The expansion of road networks, taken place during the last decades, was driven by technological progress and economic growth. The most innovative products of this trend—modern motorways and international road corridors—provide an excellent level of service, traffic safety and necessary information to travelers. However, despite this undeniable progress, major impediments and respective challenges to road authorities and operators still remain. The present paper analytically presents the main current challenges in the road engineering field, namely: a) financing new projects, b) alternative energy resources, especially renewable energy, c) serviceability, including maintenance of road infrastructure, traffic congestion and quality of the network, d) climate change hazards due to greenhouse gas emissions increase, e) environmental impacts, f) safety on roads, streets and motorways, and g) economy and cost-effectiveness. In each country and over each network, challenges and concerns may vary, but, in most cases, competent authorities, engaged in road development policies, have to deal with most of these issues. The optimization of the means to achieve the best results seems to be an enduring stake. In the present paper, the origin and the main features of these challenges are outlined as well as their tendency to get amplified or diminished under the actual evolving economic conditions worldwide, where growth alternates with crisis and social hardship. Moreover, responses, meant to provide solutions to the said challenges, are suggested, including research findings of Aristotle University and innovative technological achievements, to drive the transition to a more sustainable future.
The global adoption of sustainable development practices is gaining momentum, with an increasing emphasis on balancing the social, economic, and environmental pillars of sustainability. This study aims to assess the current state of these pillars within the uMlalazi Local Municipality, South Africa, and evaluate the initiatives in place to address related challenges. The purpose is to gain a deeper understanding of how effectively these three pillars are being addressed in the context of local governance. Using qualitative research methods, the study gathered data from a sample of five key informants, including three local government officials, one councillor, and one chief information officer from the local police. Data was collected through open-ended interview questions, with responses recorded, transcribed, and analysed for thematic content. The findings reveal significant gaps in the municipality’s approach to sustainability, including the absence of formalized trading areas, limited community input in planning and decision-making, high crime rates, and persistent unemployment. These issues were found to be interlinked with other challenges, such as inefficiencies in solid waste management. Additionally, the study confirms that the three pillars of sustainability are not treated equally, with economic and social aspects often receiving less attention compared to environmental concerns. This highlights the need for the municipality to focus on formalizing trading areas, encouraging local economic growth, and enhancing public participation in governance. By implementing incentives for greater community involvement and addressing the imbalances between the sustainability pillars, uMlalazi can make significant progress toward achieving more sustainable development.
Due to the lack of clear regulation of management accounting at the state level in Russia, the authors conducted a study based on an analysis of information sources, an expert survey on their reliability, and a case method, which resulted in a reporting form compiled for the production process of an agro-industrial enterprise (grain products) as part of inter-organizational company cooperation. The developed management reporting system (composed of eight consecutive stages: standard reports, specialized reports, itemized query reports, notification reports, statistical reports, prognostic reports, modeling results reports, and process optimization reports), on one hand, allows solving a set of tasks to increase the competitiveness of Russian agro-industrial enterprises within the framework of inter-organizational management accounting. On the other hand, the introduction of ESG principles into the management reporting system (calculation of the environmental (E) index, which assesses the company’s impact on the natural ecosystem and covers emissions and efficient use of natural resources in the agricultural production process) increases the level of control and minimizes the risks of an unfair approach of individual partners to environmental issues.
In recent years, awareness of sustainability has increased significantly in the hospitality industry, particularly within the hotel sector, which is recognized as a major contributor to environmental degradation. In response to this challenge, hotel managers are increasingly implementing green human resource management (GHRM) practices to increase Organizational Citizenship Behavior. Considering job satisfaction, and organizational commitment as mediator. A survey was conducted with 383 employees from three- and four-star Egyptian hotels and the obtained data were analyzed using SPSS version 22 and Amos version 24. Structural equation modelling was used to analyze the data. The study revealed that GHRM practices positively impacts Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCB), job satisfaction and organizational commitment in addition, the study found that job satisfaction and organizational mediates the relationship between Green Human Resource Management and Organizational Citizenship Behavior. The study found a positive link between GHRM and OCB, partially mediated by job satisfaction and organizational commitment. The recommend that implementation of GHRM practices in the hotel industry can have significant positive implications.
In the process of constructing and building the industry English curriculum system in the new era, higher education institutions should clarify the corresponding curriculum teaching focus and direction, analyze, optimize, and improve the defects and deficiencies in the English curriculum teaching system. They should also combine refined and beneficial teaching ideas and strategies, innovate existing teaching methods, and integrate more ideological and political elements into curriculum teaching, to achieve more efficient teaching guidance for students. This article briefly analyzes and explores the strategies for constructing the English course system for waterway transportation and maritime management majors at present.
The objectives of this study were to 1) examine the impact of strategic management accounting (SMA) that influences business sustainability by integrating comprehensive internal information and external business environment to formulate strategic decision-making to enhance competitiveness, and 2) investigate the serial mediating role of business strategies and competitive advantages. Data were collected from a total of 168 samples of listed companies in the Stock Exchange of Thailand and analyzed by using partial least squares structural equation model. The results showed that strategic management accounting had a positive direct impact on innovation-oriented strategy, efficiency-oriented strategy, and sustainable performance. Innovation-oriented strategy and competitiveness was found to have serial mediating effect on strategic management accounting and performance sustainability. However, both efficiency-oriented strategy and competitiveness had no serial mediating effect on strategic management accounting and sustainable performance. The implications in this present study confirm that strategic management accounting plays a significant role in determining effective business strategies; therefore, executives need to focus on related resources to foster the strategic management accounting which in turn enhances the firm’s competitiveness and sustainable performance.
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