An Overview on Business, Management and Economics Research Vol. 1

This chapter investigates the contextual-based issues of sustainable supply chain practices related to the oil servicing firms operating in the downstream sector of Nigeria. The sustainable supply chain practices of oil servicing firms are significant to Nigerian economy as operating sector in oil and gas. The firms operating in the downstream sector of the Nigerian oil and gas industry render facilitative services to firms and agencies involved in crude oil exploration and production. However, the literature on sustainable supply chain practices is scarce and limited to contextual issues related to Nigeria, to fully explore this field; therefore, survey data were collected from key practitioners in the industry and analysed using descriptive statistics. The phrases "sustainability" and "environmental" are sometimes used interchangeably, and this is especially true in the context of the oil and gas business, where the negative effects of oil companies' operations are first and foremost environmental problems before they manifest as social and economic problems. The findings reveal that oil servicing firms rarely take into account the needs of sustainability practises when designing, producing, marketing, delivering, and supporting their normal products.  This study reveals several causes of the challenges bedevilling the supply chain sustainability in the downstream sector of the Nigerian oil and gas industry.  As a result, this study identifies strategic initiatives that could support the supply chain practises of oil servicing firms operating in Nigeria's downstream oil and gas industry.

Unlike in other countries, in Italy industrial production is dominated by small and medium sized firms (SMEs), particularly family-owned ones. Selecting in Italy a  significant sample of family-controlled, small- and medium-sized companies, the paper shows that the board of directors is of significance within the variables which influence strategic change and the performance of family SMEs. Through multiple regression analysis of the data collected, we demonstrated an absence of outsiders can be associated with a lack of the resources and competences necessary to bring about strategic change, that the presence of outsiders increases cognitive diversity useful for the provision of alternative possibilities in strategy-making, therefore, contributing to strategic change and, finally, that changes to the set of outsiders (i.e. addition or substitution of outsiders on boards) may facilitate change in strategy. Finally, we analysed the financial performances which are associated with the recruitment of outsiders to the boards of the SMEs in the sample and, in this way, we found that the simple presence of outsiders is not sufficient to increase the firm’s financial performance since the firms which achieve the best results are those which are the most dynamic in making changes to the set of outsiders on their boards.

This chapter intends to examine the recent trends and features of Taiwanese investment operating in China (from 2002 to 2005), in terms of localization, R&D intensity, and firm performance. In the contemporary economic age, research and development (R&D) investment isan important means of enhancing the value added to an industry’s business performance and establishing a key competitive advantage. The empirical findings show that from 2002-2005, the intensity of each local linkage (except local supplier linkage) manifest a very stable trend. We contend that between 2002 and 2005, Taiwanese investors had mastered the art of taking advantage of China's regional advantages, and as a result, the intensity of each local linkage (aside from that with local suppliers) is almost constant. Besides, it is noteworthy that strategic goals, firm’s size, and ownership type all make a difference to the extent of localization. The definition of local linkages, in this study, is a web of interconnected networks upon which business activities between actors are conducted. Some economists suggest that exchange connections in local networks may be examined on the basis either of activities or of actors. As regards R&D, Taiwanese MNEs seem to be indifferent to conducting R&D in China. The low degree of R&D intensity is applicable to all types of Taiwanese subsidiaries. This study statistically employs an indicator to classify Taiwanese MNE subsidiaries investing in China. It is reasonable to assume the local-market-seeking group mainly sell their products in the host country’s domestic market. Finally, according to Taiwanese top managers’ subjective self-evaluations, their subsidiary-level firm performance in China demonstrates a positive and stable trend. This finding suggests that Taiwanese MNEs may be able to boost their core competitiveness at home and improve their company's performance abroad by investing in China.

The main aim of this present chapter is to investigates the dynamic relationships between area and production of the wheat crop grown during 1989-90 to 2020-2021 in different districts of Gujarat state, India. Statistical analyses play a key role in current research studies on food security, where yield time series analysis is used to estimate past yield trends and to predict future yield trends. Various types of statistical models have been used for the analysis of yield time series. The time-series data on the area and production of wheat crops grown in different districts of Gujarat state from 1995-96 to 2019-2020 have been collected from the website. The Pedroni cointegration test indicates long-run equilibrium relationships between wheat area and yield, while the pairwise Granger causality test verifies cointegration linkages. The results reveal that the intercept and slopes are highly significant, and the model F-statistic is also highly significant, with a remarkably high R² of 92%. This model explains 92% of variations in wheat production. Additionally, for every unit increase in area under the wheat crop, the production is increased by 2.19 %. It is concluded that the long-term coefficient is positive and highly significant, indicating the existence of positive long-run equilibrium relationships between the study variables.

The Eurasian Economic Union maintain is fundamental for Russia, because its role as the engine for its superpower is energy dominance. Russia produces 20.7% of the world's natural gas and 14.6% of the world's oil and gas condensate. The Eurasian Economic Union (EEU or EAEU is a project for the economic integration of the former Soviet region. Its formal objectives are to create a common market much like the European Union (EU). There are four targets of this forum, i.e:1) coordinating economic policy, 2.) eliminating non-tariff trade barriers,3) harmonizing regulations, and 4).modernizing the economies of its five member states. While the whole population of EEU member states is estimated 180 million people.

The Eurasian Economic Commission, which serves as the EEU's regulatory body, is situated in Moscow, and the Eurasian Economic Union Court is based in Minsk. The Commission's authority is constrained. The Commission lacks the authority to refer a member state to the Court in a case of non-compliance, and member states that disagree with its rulings may appeal to other bodies. Contrary to EAEU institutions, bilateral agreements are frequently used to settle disputes. Member States shall create favorable conditions for fulfillment of the functions of the EAEU and shall refrain from measures that could prevent the achievement of the objectives of the EAEU. Bureaucratic forms of the EU have not been fully copied by the EAEU, which seems a slow phase of its development so far. This is might be caused by EAEU GDP in 2019 being the majority Russian economy (87%). Russia is by far the largest member state and dominates the Union. This domination means that Russia is easily able to act unilaterally within the union [1].

The main objective of the chapter is to investigate the dynamic relationships between the number of COVID-19 infected cases and deaths in all the districts of Karnataka state, India, during July 2020 to December 2021 based on the Arellano-Bond estimator using the generalized method of moments (GMM). The panel GMM model with the first difference transformation was found suitable for studying the dynamics of the number of deaths due to COVID-19 infections. For analyzing the dynamics of the number of deaths caused by COVID-19 infections over time, the panel GMM model with the first difference transformation was shown to be useful. The one-period lag (DEATHS(-1)) has a positive and significant effect on the number of deaths (DEATH). The panel GMM method with the first difference transformation has been calculated and presented in Table 15. R² is not used as a statistical standard for determining the model's goodness of fit, but the J-statistics assess the validity of the instrument variable used in the model. The Wald test strengthens the model's explanatory ability and validates the relevance of the coefficients. The number of fatalities at time t is positively associated with the number of fatalities during the preceding time. Additionally, the number of infected cases has a positive and considerable long-term impact on the death rate. Granger pairwise causality test reveals the existence of bi-directional causality relationships between the COVID-19 infected cases and deaths.

This chapter evaluated foreign exchange rate volatility determinants and their relationship with Non-Oil Export in Nigeria. Effect of    Exchange rate volatility has been controversial empirical issues on this premise, the driving forces (determinants) of exchange rate volatility was investigated. The study collected time series data covering 36 years (1982-2017) from CBN, 2019.  The dataset collected from secondary source was analysed using descriptive statistics as well as co-integration analysis (Autoregressive Distributed Lag). The study also used Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (ARCH) and Generalised Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (GARCH) model to determine the presence of volatility in the exchange rate. Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) and Phillips Perron Test (PPT) were used to test the unit roots and determine the non-stationarity among the variables. Autoregressive Distributed Lag and bound test was used to determine long run co-integration among the dependent and independent variables. The volatility of exchange rate on the non-oil export in Nigeria was determined through ARCH and GARCH 1(1) model. The results derived from the analysed data showed that foreign exchange rate, bank rate, inflation and foreign exchange volume have positive relationship with non-oil export, however, GDP, M2 and Government expenditure has negative coefficient and statistically insignificant.  Exchange rate and inflation have, respectively, the most variable effects on non-oil export in Nigeria, according to the ARCH (1)1 and ARDL models. The government should pursue a rebounding exchange rate stability strategy that will encourages non-oil exports.

ESG based on the perspective of responsible investment in the financial industry should not only be concerned by financial investors. Due to the needs of financing, enterprises also need to take ESG as a real enterprise strategy and carry out "granulation" implementation. In view of this perspective, this paper proposes to guide the strategic map and combine the three contents of ESG with the balanced scorecard to achieve the landing of ESG in enterprises and promote the enhancement of corporate social responsibility. This paper applies grounded theory analysis, text analysis and concept analysis to analyze ESG \ balanced scorecard and strategic map, and combines strategic map with ESG theory to build ESG theory to truly integrate corporate social responsibility into enterprise management in responsible investment.

The objectives of this study are twofold. Firstly, it analyzes whether cash flow from the operating activity (CFOA) is able to detect earnings management. Secondly, it tests whether the market performance of the firms that are probably to undertake earnings manipulation is different compared to their counterparts that are not like to undertake earnings manipulation. A total of 100 firm-years data were analyzed. The population of the study comprises all liquid stocks listed in the Indonesian stock exchange, covering a period from 2012-2015 (four years). The samples consist of 25 firms that met the selection criteria. The hypotheses were tested using a combination of a parametric test (t-test for mean) and a non-parametric test (Mann-Whitney test for the median). The test of the first hypothesis reveals that CFOAs are used by firms to perform real activity manipulation. The test of the second hypothesis shows that the firms which are more predictable to perform in real activity manipulation on average have a better appreciation by capital market participants than their counterparts.

The goal of this chapter is to use a panel vector auto-regressive model to simulate the dynamic correlations between the number of COVID-19-infected patients and fatalities in all districts of Kerala state, India, from January 2021 to December 2021. Modeling dynamic relationships was appropriate for the random effect panel vector auto-regressive order two models. The endogenous variable, deaths (number of deaths), is modeled to explain 62% of changes. Exogenous variable deaths (-1) are highly significant, whereas exogenous variable cases (-1) are significant at a 5% level. The endogenous variable is positively impacted by both of these external factors. The other external factors, deaths (-2) and cases (-2) are not statistically significant.  

The economic changes, the advancement of technology, the changing production techniques, the evolution of costumers’ needs and requirements, and most importantly climate change which is arguably the most pressing issue of the 21^st century, comply companies to introduce various changes in their technologies and behaviors such as implementing energy efficiency practices (EEP). However, EEP within companies are hindered by barriers such as employee’s individual resistance to change. We construct a model which aims to explore factors that reduce individual resistance to change regarding EEP. The model was empirically tested based on survey data collected from 193 manufacturing companies in Morocco. Results show that training and education programs enable EEP but do not reduce employees’ individual resistance to change regarding EEP, while internal communication enables EEP and reduces employees’ individual resistance to change regarding EEP. This study is an extension of the prior literature since we found that training and education programs promote EEP, without systematically reducing employees’ individual resistance towards EEP. Based on our findings; policy makers complement companies’ training programs that focus on enhancing employees’ technical skillset, by sophisticated internal communication strategies that focus on employees’ values, motivations, and concerns and that reduce employees’ individual resistance to change regarding energy efficiency.