bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Aeron dilemma of market selection
Authors: Kumar Anuj , Pujari Purvi , Gupta Nimit 
Published: September 2024

Learning outcomes
This case study would enable the learners to identify and evaluate the factors impacting the strategic decision to enter international markets. The learners would be able to identify parameters such as level of competition, perception regarding foreign entrants and demand factors that are crucial for the form to consider while taking such an important decision. The case study will also allow learners to understand the challenges of an entrepreneurial journey.

Case overview/synopsis
This case study is an interesting story of two entrepreneurs’ dilemma of internationalization strategy of their firm Aeron. Their firm’s product Tilt Switch had a good international demand and both partners wished to capture this opportunity, post the COVID-19 pandemic. This case study shows how the firm looked into factors to study new international markets, balancing risk and opportunity. The case study highlights the important role of strategic planning in achieving successful internationalization by analysing various approaches to market entry and adaptation. The firm had a choice of either developing their domestic market India or going for international markets of the USA or European Union.

Complexity academic level
This case study is suitable for graduation and postgraduation courses.

Supplementary materials
Teaching notes are available for educators only.

Subject code
CSS 5: International Business.
The contest for workplace employee representation: still seeking answers?
Authors: Snook Jereme , Whittall Michael 
Published: September 2024

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to demonstrate union and non-union’s mechanisms ability to “contest” the realm of workplace employee representation at two UK sites. The paper directly compares one union and one non-union mechanism of employee representation at separate sites by employing three “dilemmas” of employee representation: confidentiality, challenge and trust. The paper contributes to enduring debates about the efficacy of employee voice in UK organisations.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses a qualitative and inductive case study approach in two organisations, drawing upon semi-structured interviews, archival documentation, company meetings and a trade union officer diary to record the employee representatives use of voice to influence company decision-making.FindingsThe paper shows how the union achieved improved pay and a more trusting relationship with managers in comparison to the non-union mechanism, which failed to influence managers’ decisions at the site and fell into demise.Research limitations/implicationsLimitations are that the paper covers one geographical area and interviews were made with employee representatives and HR and management. The access was limited by the respective case study management regime/s. The data are acknowledged as now historical but remain relevant as a means of understanding wider debates on employee representation and voice. These limitations are now acknowledged in the revised edition of the manuscript, as suggested by the reviewers.Practical implicationsThe practical implications are that the paper shows how employee representatives face similar dilemmas in their operational roles and activities. If these dilemmas are managed with efficacy for members, then this can result in good outcomes for those members and legitimacy for the workplace employee representatives. We also suggest that the use of employee voice as a practical concept is seen here – the practical use of the factors comprising voice in the literature is used to show representatives' abilities to influence management decision-making.Social implicationsThe significance of having a voice at work that raises the profile of employee representatives and their members emerges from this paper. An effective voice mechanism can promote improved employment relations in a workplace setting.Originality/valueThis paper develops knowledge about dilemmas as important and enduring issues for employee representatives, which, when inconsistently managed, can lose them the support of the workforce or, alternatively, empower them to challenge and sometimes alter management decisions.
Digital influencers in different cultural contexts: effects of authenticity and value perceptions
Authors: Gadekar Mahesh , Diallo Mbaye Fall , Osburg Victoria-Sophie 
Published: September 2024

PurposeBrands can build meaningful, effective connections with consumers through digital influencers. This paper aims to understand the factors determining digital influencers’ success concerning brand-related (i.e. intention to follow influencer advice) and influencer-related (i.e. intention to recommend the influencer) outcomes. We present a conceptual model derived from established theories and psychological reasoning, identifying influencer authenticity and perceived value as important antecedents. We present satisfaction with the influencer and influencer credibility as the psychological mechanism explaining why antecedents transform into favorable outcomes.Design/methodology/approachWith structural equation modeling and two studies (N1 = 814; N2 = 685) relying on active followers from two countries (the UK and India), this paper examines the direct and indirect effects of the value and authenticity of digital influencers on followers’ behavioral outcomes and the cultural context’s potential moderating effect.FindingsAuthenticity and value of digital influencers positively affect intention to follow influencer advice and recommend the influencer. Such effects are mediated by follower satisfaction and influencer credibility. The effects of influencer authenticity and value on intentions to follow and recommend are not stronger in India than in the UK.Originality/valueWe contribute to the literature by presenting a theoretically informed framework capturing the antecedents of successful influencers and the importance of differentiating brand-related and influencer-related outcomes. Furthermore, our studies highlight that research findings about influencers’ impact may not be generalizable to other cultural contexts.
Implementing outsourcing strategies under a pandemic: the case of the nursing service industry
Authors: Wang Xiaoxiao , Liang Changyong , Chen Jingxian 
Published: September 2024

PurposeThe pandemic has caused severe disruptions and significant losses in various industries. In particular, the nursing service industry has been greatly affected, leading to increased service costs and attrition of nursing service provider (NSP) residents. Although prior studies suggest that outsourcing may mitigate losses from disruptions, there still lacks a detailed analysis of whether and when to adopt such a disruption solution.Design/methodology/approachThis study develops a two-period game-theoretical model to explore the impacts of demand and cost disruptions caused by the pandemic on NSPs’ operational strategies, suppliers’ strategy choices and equilibrium prices and demand.FindingsThe results present several novel managerial insights. First, we suggest that higher demand and cost disruptions decrease service demand, but do not necessarily prompt an NSP to outsource nursing services. Interestingly, we find that even when the service cost of the outsourcing strategy is low, the NSP may still insist on the in-house strategy. Additionally, the equilibrium strategy does not always result in lower prices and higher demand.Originality/valueOur findings provide insightful takeaways for NSPs to cope with the pandemic in the nursing service industry. The results also offer theoretical support for other industries to recover from demand and cost disruptions.
Divergence in disability reporting: assessing SDG alignment in corporate sustainability disclosures
Authors: Ligorio Lorenzo , Palazzo Giampiero , Marchetti Simona 
Published: September 2024

Purpose
This study aims to evaluate the contribution of companies on disability through sustainability reporting. In particular, the analysis evaluates the content of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) contribution on disability.

Design/methodology/approach
This study adopts the most recent Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines and the Agenda 2030 framework to measure corporate contribution on disability challenges via their disclosures. Next, a quality content analysis was conducted on the disability-related information disclosed.

Findings
Evidence revealed that while appearing compliant with the GRI indicators on disability, companies still struggle to effectively disclose and engage with disability-related topics, presenting a strong misalignment between quantity of information and quality of the information on the SDGs related challenges.

Originality/value
To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to explore corporate transparency on social inclusivity regarding disability-affected subjects by considering the divergence between reporting guidelines compliance and information quality.
Digital twins for enhanced construction project management
Authors: Aktürk Berkay , Irlayıcı Çakmak Pınar 
Published: September 2024

PurposeThis paper aims to fill the research gap on digital twin technology and its broad applicability during construction by shedding light on its interaction with Building Information Modeling (BIM) from a construction project management perspective. It presented the true potential of the digital twins in the construction phase of the project lifecycle.Design/methodology/approachThe paper employed a two-step methodology that included a comprehensive synthesis of the literature on digital twins through the construction management lens and a questionnaire survey to assess the impact of digital twin services brought to light on parallel BIM uses.FindingsThe paper provides validated applications and many advantages of the digital twin on construction project management. It suggests that the industry should take advantage of 10 digital twin services introduced to eliminate the low efficiency and lack of productivity that the construction industry is still facing.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper is one of the rare and pioneering studies that addresses the interaction between the digital twin and BIM from a construction management perspective with a quantitative approach examining the reflection of academic publications on the industry and their reception among industry professionals.Practical implicationsThe paper provides a meaningful definition for the industry by grounding the concept of digital twin in existing technologies and their practical applications. This provides a roadmap for managers to approach the problems and BIM limitations they need to overcome in their companies or projects with tailor-made solutions.Originality/valueThe paper is one of the pioneering quantitative studies that fulfills an identified need to investigate digital twin technology for construction management and its extensive applicability for quickly evolving construction sites.
Sir Walter Ralegh and the Art of War by Sea: Military Humanism and the Uses of the Early Modern Soldier‐Scholar
Authors: WOODCOCK MATTHEW 
Published: September 2024

AbstractThis article establishes the intellectual origins and underpinnings of the early modern soldier‐scholar in order to better understand the military humanist tradition within which Sir Walter Ralegh's writings on naval warfare and logistics were conceived and composed. By locating Ralegh within this tradition, the article provides a new critical framework for examining his dual identification with both the military and scholarly spheres. After discussing how the soldier‐scholar figure is indebted to the early modern intellectualisation of the art of war as an object of humanist discourse, this article examines how Ralegh adopts this figure as a means to seek preferment at court, beginning in the mid‐1590s following his fall from royal favour. Focusing on three distinct groups of naval writings, it argues that Ralegh positioned himself as an expert in the art of war by sea as a means of effacing differences in social status between himself and his contemporaries at court. It discusses his relationship with contemporary soldier‐scholars—including Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Robert Devereux, earl of Essex, and Henry Percy, earl of Northumberland—and demonstrates how Ralegh's expertise in naval matters combined personal experience, first‐hand information from well‐travelled mariners and extensive reading in classical and early modern military science.
IMPROVISING COVID RELIEF IN NEW DELHI: Rehearsal and Improvisational Capacity in Informal Student Networks
Authors: Dasgupta Anushka , van den Berg Marguerite 
Published: September 2024

AbstractBuilding on qualitative interviews, this article brings into view how New Delhi university students organized improvised forms of Covid relief during the Delta coronavirus wave in the spring of 2021. Responding to a lack of care due to state negligence and a breakdown of public and private healthcare infrastructure, students coordinated access to crucial resources such as masks, other personal protective equipment and even oxygen through the use of social media, existing social networks, and practices developed in earlier moments of organizing. Using the lenses of improvisation, rehearsal and repair, this article documents how students improvised informal Covid relief. Conceptually, the article offers the framework of transposition to look at how improvisational capacity in a social network was shifted from one crisis to the next.
Synergistic effect of drying methods and ultrasonication on natural deep eutectic solvent extraction of phytochemicals from African spinach (Amaranthus hybridus) stem
Authors: Okonkwo Clinton E. , Olaniran Abiola F. , Esua Okon Johnson , Elijah Adeoye O. , Erinle Oluwakemi C. , Afolabi Yemisi Tokunbo , Olajide Olasunkanmi Peter , Iranloye Yetunde Mary , Zhou Cunshan 
Published: September 2024

AbstractThe study evaluated the combined effects of drying methods (air drying [AD], hot AD [HAD], microwave drying [MD], and freeze‐drying [FD]) and ultrasonication parameters (sonication temperature [STemp]: 40, 50, and 60°C) and heating time (STime: 60 and 120 min) on natural deep eutectic solvent (NADES) extraction of phytochemicals from Amaranthus hybridus stem. Increasing the STemp increased the extraction yield (ECY) of the phytochemicals for all drying methods but increase in the heating time reduced the ECY slightly. MD combined with 60°C ST showed the highest ECY (53%), whereas HAD combined with 40°C ST had the lowest ECY (18%). At 60 min heating time, increasing the ST from 40 to 50°C increased the total phenolic content (TPC) in the extract for most drying methods except MD, and a sonication time of 120 min showed a slightly higher TPC, especially for MD samples. At 60 min sonication, total flavonoid content (TFC, 800 mgQE/g) was highest for AD plus 50°C ST and lowest for AD combined with 60°C (100 mgQE/g), whereas for 120 min sonication, MD and AD with 50°C showed the highest TFC (690 mgQE/g). FD retained better some of the vitamins (thiamine, riboflavin, niacin) but MD retained better vitamin C. The antioxidant capacity was not so much different among the drying methods except for FD, which showed lower values. These results provide a theoretical basis for the synergistic applications of drying and ultrasonication during NADES extraction of phytochemicals from Amaranthus hybridus.
Egypt's position in the Russia–Ukraine war
Authors: Ragab Eman 
Published: September 2024

AbstractThis paper argues that Egypt's balancing position on the war on Ukraine is shaped by a combination of a rational analysis of the consequences of the war and a pre‐war vision of its role in the ongoing global transformation. The paper employs the framework of varied consequentialism to identify the main factors driving Egypt's balancing position. The first factor relates to Egypt's dependence on external partners, contributing to the vulnerability of its national security, which leaves minimal room for maneuvering in responding to external crises, including the war in Ukraine. The second factor relates to the negative implications of the war on Egypt's national food security. The third factor is the need for external support to contain the war's negative consequences, which raises questions about the reliability of the international partners. The paper also discusses how this balancing position has defined Egypt's response to the American and Russian visions of the new world order in the post‐Ukraine war period.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Nigeria's value‐driven and pragmatic indifferent stance
Authors: Ayodele Bonnie 
Published: September 2024

AbstractNigeria's response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine carried significant geopolitical weight within the Global South. Despite Western pressure, Nigeria adopted a carefully calibrated, value‐driven, pragmatic indifferent stance that avoided overtly condemning Russia. While denouncing the violation of Ukraine's territorial integrity, Nigeria emphasised the need for dialogue and diplomacy. This reflected Nigeria's pursuit of strategic domestic value‐driven foreign policy that has embedded non‐alignment principles and its Afrocentric worldview. Nigeria's position highlighted the challenge many Global South nations face in being caught between the West and Russia. Overtly backing either side could jeopardise their interests and economic ties. Nigeria aimed to uphold foreign policy principles and support international norms like sovereignty while keeping channels open with the West and Russian power blocs. Its position, which reflects Afrocentricism, bolstered its credentials as a leader representing the perspectives of the Global South. Its value‐driven and pragmatic indifferent stance provided a model for global order‐making, and its deft geopolitical balancing act allowed it to protect its interests while reinforcing its status as an influential force shaping the Global South's stance(s) on major international issues.
Endogenous technologies and productivity in rice production: Roles of social instability in Myanmar since 2021
Authors: Takeshima Hiroyuki , Aung Zin Wai , Masias Ian , Minten Bart 
Published: September 2024

AbstractDespite technologies' critical roles in agricultural productivity, evidence is scarce on how conflict affects technology adoption and consequent agricultural productivity, often due to a lack of data in fragile states. Our study contributes to filling this knowledge gap by using unique large‐scale data on rice producers before and after a military coup in Myanmar in 2021 that led to a significant increase in conflicts in the country. We find that the increase in violent events including those in adjacent townships significantly changed the rice production function in both factor‐neutral and non‐neutral ways. Specifically, increased violent events have been generally associated with downward factor‐neutral shift in production function, and more importantly, increased output elasticity to agricultural capital (equipment) owned (in other words, reduced output resilience against capital ownership shocks). Our evidence also suggests that this has been led partly through reduced access to agricultural extension services, which would otherwise help farmers maintain productivity even with limited capital ownership by substituting it with human capital and skills. Our results consistently hold for both panel and cross‐sectional production functions across various specifications and particularly in Lower Myanmar. Results also indicate that lower mechanization service fees partly mitigate these effects.
Ascorbic acid 2‐glucoside improves survival, quality, and fertility of frozen‐thawed C57Bl/6J and C57Bl/6N mouse spermatozoa
Authors: Raspa Marcello , Paoletti Renata , Scavizzi Ferdinando 
Published: September 2024

AbstractBackgroundAscorbic acid 2‐glucoside (AA2G) is a stabilized form of ascorbic acid and a potent antioxidant. Ascorbic acid is present in the testes and epididymis and helps maintain the physiological integrity of reproductive organs. Its properties have been utilized to protect spermatozoa of different species from oxidative stress.Materials and methodsSpermatozoa of C57Bl/6J and C57Bl/6N strains were frozen and analyzed, after thawing, by supplementing the capacitation medium with AA2G, both in the presence and absence of methyl‐β‐cyclodextrin (MBCD). The effect of treatment was evaluated by SCA System (Microptic) analyzing the velocity, vitality, morphology, and the DNA fragmentation. We also examined sperm capacitation (CTC), acrosome reaction (Coomassie Brillant Blue), and fertility (in vitro fertilization) of treated spermatozoa.ResultsAA2G improved sperm quality and fertility particularly in association with MBCD. We observed a significant increase of sperm motility, velocity, and vitality associated with an enhanced capacitation and acrosome reaction. These improvements resulted in a marked increase in in vitro fertilization success. Embryos obtained were cultured and reached normally the blastocyst stage.DiscussionThis study aimed to determine if AA2G could safeguard mouse spermatozoa during cryopreservation. We found a protective effect of AA2G that increased sperm survivability resulting in higher fertilization rate.ConclusionThis newly improved protocol shows potential for reanimating cryopreserved GEMMs stored in mouse biobanks and international repositories, such as the European Mouse Mutant Archive (EMMA).This can serve as a pivotal tool in fulfilling the 3Rs mission (replacement, reduction, and refinement), promoting ethical and humane research practices.
Interplay of leucocyte–platelet complexes and clinical response to eltrombopag in immune thrombocytopenia patients
Authors: Osuna‐Gómez Rubén , Zamora Carlos , Novelli Silvana , Garcia‐Pallarols Francesc , Rodriguez Yva , Domingo Abel , Canet Marta , Olivera Pavel , Mulet Maria , Cantó Elisabet , Valcarcel David , Sanchez‐Gonzalez Blanca , Vidal Silvia 
Published: September 2024

SummaryEltrombopag (ELT) is a thrombopoietin‐receptor agonist that stimulates platelet (PLT) production in patients with primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). One potential mechanism of ELT is modulating the inflammatory response by increasing PLTs binding to leucocytes. This study examined the effect of ELT on leucocyte–PLTs complexes in 38 ITP patients. Patients, predominantly females with a mean age of 59 years, underwent treatments like corticosteroids, intravenous immunoglobulin and splenectomy. Compared to healthy donors, ITP patients exhibited lower percentages of lymphocyte with bound PLTs, but similar monocyte‐ or neutrophil with bound PLTs. ELT treatment increased PLTs counts and all types of leucocyte with bound PLTs. Network analysis showed dynamic changes in leucocyte with bound PLTs relationships due to ELT. Machine learning indicated that higher percentages of monocytes with bound PLTs were linked to a better clinical response to ELT. A possible mechanism was an increased IL‐10 production in monocytes with bound PLTs from responder patients. This study provides insights into the immunological changes in ITP patients undergoing ELT and suggests potential predictive biomarkers for treatment response and disease monitoring.