This research explores the critical influence of corporate culture on small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) crisis response abilities under varied cross-cultural environments. Amid the disruptive backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, SMEs globally have faced unprecedented challenges. This study addresses a gap in the existing literature by conducting a cross-cultural analysis of SMEs in China, Thailand, and Germany to understand how corporate culture affects crisis management. Utilizing a competitive cultural value model, the research categorizes corporate culture into four dimensions: group culture, development culture, hierarchy culture, and rational culture. These cultural dimensions are investigated in relation to their impact on crisis response abilities. Additionally, national cultural dimensions such as individualism and uncertainty avoidance are examined as moderating variables. The findings reveal that group and development cultures positively influence crisis response abilities, enhancing organizational resilience and adaptability. Conversely, hierarchy culture negatively affects crisis management, hindering flexible response strategies. Rational culture supports structured crisis response through goal-oriented practices. National culture significantly moderates these relationships, with individualism and high uncertainty avoidance impacting the effectiveness of organizational cultural dimensions in crisis scenarios. This study offers theoretical advancements by integrating cultural dimensions with crisis response strategies and provides practical implications for SMEs striving to enhance their resilience and adaptability in a globalized business environment.

The effective allocation of resources within police patrol departments is crucial for maintaining public safety and operational efficiency. Traditional methods often fail to account for uncertainties and variabilities in police operations, such as fluctuating crime rates and dynamic response requirements. This study introduces a fuzzy multi-state network (FMSN) model to evaluate the reliability of resource allocation in police patrol departments. The model captures the complexities and uncertainties of patrol operations using fuzzy logic, providing a nuanced assessment of system reliability. Virtual data were generated to simulate various patrol scenarios. The model’s performance was analyzed under different configurations and parameter settings. Results show that resource sharing and redundancy significantly enhance system reliability. Sensitivity analysis highlights critical factors affecting reliability, offering valuable insights for optimizing resource management strategies in police organizations. This research provides a robust framework for improving the effectiveness and efficiency of police patrol operations under conditions of uncertainty.

High-quality implementation of cross-border mergers and acquisitions (cross-border M&As) is an important pathway for emerging-market multinational enterprises (EMNEs) to enhance their international competitiveness. However, in comparison to developed countries, cross-border M&As by EMNEs are often prohibited by the liability of origin caused by negative political coverage. How and why negative political coverage affect the completion of cross-border M&As by EMNEs? What are the contextual constraints that moderate the impact of negative political coverage on cross-border M&As completion? Based on the “liability of origin” theory, this paper addresses these questions using data from the Zephyr database on cross-border M&As by EMNEs in the United States from 2016 to June 2021 and employing a logit model for estimation. The research findings are as follows: (1) Negative political coverage leads to negative perceptions of emerging market countries by host country stakeholders, creating the liability of origin and stigmatizing the corporate nationality, thereby reducing the success rate of cross-border M&As by EMNEs. (2) Increasing geographical distance leads to information asymmetry, reinforcing the negative impact of negative political coverage on the completion of cross-border M&As by EMNEs. (3) Relevant mergers and acquisitions exacerbate the negative effect of negative political coverage on the success rate of cross-border M&As by EMNEs. (4) Being a publicly traded firm and having successful experience in cross-border M&As both intensify the negative impact of negative political coverage on the success rate of cross-border M&As by EMNEs.

This study investigates the effectiveness of digital leadership in promoting organizational sustainability, with a specific focus on the mediating role of digital leadership capability. The research explores how digital leadership impacts sustainable performance within Chinese construction organizations. Using structural equation modeling (SEM), the study analyzes data collected from 529 respondents across various organizations. The findings reveal that digital leadership significantly enhances organizational sustainability both directly and indirectly, through digital leadership capability. These results underscore the importance of digital leadership as a critical factor in guiding digital transformation and achieving long-term sustainable outcomes. The study contributes to the literature by highlighting digital leadership’s role in fostering organizational adaptability and sustainability in rapidly evolving digital environments.

This paper investigates the implementation of ijarah muntahiyah bittamlik (IMBT) as an infrastructure project financing scheme within the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) models from a collaborative governance perspective. This paper follows a case study methodology. It focuses on two Indonesian non-toll road infrastructure projects, i.e., the preservation of the East Sumatra Highway projects, each in South Sumatra province and Riau province. The findings revealed that Indonesia’s infrastructure development priorities and its vision to become a global leader in Islamic finance characterized the system context that shaped the implementation of IMBT as an infrastructure project financing scheme within the PPP-AP model. Key drivers include leadership from the government, stakeholder interdependence, and financial incentives for the partnering business entity to adopt off-balance sheet solutions. Principled engagement, shared motivation, and the capacity for joint action characterized the collaboration dynamics, leading to detailed collaborative actions crucial for implementing IMBT as a financing scheme.