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The literature provides evidence of consumers’ willingness to purchase (WTP) refurbished products. However, the studies focusing on young consumers’ (18–24 years) purchasing behaviour of refurbished products from online platforms/stores are limited. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to conduct a qualitative study to identify the key attributes/factors that influence young consumers’ WTP refurbished products.

Two qualitative techniques, focus group discussion (FGD) and depth interviews (DI), are used for data collection. Criterion sampling is used for sample selection. Consequently, 37 participants (20 for FGD and 17 for DI) from India were recruited.

The study’s findings indicate six broad attributes/factors (purchase attributes, product attributes, credibility, reviews/support, refurbishment process and ecological factors) that influence young consumers’ WTP refurbished products. In each attribute, some characteristics are unique (for example, greater trust in online platforms/stores, preference for video reviews and historical information of the product) to young consumers.

The current study integrates three literature streams: consumer behaviour in the online/offline context, young consumers’ inclination towards an online purchase and WTP refurbished products. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to do it.

The paper aims to examine the influence of closed and open innovation practices on economic performance. This papert also examines the mediating roles of innovation performance and firm performance. The study uses innovation theory based on knowledge management for theoretical support.

The methodology involves two steps. First, all the variables relevant to the adoption of innovative approaches and performance parameters are identified. Subsequently, primary data are gathered from decision-makers of 200 biotechnological firms and a structural equation modeling analysis is performed.

The study's results showed that the open innovation practice, such as interaction with large research and development (R&D) firms and customers, influences the performance parameters. The findings indicate that closed and open innovation practices positively impact performance measures like innovation, firm and economic performance. The results also indicate the mediating role of firm performance. However, the innovation performance was not found to mediate the relationship.

This examination gives experimental bits of knowledge from any confining influence innovation approaches in India. Analysts and specialists of firms can use the results of the current study to comprehend the effect of various innovation practices on different performance measures.

Extant literature provides insights about consumers’ purchase intentions (PI) and willingness to pay for reconstructed products but does not capture cross-cultural differences. The purpose of this paper is to understand consumers’ PI for reconstructed products in a cross-cultural setting for the development of circular economy.

The sample includes consumers from two diverse societies (India and the USA). The authors conduct two sets of analyses in this paper. The first analysis attempts to identify the difference between the Indian and US consumers’ PI for reconstructed products, who are residing permanently in their home countries. In the second analysis, the authors investigate the impact of socio-cultural norms on PI, for reconstructed products, of the Indian (USA) consumers relocated to the USA (India). In-depth interviews are conducted for data collection. Subsequently, data analysis was carried out using thematic analysis approach.

The results indicate that US consumers: possess altruistic buying behavior; are eco-centric toward waste disposal; strictly follow the regulations and socio-cultural norms; and have harmony orientation toward nature. In contrast, Indian consumers: possess utilitarian buying behavior; demonstrate anthropocentric attitude toward waste disposal; do not necessarily follow the regulations; and have mastery orientation toward nature.

At policy level, government in emerging economies should formulate regulations that promote the use of reconstructed products. At firm level, firms should exploit promotional and advertisement efforts to enhance awareness about reconstructed products.

The study is an early attempt in the literature to capture cross-cultural differences for reconstructed products.

Digital transformation (DT) and supply chain resilience have received increasing attention. Structural social capital (SSC) and human capital (HC) have recently been identified as strategic resources for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). While the significant role of entrepreneurial competencies (ECs), SME innovativeness (SMI) and technology adoption (TA) in driving business performance have been partially researched, no studies have simultaneously examined the effect of these resources and capabilities on SME business performance growth (BPG) under the lenses of a resource-based view (RBV) and dynamic capabilities (DCs) as well as in the context of DT. This study aims to clarify these unclear relationships.

This study adopts established theoretical lenses, a mixed-methods approach and structural equation modeling (SEM) using a sample of 371 respondents who are top and middle SME managers in Vietnam.

The study discovers the significant and insignificant relationships between HC, SSC, ECs, SMI, TA and BPG besides providing a new measurement and reconciling existing measurements for the DT context. Some implications for driving SMEs' DT are also suggested.

This study is the first to thoroughly examine the effect of HC and SSC on SMEs' BPG through the mediating role of ECs, SMI and TA under RBV and DCs lenses in the DT context. The investigation is conducted in an emerging market, where DT implementation is in the process of being learned and experimented upon.

Firms have increasingly been using postponement as one of the supply chain strategies to respond to rapid changes in customers’ demands. The purpose of this study is to identify the optimum level of postponement in the context of two-stage modular manufacturing setting, given the information about trade-off between level of postponement and associated cost is known.

A critical ratio for the manufacturer to determine whether postponement process is to be continued or not is identified. An algebraic formula for the critical ratio is obtained using which managers can identify the optimal level of postponement using differential calculus.

The authors have analytically arrived at the solution which gives the manager the optimum level of postponement. Here, they identify the optimum level of postponement in the context of manufacturing, given the trade-off between level of postponement and associated cost. They calculate the expected total profit with different demand scenarios. The parametric analysis in this study shows that if price of the product decreases, then optimal amount of postponement also decreases.

It is important for a manager to identify the optimum level of postponement. In practice, managers usually take this decision on the basis of their judgment and trivial analysis of trade-off between costs and benefits of postponement.

In this study, the authors find an optimum amount of postponement for a firm to find an optimal balance between the cost and the benefit garnered by the postponement process.

The purpose of this study is to understand whether being relocated to a society where remanufactured products are promoted can change consumers’ perception towards them. Also, the authors wish to identify major underlying factors for remanufactured product purchase intentions. There is strong evidence in the literature that factors such as societal norms, price, age, income, education level, and availability can have significant influence on the behavioral intentions of consumers.

The nature of the study is to draw an embedded theory from data itself. To explore the research questions in this study, a grounded theory was used. The authors use a theoretical sampling technique and interviewed 45 India-born consumers residing in the USA for at least a period of more than six months.

The results indicate that the level of environmental consciousness, individual values, post-use perceptions, nature of purchase and socio-cultural norms are the major drivers of consumer purchase intentions. Sub-categories of these five drivers are personal and contextual factors. Personal factors include personal attitudes and beliefs, individual personality and environmental consciousness. Contextual factors are societal norms, price, promotion/advertisement, service quality and brand image.

Use of remanufactured products is one of the ways to achieve sustainability. It is not only an environmentally friendly but also cost-effective approach. Given the major drivers identified through this study, firms can focus some on these drivers to improve their carbon footprint and bottom line.

This study is first to consider the decision-making process of consumer purchase of remanufactured products. In this regard, our study offers some understanding of the entire process through an action diagram.