The Circular Economy is one of the most prominent cross-disciplinary and cross-sectoral concepts to emerge in recent decades. It has permeated academia, policymaking, business, NGOs, and the general public, leading to numerous applications of the concept, some of which only partially overlap. In this article, we review recent debates and research trends in the Circular Economy, outlining the ten most common groups of its conceptualizations using the PRISMA (Preferred Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis) method. We then propose a post disciplinary and transnational research program on the Circular Economy that would not only combine hard and soft sciences in unprecedented ways but also have important practical applications, such as developing tools to embed the Circular Economy in natural, technical, economic, and socio-cultural settings.

In the context of establishing businesses in a new region, neglecting environmental orientation may lead to the omission of crucial motives for entrepreneurs’ migration and the subsequent course of their businesses. This present study aims to investigate the effect of green space quality (GSQ), green campaign (GC), and green attitude (GA) on green entrepreneurship pioneering intention (GEPI). Further, national pride (NP) was added as a moderator. This study utilized a cross-sectional approach using a survey method targeting small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) owners who will be relocated to the new capital city. Partial least square structural equation modeling was employed in the data analysis. The results revealed that GSQ, GC, and GA positively influence GEPI. Also, NP moderates the positive influences of GC and GA on GEPI. Entrepreneurs were motivated to pioneer green entrepreneurship in the new region due to environmental factors. Furthermore, their nationalism reinforces the connection between environmental motivations and the aspirations to undertake such pioneering endeavors. The findings present valuable insights for governments to formulate policies that encourage entrepreneurs to migrate internally and establish new economic nodes. Further, the results demonstrate how nationalism encourages green business pioneering endeavors in an untapped market.

This study applies machine learning methods such as Decision Tree (CART) and Random Forest to classify drought intensity based on meteorological data. The goal of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of these methods for drought classification and their use in water resource management and agriculture. The methodology involved using two machine learning models that analyzed temperature and humidity indicators, as well as wind speed indicators. The models were trained and tested on real meteorological data to assess their accuracy and identify key factors affecting predictions. Results showed that the Random Forest model achieved the highest accuracy of 94.4% when analyzing temperature and humidity indicators, while the Decision Tree (CART) achieved an accuracy of 93.2%. When analyzing wind speed indicators, the models’ accuracies were 91.3% and 93.0%, respectively. Feature importance revealed that atmospheric pressure, temperature at 2 m, and wind speed are key factors influencing drought intensity. One of the study’s limitations was the insufficient amount of data for high drought levels (classes 4 and 5), indicating the need for further data collection. The innovation of this study lies in the integration of various meteorological parameters to build drought classification models, achieving high prediction accuracy. Unlike previous studies, our approach demonstrates that using a wide range of meteorological data can significantly improve drought classification accuracy. Significant findings include the necessity to expand the dataset and integrate additional climatic parameters to improve models and enhance their reliability.

Given its insular geographic location, Taiwan inherently benefits from a natural advantage in developing its shipping industry, positioning it as a critical sector for the nation’s economic advancement. The shipping industry operates within a highly competitive maritime market, wherein ocean freight forwarders provide services on a global scale, thus classifying them within the international transportation and logistics industry. The global competition from logistics peers renders the services highly substitutable. This study breaks new ground by integrating the SERVQUAL scale with advanced methodologies such as the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) to assess and enhance service quality in the shipping industry. By segmenting the five dimensions of SERVQUAL, the study delineates 19 specific evaluation indicators. The expert questionnaires developed and analyzed through AHP and DEMATEL reveal a previously unidentified link between specific service quality dimensions and customer satisfaction. The findings from this analysis offer crucial insights into the critical success factors (CSFs) of service quality and their causal interrelationships, thereby establishing a model for service standards. By leveraging the identified CSFs and understanding the causal relationships among these key factors, ocean freight forwarders can enhance and optimize their value propositions and resources. This proactive approach is expected to significantly improve service quality, fortify core competitiveness, and elevate customer support and satisfaction levels, ultimately leading to an increased market share and ensuring sustainable business operations.

Entrepreneurial self-efficacy has a predictive effect on entrepreneurial performance. The lithium-ion battery industry is the cornerstone of the emergency of the four emerging industries of “new energy”, “new materials”, “new technology” and “high-end manufacturing”. In the past, scholars have not considered the characteristics of entrepreneurs in their research on improving Chinese lithium-ion battery new venture growth. The personal characteristics of entrepreneurs have not received widespread attention from scholars. This article will start with the characteristics of entrepreneurs themselves and explore the path that entrepreneurs’ characteristics affect Chinese lithium battery new venture growth. This article builds a structural equation model to empirically analyze the relationship among variables. The data analysis results show that entrepreneurial self-efficacy significantly promotes the growth of new startups and entrepreneurial resilience plays a mediating role between the two. It cannot be concluded that entrepreneurial passion plays a positive moderation role between entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial resilience. Entrepreneurial passion also does not play a positive moderation effect between entrepreneurial self-efficacy and new venture growth. However, entrepreneurial passion plays a positive moderating role in the influence of entrepreneurial resilience on new venture growth. The findings of the study are beneficial for practitioners of Chinese lithium battery enterprises and will allow their strategies to promote sustainable new venture growth.

This paper presents an assessment approach to fostering socioeconomic re-development and resilience in Iraqi regions emerging from the destruction and instability, in the aftermath of the war conflict in Iraq. Focusing on the intricate interplay of logistics infrastructure and economic recovery, the present study proposes a novel framework that integrates general resilience insights, data analytics, infrastructure systems, and decision support from Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). We draw inspiration also from historical cases on “creative destruction” or “Blessing in Disguise” (BiD) phenomena, like the post-WWII reconstruction of Rotterdam, so as to develop the notion of stepwise or cascadic prosilience, analyzing how innovative logistics systems may in various stages contribute to economic rejuvenation. Our approach recognizes the multifaceted nature of regional resilience capacity, encompassing both static (conserving resources, rerouting, etc.) and dynamic (accelerating recovery through innovative strategies) dimensions. The logistics aspect spans both the supply side (new infrastructure, ICT facilities) and the demand side (changing transportation flows and product demands), culminating in an integrated perspective for sustainable growth of Iraqi regions. In our study, we explore several forward-looking strategic future options (scenarios) for recovery and reconstruction policy factors in the context of regional development in Iraq, regarding them as crucial strategic elements for effective post-conflict rebuilding and regeneration. Given that such assets and infrastructures typically extend beyond a single city or area, their geographic scope is broader, calling for a multi-region approach. By leveraging the extended DEA approach by an incorporation of a super-efficiency (SE) DEA approach so as to better discriminate among efficient Decision-Making Units (DMUs)—in this case, regions in Iraq—our research aims to present actionable and effective insights for infrastructure investment strategies at regional-governorate scale in Iraq, that optimize efficiency, sustainability and resilience. This approach may ultimately foster prosperous and stable post-conflict regional economies that display—by means of a cascadic change—a new balanced prosilient future.