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The purpose of this paper is to develop an analytical framework toward facilitating the quantitative measurement of interdisciplinary understanding regarding sustainable energy systems with an application in the area of capacity-building projects in higher education.

The analytical framework is developed using the portfolio representation measurement approach in combination with a survey questionnaire. The subsequent assessment is carried out using the statistical measure of mean signed deviation to capture variation from an established baseline across the project group and visualized via radar diagrams.

The results provide a quantitative assessment framework for evaluating the degree of interdisciplinary understanding in the project groups. The application of the framework to the DESIRE project indicates the most significant degree of variation across economic and regulatory dimensions of sustainability. Discrepancies in general and educational contexts are observed.

The exploitable value of the results is sensitive to the derivation of composite indicators of the dimensions defined as well as the survey design. The case study was carried out on an ex-post basis, potentially biasing the results reported and limiting their interpretability and theoretical value.

The analytical framework can be used as a basis for assessing and engaging in discussions on interdisciplinarity understanding at the outset of capacity-building projects.

The contribution of this paper is practical in scope and entails the development of a quantitative framework for measuring interdisciplinarity in the specific context of capacity-building projects in the field of sustainability research in higher education institutions.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the process of family equity creation and its role for transgenerational entrepreneurship.

This paper combines a systematic literature review on family equity with conceptual theory building, resulting in a model of family equity creation.

The proposed model contains three phases of equity creation that ulitmately leads to transgenerational entrepreneurship: harvesting, institutionalization (via a single family office) and reinvestment.

This paper conceptually introduces the family equity creation model, which may serve as integrative framework for future research on transgenerational value creation by entrepreneurial families. The presented findings are of relevance for family entrepreneurship scholars, entrepreneurial families, as well as for practitioners.

The aim of this paper is the structural analysis of potential supply chain risks. It will demonstrate how interpretive structural modeling (ISM) supports risk managers in identifying and understanding interdependencies among supply chain risks on different levels (e.g. 3PL, first‐tier supplier, focal company, etc.). Interdependencies among risks will be derived and structured into a hierarchy in order to derive subsystems of interdependent elements with corresponding driving power and dependency.

ISM was used to identify inter‐relationships among supply chain risks and to classify the risks according to their driving and dependence power. The theoretical findings of the modeling and the applicability for practical use has been tested in two case studies with two German industry and trade companies.

ISM was proven as a useful methodology to structure supply chain risks in an easy and distributed approach that can also be carried out in a step‐by‐step process on several manufacturing stages. The input to the algorithm has to be well‐defined to give the user an exact understanding of all risks that have to be assessed, i.e. the better the input to ISM is prepared the better the outcome and representation will be. Finally, when applying the method, a moderated process proved to be more reliable than an assessment based on paper questionnaires only.

This model's insight would assist supply chain (risk) managers in the effective allocation of risk management resources in the subsequent risk management phases.

Value co-creation is an important topic of interest in marketing domain for the past decade. Co-creation via the internet has received a particular attention in the literature (O’Hern and Rindfleisch, 2010). Although there have been substantive number of studies of what motivates customers to participate in value co-creation in the internet-based platforms, there is a lack of research of what the deterrents are that may prevent customers from contributing their ideas online. This research was undertaken to define the deterrents from the customers and companies’ point of view. Furthermore, the difference, if exists, between the users’ and marketing professionals’ ranking of the inhibitors to co-creation online is also studied.

This exploratory qualitative research is based on 20 in-depth semi-structured interviews with customers and 20 in-depth semi-structured interviews with marketing specialists from different companies. Spearman’s rank correlation is applied to explore the relationship between the internet users’ and marketers’ responses.

There are nine constraining factors. The results show that although there is a repetition of the mentioned constraining factors indicated by the both groups of the interviewees, the ranking of the barriers is distinctive.

New conceptual information is received on what restrains customers from co-creation from both customers’ and companies’ point of view.

This paper explains the potential problems to be confronted when launching a co-creation project in the internet-based platforms and offers managers a preliminary guide to comprehension of the users’ deterrents rating.

The paper that defines deterrents to co-creation online.

Nobody concerned with political economy can neglect the history of economic doctrines. Structural changes in the economy and society influence economic thinking and, conversely, innovative thought structures and attitudes have almost always forced economic institutions and modes of behaviour to adjust. We learn from the history of economic doctrines how a particular theory emerged and whether, and in which environment, it could take root. We can see how a school evolves out of a common methodological perception and similar techniques of analysis, and how it has to establish itself. The interaction between unresolved problems on the one hand, and the search for better solutions or explanations on the other, leads to a change in paradigma and to the formation of new lines of reasoning. As long as the real world is subject to progress and change scientific search for explanation must out of necessity continue.

Companies are increasingly struggling with the costs of absenteeism due to their employees’ physical and increasing psychological illnesses. At the same time, employers should recognize the value of healthy employees in terms of greater productivity and the development of positive organizational attitudes. Many organizations have implemented workplace health promotion (WHP) programs; however, we still have limited knowledge about the effectiveness of various measures. The present study is an examination of 18 WHP activities and their effect on employees’ perceived health support and actual absence rates.

I organized 112 German companies into four groups based on their subjective (employee perception of health promotion) and objective (absence rate) performance. Applying multinomial regression analysis, I assessed a company’s likelihood of falling into one of the four clusters if a specific measure was not implemented in it.

I identified five measures that significantly differ between company clusters: healthy food offerings, sports offerings, having fitness rooms, systematically evaluating WHP programs and smoking cessation courses. Investing in occupational health management can be a strategic asset for organizations. The study results give companies recommendations on how to address WHP and how to implement these concrete measures.

The study’s originality lies in the incorporation of 18 concrete WHP measures and the comparison of their effects in objective and subjective terms. It shows that employers can enhance employee well-being by using simple WHP activities.

Total quality service (TQS) is a socio‐technical approach for revolutionary and effective management. However, the contemporary quality management literature is overridingly manufacturing oriented and there seems to be a dearth of comprehensive studies (from the management’s perspective) addressing the critical dimensions of TQS that will depict a holistic TQM philosophy in service organizations. The present study is an earnest endeavour to fill this void. Based on a thorough review of the prescriptive, practitioner, conceptual and empirical literature, the study has identified 12 dimensions as crucial for the inculcation of a TQM ambience in a service set‐up. The criticality of each of these dimensions from a service perspective is corroborated in detail. An instrument for measuring TQS with specific reference to the banking sector has been developed. Data have been collected from executives from banks in a developing economy. The instrument has been empirically tested for unidimensionality, reliability and construct validity using a confirmatory factor analysis approach. A model for TQS has also been proposed, illustrating the relationships between the various dimensions. The present research work offers a systematic framework for the conceptual and empirical understanding of TQS and its critical factors.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the marketing‐supply chain management (SCM) interface in new product development (NPD) processes through a contingent approach.

The study endorses Thompson's taxonomy of interfaces – pooled interdependence, sequential interdependence and reciprocal interdependence – to classify the approaches observed through case study research on two innovation processes within the same unit. A number of contingent variables is hypothesized as possible factors impacting on the very interface adopted by the company. Thompson's taxonomy and the contingent variables constitute the conceptual framework of the study.

Results show that the conceptual framework provides encouraging results in interpreting the marketing‐SCM interface design by companies, even if some refinements, especially as far as the interface taxonomy are concerned, appear necessary to provide a comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon.

Since the study is based on two cases, outcomes cannot be generalized. Nonetheless, the preliminary results and the rich understanding of the phenomenon provided by the in‐depth case studies suggested a number of research proposition to frame future research on the topic.

The paper observes the marketing‐SCM interface in a contingent way, providing a new interpretive framework for its analysis and design, and showing how the encouraged view in literature towards marketing‐SCM integration may be problematic and counterproductive in specific circumstances.

The Arab world is made up of 22 countries in the Middle East and North Africa. These countries are subjected to many social, economic, political and geographical vulnerabilities contributing to increased risks or ineffective emergency and disaster management. This paper examines these vulnerabilities, how they may impact the country's ability to face disasters, and how they can improve disasters' overall management.

The author selected Qatar, Oman to represent the Arab oil-rich countries, while Jordan, Egypt and Morocco to represent non-oil rich countries. The research was conducted in a qualitative, inductive systematic literature review based on a well-established systematic literature review methodology. Selected literature was based on its recency and the countries in question.

The review reveals population gaps that could threaten the social system in the event of a disaster in countries like Qatar and Oman. The majority of the countries lack community engagement and pre-planning for emergency preparedness due to social and cultural barriers. Other nations like Jordan, Egypt and Morocco are prone to long-lasting economic challenges due to lack of resources, mismanagement or corruption. The paper also highlights the need to raise the educational attainment among citizens to understand disaster risk reduction.

This study utilized the research method developed by Williams et al. (2017) to present a comprehensive systematic and comparative review of disaster management in the Arab world. Considering that disaster and emergency management has remained disproportionately unexplored in the Arab world, this paper reviewed several vulnerabilities and how those vulnerabilities may affect disaster and emergency management efforts in the Arab countries.