The organizational performance at public hospitals differs from the corporate sector and faces maladministration. Further, performance at public hospitals is crucial as it directly affects human lives and endeavors for accessibility to medicines and equipment. This research is designed to determine the mediating role of inventory control practices in proficiency and organizational performance at public hospitals. This paper uses a quantitative research with a survey method using multistage cluster sampling which was performed on a sample size of 200. Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis validated the model for Structural Equation Modeling. The findings of this research indicate a significant positive effect and full mediation of inventory control practices between the study variables. Further, the significance indicated that competent and well-trained staff manages inventory efficiently for improved organizational performance through better service quality and reduced cost. An integrated second-order model of this research will benefit the public hospitals, healthcare industry at large, organizations managing mega structured inventory, and to the body of knowledge.

Simultaneous products distribution and items retrieval in an integrated forward/reverse logistics network faces a complex freight-scheduling problem due to the constraints involved. In the high to intermediate network level, the problem usually exists in the form of single stop transportation. To reach a higher level of performances, there is a need to model and optimize the freight schedule. This research proposes a model to optimize a freight-scheduling problem. The proposed model of this paper based on Non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II is formulated to solve a conflicting bi-objective optimization and optimizes a real-world case study. A solution from the model demonstrates the solution interpretation in the form of delivery schedule, distribution as well as retrieval route, and vehicle assignment. Moreover, the solutions are also comparable to some current manual solution by its similarity. The results show that the model was capable of generating feasible solutions while satisfying all of its constraints.

Trying to create an innovative organization means to have employees who are innovative, within the internal structure of the organization. This paper aimed at examining the influence of work environ-ment on managerial innovation within the insurance sector in Kuwait. A quantitative tool, self-administered questionnaire, was adopted and distributed among165 managers who worked for 21 insurance companies in Kuwait. The results indicate that among the chosen variables representing the dimensions of the work environment, the most influential dimension was facilities. This reveals that it was the influence of facilities that provided a healthy work environment for the employees who enhanced their abilities to present their best performance and be innovative. The study suggests that organizations should pay extra attention to certain factors of employee appraisal such as incentives, appreciation and recognition, that may, in turn, help increase the degree of managerial innovation. In addition, it is suggested to examine the influence of work environment on the leaders’ ethical orientations within the insurance sector in Kuwait.

In this paper, economic analysis on the effect of polyester fibers with high strength on the behavior of Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) is performed. The results indicate that strength is increased by adding fiber to asphalt. Also, unit weight of asphalt mixture was used as a variable parameter in the analyses. The results show that in some certain percentages of fiber, in addition to the enhancement in mechanical properties of HMA mixture the economic benefit value becomes more than the cost and therefore adding polyester fibers with high stability is suggested for the mixture of modified asphalt concrete. Finally, it can be concluded that adding fibers in values of 0.2% to 0.5% has the best result on the asphalt mixture, which because of high resistance and economic aspects makes it more efficient to be used in the highways of warm regions containing traffic.

The purpose of the study was to examine the effectiveness of the Mobile Food Ordering Application (MFOA) in a collectivist country like Pakistan. Data was gathered using an online survey-based approach from 354 MFOA users and was analyzed using the structural equation modeling technique through Smart PLS 3.0. The results show that consumers’ online reviews strongly influence customer satisfaction and continued intention. Similarly, price value and online tracking of food services are strongly associated with customer satisfaction. Consumer habits and facilitation conditions are significantly associated with consumer continued intention. Habit is also found to partially mediate consumer satisfaction and continued intention. The study did not find any support for performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, price value, hedonic motivation, or online review with continued intention. Similarly, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, and hedonic motivation were not associated with consumer satisfaction. The present work is the first of its kind that has empirically examined the effectiveness of MFOAs in Pakistan. It lays down useful practical implications for practitioners, policymakers, and academia.

This paper presents an empirical investigation to evaluate the impact of purchase, storage and inventory management on the production costs of materials supply management in the Peruvian paper industry. A linear regression model was used under the ordinary least squares method to determine the causal relationship between the provisioning of materials and production costs. It was concluded that the evaluation of the effect between the study variables was inversely proportional, that is, as the management of purchase, storage, and inventory in companies improve, the production costs may also be reduced.

Optimum design and control of a Combined Cooling, Heating and Power generation (CCHP) system, in addition to the economic benefits, could be profitable in environmental and energy consumption aspects. The aim of this study is to determine the optimal capacity of equipment and define the best control strategy of a CCHP system. Since determination of optimal system control strategy has a huge impact on improving the objective functions, the system’s performance under five different strategies (developed based on well-known Following Electrical Load (FEL) and Following Thermal Load (FTL) strategies) is evaluated. In a real case study, a CCHP system is designed for an educational complex located in Mahmoudabad, Mazandaran, Iran. The objective is to minimize capital and operational costs, energy consumption, and CO2 emissions of the system. Due to the complexities of the model, genetic algorithm (GA) and particle swarm optimisation (PSO) algorithm are used to find the optimal values of the decision variables. The results show that using FEL strategy CO2 emissions reduces in compression to FTL strategy. Furthermore, using multiple power generation units under FTL strategy eventuates the least cost but increases CO2 emissions and energy consumption in compression to FEL strategy.

During the past few years, there has been a growing interest in applications of environmental cost management accounting (ECMA) in different manufacturing industries. ECMA is a useful tool for environmental performance improvement and achieving better financial benefits. Nevertheless, ECMA implementation is in early stages in many countries such as Vietnam. Brick industry is one of the most polluted sectors, which has significant impact on the environment. The purpose of this paper is to provide a clear image of ECMA application in Vietnamese brick manufacturing enterprises. Both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies are used to analyze the participants' attitudes, perceptions and concerns about the potential for applying ECMA. The results indicate that the brick industry adopted low level of ECMA and provide some necessary suggestions to promote the enterprises applying ECMA.

Employees have collective skills, abilities and experience that contribute to the interests of the company where they work, and can contribute to the success of supply chain and is a resource that is an asset in achieving supply chain excellence. To examine this relationship, this study investigates the role of human resources management (HRM) on the supply chain management of fertilizer companies in Indonesia, which is focused on the distribution and logistics of fertilizer from producer to their network and consumers. This study took samples from two fertilizer companies in East Java, structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis was carried out with the Smart PLS. 18 (Partial Least Square) program, and shows the value of t = 348.825 with p = 0.000 (p < 0.000) which means there is a significant effect of implementing enterprise human resources management (HRM) standards on company supply chain excellence and represents indicators of management strategy, cost leadership, focus on productivity, logistics, distributions, operational effectiveness, differentiation, and cooperation with companies or other institutions that support each other. The results of this study have provided an overview of the application of enterprise capable of supporting human resource management. Enterprise standards in both fertilizer companies are applied regularly, starting from checking the completeness of the employee database, including contact information, details of salary, compensation and benefits; attendance, employee performance, career planning, work relations, socialization, and informal communication so that the company would be able to adapt and be more flexible towards every need in the present and in the future.

The collaboration between the universities and industries is currently in the focus of attention globally. Governments, universities, and industries are interested in good and effective collaboration, which would be beneficial for all parties. To foster University-Industry Collaboration, and to help transfer the knowledge and technology between these two parties, academics, politicians and companies are paying attention to science and technology policies more than ever. In this study, the factors affecting the improvement of University-Industry Collaboration are identified and prioritized. In the first step, 20 factors are identified and 12 factors are selected using the Fuzzy Delphi method. Then, using the BWM method, prioritizing the extracted factors is determined for industry sponsorship of the university research. Finally, based on the results, the discussion is conducted and six major strategies are presented to improve this relationship.