Abstract

The purpose of this research is to systematically review the state-of-the-art literature on Supply Chain Finance (SCF) and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and Value Chain within the supply chain management domain. We meticulously screened closely related themes through a systematic literature review of selected fifty-one manuscripts using the PRISMA method. Three-phase approach of planning, conducting and reporting is considered in this review. The outcomes of our review demonstrate the contributions of SCF to decision-making within the supply chain domain. This review highlights synergies, distinctions, and intersections in SCF, ESG, and value chain. Based on themes, the study led to four propositions to develop a comprehensive framework. Additionally, the literature is elucidated based on the approaches employed for SCF development, accompanied by the underlying theories. The categorization primarily separates the literature into two main groups: one focused on theory development, and the other on practical applications, revolving around SCF, ESG, and the value chain. Professionals in corporate settings and academic scholars will likely derive significant value from this review. The study thoroughly reviews, categorizes, and analyzes existing research and offers an integrated framework on SCF, ESG, and the value chain, which can be helpful for professionals. This is the first research that uses a structured approach to analyze studies on a novel topic and propose a framework for SCF, ESG, and value chain.

Introduction

In the last twenty years, a notable pattern has surfaced in the realm of corporate sustainability. This trend encompasses a range of initiatives, from mandates that encourage voluntary commitments to sustainable practices (Freeman et al., 2010; Wang et al., 2016; Aragòn-Correa et al., 2020; Fiandrino et al., 2022; Agrawal et al., 2023). Thus, along with sustainability strategies companies have also started sharing information about environmental, social, and governance (ESG) matters (Baid and Jayaraman, 2022; Asif et al., 2023; Kumar et al., 2024). Sustainability and ESG have attracted significant importance in the business landscape. Business need to incorporate these revolutionary changes to comply to emerging business environment. ESG captured the interest of various stakeholders such as scholars, governments, and enterprises through a report published by United Nations in 2006 (Atkins, 2020; Clément et al., 2023; Wang et al., 2023a,b). In 2021, ESG-focused portfolios accomplished nearly $40 trillion in assets further expecting a 30% increase by 2025 (Bloomberg Intelligence, 2021). This brought transparency in all the activities that could impact the environment. Exposure by social media and non-government firms led to an increase in global SC visibility (Clarke and Boersma, 2017; PRI, 2020; Saini et al., 2022; Fiandrino et al., 2022; Agrawal and Jain, 2022; Agrawal et al., 2024).

The global financial crisis of 2008–2009 witnessed increase in research on Supply Chain Finance (SCF) (Kaur et al., 2023). This crisis revealed that companies and their SC faced cash flow constraints and challenges in securing financing from banks. These difficulties were often attributed to a lack of understanding of liquidity and working capital management (Caniato et al., 2016; Baid and Jayaraman, 2022; Huang et al., 2022; Rijanto, 2024). Since then, SCF has progressively evolved as a crucial tool for tackling these challenges. The primary focus of SCF revolves around “planning, managing, and controlling SC cash flows,” as Wuttke et al. (2013) emphasized. According to Jia et al. (2020), aims to help companies fulfill their daily financing needs, optimising cash flow at the inter-organizational level. The concept of SCF is a recent development as compared to equity financing or mortgages and it faces numerous challenges, as emphasized (More and Basu, 2013; Joshi et al., 2024). It is evident that number of start-ups are also emerging in SCF space to facilitate businesses in their transactions. Emerging approaches in SCF include purchase order financing (Reindorp et al., 2018) and inventory financing (Yan and Sun, 2013). As SCF garners increasing attention, the volume of literature in this area is also rising (Gomm, 2010; Elliot et al., 2020; Jia et al., 2020; Medina et al., 2023). However, investigation on SCF or the convergence of finance and operations is yet in its early stages, primarily because of its innovative nature. As per the PRI (2020), adeptly managing ESG factors in SCF can yield a range of short-term and long-term financial benefits.

Conclusion

This review assesses 51 papers from 1999 to 2023 from the Scopus database. Fig. 4 illustrates the evolution of ESG, SCF and VC research over time, showing a significant upswing in activity from 2018 onwards. Fig. 2 reveals that in ESG, SCF, and VC, research predominantly occurs within decision sciences, engineering, computer science, business management, and accounting. Additionally, the analysis explores the facilitators and gaps associated with ESG, SCF and VC, as outlined in Section 2.3. The rising interest and application of ESG, SCF and VC, focused on tasks like economic values and minimizing its environmental impact, all the stakeholders are ethical and transparent, optimize the cash flow, improve efficiency and financial stability for offering practical solutions to contemporary business challenges. The exhaustive nature of this inquiry aims to provide a valuable and practical resource to all the stakeholders, particularly for future researchers in the field of production research. This investigative framework developed here can be a foundation for forthcoming research endeavors.

Abstract

This study investigates the risks of service procurement and the role of risk management practices during service procurement processes for IT services. As a result, the study provides a typology for understanding risk in the IT service procurement context. The findings indicate that several practices related to risk management during the service procurement process are important in reducing the probability and impact of risks. The study shows how a collaborative approach to risk management with service providers is also necessary to manage service disruptions. As such, the results of the study exemplify how risk management practices can support the procurement process for services. Based on the practice-based view, this study provides an explorative framework and propositions for enhancing service performance through the adoption of risk management practices.

Introduction

The procurement of services is associated with exposure to multiple risks that may cause failures in service provision (Harland et al., 2003; Ellram et al., 2008; Lacity et al., 2016). Buying services involves increased levels of risk for the buyer organisation due to complex interactions and inherent uncertainty associated with service exchanges (Vargo and Lusch, 2008). Thus, the service procurement process is complex and unique and requires addressing risks that could prevent the buyer from achieving the desired outcomes of service purchases (Ellram and Tate, 2015; Wynstra et al., 2018).

The purpose of risk management practices is to support the procurement decisions and supply management by reducing the likelihood and negative effects of disruptions that originate from suppliers or supply market characteristics (Zsidisin, 2003). Practices for managing risk can be implemented to improve the identification, assessment, mitigation, and monitoring of risks that relate to the outcomes of procurement decisions (Tummala and Schoenherr, 2011). Although prior research has not explicitly discussed risk management in the service procurement context, studies show that many practices during the service procurement process are implicitly related to the purpose of managing risks. For example, the generation of detailed service specifications reduces uncertainty by ensuring that expectations and service provision outcomes are well-defined and understood (Ellram et al., 2004). Similarly, the implementation of governance mechanisms, that is, contractual, relational, and outcome-based governance, supports the prevention of service failures (Gelderman et al., 2015; Akkermans et al., 2019). It is well understood that collaborative practices between buyers and service providers during procurement and service provision are valuable and prevent undesired outcomes (Grönroos, 2011; Grudinschi et al., 2014). Overall, studies show that the use of practices that are implicitly related to managing risks also improves service performance, including the service quality, service levels, and customer satisfaction (Ellram et al., 2008; Tate and van der Valk, 2008; Akkermans et al., 2019).

Discussion and conclusions

This study investigated the risks of service procurement and risk management practices that are applied during the focal company’s procurement process for IT services. First, we distinguished multiple risk factors and classified them into three contexts that reflect their sources. Furthermore, we documented the main routines within the focal company’s practices to either identify, assess, mitigate, and monitor risks or collaborate in risk management with service providers during the service procurement process. Overall, our findings indicate that, without explicit efforts to manage risk factors during the procurement process, services may become vulnerable to disruptions that reduce the availability or quality of service use. Based on the empirical findings and the theoretical background, propositions and an explorative framework (Fig. 2) were created.

The findings indicate that the focal company’s ability to manage the risks of IT service purchases is partly dependent on the implementation of structured risk management practices before service characteristics have been formally specified. This notion supports the general assumption that challenges with the procurement process for services are primarily reflected in the transaction characteristics of services and the buyer’s capacity to understand and manage heightened levels of uncertainty related to them (Wynstra et al., 2018). For example, the service buyer must avoid incomplete service specifications by investing resources into generating a detailed understanding of their service needs, which can then be communicated to the service providers (Ellram et al., 2008; Van der Valk and Rozemeijer, 2009). In line with these considerations, this study elaborates how the focal company implements routines to identify and assess risk factors during the early stages of the service procurement process. These risk management practices are found to produce important information about risks and their relative significance, which supports the focal company’s ability to establish more complete service specifications ex ante contract. Thus, the following proposition is made.

Abstract

The sustainability issues resulting from Malaysian palm oil production have garnered much interest in the palm oil industry. Consequently, Malaysian palm oil industry is indirectly exposed to sustainability risks, including boycott and reputational and regulatory risks. Hence, the industry encounters intense pressure from numerous stakeholders to address sustainability issues. Prior studies propounded that sustainability risk management (SRM) could minimise the adverse impact of sustainability risks by addressing sustainability issues. Nevertheless, the implementation of sustainability risk management in Malaysia remains low as numerous companies are not ready for it. Drawing on contingency theory, the objective of this study is to investigate the influence of contextual factors that can influence companies’ readiness in implementing sustainability risk management. Data was collected through the distribution of questionnaires between July and December 2020. A total of 407 questionnaires were distributed, with a response rate of 29 %. Resultantly, sustainability strategy, business size, top management support, and regulatory pressure positively and significantly influenced sustainability risk management implementation. The findings also expanded the current theoretical knowledge with valuable insights for policymakers regarding the factors influencing to companies’ readiness in implementing SRM.

Introduction

The extensive usage of palm oil in food-based products for cooking as well as non-food products such as biofuel production, oleochemicals, and cosmetics [1,2] led to an increase in the global production of vegetable oil. On a global scale, vegetable oil production exceeded 200 million metric tonnes in the 2020/2021 crop year, with production of palm oil accounting for 36 % of total production or 74.45 million metric tonnes. Today, more than 150 nations currently import and consume palm oil, which is the largest oil traded globally [3]. As top two producer and exporter of palm oil worldwide, Malaysia accounted for 25.8 % of world palm oil production and 34.3 % of world palm oil exports [4]. Locally, the palm oil industry is the major contributor to the agriculture sector at 37.7 %, which is also the third-leading contributor to Malaysian gross domestic product (GDP). Additionally, this industry contributed RM72.3 billion in total export revenue, which increased by 8.4 % in 2020 compared to RM67.55 billion in 2019 [5]. The palm oil industry is also vital to improving the national socioeconomic condition by creating employment opportunities for individuals in rural areas [6]. Thus, the sustainability of the Malaysian palm oil industry is also crucial to Malaysian economic growth and fulfilling global oil and fat demand.

The sustainability issues arising from palm oil production, such as soil property changes, water and air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, waste, and social conflict have caused much concern among industry stakeholders [7,8]. These issues adversely affect social, environmental, and ecosystem sustainability. Essentially, companies that do not proactively mitigate sustainability issues may be exposed to high sustainability risks, which hampers organisational viability and survivability [9,10]. Giannakis and Papadopoulos [11] explained that sustainability risks negatively affect organisational survivability without disrupting business operations. The European Union (EU) proposed two resolutions to ban palm oil usage in biofuel programmes and alternative sustainability regulations that must be complied with by exporting countries before entering the EU market [12]. Likewise, the United States prohibited the import of palm oil and its associated products from Malaysia following labour issues [13]. The pressure and demand for sustainable palm production are also intensified by various stakeholders towards addressing sustainability issues, causing it challenging for the palm oil industry to retain a competitive edge without disregarding sustainability considerations.

Conclusion

The current study examined the contextual factors influencing companies’ readiness to implement SRM through the contingency theory, namely sustainability strategy, business size, top management support, perceived environmental uncertainty, and regulatory pressure. Resultantly, sustainability strategy, business size, top management support, and regulatory pressure positively and significantly influenced SRM implementation. Meanwhile, perceived environmental uncertainty did not significantly influence SRM implementation. The findings supported the existing argument, in which the contextual factors of a company would influence organisational readiness to implement SRM in managing sustainability issues. Specifically, the readiness of Malaysian palm oil mills in implementing SRM is influenced by sustainability strategy, business size, top management support, perceived environmental uncertainty, and regulatory pressure.

Several theoretical and practical implications were yielded from the study outcomes, which provided alternative evidence of the relationships between contextual factors and SRM implementation and enriched the contingency theory. Based on the study outcomes, contextual factors play a vital role in determining when a specific MCS is appropriate for organisations in a specific situation. These results expanded the current body of knowledge on sustainability, risk management, and management accounting based on the contingency theory. Such operationalisation could provide a sound understanding of the significant impacts of internal and external contextual factors on SRM implementation, with different types of contextual factors yielding varied responses. Theoretically, this study provided sufficient empirical evidence to delineate the notable influence of a company’s internal and external contextual factors on the organisational readiness to incorporate SRM. Particularly, top management support was the major internal factor, while regulatory pressure was the driving external factor based on the effect size, which generated additional insight into the existing literature that internal factors (top management support) and external factors (regulatory pressure) were significant in implementing MCSs. Other internal and external factors, namely sustainability strategy, business size, and perceived environmental uncertainty, produced a lower influence or an insignificant impact on SRM implementation. Nevertheless, the findings demonstrated that internal and external factors of an organisation could elucidate the rationales for employing different systems to suit different organisational requirements, as postulated by contingency theory.

Abstract

     Risk-informed decision-making is a key concept in regulatory regimes covering a wide range of technical disciplines and risk domains. Increased standardization in terms of highly prescriptive and detailed requirements is observed in various risk management regulations and application areas. This development has spurred a discussion with equally strong voices promoting and opposing standardization of risk. The aim of this paper is to explore the knowledge base from scientific literature related to effects of standardization of risk and to assess the strength of the arguments used in the discussion. Through a scoping study and a systematic argument analysis, this study contributes to the debate on the most adequate approach to standardization in risk management regulations. Conclusions from the study are that effects of standardization of risk management regulations are not widely covered in scientific literature and empirical evidence is largely lacking to support the arguments used. The argument analysis indicate that many arguments are assessed as being weak, interconnected and even contradictory. It seems not possible to come to a conclusion and reach agreement in the discussion if the strengths of standardization outweigh the weaknesses. Thus, the discussion should be in the form of dialectic rather than debate. Acknowledging, understanding and addressing the various arguments in favour of and rejecting standardization, as well as their respective context, is essential when designing risk management regulations. Future research efforts are required to further explore when and how the risk management and risk governance processes can be standardized and the appropriate level of standardization.

Introduction

     Managing and governing risk is at the core of regulatory regimes covering land-use planning, process safety, occupational health and safety, security, environmental protection and many other technical disciplines and risk domains. The practices of risk-informed decision-making processes are implemented differently in different regulations. Some regulatory regimes require risk assessments to be performed and used for decision-making without defining how they should be conducted and used. Others are more standardized in terms of providing prescriptive requirements on key risk management components such as risk analysis methodologies, assumptions, modelling tools, data input, evaluation criteria, etc. Viewing the level of detail prescribed in risk management regulations as representing the level of standardization, highly prescriptive regulatory regimes then represent high level of standardization whereas regulations with lesser prescriptive requirements represent low level of standardization. Standardization in risk management regulations can be applied to individual elements of the risk management and risk governance processes (e.g. risk analysis) or the entire process.

Conclusions

     The main conclusions from this scoping study and argument analysis are that effects of standardization of risk management regulations are not widely covered in scientific literature and empirical evidence is largely lacking to support arguments advocating and opposing standardization of risk management regulations. Although not often underpinned by empirical evidence, there are, however, strong opinions and multiple arguments promoting and opposing standardization. Assessing if the strengths of standardization outweigh the weaknesses is subjective and highly contextual. Even if the argument analysis presented in this paper indicates that many of the arguments are labelled weak, they should not be disregarded since the arguments may be logically correct and intuitively reasonable even if they lack appropriate empirical backing in the particular publication(s).

Abstract

     This paper responds to the lack of empirical evidence on how enterprise risk management (ERM) and the financial performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are related. Structural equation modeling is used to explore new mediators in the relationship between ERM and SME financial performance. The results show that organizational culture (mission dimension) and strategic risk management performance are full and positive mediators between ERM and financial performance. These research results highlight the fact that the implementation of ERM in an enterprise does not by itself generate the expected effects without the existence of a mature organizational culture and the monitoring of strategic risk management performance. These findings are particularly relevant for SMEs with “pretend ERM” that lacks the strategic and operational components. ERM also helps to transform the negative effect of foreign capital in SME equity on financial performance into a positive effect.

Introduction

     Increasing levels of uncertainty call for proactive risk management in all organizations. The parallel crises triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic (Chakraborty and Maity 2020) and the military conflict in Ukraine have impacted most industries and businesses, unlike the Great Recession of the late 2000s, which primarily affected the financial sector (Gertler and Gilchrist 2018). Systematic risk has long been underestimated in advanced economies (Pagach and Wieczorek-Kosmala 2020). In such a situation, an intuitive assessment of risk outcomes, as often performed by smaller enterprises, is not enough (Grondys et al. 2021). Companies face new challenges and find it harder to maintain their profitability and competitiveness. Therefore, holistic enterprise risk management (ERM) is becoming increasingly important in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

     Nonfinancial SMEs are mostly unregulated. Thus, there is little pressure to implement a comprehensive risk management system. Nevertheless, in recent years, SMEs have started implementing formal risk management processes to increase their competitiveness (Wirahadi and Pasaribu 2022). ERM improves the quality of the information about enterprise risk profiles. The adoption of ERM reduces systematic risk. The purpose of ERM is to reduce the probability of losses and, therefore, reduce the need to borrow external resources, which positively impacts the expected cost of capital (Berry-Stölzle and Xu 2018).

Conclusion and implications

     Regarding the theoretical implications, this study reveals new mediators between ERM and the subjective financial performance of SMEs. The PLS-SEM method is suitable for analyzing complex relationships and testing causal relationships. Exploring indirect pathways can reveal consequential effects and help managers and owners understand various relationships. Complicated ERM indices (e.g., Gordon et al. 2009) are not suitable for the nonfinancial sector because the input variables for calculating such indices are difficult or impossible to obtain. The model works with the direct and indirect effects of ERM implementation. The indirect effects show the crucial role of organizational culture (mission dimension) and evaluations of strategic risk management performance in the relationship between ERM and the subjective financial performance of SMEs.

     From the management perspective, it is essential to establish functional and integrated processes for ERM implementation. ERM must be integrated with the organizational culture and the performance monitoring systems in the SME. Managers and owners should emphasize the functional implementation of ERM, not just a pretend ERM (Syrová and Špička 2022a) that lacks all the elements of an ERM approach. The ERM system must not be a “facade without the substance” that does not contribute to better planning and decision-making processes (Dvorski Lacković et al. 2022).

Abstract

     In Japan, telework is attracting renewed attention due to the government-led “work style reform”. The advent of COVID-19 in 2020 has led to the rapid spread of telework, and the current state of widespread use may be attributed to transient factors as a counter to the spread of COVID-19 infection. A current problem is that dealing with the emergence of risks has been postponed or overlooked because telework was hastily promoted and introduced even though sufficient preparations had not been made. In this work, we conducted a risk assessment from the viewpoints of both companies and employees to identify 28 risk factors and proposed countermeasures for these factors in order to make teleworking permanently safe and secure in the new normal era. The results revealed that the introduction of Mobile Device Management (MDM) to teleworking terminals is effective as the main countermeasure on the corporate side. The study also clarified that the establishment of various systems related to the telework environment and the use of cloud computing are effective as measures for both companies and employees. We also evaluated the effectiveness of the proposed risk measures in terms of risk values and found that these could be reduced by approximately 61%. Our findings will contribute to the safe and secure use of telework in the new normal era.

Abstract

1 Introduction

2 Related works

3 Methodology

4 Dataset information and predictors

5 Results

6 Discussions

7 Conclusions

Appendix A: The pseudocode of SVM-based classifier

Appendix B: The pseudocode of ANN-based classifier

Appendix C: The pseudocode of C4.5 DT

Appendix D: The pseudocode of RF

Appedix E: The pseudocode of bagging

Appendix F: The pseudocode of GB

Appendix G: Variables and definition

References

Abstract

     Exploring the value of multi-source information fusion to predict small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) credit risk in supply chain finance (SCF) is a popular yet challenging task, as two issues of key variable selection and imbalanced class must be addressed simultaneously. To this end, we develop new forecast models adopting an imbalance sampling strategy based on machine learning techniques and apply these new models to predict credit risk of SMEs in China, using financial information, operation information, innovation information, and negative events as predictors. The empirical results show that the financial-based information, such as TOC, NIR, is most useful in predicting SMEs’ credit risk in SCF, and multi-source information fusion is meaningful in better predicting the credit risk. In addition, based on the preferred CSL-RF model, which extends cost-sensitive learning to a random forest, we also present the varying mechanisms of key predictors for SMEs’ credit risk by using partial dependency analysis. The strategic insights obtained may be helpful for market participants, such as SMEs’ managers, investors, and market regulators.

Introduction

     The development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has attracted attention from scholars and practitioners over the globe. However, because of the tightening of credit criteria for corporate loans, SMEs are facing significant challenges, mainly including capital constraints, high operational costs, and ambiguous information (Yan & He, 2020). As a major component of the economy in China, SMEs contribute almost 90% of the number of enterprises, 80% of urban employment, 70% of GDP, 60% of technological innovation, and 50% of tax revenue (see https://www.ndrc.gov.cn/ for more detail). SMEs in China also face problems mainly including high financial distress, high financing costs, high operational risks, tightening financing channels, high fraud risks, and asymmetric financing information (Weng et al., 2016; Zhu et al., 2019).

     As a popular financing channel, supply chain finance (SCF) defined by Hofmann (2005) as the inter-firms optimization of financing and the integration of financing processes with customers, suppliers, and service providers to increase the value of all participating firms, has attracted attention from both practitioners and scholars alike. The Chinese government has developed some new financial policies to ease the financing pressure on SMEs, e.g., Promoting SME Development Plan (2016–2020), which seek to “promote more supply chains to join the financing service platform of SMEs”. Similar initiatives are underway in other countries and regions, such as the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, South Korea, Europe, and Mexico. SCF is also being used to promote the development of SMEs. For example, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is implementing a series of initiatives to address the financing problems of SMEs, including SCF.

Results and analyses

     To our best knowledge, this is the first study to consider the value of multi-source information fusion to predict the SMEs’ credit risk in SCF, and presents some managerial implications. We predict the credit risk of SMEs in SCF with an imbalance sampling strategy on machine learning techniques. Considering the value of multi-source information fusion in the big data era, we construct a broader knowledge base, including financial information, operation information, innovation information, and negative events, to predict the credit risk of SMEs in China, and develop new models to simultaneously solve for key predictor selection and imbalance classes. We then adopt six evaluation criteria to compare the prediction performances of the six machine learning techniques—SVM, NN, DT, RF, bagging, and GB—based on the data of VA and VS, respectively. We compare the results of new models via a re-sampling strategy for baseline models on VA and VS; the results indicate that the proposed CSL-RF model is optimal in terms of accuracy and robustness. The empirical results indicate that the financial-based information is the main source to predict SEMs’ credit risk in SCF, and the multi-source information fusion is meaningful. In addition, based on the preferred CSL-RF model, we also present the varying mechanisms of key predictors for SMEs’ credit risk by using partial dependency analysis. Finally, we generate strategic insights for market participants, such as regulators, investors, and managers.

Abstract

     Precision is the ultimate goal of safety management. Over the past few decades, technological advances and applications (e.g., advances and applications of information technology) in safety management and its research have given safety managers the ability to pursue and realize relatively precise safety management based on sufficient and precise safety information. It can be said that safety management has entered the precision era. Therefore, in the present and future, developing novel approaches to precise prevention and control of safety risks is an inevitable safety management trend. This paper proposed a new and promising approach to safety management called precision safety management (PSM). The main objective of this paper was to answer the following five basic questions regarding PSM from a theoretical perspective: (i) What is PSM? (ii) Why is it necessary to develop PSM? (iii) What are the relationships between PSM and other concepts? (iv) What does PSM do? (v) How does an organization use PSM? Additionally, this paper presented the application of the PSM approach to the precise prevention and control of safety risks in a chemical industrial park as a case study. The main contributions of this paper are a theoretical framework for PSM, and a practical case for PSM. This study can help researchers and practitioners understand PSM and lay the foundation for its future research and practice.

Introduction

     Accidents and disasters can lead to personal injury, social unrest, environmental pollution, and other negative effects (Rajeev et al., 2019). Safety is the bottom line that cannot be ignored in any industry. Safety management is a critical element of organizational management that effectively prevents and defuses safety risks (Wang et al., 2017). Therefore, safety management is a basic premise and necessary guarantee for social development.

     With the advent of the era of precision (Wang, 2018), the concept of precision has penetrated several fields and achieved significant results. Applications of precision include precision agriculture, precision governance, precision management, and precision medicine (Melgar-García et al., 2021, Wang, 2018, Allegaert and Simons, 2021). As an indispensable component of the social governance system, safety management should be considered from the perspective of precision. The rising challenges faced by safety management have become complex and diverse in the information age and place society at risk (Huang et al., 2018). Therefore, there has been significant discussion over the past few decades about how to improve safety management models based on traditional safety management concepts. The era of digital intelligence requires smart management and a smart society should attempt to improve safety risk governance. Therefore, traditional safety management concepts no longer meet the current development needs of the safety field. What safety management urgently requires in the era of precision is to develop an intelligent and precise prevention and control model for safety risks.

Conclusions

     The term “precision” is popular in several fields, including medicine, agriculture, and management. Since safety is the basic guarantee of social and national stability, safety management must progress rapidly and safety risk control must be developed in the direction of precision. This paper identified the current challenges and problems associated with safety management to motivate the urgent transformation of safety management modes. Inspired by the concept of precision, we proposed a novel effective safety management paradigm for the information age called PSM. We analyzed the definition, core, and main functions of PSM and other basic issues. Finally, a PSM model was developed to provide a clear operation framework and detailed research was conducted through a case study to promote the integration of theory and practice.

     From the perspective of safety information, PSM is the process of obtaining safety intelligence by collecting, analyzing, and processing safety information, and using safety intelligence to identify and control safety risks with a focus on improving the precision, accuracy, and validity of safety management work. The era of digital intelligence has introduced changes in thinking and technology related to safety management. PSM breaks out of the traditional safety management paradigm, broadens the vision and depth of safety management, and promotes the formation of intelligent and precise safety risk prevention and control through precise safety identification, precise safety prediction, precise safety decision, and precise safety execution to complement and improve upon traditional safety management systems. Overall, this study puts forward the concept of PSM and further improves the theory and practice of safety management by establishing a theoretical framework for PSM and providing a case study for its practice.

Abstract

     This paper investigates the possible nexus between the ‘risk-return paradox’ and corporate-governance of firms in a cross-country cross-cultural setup. We use corporate governance as well as accounting risk and return data for a large dataset of 45,322 firm-years from 27 countries and show that the firm-level risk-return association may be a non-linear one, contingent on the firm performance. Firms which are below the industry median in terms of operating performance, exhibit an inverse relation in line with Bowman’s (1980) ‘paradox’ while those above-median exhibit a positive risk-return association. Further, we establish empirically that such risk-return association could be due to the rent-seeking actions of managers and that strong corporate-governance in a firm substantially moderates and reverses these effects. Our results are robust and hold strong through a number of robustness tests.

Introduction

     Risk-return association in financial markets is typically expected to be positive, i.e., bearing higher risk is justified when expected returns are higher (Sharpe, 1964; Ghysels et al., 2005). This risk-return trade-off should also apply to firm-level strategic decisions that involve risks such as entering new markets, launching new products, and exploring new ways to prune costs. Therefore, to maximize shareholders’ wealth, managers may possibly undertake high-risk investments if they are expected to yield commensurate higher returns for shareholders (Chari et al., 2019). Thus, prior knowledge of such a risk-return association is critical from the perspective of firms and their stakeholders, especially managers. Our study draws its primary motivation from this premise.

     Bowman (1980) reports an interesting risk-return ‘paradox,’ or a negative correlation between accounting risk and return. This observation is counterintuitive to the generally accepted theory in traditional finance, as highlighted above (Sharpe, 1964; Ghysels et al., 2005). Since then, a series of empirical studies have presented possible theoretical and empirical explanations for this. ‘Prospect theory’ (Kahneman and Tversky, 1979), ‘behavioural theory’ (Cyert and March, 1963; Bromiley, 1991), ‘agency theory’ including ‘value-reducing risk-taking’ (Andersen et al., 2007; Chari et al., 2019), and ‘career concerns’ of managers (Dewatripont et al., 1999), to name a few. However, most of these studies draw their inferences based on US data. Whether Bowman’s ‘paradox’ is generalizable across different countries with wide inherent variability, to the best of our knowledge, has yet to be explored extensively. A few recent studies, such as Patel et al. (2018) and Dasgupta and Deb (2020), have used data from non-US countries to check the validity of the paradox. However, many potential dimensions of inherent variability, such as stages of economic growth, market cycles, legal systems, investor-protection rights, national culture, and various other firm-level heterogeneity are not controlled for in those studies. The current study draws its secondary motivation from this premise

Summary and conclusion

     This study explores the previously reported ‘risk-return paradox’ and examines whether the risk return relationship is contingent on measures of risk and return used, firm- or country-level heterogeneity, and market cycles. The study draws its primary motivation from the premise that prior knowledge of an established risk-return association is critical from the perspective of international firms. Such knowledge could help in shaping strategic decision-making processes involving risk or uncertainty, such as entering new markets, launching new products, and exploring new ways to prune costs. Managers need to undertake high-risk investments only if they yield commensurately higher returns for shareholders (Chari et al., 2019). We use accounting risk and return data from a sample of 45,322 firm-years from 27 countries, representing emerging and developed economies. We control for a large number of potential factors that may influence firm-level risk and return association. Using several univariate, multivariate, and robustness tests, we find evidence of a partial paradox in the risk-return association, which is contingent on the current level of firm performance. Firms that are below the median, in terms of performance, exhibit a negative (i.e., paradoxical) risk-return association primarily, while the firms that are above the median exhibit mostly a regular or positive risk-return relationship. These findings are in line with some other studies, a majority of which were in the context of US markets (Lehner, 2000; Becerra and Markarian, 2013; Holder et al., 2016).

Abstract

     This study tests the positive effects of empowering leadership (ELSH) under boundary conditions in the hospitality industry. We propose the existence of an interactive process through which ELSH behaviors interact with employees’ personality type to condition their engagement, which in turn influences their extra-role service behavior. We use data from 294 employees and structural equation modeling. The results show that the interaction of ELSH with employees’ independent and interdependent personality is negatively related to their engagement. This decrease in engagement is then reflected in decreased extra-role service behaviors due to the positive relationship between engagement and extra-role service. These findings suggest that self-construal is a significant boundary condition capable of changing the positive relationship between ELSH and engagement to a negative one. Not considering this relationship when establishing a leadership strategy such as ELSH in the hospitality context could render efforts to achieve the goal of high-quality service ineffective.

Introduction

     The battle for customers in the hospitality sector has been intensifying in recent years. The proliferation of digital lodging platforms, such as Airbnb, requires hotels to focus on what makes them unique relative to alternatives: professional service available to guests 24/7 that can adapt to their needs (Huertas-Valdivia et al., 2021). This effort to customize service focuses the industry’s interest on frontline employees’ capability to solve problems with autonomy and adapt their roles to provide personalized service (Jha and Nair, 2008, Zhu et al., 2019). Extra-role service includes a set of proactive employee behaviors, beyond the obligations of employees’ roles, that enable hotels to deliver guests service that aligns with their expectations (Garg and Dhar, 2016, Karatepe, 2015, Karatepe et al., 2013, Kim et al., 2009). Extra-role service is by definition a discretionary employee behavior (Bettencourt and Brown, 1997); that is, it is not specified as an in-role task or linked to formal compensation systems (Garg and Dhar, 2016). This combination (which is essential to being competitive but merely discretionary) justifies the industry’s interest in determining what underlies employees’ intention whether or not to engage in extra-role service (Huertas-Valdivia et al., 2018). Some authors have indicated that employee engagement sets in motion a process of internal motivation that makes employees willing to become involved in extra-role service (e.g., Karatepe, 2013a; Kim and Koo, 2017; Zhu et al., 2019). Achieving more engaged employees has thus been presented as a way to attain extra-role service (Orlowski et al., 2021).

Conclusions

     Research is currently identifying ELSH as a style that can solve some problems in the hospitality work environment. Our study tests the relationships among ELSH, engagement, and extra-role service under boundary conditions present in the work environment (the employee’s type of self-construal). Our analysis provides evidence of an interactive process in which leadership style and the employee’s personality shapes hotel service. Drawing on SCT, we find that the employee’s personality type acts as a boundary condition that determines the results of the process by which ELSH influences hotel employees’ engagement. We thus confirm that the interaction of ELSH with independent and interdependent employees’ self-construal becomes an obstacle to achieving engaged employees and, by extension, to reaping the benefits of ELSH’s positive influence on extra-role service. Our study ultimately warns of the need to consider employees’ personality profile before establishing ELSH as the means to promote increased engagement and extra-role service behaviors in hotels.

Abstract

     To succeed, a firm essentially needs to take the right amount of risk. Thus, the great significance of risk management has attracted many researchers to focus on how to implement enterprise risk management (ERM) systems most effectively. Generally, smaller entrepreneurial firms have to cope with this challenge more informally. Most manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are family companies; as a result, family dynamics greatly impact how such companies do business. The q-rung orthopair fuzzy set (q-ROFS) provides a wide window for the preference elicitation of decision-makers (DMs). Inspired by the advantages of the q-ROFS, in the current paper, a novel decision framework, the q-ROF-entropy-rank sum (RS)-additive ratio assessment (ARAS), called the “q-ROF-entropy-RS-ARAS” approach, is developed. The q-ROF-entropy-RS approach is applied to compute the weights of critical success factors (CSFs) for dynamic ERM in SMEs, and the q-ROF-ARAS model is used to assess enterprise preferences. An empirical case study is conducted to evaluate the CSFs for dynamic enterprise risk management in SMEs. Additionally, the comparison and sensitivity investigation are carried out to show the superiority of the developed framework.

Introduction

     In the current world, which is becoming increasingly digital, companies face several challenges in establishing and/or sustaining a competitive advantage in the market (Ganju et al., 2016; Rocha et al., 2016). Compared with conventional firms, responsive firms operate differently. Such companies are normally acquainted with dynamic, exponential, and disruptive thinking; through these experiences, they are made ready to adopt exponential growth (Ismail et al., 2014). How a company is structured and operates demonstrates its “Enterprise Risk Management (ERM)” system. As a result, to effectively manage risks, there is a need for constant alignment between the enterprise and its risk function (Knight, 1921), which could be achieved by incorporating ERM into the firm’s decision-support processes. ERM, as a decision support tool, could be effectively used by every company (with a focus on organizational processes) to manage the risks that may arise during business operations in the real environment (ISO, 2018). ERM is defined as a “process that combines the organization’s entire risk management activities in one integrated, holistic framework to achieve a comprehensive corporate perspective” (ISO, 2018). Currently, many firms use different ERM frameworks. Two popular risk frameworks are the ISO31000 and the “Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO)”. The COSO helps firms enhance the quality of their model in the management of risks well to satisfy the demand of an evolving business environment. By adopting the COSO, companies would be capable of further understanding the risks that affect the outcome of their business strategies and goals. ISO3100 is presently used as a best practice in risk management; it also incorporates the best practices of the COSO (ISO, 2018).

Conclusions

     Business communities and scholars working in this domain have become increasingly interested in ERM. Some previously-conducted studies have reported that despite the fact that ERM has received positive attention, it has not been extensively implemented yet. The literature still lacks research into the determinants of ERM and ERM CSFs. Most past studies have concentrated on issues related to large enterprises and ignored SMEs. Accordingly, the current study proposes an inclusive framework for the CSFs of ERM adoption in manufacturing SMEs. To analyze, rank, and evaluate the CSFs for dynamic ERM in SMEs, this study introduced an integrated q-ROF-entropy-RS-ARAS. To rank critical success factors for dynamic ERM in SMEs, the q-ROF-entropy-RS is utilized for determining the integrated weight values. Afterward, the q-ROF-ARAS is used to prioritize different enterprises with the CSFs for dynamic ERM in SMEs in this process. To show the usefulness of the presented method, a case study is discussed on the critical success factors identified to be effective in applying dynamic ERM in SMEs. The outcome of the assessment shows that the enterprise-IV (O4) with a utility degree of 0.7675 is the optimal choice for evaluating the CSFs for dynamic ERM in SMEs. To validation of the results of this study, a comparison is discussed between the performance of the presented approach and that of extant models. Finally, sensitivity analysis and comparison with some extant models have been presented to validate the robustness and stability of the obtained outcomes.

Abstract

     This study proposes a novel theoretical model on the negative effect of the perceived cognitive threat and fear of COVID-19 on full board hotel booking intentions, which includes the moderating effects of perceived coping efficacy and present-hedonism orientation. The model was tested with a representative online sample (N = 400) of the Spanish population older than 35 years. The results confirmed negative effects of threat and fear of COVID-19 on hotel booking intentions, as well as a negative moderating effect of perceived coping efficacy on the influence of fear of COVID-19. However, coping efficacy did not moderate the effect of perceived cognitive threat on hotel booking intentions. The present-hedonism orientation positively affected full board hotel booking intentions, but did not, however, reduce the negative effect of threat or fear on those intentions. The findings provide new insights for hospitality managers that can contribute to accelerate the recovery of the hospitality industry.

Introduction

     Health crises, such as outbreaks generated by infectious diseases, can have a significant negative impact on tourism (Pine and McKercher, 2004, Sánchez-Cañizares et al., 2020). In comparison to other pandemics, the SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19 pandemic has had unprecedented consequences on the tourism industry across the globe (Kock et al., 2020, Pillai et al., 2021). Health measures taken by governments to minimize the spread of the virus, such as lockdowns or quarantining, or people’s decisions to avoid public spaces for fear of contagion, have had unfortunate impacts on the hospitality industry (Gursoy and Chi., 2020). The hospitality sector has been globally one of the most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic (Rather, 2021, Sánchez-Cañizares et al., 2020, Yu et al., 2020). The present study focuses on Spain, which was the world’s second most-visited nation in the year before the pandemic started and is one of the European countries that has been strongly affected by the pandemic in terms of number of contagions and mortality rate (Hernández-López et al., 2021). Also, by 2020, the profitability of the Spanish hospitality industry had decreased 66% in comparison to the previous year (Statista, 2020). According to EY (2020), hospitality is one of the most important sectors in Spain due to its contribution to the country’s economy, representing 6.2% of the gross domestic product, which is a higher proportion than in most European countries. All-inclusive full board hotels are particularly popular in Spain. In 2019, almost 84 million foreign tourists visiting Spain stayed in a full board hotel (INE, 2020). These hotels are mainly used by leisure travelers for vacations, and they often include entertainment activities.

Results

     The correlations of all variables are shown in Table 2. The results confirmed a significant negative relationship between perceived threat from COVID-19 and booking intention (r = −0.44, p < .01), and a significant negative relationship between perceived fear of COVID-19 and booking intention (r = −0.33, p < .01). The results also confirmed a significant positive relationship between fear and threat (r = 0.57, p < .01), a significant positive relationship between perceived coping efficacy and booking intention (r = 0.18, p < .01), and a significant positive relationship between present-hedonism orientation and booking intention (r = 0.25, p < .01).