Background: The background and objectives of the research revolve around bureaucracy as a classic form of the modern division of labor, with Max Weber acknowledging its inevitability. However, the objective implications of the bureaucracy’s iron cage are evident in governance and management experiences. The mayors of Tehran’s districts exemplify how Iranian culture interacts with bureaucracy. This research seeks to establish principles and governance for district governors using an alternative bureaucracy, parallel to conventional bureaucracy. Methods: The methods employed include twenty strategically selected interviews, considering age, municipal area, and work experience for maximum variance. Grounded theory methodology, specifically the approach by Anselm Strauss and Barney Glaser, guides the research, employing open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. MaxQDA 2020 software enhances the qualitative data analysis, facilitating organization, coding, and collaboration within the research team. Results: Findings indicate “inevitable violations” as a common starting point for interviewees, leading to three axes: “preconditions,” “objectives,” and “strategies and mechanisms” of alternative bureaucracy. In conclusion, breaking through bureaucracy becomes necessary for governors to act. Alternative bureaucracy, rooted in experience yet considering the bureaucratic field, requires transcendent goals. Hybridity and ethical principles are crucial when transitioning from conventional bureaucracy to the alternative in urban governance.

This research aims to determine the factors driving the success of four large cities in Indonesia in implementing Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) infrastructure policies beyond the eight TOD 3.0 Principles. Only a few studies like this have been conducted. The research uses qualitative methods and is supported by in-depth interviews with stakeholders, community leaders, community groups, and service users. The research findings reveal six themes: policy dialogue, organizational structure and coordination, changes in community habits, resources, dissemination and communication, and transportation and connectivity services. The characteristics of the community in the study area that prioritize deliberation are important determinants in policy dialogue and are involved in determining policy formulation. The city government has established a comprehensive organizational and coordination structure for the village and sub-district levels. The Government controls infrastructure development activities, establishes a chain of command and coordination, and encourages people to change their private car usage habits. The city government combines all this with the principle of deliberation and conveys important information to the public. The research highlights the differences in TOD implementation in Indonesia compared to other countries. Specifically, the existence of policy dialogue and the direct involvement of community members influence the level of program policy formulation and are crucial in controlling urban infrastructure development.

As digital technologies continue to shape the economy, countries are faced with increasing scrutiny in the use of digital transformation to aid productivity and improve performance. In South Africa, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated Small and medium-sized businesses’ (SMEs’) uptake of digital technologies, as many businesses had to shift their operations online and adopt new digital tools and technologies to solve the challenges posed by the pandemic. This has led to an increased focus on digital transformation mechanisms among South African firms. Therefore, the study examines the effect of digital transformation on the productivity of firms using cross-sectional data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) (2020). The survey was based on firms and is a representative sample of the private sector in the South African economy and covers a wide variety of business environment themes, such as infrastructure, competitiveness, access to finance, and performance indicators. We found that digital transformation improved productivity of South African firms. Furthermore, empirical findings are reassuring robust to the IV-2SLS and quantile regression model, size of business, sectoral and provincial analysis. Finally, we recommend that policy makers should develop and implement initiatives to improve digital infrastructure, including high-speed internet access and reliable connectivity, especially in rural and underserved areas.

The significance of remittances to the Vietnamese economy necessitates investigating how they affect the value of the Vietnamese currency and other macroeconomic factors. Macroeconomic articles struggle to discover their impact on economic development, but measured remittances by migrant workers have recently soared. There is no academic study that has examined this phenomenon in Vietnam. This study uses wavelet frameworks to analyze the lead-lag nexus between exchange rates, remittances, and economic growth in Vietnam in time-frequency domains from 1995 to 2020. Overall, we find that: (i) remittances enhance economic growth in the short and medium run; (ii) exchange rates boost remittances in the short and medium run; (iii) exchange rates promote GDP in all frequency and time domains. Moreover, the partial wavelet coherence and multiple wavelet coherence frameworks also offered evidence supporting the wavelet coherence approach. More importantly, the outcomes of wavelet-based Granger causality unveil that there is two-way causality between the selected indicators, which means that all the indicators can predict each other at different frequencies. Our empirical results provide meaningful information for market participants and policymakers.

The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic has precipitated a paradigm shift in education, marked by an increasing reliance on technology and virtual platforms. This study delves into the post-pandemic landscape of Islamic higher education at the State Islamic Institute of Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, focusing on students’ readiness, attitudes, and interests toward sustained engagement with e-learning. A cohort of 300 students across all semesters of Islamic Education partook in the investigation. Utilising Structural Equation Modelling, the study gauged students’ preparedness, perceptions, and inclinations toward online learning. Results indicate a general readiness among students for online learning, with a pivotal role attributed to technological devices and internet connectivity. Positive attitudes toward online learning were prevalent, with flexibility and accessibility emerging as significant advantages. Moreover, students showed keen interest in online learning, valuing its technological advancements, affordability, and intellectually challenging nature. These findings highlight the digital transformation of traditional teaching methods among Islamic higher education students, who are typically known for their emphasis on direct interaction in teaching and learning. Their receptivity to innovative learning modalities and adaptability to the digital era’s difficulties highlight the need for educational institutions to leverage this enthusiasm. Comprehensive online learning platforms, robust technological support, and a conducive learning environment are advocated to empower Islamic higher education students in navigating the digital landscape and perpetuating their pursuit of knowledge and enlightenment.

A metaverse is an environment where humans interact socially and economically as avatars in cyberspace, which acts as a metaphor for the real world but without its physical or economic limitations. Many people use this new technology to connect with others, exchange content or discover new hobbies. Unlike other virtual worlds, the metaverse offers an online world that can be shaped. For the ports of the Spanish port system, it is intended to determine the new virtual port ecosystem that could be developed in the short term through an affinity diagram, which is a diagram that is used for the organization of ideas provided by a group on a complex problem that is held in a specific area, in this case reaching meta ports in the port system. The main conclusion is that to advance on this concept the new operating models and customers and services, are the blocks where the greatest efforts will have to be made.

Lean (also referred to as the Toyota Production System, TPS) is considered to be a radical alternative to the traditional method of mass production and batching principles for maximising operational efficiency, quality, speed and cost. Many hospitals inspired from lean manufacturing to develop their process. They had many improvements in their process. Hospitals reduced their patient waiting times, defects, wastes related to inventory, staff movement and patient transportation by implementing. This study utilizes scientometric and bibliometric tools to analyze visually the literature published in the field of medical lean manufacturing from 2009 to 2023. The relevant articles published from 2009 to 2023 were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection, VOSviewer and R software were used for bibliometric analysis and visualization. The number of publications related to the research has been increasing year by year before 2021, and then showed a downward trend, including 418 articles from 64 countries and regions, 743 institutions, 198 journals, and 1766 authors. The United States, Italy, and England are the main publishing countries in this research field. The journal “International Journal of Lean Six Sigma” published the most papers (n = 21) about lean manufacturing in medicine, the author with the most publications is Teeling SP, and the most influential author is Improta G. The top three keywords are “Healthcare”, “Quality improvement” and “Management”. This study provides a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of lean manufacturing in medicine, which can help researchers understand the current research hotspots in this field, explore potential research directions, and identify future development trends.

Information transparency is a basic principle of good governance that few studies in the literature have thoroughly examined. Riau Province in particular has a high record of land and forest conflicts that needs urgent response, yet environmental policies have mostly been scrutinized for its resource extraction and regulation aspects, not their aspect of information transparency. Low proactive disclosure of information from local governments is a recurring issue in Riau Province, so FITRA Riau initiated the Public Information Openness Index (IKIP) to cover the Riau Province and 12 regencies/cities. To address this research gap of governmental public bodies’ information transparency, this study conducted the novel substantive approach critical review to see the extent of local government’s transparency regarding their budgeting for one of Riau’s most prevalent issues, namely land and forest governance (TKHL). From March to September 2019, this study used a triangulation of data collected from information access tests, IKIP evaluation, and focus group discussion involving the Riau Information Commission, the Information Management and Documentation Officers (PPID) of the 12 regencies, and the Governor of Riau Province. After analyzing the four aspects of regulation, institution, budget, and TKHL information, results determined that the most open region in Riau Province is Indragiri Hulu, and the least open region is Kuantan Singingi. Information transparency is still limited in procedural terms, in which all regions have more or less fulfilled the administrative regulation demands but the substance of the public information across all aspects is too generic to truly inform the public of the regions’ TKHL.