risk-mitigation strategies must be selected considering the criticality of risks along with the limited budget. In addition, we find that considering subjective evaluations of expert's judgment and cost benefit justification gives a convincing outcome while calculating of risk-mitigation number in FMEA approach. Proposed approach provides supportive guidelines to the manager to improve the decision-making process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iterative multi-attribute reverse auctions in practice create certain difficulties for both the buyer and participating bidders. While the buyer faces the problem of creating the right attribute weights, the bidders have difficulty in adjusting the attribute values in each round. In this paper, we present an iterative multi-attribute reverse auction mechanism based on integrated data envelopment analysis (DEA) and best–worst method (BWM) with an objective of reducing the intervention of the buyer in the determination of the winner and also easing up the preference elicitation process. Unlike the typical scoring auctions, the proposed mechanism does not require the buyer to estimate the characteristics of the participating sellers in order to determine the optimal scoring function. As there will be no other intervention from the buyer during the winner determination process, the proposed method makes the procurement process impartial and corruption-free. Besides solving the buyer's problem, the proposed mechanism is also associated with an optimal bid determination method (OBDM) to assist the sellers in formulating improvised bids in iterative rounds of the auction. Simulation experiments show that the proposed OBDM benefits both the buyer and sellers. For the buyer, it provides higher expected utility and attribute values as per his preferences; for the seller, it gives a better expected profit and a higher probability of winning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]