Industry Drivers Research Articles

Adoption of big data analytics practices for sustainability development in the e-commercesupply chain: a mixed-method study

PurposeThe study aims to identify the potential drivers of big data analytics (BDA) practices in the supply chain and develop a sustainability evaluation model to evaluate drivers of big data for sustainability development.Design/methodology/approachThe mixed-method approach was applied to assess sustainability dimensions and calculate the score using two phases. In Phase I, the BDA drivers in the e-commerce industry were finalised using the partial least square based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) method. In Phase II, a case study in the Indian fashion e-commerce industry was carried out to evaluate sustainability dimensions with respect to drivers of BDA and the sustainability score was calculated using the fuzzy analytical hierarchical process (AHP) method.FindingsThe index for economic sustainability (0.220), social sustainability (0.142) and environmental sustainability (0.182) were derived. The higher index value of economic sustainability compared to social sustainability and environmental sustainability signified those drivers of big data bring social and environmental uncertainty along with economic sustainability.Research limitations/implicationsThe study will help practitioners promote BDA use for developing environmental/social/economic sustainability in supply chains. Policymakers must ensure whether the integration of BDA practices brings down cost and brings strategic value for ensuring big data success. The study will help managers decide a constant trade-off between the requirement for social, environmental and economic performance.Originality/valueThe study corroborates and adds to the BDA literature by emphasising the positive role of BDA in sustainability development in the supply chain area and highlighting the significant role of different drivers of BDA in sustainability development.

Filling the gaps Circular transition of affordable housing in Denmark

The building industry accounts for about 40% of all climate impacts, stemming from construction and renovation processes, use of buildings and demolition, disposal and recycling of buildings and building materials. The Danish Parliament passed a Danish Climate Act in 2020 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 70% by 2030, and an action plan in 2021 to create a Circular Economy (CE) in DK that can support the achievement of climate neutrality by 2050. About 20% of the Danish housing stock is affordable housing with approx. 560.000 affordable housing homes, inhabited by nearly 1 million out of 5.8 million people. In 2020 the Danish Government decided on the most significant overall housing agreement to set aside EUR 5,5 billion for ‘Green renovations’ and the building of new affordable housing. Building and renovating affordable housing in Denmark can thus become significant drivers for the Danish building industry’s transition to CE. Therefore, developing integrated tools and methodologies for life cycle thinking and CE assessment for the built environment is necessary. We have identified four significant gaps in this endeavour in a previously released literature review: For CE to succeed, it is necessary to take a circular view of the life cycle of buildings, which includes the service life phase, the reuse phase and the recycle phase; To achieve CE, it is necessary to continue research regarding the possibilities of integrating Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Life Cycle Cost (LCC) and Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) into Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA); S-LCA needs further maturation and development; It is imperative to focus upon operationalising LCSA for practitioners in all phases of a building’s life cycle. This paper aims to outline a strategy for analysing and discussing these four gaps and their interrelation in-depth and suggest an action research proposal to understand better how to bridge the gaps from a research perspective.

Variations and its driven factors of anthropogenic nitrogen loads in the Yangtze River Economic Belt during 2000-2019.

Since the millennium, China has economically taken off with rapid urbanization, and anthropogenic nitrogen emission intensity has undergone remarkable changes. To better understand the impact of urbanization on anthropogenic nitrogen, this study calculated the spatio-temporal heterogeneity of anthropogenic nitrogen in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) since 2000, based on the estimation, using obstacle analysis to quantify the driving of industry and agriculture on N growth and using the gray model to analyze the impact of urbanization on N changes. Additionally, using the environmental pressure model to predict the future N load. The results indicated N load in the YREB increased rapidly from 21.4 Tg in 2001 to a peak of 24.5 Tg in 2012 and then decreased to 22.2 Tg in 2019. Although N flux gradually increased from the west to the east of the YREB, the growth rate had an opposite trend with a negative growth in the eastern region. Hotspots are mainly concentrated in urban agglomerations, which contributed to ~ 60% N load of the YREB, and the YREB contributed to ~ 90% N load of the Yangtze River Basin. Obstacle degree scores indicated wastewater was a major industrial driver of N growth before 2010, and then became waste gas; increased mechanization and fertilizer control effectively reduced nitrogen emissions during agricultural development. The gray analysis of urbanization indicated urban population, industry, and services had the strongest correlation with N load changes. Scenario simulations suggest N loads of the YREB remain at a high level by 2030; however, there are still opportunities to effectively control N growth through high technological innovation and reducing the proportion of industry under an enormous population. This research contributes to a better understanding of the impact of urbanization on anthropogenic nitrogen and helps developing countries to precisely control nitrogen hotspots and sources.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11356-022-21943-y.

Unlocking private investment as a new determinant of green finance for renewable development in China

The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed up the green finance for renewable energy development. Private investment has been recognized as a dominant driver of the renewable energy industry, an essential and critical step in averting greenhouse gas emissions. Nonetheless, despite the increasing pace, private investment in green finance for renewable development is still restricted to several developed nations, where it is crucial. Prior studies have offered some understanding of the complexities and challenges that investment confronts in this industry, which remains underexplored in the case of China. This study employs the ARDL-PMG model used to examine the public listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen during China's 2010–2020 period. This research adds to the body of knowledge by rigorously examining the variables on FDI in renewable energy production in China and how these effects differ depending on the source of investment. Some of these factors include the adoption of national renewable energy legislation, the supply of foreign public money, and the broader economic environment. The findings indicate that worldwide financial assistance, legislative support policies, feed-in tariffs, and economic stability are potent drivers of green finance for developing renewable energy investment in China. Further, this research explains that the impacts of private sector investment and entrepreneurial contextual factors on expenditure vary depending on the source of finance, emphasizing the importance of dissecting investment spreads to fully comprehend private investment decisions in green finance for renewable development.

Why as-a-service operating models are the future of banking technology

Service-oriented technology operating models and cloud-based solutions such as Software as-a-Service (SaaS) and Platform as-a-Service (PaaS) are transforming enterprise business. These operating models shift the onus from traditional ownership of software and technology from the datacentre upwards to a model where hardware and software are consumed on a pay-per-use basis. Providers host and maintain the infrastructure and application from the ground up, simplifying the landscape for customers. ‘As-a-service’ is used to collectively describe these new consumption models, which are poised to deliver a paradigm shift in the capital markets industry, enabling Trading Systems as-a-Service. This paper gives the reader an insight into how market trends have evolved around the adoption of as-a-service offerings and where the market sees them heading. The industry drivers behind the shift will be explored and how it maps to parts of the capital markets organisation. The paper also outlines best practices for achieving this shift, including transforming the way business processes are structured and overcoming potential pitfalls during the journey. The overall aim is to help the reader look at their own organisation from a transformational perspective and determine how to begin the shift to as-a-service.

Facilitating systemic eco‐innovation to pave the way for a circular economy: A qualitative‐empirical study on barriers and drivers in the European polyurethane industry

AbstractScholars, politicians, and practitioners have recently advocated that eco‐innovation (EI) is critical to achieve the circular economy (CE) vision. While much of the available body of knowledge on EI has predominantly focused on “eco‐efficient” incremental technological innovation, a successful CE transition requires systemic “eco‐effective” CE innovation. Yet, little is known about what barriers and drivers are stimulating systemic CE innovation in different sectors and regions. This research aims to deliver an identification of major CE barriers and drivers that impede or facilitate systemic “eco‐effective” CE innovation in the European polyurethane plastics industry. A hybrid research approach is applied using an original combination of the inductive GABEK method (“GAnzheitliche BEwältigung von Komplexität”—holistic processing of complexity) with deductive consideration of existing theories. Novel findings indicate that barriers to CE innovation largely materialize on individual firm and intra‐industrial levels, while drivers to CE innovation primarily manifest beyond immediate industrial boundaries (inter‐/cross‐industrial). The key contribution lies on revealing the necessity to reframe the focus from mere individual “optimization”, which has been primarily discussed in the contemporary EI literature, to a collective (horizontal) “coordination” challenge across industries to enable a functional CE innovation. In addition, five strategic deliberations are proposed to facilitate and further advance the management of systemic CE innovation activities.

​Online Purchase of Food Products in Bangalore City- Preferences and Constraints

Background: Electronic commerce of food products has a very important role to play in creating consistent demand for farmers’ products and linking farmers directly to final consumers. The preference of consumers toward online purchases is one of the most important drivers of the e-commerce industry. The objective of the current study is to examine the preference and constraints of online purchase of food products from consumers’ perspectives in Bangalore city of India. Methods: In this study primary cross-section data were collected using a pre-tested schedule between February and May of 2019 from different localities of Bangalore city including Mahadevapura, Sanjaynagar, Jayanagar, etc where most of the online shoppers of food products were located to have a fair demonstration of different socio-economic strata. Descriptive statistics along with principal component analysis were adopted as research methods. Result: The study revealed that home delivery, wide availability of products and the ability to compare prices of products were among the most influencing factors toward the online purchase of food products online along with convenience and saving time. On the other hand, perishability of products, problematic return policy, limited sensory information and security of information were limitations of online purchase of food products in Bangalore city.

Pengaruh Ulasan Konsumen pada Media Sosial Twitter Terhadap Keputusan Pembelian di Shopee

The development of the digital era in Indonesia has caused the internet to become a necessity for the Indonesian people. This makes Indonesia one of the largest online markets in Southeast Asia, with e-commerce as the main industry driver. Behind this high development, consumer behavior can be an important component in understanding business trends or business opportunities for business owners on e-commerce platforms. In addition, the dissemination of information on microblog services can be quickly spread, and this information can be easily searched by typing keywords or keywords from the information to be searched. In addition, the number of Twitter users in Indonesia has been at the top of the microblogging social media platform category in recent years. The purpose of this study is to explain how the influence of consumer reviews on Twitter social media on purchasing decisions at Shopee partially and simultaneously. The findings in this study were obtained using a quantitative method with a deductive type of research by distributing questionnaires to 385 respondents. Data processing using IBM SPSS Statistics software version 25, ranging from validity and reliability tests to data analysis techniques using multiple linear regression analysis techniques. The results of this study provide a quantitative description and show that behavioral perceptions, subjective norms, peer communication, emotional support, and parasocial interactions each have a positive and significant effect on purchasing decisions at Shopee Indonesia

Driving factors for lean-BIM implementation in Malaysia’s construction industry: qualitative interview-based study

PurposeThe synergy of lean construction and building information modelling (BIM) is an important change and transformation driver in the construction industry. It adds value and increases the productivity of construction processes. However, the implementation of lean-BIM in Malaysia is still lacking despite the accelerating BIM adoption rate. This study, therefore, aims to explore factors that potentially drive construction players to adopt lean-BIM for construction projects.Design/methodology/approachExploratory interviews were conducted with five construction players knowledgeable in lean and BIM to identify the driving factors for them to implement lean-BIM. Respondents were obtained through the snowball sampling technique, initiated by approaching a government agency that oversees Malaysia's construction industry. Findings were then analysed using thematic analysis.FindingsFindings have shown that four driving factors for construction players initiating the use of lean-BIM in construction projects are (1) top management support, (2) standardisation (3) comprehensive training and (4) financial support.Research limitations/implicationsDue to the exploratory nature of this study and the chosen research design, the conclusions cannot be generalised but can become the indicators for lean-BIM future works in Malaysia or any other developing countries.Practical implicationsThe insights from this study provide preliminary indicators for driving the adoption of lean-BIM. This discovery may also help construction companies and policymakers plan appropriate initiatives or strategies to present the need for lean-BIM further development in Malaysia.Originality/valueThe findings are expected to contribute to the lean-BIM research in terms of the demographic context, particularly in Malaysia and possibly assist lean and BIM researchers, practitioners and policymakers in developing countries' perspective.

Antecedents of Customer Loyalty Using Social Exchange Theory in Building Customer Loyalty in the Coffee Shops

Visiting coffee shops has become a trend and culture in Indonesian society, especially in Greater Jakarta (Jabodetabek). It results in a rapidly growing coffee shop industry with high competition. Many local and international coffee shops are expanding its store in Greater Jakarta. Many previous studies have examined the factor affecting customer loyalty before and during the pandemic period. With the better condition of pandemics and significant reduction of social restriction, this study aims to analyze the factor affecting customer loyalty. Service quality, store atmosphere, price fairness, and customer satisfaction are those factors. An SEM path analysis is used to examine the four hypotheses that have been proposed. The findings show that service quality, store atmosphere, and price fairness affect customer satisfaction. Also, customer satisfaction has an effect on customer loyalty. The findings also support that service quality is a significant driver in the coffee shop industry in Greater Jakarta.

Identifying Early Warning Signals from News Using Network Community Detection

The paper addresses the challenge of accelerating identification of changes in risk drivers in the insurance industry. Specifically, the work presents a method to identify significant news events ("signals") from batches of news data to inform Life & Health insurance decisions. Signals are defined as events that are relevant to a tracked risk driver, widely discussed in multiple news outlets, contain novel information and affect stakeholders. The method converts unstructured data (news articles) into a sequence of keywords by employing a linguistic knowledge graph-based model. Then, for each time window, the method forms a graph with extracted keywords as nodes and draws weighted edges based on keyword co-occurrences in articles. Lastly, events are derived in an unsupervised way as graph communities and scored for the requirements of a signal: relevance, novelty and virality. The methodology is illustrated for a Life & Health topic using news articles from Dow Jones DNA proprietary data set, and assessed against baselines on a publicly available news data set. The method is implemented as an analytics engine in Early Warning System deployed at Swiss Re for the last 1.5 years to extract relevant events from live news data. We present the system's architectural design in production and discuss its use and impact.

A novel solution for addressing the problem of soiling and improving performance of PV solar systems

The adoption of photovoltaic (PV) solar technology for power generation is one of the fastest growing sources of renewable energy. In recent years, significant cost reductions of PV modules and rising global demand for energy have been key drivers of the solar industry’s exponential growth. While the majority of research into improving efficiency of solar systems has focused on increasing power output, adverse effects of environmental factors on system performance have largely been neglected. The accumulation of dirt on panel surfaces, known as soiling, can significantly reduce the power generated by PV systems due to blocking the Sun’s irradiation from PV cells. Despite drawbacks associated with mitigating soiling, including wasteful water consumption and the risk of panel damage, such strategies must be implemented in order to maintain system performance and reduce financial losses. This report proposes a new innovation to address the problem of soiling, designed by Kirchner Solar Group, by inverting panels at night and using of natural condensation to remove dirt settlement without causing abrasion to panel surfaces. Known as ‘NightFlip’, this solution has been designed to be an intrinsic, self-cleaning feature that reduces the impact of soiling without using water. A prototype was built to evaluate the real-world performance of the system. Data was recorded for the prototype when operating alongside a standard system, and the extent to which system performance was improved is analyzed.

COVID-19 and firm value drivers in the tourism industry

Using an international sample of 1315 observations for 194 listed tourism firms from 2012 to 2019, we investigate the impact on firm value of DuPont components, namely asset turnover and profit margin. Next, using an event study methodology, we analyze how these components are associated with the stock market reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic announcement. The results indicate that over 2012–2019, the association of performance with firm value is mostly driven by tourism companies' ability to become more efficient with their asset base, while both profitability and productivity levels are significant predictors of firm value one year ahead. Abnormal returns surrounding the pandemic announcement appear to be more negative for more productive firms, while the latter enjoyed a stronger recovery.

The cost of sustainable palm oil: Should an Indonesian smallholder pursue RSPO-certification?

• Economic drivers of palm oil industry in Indonesia. • Environmental impacts of land-use change. • Sustainability certification schemes, specifically those managed by the RSPO.

The state of play regarding the social sustainability of the construction industry: a systematic review

The social dimensions of sustainability’s three bottom lines are often overlooked in the construction industry. This is despite attempts to find optimal trade-offs between economic growth, environmental impacts, human health and well-being, as well as social considerations. This study reviews the literature on social sustainability (SS) within the construction arena, identifies research gaps and proposes a forward-looking research agenda. This critical review employes the ‘Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses’ (PRISMA) technique to retrieve secondary data on SS from available academic, government and industry documents. The literature analysis focuses on seven themes: (1) definition of SS, (2) the theoretical dimensions of SS, (3) primary stakeholders, (4) policy and guidelines, (5) major SS performance indicators, (6) barriers to SS uptake in the construction industry, and (7) SS drivers in the construction industry. The review identifies primary stakeholders and proposes a list of assessment criteria that can be used by the construction industry in measuring progress towards SS. The study proposes a conceptual model that maps out key stakeholders, the major barriers, and enablers of SS in construction projects. The findings will support the development of SS guidelines specific to the construction industry in Australia as well as overseas.

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES AS A CONDITION FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE TOURISM SECTOR OF THE ECONOMY OF UKRAINE

The article is devoted to highlighting the use of digital technologies as a condition for the development of the tourism sector of Ukraine's economy. Accordingly, the purpose of the research is to analyze the specifics of the use of digital technologies as a condition for the development of the tourism sector of Ukraine's economy. Methodology. The methodological basis of the study was a systematic analysis and specifically scientific methods: systematization, generalization, testing of theoretical knowledge during the study. In the course of the research the author established the main conditions and factors of development of the tourism sector of the economy of Ukraine. At the same time, the author notes that tourism was one of the sectors most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which seriously affects the economy, people's livelihoods, public services and limits the range of opportunities throughout Ukraine. It was proved that in the conditions of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic and periodic introduction of quarantine measures in all regions of Ukraine, it is expedient to use interactive information technologies to promote the improvement of the tourist image. To this end, the results of a study on the distribution of online sales by segments of the tourism market. It is also established that today the tourism industry is actively implementing technologies to further improve the service, including hotels and transport companies successfully using online booking systems and various mobile applications. The author emphasizes that interactive information technologies presented in the field of tourism can be systematized on the basis of two key factors: the physical presence or absence of the tourist who uses them in the tourist destination, and the system of motivation to achieve intermediate or final goal. The results and proposals of the author in this article are primarily related to the fact that the use of interactive technologies can serve as a new driver of the tourism industry of Ukraine, allowing to create new competitive advantages in the region and differentiate based on personalized approach and customer orientation. Also, the development of tourism in Ukraine should be accompanied by consistent actions to overcome the conditions and factors that cause dissatisfaction of the population, and create new opportunities to improve the quality and quality of life, preservation and development of human capital.

Harnessing AI for business development: a review of drivers and challenges in Africa

An accumulating body of research has demonstrated that artificial intelligence (AI) is an indistinguishable feature of the fourth industrial revolution. This study integrates the literature on AI and new technologies to examine the constraining and facilitating forces for developing and scaling-up AI-enabling technologies in Africa. This article proposes an integrated conceptual model to elucidate the range of external drivers encompassing global competitive drivers, and market and industry drivers. The internal drivers include the potential to enhance product development speed, improve quality, drive production cost down, and minimise errors and manual processes in organisations. The barriers identified include institutional dysfunction, poor infrastructure to support development of large-scale AI, lack of skilled AI experts, and lack of access to latest technologies in the regional population. The public policy implications for Africa as the potential next frontier market for AI development are discussed alongside contributions to theory.

A Clustering Approach to Identify High-Risk Taxi Drivers Based on Self-Reported Driving Behavior

This study aimed to evaluate the driving behavior of taxi drivers in Isfahan, Iran, and assess the probability of a driver being among the high-risk taxi drivers. To identify risky driving behaviors among taxi drivers, the Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ) was used. By collecting data from 548 taxi drivers, exploratory factor analysis identified the significant components of DBQ including “Inattention errors,” “Inexperience errors,” “Lapses,” “Ordinary violations,” and “Aggressive violations.” K-means clustering was conducted to cluster taxi drivers into three risk groups of low-risk, medium-risk, and high-risk taxi drivers based on their self-reported annual traffic crashes and fines. In addition, logistic regressions identified the extent to which drivers’ crashes and traffic fines are related to their driving behavior, and therefore, what aberrant driving behaviors are more important in explaining the presence of taxi drivers in the high-risk cluster. The results revealed that the majority of participants (66.78%) were low-risk taxi drivers. Aggressive violations and ordinary violations were significant predictors of taxi drivers being in the high-risk group, while inattention errors and aggressive violations were significant predictors of being in the medium/high-risk cluster. The findings from this study are valuable resources for developing safety measures and training for new drivers in the taxi industry.

A review of the literature on innovation in the agrofood industry: sustainability, smartness and health

PurposeFollowing the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, the main challenge for the agrofood sector is to innovate food production, offering sustainable, smart and safe solutions. The future of food production will be oriented more and more towards sustainable industries with high technological content to guarantee food safety and food security. It implies that a change not only in the way food is conceived, but also in the way it is produced, processed and consumed is needed. The aim of the present study is to investigate the role of innovation, sustainability, smartness and health within the agrofood industry.Design/methodology/approachA literature review was conducted using 596 academic documents written in English language and published in peer-reviewed scientific journals as well as in conference proceedings. The relevant articles were analyzed using both a bibliometric and a systematic approach.FindingsThe results confirm the role of innovation and sustainability as key drivers in the food industry. The main findings concern the benefits deriving from the adoption of digital technologies, the ever-increasing involvement of consumers in health and environmental issues and the introduction of the open innovation concept in the agrofood industry.Originality/valueThis study jointly considers the dimensions of innovation, sustainability, smartness and health in the agrofood sector, demonstrating how they are strongly interdependent.

From Disembedding to Digital Re-Embedding: Social Media Empowerment and Solidarity Practices of Chinese Truck Drivers

In China, truck drivers in the logistics industry have used social media to form various networked organizations for mutual assistance and protection of rights and interests. This study examines the organizational practices of Chinese truck drivers on social media (i.e., WeChat and Douyin). Using online communities, Chinese truck drivers have constructed a new type of solidarity that includes virtual and practical dimensions. Social media empowerment has expanded the social capital of truck drivers, promoting social integration and resource redistribution. This online self-organization provides a reference for collaborative governance among self-employed workers who want to promote professional solidarity. However, our findings also indicate that combating the exploitation of digital labor on capital platforms is fundamentally difficult for organized labor groups.