Infrastructure investment has long been held as an accelerator or a driver of the economy. Internationally, the UK ranks poorly with the performance of infrastructure and ranks in the lower percentile for both infrastructure investment and GDP growth rate amongst comparative nations. Faced with the uncertainty of Brexit and the likely negative economic impact this will bring, infrastructure investment may be used to strengthen the UK economy. This study aims to examine how infrastructure funding impacts economic growth and how best the UK can maximize this potential by building on existing work.
The research method is based on interviews carried out with respondents involved in infrastructure operating across various sectors. The findings show that investment in infrastructure is vital in the UK as it stimulates economic growth through employment creation due to factor productivity. However, it is critical for investment to be directed to regional opportunity areas with the potential to unlock economic growth and maximize returns whilst stimulating further growth to benefit other regions. There is also a need for policy consistency and to review UK infrastructure policy to streamline the process and to reduce cost and time overrun, with Brexit likely to impact negatively on infrastructure investment.

Japan’s investment in the domestic construction industry has fallen to less than half its peak in 1992. Given the country’s declining population, Japanese construction companies must go global to remain profitable. To what extent the Japanese government and Japanese companies can contribute to meeting the growing infrastructure needs in the region is unclear as Japanese companies have long been operating primarily in Japan. The Japanese government has in recent years passed a series of new laws that encourage private sector participation in financing, building and operating public infrastructure. Through involvement in such public projects, Japanese companies have developed the skills and technologies to build a variety of infrastructures that are resilient to natural disasters and adaptable to various geographical conditions and social and economic development. But the major challenge for Japanese companies is to transform their business model drastically from one that relies on the domestic market to one that contributes to the social and economic development of third countries.

In regard to national development (ND), this review article (which is basically a perspective approach) presents retroactive and forward-looking perspectives on university education in Nigeria. In the past, particularly during the 1970s, the Nigerian university (NU) sector was among the most outstanding in Africa as well as globally. The best institutions drew students from around Africa, who flocked to Nigeria to study. The NU structure evidently contained four essential components for an international and effective university system, viz., world-class instructors, world-class students, a conducive learning environment, and global competitiveness. The NU structure, nevertheless, has undergone some neglect over the past thirty years and lost its distinctive identity, which raises questions about its function and applicability at the current stage of ND. Hence, some retrospective and forward-looking observations on university education in Nigeria in connection to ND are conveyed in this perspective article uses basically published articles and other relevant literature, as well as other sources and data from available literature. Hitherto, there is an urgent need for reinforcement of the university system in order to give it the desired and comparable international quality and functionality needed to meet the demands of current issues and the near future. However, this article conveys an intense belief and conviction that the NU system is still important for both the political and socioeconomic development (growth) of the nation. The article concludes by recommending the way forward in this regard.

Urban planning is critical to managing rapid urban growth, particularly in African regions experiencing high urbanization rates. This study focuses on Bol, Lake Chad Province, a city facing significant challenges due to inadequate planning frameworks compounded by recurrent humanitarian and climate crises. It fills an empirical gap by analyzing how local planning mechanisms respond to these socio-environmental complexities, with a focus on the interplay between institutional structures, legislative frameworks, and resource allocation. The study assesses urban planning practices in Bol to identify challenges and opportunities, with the aim of improving institutional effectiveness, aligning policies with realities, and integrating climate resilience strategies. Using a qualitative methodology, it combines field surveys, stakeholder interviews, and document analysis, using SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) and PESTEL (Political, Economic, Sociocultural, Technological, Environmental, Legal) frameworks for data analysis. The findings reveal that ineffective institutions, poor inter-sectoral coordination, outdated legislative frameworks and resource constraints hamper sustainable urban development in Bol. To address these issues, the study proposes to strengthen local institutional capacities, foster stakeholder collaboration, and modernize urban planning policies through participatory approaches. The study highlights the need to integrate resilience strategies into urban settings to mitigate climate change impacts and improve governance. These measures not only address immediate challenges, but also advance urban planning theory and provide a basis for future research on adaptation strategies in crisis-prone regions. This study offers practical insights for policy makers and contributes to developing more sustainable and resilient urban planning systems in similar contexts.

This study aims to examine how marketing mix and trust theories influence users’ intentions to adopt herbal platform services in Thailand and examine the impact of these intentions on actual service usage, placing a special focus on the integration of technologies in the context. The significant potential for growth in Thailand’s herbal business and the currently underutilized online platforms, it is crucial for stakeholders to understand the determinants of investment intentions. Merging marketing mix and trust theories, this research offers a comprehensive analysis of factors influencing the use of herbal platform, highlighting the relevance of herbal in enhancing service adoption. This study utilized a quantitative approach, gathering data through online surveys from 416 users of online herbal platforms in Thailand using SEM to examine the impact of gender on consumers’ decisions to use these platforms. This study provides insights into effective business strategies for herbal companies and contributes novel perspectives to the literature on herbal services. It specifically examines cognitive and emotional trust impacts and explores gender dynamics within the context of Health development. The study clarifies the roles of these factors and assesses the impact of gender on platform adoption, highlighting the importance of m-Health services in facilitating this process. Enhancing user engagement with herbal platform services requires prioritizing influential determinants, streamlining the investment experience, and underscoring the sector’s contribution to economic revitalization. Authorities should prioritize simplifying the investment landscape and initiating advocacy campaigns, while platform developers are advised to improve the user experience, bolster educational efforts, and heighten awareness of the investment advantages within the herbal industry. This research provides stakeholders with insights into the factors that enhance Thais’ engagement with herbal market platforms, especially via online channels. Identifying these key drivers is anticipated to boost participation in the herbal market, thereby contributing positively to Thailand’s economy.

This study aims to explore the mediating role of perceived organizational support(POS) in the relationship between university teachers' competence and job performance. Through a questionnaire survey of 968 undergraduate university teachers in China, 879 valid questionnaires were collected. The study employed quantitative methods, constructing a university teacher competence scale comprising foundational competence, teaching competence, research competence, and innovation competence, as well as a job performance scale encompassing task performance, relationship performance, and adaptive performance. Structural equation modeling and SOBEL tests were used for data analysis. The results showed that POS exhibited different mediating effect patterns between various competence dimensions and job performance dimensions: no significant mediating effect was found in task performance; partial mediating effects were observed in relational performance and adaptive performance; and a complete mediating effect was identified between foundational competence and adaptive performance. The study provides theoretical support and practical guidance for university teachers management, emphasizing the importance of establishing a competence-based human resources management system, strengthening teachers perceptions of organizational support, and establishing diverse evaluation standards. Future research could further explore the impact of different cultural backgrounds and organizational types on mediating effects.