Firms' shareholding behavior in green supply chains: Carbon emissions reduction, power structures, and technology spillovers.

Leaders in green supply chains are increasingly focusing on improving strategic synergy with followers through shareholding strategies. By constructing Stackelberg models, we explore the operational mechanisms in two models, manufacturer-led and retailer-led, which have forward and backward shareholding strategies, respectively. Compared with non-shareholding models, we find that the retailer's pricing becomes more sensitive to changes in the market environment after applying shareholding strategies, while the manufacturer's pricing depends on its power status. Interestingly, leaders and entire supply chains prefer shareholding strategies, while followers prefer shareholding strategies in good market environment or in bad market environment with their shares held by leaders below certain thresholds. Moreover, both forward and backward shareholding strategies can effectively promote carbon emissions reduction. Improving manufacturers' technology spillover positively impacts pricing and carbon emissions reduction and profits, and a reasonable shareholding ratio can encourage manufacturers to increase the level of technology spillover. Finally, a two-part tariff contract can effectively coordinate the vertical shareholding supply chain. The results provide decision guidance for managers in applying shareholding strategies to build a strategic alliance to improve firms' economic and environmental performance.

Location of organ procurement and distribution organisation decisions and their impact on kidney allocations: a developing country perspective.

Managing organ transplant networks is a complex task. It intertwines between locating the organ procurement and distribution organization (OPDO) (long-term decision) and allocating organs to the suitable destination (short-term decision). The literature lacks deliberation on the effect of those long-term decisions on short-term ones under the influence of clinical and non-clinical factors. This paper addresses this gap using a k-sum model for locational choice, and a discrete simulation approach for the allocation procedure for a real-life case study from a developing economy perspective. The study explores the trade-off between efficiency (distance-centric models) and equity (the result of time-centric allocation models). Our analysis of the efficiency of locational models and equity of the allocation policies reveal strong inter-dependence of both these decisions, a significant finding of this research. These findings offer an integrated model for high-level decision-makers, which can be used during the locational planning stage and provide input to design standard operating procedures for transplantation schemes.

Number of Children and Female Labor Participation in China.

The continuous decrease in the number of women of childbearing age and the consequent decrease in reproductive willingness have contributed to the continuous decrease in labor participation among Chinese women, which has negatively affected the stable socioeconomic development in terms of health. This paper deeply explores the intrinsic relationship between the number of children and women's labor participation based on 2016 data from China Labor-force Dynamic Survey (CLDS). Our results show that there is an "inverted U-shaped" relationship between the number of children and the rate of women's labor involvement; in other words, women's labor participation shows a trend with the increase in the number of children, first rising and then falling; meanwhile, the relationship is more pronounced among women in eastern and central regions and towns. To this end, this study provides a theoretical research basis to effectively alleviate women's selective pressure at home and work, and has a certain reference value for the Chinese government to improve women's employment environment.

Dynamic collaborative optimization for disaster relief supply chains under information ambiguity.

Large-scale disasters occur worldwide, with a continuing surge in the frequency and severity of disruptive events. Researchers have developed several optimization models to address the critical challenges of disaster relief supply chains (e.g., emergency material reserving and scheduling inefficiencies). However, most developed algorithms are proven to have low fault tolerance, which makes it difficult for disaster relief supply chain managers to obtain optimal solutions and meet the emergency distribution requirements within a limited time frame. Considering the uncertainty and ambiguity of disaster relief information and using Interval Type-2 Fuzzy Set (IT2TFS), this paper presents a collaborative optimization model based on an integrative emergency material supplier evaluation framework. The optimal emergency material suppliers are first selected using a multi-attribute group decision-making ranking method. Multi-objective fuzzy optimization is then run in three emergency phases: early -, mid-, and late-disaster relief stages. Focusing on a massive flash flood disaster event in Yunnan Province as a case study, a comprehensive numerical analysis tests and validates the developed model. The results revealed that the proposed optimization method can optimize emergency material planning while ensuring that reserve material safety inventory is always maintained at a reasonable level. The presented method suggests a fuzzy interval to prevent emergency materials' safety inventory shortage and minimize continuous life/property losses in disaster-affected areas.

Impact of Organizational Support and Social Capital on University Faculties' Working Performance.

As the major concerns of higher education institutions (HEIs) are teaching, services, and research, this paper describes a region-wide evaluation of institutional performance in relation to universities in Taiwan. The evaluation was based on the perceptions of university professors regarding institutional slack and reputation, as well as internal and external social capital. The study sought answers to several research questions and adopted a survey approach. After choosing 30 universities of various sizes and from different regions, 926 professors were selected randomly as participants. Using PLS-SEM, this study confirms the influence of institutional slack, reputation, and internal and external social capital on performance. The results show that (a) institutional slack and reputation positively affect institutional performance; (b) internal social capital positively and significantly influences the relationships of institutional slack and reputation with performance; and (c) external social capital has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between institutional slack and performance. Concluding this paper, theoretical and managerial implications and suggestions for future studies are proposed.

A Conceptual Framework Toward Understanding of Knowledge Acquisition Sources and Student Well-Being.

There are a multitude of factors influencing student employability, with all previous studies basing their conclusions upon predetermined variables according to different theories and exploring the relevance between them. In this study, teachers' knowledge transfer and market orientation-are put forward on the basis of the marketing concepts in order to explore the conspicuousness between various factors within the structural model. This study uses students from colleges in Taiwan and mainland China, and purposive sampling is adopted to acquire samples required for statistics. A total of 1,222 valid questionnaires were collected from Taiwanese and Mainland China students. The results indicate that knowledge transfer, market orientation and absorptive capacity have significant impacts on student employability, that the absorptive capacity has a positive moderating effect on the influence of knowledge transfer and market orientation on student employability. Based on results and findings, this study will provide suggestions for theoretical and practical implications.

Adoption of Sustainable Agriculture Practices in Banana Farm Production: A Study from the Sindh Region of Pakistan.

The aim of this study was to highlight the importance of socioeconomic and psychosocial factors in the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices (SAPs) in banana farm production. To this end, data from 300 randomly selected farm households from Pakistan were collected through a structured self-report questionnaire. Using logistic regression (LR) and structural equation modeling (SEM), socioeconomic and psychosocial effects were evaluated. The results show that economic status, watching agricultural training programs, newspaper and radio awareness campaigns, participation in extension programs, perceptions of sustainable agriculture and the feasibility of SAPs were significant factors in farmers' adoption of sustainable agriculture practices. Also, consistent with the theory of planned behavior (TPB), all its dimensions (attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control) affected the adoption of SAPs. This finding highlights the importance of socioeconomic and psychosocial factors in promoting sustainable agricultural practice among banana production farmers. This is the first study which attempts to provide empirical evidence using a robust procedure (two models-LR and SEM). The practical implication is that, when socioeconomic and psychosocial factors are well supported by satisfactory policy measures, SAP adoption is more than likely, which eventually increases farmers' adaptive capacity to the changing environment. Ultimately, this leads to sustainable banana production, which has great potential to contribute towards poverty eradication.