This article aims to analyze factors affecting the probability that a firm choose to diversify its investment in R& D. Recently, industry policy in developing countries tends to spur SMEs in terms of Research & Development (R& D), considering them as a main driver of innovation and growth. Departing from an extensive sample of the Vietnam Technology and Competitiveness Survey in combination with the Vietnam Enterprise Survey in 2011-2013, we try to determine: (1) those factors that cause young firms to invest in in-house R& D or in outsourced R&D or both (in-house R& D and in outsourced R& D), and (2) what is the difference in the impact of those factors when taking supply-chain foreign direct investment (FDI) linkage, and technology transfer into account. The analysis results highlight the importance of direct linkages, technology transfer between FDI firms and young SMEs, economic obstacles, and the interactions between them that cause SMEs to conduct R& D strategies in the supply chain (obtained through direct transfer of technology between linked firms). Concerning policies must be aware that incentives along supply-chain may better reach the R& D outcomes for SMEs. Important equally, policy-makers must consider a broader range of economic and financial constraint that may influence R& D behavior, apart from export orientation, competitiveness, and market power.

Environmental sustainability can require extensive investment from suppliers as well as firms. Previous studies on this topic focused on the direct relationship between supplier collaboration and environmental performance, yet these studies did not investigate the mechanism behind the relationship. Our study examines the mediating role of innovation on the relationship between supplier collaboration and environmental performance. We tested this model using a sample of 597 Korean firms and found that innovation positively mediated the collaboration effect with suppliers through measurements of strategic, operational, and product development collaboration. These results help us identify the process through which supplier collaboration leads to better environmental performance.

The study investigates the impact of supply chain management on the corporate financial performance of the coffee industry in Vietnam. Particularly, supply chain management is measured in three dimensions, namely relationship with suppliers, relationship with intermediaries and distributors, and relationship with customers. Data are collected by conducting a survey among 248 coffee company representatives of supply chain participants in Vietnam. The multiple regression analysis is adopted in the model estimation. The findings reveal that financial performance (FP) was positively influenced by relationship with intermediaries and distributors (RID), relationship with customers (RC), and relationship with suppliers (RS). In specific, the relationship with intermediaries and distributors (RID) is the most significant driver of financial performance (FP). The study greatly succeeds in providing an unprecedented finding which is the considerable effect of the participants representing supply chain management on financial performance. The findings are essential to the management of supply chain members in the coffee sector. Accordingly, to boost the financial performance, the companies should pay more attention on improving supply chain management efficiency. Supply chain management can be achieved not only by improving processes internally but also by working with suppliers, customers and most notably partners like intermediaries and distributors.

Supply chain is the most important factor in increasing competitiveness since the biggest cost of a product is in the supply chain. PT. EJI is a printing and merchandising Services Company that has several suppliers and almost all processes are inseparable from the supply chain system. Supply chain problems at PT EJI are in the production process, delivering orders, PO In and PO Out. Repairing the supply chain can be accomplished through the Supply Chain Operation Reference (SCOR) Method. This study recommends improving supply chain based on the results of performance measurement with the SCOR method which consists of 4 performance criteria, namely: 1) Reliability Criterion: Perfect Order Fulfillment (POF); 2) Responsiveness Criterion: Order Fulfillment Cycle Time (OFCT); 3) Cost Criterion: Cost of Goods Sold (COGS); 4) Assets Criterion: Cash to Cash Cycle Time (CTCCT). The results of the performance measurement show that the delivery process was 80.0, which is the lowest compared with other metrics, namely Make 99.0 and Source 95.0. Supply Chain improvement recommendations are shipping improvements (delivery) through the separation of shipping routes for shipping Online and Offline, checking the quality of invoice documents to avoid incomplete documents, making SOPs for shipping, and providing dietary at the time of delivery to avoid mismatching goods.

Social restrictions during the pandemic Covid-19 have direct impacts on the survival of Small and Medium Enterperises (SMEs), since every citizen limits his/her activities, schools, campuses are closed and residents are advised to remain silent and do work from home. The purpose of this study is to examine and analyze the effect of social capital, business strategies, and innovation capabilities on business success. The study was conducted in Bali, Indonesia City with 145 samples taken based on a purposive sampling method and data analysis was accomplished using SEM-PLS. The results show that social capital was able to create and expand knowledge about customers, raw materials and competitors and is the key to obtain cheap and fast information that is useful for creating innovation. The support of parents, family members and business partners raise the confidence of entrepreneurs to achieve business success. Business strategy has a positive and significant effect on innovation capability and has no direct effect on success. The findings show that business strategy influences business success through innovation capabilities. At the time of the Covid-19 pandemic the business strategies developed and implemented by SMEs entrepreneurs in the city of Bali, Indonesia was not able to directly increase business success, but when they developed innovative business strategies, they were able to create something or a new system, unique and accepted by consumers, SMEs entrepreneurs success increases business.

This research extends the developing literature on enterprise supply chain integration which is a series of collaborations between internal and external levels of an enterprise that collaborates strategically between suppliers, customers, and the company’s internal management. Enterprise supply chain integration is needed to ensure an enterprise achieves a certain level of service performance, have a discernible information flow, generates profit, and creates an effective and efficient decision in order to provide maximum value-added benefits to customers and suppliers. The results of previous studies are not consistent, namely the relationship between supply chain integration and the company's internal performance. This research focuses on the antecedent of supply chain integration which consists of Internal Company Integration, Customer Integration and Supplier Integration that are linked to a firm's performances. The study collected responses from 262 employees in a travel agency registered in North Jakarta and analyzed statistically using SPSS. The research used three dimensions of Supply Chain Integration (Internal Integration, Supplier Integration and Customer Integration) and interactions with Company Performance. The results of the study showed that Supply Chain Integration affects Company Performance; whereas Internal Integration and Customer Integration have a higher influence on improving Company Performance rather than Supplier Integration. The implications of the study help to increase the literature of the Supply Chain Integration and help corporate management to improve business’ performance.

This research aimed to evaluate the effect of improvement in the logistic issues on the service quality (SQ) dimensions of SMEs operating in Saudi Arabia. The investigation followed a quantitative assessment where SEM modelling was used on primary data collected using a survey questionnaire. The sample comprised of 351 employees belonging to different industries and different cities of Saudi Arabia, Jeddah, Khobar, Dammam, and Riyadh. The research identified quality logistics personnel, inventory management, and high technology cost as critical issues in Saudi SMEs. In this research, three SQ dimensions were considered, including assurance, reliability, and responsiveness. The results inferred that the overall effect of improvement in logistic issues was significant on the SQ dimensions. However, the study was limited to Saudi SMEs and three aspects of topics and three dimensions of SQ only. Considering this, the findings of the study have both practical and theoretical implications for SMEs, academicians, and practitioners.

The slowdown in globalization preceded by the 2008–2009 financial crisis and accompanied by stagnation in cross-border flows of goods and investments ignited the scientific debate about globalization shutting down. This paper assesses globalization on the basis of the observed flows of investment, data, population and trade for the period of 1998–2018. To do so, we propose the Index of Globalization (IG) that allowed us to highlight the key trends in the global economic development. Our assessments show that there was a sustained decline in the trade and investment components of globalization. The information flow demonstrates a slowdown in developed economies, but its growth rate remains stably high. The IG dynamics indicates a significant decrease in times of crises. In contrast to the 2008–2009 financial crisis and the outbreak of SARS in 2003, the COVID-19 pandemic has already caused a more considerable reduction in international flows of factors of production and global GDP. The changes in society behavior adopted during the COVID-19 spread are forecast to have long-term consequences. In terms of globalization, the pandemic has positively affected the dynamics of the information flow by increasing volumes of Internet traffic and intensifying the use of communications. The research results demonstrate that in the case of a significant slowdown in the trade, investment and population flows, an increase in the information flow will not have a substantial impact on globalization processes and will be unable to break the overall trend towards a decline in the Index of Globalization.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of total JIT practices (JIT purchasing, JIT operations, and JIT selling) on operational performance (quality, delivery, and cost) of local fast-food restaurants in Jordan. The study is quantitative and covers 43 out of 142 local fast-food restaurants in Amman. Data were collected by questionnaires from 101 managers and supervisors. After confirming normality, validity, reliability, and relationships between variables, multiple regressions were conducted to test the hypothesis. Results indicate that there are strong relationships among total JIT sub-variables, very strong relationships among operational performance dimensions, and a very strong relationship between JIT and operational performance. Finally, results show that total JIT practices have a positive significant effect on the operational performance of Jordanian local fast-food restaurants.

This paper studies the effect of CEO attributes on firms’ R&D spending in Saudi firms. Mainly, it examines the influence of CEOs’ education (level and background), CEOs’ experience (work experience, tenure and functional background), CEOs’ origin and CEOs' ownership. These attributes are among the main CEO attributes that are not considered simultaneously by previous studies. Empirically, we use a sample of 63 listed Saudi companies on Tadawul stock exchange. The study uses a panel model employing data over the period from 2016 to 2019 with 252 observations and formulates five different equations using the ordinary least square regression. Findings show that companies employing CEOs with functional backgrounds in marketing and/or engineering will invest more in R&D. Similarly, R&D spending increases when the CEO is an insider and has a part in the firm capital. These results would help scholars and shareholders to understand what makes executives more willing to initiate innovation and thus, they can select and govern well the company’s CEO.