Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify and assess the interrelationships between various characteristics of information sharing and trust and their criticality for effective information-centred supply chain collaboration initiatives and, in turn, its criticality to overall firm’s performance.Design/methodology/approach: A survey of 189 executives from different firms was conducted and the resulting data were analysed to investigate how collaboration enablers affect effective collaboration and to determine its impacts on organisational performance. Structural equation modelling through partial least squares is used to study the relationships between four enablers (trust, information readiness, information accuracy and information security), perceived collaboration success, and two outcomes (sales growth and overall operational performance).Findings: The empirical results indicate that three collaboration enablers including trust, information readiness and secure sharing of information improve supply chain collaboration. The present study finds that “secure sharing of information” was the most important factor in fostering information sharing-centred collaboration. The present study also demonstrates that effective collaboration positively and significantly influences on firm’s performance.Practical implications: This study provides researchers and practitioners with a more comprehensive understanding about the information sharing-centred collaboration, its enablers and effects on firms’ performance in a supply chain context. Future research should focus on developing additional constructs that may capture other drivers of effective collaboration.Originality/value: The present study makes an empirical contribution to the body of knowledge by investigating an integrated framework focussing on the enablers of collaboration through information sharing and its impact on firms’ performance.

The purpose of this study is to understand how one of the most non-renewable countries is acting concerning the global challenge of energy supply vs. resources for energy generation. Saudi Arabia is registering the highest energy consumption per capita in the world with its fastest population growth and the rapid pace of industrialization. Its electricity consumption is expected to be more than doubled by 2025, and the carbon emission is supposed to be on the rise. In that backdrop, Saudi Arabia has taken many steps to shift its dependency from oil to solar, wind and nuclear sources of energy, and plans to secure half of the country’s electricity needs from the alternative sources of energy in coming 20 years. The government has announced an ambitious plan to install 41 Giga Watt of solar capacity and invest $108.9 billion by 2032. This exploratory study reviews the steps undertaken in this regard to promote the solar energy initiative as envisaged by the government. This paper discusses the issues and challenges in shifting from oil to solar energy in Saudi Arabia. It documents and discusses the drivers that push Saudi Arabia to adopt solar as an alternative source of energy that can be used to reduce oil dependency and to improve environmental sustainability. A multi-pronged approach involving all stakeholders is the key to success in making the solar project sustainable in Saudi Arabia.

Digitalization is essential for supply chain (SC) systems to thrive in the extremely dynamic and competitive business environment of the present day. The purpose of this study is to examine the role and the importance of absorptive capacity (ACAP) on supply chain innovation performance (SCIP), mediated by digital capability (DCAP), supply chain resilience (SCR), supply chain agility (SCA), and digital innovation (DI). The study has been designed to empirically investigate the hypothesized relationships on a sample of 116 firms across industries in Saudi Arabia, using a partial least-squares-based structural equation model (PLS-SEM). Based on the findings, all the hypothesized paths are supported, justifying that ACAP positively and significantly impacts DCAP, SCA, and SCR. Moreover, SCA and SCR partially mediated the relationship between ACAP and SCIP. This study contributes to the resource-based view (RBV) and a dynamic capability (DC) theories by examining how the innovation of digital technologies affects SCIP, providing empirical support to the ACAP and SCIP interaction through numerous mediators to develop SCIP, from which also many practical implications emerged. For instance, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses must improve their SC performance by building and integrating their ACAP to make the most of their digital-platform-based dynamic capabilities.

The new identified virus COVID-19 has become one of the most contagious diseases in human history. The ongoing coronavirus has created severe threats to global mental health, which have resulted in crisis management challenges and international concerns related to health issues. As of September 9, 2021, there were over 223.4 million patients with COVID-19, including 4.6 million deaths and over 200 million recovered patients reported worldwide, which has made the COVID-19 outbreak one of the deadliest pandemics in human history. The aggressive public health implementations endorsed various precautionary safety and preventive strategies to suppress and minimize COVID-19 disease transmission. The second, third, and fourth waves of COVID-19 continue to pose global challenges to crisis management, as its evolution and implications are still unfolding. This study posits that examining the strategic ripostes and pandemic experiences sheds light on combatting this global emergency. This study recommends two model strategies that help reduce the adverse effects of the pandemic on the immune systems of the general population. This present paper recommends NPI interventions (non-pharmaceutical intervention) to combine various measures, such as the suppression strategy (lockdown and restrictions) and mitigation model to decrease the burden on health systems. The current COVID-19 health crisis has influenced all vital economic sectors and developed crisis management problems. The global supply of vaccines is still not sufficient to manage this global health emergency. In this crisis, NPIs are helpful to manage the spillover impacts of the pandemic. It articulates the prominence of resilience and economic and strategic agility to resume economic activities and resolve healthcare issues. This study primarily focuses on the role of social media to tackle challenges and crises posed by COVID-19 on economies, business activities, healthcare burdens, and government support for societies to resume businesses, and implications for global economic and healthcare provision disruptions. This study suggests that intervention strategies can control the rapid spread of COVID-19 with hands-on crisis management measures, and the healthcare system will resume normal conditions quickly. Global economies will revitalize scientific contributions and collaborations, including social science and business industries, through government support.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand the link between trust, technology and supply chain collaboration and their impact on firms’ operational performances. Design/methodology/approach: Based on extant literature, a hypothesized model was developed and tested using structural equation modelling (i.e. AMOS). A survey was conducted to collect data from the supply chain managers of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies (more precisely in the food and beverage sector) in Thailand. Findings: The study findings suggest that through an ongoing relationship, trust evolves and is shaped over time and can form a competitive capability that may not be easy for competitors to replicate. Both trust and technology are found to have significant impact on supply chain collaboration and on firms’ operational performances. Research limitations/implications: One of the major limitations of the study is that the data were obtained from one single economy, which restricts its generalizability across other economies. The study was a cross-sectional and descriptive sample of the FMCG industry at a given point in time. A more stringent test of the relationships between trust, technology, supply chain collaboration and operational performance requires an in-depth case study or longitudinal study. Practical implications: The findings will enable supply chain managers in the FMCG industry to understand the strategic role of trust and technology in building supply chain collaboration that leads to superior operational performance. Originality/value: The paper clearly confirms that trust and technological capabilities are significantly associated with supply chain collaboration and operational performance. Most of the earlier supply chain collaboration research streams are based on developed economies where supply chain collaboration challenges are predictable, while the current study conducted is based on a developing economy setting. This study facilitates the author’s understanding of the challenges in managing supply chain collaboration within a developing economy.

Purpose: The existing literature indicates that the ultimate purpose of green human resource management (GHRM) practices is to enhance sustainable corporate performance by shaping employees’ green behaviors. In this vein, we argue that green organizational culture and employee existing pro-environmental behaviors are the important factors or channels through which GHRM practices shape green employee behaviors for sustainable corporate performance. Consequently, we draw on the ability, motivation, and opportunity (AMO) framework to examine how firms’ GHRM practices indirectly shape employee green behavior for sustainable corporate performance by cultivating and reinforcing green organizational culture under the boundary condition of high employee pro-environmental behavior.Design/methodology/approach: This study uses multi-source, dyadic, and time-lagged data collected from green HR managers and employees in 242 ISO-14001-certified green firms in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The study applies structural equation modeling through LISREL 12 software for testing of hypotheses.Findings: The findings support the postulation that GHRM practices, directly and indirectly, shape employee green behaviors for sustainable performance. GHRM practices indirectly enhance employee green behaviors for sustainable performance by cultivating and fostering the green organizational culture in the presence of high pro-environmental behavior.Practical implications: This study outlines theoretical and practical implications on how HRM managers require an established green organizational culture and employee pro-environmental behaviors to effectively direct GHRM for enhanced sustainable corporate performance. HRM managers should make use of appropriate interventions, including but not limited to GHRM practices, to foster a green organizational culture and employee pro-environmental behaviors.Originality/value: This is an original study that outlines the importance of alignment between Green HRM practices and employee pro-environmental behaviors towards shaping green organizational culture and employee behaviors for corporate sustainability. The study demonstrates how GHRM practices enhance sustainable corporate performance through sequential mediations of green organizational culture and employee green behaviors, and under the boundary condition of pro-environmental behavior.