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In the age of information explosion, consumers may no longer want to be overwhelmed with more information. But marketers are forced to display multiple features of a product in advertisements to fully demonstrate its competitive advantage, especially for a multifunctional product. Based on this, the authors explore when more could be an effective marketing strategy. The results of five studies demonstrated that the more features of multifunctional products displayed in video ads, the lower the processing fluency of consumers when watching the ads, thus reducing their positive emotions, and finally reducing their purchase intention, supporting the negative effect of more features on consumers in the context of marketing and revealed its cognitive and emotional mechanism. More important, we introduce mindfulness, an effective marketing strategy that alleviates the negative effect of too many product features on consumers, into the field of advertising marketing to address this issue. A high level of mindfulness, whether measured by trait scales or manipulated by experimental priming, weakens the negative effects of the number of displayed features. Specifically, when the level of mindfulness is high, the negative effect of displaying more product features on purchase intention is weak. When the level of mindfulness is low, the number of displaying more features has a strong negative impact on purchase intention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many B2B companies are trying to gain a competitive advantage by leveraging digitally-enabled, value-creating solutions. For this, they need to modify their sales force and re-consider what "talent" is. While the skills of digital solution sellers have been explored in the literature, much less is known about the motivational profile the new type of salesperson needs. Therefore, we explore the role of non-monetary drivers of motivation and sales supervisor empowerment. Drawing on Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and using data from 178 salespeople of a B2B company, this study investigates the impact of learning orientation, task enjoyment, challenge seeking, and service-to-others motivation on task-specific Digital Solution Selling (DSS) Implementation motivation. The results show the importance of these general non-monetary motivations for selling digital solutions and the stimulating force of sales leader empowerment. The general non-monetary motivations partially mediate the positive impact of sales leader empowerment on a salesperson's task-specific DSS implementation motivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial intelligence (AI) is an important source of competitive advantage as it enables task augmentation and automation. However, while AI can create significant value, it is important to note that AI investments are fraught with risks and uncertainties. Thus, managers are likely to carefully evaluate potential AI investments before committing to investing. However, we know little about how managers' appraisal of AI influences their investment choices. Drawing upon theorization in the areas of business value of AI, agentic information systems (IS) appraisal, and time-situated agency, we extend existing theory in two ways: (1) development of an AI classification (foundational typology) that proposes two dimensions (action autonomy and learning autonomy) for classifying AI by type and level of autonomy; and (2) development of propositions that leverage time-situated agency and the AI classification to explicate how managers' delegation preferences influence their AI investment appraisal. This paper contributes a foundational theoretical platform for furthering AI investment appraisal research. In addition, the paper sets an agenda for future research in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the growing number of shoppers entering e-marketplaces, e-retailers commonly use tailoring technology to cater to diverse shopper needs and gain a competitive advantage. However, the impact of shopper heterogeneity in this tailoring competition remains unclear. Focusing on e-retailers' tailoring practice, we fill the gap by revealing its impact on e-marketplace channel competition and sellers' coordination decisions. We find that shopper expertise with competing e-retailers and pricing contracts with product sellers significantly alter the downstream landscape, and all stakeholders should rethink e-retailers' tailoring strategies. We discover that e-retailers may aim to sell to experienced consumers under a sell-to contract, while sellers target inexperienced consumers. Conversely, under a sell-on contract, the seller's target aligns with the e-retailer of higher tailoring capabilities. Surprisingly, inexperienced consumers influence all market participants more than experienced consumers. Notably, the preferred target consumers of all parties may shift when tailoring is effective only for experienced consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How can firms establish competitive advantages using artificial intelligence (AI)? Although AI is beginning to permeate business activities, our understanding of how AI can be used to create unique value is limited. To address this void, I introduce the concept of situated AI and illuminate its importance for establishing AI-driven competitive advantages. The paper highlights the organizational activities involved in situating AI—specifically, grounding, bounding, and recasting. It also explains the conditions in which these situating activities better enable firms to develop AI-driven capabilities that are firm-specific, cost-effective, and appropriate for opportunities in the strategic environment. Thus, this paper provides an integrative framework for connecting a firm's AI pursuits to competitive advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital technologies challenge incumbent firms to rethink their established approaches to customer relationships. This article examines how a corporate bank reconfigured its relationship-oriented business model to benefit from digital transformation. The case analysis reveals a gradual transition toward a blended service model that first replaces, then complements, and finally augments physical with digital in increasingly complex customer interactions. While replacing and complementing human-enabled services with digital offerings are necessary steps of the digital transition, the associated competitive advantages are perceived as unlikely to endure. In contrast, augmenting human-enabled services with sophisticated digital technologies holds the potential for sustainable competitive advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly considered a source of competitive advantage in operations and supply chain management (OSCM). However, many organisations still struggle to adopt it successfully and empirical studies providing clear indications are scarce in the literature. This research aims to shed light on how AI applications can support OSCM processes and to identify benefits and barriers to their implementation. To this end, it conducts a multiple case study with semi-structured interviews in six companies, totalling 17 implementation cases. The Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) model guided the entire study and the analysis of the results by targeting specific processes. The results highlighted how AI methods in OSCM can increase the companies' competitiveness by reducing costs and lead times and improving service levels, quality, safety, and sustainability. However, they also identify barriers in the implementation of AI, such as ensuring data quality, lack of specific skills, need for high investments, lack of clarity on economic benefits and lack of experience in cost analysis for AI projects. Although the nature of the study is not suitable for wide generalisation, it offers clear guidance for practitioners facing AI dilemmas in specific SCOR processes and provides the basis for further future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Servitization is vital to manufacturing enterprises' competitive advantages and financial performance in contemporary digitalisation environments. Enterprises are increasingly relying on industrial Internet platforms to satisfy potential customers' needs as well as to create superior value, but the literature has neglected to explain how enterprises can leverage such digital platform to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of servitization. This study aims at describing how the industrial Internet platform can enable servitization of manufacturers. Based upon the meta-theoretical foundations of service-dominant logic, we identify the 'sense and respond' servitization strategy enabled by the industrial Internet platform. By performing a questionnaire survey, we find that the industrial Internet platform approach based on the connectivity and compatibility architecture can enable manufacturers to improve the efficiency of resource integration and resource reconfiguration, which facilitates the implementation of servitization via market perception. We argue that the industrial Internet platform affects an organisation's ability to sense the market and resource management actions; these operational resource actions are a significant antecedent of the servitization strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a response to a study entitled "Competitive Advantages Through Artificial Intelligence: Toward a Theory of Situated AI," published by Ayenda Kemp. The author argues that Kemp's theory regarding the means through which artificial intelligence can promote competitive advantage does not take into account that pursuing AI could likewise have the opposite effect on competitive advantage. The article argues that Kemp's theory does not take into account certain factors, such as the impact AI has on social values, the impact AI has on the nature of the work process itself, and the potential for “algorithmic inertia” whereby the AI may lack the ability to adapt to environmental changes in a dynamic way.

The sports world has historically rejected the practice of tanking. I argue that this attitude is unwarranted. To do so, I introduce a concept called strategic suboptimal play (SSP), which is the practice of incurring the risk of a short-term competitive disadvantage to increase the chances of gaining a longer-term competitive advantage. Tanking is just an instance of SSP employed in higher-order games, i.e. games that are at least partially played by other games, like tournaments or seasons. Since SSP is integral to every sport, there are currently no easy grounds for rejecting it outright. As such, the same is true of tanking. I will explore some possible reasons why tanking is wrongly thought objectionable, as well as some objections to and implications of my argument for competitive sports more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent management research suggests that firms try to orchestrate conformity and distinctiveness in their behavior to reconcile opposing demands of norm compliance and competitive distinction in order to appear optimally distinct. Whether they succeed or not depends on how audiences perceive the multiple signals they elicit. Extant literature has not fully uncovered how the media combine these different signals to form a representation of firms' behavior and their subsequent reactions to these combinations. We adopt a configurational approach to address this gap in the environmental sustainability context. Drawing on unique proprietary data on 118 cases in the energy utility industry and using fsQCA, we determine that different equifinal signal configurations are associated with positive media coverage regarding environmental behavior or the lack thereof. We then generate five patterns of signals that explain media reactions and disentangle the underlying logics behind them. Our study adds to the research on the multifaceted nature of signal (in)congruence perception by discussing the role of conformity and distinctiveness and highlighting that this perception depends on the signals' credibility. Delivering a balanced orchestration of conformity and distinctiveness signals is possible, but complex, because audiences tend to penalize incongruent postures they cannot associate with a given category. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Summary: Extant work in strategic management has focused on the role of noncompete agreements (NCAs)—a form of restrictive legal lever used by firms when managing human capital—and conceptualized them as being advantageous to firms. Challenging this notion, we highlight a novel downside of using NCAs and show how their use by some firms creates differentiation opportunities for rival firms. We analyze a unique survey dataset to examine the heterogeneity in the firms' actual use of NCAs conditional on industry and state. We find that the nonuse of NCAs is more common among firms that rely more heavily on talent and are also not the industry leaders, and such firms are more likely not to use NCAs with the goal of attracting skilled employees. Managerial Summary: Noncompete agreements (NCAs) have long been regarded as effective tools for firms managing human capital. Our research challenges this conventional wisdom. We show that NCAs are not uniformly beneficial to all firms even when looking at competitors within the same industry. By analyzing a unique survey dataset, we find that firms relying heavily on talent and not leading their industries are more inclined to forgo NCAs. Their strategic intent? Attracting skilled employees. This study sheds light on the delicate balance between legal constraints and talent attraction and is particularly salient in the context of the policy efforts to ban NCAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the interplay between a proactive attitude towards disruptions – supply chain disruption orientation – and supply chain resilience, increasing our understanding of their influence on reducing the impact of supply chain disruptions within the B2B context. Design/methodology/approach: As unexpected disruptions are closely related to a dynamic and changing perception of the environment, this research is framed under the dynamic capabilities lens, consistent with existing resilience literature. The authors used partial least squares-path modeling (PLS-PM) to empirically test the proposed research model using survey data from 216 firms. Findings: Results show that a proactive approach to disruptions alone is insufficient in mitigating their negative impact. Instead, a firm's disruption orientation plays a crucial role in boosting its resilience, which acts as a mediator, reducing the impact of disruptions. Originality/value: This paper sheds light on the mechanisms by which firms can mitigate the effects of supply chain disruptions and offers insights into how certain capabilities are needed so that firms' attitudes can effectively impact firm performance. This research thus suggests that dynamic capabilities, traditionally perceived as being enabled by other elements, act themselves as enablers. Consequently, they have the potential to translate strategic orientation or attitudes into tangible effects on performance, enriching our understanding of how firms combine their internal attitudes and capabilities to achieve sustained competitive advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The competitive advantage of airlines depends on their technical efficiency. Efficiency analysis models now differentiate between persistent and transient inefficiencies. Persistent inefficiencies stem from fundamental flaws in production processes or ongoing managerial shortcomings, requiring long-term strategic interventions. Transient inefficiencies, however, result from irregular setbacks that can be swiftly addressed, causing temporary efficiency dips. Focusing on the decade from 2010 to 2019, we investigated how business models, mergers, and upgauging influence these inefficiencies. Our results reveal that 21.2% of the overall technical inefficiency can be accounted for by persistent inefficiency. Despite the U.S. airline industry improving transient inefficiency during the sample period, prevailing persistent inefficiency hindered any significant rise in overall efficiency. The research shows that full-service airlines (FSA) and low-cost carriers (LCC) often exhibit higher persistent and transient efficiency than ultra-low-cost carriers (ULCC). However, there seem to be no significant differences in transient and persistent inefficiency between FSA and LCC. Additionally, the results suggest that the upgauging and higher ramp-to-ramp hours may lead to higher transient efficiency. Finally, we could not find any influence of mergers and stage length on transient inefficiency. • 21.2% of overall technical inefficiency stems from persistent inefficiency. • Persistent inefficiency remains a key obstacle for the U.S. airline industry despite transient improvements. • FSAs and LCCs consistently outperform ULCCs in persistent and transient efficiency. • There is no significant difference in both persistent and transient efficiency between FSAs and LCCs. • Upgauging and higher ramp-to-ramp hours lead to higher transient efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary argument in this paper is that employer branding, when effectively utilised as a strategic tool to cultivate and reinforce culture, serves as a pivotal mechanism for enhancing organisational agility, resilience and talent engagement. Thorough employer branding is not about the latest TikTok video on the company's social media feed to attract young talent. Successful employer branding dares to tackle the complex fabric of culture and align it with a company's vision and brand. Utilising academic insights and first-hand experience, the paper offers a holistic framework for businesses aiming to leverage employer branding to build resilient and adaptive cultures that attract and retain top-tier talent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Delivery times represent a key factor influencing the competitive advantage, as manufacturing companies strive for timely and reliable deliveries. As companies face multiple challenges involved with meeting established delivery dates, research on the accurate estimation of delivery dates has been source of interest for decades. In recent years, the use of machine learning techniques in the field of production planning and control has unlocked new opportunities, in both academia and industry practice. In fact, with the increased availability of data across various levels of manufacturing companies, machine learning techniques offer the opportunity to gain valuable and accurate insights about production processes. However, machine learning-based approaches for the prediction of delivery dates have not received sufficient attention. Thus, this study aims to investigate the ability of machine learning to predict delivery dates early in the ordering process, and what type of information is required to obtain accurate predictions. Based on the data provided by two separate manufacturing companies, this paper presents a machine learning-based approach for predicting delivery times as soon as a request for an offer is received considering the desired customer delivery date as a feature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The safety of employees during the implementation of work processes is one of the important conditions for the efficient implementation of production tasks. The situation does not change with the use of automation and robotization. On the contrary, it may be a source of hazards in new areas, requiring specific actions to limit the possibility of accidents occurring or to limit their consequences. These actions should be taken in a manner appropriate to the nature of the non-conformities. The study, based on the analysis of literature and a case study conducted in a production organization, showed the most important factors that may disturb the efficient implementation of production tasks. The study presents the key conditions for the development and operation of Industry 4.0, in accordance with the recommendations of the European Union and guidelines indicated in the scientific literature. The obtained results are addressed to the information of people responsible for the development of I4.0, taking into account "the safety aspects", in industrial enterprises where the implementation of tasks requires cooperation between humans and machines. Statistical analysis was not included in the study. The author attempts to identify relationships that justify further research conducted to establish the existing correlations regarding supporting organizational development professionals, and in particular helping them identify potential problems in order to provide their organization with an advantage in the global competitive environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars and practitioners increasingly call for a more nuanced understanding of why and when family firm branding is more versus less effective. Across three studies, we find that, in general, communicating family ownership enhances consumer responses because it humanizes the company. Importantly, however, the effectiveness of this communication strategy depends on (a) the presence and (b) the source of positive corporate social responsibility (CSR) news. Specifically, we demonstrate that family firm branding is less effective when an external source informs consumers about the company's CSR. It does offer a strong competitive advantage, however, when the company self-reports its CSR activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Central to sustainability is environmental-friendly technology and innovation realized through the introduction of new products or processes in the market. The subsequent diffusion process is crucial, representing the gradual and widespread availability of successful innovations through their adoption by countries for relevant applications. Promoting the dissemination of eco-friendly innovation and ensuring a habitable world for future generations necessitate the pivotal roles played by green innovation and the diffusion of environment-friendly technology. This study delves into the complex landscape of green innovation diffusion, offering a comprehensive exploration of patterns observed across various economies. Focusing on a group of developed and emerging economies, our work aims to uncover distinctive trends in the adoption and dissemination of environmentally sustainable innovations using the bass diffusion model. Bass diffusion model suggested that some countries are laggards and others are advanced in the green innovation diffusion process. By employing the feasible generalized least square (FGLS) model, we empirically identified the key factors influencing green innovation diffusion. Our findings suggest that relative competitive advantage and complexity boost the diffusion of green innovation in the selected developed and emerging economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This work sought to analyze targeted innovation strategies used during the pandemic to maintain companies' competitiveness. Design/methodology/approach: The methodology was a systematic literature review, analyzing how these factors can be used as leverage in decision-making and suggesting a framework tool. Findings: As a result, nine factors were identified as drivers to stimulate competitiveness, bringing insights to structure actions in times of crisis to support agribusiness. Research limitations/implications: With this work, it is possible that other companies can base themselves and use the strategic drivers of innovation evidenced to remain competitive in the market during a period of crisis. As this is a systematic review of the literature, the application of a case study, for example, is a limitation, which could be a continuation of the work. Practical implications: As this is a systematic review of the literature, the application of a case study, for example, is a limitation, which could be a continuation of the work. Originality/value: This work has high value because it brings insights into strategic drivers of innovation that tend to leverage or maintain the competitiveness of agribusinesses in times of crisis. With the discussion carried out on the data obtained, it is possible that agribusinesses or other types of companies can be based for decision-making in a crisis scenario from innovative actions that generate competitive advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The effect of dynamic capabilities on operational excellence and the moderating effect of environmental dynamism on the relationship between operational excellence and dynamic capabilities in the apparel industry in Sri Lanka were investigated while developing new psychometric scales to assess operational excellence and dynamic capacities constructs. Design/methodology/approach: We followed the exploratory sequential research design with a mixed-method research approach, aligning with the pragmatic research philosophy. Thus, both qualitative and quantitative research methods were followed. Findings: Dynamic capabilities positively affect operational excellence, and environmental dynamism moderates the relationship between operational excellence and dynamic capabilities in the apparel industry in Sri Lanka such that when a higher environmental dynamism exists, a weaker positive relationship exists between dynamic capabilities and operational excellence. The two main dimensions of the operational excellence construct are continuous improvement of sustainable operational performance and sustainable competitive advantages. It empirically confirmed that sensing, seizing and reconfiguring capabilities are the three main dimensions of the dynamic capabilities construct. Research limitations/implications: This study was limited to the apparel industry in Sri Lanka. This research phenomenon should be explored in other industrial sectors worldwide to generalize the findings. The practitioners in the apparel sector may improve the organizational dynamic capabilities to achieve operational excellence and keep a strong positive relationship between dynamic capabilities and operational excellence in a highly dynamic environment if they address out-of-family situations with out-of-the-box thinking. Originality/value: We generated two new empirical findings: (1) dynamic capabilities positively affect operational excellence, and (2) environmental dynamism moderates the relationship between dynamic capabilities and operational excellence. Also, we introduced validated new scales for assessing operational excellence and dynamic capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study analyzes the effects of cooperation on the relationship between intangible capital and competitive advantages. Design/methodology/approach: This study takes the case of an information technology company in a cooperative network environment through distribution channels and uses a quantitative approach to obtain and analyze data. Data were collected using a questionnaire and analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings: The creation of competitive advantage for the company was facilitated by psychological capital and cooperation networks. Originality/value: Our research reveals that cooperation networks mediate the relationship between intangible capital and competitive advantage, leading to moderate competitive leverage. This finding suggests that combining these dimensions can enhance future discussions on incorporating social capital as a third-order dimension in intellectual capital. Despite the rejection of psychological capital dimensions like optimism and persistence in the model, they still indicate critical success factors, which may be used in further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of the metaverse involves creating a fully immersive virtual world that allows users to interact with each other and digital objects in a way that is almost indistinguishable from reality. One of the key areas where the metaverse is expected to have an impact is retailing. Although there have been several studies on the use of the metaverse in different industries, this issue is rarely investigated in previous studies in the context of retail companies focusing on users' perceptions. This study accordingly explores the factors impacting the adoption of a metaverse in the retail industry and develops a new model based on the Resource-Based View (RBV) theory. In addition, the relationship between the usage intention of the metaverse and product innovation, and the relationship between product innovation and sustainable competitive advantage are investigated. Furthermore, as sustainability is a critical issue in the adoption of innovation by industries, this study aims to further investigate whether sustainability commitment will strengthen the impact of attitude toward metaverse on the intention to use. The data was collected from retail companies in Malaysia and analyzed to evaluate the proposed research model. The outcomes of this research indicated that there is a positive impact of product innovation on sustainable competitive advantage through the adoption of a metaverse in retail companies. In addition, our findings stressed that the intention to use metaverse will lead to product innovation in retail companies. Furthermore, the results revealed that sustainability commitment does not moderate the relationship between attitude toward the metaverse and intention to use, but impacts the usage intention of the metaverse directly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Technological start-ups are significant contributor to the innovation and employment provider in an economy. Numerous technological start-ups are established every year; however, only a miniscule percentage of these technological start-ups sustain and scale up in the long run. The aim of this study is to investigate the factors that affect Indian technological start-ups' competitiveness. Design/methodology/approach: Case study analysis of two technological start-ups (namely, WayCool and Moglix) is undertaken to study the factors affecting the competitiveness of technological start-ups in India. Being a relatively underexplored theme of study in entrepreneurship and strategy, case analysis facilitates exploration and validation of factors influencing competitiveness. Information for case study analysis is drawn from secondary sources of information. The collected data undergoes deductive thematic analysis to systematically identify and examine recurring themes and patterns relevant to the competitiveness of Indian technological start-ups. Findings: Case analysis reveals that innovation intensity, organisational agility and internationalisation influence competitiveness of technological start-ups. The importance of the role of each of these factors for entrepreneurial ventures has been highlighted in literature; however, their effect on competitiveness has not been examined in extant literature. Research limitations/implications: Being among the few studies on the competitiveness of technological start-ups in specific and start-ups in general, this study highlights the gap in the literature and suggests the need for examining the competitiveness of technological start-ups. Practical implications: For the practitioners, this study reinforces the need for entrepreneurs to emphasise fundamental factors that build competitiveness. Subsequently, the sources of competitiveness shall enable the start-up to gain a competitive advantage. Originality/value: This is among the few studies to have explored the competitiveness of technological start-ups in the Indian context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advent of social media has transformed society in terms of the way information is created and disseminated. In professional and private spheres such as events, social media has evolved to be more than a tool for user-generated content but is also now a heavily adopted technological platform to create competitive advantage. This curated collection examines 21 articles published in Event Management from 2015 to 2022 and identifies the trends, concepts, contexts, and outcomes of social media in events to provide a snapshot of literature to date and what future directions of social media and event research would look like. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In video surveillance, anomaly detection requires training machine learning models on spatio-temporal video sequences. However, sometimes the video-only data is not sufficient to accurately detect all the abnormal activities. Therefore, we propose a novel audio-visual spatiotemporal autoencoder specifically designed to detect anomalies for video surveillance by utilizing audio data along with video data. This paper presents a competitive approach to a multi-modal recurrent neural network for anomaly detection that combines separate spatial and temporal autoencoders to leverage both spatial and temporal features in audio-visual data. The proposed model is trained to produce low reconstruction error for normal data and high error for abnormal data, effectively distinguishing between the two and assigning an anomaly score. Training is conducted on normal datasets, while testing is performed on both normal and anomalous datasets. The anomaly scores from the models are combined using a late fusion technique, and a deep dense layer model is trained to produce decisive scores indicating whether a sequence is normal or anomalous. The model's performance is evaluated on the University of California, San Diego Pedestrian 2 (UCSD PED 2), University of Minnesota (UMN), and Tampere University of Technology (TUT) Rare Sound Events datasets using six evaluation metrics. It is compared with state-of-the-art methods depicting a high Area Under Curve (AUC) and a low Equal Error Rate (EER), achieving an (AUC) of 93.1 and an (EER) of 8.1 for the (UCSD) dataset, and an (AUC) of 94.9 and an (EER) of 5.9 for the UMN dataset. The evaluations demonstrate that the joint results from the combined audio-visual model outperform those from separate models, highlighting the competitive advantage of the proposed multi-modal approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Environmental & Social Management Journal / Revista de Gestão Social e Ambiental is the property of Environmental & Social Management Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose: Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are a major source of employment and revenue growth in developing nations like India, but they also face challenges from resource shortages, shifting consumer demand and heightened competition. This research aims to discover the aspects that enhance SMEs' competitiveness and performance. Design/methodology/approach: By analyzing literature and consulting experts, 10 factors that boost a firm's competitiveness were identified. The total interpretive structural modeling (TISM) method was then used to determine their interaction and structural hierarchy. Neutrosophic-MICMAC analysis was employed to assess the driving-dependence power of each factor. Findings: The study discovered that the factor, namely "entrepreneurial orientation," was found to be a significant one. "Manufacturing strategy" was found to be extremely dependent on the remaining competitive advantage factors. Research limitations/implications: This SME-focused framework can be adopted by large businesses to enhance organizational performance by focusing on critical factors. The study depends on experts' judgment, which might be biased. Findings will assist SMEs in identifying significant factors influencing competitive advantage and relationships, increasing awareness of factors contributing to competitive edge. Practical implications: The results of the research may encourage SME sector managers and practitioners to prioritize the factors that contribute to a firm's competitive advantage. Originality/value: The majority of research on SME competitive advantage focuses on individual aspects. To add to the body of knowledge on the subject, this study applies the TISM technique to Indian SMEs to identify the contextual interactions among factors that increase long-term competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maturity models are valuable tools when assessing the readiness and progress of technology incorporation in organizations, providing information for decision-making, resource allocation, and competitive advantage. The Internet of Things is a technology paradigm of global importance, especially for organizations, as it supports productivity improvements, real-time analysis, and customer satisfaction. Therefore, adopting and implementing this technology in enterprises brings several challenges, such as technological, organizational, security, and maturity issues. However, secondary studies that systematically compile the existing literature on these specific mechanisms for the enterprise domain are still being determined. This article aims to address this knowledge gap by conducting a review to deepen and synthesize the existing knowledge. This research followed established methodologies and protocols to synthesize and analyze the state of the art in the area; 489 documents were retrieved from seven bibliographic databases, and, applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, 36 primary studies were selected. The results indicate that the typical structures of maturity models incorporate technological, organizational, human, performance, and security dimensions through graded levels that denote the sophistication of the Internet of Things. Measurement techniques and metrics vary from model to model. There are few empirical validations or standardized improvement frameworks. The main conclusion is that there is a diversity of models, dimensions, indicators, and methods and a need for more comprehensive, adaptable, and user-friendly tools to help companies assess their Internet of Things maturity and inform future development strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Professional Business Review (JPBReview) is the property of Open Access Publications LLC and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose: While servitization has been recognised for its potential to augment organizational revenue and fortify competitive advantage, the exploration of alternative servitization trajectories to the classical servitization model has been little explored in literature. Recent literature introduces the "service paradox" and presents different trajectories to the classical model, but it does not explain why a company chooses one trajectory instead of another. Therefore, this study aims to provide a model that, based on the contextual factors present, recommends which servitization trajectory the company should choose. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses a combination of design science research (DSR) and context, intervention, mechanisms and outcomes (CIMO) to propose the model. An initial contextual factors list was created based on the literature, refined by the company's employees and evaluated in three selected initiatives in the focal company. Furthermore, based on the understanding of the CIMO logic elements, four design propositions were elaborated to summarize the main findings of the study. Findings: The study has demonstrated that the choice of a servitisation trajectory is intricately tied to a multitude of contextual factors, prompting organisations to deviate from conventional models towards alternative paths. Furthermore, the research sheds light on the underlying mechanisms and contextual drivers that shape servitisation decisions within the context of a consumer goods manufacturer. The analysis underscores the pivotal role of market dynamics and strategic adaptability in shaping servitisation strategies, underscoring the importance of customized approaches that cater to the distinct circumstances of each organisations. Originality/value: The research contributes to both theory and practice by offering profound insights into the complex nature of servitisation, advocating for continuous adaptation and strategic alignment with market demands. For practitioners and decision-makers, the study provides valuable guidance on enhancing service offerings and navigating the complexities of servitisation within specific sectors, fostering a culture of learning and adaptation to drive sustainable growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Despite IoT's huge potential, enterprises' ability to leverage it is their competitive advantage. Thus, competitive differentiation is primarily predicated on leveraging IoT toward customer needs. To examine the research gap, this study aims to explore the drivers of customer satisfaction and how they are affected by the interaction between IoT capabilities. Design/methodology/approach: A mixed-method research framework is applied to assess the impact of IoT capabilities on customer satisfaction. Based on the theoretical underpinning of the resource-based view and dynamic capability, the study highlights the importance of IoT capabilities in active resource allocation and effective resource utilization. First, DEMATEL is used capture the interrelationship between IoT capabilities. Further, the impact of each IoT capabilities on customer satisfaction is studied using CoCoSo method. Findings: The study highlights the importance of IoT capabilities in active resource allocation and effective resource utilization. The findings are enriched through the complementarity of resources in a dynamic business-to-business-to-customer (B2B2C) scenario. The authors expand the IoT capabilities from conventional business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-customer (B2C) scenario to tri-nodal B2B2C relationship triangle. Practical implications: Based on the findings, the authors offer a business transformation strategy for firms in key areas of customer satisfaction by leveraging IoT. The study can help management prioritize and develop key IoT capabilities to meaningfully increase customer satisfaction metrics. Originality/value: Building on the dynamic capabilities and resource-based view of the firm, an integrated decision-making research model is proposed. In addition, this study investigates the product and service capabilities unlocked using IoT capabilities. This work can be considered one of the leading attempts to improve customer satisfaction using IoT capabilities from traditional dyadic (B2B or B2C) structure to triadic (B2B2C) framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grounding in the nexus of the relational capital theory and dynamic ambidexterity view, this study examines the effect of supplier collaboration on supply chain capabilities including flexibility and risk management using a sample of 195 manufacturers in China. It also assesses the antecedent role of the supply chain capabilities in building supply chain resilience and its resulting competitive advantage. This study employs path analyses using data collected from manufacturers. The findings of this study indicate the significant role of relational capital gained from supplier collaboration in building supply chain capabilities of flexibility and risk management capabilities, which are shown to lead to supply chain resilience. Competitive advantage also results from enhanced supply chain resilience. This study provides an integrated view of relational capital and ambidexterity for vulnerability mitigation and capabilities improvement, which offers implications to supply chain practitioners that maintaining a dynamic ambidexterity is critical to bolster supply chain resilience in the time of unexpected disruptive incidents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do social entrepreneurship organisations sustain and innovate to serve base-of-the-pyramid populations in emerging economies? This paper delves into the strategies and processes employed by social entrepreneurship organisations to create both social and economic value via frugal innovation approaches combining cost-effective value creation and social problem solving and thus ensure their sustainability. To elucidate this, a composition-based view is leveraged, which emphasises how organisations possessing ordinary resources can accomplish extraordinary outcomes. Extending the composition-based view to social entrepreneurship research, three new concepts around compositional strategies are introduced: (1) specialist versus generalist compositional offering, (2) temporary versus sustainable competitive advantage based on compositional competition, and (3) value-driven versus task-driven compositional capability. Utilising three examples—India's Selco, Ghana's Toyola, and Brazil's Centre for Digital Inclusion—specific conditions under which social entrepreneurship organisations apply the identified compositional strategies to further their social ambitions in a sustainable manner underpinned by frugal innovation to serve base-of-the-pyramid populations are illustrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities, as agents of change, are expected to contribute to society's most pressing challenges, particularly the 21st century's central issue of sustainability. Amid growing expectations from governments, society, and an increasingly conscientious student body, universities have undergone significant institutional adjustments to incorporate sustainability into their core missions of education, research, and outreach. As universities worldwide increasingly engage in sustainability practices, the question arises: How do these sustainability endeavours correlate with academic performance on a global scale? This article, using data from the QS Sustainability Ranking and four prominent academic ranking (THEWUR, ARWU, QSWUR and USWUR), investigates this link. The study explores whether sustainability relates to the academic performance of universities, the validity of the relationship when academic scores of the four rankings are aggregated, and its dependence on country-level sustainability performance scores. Findings reveal that sustainability practices have a reflection on the university rankings, providing a global competitive advantage for universities. While this study incorporates aggregated scores as a methodological innovation addressing the lack of uniformity among ranking systems, it recommends the inclusion of university-level control variables (such as faculty expertise, university budget, infrastructure) and government and policy variables in future studies to ensure robustness of the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The National Football League (NFL) sets its regular season schedule to optimize viewership andminimize competitive inequities.One inequity assumed to impact team performance is rest differential, defined as the relative number of days between games. Using Bayesian state space models on both game outcomes and betting market data, we estimate the competitive effect of rest differential in American football. We find that the most commonly referred to inequities--both the bye week rest advantage and the mini-bye week rest advantage--currently show no significant evidence of providing the rested team a competitive edge. Further, we trace a decline in the advantage of a bye week to a 2011 change to the NFL's Collective Bargaining Agreement, which represents a natural experiment to test the relevance of rest and preparation in football. Prior to the agreement, NFL teams off a bye week received a significant advantage (+2.2 points per game), but since 2011, that benefit has been mitigated. Our findings imply that extra days with practice time, and not extra days off alone, are the primary driver of any NFL rest advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biological nitrogen fixation is a fundamental part of ecosystem functioning. Anthropogenic nitrogen deposition and climate change may, however, limit the competitive advantage of nitrogen-fixing plants, leading to reduced relative diversity of nitrogen-fixing plants. Yet, assessments of changes of nitrogen-fixing plant long-term community diversity are rare. Here, we examine temporal trends in the diversity of nitrogen-fixing plants and their relationships with anthropogenic nitrogen deposition while accounting for changes in temperature and aridity. We used forest-floor vegetation resurveys of temperate forests in Europe and the United States spanning multiple decades. Nitrogen-fixer richness declined as nitrogen deposition increased over time but did not respond to changes in climate. Phylogenetic diversity also declined, as distinct lineages of N-fixers were lost between surveys, but the "winners" and "losers" among nitrogen-fixing lineages varied among study sites, suggesting that losses are context dependent. Anthropogenic nitrogen deposition reduces nitrogen-fixing plant diversity in ways that may strongly affect natural nitrogen fixation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) has significantly changed military applications, creating new competitive advantages and shifting the global balance of power. This article examines NATO’s AI strategy and the associated interoperability challenges, with a particular focus on Turkey. NATO’s AI strategy seeks to enhance interoperability among its member states by fostering the integration of AI technologies into military capabilities. However, achieving this goal is complicated by the varying levels of AI technological advancement, divergent national AI-military strategies and differing geopolitical considerations among member countries. Using Turkey as a case study, this paper explores how the rapid development of AI-based military drones contributes to Turkey’s strategic autonomy and enhances regime resilience while also highlighting certain interoperability considerations within NATO. The analysis underlines the need for a cohesive approach to AI integration that addresses these disparities to maintain NATO’s collective defence capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study addresses the critical need for innovation in the healthcare sector, particularly in Japan's functional food industry, amid rising chronic diseases and healthcare costs. It explores the complex relationship between regulatory design and corporate behaviour, focusing on how companies' compliance strategies influence their research and development (R&D) investments. A mixed-method approach was used, analysing data from 15 major dietary supplement companies and 74 products under Japan's Foods with Function Claims (FFCs) regulation. The study reveals a correlation between companies' engagement in the FFCs system and their preference for conducting in-house clinical trials, indicative of higher R&D investments (R = 0.66, p = 0.007), and that between the latter variable and average product sales, which is a measure of returns on regulatory compliance (R = 0.66, p = 0.008). Companies actively complying with FFCs regulations tend to conduct R&D and accumulate knowledge in-house, to innovate and differentiate their products, gaining competitive advantages. The study also highlights the role of a company's size, market presence, and industry origins in shaping regulatory strategies, with firms from other industries using FFCs regulations to explore new business opportunities. The research underscores the importance of flexible regulatory frameworks that encourage R&D investment, leading to innovation and competitive advantages in the healthcare sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The excellent capabilities of Transformers and Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) in modelling long-range dependencies and handling irregular data have led to their widespread application in hyperspectral image (HSI) classification tasks. However, the Graph Transformer combining both advantages is rarely used in this field and has some limitations. Current Graph Transformers consider interactions between all nodes within the graph, adding complexity and introducing unnecessary information from noisy nodes. Moreover, the rich spectral information in HSIs is often ignored, and there is a lack of effective fusion of spatial information. In this paper, we propose a dual-stream graph-guided Transformer for HSI classification. In spatial dimension, superpixels are utilized to guide spatial graph generation, capturing global topological dependencies and local details effectively in HSIs. In terms of spectrum, we innovatively construct a spectral graph based on spectral channels and adopt a contribution score-based strategy to adaptively filter out irrelevant edges, achieving sparsity while preserving spectral context relationships. Experimental results demonstrate the significant competitive advantage of our method in HSI classification tasks on three public datasets. The code is available at https://github.com/youngboy03/GTDPNet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High‐voltage sodium metal batteries (SMBs) present a viable pathway towards high‐energy‐density sodium‐based batteries due to the competitive cost advantage and abundant supply of sodium resources. However, they still suffer from severe capacity decay induced by the notorious decomposition of the electrolyte under high voltage and unstable cathode/electrolyte interphase (CEI). In addition, the high reactivity of Na metal and flammable electrolytes push SMBs to their safety limits. Herein, a special dual‐anion aggregated Na+ solvation structure is designed in a nonflammable trimethyl phosphate‐based localized high‐concentration electrolyte, and a gradient CEI enriched with phosphorus and boron compounds is formed on the cathode. This thin and stable interphase effectively suppresses the parasitic reaction, improves the interfacial stability of the cathode, and facilitates Na+ transport through the interface by the synergistic effect of multi‐components, thus optimizing the cycling stability and safety of SMBs. The Na0.95Ni0.4Fe0.15Mn0.3Ti0.15O2//Na batteries employing such electrolyte provide a discharge capacity of 167.5 mAh g−1 and high retention in the capacity of 85.2 % after 800 cycles at 1 C. This approach offers a general strategy for the design of flame‐retardant high‐voltage electrolytes and the practical application of SMBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to analyze the effect of Procurement Digitalization Capability, Collaborative Supply Chain Management, Operational Capability through Competitive Advantage on Sustainable Business Performance at Geothermal Energy Company Partners. The method used in this research is quantitative method, where this research uses surveys and questionnaires distributed to vendors or partners of the Geothermal Energy Company as the object of research. The research sample was selected using purposive sampling with the acquisition of 115 respondents. This study uses data testing methods using validity and reliability tests on each variable studied. While the data analysis method used in this research is the Structural Equation Model (SEM) with AMOS software. The results showed that the direct relationship between the Procurement Digitalization Capability variable had a positive effect on Competitive Advantage. Collaborative Supply Chain Management variables have no positive effect on Competitive Advantage. While Operational Capability has a positive effect on Competitive Advantage and finally Competitive Advantage has a significant positive effect on Sustainable Business Performance. Based on the results of this study, it is recommended for further research to be able to develop research in different industries and with a broader scope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's business world, it is extremely important for companies to train newly hired employees quickly and effectively. In this context, learning curve analysis offers valuable information to better understand workers' learning processes and predict their future performance. This study addresses learning curve analysis in order to evaluate the performance of newly hired workers during the training process and predict their future success. This study aims to demonstrate how businesses can strategically apply the learning curve and regression model to help them manage new workers more effectively and improve their training programs. In this context, suggestions are offered for companies that want to gain a competitive advantage in the business world and secure long-term success. Additionally, since the data used in this study are hypothetical, the focus is on the applicability of the analyzes to real-world scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Festival of the Patios of Cordoba, declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) by UNESCO in 2012, serves as an emblematic case of how this designation acts as a tourist brand, attracting a greater number of visitors and granting a competitive advantage to the city's tourist market. This research is focused on analyzing the differences and similarities in the satisfaction, lived experience and behavioral intention of tourists according to their sociodemographic profile during the 2022 edition of the Patios Festival. The study's main objective is to understand the sociodemographic profile of the tourist who visits this event and if there are features of this profile that influence the satisfaction and lived experience with the event. Using a quantitative methodological approach, field work was carried out during the Fiesta de los Patios of Cordoba (Spain) in its 2022 edition, which took place between 3 and 15 May 2022, obtaining 383 valid surveys. The results reveal differences in the perception and satisfaction of the experience depending on the sociodemographic profile of the visitors. These findings highlight the need to adapt the tourism offerings to improve the visitor experience and also contribute to the scarcity of studies on ICH to help tourism managers formulate strategies that maximize the cultural and economic benefits of these Word Heritage inscriptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]