The COVID-19 pandemic has augmented pre-existing digitalization and environmental trends. In the maritime industry, one of the marked impacts of the pandemic is how the regard for technology has changed. There is now greater appetite and acceptance of digital solutions across the industry. This study investigates the ways the adoption of a series of digital technologies impact shipping firms’ efficiency, that will shed light on how industry stakeholders may derive value from data solutions, for making better operational decisions. We use cross-country firm-level data to evaluate the efficiency effects of maritime industry-level digital adoption. The results provide robust proof that working in a digitalized ecosystem is a way to promote efficiency, though not to the same extent across shipping firms and divisions. Impacts are relatively stronger in water transport activities than warehousing/support activities for transportation. Digital technologies may add to the growing diffusion in efficiency across shipping firms.

A series of countries have focused on shipbuilding public policies, as it is commonly considered a deliberate industry and influences employment levels in many regions. Establishing key performance indicators can be a challenge to shipbuilding policymakers. This paper suggests an approach to this issue, based on three different MCDM techniques: the fuzzy DEMATEL, the Fuzzy ANP, and the MOORA. This approach makes it achievable to estimate performance and competitiveness, considering 25 different variables comprising four different viewpoints of a balanced scorecard approach. These dimensions include finance, customer, internal process, and learning and growth aspects. The methodology is applied to the analysis of the active shipyards of the Bay of Bengal Basin countries. Our main findings indicate that shipyards which are effective in ‘customer’ variables perform higher performance, while variables constituting the ‘learning and growth’ dimension demonstrate lower impact on it. Additionally, the dimensions of ‘finance’ and ‘customer’ show uttered impacts on the other dimensions, while ‘learning and growth’ has no impact on the other perspectives of the balanced scorecard. Through this methodology, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers might acquire a penetrating overview into the drivers of the global shift in shipbuilding industry.

Credit risk measurement remains a critical field of top priority in banking finance, directly implicated in the recent global financial crisis. This paper examines the dynamic linkages between credit risk migration due to rating shifts and prevailing macroeconomic conditions, reflected in alternative business cycle states. An innovative empirical methodology applies to bank internal rating data, under different economic scenarios and investigates the implications of credit risk quality shifts for risk rating transition matrices. The empirical findings are useful and critical for banks to align to Basel guidelines in relation to core capital requirements and risk-weighted assets in the underlying loan portfolio.

Given that stakeholders are paying more and more attention to the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies of firms, the objective of this paper is to study the effect of ESG disclosure on firm performance, focusing on companies involved in port activities; precisely, (i) a port company/authority, (ii) a terminal operator/stevedore, and (iii) an integrated carrier. The study contributes to the existing knowledge by incorporating ESG scores and looking at factors that indicate financial strength. The contribution of our study will lie in complementing and adding to the existing knowledge, along with further incentivizing sustainable firm performance. This study discovers that a positive relationship between ESG disclosure, firm value, and firm performance exists, as determined by market-to-book ratio and Q ratio, respectively. It considers a panel regression examination, by means of a sample of 213 publicly listed ports and considering a time period of 5 years. This study will benefit scholars, decision-makers, legislators, and stakeholders of ports through improving their comprehension of how ESG disclosure affects the performance of firms, in general and specifically for each pillar. Highlights The aim of the present study is to examine the impact of ESG (environmental, social, and governance) disclosure on the performance of firms that are engaged in port-related operations. More specifically, our focus is on three types of companies, namely, a port company/authority, a terminal operator/stevedore, and an integrated carrier The present study has found that a favorable correlation exists between ESG disclosure, firm value, and firm performance, as gauged by the market-to-book ratio and Q ratio, correspondingly The study conducts a panel regression analysis, utilizing a sample of 213 publicly listed ports over a time period of five years This study will be advantageous to scholars, decision-makers, legislators and stakeholders in the port industry, as it enhances their understanding of how ESG disclosure impacts firm performance, both globally and within each distinct pillar

Journal of Anthropology and Archaeology is a peer-reviewed international journal, which publishes original papers promoting theoretical, methodological and empirical developments in the discipline of socio-cultural anthropology.