ABSTRACT
PurposeThe study aims to identify the extent to which industry 4.0 (IR4.0) adoption impacts the sustainable manufacturing (SM) performance of the manufacturing industry, focusing on the comparative analysis between developed and developing economies amid coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThe study proposes a conceptual model formed on seminal theories and literature using the cross-sectional design. For data collection, a purposive sampling method is used where 154 Malaysian (developing) and Australian (developed) manufacturing firms' data were collected. Partial least square-based structural equation modeling is employed to test the hypothesis and proposed research model.FindingsThis study finds that adoption of IR4.0 technologies does not directly influence the sustainability performance of the manufacturing industry, but rather the trajectories of SM (efficiency, flexibility, automation and big data and granularity) fully mediate the relationship between IR4.0 adoption and sustainability manufacturing performance. The comparative analysis between Australia and Malaysia shows no significant difference in the relationships or the framework;hence, the differences between developed and developing countries are not significant in this mechanism.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the insights of the managers regarding COVID-19 and the implementation of IR4.0 in the SM domain. The policymakers would further get better insights since the study pays attention to sustainable development goal, industry, innovation, infrastructure and responsible production.
ABSTRACT
Technological advances such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, big data, social media, and geographic information systems represent a building block of the digital transformation that supports the resilience of the food supply chain (FSC) and increases its efficiency. This paper reviews the literature surrounding digitalization in FSCs. A bibliometric and key-route main path analysis was carried out to objectively and analytically uncover the knowledge development in digitalization within the context of sustainable FSCs. The research began with the selection of 2140 articles published over nearly five decades. Then, the articles were examined according to several bibliometric metrics such as year of publication, countries, institutions, sources, authors, and keywords frequency. A keyword co-occurrence network was generated to cluster the relevant literature. Findings of the review and bibliometric analysis indicate that research at the intersection of technology and the FSC has gained substantial interest from scholars. On the basis of keyword co-occurrence network, the literature is focused on the role of information communication technology for agriculture and food security, food waste and circular economy, and the merge of the Internet of Things and blockchain in the FSC. The analysis of the key-route main path uncovers three critical periods marking the development of technology-enabled FSCs. The study offers scholars a better understanding of digitalization within the agri-food industry and the current knowledge gaps for future research. Practitioners may find the review useful to remain ahead of the latest discussions of technologyenabled FSCs. To the authors’ best knowledge, the current study is one of the few endeavors to explore technology-enabled FSCs using a comprehensive sample of journal articles published during the past five decades. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
ABSTRACT
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are expected to boost the country’s economy. However, the COVID-19 pandemic that happened in 2020 collapsed businesses, especially SMEs in Indonesia. One of the measures to allow small and medium-sized enterprises to respond to the uncertainties of a pandemic is to improve the agility of their companies. Besides agile, SMEs nowadays also concerned with the sustainable elements to tackle social and environmental issues. Business agility is known to be capable of enabling small and medium-sized enterprises to respond effectively to what is happening in the field and to ensure that they do not lose customers. The study was undertaken as a conceptual framework supported by extensive literature review. The assessment of business agility is dependent on the operational agility, customer agility, and partnership agility. The businesses turbulence caused by this pandemic also likely to strengthen the relationship between business agility and SMEs performance. The findings of this study are useful not only to SMEs owners, but also to the government to bridge the agility ability of SMEs industry with customer preferences. © 2021, Academic Conferences and Publishing International Limited. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Since COVID-19 shutdown has forced open and distant learning (ODL) to take centre stage in teaching and learning sessions, learning a new language requires both lecturers and students to be dedicated to completing the language course’s goals within the allotted semester. Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) has offered Arabic as an optional subject for over 20 years and considers it a difficult language to learn. The teaching methods used by language lecturers have a direct impact on how well students learn a new language. To find out whether Arabic language lecturers’ teaching methods have an impact on students’ comprehension at UiTM, this research is being conducted. Three campuses in the UiTM South Zone (Negeri Sembilan, Melaka, and Johor) were easily chosen for this research, with a total of 348 students responding. Data were analysed using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science) and Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), which analyses data via correlation analysis. According to the descriptive analysis, the majority of respondents were female, between the ages of 19 and 21, and enrolled in a four-year college programme. According to the results of the correlation study, Arabic language lecturers’ teaching methods have a good and significant impact on students’ comprehension. You might sum it up by saying that lecturers’ efforts in outlining course objectives and teaching on a weekly schedule were well received by the students. Additionally, students felt that feedback from lecturers on their assessments and the use of technology in teaching and learning sessions improved their comprehension. © 2020. RIGEO • Review of International Geographical Education. All Rights Reserved.