Strategic Choices Research Articles

Smart and optimization-based operation scheduling strategies for maximizing battery profitability and longevity in grid-connected application

Lithium-ion battery storage has emerged as a promising solution for various energy systems. However, complex degradation behavior, relatively short lifetime, high capital, and operational costs, and electricity market volatility are critical factors that challenge its practical viability. Thus, to ensure sustained profitability of Lithium-ion batteries in real-life applications, a smart and optimal management strategy considering key influencing factors is imperative for achieving efficient battery utilization.This study proposes two day-ahead battery-behavior-aware operation scheduling strategies to maximize profitability and longevity in residential grid-connected applications with dynamic electricity pricing. Each scenario employs unique approaches to make optimal decisions for optimal battery utilization. The first scenario optimizes short-term profitability by prioritizing revenue gains under three charge/discharge rates (high, moderate, low), considering daily charge and discharge timings as decision variables. Conversely, the second scenario proposes a smart strategy capable of making intelligent decisions on a wide range of variables to simultaneously maximize revenue and minimize degradation costs, ensuring short-term and long-term profitability. Decision variables include the cycle frequency for each specific day, timings as well as durations for charging and discharging per cycle. To ensure effective long-term assessment, both scenarios accurately estimate battery performance, calendric and cyclic capacity degradations, remaining-useful-lifetime, and internal states under real operational conditions until battery reaches its end-of-life criteria. The scenarios are assessed economically using various indicators. Furthermore, the impact of battery price and size on optimization outcomes are examined.The key findings indicate that, among the first set of scenarios, the strategy with low charge/discharge rate extends the battery lifetime most efficiently, estimated at 14.8 years. However, it proved to be the least profitable, resulting in negative profit of −3€/kWh/yr. On the other hand, strategies with high and moderate charge/discharge rates resulted in positive profit of 8.3 €/kWh/year and 9.2 €/kWh/year, despite having shorter battery lifetimes, estimated at 10.1 years and 13.6 years, respectively. Furthermore, from a payback perspective, the strategy with fast charge/discharge capability led to 1.5 years shorter payback period than that of the moderate rate strategy. The findings highlight that the first set of scenarios limits the strategy’s flexibility in achieving both sustainability and profitability. In contrast, the second scenario achieves impressive profit (18 €/kWh/yr), shortest payback period (7.5 year), a commendable lifespan (12.5 years), contrasting revenue-focused scenarios, emphasizing the importance of striking optimal balance between revenue gain and degradation costs for charging/discharging actions, ensuring sustained profitability. The findings offer valuable insights for decision-makers, enabling informed strategic choices and effective solutions.

Feedback on Students’ Performance: Possible Ways of Enhancing Students’ Success with Formative Assessment

Feedback has become as the main performance metric that’s why meaningful and thoughtful feedback is important for improving students' learning path. It is provided by teachers to close the students’ knowledge gap. Positive outcomes are determined by informative, goal-oriented and friendly delivered feedback. However, students and teachers lack knowledge about the role of feedback and its contribution in learners’ progress. This article delves the significance of feedback on students’ performance and its role for students’ enhanced learning. The paper presents different types of formative feedback and their effectiveness for students’ performance improvement. It also shows how effective feedback works in the classroom and strategic choices for feedback implementation. Feedback is presented as an essential tool for improving quality of teaching and education in general.

Implementation of industrial enterprises’ green innovation strategy under technology spillover

ABSTRACT In recent years, advanced emerging technologies have paved the way for new opportunities in green innovation strategies within industrial enterprises. This research aims to examine the impact of technology spillover on the strategic management of industrial enterprises’ green innovation initiatives and evaluate the role of government intervention. By employing an evolutionary game model and simulation approach, we identify a direct relationship between industrial enterprises’ strategic choices in green innovation and the degree of technology spillover. With significant technology spillover, industrial enterprises demonstrate an increased tendency to access innovation resources and technical support, leading to a preference for breakthrough green innovation strategies. Enhanced innovation capabilities and a higher innovation cost elasticity coefficient help reduce the risks associated with breakthrough green innovation, further amplifying the positive effects of technology spillover on such initiatives. Moreover, when the government provides considerable cost subsidies and incentive funds, industrial enterprises show a stronger predilection towards breakthrough green innovation strategies. This research adds to the body of knowledge concerning technology analysis, strategic management of green innovation, and the sustainable progression of industrial enterprises.

Founder's birth order and triple bottom line in B2B SMEs

Leveraging upper-echelon and post-traumatic childhood experience theories, this study analyses the influence of CEOs' birth order in the family on firms' triple bottom line management. Conducting our study in the B2B market and SME context during the COVID-19 pandemic, we assert that the eldest sibling tends to adopt more prosocial behavior than younger siblings. When first-born individuals become entrepreneurs, their values get reflected in the firm's organizational culture and the strategic choices they make as CEOs. We further suggest a mediating mechanism of a sustainable marketing orientation for sibling birth order and triple bottom line management and a moderating role of CEO childhood trauma experience. Childhood trauma experience moderates the mediating effect of sustainable marketing orientation, i.e., a moderated mediating mechanism. Heeding calls for research in marketing to become more interdisciplinary, we leverage the family science and upper echelon theories to expand the B2B marketing literature.

Digital worker inquiry and the critical potential of participatory worker data science for on‐demand platform workers

AbstractThe knowledge that workers have of the systems they work under is an outcome of strategic choices by platforms and by workers themselves. Based on three initiatives undertaken by food distribution workers in Scotland, this article explores the obstacles that platform workers face when conducting inquiries into their systems of control, and investigates the potential for workers to overcome these obstacles through collaborative research projects. By drawing analogies from the history of workers' inquiries into changing labour processes, the article evaluates these three initiatives in light of previous efforts by workers to monitor complex and concealed management structures. It offers a new concept of ‘worker data science’ to describe the techniques, skills and methods that workers require to arrive at answers to questions that emerge through their inquiries, and concludes that such purposive science has the potential to equip workers to support one another and to resist and challenge some of the commands and calculations that emerge from platforms' hidden algorithmic systems.

Global Business Strategies in the Digital Age: A Comparative Analysis of Multinational Corporations

The rapid evolution of the digital age has significantly transformed the landscape of global business strategies, particularly for multinational corporations (MNCs). This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the global business strategies adopted by MNCs in response to digital advancements. Through a comparative lens, the study examines diverse multinational corporations, identifying commonalities and distinctions in their strategic approaches.
 The research focuses on key elements such as digital innovation, market entry strategies, and the role of technology in enhancing operational efficiency. By evaluating the digital initiatives of MNCs, the study aims to uncover trends, challenges, and opportunities that shape their competitive positioning on the global stage.
 Furthermore, the comparative analysis considers the impact of the digital age on traditional business models, exploring how MNCs adapt and leverage emerging technologies to gain a competitive edge. The study also delves into the implications of digitalization on cross-border collaborations, supply chain management, and customer engagement.
 The findings contribute valuable insights to both academia and practitioners, offering a nuanced understanding of the strategic choices made by MNCs in the digital era. As businesses navigate the complexities of the global marketplace, this research provides a foundation for future discussions on effective strategies for sustainable growth and competitive advantage in the dynamic landscape of international business

Exploring collaborative innovation evolution of China’s energy conservation and environmental protection industry: a social network analysis based on patents

Purpose Energy conservation and environmental protection industry (ECEPI) is a strategic choice to promote energy conservation and emission reduction, develop green economy and circular economy. However, China’s ECEPI is still in the stage of rapid development and the overall scale is relatively small, what development periods have the ECEPI experienced? This study aims to contribute to a better understanding of collaborative innovation evolution based on social network analysis from the perspective of multi-dimensional proximity. Design/methodology/approach Methodologically, this study uses social network analysis method to explore the co-evolution of multidimensional collaboration networks. It divides China’s ECEPI into four periods based on national policies from 2001 to 2020. This contribution constructs collaborative innovation networks from geographical, technological and organizational proximity. Findings The results show that the collaborative innovation network was initially formed in the central region of China, gradually expanded to neighboring cities and the core positions of Beijing, Jiangsu and Guangdong have been continuously consolidated. C02F has been the core of the collaboration networks, and the research focus has gradually shifted from the treatment of wastewater, sewage or sludge to the separation field. Enterprises always occupy a dominant position in the collaboration networks. Originality/value This research investigates the dynamic evolution process of collaborative innovation network in China’s ECEPI from the perspective of multidimensional proximity, explores the community structure, important nodes and multidimensional proximity features in the network, expands the research perspective on evolution characteristics of innovative network and the research field of social network analysis. Theoretically, this study enriches collaborative innovation theory, social network theory and multi-dimensional proximity theory.

Stakeholder Pressures and Decarbonization Strategies in Mittelstand Firms

AbstractThis study examines the influence of stakeholder pressures and family ownership on strategic decarbonization choices of German Mittelstand firms. It distinguishes between symbolic strategies focusing on compensating CO2-emissions and substantive strategies directed toward reducing carbon emissions. The relative pressure exerted by internal and external stakeholders on these strategic choices is examined. Data from 443 manufacturing firms reveal that overall stakeholder pressures increase the pursuit of decarbonization strategies. Internal stakeholders pressures are associated with increased reliance on substantive decarbonization strategies both in family-owned and non-family-owned firms. Pressure from external stakeholders are associated with increased reliance on both substantive and symbolic decarbonization strategies only in non-family-owned firms. No effect of external pressures was found in family-owned firms. Implications for theory, management practice, and policy makers are discussed.

Evaluation of the green economic value added index in the game of enterprise capital providers

This study explores the performance evaluation of steel enterprises, emphasizing the importance of green environmental performance. Based on the review of the current situation of green investment research, economic added value evaluation system, and game analysis of enterprise capital providers, this study discusses the comprehensive evaluation of games among enterprise capital providers from the perspective of green economic added value. It constructs a game model of capital providers from the perspective of green investment. This model is based on the probability of creditors making green bond investments and shareholders pledging equity, deriving game results, and using economic added value returns to measure enterprise performance. The main data in this study are from the CSMAR database, a corporate governance project, and the relevant environmental protection data from Nangang's annual report. The results show that the green economic added value return rate is higher than the traditional economic added value return rate, indicating that environmental investments do not reduce the operational performance of enterprises. The game of capital providers leans towards equity investment and does not enhance enterprise performance at the expense of the environment. The green economic added value index only reflects past operational performance, based on which enterprises can design reasonable performance evaluation mechanisms, encouraging capital providers to favor environmental investments. This study has important theoretical and practical significance, guiding enterprises' strategic choices during green transformation.

Analysis of Strategic Planning Practices and School Performance: Evidence from Public Secondary Schools in Tanzania

Aims: This study sought to analyse the nature of strategic planning practices adopted by public secondary schools in enhancing school performance in Tanzania. Specifically, it determined the extent to which the adopted strategic options in the school management reflect strategic analysis practices; examined the extent to which the adopted strategic options in the school management reflect strategic choice practices; and evaluated the extent to which the adopted strategic options in the school management reflect strategic implementation practices.
 Study Design: The study employed a concurrent triangulation design within the framework of a mixed methods approach.
 Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in two Districts of Mwanza Region namely: Nyamagana and Magu in which data were collected from public secondary schools between August 2022 and January 2023.
 Methodology: The sample size involved a total of 354 respondents including 266 members of the School Management Teams (SMTs), 76 members of the School Governing Boards (SGBs), 10 Ward Education Officers (WEOs) and 2 District Education Officers (DEOs). Research data were collected through questionnaire, interview and documentary review. The quantitative data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics in terms of mean and skewness, while the qualitative data were analyzed through content analysis.
 Results: The results revealed that, the strategic options adopted by public secondary schools in enhancing school performance reflect strategic analysis practices by (22.2%, M=1.27); strategic choice practices by (25.7%, M=1.24); and strategic implementation practices by (55.5%, M=1.94).
 Conclusion: The study concluded that, the nature of strategic planning practices adopted by public secondary schools in enhancing school performance is compatible with the strategic planning process advocated by the Johnson and Scholes model.

Supply Chain Collaboration during Disruption through Sales & Operations Planning: A Study in a Manufacturing Industry

The study is based on primary and secondary data which unlocks a sequential supply chain disruption that occurred due to the pandemic and subsequent occurrences, including geopolitical tensions involving Ukraine and Russia, as well as Palestine and Israel. The geopolitical landscape is contingent upon the comprehensive strategic choices made by global leaders representing the United States, Russia, Turkey, India, the European Union, and Middle Eastern countries. There are several attempts made by researchers and industry practitioners to appropriately synchronize the demand and supply during this disruption. Substantial research has been conducted and literature is available in the field of supply chain collaboration. However, collaboration can’t be ensured unless the end-to-end SCM is synchronized through the Sales & Operations (S&OP) planning. Achieving smooth collaboration poses a formidable challenge, particularly amid disruptions and volatile conditions as seen today. This research undertakes a comprehensive examination by conducting a systematic literature review on various facets of sales and operations planning (S&OP), coupled with a survey utilizing a self-administered questionnaire across 24 manufacturing industries in Bangladesh. The primary aim of this paper is to assess S&OP best practices by evaluating different aspects applied in the industry, to ensure seamless connectivity, collaboration, and establishing criteria for measuring performance in the S&OP process. The authors underscore the significance of integrating S&OP and ultimately propose an innovative approach that integrates 10 attributes of supply chain performance measurement (SCPM) to fortify the S&OP process, enhancing its overall performance and effectiveness. This study not only paves the way for researchers and academia to investigate deeper into collaboration and risk management within supply chain management (SCM) operations during disruptions but also recommends industry practitioners novel concepts to enhance overall efficiency and provide substantial visibility into business operations.

The farm succession effect on farmers’ management choices

It is acknowledged that the identification of a successor within the family farm can affect the farm development, which is conventionally referred to as the succession effect. This dynamic is of particular relevance in Europe, where fostering generational renewal towards increased farm modernization and innovation is on top of policy agenda. Yet, the succession effect on the farmers’ decision-making has been poorly substantiated with empirical and quantitative evidence, whereas the current policy framework mostly disregards this phenomenon. This paper aims to verify whether and to what extent the identification of a successor within the family farm affects the farmer’s strategic choices, and to identify which management strategies are privileged by farmers having identified a successor. Based on a cross-sectional dataset of 768 farms from across nine European countries, a control function model is employed to test the succession effect on the farmer’s decision-making, while parametric tests, odds analysis and multivariate probit regressions are applied to identify main strategies. The results confirm that the identification of a successor has a significant impact on farmers’ choices, leading to an average increase of about two additional strategies adopted, and that strategies like agricultural and non-agricultural diversification, cooperation and technology adoption are privileged by farmers having a successor. The paper discusses how the current policies could be improved to better leverage the succession effect, and identifies possible strategies.

Precision public health in the making: examining the becoming of the "social" in a Swiss environmental health population-based cohort.

Expanding the concept of "precision" or "personalized" medicine, personalized health and precision public health designate the use of various kinds of data-genomic, other omics, clinical, or those produced by individuals themselves through self-tracking-to optimize health interventions benefiting the whole population. This paper draws on an ethnography of the implementation of a population-based environmental health cohort to shed light on the reconfigurations brought about by the "personalization" of public health in Switzerland. Combining human biomonitoring and molecular epidemiology, this cohort aims to advance the science of the exposome, a notion referring to the totality of exposures to which individuals are subjected over their lifecourse. Addressing the tension between holism and reductionism, this paper points to the important gap between the promissory horizon of the exposome and the realities of practices. Situations of reductionism are defined as moments of friction and negotiation between different rationales and values, exposing what makes the science of the exposome, including its material, economic, institutional, and methodological constraints, as well as its imaginaries and values. Rather than opposing holism and reductionism, I emphasize that they constitute two sides of the same coin, as they both pragmatically enable action and produce situated versions of the social. This empirical case shows how reductionism operates at the chemical, biological, and populational levels to produce public health scientific and social values. It thus contributes to contextualizing the pragmatic and strategic choices made by scientists, as well as the values they favor, in a research environment marked by the predominance of biomedicine over public health. It shows how the reductionism of the "social environment" was made for a better social integration of the cohort into the Swiss political and scientific landscape of public health. Bringing together actors involved in public health and questions of environmental exposures, this cohort can be interpreted as a biomedicalization of public health research, as well as an attempt to socialize it through the broad category of the exposome.

Exploring prospects of blockchain and fintech: using SLR approach

Purpose This study aims to give a glimpse of the existing blockchain applications across industries and add to a complete knowledge of the blockchain’s properties. Design/methodology/approach Systematic literature review is used as the research strategy for this investigation and other aspects of the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses framework have been incorporated to create a scholarly publications evaluation of the blockchain-based application in the financial arena and its future. The research looks at 86 studies published between 2018 and 2022. Findings There has been a steady but noticeable increase in the study of blockchain’s potential in many application domains over the past few of years. This rising tendency illustrates the newness and potential of blockchain technology, as well as the increasing attention from academics. According to the findings, blockchain is an appropriate solution for processing transactions using cryptocurrencies; nevertheless, it still has significant technical issues and limits that require to be exploring and solving before it can be considered a viable option. It is therefore, necessary to have a high level of reliability for payments and confidentiality, in addition to maintaining the anonymity of nodes, to stop assaults and efforts to disrupt transactions in the blockchain. Practical implications This study has several important theoretical and practical implications. First, it adds to the body of knowledge on blockchain and Fintech, focusing on the transaction side. While much blockchain research has focused on how the technology may affect strategic choices, this study has shed light on its potential from the perspective of financial reporting. Second, by highlighting the importance of the demand for the prompt identification of losses, this work adds to the body of knowledge on the factors that influence transaction frauds involving paper money. Additionally, by establishing the link between transparency and virtual transactions, the author backs up the asymmetric responses of investors to different investment possibilities. It looks at the evolution of financial technology (Fintech) and shows how it can be used to take the advantage of unique opportunities. Originality/value The study is different and novel from the previously published literature on this topic mainly because of its comprehensiveness, as it revolves around all industrial and commercial areas. The three main lines of research have been outlined, namely, classifying the many blockchain-based innovations that will alter the financial landscape in many industries; identifying whether these industries are a good fit for blockchain’s wealth creation potential; and directing researchers by outlining prospective study pathways.

Trick or Treat? The Effect of CEO Relative Pay on Corporate Social Irresponsibility

ABSTRACT CEO pay structure critically impacts a wide range of strategic choices, including corporate social irresponsibility (CSI), a pervasive and seriously damaging behavior. While the impact of CEO pay structure on CSI has received attention and focus, existing studies need to pay more attention to the potential role of CEO relative pay structure. Based on the behavioral agency theory, this study examines the impact of CEO underpayment and overpayment on CSI. Using panel data on listed companies in China from 2008 to 2019, we find that relative CEO underpayment is significantly positively correlated with CSI, and relative CEO overpayment is significantly negatively correlated with CSI. In addition, we find that industry-level managerial discretion strengthens the positive (negative) relationship between relative CEO underpayment (overpayment) and CSI.

Twitter's Strategy and Market Share Analysis

With the growth of the internet and smartphones, social media are having explosive growth in overall users. For already existing social media, like Twitter, Facebook, etc., appropriate strategic choices are indispensable for market expansion. In the case of Twitter, the relationship between its strategy and market share is vacant in academia. Therefore, the research topic of this paper is the relationship between Twitter's strategy and the amount of market share. The research method of this paper is as follows: Firstly, relevant literature is collected for systematic analysis, and secondly, the relationship between strategy implementation and market share change is analyzed through StatCounter's social media market share data. It was found that Twitter's strategy in deepening its features, i.e., real-time messaging and news, diversified communication, and interaction with celebrities was successful, but it did not get the desired results in expanding its own users' scope and providing new non-core features. Therefore, for existing social media, solidifying the existing target group is the first option in competition. For companies that want to run a social media business, identifying a specific market segment is the key to winning the fierce competition.

Economic policy uncertainty and cost rigidity: the moderating effects of government contracts and political connections

PurposeThis study examines the relationship between economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and managers' ex ante strategic choice on firms’ fixed and variable costs structure, i.e. cost rigidity and the moderating effect of government contracts and political connections.Design/methodology/approachUsing a sample of 4,162 US firms during 2003–2019 and EPU measure from Baker et al. (2016), the authors examine the association between EPU and cost rigidity using multivariate regression analysis. The authors also examine the moderating effects of government customers and political connections using the subsampling method.FindingsThis study finds that increases in EPU leads to higher cost rigidity, suggesting that managers tend to look ahead and make an ex ante commitment to invest more in fixed costs to avoid congestion costs in anticipation of future product demand during EPU. The study also finds that the presence of government customers and political connections moderates the need for adopting greater cost rigidity.Research limitations/implicationsThis study measures firms' cost rigidity based on archival data. Future studies could utilize managers' cost structure choices using firms' internal management cost structure forecasts data to measure cost rigidity to examine the relationship between cost rigidity and EPU.Practical implicationsThis study demonstrates that managers tend to make a proactive commitment to invest in fixed inputs when facing demand uncertainty from EPU to avoid congestion costs. This study also highlights the value of having government contracts and political connections by demonstrating that managers are less concerned about the congestion costs, hence weakening the impact of EPU on cost rigidity when they have government as major customers and/or political connections.Originality/valueThis study extends the management accounting literature by documenting that cost rigidity is related to EPU and that the relationship between cost rigidity and EPU also depends on whether the firm has government as major customers and/or political connections or not.

Impact of Round-tripping FDI on Tax Avoidance of Enterprises

As a part of enterprise strategy, round-tripping FDI has a far-reaching impact on tax avoidance. Enterprises aim to minimize the tax burden by redistributing capital, optimizing the global business structure and adjusting the location of economic activities. This strategic choice has spawned a variety of complex mechanisms in the international tax environment, and its influence involves tax competition, tax evasion theory, transfer pricing and intellectual property rights on a global scale. These incentives can attract enterprises to bring their overseas profits back to their home countries by reducing their operating costs and improving their competitiveness, thus achieving economic growth and increasing employment opportunities. Generally speaking, the impact of round-tripping FDI on corporate tax avoidance is reflected in many levels. By optimizing the global business structure, flexibly using intellectual property rights and adjusting the transfer pricing strategy, enterprises skillfully use the international tax environment to maximize economic benefits. At the same time, the state provides positive support for enterprises through economic incentives, which reduces the tax burden of enterprises in the domestic economy and promotes the development and innovation of domestic industries.

How to systematically reduce the carbon emissions of the manufacturing industry? Evidence from four-party evolutionary game analysis.

To effectively reduce carbon emissions from the manufacturing industry and promote green and sustainable developments evolutionary game theory is widely used. This study has constructed a four-party evolutionary game model, in which the government, civil environmental protection organisations, manufacturing enterprises, and consumers participate. A local robustness analysis and numerical simulation were used to assess the stability conditions under which the strategic behaviour of the four parties reaches an ideal state, and the influence of government parameter changes on the game system were further analysed. The results show that when the government's penalty is greater, the decision-making time of civil environmental protection organisations and manufacturing enterprises is shortened to varying degrees. When the subsidy coefficient provided by the government increases, civil environmental protection organisations, manufacturing enterprises, and consumers can reduce the time required for the system to stabilise to varying degrees. As the subsidy coefficient increases, the government's strategic choice evolves and strict regulations are loosened. The government should thus actively establish a reward and penalty mechanism, according to its own actual situation, set reasonable punishment and subsidy coefficients, and actively guide the subjective initiative of civil environmental protection organisations to reduce carbon emissions in the manufacturing industry.

The Italian National Strategy for Sustainable Development and the Covid-19 impact: a regional analysis

The Italian National Strategy for Sustainable Development plays an important role in the national implementation of the 17 Goals for sustainable development set globally through the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations. The achievement of such goals in Italy is linked to the strategic choices and objectives established at the national level. The purpose of this work is to monitor the performance of the 20 Italian regions in 4 of the 5 areas of the Agenda (People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace) over a period of time ranging from the implementation of the National Strategy to the post-pandemic. To do this, a set of representative indicators was created and a geographical sustainability assessment tool (SSAM) was used, which operates through a multicriteria analysis model perfectly integrated into a GIS environment. The results showed a strong regional variability and a radicalized North-South gap. Moreover, the monitoring between the different years (2017-2019-2021) showed the initially positive impact of the strategy, mainly due to the Planet dimension, but also the negative one that COVID-19 caused to all the regions, with different intensity depending on the dimensions considered.