Understanding complexity: the curvilinear relationship between environmental performance and firm performance

The nature of the relationship between environmental performance (EP) and firm performance (FP) of corporations is a long standing and contentious issue in the literature. This study is intended to advance this debate by arguing for the existence of curvilinear relationship and empirically testing the same using survey data on UK manufacturing firms. FP is captured in terms of growth in sales and market share. Our results show evidence for a quadratic relationship—as firms improve their EP, they seem to achieve much higher levels of FP. These results are consistent with the resource-based view of a firm; as firms engage in EP activities, they are able to gain inimitable knowledge that helps in further learning to further improve performance. Based on our results, we suggest that new studies focus on strategies to extend the period of increasing returns and maximizing the benefits of the positive association between EP and FP

Impacts of industrial heterogeneity and technical innovation on the relationship between environmental performance and financial performance

In this paper, we investigate the relationship between environmental performance (EP) and financial performance (FP) from the perspective of technical innovation in Chinese industrial sectors. We also consider industrial heterogeneity and take temporal variations of the link into account. We collect the required data from different Chinese statistical yearbooks from 2004 to 2015. We use an aggregated index of environmental pollutants as a proxy for EP and return on assets as a proxy for FP, and we employ research and development expenditure to capture technical innovation. The empirical results indicate that industrial heterogeneity exists and the EP–FP link varies in different industrial groups. There is no evidence that the EP–FP link becomes more positive and more significant over time. Furthermore, the mediation effect of technical innovation and environmental pressures can jointly affect the link. Finally, technical innovation partially mediates the EP–FP link but only in Chinese light-polluting sectors not in heavy-polluting sectors. The mediating role of technical innovation has a great impact on shaping the EP–FP link. When technical innovation partially mediates the focal link, apart from the indirect link, the direct EP–FP link is likely to be positive. If not, the direct EP–FP link is likely to be negative

A heuristics approach for computing the largest eigenvalue of a pairwise comparison matrix

Pairwise comparison matrices (PCMs) are widely used to capture subjective human judgements, especially in the context of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Consistency of judgements is normally computed in AHP context in the form of consistency ratio (CR), which requires estimation of the largest eigenvalue (Lmax) of PCMs. Since many of these alternative methods do not require calculation of eigenvector, Lmax and hence the CR of a PCM cannot be easily estimated. We propose in this paper a simple heuristics for calculating Lmax without any need to use Eigenvector Method (EM). We illustrated the proposed procedure with larger size matrices. Simulation is used to compare the accuracy of the proposed heuristics procedure with actual Lmax for PCMs of various sizes. It has been found that the proposed heuristics is highly accurate, with errors less than 1%. The proposed procedure would avoid biases and help managers to make better decisions. The advantage of the proposed heuristics is that it can be easily calculated with simple calculations without any need for specialised mathematical procedures or software and is independent of the method used to derive priorities from PCMs

Operations capability, productivity and business performance: the moderating effect of environmental dynamism

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between operations capability, productivity and business performance in the context of environmental dynamism. Design/methodology/approach – A proposed conceptual framework grounded in the resourcebased view (RBV) and dynamic capability view (DCV) is analysed using archival data from 193 automakers in the UK. Findings – The results show that operations capability, as an important dynamic capability, has a significant positive effect on productivity, which in turn leads to improved business performance. The results also suggest that productivity fully mediates the relationship between operations capability and business performance, and that environmental dynamism significantly moderates the relationship between operations capability and productivity. Practical implications – The research findings provide practical insights that will help managers develop operations capability to gain greater productivity and business performance in a dynamic environment

Exploring the relationships between different types of environmental regulations and environmental performance : evidence from China

The literature on the relationship between environmental regulations (ERs) and environmental performance (EP) of firms has largely ignored consideration of different kinds of ERs and the potential non-linear relationship between ERs and EP. This study uses the literature to differentiate three types of ERs (command-and-control regulations, market-based regulations and informal regulations) and further investigates (i) the linear links between different types of ERs and EP, and (ii) the potential non-linear relationships. The results provide support that the links between ERs and EP are not linear for command-and-control regulations and market-based regulations but non-linear and positive. For informal regulations, both the linear and non-linear relationships are not significant. We further test the impacts of time lag effects. Command-and-control regulations have impacts on EP both in current and the preceding years, whereas market-based regulations only affect EP in current year rather than in the preceding years. It takes 2 years to see the effects of informal regulations on EP

Supply chain resilience and business responses to disruptions of the Covid-19 pandemic

Purpose: At its peak, the Covid-19 pandemic has created disruption to food supply chains in the UK and for the entire world. Although societal changes created some resilience within the supply chains, high volatility in demand creates supply, logistics and distribution issues. This is reflected in the economic instability of businesses and SMEs. In this paper, we explore factors behind this initial disruption in the supply chains and offer suggestions to businesses based on the established practices and theories. Design: We use mixed methods research. First, we conducted an exploratory study by collecting data from published online sources. Then we analysed possible scenarios from the available information using regression. We then conducted two interviews with UK retail sector representatives. These scenarios have been compared and contrasted to provide decision making points to businesses and supply chain players to tackle current and any future potential disruptions. Findings: Our findings from the current exploratory study inform the volatility of supply chains. We suggested some possible responses from businesses, during and after the pandemic. Value: Our regression model provides a decision-making approach to help supply chain businesses during the pandemic outbreak. Once a complete data set of Covid-19 is available, we can create a resilience model that can help businesses and supply chains

Genome inventory and analysis of nuclear hormone receptors in Tetraodon nigroviridis

Nuclear hormone receptors (NRs) form a large superfamily of ligand-activated transcription factors, which regulate genes underlying a wide range of (patho) physiological phenomena. Availability of the full genome sequence of Tetraodon nigroviridis facilitated a genome wide analysis of the NRs in fish genome. Seventy one NRs were found in Tetraodon and were compared with mammalian and fish NR family members. In general, there is a higher representation of NRs in fish genomes compared to mammalian ones. They showed high diversity across classes as observed by phylogenetic analysis. Nucleotide substitution rates show strong negative selection among fish NRs except for pregnane X receptor (PXR), estrogen receptor (ER) and liver X receptor (LXR). This may be attributed to crucial role played by them in metabolism and detoxification of xenobiotic and endobiotic compounds and might have resulted in slight positive selection. Chromosomal mapping and pairwise comparisons of NR distribution in Tetraodon and humans led to the identification of nine synthenic NR regions, of which three are common among fully sequenced vertebrate genomes. Gene structure analysis shows strong conservation of exon structures among orthologoues. Whereas paralogous members show different splicing patterns with intron gain or loss and addition or substitution of exons played a major role in evolution of NR superfamily

Adoption of business analytics and impact on performance: a qualitative study in retail

This paper describes a qualitative study aimed at understanding issues faced by retail firms when they start a project of implementing Business Analytics (BA) and understanding the impact of BA implementation on business performance. Our study is informed by prior literature and the theoretical perspectives of the Technology-Organisation-Environment (TOE) framework but is not constrained by this theory. Using case studies of nine retailers in the UK, we have found support for the link between TOE elements and adoption. In addition, we have identified more interesting involvement of additional factors in ensuring how firms could maximise benefit derived from BA and traditional TOE factors that potentially could have additional impacts different from the ones. For example, there appears a link between adoption of BA and business performance (including performance in terms of environmental sustainability), and this link is moderated by the level of BA adoption, IT integration and trust