Board of directors are considered as an important proxy of corporate governance mechanism. Corporate governance plays a significant role in the development structure of stock market and businesses growth. In Gulf Cooperation Council region Oman is the first country to developed and adopt corporate governance mechanism. Oman holds a prominent position in the Middle East and North Africa region. The Omani economy basically depends on oil, gas and services sector. Due to oil crisis from 2015, Oman economy witnessed many challenges like rise in oil prices, unemployment and unfavorable balance of payment. On the other hand, the country encountered unfavorable debt level of the companies that made business companies unable to repay their loans. Therefore, this study proposes to explore conceptual model on the effect of board size, board composition and board tenure toward companies leverage. Though corporate governance mechanism is strong in developed countries, but the concept is still developing and progressing in Oman. Due to the current situation of Oman this study incorporates important proxies of corporate governance namely board structure, board composition and board tenure. Since the extensive research on corporate governance has been conducted but this relationship still not clearly established in developing countries specifically in context of Oman. Thus, this study provides a better and clear understanding on how the board size, board composition and board tenure impact and change capital leverage. In order to carry out this research, this study intended to collect secondary data from annual reports of listed companies at Muscat Securities Market. The discussions suggest the government and regulatory bodies’ that have strong corporate governance implication and practices may reduce the debt burden of the companies. The high proportion of leverage in capital structure may threaten the companies to bankruptcy or create negative image of firm in the financial market.

The stakeholder pressure is one of the institutional pressures, in this regard, organizations have their internal characteristics to match the expectations of key stakeholders in the environment. In the present study, the effect of stakeholder’s pressure on firm performance was examined considering the moderating role of the perceived economic crisis. To investigate relationships, 208 questionnaires were collected from firms listed in the Tehran stock exchange. Structural equation modeling and PLS software were used to investigate the relationships. The results of this study showed that stakeholder’s pressure has a positive effect on firm performance, and perceived economic crisis reduces firm performance, and when firms believe to more likely to be in crisis, the positive effect of stakeholder’s pressure on firm performance was decreased.

Financial innovations are an invaluable element in the framework of knowledge economy. FinTech has already become a must-have for most countries in the world. These innovations represent a reformative element of the current banking activity, as well as a new innovative business model. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the development level of these innovations on the market in Romania and the Republic of Moldova. This study attempts to appreciation to which extent the economies of these countries are ready to face the challenges, which the tendencies and opportunities of the banks are in order to embrace the latest technologies and to evaluate the impact of the latest financial technologies on the banking sector in the Republic of Moldova.

The supplier selection process has become an important area of research and professional activity, and it is fundamental to understand the types and trends of research in this field. The appropriate supplier selection decision is a fundamental strategic process and plays an important role in supply chain management. In the last decade, academic research on sustainability has evolved rapidly in the supply chain literature. However, there has been scant opportunity for the research community to complete a global assessment of sustainable supplier selection activities to date. This paper seeks to address this need by exploring sustainability in supply chain management, developing a sustainable supplier selection framework with a tool for its operationalization to help managers evaluate supplier selection decisions. Our proposed model is based on the TOPSIS concept as a multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) model and is validated through a case study. This research work follows the best-in-class approach to comply with all applicable environmental regulations and laws in the supplier selection process.

The issue of whether innovation and technological advancement continually bring new phenomenon remains unpredictable, especially in the financial industry. As technology and digital services continue to ingrain themselves into more aspects of lives, the financial sector has not been immuned. New technology has given way to new services and with new services comes the gradual disruption of the old. This study researched on the influence of digital marketing and digital payment on consumer purchase behaviour in Coburg, Germany. The availability of digital marketing is enabling many companies of all sizes to embrace mobile and data while adopting a ‘cloud first’ approach to redesigning their business models. This brings about the introduction of a new ‘pay-as-you-go’ business model that enables efficiency, low-cost speed to scale and creation of new, richer customer experience. This research sort to examine the impact of digital marketing on consumer purchase behaviour, assess the factors influencing consumer to patronise digital payment and examine the future of digital payment methods. In this research, primary and secondary data are utilised. The data has been analysed using descriptive and multivariate statistical methods like factor loading analysis, correlation, cross tabulation, and chi-square. From this research, it is concluded that the availability of extensive information, variety of products, level of satisfaction and level of education are the most essential factors influencing digital marketing and digital payment and this will lead to an increase in the digital payment methods with more security in the future. Also, bitcoin will not be accepted as a future digital payment method.

Never before has so much plastic existed within the environment as is currently the case. Cosmetics are a significant part of the plastic problem, both in terms of microplastics in the ingredients and through plastic-containing packaging. Generation Y is often seen as being environmentally conscious and sustainable. Contrary to this, however, Generation Y has proven to be carefree when buying plastic cosmetics. This article is intended to clarify the question of why German women of Generation Y buy plastic-contaminated, caring facial cosmetics, even though they are aware of possible damage. Results of an online survey (N=337) and a qualitative survey with experts revealed that the leading causes for the purchase of plastic-containing, caring cosmetics include the lack of plastic-free alternative products, the lack of transparency of product declarations and the enormous amount of time involved in the search for plastic-free cosmetic.

The objective of this research is to demonstrate the impact of technological, economic and social indicators on productivity and competitiveness through the HARD Matrix method, proposed by the European Commission. The level of economic development of different countries, as well as the degree of diversification and specialization of their world production, determines the degree of integration of national economies in the world economy that differs considerably by country and group of countries. The expansion and amplification of the internationalization process have substantially changed the place and role of each state in the world economy. Due to this process, today's world economy is no longer a simple sum of economies put in contact, but a global-universal system, unitary through the interrelationships between the component subsystems and its extremely heterogeneous structure. In the twenty first-century, the process of amplifying innovation, the net economy, and the Covid 19 pandemic have shaped new trends in the world countries and determined the balance of power between the three great empires of the world – the United States, the European Union, and China. At the same time, there are no similar links between the United States, the European Union and China, they do not share the same culture, do not share the same geographic space, and do not use the same models of economic development, but all of them consider innovation, sophisticated business, technology, safe tools in promoting economic growth and competitiveness.

This study aimed at examining the effect of internet services on online purchase intention of customers in Behpakhsh Company. Variables of this study included transaction services, pre-purchase services, Navigation experience, Attitude to the web, online purchase intention. Descriptive-survey method was used to examine hypotheses and respond to the questions. Statistical population consisted of customers of Behpakhsh Company. Statistical sample size obtained to 384 members. This study was implemented in Behpakhsh Company. To collect required data, researcher-made questionnaire was used. Moreover, regression analysis was applied in this research. Data analysis and hypothesis testing were done through SPSS Software. Findings obtained from this study indicated effect of internet services on customers’ online purchase intention in case of Behpakhsh Company.

In contemporary Project Management literature and practice, it is possible to distinguish two paradigms: the algorithmic-rational paradigm and the relational paradigm. The algorithmic-rational paradigm is characterized by a sequence of programming methodologies that constitute the classic corpus of knowledge on Project Management (WBS, CPM, PERT, Gantt diagrams). Following the diffusion of Agile methods, dissatisfaction with the algorithmic-rational paradigm has spread and a Visual Planning approach, based on the decentralization of planning and control and the abandonment of algorithmic techniques (such as CPM and Gantt diagrams) in favour of simpler, visual and physical tools, has become increasingly established. Visual Planning is the concrete manifestation of a relational project management paradigm. In this work, through an analysis of the key practices characterizing Visual Planning, we have identified the five fundamental principles that define this approach to project management. Then, to structure and guide the choice of a software application that can support Visual Planning, we have (1) identified several features which allow distinguishing one software from another, and (2) created a correlation matrix between the core principles of Visual Planning and the software features. Through this matrix, it is possible to evaluate and measure the adherence of project management software applications to the logic and practices of physical Visual Planning.

The objective of this study was to fill the knowledge gap through analyzing the buyers’ and suppliers’ perception on legal framework influence towards e-procurement adoption model in developing countries, Tanzania in particular. This study was guided by Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology and the Technology, Organization and Environment model. The study adopted positivism philosophy and cross-sectional survey research design. The study also used non-probability (purposive) sampling and probability (stratified) sampling techniques. Sample size was 157. Questionnaires and documentary review were used for data collection. The collected data were analysed by using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) with the help of SmartPLS 3 software. Findings reveal that in the presence of performance expectancy, relative advantage and attitude, legal framework has an indirect influence towards e-Procurement Adoption Model. The findings and recommendations of this study are anticipated to improve the adoption of e-Procurement in developing countries, Tanzania in particular.