Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals through Net Zero Emissions: Innovation-Driven Strategies for Transitioning from Incremental to Radical Lean, Green and Digital Technologies

This work adopts a resource-based view for strategically managing firms’ tangible and intangible resources based on lean and green philosophies to explore the role of digital technologies in achieving NZE and the SDGs.This research outlines three contemporary issues. First, it assesses the theory-driven approaches and real-world datasets from conference of parties (COP) meetings. Second, adopting the VRIO (Valuable, Rare, Inimitable, Organized) framework, 25 identified digital technology-based values are obtained by digitalization-based integrated lean-green approaches that may enable manufacturing firms to pursue SDGs via net-zero emissions. Four scenarios of digital technology adoption and integration level of lean and green manufacturing pathways are proposed, differentiated by the degree of radical/ incremental interests in innovation and sustainable advantage types. Third, the study highlights that the achievement of NZE by SDGs may be possible only by adopting digital technologies and high-level integration of lean and green

Achieving Circularity is a Distant Dream: Entrepreneurial Barriers to Circular Business Models in SMEs of Emerging Economies

Purpose: Circularity has acted as an essential phenomenon for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in emerging economies, pressuring entrepreneurs to its adoption in their businesses. During the adoption and implementation of circularity, entrepreneurs or circular entrepreneurs (to be precise) are facing various challenges to its effective functioning. However, the scholarly literature has offered limited research into this phenomenon. Thus, the purpose of this research is to identify the various barriers and sub-barriers for circular entrepreneurs to adopt circularity in SMEs of emerging economies. Design/methodology/approach: A combined qualitative and quantitative approach was employed to achieve the objectives of the study. In the first stage, through an extensive literature review, a list of barriers was identified and in the second stage, a deductive approach was employed to finalize the barriers. Finally, Best-Worst Method (BWM), a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method, was used to analyze the significant importance of the barriers. Findings: The findings of the study suggested the ‘financial barrier’ as the first-ranked barrier in the adoption of Circular Business Models (CBMs), followed by the ‘regulatory and operational barriers’ as the top second and third barriers. In terms of sub-barriers, ‘lack of access to funding and capital’ has been identified as the top sub-barrier in the adoption of CBM, followed by ‘excessive regulations and red tape’ and ‘challenges due to ambiguity of the concept’. Practical implications: To transition from a circular to a linear business approach considerably quicker and smoother, entrepreneurs may utilize the findings of this study as a blueprint for the steps to overcome the barriers in a linear to a circular transition. Originality: This research differentiates from other studies due it solicited input directly from the people who are most familiar with the challenges of making the transition from linear to CBM, i.e. the entrepreneurs themselves

Total Productive Maintenance and Industry 4.0 in a Sustainability Context: Exploring the Mediating Effect of Circular Economy

The purpose of this research is to establish a conceptual model to understand the impact of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) and Industry 4.0 (I4.0) on the transition of a Circular Economy (CE). Also, the paper explores the combined impact of TPM, I4.0, and CE on the sustainability performance (SP) of manufacturing firms. The conceptual model is proposed using the dynamic capability view (DCV) and empirically validated by partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) using 304 responses from Indian manufacturing firms. The results suggest that I4.0 positively impacts TPM, CE, and SP, also showing TPM's positive impact on CE and SP. In addition, CE has a positive influence on the SP of manufacturing firms. Furthermore, CE partially mediates the relationship between I4.0 and SP with TPM and SP. The study also identifies TPM, I4.0, and CE as a new bundle of dynamic capabilities to deliver SP in manufacturing firms. The present research adds to the knowledge and literature on DCV by identifying the importance of CE in the settings of I4.0 and TPM, especially in the context of sustainability. Also, the current study offers a new set of dynamic capabilities and provides some significant future recommendations for researchers and practitioners

Effect of dormancy breaking chemicals on microtuber production potential under in vivo conditions of central India

The present study was carried out at ICAR -Central Potato Research Station, Gwalior during 2012-13 to assess the effect of dormancy breaking chemicals, their dip duration and microtuber size on growth and yield parameters. The three different size >4-6mm, >6-8mm and >8mm of variety Kufri Sindhuri were given dip treatment with six types of growth regulators/ dormancy breaking chemicals viz 1ppm gibberelic acid, 0.5 ppm gibberllic acid, 1% thiourea, 0.5 % thiourea, 1ppm gibberllic acid + 1% thiourea and 0.5 ppm gibberllic acid + 0.5 % thiourea along with water control for 30 min, 45 min and 60 min. All the treatments exhibited better growth and yield parameters over water control but significantly best at 5% was 0.5 ppm gibberllic acid treatment for growth parameters and 0.5 ppm gibberllic acid + 0.5 % thiourea treatment for yield parameters. All the dip duration 30 min, 45 min and 60 min had not significant at 5% level effect for both growth and yield parameters. The larger sized micro-tuber (>8 mm) showed significantly superior plant emergence, plant height, number of compound leaves per plant, number of stems per plant both at 50 and 75 days after planting followed by 4-8 mm grade and <4 mm grade micro-tubers. Similar trend was observed for all the yield parameters. The overall mean finding indicates that micro-tubers treated with 0.5 ppm gibberllic acid in combination with 0.5 % thiourea gave highest yield (226.0 q/ha tuber), among micro-tuber size of >8mm (295.0 q/ha tuber) and among dip duration 30 min (206.67q/ha) and 45 min (210 q/ha) resulted in significantly higher yield parameters under nucleus seed production in in vivo conditions of central India

Effect of packaging material and storage conditions on potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) microtuber storability

An experiment was conducted at the ICAR-Central Potato Research Station, Gwalior (MP) during 2012-13 to study best packaging material and storage conditions for short term storage of potato microtubers of important varieties. Ten Micro tubers each of three popular varieties viz Kufri Sindhuri, Kufri Lauvkar and Kufri Chandramukhi (KCM) were packed in 5 packaging materials/ storage containers viz polythene without ventilation, polythene with ventilation, conical flask with cotton plug, conical flask with plastic cap and petri plates and kept in three storage condition viz ambient temperature, refrigerator (40C) and plant growth chamber (30C). After 45 days of storage of potato microtubers, at 5 per cent level of significance both percent overall weight loss and driage/ rottage was significantly low in polythene without ventilation (13.19 and 10.37 respectively) among packaging material and among storage conditions, at 5 per cent level of significance both percent overall weight loss and driage/ rottage was signifi-cantly low in growth chamber condition of 40C (12.77 and 12.44 respectively) over other two storage conditions. Kufri Sindhuri recorded significantly lowest overall percent weight loss (17.95) and driage/ rottage (8.00) at 5 percent level of significance over KCM and Kufri Lauvkar. Kufri Sindhuri has better storability under growth chamber condition at 30C in polythene without ventilation packaging up to 45 days

{5-Chloro-2-[(2-hy­droxy­benzyl­idene)amino]­phen­yl}(phen­yl)methanone

The title Schiff base compound, C20H14ClNO2, adopts an E configuration about the azomethine bond. The phenol and chloro­benzene rings form dihedral angles of 84.71 (9) and 80.70 (8)°, respectively, with the phenyl ring and are twisted by 15.32 (8)° with respect to one another. The mol­ecular conformation is stabilized by an intra­molecular O—H⋯N hydrogen bond, which forms an S(6) ring motif. In the crystal, mol­ecules are linked by C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, forming columns parallel to the a axis

Characteristic of enterprise collaboration system and its implementation issues in business management

Collaboration is an extremely useful area for the most of the enterprise systems particularly within Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0. The collaboration provides help in enterprise collaboration system (ECS) to achieve the desired goal by unifying completed tasks of employees or people working on a similar or the same task. Thus, the collaboration systems have witnessed significant attention. The ECS provides consistent and off-the-shelf support to processes and managements within organisations. Management techniques of the ECS may be useful to a community which manages ECS systems for collaboration. In this context, this paper focuses on enterprise collaboration system and answers critical questions related to ECS including: 1) what does collaboration really means for an enterprise system; 2) how can the collaboration help to improve internal processes and management of the system; 3) how it is helpful to improve interactions with customers and partners

Empowering sustainable manufacturing: unleashing digital innovation in spool fabrication industries

In industrial landscapes, spool fabrication industries play a crucial role in the successful completion of numerous industrial projects by providing prefabricated modules. However, the implementation of digitalized sustainable practices in spool fabrication industries is progressing slowly and is still in its embryonic stage due to several challenges. To implement digitalized sustainable manufacturing (SM), digital technologies such as Internet of Things, Cloud computing, Big data analytics, Cyber-physical systems, Augmented reality, Virtual reality, and Machine learning are required in the context of sustainability. The scope of the present study entails prioritization of the enablers that promote the implementation of digitalized sustainable practices in spool fabrication industries using the Improved Fuzzy Stepwise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis (IMF-SWARA) method integrated with Triangular Fuzzy Bonferroni Mean (TFBM). The enablers are identified through a systematic literature review and are validated by a team of seven experts through a questionnaire survey. Then the finally identified enablers are analyzed by the IMF-SWARA and TFBM integrated approach. The results indicate that the most significant enablers are management support, leadership, governmental policies and regulations to implement digitalized SM. The study provides a comprehensive analysis of digital SM enablers in the spool fabrication industry and offers guidelines for the transformation of conventional systems into digitalized SM practices

Identification and characterization of antibacterial compound(s) of cockroaches (Periplaneta americana)

Infectious diseases remain a significant threat to human health, contributing to more than 17 million deaths, annually. With the worsening trends of drug resistance, there is a need for newer and more powerful antimicrobial agents. We hypothesized that animals living in polluted environments are potential source of antimicrobials. Under polluted milieus, organisms such as cockroaches encounter different types of microbes, including superbugs. Such creatures survive the onslaught of superbugs and are able to ward off disease by producing antimicrobial substances. Here, we characterized antibacterial properties in extracts of various body organs of cockroaches (Periplaneta americana) and showed potent antibacterial activity in crude brain extract against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and neuropathogenic E. coli K1. The size-exclusion spin columns revealed that the active compound(s) are less than 10 kDa in molecular mass. Using cytotoxicity assays, it was observed that pre-treatment of bacteria with lysates inhibited bacteria-mediated host cell cytotoxicity. Using spectra obtained with LC-MS on Agilent 1290 infinity liquid chromatograph, coupled with an Agilent 6460 triple quadruple mass spectrometer, tissues lysates were analyzed. Among hundreds of compounds, only a few homologous compounds were identified that contained isoquinoline group, chromene derivatives, thiazine groups, imidazoles, pyrrole containing analogs, sulfonamides, furanones, flavanones, and known to possess broad-spectrum antimicrobial properties, and possess anti-inflammatory, anti-tumour, and analgesic properties. Further identification, characterization and functional studies using individual compounds can act as a breakthrough in developing novel therapeutics against various pathogens including superbugs