We address a manufacturing environment with the no-wait constraint which is common in industries such as metal, plastic, and semiconductor. Setup times are modelled as uncertain with the objective of minimizing maximum lateness which is an important performance measure for customer satisfaction. This problem has been addressed in scheduling literature for the two-machine no-wait flowshop where dominance relations were presented. Recently, another dominance relation was presented and shown to be about 90% more efficient than the earlier ones. In the current paper, we propose two new dominance relations, which are less restrictive than the earlier ones in the literature. The new dominance relations are shown to be 140% more efficient than the most recent one in the literature. As the level of uncertainty increases, the newly proposed dominance relation performs better, which is another strength of the newly proposed dominance relation. Moreover, we also propose constructive heuristics and show that the best of the newly proposed heuristics is 95% more efficient than the existing one in the literature under the same CPU time.

This study aims at exploring the effect of four elements of an integrated marketing mix. The mix consists of both elements of the 4Ps and SIVA marketing models. These elements are product-solution, promotion-information, place-access, and price-value. A questionnaire was used to collect the required data from a sample of retailing market customers in Saudi Arabia. The total number of the questionnaires used in data analysis was 378. The study found that product-solution and place-access from customers’ perspective had significant effects on customer retention. On the other hand, price-value had a negative significant effect on customer retention, while promotion-information had no effect on customer retention. Hence, companies are called for considering products as solutions, promotion as a source of information for customers, place as an access point for such a solution, and price must be appropriate to the value that the customer gets.

We consider a no-wait m-machine flowshop scheduling problem which is common in different manufacturing industries such as steel, pharmaceutical, and chemical. The objective is to minimize total tardiness since it minimizes penalty costs and loss of customer goodwill. We also consider the performance measure of total completion time which is significant in environments where reducing holding cost is important. We consider both performance measures with the objective of minimizing total tardiness subject to the constraint that total completion time is bounded. Given that the problem is NP-hard, we propose an algorithm. We conduct extensive computational experiments to compare the performance of the proposed algorithm with those of three well performing benchmark algorithms in the literature. Computational results indicate that the proposed algorithm reduces the error of the best existing benchmark algorithm by 88% under the same CPU times. The results are confirmed by extensive statistical analysis. Specifically, ANOVA analysis is conducted to justify the difference between the performances of the algorithms, and a test of hypothesis is performed to justify that the proposed algorithm is significantly better than the best existing benchmark algorithm with a significance level of 0.01.

This study examines how corporate governance dimensions relate to financial performance in Jordanian firms and whether ownership structure moderates these relationships. Quantitative analysis was conducted using secondary data on 69 companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange from 2017-2022. Multivariate regression tested effects of board, transparency, ethics, and compliance indices on performance measured by Tobin's Q, ROA, and ROE. Moderated regression analyzed the contingency role of ownership concentration. Board size, independence, transparency, ethical conduct and legal compliance had significant positive impacts on valuations and profitability, supporting agency and stakeholder perspectives. Ownership concentration strengthened board monitoring but dampened transparency effects. The findings highlight the importance of governance practices like board oversight, disclosure and ethics for improving Jordanian firms' performance. Ownership contingencies suggest adapting governance mechanisms to concentrated structures. This study provides rare empirical evidence on the under-researched Jordanian context. Examining interactive effects of ownership brings new insights regarding concentrated emerging markets.

Despite the numerous advantages that different mobile payments can provide, their acceptance, and adoption rates are still relatively low. This study aims at investigating mobile payments and demonstrates how drivers and barriers that influence behavioral intentions to use mobile payments interact and support one another by combining the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the innovation resistance theory (IRT). A self-administered online survey was employed to gather data from 341 users of mobile payments in the State of Kuwait. To test the proposed model and its hypotheses, responses were analyzed using a partial least square structural equation modeling approach (PLS-SEM). The results show that usage, value, risk, and tradition resistance-related factors are significant barriers towards behavioral intentions to use mobile payments, while the image barrier is insignificant. The findings also affirmed that perceived behavioral control and attitudes motivate and influence consumers’ behavioral intentions; however, the subjective norm was non-significant. The study’s findings have significant implications for scholars, mobile payments’ service providers, marketers, policymakers, and banks.

Investment in non-fungible tokens (NFTs) has decreased dramatically over the past two years, despite the financial value and potential importance of NFTs for the future of the economy and the current decentralized marketplaces. This study investigated the barriers influencing customers' resistance to investing in NFTs using the innovation resistance theory (IRT) components such as usage barriers, value barriers, risk barriers, tradition barriers, and image barriers. The data was gathered from 375 investors via an online questionnaire. To assess and evaluate the suggested model and its hypotheses, responses were investigated using a partial least square structural equation modeling approach (PLS-SEM). The findings indicate that the five resistance-related barriers are all substantial deterrents to investing in NFTs. The usage barrier was the most significant barrier, whereas the value barrier was the least significant. The study's findings have far-reaching implications for academics, NFTs’ marketplaces, policymakers, and investors.

Little research has been devoted to focus on women’s leadership styles in particular especially in Kuwait. The aim of this study is therefore twofold: (i) to identify the different leadership styles of women in the public sector in Kuwait, and (ii) to examine if the identified leadership styles of wom-en vary in terms of the demographic characteristics of their subordinates. A quantitative study (questionnaire with 263 employees) is conducted in order to achieve the study objectives. The re-sults of the study show that women in public sector in Kuwait frequently displayed various leader-ship styles as perceived by their followers such as inspirational motivation, idealized influence (at-tribute) styles. Some other styles were displayed fairly often such as management by exception (ac-tive), idealized influence (behavior). Moreover, the dominated leadership styles that displayed fre-quently by women was the transformational style. The study found that the transformational leader-ship style of women varied in terms of the educational level and job title of their followers. Several recommendations were suggested based on these findings that may improve the effectiveness of women leadership in the public sector.

The pandemic of the coronavirus known as ‘COVID-19’ has spread rapidly across the globe, resulting in a worldwide economic recession. Although global efforts are in place to combat the virus, it continues to spread on a massive scale. This is not just a medical crisis; rather, it is a business crisis as well. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to develop a research scale that could be used to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on business. We adopted a scale variables approach that is generated from topics covered in the papers of leading academic business journals to form the basis of our analysis. We exposed the scale to qualitative and quantitative testing and concluded that it is reliable for research on the negative effects of COVID-19 on enterprises. The scale was used to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 on businesses in two countries, namely Serbia and Kuwait, to represent two different continents. The results of this research indicate that the influence of this coronavirus is equally devastating in both countries, Kuwait with its otherwise good economic conditions and Serbia with relatively poor ones. The findings of the research are beneficial for both academics in producing quality output papers, as well as their support to managers in various business industries in their fight against coronavirus to keep their businesses sustainable.

The rise in carbon disclosure has yet to be matched by evidence and understanding of how carbon disclosure affects a firm’s actual carbon performance? Therefore, this study examines the relationship between voluntary carbon disclosure and the carbon performance of the UK’s listed firms by applying the ‘outside-in’ management perspective. Panel data analysis of UK FTSE350 firms and their carbon disclosures for the period 2007–2015, made on the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) platform, indicates that enhanced carbon disclosure was associated with improved carbon performance in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. Additional analysis found that the carbon disclosure-carbon performance relationship is more pronounced in carbon-intensive industries. Moreover, during the financial crisis period, the relationship of interest is insignificant, however, during the recovery years, improved carbon reporting was associated with lower emissions. This study confirms that carbon disclosure motivates companies and creates a momentum effect for the subsequent reduction in their emissions. Our findings are useful for corporate stakeholders and governmental policymakers who are concerned about the quality and consequences of carbon disclosure.

The objective of this paper was to identify aspects of pricing strategy that impact customer experience within the construction industries. A literature review examined the antecedents driving customer satisfaction. A conceptual framework relating two dimensions namely, pricing strategy and customer experience was developed to evaluate customer satisfaction. Several latent variables related to the marketing mix and customer experience were introduced. Latent variables were measured through a 5-point Likert Scale questionnaire and analyzed by Structural Equation Modelling. Three aspects of pricing strategy and four aspects of customer experience were identified as parameters pertinent to customer satisfaction. Findings showed that price value, price advantage and price penetration influenced pricing strategy. Reputation, confidence, information and expertise influenced customer experience. This paper contributes to understanding the significance of pricing strategy and customer experience as the foundation for customer satisfaction and business profitability. These findings were presented as recommendations to the construction industry.