Discovering smart cities' potential in Kazakhstan: A cluster analysis.

The potential for developing smart cities in Kazakhstan is evaluated using cluster analysis. Built on previous research focused on clustering the regions of Kazakhstan, this study applies the same method to the cities of the country. The analysis uses indicators related to human capital, infrastructure, education, information technology, production, and other factors to assess the potential of each city. The clustering is performed using Single Linkage, Complete Linkage, and Ward's methods. The results show that Almaty and Astana are the cities with the highest potential for becoming smart cities. Aktobe is identified as a city with distinctive features that may help or hinder its development as a smart city. The remaining cities are clustered into two groups, with one group having the potential to catch up and maintain the trend of developing smart cities, while the other group is less suitable for starting smart city projects and may require more investment per capita. The study highlights the deep regional inequality affecting the potential to successfully develop and manage smart cities in Kazakhstan. The analysis also reveals some limitations and challenges in the data and variables used, including the lack of data for some variables and the difficulties in "translating" some factors and indicators into quantitative variables for clustering. The study concludes that future research should address these challenges and consider clustering inside certain regions to focus on their unique features. The study recommends launching pilot projects in small cities, with the most successful practices then scaled and implemented in the core smart cities and possibly Aktobe, if it manages to use its advantages to compensate for risks. Overall, this study provides insights into the potential of smart city development in Kazakhstan and can inform policymakers in their efforts to support smart city projects in the country.

Correction: Opportunities within the meat supply chain in Africa-The case of beef production in Northern Ghana.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0260668.].

Work from home practices as corporate strategy- an integrative review.

The Covid 19 pandemic led to major changes at the individual, organisational and institutional levels of policy, productive functions, and organising. During Covid 19 morbidity, public institutions enforced social isolation, mandatory self-isolation, quarantines, and administrative regulatory lockdowns, which led to a movement away from the physical, material world and into an all-consuming digital universe. With growing interest in work-from-home (WFH) opportunities, this article provides an integrative review of 107 papers. It comprises the bibliometric analysis and manual review of the articles, on the basis of which we present an elaborative discussion and agenda for future research. According to the analysis, WFH looks a tad of a double-edged sword in that it may have major but unintended repercussions for institutions, and organizations as well as hidden, positive as well as negative consequences for individuals/employees. One of the significant insight from our analysis was the absence of HR function's strategic or operational input or oversight during corporate WFH strategies. We suggest several theoretical frameworks for further developing, theorizing, and empirically testing various aspects of WFH. Further, we recognise that WFH is becoming increasingly visible as a result of the pandemic scenario and significant technical advancements, which must be reflected in the research. Finally, because WFH represents a significant disruption in how organizations produce work and manage it, we propose employee and managerial consequences as future research agendas.

Can social enterprises aid sustainable development? Evidence from multi-stage investigations.

BACKGROUND: Social enterprises must balance between profitability and sustainability. The impetus on sustainability grew further after the adaption of the SDG agenda by the United Nations (UN). OBJECTIVE: This paper examines the role of social enterprises in helping attain sustainable development goals in India. RESEARCH DESIGN: This multi-stage paper comprises three studies directed at scale development, scale refinement, pre-testing, and construct validity. The scale development stage is conducted through a combination of extensive literature review and focused group discussions. Expert discussions and item-reduction techniques have been used in the second stage aimed at scale refinement and pre-testing. The third stage of testing construct validity is carried out through Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). RESULTS: The findings suggest that all the competencies of social enterprises identified in the study i.e. social mission, collaborative networks, innovation, financial viability and level of scalability significantly impact sustainable development. CONCLUSION: Because the goals of social enterprises and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are mutually reinforcing and complementary, the study suggests that social enterprises have a lot of potential for achieving the SDGs. The study also suggests future research directions and policy implications that can be replicated in other countries.

Organizational Change and Workplace Incivility: Mediated by Stress, Moderated by Emotional Exhaustion.

Modern organizations continuously undergo change processes. The focus of the organizations remains on the macro level, but the micro level (i.e., employee's perspective) is neglected. Using the conservation of resource theory (COR), this study examines the association between organizational change and workplace incivility. This study also proposes mediating and moderating mechanisms of stress and emotional exhaustion. The data were collected from 262 respondents working in public sector organizations in Pakistan using a time-lagged technique. The results proved that change significantly impacts workplace incivility. Moreover, stress mediates their relationship and emotional exhaustion moderates it. Furthermore, emotional exhaustion also moderates the stress-incivility relationship. Public sector organizations must focus on well-planned, inclusive, and adequately managed change processes to achieve the desired outcome; otherwise, adverse behaviors, including incivility, manifest. To the best of the authors' knowledge, the organizational change and incivility relationship has not been explored in the past. Additionally, their relationship with stress and emotional exhaustion also requires empirical investigation. This study also adds to the literature on the conservation of resource theory.

Balanced diet and daily calorie consumption: Consumer attitude during the COVID-19 pandemic from an emerging economy.

This article tries to explore consumer attitudes regarding a balanced diet and daily calorie intake monitoring during the COVID-19 pandemic in India. It has become vital to boost people's immunity because of reoccurring diseases such as COVID-19, Ebola, and other chronic diseases such as diabetes, thyroid disease, etc. Healthy diets are important for supporting immune systems and keeping track of daily calorie consumption is an accompaniment to this. The research on attitudes toward a balanced diet is reviewed in this empirical study. Researchers employed a tri-component attitude model to assess consumer attitudes about a balanced diet and to track daily calorie consumption. A sample of 400 respondents was surveyed and data were collected with a structured questionnaire. The data were analysed using the structural equation modelling technique. The majority of respondents were found to lack declarative knowledge of both a balanced diet and daily calorie consumption. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on consumer attitudes about a healthy diet and daily calorie intake were effectively evaluated using beliefs, affection, and intentions. The repercussions for the government and business community were discussed. This study also evaluates the usefulness of the tri-component attitude model in the Indian context.

Food security management in developing countries: Influence of economic factors on their food availability and access.

The research presents an analysis of the food security policy effectiveness on the component of food availability and access in two developing countries, Colombia and Kyrgyzstan, during the period from 2000 to 2018. Determining the state of their food balance trade and the regression analysis for the Food Production Index of the countries, considering four economic indicators. Thus the study attempts to show that policies and strategies have not reached the expected results in terms of reduction of food imports dependency and strengthening of national production and export industry. Furthermore was found that among the economic indicators considered, food inflation, food imports, food exports, and extreme monetary poverty; the last one was the indicator that presented influence on the Food Production Index of both countries, during the period analyzed, showing that access was the main component that defines the food production. The results highlighted the need of integrating food security with the monetary and trade policies of these countries.

Economic affordability of food as a component of the economic security of Ukraine.

Economic security can be considered as an economic aspect of the life of an individual or household that provides the opportunity to achieve financial stability and improve living standards. In this context, understanding the impact of economic affordability of food on the economic security of the country is of great importance. The authors propose to use the indicator of economic affordability of food for in-depth analysis of the economic security of the country. Indicators that determine the level of economic affordability of food products in Ukraine for 2000-2018 are calculated. The regression analysis made it possible to establish a close relationship between the indicators of food expenditures and the level of GDP per capita, between the level of income and expenditure of food of decile groups. Correlation coefficients between the consumption of six basic foodstuffs and the level of per capita income in Ukraine are determined. The obtained indicators, which determine the economic affordability of food, allow us to conclude that there is a lack of economic protection at the level of individual low-income households. Overcoming economic instability and minimizing the possible consequences of the low level of economic affordability of food should become one of the main tasks of Ukraine's economic security.

Opportunities within the meat supply chain in Africa-The case of beef production in Northern Ghana.

Developing food supply chains in the African agriculture could be one of the keys for higher value-added activities and for the fair income of the stakeholders along the chains. Our research aims to investigate how these agricultural value chains are working in Northern Ghana and how to develop them. To estimate meat demand in the Tamale Metropolis, we carried out a large-scale survey with more than 300 interviews. Furthermore, we also measured the awareness of processed meat products. Based on the results, our conclusions are as follows: Development of public services offers the opportunity to (1) gaining market power for ourselves while losing market power for others, (2) indirect takeover of control on political and civil societies while losing control for others, (3) to win allies and friends on one hand, potentially losing allies and friends on the other. After spatial analyses of grazing areas, animal markets, trading routes and witnessing the descriptions of basic macroeconomic differences within Ghana; we must conclude that live animal trade is south-orientated, where traders are able to bargain higher prices. Due to northern locational advantages, the price of animals could be reduced. The presumably cheaper workforce and dozens of unemployed young males could also alleviate the financial burdens.

Obsessive passion, opportunity recognition, and entrepreneurial performance: The dual moderating effect of the fear of failure.

A strong inclination toward an important or preferred activity is a critical factor that drives individual to engage in corresponding activities. This study focuses on how entrepreneurs, influenced by obsessive passion, are motivated to put great effort into taking advantage of business opportunities and accomplishing entrepreneurial goals. By using SPSS and AMOS tools to analyze the multi-source questionnaire of 208 entrepreneurs, the research results show that obsessive passion can promote entrepreneurial performance and opportunity recognition plays a mediating role. In addition, endogenous and exogenous fear of failure play different moderating roles in the effect of obsessive passion on opportunity recognition. The research conclusion deepens the theoretical understanding of entrepreneurial passion, opportunity recognition, and fear of failure at a more subtle level.

Bananas, coffee and palm oil: The trade of agricultural commodities in the framework of the EU-Colombia free trade agreement.

Generally, research and studies about commodities focus on price trends, analysis in terms of international competitiveness, market position structure, rate of net exports, market share, and concentration index. This paper has developed an analysis of the most influential agricultural commodities traded from Colombia to European Union, which are bananas, coffee, and palm oil. Analyzing the economic and commercial effects in two traditional agricultural commodities from Colombia (bananas and coffee) with the rise of palm oil as a commodity in the trade relation with its partner; the European Union. The structure draws from the overview of general aspects and the behavior of Colombian foreign trade, as diversification of export products and trade partners, to focus on the characteristics of the trade relationship between the European Union and Colombia. The aim is analyze the proportional relation between bananas, coffee, and palm oil exported to the EU, according to three indicators, the volume of production, exports share, and trade value, from 2008 until 2019, identifying the trends before and after the implementation of the free trade agreement. Finally, with the coefficient correlation, determine the agricultural commodity that has the strongest and positive relationship with the total agricultural exports value from Colombia to the European Union.

Introducing the EPP house (topological space) method to solve MRP problems.

The problem of product and process planning analysed so far is how we can take advantage of our strategy in planning. Among the principles of manufacturing and service management concepts is that after planning demand, planning transformation is one of the key steps of integrated efficiency; it makes it possible to save costs that are not value adding and are not necessary from the customer's point of view. Currently, the methods of material requirements and capacity planning can be seen as classic solutions that are based on dependency relations between different resources, which can be dynamic in space and time. Measuring and recording capacities raise several problems in addition to the fact that our planning methods are not always satisfying. In the literature, the methods of material requirements planning or manufacturing resource planning (MRP) are not typically optimization methods, so they do not guarantee the best solution, and even if our planning methods were satisfying, several manufacturing restrictions (the time allowed, the complexity of the planning process, the lack of testing opportunities, etc.) could prevent us from reaching satisfying application. It is necessary to create a simple planning algorithm that can give the planner a greater degree of freedom and that would be simple and algorithmic in order to maintain continuous conscious control, putting an end to planning uncertainty and leading us to the best solution under the given conditions. The aim of our research is to introduce a novel, simple planning algorithm, similar to heuristic methods that eliminates the problem of defining the order quantity when applying traditional methods, which prevents us from determining in advance which method is desirable (causing unnecessary planning steps); computer-based solutions hide the causal relations of the methodology from the planner (causing unreliability uncertainty).