Major Industries Research Articles

Tata Sons and the Battle for Control: A Case Study of Family, Trusts, and Shareholders

With activities in more than 80 countries and a presence in seven major industries, the Tata Group is one of India's biggest and most prestigious commercial empires. Unlisted and with a complicated ownership structure, Tata Sons is the holding company of the Tata Group. In this case study, we'll look at the circumstances that led to Cyrus Mistry being fired as chairman of Tata Sons and the establishment of a committee to pick his replacement. This case sheds light on ownership structure and power dynamics in major firms play a major role in the complex and dynamic character of industrial relations. Moreover, the situation involving Cyrus Mistry and Tata Sons demonstrates how negotiating may be useful in labor relations. Mistry and Tata Sons reached a resolution through negotiation. Understanding the complexities of labour relations in big businesses is crucial, as demonstrated by this case. The instance illustrates how negotiation, ownership, and power may all have an impact on how workplace interactions are shaped. Companies that want to maintain successful and stable labour relations must be aware of these variables and ready to manage them. Mistry appealed the decision in court after being let go. A settlement was eventually reached after a three-year judicial struggle between Mistry and Tata Sons.

Institutions and industry-level employment creation: an empirical analysis of the US metro-level data

AbstractA growing strand of literature relates pro-market institutions to business and overall employment creation. However, the effects of pro-market institutions on industry-specific employment creation still need to be better understood. Employment creation in some industries may be more sensitive to pro-market institutions. Moreover, if these industries employ a large proportion of the population, the role of local-level institutions becomes more critical for boosting employment creation across industries. Therefore, we disentangle the effects of local-level pro-market institutions on employment creation across nine major industries by using 5-year balanced panel data of 374 US metropolitan areas from 1972 to 2017. Our fixed-effects results indicate that pro-market institutions boost employment creation only in the manufacturing, retail, and construction sectors. Furthermore, our findings reveal that local public policies can benefit or harm local employment creation, depending on the concentration of industries in the area.

The Effect of Political Connections and Family Ownership on Operating Cash Flows Management: Empirical Evidence from Egypt

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the effect of political connections and family ownership Each separately and the interactive effect between them on cash flows management. Design/Methodology/Approach: To analyze the research hypotheses, the author used a panel data model by ordinary least squares' Depending on historical data from 72 active non-financial firms listed on the Egypt Stock Exchange during the period of 2012-2019. The final data set comprises a total 576 firm-year observations from twelve major non-financial industry classifications. Findings: The current study found that there is a Positive impact of family ownership on cash flow management, and there is a positive relationship between political connections and cash flows management while there is a negative relationship between family firms with political connections and cash flows management. Research limitations/Implications: This research is limited to dealing with direct family ownership structures and does not deal with indirect family ownership. Likewise, this research does not deal with the political connections in companies that arise through direct government ownership. Also, this research was limited to using linear regression analysis that did not address nonlinear regression or the structural equation model to examine the effect of family ownership and political connections on cash flows management. Practical implications: Practitioners such as investors and lenders dealing with companies in the Egyptian capital market, which is considered one of the emerging markets with low protection for small investors, benefit from the results of this study due to the impact of family ownership and political connections when making their investment decisions. At the same time, the study helps provide important information about the business environment and conditions. Investing in developing countries like Egypt. Originality/Value: The current study contributes to the literature by showing that different characteristics of companies such as family ownership and political connections can produce different consistent results between an emerging and developed economy, especially in the area of cash flows management. As this is the first study to analyze these relationships in the financial market in Egypt, where the study demonstrates the important role of the impact of political connections and family ownership separately, in addition to the joint effect of political connections and family ownership on cash flows management through empirical evidence.

Can Measurement Error Explain Slow Productivity Growth in Construction?

Of all major industries, construction is the only one to have registered negative average productivity growth since 1987. One might suspect measurement error to have biased growth downward since the deflators for this sector, which are used to translate nominal construction spending into the real quantity of structures, have risen much faster than those for other sectors. We find evidence of an upward bias in these deflators related to unobserved improvements in structure quality, but the magnitude is not large enough to alter the view that construction-sector productivity growth has been weak. We also find only small contributions from other potential sources of measurement error. We conclude that productivity growth may well have been quite low in construction, even if it has not been as low as implied by official statistics.

Impacts of Nanofluids and Nanomaterials on Environment and Human Health: A Review

Abstract: The terms nanoscience and nanotechnology are associated with almost every major industry in today’s fast growing and fast-moving world. Along with the intense growth of nanotechnology, an extensive number of newer formulations developed to contribute to the futuristic demands. Nanofluid is a fluid containing nanometre sized particles which enhance the particular properties of that liquid designed for a particular purpose. From automobiles to simple cosmetics, the use of nanotechnology has significantly increased productivity and effectiveness. As every coin has two sides, the advancement of nanotechnology is a boon, but it is also leading to future disasters. Nanofluids have extensive applications in today’s life. The use of nanofluids has increased significantly. For example, without lubricants, the heavy industrial machinery or common automobile like bicycle, car and truck, their efficiency will reduce to a massive extent. Nanofluids are found in the forms of cosmetics and detergents in every household. As nanofluids have become an essential part of human life, for which nanoparticals, get easily released and disposed of into the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere. This alarming rate of release and disposal of nanoparticles leads to environmental pollution and imbalance in the biosphere. This imbalance and high rate of emission of nanoparticles in the atmosphere is eventually entering the interstitium and thus affect the lungs and other organ systems. This study aims to highlight the major effects of nanoparticles on the environment and human health.

Veganomics: Current Status and Challenges

Products introduced as vegan are recognized by consumers as ethical consumption that protects animals and the environment, so they are becoming a trend in recent marketing strategies. However, consumers are confused by the claim that veganism consumption is not environmentally friendly, contrary to consumers' perception of animal protection and environmental protection. Vegan leather, which appeared as an alternative to natural leather, emits harmful substances during the manufacturing and disposal process, is less durable than natural leather, and has a shorter lifespan, resulting in a problem of fast fashion. Substitute meat is emerging as a food of the future due to environmental problems caused by raising livestock. However, considerable carbon is generated during the production of substitute meat, and there is a problem in verifying the safety of fiber materials such as various additives used during the production process. In the case of vegan cosmetics, they use only eco-friendly ingredients derived from nature instead of animal ingredients and do not test on animals, so the impact on the environment is minimal. Overall, bigonomics products generate relatively less environmental pollutants and cause less environmental pollution, but there are still limitations to be overcome. It is thought that the limitations of bigonomics can be overcome through social collective practice such as education and investment in parallel with individual practice in daily life. Furthermore, I think that if there is a correct understanding of vegannomics and communication about its value, the vegan industry will be able to take its place as a major industry in society. In this review, the current status of bigonomics in the food, cosmetics, and fashion industries, which are being developed by consumers' ethical consumption, is reviewed and prospects are presented. This review will help set the direction in each industry pursuing vigenomics.

Application and development of artificial intelligence in environmental health

In recent years, major industries have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, and people have become more aware of issues such as environmental health. The development of computer programs, artificial intelligence (AI), has gradually entered the vision of researchers. The product of this technology can help people better manage and improve the current environmental conditions. This paper, through a method of literature review, aims to explain the development history of AI and its application in different fields such as the environment. Through the research, the paper concludes that artificial intelligence can observe in real time for long periods of time without getting tired like humans do. Based on the application of big data analysis and intelligent programs, artificial intelligence can make reasonable plans in a much shorter time than human beings. However, the solution is only based on the operation of the system. In the actual situation, there will be many obstacles. Therefore, it is still necessary for humans to make judgments based on the results of an operation rather than relying entirely on artificial intelligence. Complicated weather conditions can also make the results of the calculation inaccurate. So there will still be a need to evolve computer programs or for artificial intelligence to be able to calibrate the data it is monitoring from the past.

Evaluation of field labor and management productivity in the USA construction industry

PurposeThe health of an economy is heavily dependent on the productivity of the economy's major industries including construction. While most macro-measures of productivity in the USA construction industry indicate a decline, corresponding studies at the individual task level indicate an increase in productivity. Therefore, this paper aims to identify areas where productivity challenges exist and thus provide recommendations for improvement in the construction industry.Design/methodology/approachA model that relates the way construction projects are executed with the sources of data that inform productivity analyses is developed and presented. This effort/value-flow model informs the data analysis that is performed to determine productivity trends for management and field labor. Further analysis for field labor productivity using field data and management productivity was separately conducted. Management productivity was particularly difficult to gauge, resulting in the use of surrogate measures.FindingsIt was observed that while both field labor and management productivities at the industry level have been decreasing, the decrease in management productivity was five times that of field labor productivity. A similar trend was observed for management productivity at the project level.Originality/valueThe primary contribution of this paper to the body of knowledge and industry is the introduction of a holistic analysis of USA construction productivity. Recommendations to improve management productivity include the use of technology, especially project management software.

Questioning the business model of sustainable wine production: The case of French “Vallée du Rhône” wine growers

This study develops and examines novel insights into attitudes and behaviours concerning sustainable wine production and the Business Model (BM) concepts surrounding them. It employs multi-methods – two focus groups, survey (n = 350) and seven in-depth interviews. The aim is to analyse sustainable wine production and consumption in a specific context in order to better understand challenges, opportunities and expectations facing wine producers and the conditions in which they operate. Equally, the paper identifies emerging trends in the sustainable value chain. This research is highly important as the wine industry constitutes a major global industry with substantial environmental impacts. The research findings show the need for: integrated strategic vision; diversification into wine-related services; and marketing communications to inform and educate consumers, in line with BM innovation. Given the current paucity of research in this field, the present study provides novel and valuable insights and implications for business managers, policy makers and scholars.

Integration degree of China’s the new development pattern of dual circulation and industrial green development

The long-standing development pattern dominated by international circulation makes China face the risk of "low-end lock-in" and "being decoupling". In addition, the current global climate change and environmental crisis are becoming increasingly severe, coupled with the COVID-19 impact. Chinese enterprises must actively build a green development system for domestic industries in a mutually reinforcing manner in the context of the domestic general circulation, in order to adapt to the new dual circulation environment as soon as possible. This paper analyzes the specific coupling and coordination relationship between the two systems based on the relevant data of China’s three major industries from 2008–2014 using Index DEA, entropy value method, gray correlation analysis and coupling coordination model. The results of the study show that: the two systems of dual circulation pattern and industrial green development have a strong correlation and basically present a coupling relationship, but within the industry, there is a problem of the collapse of the tertiary industry. In terms of the type of coupling, the domestic and international circulation in general gradually present the green development leading state, except for the primary industrial segment of the international circulation. On the whole, the coupling quality of the two systems needs to be further improved. Based on this, this paper puts forward the following suggestions: (1) coordinate the internal and external development of the industry; (2) take innovation as the driving force to promote the green transformation of industries; (3) take green sharing as the goal to strengthen the policy orientation of green development; (4) take the opportunity of mutual promotion of dual circulation to stabilize the steady state of green development coupling.

Impact of Pitch Modification on Anode Properties: Effect of Additive Type.

Aluminum is one of the major industries in Canada. The main challenges facing the aluminum industry are carbon loss, energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, cell performance, and production costs, especially for high-amperage cells. The quality of carbon anodes plays a major role in the stability of cell operation and energy consumption. Anodes are made from petroleum coke, rejected green and baked anodes and butts, as well as coal tar pitch, which binds all of the particles. Although the industry depends on a steady supply of high-quality anodes, the availability of quality anode raw materials-coke and pitch-has decreased. A means of improving raw material quality is to modify their properties. In this work, using two additives, low- and high-quinoline insoluble (LQI and HQI) pitches were modified. These additives enrich the surface functional groups of the pitch, thereby increasing coke-pitch interactions. Various additive concentrations and pitch percentages were assessed. It is found that the choice of additive type has a marked effect on pitch properties, with different additives improving different pitches. Additive 1 is suitable for the HQI pitch, whereas additive 2 modifies the LQI pitch better. Anode properties are improved by modifying one of the pitches, whereas modifying the other pitch affects the anode quality to a lesser extent. Thus, the results showed that the modification of an already good-quality pitch (LQI pitch) does not significantly affect the anode quality. On the other hand, the modification of the inferior-quality pitch (HQI pitch) improved the anode quality and decreased the optimum pitch percentage necessary to obtain good anodes compared to the percentage of the LQI pitch needed. This would help decrease the anode production cost. The wettability tests give an indication of if the additive has the potential to improve the coke-pitch interactions, but it cannot predict the effect of pitch percent.

Comparative Study of Corporate Social Responsibility of Significant Players forming Major Constituent Industries of the IIP (Index of Industrial Production)

Comparative Study of Corporate Social Responsibility of Significant Players forming Major Constituent Industries of the IIP (Index of Industrial Production)

Kulturelles Erbe und Arbeit im Exil: Die deutschsprachige Literatur und der internationale Film (1933–1945)

Considering the devastating impact of Fascism and National Socialism on exiles and their literary heritage through the lens of adaptation history, this essay focuses on German-language literature in international cinema from 1933–45 and, by implication, on the role of refugees in major film industries abroad. When Adolf Hitler was appointed Reich Chancellor, most notable authors and filmmakers were forced to leave their homes in Germany and soon Austria. Many of them went to Paris and quite a few eventually made it to Hollywood. Several exile filmmakers sought to claim German-language literature for that ‘other Germany’ in foreign language films, but — especially after Hitler’s troops had invaded Poland — the literary canon of Germany and Austria was considered a liability by most international film producers. In desperate need of income, many exile authors actively pursued adaptations of their own works, but only rarely did their plans materialize, even for bestselling writers; Remarque, Seghers, and Werfel were among the lucky few. Max Ophuls’ effort to preserve at least a fragment of the German literary canon and ensure the survival of German culture abroad, by filming Goethe’s Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (1774), was an exception. For the most part neither international film studios nor audiences were interested in German literary culture during the Hitler era unless an exile writers’ works provided useful and entertaining insights into current challenges and/or had established a wide-ranging readership.

Forecasting Water Consumption in the Yangtze River Delta Based on Deformable Cumulative Multivariable Grey Model

The intensified contradiction between water resources and social development has restricted the development of the Yangtze River Delta. Due to the importance of water consumption in relieving this contradiction, this paper proposes a novel cumulative multivariable grey model with a high performance to predict the water consumption. Firstly, the grey correlation analysis is applied to study the influencing factors, and then the DGM(1,N) with deformable accumulation (DDGM(1,N) model) is constructed and used to predict the water consumption. The results show that the resident population has a significant impact on the water consumption, and the performance of the DDGM(1,N) model is better than the other two grey models. Secondly, the proposed novel grey model is applied to predict the water consumption in 17 cities in the Yangtze River Delta, and the predicted water consumption in Zhejiang and Shanghai indicates a downward trend, while the predicated water consumption in some cities of the Anhui Province presents an upward trend, such as Chizhou, Chuzhou, Wuhu and Tongling. Finally, some policy implications are provided that correspond to the population growth and three major industries in different situations. This paper enriches the research method and prediction analysis used for the water consumption, and the findings can provide some decision-making references for water resources management.

Discovering fashion industry trends in the online news by applying text mining and time series regression analysis

The growth of digital media usage has accelerated the development of big data technology. According to the agenda-setting theory, news media inform the public regarding major agendas and business cycles. This study investigated 168,786 news documents from 2016 to 2020 related the South Korea fashion business using Python. A total of 19 topics were extracted through latent Dirichlet allocation and then transformed into structured data using a time series approach to analyze significant changes in trends. The results indicate that major fashion industry topics include business management strategies to increase sales, diversification of the retail structure, influence of CEOs, and merchandise marketing activities. Thereafter, statistically significant hot and cold topics were derived to identify the shifts in topic themes. This study expands the fashion business contexts with agenda-setting theory through big data time series analyses and can be referenced for the government agencies to support fashion industry policies.

Enabling Sustainable Adaptation and Transitions: Exploring New Roles of a Tourism Innovation Intermediary in Andalusia, Spain

Tourism is a major global and local industry creating value through services that are enhanced and enabled through intermediaries that support innovation in the sector. This exploratory case study examines the roles and activities of a publicly funded tourism innovation intermediary for small medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and professionals in Andalucia, Spain. We note the gap in knowledge on how intermediaries may best support stakeholders in achieving resilience and sustainability in transitions in tourism service ecosystems. Building on interviews, reports, and observations, this study finds that the intermediary has successfully supported its stakeholders in enhancing their adaptability in the current service ecosystem. There is less evidence of achieving deliberate transformations towards long-term sustainability and resilience. As the intermediary is uniquely positioned at the meso-level of the regional tourism service ecosystem, this study proposes exploring engagement to cover both macro and micro-level activities to enable moving towards becoming a transition intermediary and a regional sustainability catalyst. This study furthermore proposes an expanded range of roles and activities for the intermediary to enable moving towards resilience and sustainability, while contributing to the understanding of innovation intermediaries supporting sustainability in the tourism sector.

How Will China's Clean Energy Industry Develop?

This paper mainly takes China's clearer energy industry as the research object, and adopts the methods of literature analysis, comparative analysis and data analysis. The research compares and analyzes the current situation and evolution of the global and Chinese clearer power profession, and draws out the overall characteristics of the evolution and development of China’s clean energy industry. From three different levels of clearer power types, it specifically analyzes three major clean energy industries: solar energy industry, clean coal industry and fuel cell industry. The study found that with the continuous development of energy technology and profession, China’s clean energy industry is gradually opening up, and clean power discourse in the international market will continue to improve. Based on these conclusions, China’s clean energy industry needs cooperation, especially exploring the mode of mixed ownership between private and state-owned enterprises. By lowering the threshold for market access, it will greatly encourage entrepreneurship and innovation in the energy field, and jointly promote the globalization of China's clean energy industry.

JURIDICAL STUDY ON CRIMINAL ACTS OF ONLINE TOGEL GAMBLING

Online gambling has gained popularity worldwide as a major entertainment industry. However, this growth has also brought about concerns regarding criminal activities such as fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling operations. This study aims to analyze the considerations of judges in sentencing online gambling crimes and proving online togel gambling crimes. The research adopts a normative juridical approach (legal research) to examine the application of rules or norms in positive law using a statute-based approach. The analysis reveals that Article 303 and Article 303 Bis of the Criminal Code are utilized to address online gambling crimes, particularly online togel gambling. Although Law Number 19 of 2016 concerning Amendments to Law Number 11 of 2011 regarding Electronic Information and Transactions can serve as a legal basis, it was not applied in this case. When deciding a criminal case, judges must take into account various factors, including ensuring that the actions charged meet the formulation of the offense and are in violation of the law, assessing the defendant's ability to be held accountable, and considering any justifications presented. Furthermore, the judge should also consider objective requirements, such as a complete indictment, case submission letter, and the case file. In the context of online togel gambling, evidence is evaluated using the theory of the Negative Legal System, which mandates at least two valid pieces of evidence as stipulated in Article 184 of the Criminal Procedure Code, in conjunction with the judge's own belief. Despite the availability of the Information and Electronic Transactions (ITE) Law as a legal basis, this study demonstrates the continued reliance on Article 303 of the Criminal Code for such cases, indicating that the principle of lex specialis derogat legi generali (specific laws override general laws) does not apply.

Management practices to offset the declining trend of alfalfa hay production

Agriculture in the United States (US) is a major industry, which is the net exporter of food. The livestock sector is a centerpiece of the industry, and the base for this sector is forage resources. A forage-livestock production system is the largest economic agricultural sector in the US, and it feeds millions of people each day. More than half of the US land area has been devoted to cultivating forage crops mainly for livestock feed. In spite of the several options of forage crops available to growers to choose for production, the suitable choice often relies on the quality and quantity of hay that can be produced by the crop to meet production objectives. Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), the world’s premier forage crop, remains to be the number one choice for livestock feed due to its ability to produce high yields of sustained nutritive value. However, recent data shows that on the national average, alfalfa hay yields are decreasing with a direct and indirect consequent effect on the nation’s economy. Implementing efficient agronomic management practices in the alfalfa production system is a step in the direction of successful production. Along with the initial soil fertility status, integrating production factors including phosphorus and potassium fertilization, cultivar, and harvest management can be advantageous to ensure an improved physiology of alfalfa for greater hay production in the long term.

Trends in Earning Management (EM) Practices: A Cross Country and Industrial Analysis

This paper analyzes the trends in earnings management (EM) practices of 500 non-financial firms across 8 major industries operating in both developing and developed economies for the period 2008-2017. It significantly contributes to the literature by identifying the country-specific, industry-specific, and over the time trends in accrual and real earnings management practices prevailing in the non-financial sector of both developed and developing economies of the world. EM trends are analyzed across countries, across industries, and over the sample period. The sample consists of 500 non-financial firms from 8 different industries of 22 developed and developing economies for the period 2007-2018. Accrual and real earnings management are alternatively used in the non-financial sector across the world. This study uses the Modified Jones Model (Dechow et al., 1996) and the Roychowdhury model (2006) to estimate accrual and real earnings management. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) is used to examine the mean differences between countries and industries as well as over the time differences. The country-wise analysis concludes that Pakistan is on the top of the list in managing earnings followed by Canada, particularly in accrual-based earnings management. It may be attributed to poor accounting standards and regulatory frameworks. The industry-wise analysis shows that the mining industry, characterized by high dependency on capital markets and the uncertainty associated with the prospects of mineral reserves, is highly involved in EM. Finally, the year-wise analysis determines that the year 2009 was highly escorted with accrual and real earnings management practices, which may be the result of the global financial crisis of 2007-2008. The findings imply that the policymakers of developing economies should strongly emphasize improving the general macroeconomic environment of the economy by controlling inflation, improving law and order conditions, and ensuring political stability. Additionally, the findings have potential implications for corporate managers while formulating strategies to restrict them from EM that may diminish both firm value and the economy.