Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) are mostly presented as a means to introduce efficient procurement methods and better value for money to taxpayers. However, the complexity of the PPP mechanism, their lack of transparency, accounting rules and implicit liabilities make it often impossible to perceive the amount of public expenditure involved and the long-run impact on taxpayers, providing room for fiscal illusion, i.e., the illusion that PPPs are much less expensive than traditional public investments. This psaper, thanks to a systematic review of the literature on the EU countries experience, tries to unveil the sources of this illusion by looking at the reasons behind the PPPs’ choice, their real costs, and the sources of fiscal risks. The literature suggests that PPPs are more costly than public funding, especially when contingent liabilities are not taken into account, and are employed as mechanisms to circumvent budgetary restrictions and to spend off-balance. The paper concludes that the public sector should share more risks with private sectors by reducing the amount of guarantees, and should prevent governments from operating through a sleight of hand that deflects attention away from off-balance financing, by applying a neutral fiscal recording system.

The rapid development of cities and urbanization in China has forced the growth of new channels for buying agricultural products. The purpose of this research is to examine how Internet of Things (IoT’s) technologies can digitize a traditional fresh food supply chain. Comparative and descriptive analysis methods are used to highlight the major pain points in the traditional supply chains and assess how digital transformation could help. We delve into every part of digital transformation, which includes establishing an information platform based on IoT and developing smart storage options. Our findings revealed that through end-to-end digital integration, supply chain efficiency is improved with shorter lead times and leaner inventories that yield reduced costs as well as fewer losses while ensuring product quality and traceability. In sum, such an approach would enhance sustainability within the fresh food value chain. As such, our article highlights key aspects of transitioning towards a digital environment in this sector for those planning similar ventures.

This investigation extends into the intricate fabric of customer-based corporate reputation within the banking industry, applying advanced analytics to decipher the nuances of customer perceptions. By integrating structural equation modeling, particularly through SmartPLS4, we thoroughly examine the interrelations of perceived quality, competence, likeability, and trust, and how they culminate in customer satisfaction and loyalty. Our comprehensive dataset is drawn from a varied demographic of banking consumers, ensuring a holistic view of the sector’s reputation dynamics. The research reveals the profound influence of these constructs on customer decision-making, with likeability emerging as a critical driver of satisfaction and allegiance to the bank. We also rigorously test our model’s internal consistency and convergent validity, establishing its reliability and robustness. While the direct involvement of Business Intelligence (BI) tools in the research design may not be overtly articulated, the analytical techniques and data-driven approach at the core of our methodology are synonymous with BI’s capabilities. The insights garnered from our analysis have direct implications for data-driven decision-making in banking. They inform strategies that could include enhancing service personalization, refining reputation management, and improving customer retention efforts. We acknowledge the need to more explicitly detail the role of BI within the research process. BI’s latent presence is inherent in the analytical processes employed to interpret complex data and generate actionable insights, which are crucial for crafting targeted marketing strategies. In summary, our research not only contributes to academic discourse on marketing and customer perception but also implicitly demonstrates the value that BI methodologies bring to understanding and influencing consumer behavior in the banking sector. It is this blend of analytics and marketing intelligence that equips banks with the strategic leverage necessary to thrive in today’s competitive financial landscape.

Biomimicry is increasingly being used to drive sustainable constructional development in recent years. By emulating the designs and processes of nature, biomimicry offers a wealth of opportunities to create innovative and environmentally friendly solutions. Biomimicry in industrial development: versatile applications, advantages in construction. The text emphasizes the contribution of bio-mimetic technologies to sustainability and resilience in structural design, material selection, energy efficiency, and sensor technology. Aside from addressing technical constraints and ethical concerns, we address challenges and limitations associated with adopting biomimicry. A quantitative research approach is implemented, and respondents from the construction industry rank biomimicry principles as the optimal approach to enhance sustainability in the industry. Demographic and descriptive analyses are underway. By working together, sharing knowledge, and innovating responsibly, we suggest approaches to tackle these obstacles and fully leverage the transformative power of biomimicry in promoting sustainable construction industry practices. In an evolving global environment, biomimicry reduces environmental impact and enhances efficiency, resilience, and competitiveness in construction industries.

Presently, any development initiatives without considering sustainability can barely be imagined. There has been a paradigm shift in the focus of the development partners from the mere development to sustainable development. However, the role of development partners in bringing sustainability in livelihood assets of the rural community has long been questioned. Hence, this study aims to explore the sustainability in the form of changes in livelihood assets of a local community in Bangladesh. This study considers the changes in livelihood assets of the community over the three-time frames - before, during, and after a project implemented by a national NGO called ‘UST’ and subsequently identifies the community’s capacity to sustain the project outcomes after the completion of the project. ‘Sustainable Livelihood Framework (SLF)’ developed by Department for International Development (DFID) was utilized in this study to analyse the vulnerability and livelihood issues of the community members. Data has been collected through focus group discussions, household survey and key informants’ interviews from three distinct villages of ‘Khutamara’ union in the ‘Nilphamari’ district of Bangladesh. The finding of the study states that all the livelihood assets such as the social capital, human capital, natural capital, financial capital, physical capital have positively changed due to the interference of the development partners. This study further finds that even after the completion of project tenure, such positive trends continue to exist among the community members indicating sustainable development. Moreover, political capital- a new type of livelihood has also emerged because of the project implementation which was not quite evident before the inception of the project. In addition, this study explored the unique phenomenon of the Shabolombee Gram, where the transformation altering farmers’, livelihoods does not come from the government or the private sector but originates from a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO). Therefore, the government and its development partners may adopt and incorporate the Modified Sustainable Livelihood Framework (MSLF) to ensure the sustainable development.

This study unveils the mediating mechanism and explores the role of organizational trust in the link between organizational justice and turnover intention among female employees in the banking industry. For this purpose, we gathered data from 336 female workers employed at a Tunisian prominent bank, encompassing both head office and branch locations dispersed throughout the country. Our study analyzed the data using AMOS statistical software version 25 and confirmed our research hypotheses. Our findings showed that procedural justice and interactional justice positively influence organizational trust, while they both have a negative impact on turnover intention among female employees. Furthermore, organizational trust significantly and negatively influences female employees’ turnover intention. Ultimately, we have demonstrated that organizational trust completely mediates the link between procedural and interactional justice and female employees’ turnover intention. This highlights the significance of organizational trust in conditioning the relationships linking procedural and interactional justice to turnover intention among female employees. Hence, top management should put more emphasis on building organisational trust among their female employees to ensure positive attitude and behaviour. Other implications for practitioners and researchers are elaborated.