An effective operations of a projection spot welding (PSW) machine is closely related to the effec-tiveness of the maintenance. Timely maintenance can prevent failures and improve reliability and maintainability of the machine. Therefore, establishing the maintenance frequency for the welding machine is one of the most important tasks for plant engineers. In this regard, reliability analysis of the welding machine can be used to establish preventive maintenance intervals (PMI) and to identify the critical parts of the system. In this reliability and maintainability study, analysis of the PSW machine was carried out. The failure and repair data for analysis were obtained from automobile manufacturing company located in Uzbekistan. The machine was divided into three main sub-systems: electrical, pneumatic and hydraulic. Different distributions functions for all sub-systems was tested and their parameters tabulated. Based on estimated parameters of the analyzed distribu-tions, PMI for the PSW machines sub-systems at different reliability levels was calculated. Finally, preventive measures for enhancing the reliability of the PSW machine sub-systems are suggested.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating role of total quality management (TQM) between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and SME export performance in the manufacturing sector of Pakistan. This study was originated from the fact that only a few studies have examined on how the firm’s intangible resources and capabilities such as EO and TQM drive SMEs’ export performance. Some questionnaires in Likert scale were used to collect the data and 364 usable responses were received from the owner/managers of exporting SMEs. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used for the data analysis. The findings reveal significant relationship between EO and TQM with SME export performance. Furthermore, this study found the complementary mediating role of TQM between EO and SME export performance of manufacturing sector of Pakistan. This study has implications for owner/managers of SMEs. The results offer a better understanding regarding EO and TQM implementation to SMEs owner / managers. Thus, owner/managers of SMEs can take better decisions for the implementation of TQM practices. Furthermore, to the best of researcher’s knowledge, this study is the first work, which examines Pakistan`s SMEs export performance in association with the TQM as the mediating factor between EO and SME export performance.

This paper has been retracted.

In the domain of international construction projects, managing supply chains presents distinct challenges due to the intricate task of coordinating multiple stakeholders within diverse cultural, economic, and regulatory contexts. Prior research highlights the significance of incentive mechanisms and collaborative procurement practices, yet the effectiveness of these strategies in augmenting performance for international projects has not been extensively examined. This investigation explores the effects of financial and non-financial incentives on the performance of global construction projects, with a focus on the mediating role of cooperation. Data were gathered from Chinese international contractors and local suppliers and subsequently analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling. The results reveal two separate pathways of influence. Firstly, financial incentives exhibited substantial direct and indirect impacts on project performance; secondly, while non-financial incentives did not directly affect project performance, they significantly impacted cooperation levels, which in turn mediated the relationship between non-financial incentives and project performance. This study provides essential perspectives for managing international construction projects, emphasizing the critical need for the combined application of financial and non-financial incentives to foster cooperation and ultimately achieve superior project outcomes.

Social Networking Sites (SNS) play an important role in human psychological well-being. This research explores the effects of perceived overload on the passive usage intention of SNS among Malaysian users through SNS fatigue and anxiety by employing a Cognition-Affect-Conation (C-A-C) model. Cross-sectional survey research was carried out and the research acquired responses from 383 SNS users. Data was analyzed through PLS-SEM. The outcomes noted that perceived cognitive overload, perceived information overload, SNS fatigue, and anxiety are positive antecedents of SNS passive usage intention. The research brings valuable insights into the formation of passive usage intention of SNS and provides implications for service providers and users.

Disruptive innovation has attracted much interest, discussion and argument in academia and industry since it was defined. Based on a review of the related research publications, this paper aims to clarify the concept of disruptive innovation on controversies, summarize ex-ante studies on project management for disruptive product innovation, and propose potential research areas of the disruptive product innovation. The ex-ante studies are classified into three aspects: timing and conditions of disruptive innovation, factors for the implementation of disruptive innovation, forecasting and implementation of disruptive innovation. After a review of the existing methods of disruptive innovation, the potential research of disruptive innovation is presented.

Public organization’s performance depends on multiple aspects in which there are different polit-ical and public actors involved. In this study, we discuss the innovation performance of public organizations’ in Hefei (Anhui province), China. Our targeted group for this study were public sector employees at different levels within the organizations being considered. We checked the effect of absorptive capacity (ACAP), and dominant logic on public organization’s innovation performance. We found that absorptive capacity and dominant logic had a positive relation-ship with firms’ performance. Furthermore, these predictors were not only improving firm’s per-formance, but also bring innovation into the public organizations.

The purpose of this paper is developing a method to choose an appropriate Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) using Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MADM) for a dairy company. Among different methods, the grey group TOPSIS and fuzzy group VIKOR methods were selected. TOPSIS is a Technique for order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution and VIKOR technique is a method based on compromise programming. The data in this article were gathered using the interviews with the company’s managers and elites in the field of maintenance. Then, out of five types of maintenance software, the best ones were selected using these two techniques and finally the results were compared with each other. In the selection process, 13 sub-criteria were introduced under 5 main criteria. These criteria were selected out of a huge number of criteria using the studies of others and by consulting with the company’s managers and experts. We have tried to make the choices in a way that the majority of aspects could be considered. This paper helps the maintenance managers in decision-making related to choosing the CMMS software in uncertainty environment. Using two different fuzzy and grey approaches and comparing the results can lead to appropriate selection and improve the confidence in decision-making. Maintenance planning issues are among the important issues in industrial production systems. Maintenance systems have basically made remarkable progress in recent years. The increase of companies’ competitive pressure on the one hand and the close relationship between maintenance activities and companies’ core activities, on the other hand, have encouraged companies to use the software in order to manage their maintenance activities.

The current study aims to provide an overview of the research on political risk using the Web of Science（WoS）database as well as summarize research results and put forward some suggestions for research directions of political risk in international construction projects. It is the first time scientometric analysis of political risk research is executed. In this regard, the papers related to political risk in the WoS database have been retrieved and the literature is sorted out by visual and content analysis methods. Visual analysis is used to analyze the research overview, knowledge base, and research hotspots of this field. The content analysis method is adopted to expound the current research focus from three perspectives inducing the influence of political risk, risk assessment, and risk management measures. The results show that in the political risk context, the number of publications has experienced an increasing trend in recent years. Based on the existing literature on political risk for all companies, this overview provides some suggestions to address the political risk in international construction projects in the future. The results contribute to the scholars understanding of the research overview, research hotspots, and future research directions of political risk research in construction projects.

Trading is the most sensitive sector of the economy, directly and indirectly responding to innovative challenges. High competition, political risks and planetary scales have made it susceptible to any globalization fluctuations. Effective management is seen as the most important opportunity to gain competitive advantage. This explains the increased interest in the system of indicators of management system evaluation in the business processes in the supply chains. The aim of this paper is to develop and substantiate analytical approaches to the study of the status of transnational trade economic relationships with the identification of significant impact indicators and vulnerability indicators. The globalization aspect of the existing trend of world trade (export-import) among differentiated groups of countries is justified, distinguishing the forecast component. A two-tier model of business process “reliability management” has been constructed, taking into account the results of linear regression models based on the profiles of Australia and New Zealand.

Failure analyses require more and more reliable and robust approaches to structural response prediction. This represents a quite complex task to be accomplished especially when dealing with historical or ancient constructions in seismic geographic areas. The paper is aimed at providing approaches to the analysis of buildings alternative to simplified methods usually adopted in professional practice, which do typically involve drastic simplifications of the fabric. The approach allows developing full holonomic non-linear analyses for forecasting the behavior of structural panels present in the structural system, and it results in higher reliability and flexibility than ordinary procedures that are generally adopted in commercial software and are typically based on gross simplifications of the real structure. The presented method allows taking into account the real geometry of the masonry building under analysis, also including a number of elements such as architraves, tendons or reinforcements possibly incorporated into the walls. Besides the consistent improved reliability in performing structural analyses under quasi-static loads, the main potential of the approach is related to the possibility of developing its extension for performing dynamic analyses quite easily.