Preliminary normalization is central to the decision process of several popular, recent or completely new multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) methods. However, a number of authors have pointed out serious pitfalls attributed to normalization methods. One major pitfall, which has been identified, is that normalization methods may lead to different final rankings of alternatives when a ranking procedure (RP) based on them is used for solving a MADM problem. The current paper aims to ascertain and illustrate the effectiveness of some RPs based on prominent primary WEighted Self-NORmalizing Distance (WESNORD) metrics and their averages. The effectiveness of the selected RPs is demonstrated by solving a logistics service provider (LSP) selection problem taken from the literature. The results reveal that the RPs considered deliver final rankings of alternatives, which are very similar to the SAW-produced reference ranking.

This study examines whether responsible innovation can be an important channel through which the corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy influences the competitive advantage of the firm. Specifically, we tried to test the role of firm size and activity sector as conditional factors in the mediation of responsible innovation between CSR strategy and the competitive advantage for the case of Saudi Arabia enterprises. Based on structural equation modelling (SEM), our results show that responsible innovation is a key element of the sustainable business model since it determines the success of CSR strategy in boosting the competitive advantage of firms. In this model, the mediation of responsible innovation is moderated differently by the firm size and the activity sector, and it is dependent on the choice between strategic or reactive CSR strategy. Within this context, we also find that the indirect effects of the CSR strategy on competitive advantage are moderated by the firm size in the case of reactive CSR, whereas by the activity sector in case of strategic CSR. The originality of this paper is that it examines whether the competitive advantage of firms in a developing country is more dependent on the reactive CSR strategy or the strategic CSR strategy. It also proposes an empirical investigation into the conditional factors of responsible innovation and their effects on the relationship between CSR strategy and competitive advantage.

This paper investigates the effect of artificial intelligence (product information, recommendation, and social media exposure) and payment flexibility on the operational performance of ecommerce retailers. The study is based on Transactional Cost Analysis, Material Flow, and Technology Integration theories. It considered a sample size of 270 members out of the population of 769 employees from five ecommerce companies operating in the region (Namshi.com, Noon, Joly Chic, Extra, and Styli). The analysis involved constructing a structural equation model to examine the trickle-down effect of the variables included in the study. The study concluded that artificial intelligence and payment flexibility are the core reasons that the retailers in the region are registering operational success in the retail market.

Firms' activities to govern their supply chains are defined as supply chain management practices. This research explores a model that describes the association between organizational performance and supply chain management practices. Based on existing research, a theoretical framework for the investigation was established. A standardized questionnaire was developed to gather data for the research, which was completed by 396 supply chain professionals from Saudi Arabian food companies. Partial least square (PLS)–structured equation modeling was used to examine the model and hypotheses. Four independent variables were chosen to scrutinize the impact of supply chain management strategies on organizational performance: customer relationship, strategic supplier partnership, level of information sharing, and postponement. According to the research, customer relationships, strategic supplier partnerships, and information sharing all have a major impact on organizational performance. On the other hand, the postponement has no significant impact on organizational performance.

In this study, the impact of board nationality and educational diversity on corporate social responsibility is investigated, by applying a fixed-effect model, instrumental variable approach (IV-GMM), and dynamic panel model (GMM) estimator to account for endogeneity issues, on a sample of Australian listed firms over 10 years from 2010 to 2020. The study findings reveal a significant positive relationship between board nationality diversity and CSR performance and its-related subdimensions including environmental performance and social performance. Furthermore, we find that educational diversity is positively and significantly related to CSR performance and environmental performance, though not to social performance. The findings remained robust under the instrumental variable approach and dynamic panel model. Additional tests compare between two groups of firms—those from heavily and less regulated sectors—and find that the former group has more educated directors, but a similar level of nationality diversity is found among both sectors. Although diversity in terms of nationality and education is still modest at best, its effect on CSR performance and its related sub-dimensions is more pronounced within heavily regulated sectors only. This result contends that when board nationality diversity and educational diversity are properly incentivized (with regulating CSR activities, for instance), the board tends to improve the social and environmental activities of the firm.

Home health care faces new challenges day by day and it has become increasingly legitimate in the face of an aging population. Home healthcare centers are exposed to cumulative demands and academics are paying attention to the routing and scheduling matter, which is offered in literature as a Technician Routing and Scheduling Problem (TRSP) where the aim is to minimize the total cost subject to the time windows constraints to serve the patients respecting their priorities. In this paper, we develop a new distributed algorithm to resolve the home health care routing and scheduling problem (HHRSP). The principal idea of this algorithm is to apply artificial intelligence techniques in a distributed optimization method. The integration of automatic learning and search methods are applied to optimize the assignment of appointments to home caregivers. It allows us to gain time, effort, especially cost, and while complying with the problem constraints. The comparison results prove the efficacy of the recommended approach, which can offer decision support for medical executives of home health care.

Plant-mediated green synthesis of metallic nanoparticles (NPs) has become the most deserving alternative to chemical synthesis as this process is economical and energy-efficient, and environmentally benign. For the last twenty to thirty years, different plant sources are being utilized for the fabrication of green NPs, and few of them have used the extract of Phoenix Dactylifera L. as reducing, capping, or stabilizing agents. This review provides a detailed outline of the extraction method from various parts of dates and their synthesis with different metal salts using these extracts. The applied techniques of characterization and application of these nanoparticles have also been thoroughly discussed. The phytochemicals present in the extract were responsible for reducing the metals. Except for a few, all the investigations reported the spherical NPs but have variations in their size. These NPs have high prospects in applications such as antimicrobial, anticancer, antioxidant, and catalytic activities. This work may lead the path for additional advancement in this field, and researchers may take up the future work for the large scale production of NPs and their application using date extracts.

The purpose of this paper was to identify different obstacles preventing the application and activating the overall quality management in marketing tourism services in Saudi Arabia. The study found a number of key findings on the constraints of applying overall quality management in marketing tourism services in Saudi Arabia. The study recommended the need to adopt an integrated system of comprehensive quality management in hotel organizations in Al-Kharj governorate in order to ensure the implementation of sound and correct marketing programs for these organizations by removing the obstacles, which stand in the way of the application of managing the overall quality of these organizations.

This study examines the success drivers of Supply Chain Performance (SCP). This study aims to examine the interrelationships among various proposed success drivers of SCP that were analyzed individually or collectively in some previous studies. Four proposed forces have been identified in this study including organizational culture, SC relationships, SC integration, and SC innovation. SC integration is seen as a mediating factor between SC relationships and SCP. Using a deductive and quantitative approach that is based on collecting data from (17) companies in the field of logistics using an online survey, the study focuses on four success drivers including organizational culture, SC innovation, SC relationships, and SC integration. Smart PLS 3 software was applied to analyze the data based on the use of Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The findings confirm that organizational culture and SC innovation have a direct significant impact on SCP. Regarding the mediating role of SC integration, the finds confirmed that SC integration mediates the relationship between SC relationships and SCP. A set of implications and recommendations for decision-makers and researchers are proposed based on the empirical findings of the current study. SC managers must first consider organizational culture and try to create positive supportive cultural attributes. A culture that encourages openness to change, sharing of knowledge, and collaboration seems a necessity to further improve SCP. Additionally, as the study findings emphasized the significant impact of SC innovation, SC managers should encourage innovative initiatives and behavior.

The challenge of improving construction safety performance is observed in many countries. Safety is considered by practitioners and researchers as an important topic in construction industry sites. Despite the findings of implementing safety programs, it is revealed that accidents and injuries are not perfectly reduced in construction projects. In the literature, authors tried to establish several frameworks and proposed methods to reach this objective by identifying the key factors affecting safety performance. The aim of this study is to present critical factors used in the implementation of safety programs and to explore their relationships using Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM). Then, via ISM technique, the overall structure among factors was revealed. By using the Fuzzy MICMAC analysis, the factors were classified into four groups based on their driving power and dependence power. The results showed that “Safety Training” and “Management Commitment” have the most important impact on safety programs, but also it is very important to study the interactions among factors at different stages. This analysis offers key resources for practitioners and decision makers by analyzing the relationships between factors and its driving or dependence strength. These results shed lights on the effective development of measures to facilitate the implementation of safety programs in the construction sector.