Mao Xu , Ying Kei Tse , Ruoqi Geng , Zhenyuan Liu , Andrew Potter
{"title":"Greenwashing and market value of firms: An empirical study","authors":"Mao Xu , Ying Kei Tse , Ruoqi Geng , Zhenyuan Liu , Andrew Potter","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109606","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109606","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In today's business environment, green or sustainable claims are rising as companies strive to strengthen environmental practices in response to climate change and sustainable development challenges. However, with increasing expectations of sustainable performance, companies encounter mounting financial pressure to adopt more efficient sustainable practices, which may lead some to exploit sustainability efforts for their own gain. Many companies make environmentally friendly assertions to conceal or mask their actual activities—a phenomenon known as greenwashing—which fosters public scepticism about the authenticity of their green messaging. This study employs an event study methodology to examine how the stock market values greenwashing news, drawing on 121 global greenwashing news since the 2015 Paris Agreement. Our findings reveal a negative correlation between greenwashing news and stock market reactions. The market reactions to greenwashing news are more negative for firms with greater ESG performance than for weak ESG performance. Additionally, greenwashing news supported by concrete evidence elicits stronger adverse reactions. Companies operating in the manufacturing industry experience more significant market value losses than those in the service sector. The findings also indicate that the Asia-Pacific market demonstrates particularly strong negative responses to greenwashing news compared to other stock markets. This study contributes to the signalling theory and advances the literature on corporate sustainability practices by providing empirical insights in a global context.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":14287,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Production Economics","volume":"284 ","pages":"Article 109606"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143696658","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Optimal security and pricing strategies for AI cloud service providers: Balancing effort and price discounts across public, private, and hybrid AI cloud models","authors":"Xiaotong Guo , Yong He , Joshua Ignatius","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109605","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109605","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In this study, we focus on cloud security and pricing as key factors that influence end users' choices. We develop an analytical model to examine how an artificial intelligence (AI) cloud service provider optimally sets security investments and price discounts, considering users' different views of public, private, and hybrid AI cloud services. Our results show how end users' characteristics and market dynamics affect these strategies and reveal the balance providers must strike between improving user experiences, capturing market share, and maximizing profits. We find that the provider's control over AI cloud security—along with security costs for both the provider and users, as well as users' potential security losses—plays a critical role in shaping effective strategies. In low-security-loss environments, end users gain more from choosing public AI cloud solutions. However, private AI cloud solutions become more favorable if the provider's security cost coefficient falls within certain limits. In the hybrid AI cloud scenario, the model becomes more complex. Under some conditions, security investment and price discounts act as complementary strategies; in others, they substitute for one another. We also analyze how these choices affect market share and profitability, and find that in some cases, security investments can outperform price discounts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":14287,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Production Economics","volume":"284 ","pages":"Article 109605"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143714325","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Effects of operations executives’ power on shareholder wealth","authors":"Mehdi Nezami , Sara Rezaee Vessal , Ali Shantia","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109602","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109602","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates the effect of operations executives' power (OEP) within a firm's organizational structure on the firm's shareholder value. In doing so, we employ a multidimensional measure that captures the relative power dynamics within a firm's TMT and is sensitive to shifts in these dynamics, enabling us to more precisely operationalize the power held by operations executives. Further, we link OEP to abnormal stock returns to evaluate the market's perception of operations executives' influence within a firm's TMT, and to idiosyncratic stock returns risk to explore how this influence contributes to the uncertainty in stock returns. In addition, we examine the contingency roles of firm maturity and market turbulence in moderating the OEP–shareholder value relationship. Using a longitudinal dataset of manufacturing firms (SIC 20–39) from 1998 to 2018, our findings reveal that while OEP boosts abnormal stock returns, it negatively impacts idiosyncratic stock returns risk. Additionally, firm maturity reduces the positive (resp., negative) effect of OEP on abnormal stock returns (resp., idiosyncratic stock return risk), whereas market turbulence enhances the positive (resp., negative) effect of OEP on abnormal stock returns (resp., idiosyncratic stock returns risk). These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the dynamic interplay between operations executives' influence, firm characteristics, and market conditions in driving shareholder value.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":14287,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Production Economics","volume":"284 ","pages":"Article 109602"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143714314","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Incentives or time-of-use pricing: Strategic responses to electricity demand response programs for energy-intensive manufacturers","authors":"Yunrong Zhang , Zhaofu Hong , Zhixiang Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109588","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109588","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The integration of renewable energy into the electricity grid introduces significant challenges due to its intermittent nature, necessitating effective electricity demand response programs (EDRPs) to manage industrial consumption patterns. Energy-intensive manufacturers, while well-positioned to benefit from programs such as Time-of-Use (TOU) pricing and Incentive-Based Programs (IBPs), encounter operational complexities associated with production adjustments and potential reductions, complicating their participation. This study develops an analytical model to explore optimal responsive strategies for manufacturers under TOU pricing and IBPs, with the goal of minimizing total operational costs. The results indicate that TOU pricing enables manufacturers to adopt either load shifting (LS) or load reduction (LR) strategies depending on penalty costs. However, under IBPs, insufficient incentives often result in non-responsiveness (NP). While higher off-peak responsive costs typically make LR strategies more appealing, manufacturers under TOU pricing are more likely to adopt LS strategy as responsive costs increase, when faced with shorter expected peak periods. In contrast, the choice between LS and NP strategies under IBPs is unaffected by peak period uncertainty. A comparative analysis reveals that IBPs offer superior responsive performance when penalty costs are sufficiently high, but TOU pricing generally outperforms IBPs in productive performance across most scenarios. These findings, illustrated through a case study, provide valuable insights for manufacturers in selecting the most appropriate responsive strategies, helping them navigate the trade-offs between electricity cost savings and operational burdens under different EDRPs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":14287,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Production Economics","volume":"284 ","pages":"Article 109588"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143681102","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Data-driven digital transformation in operations and supply chain management","authors":"Konstantina Spanaki , Denis Dennehy , Thanos Papadopoulos , Rameshwar Dubey","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109599","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109599","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Data-driven digital transformation is a dynamic capability that enables organisations to derive actionable insights and achieve a competitive edge. Data-driven technologies have played a pivotal role in evolving operations and supply chains, making them more responsive and efficient. Data-driven technologies now support advanced functions such as supply chain analytics, blockchain for security and transparency, and AI for innovation and efficiency. Research has long stressed the benefits of improved visibility and collaboration in the operations and supply chain management (O&SCM). Despite rigorous research, there remains a disconnect between theoretical frameworks and their real-world application. This gap suggests further research to better align academic insights with practical implementations in OSCM and a more comprehensive and integrated approach to understanding and applying data-driven digital transformation strategies in O&SCM. This special issue (SI) aims to deepen the theoretical understanding of data-driven digital transformation within O&SCM. We believe the 20 accepted papers out of 97 submissions contribute meaningful theoretical insights to O&SCM research and practice. These contributions not only enrich the theoretical discourse in data-driven digital transformation and O&SCM but also provide practical pathways for future research and application in diverse industry settings.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":14287,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Production Economics","volume":"284 ","pages":"Article 109599"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143643477","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Tian Xiao , Hing Kai Chan , Wenbin Ni , Kim Hua Tan
{"title":"The impacts of non-regulatory pressures on corporate social responsibility reporting patterns in an emerging market: Evidence from China","authors":"Tian Xiao , Hing Kai Chan , Wenbin Ni , Kim Hua Tan","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109600","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109600","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Previous research has predominantly focused on how regulations, as formal institutional pressure, drive corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting in China. Less attention has been given to the co-existence of other institutional pressures and how firms respond. This study constructs a CSR reporting pattern taxonomy, categorising firms' reporting patterns based on CSR report issuance and score improvement pace. We utilise a panel dataset of Chinese-listed firms from 2006 to 2019 to examine the impact of institutional pressures on changes in these firms' CSR reporting patterns. Respecting CSR's contextual nature and promoting a responsible reporting environment that respects all stakeholders, this study places a special emphasis on the effects of non-regulatory pressures in China, which are often eclipsed by the more dominant regulatory pressures. Results show that analysts' coverage and recommendations, as well as industry and geographic peer effects, are effective pressures on firms' reporting patterns, upgrading from non-reporting to decoupled to convergent reporting. Industry peer effects promote upgrading reporting patterns from non-reporting to convergent reporting, while geographic peer effects move reporting patterns from non-reporting to decoupled reporting. Regulatory pressure is proven to promote both patterns equally, contradicting the ‘policy–practice’ decoupling predicted by institutional theory. The study draws on evidence from an emerging market where regulatory pressure is a dominant force, contributing to our understanding of firm response heterogeneity to the institutional environment. We call for the integration of global CSR ratings with contextual institutional characteristics. Practical implications for firms and policymakers are also discussed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":14287,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Production Economics","volume":"284 ","pages":"Article 109600"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143740045","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Joint information sharing governance in buyer-supplier relationships: The role of partnership and monitoring in acquiring useful supplier innovations","authors":"Antony Paulraj , Najam Anjum , Constantin Blome","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109589","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109589","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Joint information sharing is considered fuel for new knowledge creation and innovation. However, within buyer-supplier relationships, this sharing activity has also been found to have a double-edged effect or a dark side. Given this dark side of joint information exchange, buyers may not obtain the desired results, including an increasing number of useful product/process innovations from the supplier. In the worst-case scenario, buyers may even have to face other repercussions in the form of loss of crucial intellectual assets as well as bargaining power. Accordingly, the activity of information exchange targeted at innovating products and processes needs to be governed through appropriate mechanisms to not only prevent all forms of exploitation but also create a productive and healthy relationship between the partners. Against this backdrop, this study aspires to examine the contingent role that partnership and monitoring play in negating the dark side of joint information exchange. Through the analysis of survey responses from 228 large and small manufacturing firms in Germany, we found that the effects of partnership and monitoring vary depending on the type of innovation received from the supplier. These results have important implications for theory and practice. While on the one hand, they fill the much-needed gap of understanding governance mechanisms, on the other hand, they provide managers with an important set of findings that can be used to better manage the process of innovation within dyadic supply chain relationships.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":14287,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Production Economics","volume":"284 ","pages":"Article 109589"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143591266","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jan B. Broekaert, Davide La Torre, Faizal Hafiz, Xavier Brusset
{"title":"The diverging control policy’s hand in supranational supply chain reconfiguration","authors":"Jan B. Broekaert, Davide La Torre, Faizal Hafiz, Xavier Brusset","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109567","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109567","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The efficiency of supranational supply chains is frequently compromised by divergent and evolving policies across countries. A novel assessment method for prolonged disruptive circumstances is presented, wherein supply chain performance is influenced by various mitigating control policies. The impact of control policies with concomitant labor productivity losses and perturbed delivery capabilities in supply chain networks is demonstrated through a detailed epidemic case study with diverging control approaches. First, a game-theoretic framework is employed through which the cost-optimal Nash equilibrium profile of diverging control strategies between countries is determined. Subsequently, cost-based strategic options for supply chain relocation are revealed through numerical simulations, providing guidance for entrepreneurial decision-making. The analysis is conducted on a realistically designed multiplex network that integrates a supply chain network layer with the case study’s epidemic SEIRD-diffusion layer. Two interconnected countries with distinct GDPs are examined as they implement Nash equilibrium policies for Epidemic Control Cost (ECC). These policies are characterized by <em>strong</em> versus <em>weak</em> confinement, and <em>higher</em> versus <em>lower</em> vaccine efficiency. Through this innovative methodology, an explanation of policymakers’ diverging mitigation policies and the potential decisions for supply chain relocation toward the comparatively better-protected region are elucidated, with consideration given to each region’s Cost from Relocation and supply chain capacity Loss (LRC).</div></div>","PeriodicalId":14287,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Production Economics","volume":"284 ","pages":"Article 109567"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143576713","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Marius Drechsler , Josef Eiglsperger , Dominik Grimm , Andreas Holzapfel
{"title":"Procurement and production planning in horticulture considering short-term re-order opportunities","authors":"Marius Drechsler , Josef Eiglsperger , Dominik Grimm , Andreas Holzapfel","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109583","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109583","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The procurement and production planning of horticultural production and retail companies faces many uncertainties, including seasonality and perishability, and is often organized through tactical pre-order and operational re-order planning. We present a stochastic model formulation for this problem and develop a deterministic mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) approximation to determine pre-order quantities, taking uncertain re-order opportunities into account, as well as a newsvendor adaptation for deciding about short-term re-orders. In doing this we consider the typical characteristics of horticultural products and their sales season, and integrate an advanced machine learning technique to factor adequate forecasts into the solution approach. Our model considers target <span><math><mi>α</mi></math></span>- and <span><math><mi>β</mi></math></span>-service levels, uncertain and limited re-order options with specific costs, and minimum re-order shares. Reflecting the perishability of the products focused, we track the age distribution of stock. To evaluate the results, we set up a simulation comparing our modeling approach with a practical and a literature benchmark using actual data from three case companies. Additionally, we provide sensitivity analyses using a large set of varied scenarios to derive further managerial insights. We show that our approach outperforms the benchmarks in terms of profit and is able to significantly reduce product waste. It is also able to meet target service levels while providing robust solutions that maintain flexibility for in-season adaptations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":14287,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Production Economics","volume":"284 ","pages":"Article 109583"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143601557","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Maciel M. Queiroz , Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa Jabbour , Mehdi Bagherzadeh
{"title":"Crowdsourcing-enabled AI: Unlocking value in digital services","authors":"Maciel M. Queiroz , Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa Jabbour , Mehdi Bagherzadeh","doi":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109586","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ijpe.2025.109586","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Despite the existing literature on the role of digital tools, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, in creating high-value digital services, empirical insights into the role of <em>crowdsourcing-enabled AI</em> tools, those leveraging crowdsourcing to gather the data necessary for AI tool development, remain limited. This gap is especially notable when considering the type of crowdsourcing participants (e.g., general crowd versus specialists) and the pace of technological change in the business landscape, as critical factors in developing digital service using <em>crowdsourcing-enabled AI</em> tools. Drawing on a cross-industry sample of firms collected through an online survey, our findings reveal that involving both the general crowd and specialists contributes to value creation by enhancing customer relationships, improving production and operations, and advancing product and service development. However, in environments characterized by rapid technological change (i.e., high technological turbulence), the involvement of specialists with expert knowledge becomes essential for value creation. These findings highlight the importance of selecting suitable crowdsourcing participants based on the pace of technological change to ensure that digital services developed through <em>crowdsourcing-enabled AI</em> tools deliver substantial value. This study highlights the critical role of leveraging <em>crowdsourcing-enabled AI</em> tools in the development of high-value digital services. It also emphasizes the necessity of considering contingency factors —such as the type of crowdsourcing participants and the degree of technological turbulence —when studying how digital services generate value. By defining the boundary conditions under which such digital services succeed, our research advances the literature and provides clarity on why some digital services achieve success while others do not.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":14287,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Production Economics","volume":"283 ","pages":"Article 109586"},"PeriodicalIF":9.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143563758","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}