Search Results (3,141)

Plastic recycling is critical to transitioning toward a circular economy (CE), yet traceability systems for recycled plastics remain unevenly adopted. While effective traceability supports transparency, compliance, and supply chain accountability, its implementation is shaped not only by technological readiness but also by organisational behaviours and strategic priorities. This study explores how traceability adoption is influenced by company size, internal CE strategy, and perceptions of cost, risk, and regulatory demand. A survey of 65 Australian industry stakeholders reveals that 76% of companies with a CE strategy have implemented traceability systems, compared to 42% without. Larger firms report higher adoption rates than small and medium enterprises, largely due to resource advantages and differing interpretations of traceability’s value. Key barriers include high perceived costs, lack of standardised frameworks, and scepticism toward digital tools. Conversely, motivations such as reputational benefits, regulatory alignment, and inter-organisational trust were identified as enablers, alongside emerging technologies like blockchain and chemical tracers. The findings underscore the role of organisational context in shaping traceability practices and highlight the need for tailored interventions. Recommendations include financial incentives, harmonised standards, and sector-specific guidance that address not only technical gaps but behavioural and structural factors limiting uptake. Positioning traceability as an integrated organisational strategy may accelerate its adoption and support broader circular economy outcomes across the plastics value chain. Full article

Contract manufacturing is a pivotal strategy for brand owners, yet small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) in emerging economies struggle to evolve beyond transactional roles into sustainable strategic partners. This study addresses this gap by empirically validating and refining the Mahove–Matope Sustainable Contract Manufacturing Company Maturity Model (SCMC-MM), a novel framework designed to guide SMEs through a holistic transformation. Through a seven-month longitudinal case study grounded in design science research approach within a South African food manufacturing SME, the model was implemented and evaluated using structured assessments, in-depth interviews, and longitudinal operational data. The application catalysed a system-wide transformation, yielding significant results, including a 133% increase in revenue, ISO 22000 certification, and perfect delivery reliability. Furthermore, the study theoretically refines the framework by identifying and incorporating novel critical success factors for contract manufacturing companies, such as industrial clustering and transformational leadership. The results demonstrate that the SCMC-MM offers a practical, actionable, and scalable tool for building resilient supply chain partnerships. It provides a structured pathway for SMEs to achieve simultaneous gains in economic performance, social equity through enhanced workforce capability and ethical practices, and environmental stewardship via formalised safety, health, and environmental and risk management systems, thereby contributing directly to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 8 and 9 in emerging markets. Full article

The electrification of non-road mobile machinery is advancing to enhance sustainability and reduce emissions. This study investigates how to maximize the efficiency of the retrofitting of a material handler from an internal combustion engine to a battery-powered electric motor, while keeping the hydraulic system unchanged. Using a previously validated model, this study proposes three control strategies for the electric motor and hydraulic pump to enhance efficiency and performance. The first control strategy optimizes hydraulic pump performance within its most efficient displacement range. The second strategy maximizes powertrain efficiency by considering both efficiencies of the electric motor and hydraulic pump. The third strategy uses a servo-actuated valve to adjust the load-sensing margin and exhibits energy savings up to 14.2% and an 11.5% increase in efficiency. The proposed strategies avoid complex optimization algorithms, ensuring practical applicability for small- and medium-sized enterprises, which often face cost constraints and limited scalability. Full article

Effective patent recommendation plays a crucial role in bridging the gap between enterprise technological demands and patent supply. However, semantic mismatches and incomplete demand expressions often hinder accurate supply–demand matching. This research proposes a demand-driven patent recommendation method. First, content analysis and topic clustering were used to construct an enterprise demand element system, dividing the demand content into five elements: materials, methods, efficacy, products, and applications. Based on the completeness of these elements, enterprise demands were further classified into explicit and implicit types. Second, an enterprise technical problem space and a patent solution space were established, identifying ten types of enterprise technical problems and fifteen types of patent solution categories. These were connected through supply–demand elements to build corresponding correlation systems for explicit and implicit demands. Finally, according to different types of supply–demand correlations and demand characteristics, differentiated patent recommendation methods were designed. Taking various demands in the lithium battery industry as empirical cases, the results show that the proposed method based on demand classification and supply–demand element association effectively achieves accurate patent matching and addresses the challenges caused by incomplete demand information. The study provides an intelligent, content-based recommendation pathway for enterprise technology acquisition and patent transformation, offering theoretical and practical significance for enhancing patent commercialization and improving the efficiency of technological achievement transformation. Full article

This paper explores cost-effective solutions for automated guided vehicle (AGV) through the design and implementation of a low-cost, hoverboard-based line-following AGV tailored for textile manufacturing environments, specifically within sewing plants. The designed AGV leverages the capability of a commercial hoverboard as its mobility platform, significantly reducing development costs while maintaining effective operational performance. Utilizing affordable sensors such as infrared line detectors and ultrasonic sensors, the AGV autonomously navigates pre-defined pathways marked on the factory floor. Its primary function is transporting materials such as fabric bundles and partially or finished products between workstations, addressing common logistical challenges in dynamic and labor-intensive textile production settings. The system is designed for easy integration with both existing plant layouts and information and communication environment, requiring minimal infrastructural changes. Field testing demonstrated the AGV’s reliability, maneuverability, and responsiveness in real-world sewing plant conditions. The proposed solution underscores the potential of retrofitting existing consumer electronics for industrial automation, offering a scalable and economically viable alternative for small- to medium-sized textile enterprises seeking to enhance productivity and workflow efficiency. Full article

This study conceptualises the local production network as a complex system composed of domestic enterprises (DOEs) and foreign-invested companies (FIEs) that are interconnected and co-evolving. We define the embeddedness of FIEs according to three types—DOEs–FIEs, FIEs–DOEs and FIEs–FIEs—and examine how the different types of FIE embeddedness influence the functional upgrading of domestic value chains. Using the 2024 OECD database on multinational enterprises’ activities, we empirically assess the embeddedness of FIEs and the functional upgrading of manufacturing industries in 14 sub-sectors from 2003 to 2020. The results show that the embeddedness of FIEs facilitates overall functional upgrading, particularly in R&D and management, though no significant effect is found in marketing. Mechanism analysis reveals that FIE embeddedness in China’s manufacturing value chain primarily drives functional upgrades through productivity and creation effects. Heterogeneity analysis shows that FIE activities of both types, “DOEs–FIEs” and “FIEs–DOEs”, positively influence R&D upgrading, while those of the “FIEs–FIEs” type promote management upgrading. In contrast, “FIEs–DOEs” activities hinder marketing upgrading. This study provides empirical evidence of the role of FIE embeddedness in functional upgrading and offers a theoretical basis to develop policies that guide foreign capital toward higher value functions. Full article

The adoption of Product-Service Systems (PSSs) is an important strategy for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), although they face challenges connected to the scarcity of financial, human, and technological resources. Thus, this article seeks to propose a framework that integrates the barriers, drivers, innovation process, and business model elements associated with the adoption of PSSs in Brazilian industrial SMEs to offer guidelines for improvements to the strategies and practices adopted by such enterprises. The research adopted the Fuzzy Delphi method, applied to a panel of ten executives and managers of Brazilian industrial SMEs. This approach was employed to consensually validate a set of variables obtained from recent scientific literature. The results indicate that the adoption of PSSs by Brazilian industrial SMEs is influenced by structural, cultural, and technological barriers, yet driven by factors such as sustainability, customer relations, and competitiveness. Despite the acknowledgement of the importance of innovation, the processes remain little structured, with value proposition, the human factor, and stakeholder relations standing out as central elements in the business models. Through this study proposes specific strategic guidelines for four critical categories: provider enterprise, consumers, PSSs, and environmental aspects. Such guidelines can support managers in formulating practical actions for adopting PSSs, in addition to being replicable by other SMEs with similar characteristics. This research contributes to the literature originally by expanding the knowledge about the reality of PSS adoption by SMEs in emerging economies, thereby bridging a literature gap that still addresses their specificities generically. Full article

Agricultural supply chain finance plays a vital role in alleviating the financing constraints faced by agricultural business entities in developing countries and promoting inclusive and sustainable agricultural development. However, issues such as high operational risks, weak credit foundations, and insufficient risk safeguards among stakeholders in the agricultural supply chain have hindered its long-term stability. From the perspective of cooperative sustainability, this study develops a tripartite evolutionary game model involving agricultural enterprises, financial institutions, and farmers to explore the behavioral dynamics and evolutionary stability of their strategies. Using the Fuping mushroom supply chain as a case, Matlab-based simulation analysis reveals that the three-party strategy combinations failed to converge to an evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS) but instead exhibited dynamic changes characterized by non-periodic oscillations. Sensitivity analysis further demonstrates that farmers’ credit behavior is a key determinant of the sustainable operation of the supply chain financing system, while enhancing enterprises’ guarantee willingness can effectively mitigate farmers’ default risk. Moreover, stronger cooperative relationships between enterprises and farmers improve the overall resilience and stability of the system. The findings provide practical insights for building sustainable and resilient agricultural financial ecosystems, emphasizing the need to introduce third-party guarantee institutions, strengthen credit constraint systems, and design incentive mechanisms that promote long-term cooperation among stakeholders. Full article

The corporate water use audit system is an important part of implementing China’s strictest water resource management system and building a water-saving society. Since 2009, seven provinces (municipalities/autonomous regions) in China have begun to explore corporate water audits. However, conflicts of interest between the Chinese government, water-using enterprises, and commissioned third-party auditors may lead to the ineffective promotion of the corporate water audit policy. In this paper, we study corporate water auditing behavior from the perspective of information asymmetry, construct an evolutionary game model of the three parties, explore the strategy choices of each party, study the asymptotic stability of the evolutionary stability problem via numerical methods, and analyze the impact of parameter changes on it. The study shows that, firstly, strict governmental supervision plays a key role in promoting the implementation of corporate water audit systems. Incentive subsidies had a positive and direct impact on firms and auditors in the water audit system. Secondly, the higher rent-seeking costs of tripartite audit institutions affect the probability of firms’ participation in rent-seeking. As a social institution, regulation and penalties for firms should be strengthened to reduce the risk of information asymmetry. The results of this study provide insights into the existence of asymmetry problems and possible coping strategies. Full article

Tourism is a rapidly growing sector in Kazakhstan, yet Almaty city and its surrounding region have experienced stagnant growth despite rich natural and cultural assets. This study identifies governance-related barriers that impede sustainable tourism development and effective stakeholder participation. Using a mixed-methods design centered on semi-structured interviews with stakeholders from government, business, NGOs (Non-Governmental Organization), and community organizations conducted in 2018 and 2024, and supplemented by PEST (Political, Economic, Sociocultural, and Technological factors) analysis and stakeholder mapping, we distill recurring constraints and opportunities. The findings show that, while digitalization, through digital platforms, improved some administrative processes by 2024, the fundamental obstacles identified in 2018 remained largely unchanged. Three core constraints persisted across both periods: fragmented institutional governance, prolonged and opaque permitting procedures that deter investment, and a deep-seated lack of trust between the private sector and public authorities. These systemic failures continue to limit the sector’s potential, especially amid rapid post-pandemic visitor growth. This paper proposes actionable measures to address these challenges: establishing a unified regional tourism coordination authority, streamlining and standardizing regulations and approval processes, and offering targeted capacity building for SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) and local administrations. Implemented together, these reforms can align Almaty’s tourism governance with international good practices and foster more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable tourism growth. Full article

The unique characteristics of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) in the construction industry and its impact mechanisms within a complex environment still need to be further explored. This study employs grounded theory and a system dynamics model to construct a system of ESG, innovation, and the competitive advantage in construction enterprises. Through simulation analysis, this study elucidates the dynamic relationships, causal links, and evolutionary patterns among system elements. The results indicate that (1) ESG, innovation, and the competitive advantage exhibit oscillatory convergence patterns, with innovation and competitive advantage exhibiting time-lagged responses; (2) improvements in environmental (E), social (S), and governance (G) awareness generate diminishing marginal effects on corresponding performance metrics, while reductions in S awareness lead to more pronounced performance deterioration; and (3) simultaneous strengthening of E, S, and G awareness substantially elevates peak levels of innovation and competitive advantage while accelerating their attainment. This study systematically analyzes the dynamic and complex mechanisms through which ESG influences construction enterprises’ competitive advantage and provides valuable suggestions for the sustainable development of construction enterprises. Full article

This study explores the impact of environmental accounting practices on corporate environmental performance in Greek enterprises. Grounded in environmental management accounting (EMA), strategic management theory, Stakeholder Theory, and Institutional Theory, it employs a quantitative analysis of data collected via a Likert-type questionnaire in 2024. The focus lies in GRI-based indicators, green technologies, environmental investments, and reporting mechanisms. While international standards such as ISO 14001 and EMAS are considered conceptually, they are not empirically assessed. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics (version 29.0) and SmartPLS (version 4.0). The results show that organizations implementing structured environmental accounting systems experience enhanced environmental performance, including greater transparency, regulatory compliance, and innovation capacity. This study fills a gap in the Greek context and emphasizes the strategic role of environmental accounting in advancing sustainability and competitiveness. Full article

Employee onboarding is a key process in workforce integration but is manual, time-consuming, and departmental. This paper presents OnboardGPT v1.0, an intelligent, scalable conversational AI platform to meet this task with automated and personalized onboarding experience through lightweight neural components. The platform uses a feedforward intent classification model, dense semantic retrieval through cosine similarity, and personalization aware of user profiles to deliver context-sensitive and relevant output. A 500-question proprietary dataset about onboarding and annotated answers was constructed to simulate real enterprise conversations from various roles and departments. The platform was launched with a Flask-based web interface that was not third-party API-dependent and enabled multi-turn dialogue, knowledge base searching, and role-aware task instruction. Experimental evaluation on performance indicators such as task success rate, intent classification accuracy, BLEU score, and user satisfaction in simulation demonstrates the system to be effective in offering coherent and actionable onboarding support. The contribution of this work includes a modular, explainable, and deployable AI pipeline suitable for onboarding automation at the enterprise level and lays the foundation for future extensions that include multilingual support, inclusion of long-term memory, and backend system interoperability. Full article

The core of the United States’ tax incentive policies for the cultural industry is anchored in Section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code. By offering tax incentives, these policies incentivize individuals and enterprises to make donations to non-profit cultural institutions, thereby fostering the prosperity and development of the U.S. cultural industry. China’s tax incentive policies for cultural donations are categorized into three types: those applicable to enterprises, individuals, and special donations, with variations in the deduction benefits afforded by each category. In comparison, China’s tax incentives for cultural donations have shortcomings, including excessively lengthy approval processes, inadequate coverage, fragmented management, and insufficient supervision. Drawing on the experience of the U.S. tax system, measures such as simplifying the registration procedures for non-profit cultural organizations, enhancing tax declaration requirements, exploring industry self-governance mechanisms, and establishing robust supervision frameworks constitute crucial pathways to advancing the high-quality development of China’s cultural industry. Full article

The thermal coal supply chain serves as core infrastructure for ensuring the safe and stable supply of electricity in China. Effective risk management and control of this supply chain are therefore critical to national energy security and socio-economic development. However, the thermal coal supply chain involves multiple complex risk dimensions, including cross-regional multi-entity coordination, a complex network structure, and a dynamic policy environment. Traditional risk analysis methods often fall short in depicting the concurrent events and dynamic propagation characteristics inherent to such a system. This necessitates systematically investigating the thermal coal supply chain within the Coal–Electricity Joint Venture (CEJV) operational framework, which primarily involves equity-based consolidation and long-term contractual coordination between coal producers and power generators, to comprehensively analyze its critical risk factors and transmission mechanisms. Initially, based on the integration of coal-fired power joint operation policy evolution and industry characteristics, 28 risk factors were identified across three dimensions: internal enterprise, external environment, and overall structure. These encompassed production fluctuation risks, thermal coal transport process risks, and insufficient supply chain flexibility. A dynamic behavior model for the thermal coal supply chain was constructed by analyzing the causal relationships among these risk factors, based on the operational processes of each link. Utilizing Petri net simulation technology enables a quantitative analysis of supply chain risks, facilitating the identification of bottleneck links and potential risk points. Through model simulation, 18 key risk factors were determined, providing a theoretical basis for optimizing supply chain resilience within CEJV enterprises. The limitations of traditional methods in dynamic process modeling and industrial applicability were addressed through a Petri net-based methodology, thereby establishing a novel analytical paradigm for risk management in complex energy supply chains. Full article