Design for the environment: An ontology-based knowledge management model for green product development

Through appropriate operations and policies, such as green processes and product development process (PDP), companies can respond to environmental sustainability. To remain competitive, one such approach, Design for X (DFX), involves considering different environment and sustainable strategies through different factors Xs. With regard to the availability of different DFX techniques that consider environmental issues, the decision as to which approach needs to be adopted remains absent. This paper aims at presenting an overview from 1980 to 2020 of the developed research, applications, and DFX techniques for assessing green issues. Selected DFX techniques are linked with strategies used in organizations. Following a literature analysis, a collaborative knowledge-based framework that addresses the design concepts needed to assess environmental, safety, and health concerns in the development of green products is proposed. Furthermore, as a pillar for considering the Semantic Web and an evolving approach linked with natural language processing (NLP) and artificial intelligence (AI), an ontology-based knowledge management model for green assessment is developed for the representation, acquisition, organization, and capitalization of knowledge in a computer interpretable manner. The findings are useful for both managers and practitioners as they provide a coherent domain ontology that can help them manage knowledge, improve teamwork, and make decisions in a collaborative green PDP. Besides, an understanding of the essential design considerations that are required to implement environmental, safety, and health issues, as well as competencies used in the PDP is presented. Key barriers, managerial and strategic implications, and mitigation actions are also identified in this paper.     

Analysing the roadblocks of circular economy adoption in the automobile sector: Reducing waste and environmental perspectives

The automobile industry is one of the most rapidly growing sectors in our society. The increase in demand for vehicles drives the growth of the automobile sector worldwide. Fabrication of vehicles consumes an enormous amount of water, energy and resources, thereby increasing carbon emissions. Nonbiodegradable and manufacturing waste after the end of life usage results in a significant contribution to incineration, landfills, air acidification and water eutrophication. The adoption of circular economy (CE) initiatives can play a significant role in dealing with increasing waste and environmental pollution. The main goal of CE is to recycle and reuse materials to reduce waste and also to minimise environmental impacts. This article strongly supports the adoption of CE in the Indian automobile industry. For the successful adoption of CE in the Indian automobile sector, first, it is important to analyse roadblocks to the adoption. Twenty potential roadblocks towards the adoption of CE have been identified from a literature review and in consultation with experts in the field. To capture the vagueness of the data and to carry out a robust analysis, a Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method with Fuzzy theory is employed. The results reveal that roadblock ‘lacking ability to deliver high-quality remanufactured products’ is ranked first among all considered roadblocks. This study will help the Indian automobile industry, decision makers, research practitioners and government officials develop effective strategies for adopting CE in Indian automobile companies. A sensitivity analysis has been conducted to validate the stability of results.     

Twenty‐five years of Review of Financial Economics: A bibliometric overview

The Review of Financial Economics (RFE) has published empirical research covering all areas of financial economics since 1994. It celebrated its silver jubilee year of publishing in 2018. Using bibliometric techniques, we analyze the journal's impact, its prominent topics and most prolific authors including their affiliated institutions and countries. We also identify the bibliographic couplings of authors and their affiliated institutions and countries, co‐citations of journals, and co‐occurrences of the authors’ specified keywords. Our results show that about 83% of the published works receiving at least one citation between 1994 and 2018 and about 68% are co‐authored. Among the important themes discussed in RFE, the words “stock”, “market,” and “risk” occupy central positions in RFE publications. Bibliographic coupling analysis identifies six clusters: (a) macroeconomic indicators, (b) investments, (c) financial institutions, (d) stock market, (e) corporate governance, and (f) corporate financial decisions.     

New empirical evidence on the bid-ask spread

In this article, we model the determinants of spread for 734 firms listed on the NYSE over the period 1 January 1998 to 31 December 2008. We propose a panel data model of the determinants of spread. There are four main messages emerging from our work. We find a statistically significant effect of volume on spread inconsistent with the work of Johnson (2008). On price, we find mixed results, consistent with the literature. On the effect of price volatility on spread, our results are completely the opposite of the cross-sectional literature but sides with the relatively recent work of Chordia et al. (2001). We allow for persistence of spread as a determinant of spread and find significant evidence of spread persistence across all 16 sectors. Finally, we examine size effects and find statistically strong evidence of size effects based on the relationship between price and spread, persistence and spread, and volatility and spread.     

Achieving destination advocacy and destination loyalty through destination brand identification

Brand identification enhances customer loyalty and develops long-term relationships between the customer and the brand. However, only a few studies have explored the role of identification in building long-term and favorable relationships between tourists and a tourism destination. In this study, we propose and empirically verify destination personality congruence and destination trust as the drivers of destination brand identification, and destination advocacy and destination loyalty as its outcomes. For assessing these proposed relationships, a sample of 342 respondents was collected from foreign tourists visiting Dharamsala, which is a famous tourist destination among visitors in northern India. The results of structural equation modeling reveal that destination personality congruence significantly influences the destination loyalty through destination brand identification. In addition, destination trust emerges as a significant predictor for both destination advocacy and destination loyalty. The study offers important implications for both acadmecians and practitioners.     

The design of coordination and control mechanisms for managing joint venture–parent relationships

Joint ventures (JVs), defined as independent organizations formed by the pooling of resources and sharing of equity by two or more firms, are being formed at an increasingly rapid pace. While much empirical research has examined the conditions which favor the formation of JVs, less attention has been paid to the equally important issues of control and implementation which are the focus of interest in this study. We identify two factors which are expected to influence the design of control mechanisms, i.e., (1) the strategic interdependence between the JV and each parent and (2) the environmental uncertainty faced by the JV. Our empirical examination confirms the importance of the degree of strategic interdependence and the moderating role of environmental uncertainty in explaining the design of control mechanisms. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Identifying Customer Loyalty Supporting Factors in the Retail Banking Context: An Empirical Examination

This article aims to identify factors which support customer loyalty, either through dedication or by imposing constraints, and subsequently empirically analyzes the relationship between identified factors and the attitudinal and behavioral component of loyalty in the context of retail banking. Data collected from a sample of 293 retail banking customers have been analyzed through structural equation modeling. The study results suggested two constraint promoting factors and one dedication promoting factor which supported loyalty. The study contributes to knowledge by empirically testing the qualitative model and coming out with empirically proven dedication-promoting and constraint-promoting loyalty supporting factors.     

Consumer decision‐making styles and post purchase behaviour of poor for Fast Moving Consumer Goods

More than half of the world's population is poor. Certainly, their purchasing power cannot be compared with that of the riches, but it is their collective purchase potential which makes them a substantial market. The fast moving consumer goods (FMCGs), on the other hand, are the fourth largest industry in the world. FMCGs are relatively low cost products and the poor, by necessity, spend a significant amount of their income on FMCGs. So, by virtue of being a large consumer base for FMCGs, the poor are a promising market for the FMCG marketers. But little is known about their buying behaviour for FMCGs as only a few studies have been conducted on them in this regard. This study aims to explore their shopping orientations towards price, quality and brand for FMCGs in the context of one of the largest developing countries like India by exploring their consumer decision‐making styles (CDMSs), especially their price consciousness, quality consciousness, brand consciousness and brand loyalty. Besides it, it also explores their post purchase behaviour and testifies its mechanism with the above mentioned CDMSs in the present context through structured equation modelling.