Journal of Business Research and Reports
Editor In chief Demissew Diro Ejara Associate Professor Department of Accounting, Finance & Marketing University of Connecticut USA Brought to you by Scientific Research and Community, the Journal of Business Research and Reports is dedicated to fostering knowledge and collaboration in the field of business research. Our platform serves as a vital resource for academics, practitioners, and students seeking to share, explore, and discuss the latest developments in business. Featured Articles Delve into our collection of cutting-edge peer-reviewed articles that illuminate current business challenges and innovative solutions. All type of articles is accepted like Research, Review, Case studies, short communication, Mini Review, Editorial, Letter to the Editor, Commentary, Perspective, and etc., we are proudly announcing that we are advanced in publishing of PPT (PowerPoint Presentations), Video articles, Image articles and Animations. Call for Papers: War, Business Economy and International Relations Journal of Business Research and Reports focuses on the economic, business, financial and international-relations consequences of war, armed conflict and geopolitical tensions. It welcomes interdisciplinary research examining how conflicts influence businesses, economies, international trade, investment, financial markets, supply chains and diplomatic relationships. Recent evidence particularly emphasizes trade fragmentation, investment declines, sanctions, energy-market disruptions and geopolitical spillovers. Articles can be submitted through online from https://srcpublishers.com/business-research-and-reports/user/register or can send through an e-mail with attachment for businessresearch@onlinescientificresearch.info 0.35* Impact Factor 84.5% Citations 65% Acceptance
When Values Meet Targets: Designing Organizational Integrity Under Performance Pressure
Organizations often respond to misconduct with more rules, training, and compliance staff, although major failures occur in firms that already possess these safeguards. This article defines organizational integrity as the capacity to maintain alignment among values, decisions, information, and conduct under performance pressure. Public records from Volkswagen, Boeing, Siemens, and Magyar Telekom reveal a recurring sequence: unbalanced targets, workarounds, silence, normalization, and exposure. The proposed integrity architecture rests on mutual trust and respect and six safeguards: clear boundaries, independent decision rights, balanced accountability, traceable information, protected voice, and verification with learning. It shifts attention from unethical individuals to organizations, where inconvenient facts can change decisions before failure becomes public.
Copyright (c) 2026 Journal of Business Research and Reports
Spillover Effects of High-Quality Development of the Belt and Road Initiative During China’s 15th Five-Year Plan Period
Against the backdrop of reshaped global industrial chains and China’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030) emphasizing high-standard opening-up, this paper systematically classifies multi-dimensional spillover effects of the high-quality Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Based on institutional spillover, industrial upgrading spillover, digital-green spillover, and regional coordination spillover frameworks, this study clarifies the institutional arrangement of the “hard connectivity, soft connectivity, and people-to-people connectivity” set by the 15th Plan. Using panel data of 65 BRI co-participating economies from 2021 to 2025, empirical analysis verifies significant positive spatial spillovers in infrastructure, the digital economy, and low-carbon cooperation. Heterogeneity test shows spillover gains are larger for Global South countries with backward industrial foundations. This research supplements theoretical literature on BRI’s long-cycle externalities and proposes targeted risk-mitigation and value-amplification paths for the 15th Plan implementation stage.
Orchestrating State-Owned Complementarities: Palm Co-Agrinas Synergy for a Higher-Value, Competitive, and Sustainable Indonesian Palm Oil Sector
Indonesia’s palm oil sector is entering a phase in which future competitiveness depends less on extensive land expansion and more on productivity, value-chain integration, smallholder upgrading, downstream value creation, digital traceability, and credible sustainability governance. This qualitative literature review examines the emerging strategic relationship between PT Perkebunan Nusantara IV (PTPN IV PalmCo) and PT Agrinas Palma Nusantara (Agrinas), two state-owned enterprises with markedly different but potentially complementary resource configurations. PalmCo contributes established plantation operations, milling and downstream infrastructure, agronomic routines, digital systems, market channels, and farmer-partnership experience, whereas Agrinas combines an expanding portfolio of state-entrusted plantation assets with an asset-recovery mandate, engineering capability, and growing cooperative and public-policy networks. Drawing on recent literature published since 2020 and company-specific evidence, the article develops a State-Owned Enterprise Complementarity-Orchestration-Additionality (SCOA) framework. The findings identify nine major synergy domains: plantation stabilisation and sustainable intensification; milling and logistics; downstream value creation; bioenergy and circularity; smallholder and cooperative development; digital integration and traceability; sustainability and natural-capital governance; innovation and human-capital development; and financial and public-value optimisation. The analysis argues that synergy should be assessed through incremental additionality rather than organisational scale or memoranda of understanding. A phased governance roadmap and integrated performance scorecard are proposed to convert inter-SOE collaboration into measurable economic, social, environmental, and strategic outcomes.
Beyond the Plantation: PTPN IV Palm Co as a State-Owned Developmental Platform for Indonesia’s Sustainable Palm Oil Transformation
Indonesia’s palm oil sector occupies a strategic but contested position at the intersection of agricultural productivity, rural livelihoods, industrial development, export competitiveness, energy security, and environmental sustainability. This article examines the role of PTPN IV Palm Co, Indonesia’s state-owned palm oil subholding, in strengthening the performance and developmental contribution of the national palm oil sector. Using a qualitative narrative-integrative literature review rather than a systematic literature review, the study synthesises recent peer-reviewed research published primarily between 2020 and August 2026 and triangulates it with official corporate information and contextual evidence. The analysis identifies six interconnected pathways through which Palm Co can generate sectoral and public value: operational productivity and sustainable intensification; smallholder inclusion and upgrading; downstream industrialisation; energy security and circular bioeconomy development; sustainability governance and traceability; and employment, fiscal, and wider public value. The findings indicate that Palm Co’s recent financial and operational improvement increases its capacity to perform developmental functions, but corporate profitability should not be interpreted automatically as evidence of economy-wide welfare impact. Its longer-term contribution depends on converting organisational scale into productivity gains, inclusive smallholder services, higher domestic value addition, credible environmental governance, and disciplined innovation. The article proposes a “State-Owned Developmental Platform” framework and recommends an integrated performance system combining commercial, agronomic, social, environmental, technological, and public-value indicators.
The Effect of Legal Interventions on Reducing Misleading Advertisements and Protecting Consumer Behaviour
Misleading advertisements represent a persistent challenge to consumer welfare, distorting purchase decisions and eroding trust in the marketplace. This paper examines the effect of legal interventions on reducing misleading advertisements and protecting consumer behaviour, with a particular focus on the Indian regulatory landscape. Drawing upon the legislative framework established by the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, the enforcement mechanisms of the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), and the complementary role of self-regulatory bodies such as the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), this research analyses how legal interventions influence consumer trust, purchase decisions, and market conduct. Through an examination of landmark judicial decisions-including the Supreme Court’s intervention in the Patanjali case and the CCPA’s ruling on ‘100%’ claims-the paper demonstrates that robust legal enforcement, combined with proactive judicial oversight, produces measurable effects on both corporate advertising practices and consumer protection outcomes. However, the analysis also identifies persistent challenges, including jurisdictional limitations, enforcement resource constraints, and the rapid evolution of digital advertising practices. The paper concludes that while India’s legal framework provides a strong foundation for regulating misleading advertisements, sustained effectiveness requires adaptive enforcement mechanisms, enhanced inter-agency coordination, and continued judicial vigilance.
The Strategic Corporate Investment Cycle: Evidence from Slovenia
The article examines strategic investments as the key source of value creation for owners and a central driver of corporate growth. Its main objective is to test three hypotheses: that strategic investments are the primary generator of company growth, that they increase company value through profit creation, and that they enhance productivity and overall business performance. The author develops a conceptual framework termed the strategic investment cycle, which links strategic investments, company growth, profit generation, equity growth, and the financing of new investments. Strategic investments stimulate growth through higher net sales revenues and added value. When investment decisions are rational and risks well managed, growth leads to profit, which-if retained-raises equity, firm value, and owners’ wealth. Retained earnings thus become an internal source for further strategic investments, closing the cycle. Based on an extensive literature review, the paper explains the individual constructs and their causal relationships. In the empirical section, the hypotheses are tested using statistical methods on primary and secondary data from a representative sample of medium-sized and large Slovenian companies over the period 2000-2017. All hypotheses are fully confirmed. The article concludes that strategic investment decisions have longterm effects on company performance and sustainable growth, with innovation, technological development, and managerial knowledge acting as key enablers of the strategic investment cycle.
Corruption in Disaster Risk Management: Governance Failures, Humanitarian Accountability and Lessons for Zimbabwe from the SADC Region
Disaster risk management (DRM) is commonly presented as a technical field concerned with early warning, preparedness, emergency response and recovery. Yet the effectiveness of these functions is fundamentally shaped by governance. This paper critically examines how corruption, political patronage, weak accountability and institutional fragmentation influence DRM, with particular emphasis on Zimbabwe and comparative evidence from the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The study adopts a qualitative conceptual-review design informed by principal-agent theory, institutional theory and the social vulnerability perspective. It synthesises peer-reviewed literature, regional strategies, government policies and humanitarian accountability guidance. The review finds that corruption may occur throughout the disaster cycle through manipulated risk assessments, politically selective beneficiary registration, opaque emergency procurement, diversion of relief supplies, inflated reconstruction contracts, favouritism and the exclusion of marginalised communities. Across SADC, recurring climate shocks interact with fiscal constraints, centralised institutions, uneven local capacity and limited public disclosure. Zimbabwe displays many of these regional vulnerabilities, including fragmented coordination, inadequate preparedness, limited community participation and weak systems for tracing resources from procurement to final beneficiaries. The paper proposes an integrated Disaster Integrity and Accountability Framework built around transparent targeting, open emergency contracting, end-to-end digital tracking, independent assurance, community verification and enforceable sanctions. It concludes that disaster resilience cannot be achieved through technical capacity alone. Effective DRM in Zimbabwe requires political neutrality, credible institutions and accountability mechanisms embedded across prevention, preparedness, response, recovery and reconstruction.
Navigating Biodiesel Expansion, Traceability, and Climate Risk: A Review of Indonesia’s Oil Palm Sector Outlook for the Third Quarter of 2026
This article presents a qualitative literature review of the outlook for Indonesia’s oil palm sector in the third quarter of 2026. Using various literature as a primary forecasting input and combining it with peer-reviewed studies, official statistics, industry reports, and policy documents published mainly since 2020, the paper synthesises thematic evidence across upstream, midstream, downstream, and governance dimensions. The review finds that Indonesia enters Q3 2026 with a broadly constructive but tightly balanced market structure: biodiesel expansion, especially the start of B50 in July 2026, strengthens domestic absorption; international palm oil prices remain firm; and export prospects continue, although under greater regulatory and traceability pressure. At the same time, structural constraints-ageing smallholder trees, uneven replanting, fragmented legality, traceability gaps, labour frictions, and the reemergence of El Niño risk-limit the sector’s room for complacency. The literature indicates that the decisive issue is no longer extensive expansion, but productivity-centred upgrading combined with inclusive governance. The paper argues that Indonesia’s best Q3 2026 strategy is to align biodiesel policy, smallholder support, certification, legality, traceability, and climate resilience into a coordinated competitiveness agenda. The resulting outlook is cautiously optimistic: the sector has strong underlying fundamentals, but its long-run strength will depend on whether policy can convert current market strength into higher yields, better inclusion, and more credible sustainability performance.
The New Monetary Policy: Is this the Appropriate One?
The objective of this research is to measure the economic consequences and the social interest of the new Monetary Policy after 2008. We want to determine its effectiveness and efficiency, its social costs and social benefits, and to evaluate its optimality and its appropriateness. We are using different policy rules, by dividing in four different regimes the period 2008-2025, and a VAR model, to test the effectiveness and efficiency of monetary policy by testing the effects of policy instruments (iFF, MB, Ms) on the objective variables, prices (CPI), unemployment (u), growth of GDP (RGDP), stock market (DJIA), and long-term interest rate (i10YTB). By measuring the bail in cost on depositors and the bail out cost on taxpayers, we can have an indicator of its appropriateness and optimality of this policy. The empirical results show that the most of the public policy tools do not have a significant effect on the objective variables. The benefits, lately, are insignificant and the social cost enormous and the reason might be the incompetence or the corruption of the financial system or the control of the policy makers by foreign powers. They must know what the true objective of their policy is, but they cannot satisfy it, which is the maximization of the social welfare, the wellbeing in every sector in the lives of the citizens of the country. There is a need to fix all these dysfunctional institutions and improve our democratic system, but if not impossible, it is very difficult and too late. What their new liberal public policies have caused people is just uncertainty (financial market risk), inflation, divisions, an enormous social cost, and pessimism for the future.
Recalibrating Indonesia’s Proposed Single Trade Entity for PalmOil, Coal and Ferroalloy Exports: A Review on Trade Misinvoicing,State Capacity and Commodity Governance
Indonesia’s proposed establishment of a single trade entity for palm oil, coal and ferroalloy exports reflects a legitimate concern about under-invoicing, misinvoicing, transfer-pricing abuse and foreign-exchange leakage in natural-resource trade. Trade misinvoicing is widely recognised in the international economics literature as a mechanism through which firms may evade taxes, shift capital, distort customs records and weaken fiscal capacity. Recent literature on multinational profit shifting also shows that cross-border related-party transactions can be used to move taxable income away from source countries, particularly where tax authorities face informational and enforcement constraints. This article develops a qualitative literature-based analysis, rather than a systematic literature review, of Indonesia’s proposed single-exporter policy. It argues that the policy objective is normatively defensible, but that a monopoly commercial exporter may be an institutionally disproportionate instrument for solving an information, valuation and enforcement problem. Palm oil, coal and ferroalloy exports involve heterogeneous products, specialised contracts, quality adjustment, shipping logistics, futures-market exposure, currency risk, working-capital needs and long-term buyer relationships. These characteristics mean that replacing existing trading networks with a single state-controlled commercial channel could create market disruption, fiscal risk and new rent-seeking opportunities. Drawing on literature on shadow economies, trade misinvoicing, transfer pricing, state capacity, natural-resource governance and regulatory design, this article proposes an alternative model: a single supervisory and data-integrating entity rather than a single monopoly exporter. Under this model, the state would require transaction-level digital reporting, letter-of-credit or verified-payment discipline, independent surveyor verification, beneficial-ownership disclosure, benchmark-price analytics, risk-based audit and artificial-intelligence-supported anomaly detection. The article concludes that Indonesia should strengthen state visibility over natural-resource exports without unnecessarily centralising commercial decision-making. This approach is more consistent with recent evidence on tax administration, customs enforcement and institutional quality.
Closing the Palm Oil Revenue Gap: A Review of Policy Optionsto Address Under-Invoicing, Mis-Invoicing, and Transfer Pricingin Indonesia’s Palm Oil Exports
Indonesia’s palm oil sector is a strategic source of export earnings, rural employment, downstream industrial development, and fiscal revenue. However, the sector’s cross-border trade structure also exposes the country to risks of under-invoicing, trade mis-invoicing, and transfer pricing practices that may erode the tax base, weaken foreign exchange reporting, and reduce the effectiveness of export levy and duty regimes. This article uses a qualitative literature review to synthesise academic studies, international policy guidance, Indonesian regulatory instruments, and comparative country experiences. The review finds that trade mis-invoicing and transfer pricing are conceptually distinct but empirically overlapping in commodity exports, particularly where related-party trading affiliates, offshore intermediaries, quality adjustments, contract timing, and benchmark-price volatility complicate valuation. Evidence from developing economies indicates that the most effective policy response is not a blanket export restriction or rigid administrative pricing regime, but an integrated policy mix combining transaction-level risk analytics, dynamic benchmark price corridors, customs-tax data integration, beneficial ownership disclosure, transfer pricing documentation, advance pricing agreements, post-clearance audits, and cooperative compliance. For Indonesia, the most efficient strategy is a value-chain-sensitive enforcement model that protects fiscal revenue while avoiding disruption to smallholders, mills, refiners, logistics providers, downstream industries, and legitimate exporters. The article recommends establishing a Palm Oil Export Integrity Framework based on risk-based supervision, inter-agency coordination, international information exchange, and proportionate sanctions for proven abuse.
A Neurosemantic Approach to Vision and Mission Alignment:Construct Formalization, Metric Design, and Pilot PlausibilityTesting
This paper proposes that semantic alignment between corporate vision and mission statements is a probabilistic predictor of excess stock returns. Grounded in Learnable Theory and integrated with signaling theory, organizational legitimacy, and cognitive consistency, it introduces the Complementary Semantic Distance Index (CSDI): a non-linear measure of neurosemantic distance based on an 81-class taxonomy derived from four core human needs and three affective polarizations. The contribution is primarily conceptual and instrumental, and the empirical analysis is exploratory. Using a sample of 100 US firms (n = 65 with valid excess return data), results show a significant positive association between CSDI and excess returns (r = 0.370, p = 0.002, R² = 13.7%). This result holds up under a robustness programme of ambiguity reclassification and Monte Carlo perturbation testing, both of which indicate the association is not an artifact of single-coder classification variance. Three boundary conditions (sectoral moderation, macro-shock override, and communication competence) define the scope of the claim, and a structured agenda specifies what confirmatory testing will require.
Digitalization as a Disruptive Force. New Communicative Dividesin Sports Communication: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysisof Digital Disruptions in the German Sports Organization System
The ongoing digital transformation is fundamentally reshaping communication processes within sports organizations. While some organizations successfully establish sophisticated digital infrastructures, platforms, and AI-supported communication ecosystems, others remain structurally underdeveloped. This paper examines how digitalization acts as a disruptive force that produces new communicative divides within sports communication. Building upon the Theory of Disruption by Clayton M. Christensen, the study analyzes how innovation dynamics generate structural inequalities between digitally innovative and traditional sports organizations. The paper combines theoretical reflections with empirical findings from reports, organizational analyses, and studies on German sports federations and clubs. Results indicate that a small number of globally operating and commercially oriented sports organizations have established integrated digital media systems that create substantial competitive advantages in communication, visibility, and audience management. In contrast, many traditional clubs and federations suffer from deficits in digital competencies, infrastructure, AI implementation, and strategic innovation management. Consequently, communicative gaps are rapidly increasing. The study argues that digital disruption processes produce long-term structural inequalities that may threaten the societal relevance and communicative visibility of traditional sports organizations unless comprehensive digital strategies and organizational reforms are implemented.
Environmental Issues between the Conflict Over Fossil Energy and the Inevitability of Renewable Energy
This paper attempts to provide an analysis of the relationship between environmental issues, fossil fuel consumption rates, and economic practices. All environmental protection initiatives remain hostage to strategic calculations, the crisis of the transition to renewable energy, and the state’s public policy priorities. Study Objectives:Through an interpretive and methodological approach, this study aims to: First: shed light on the relationship between environmental practices and the environment through the concept of economic growth rates and fossil energy consumption, and analyze the relationship of influence and impact between the environment, economy, and energy triad. Second: employ a political-economic approach through countries geostrategic calculations to provide an explanation for current wars and conflicts. Theoretical Framework and Methodology:The methodological and theoretical framework adopted to analyze the study topic includes the following: First: The descriptive-analytical approach, which helps describe, analyze, and predict by identifying its characteristics and dimensions, describing the relationships between its variables, and their correlation symbols, with the aim of arriving at a comprehensive scientific description. This approach is considered one of the most important scientific approaches adopted in studying phenomena. Second: The interpretive approach: To build a logical structure to describe and explain the relationship between the environment and energy, we relied on the economic-political approach, based on the realism of the concept of state interests and conflicts over energy resources. Results and Discussion: From the approach used, it can be concluded that countries are unable to overcome the dominance of fossil fuels over their economies, which drives them to conflict over oil and gas resources, at least in the foreseeable future. Despite the environmental crisis, countries’ geostrategic calculations drive them to exploit the environment to achieve their interests and ensure their influence. Therefore, environmental issues in securing energy resources are evident as one of the most significant obstacles to reaching a comprehensive and binding agreement between major powers. Each country seeks to negotiate with the least possible responsibility and cost. Therefore, countries view environmental negotiations either as a means to weaken their economy, thereby diminishing their influence and role, or as an opportunity to weaken other competing powers regionally and internationally. Research Content: Using a political-economic approach, the study focuses on statistical data to examine the relationship between economic growth and energy consumption, and countries’ economic calculations for maintaining their influence. Accordingly, energy resources influence the orientations of their foreign policies and the limits of this influence. By energy resources, we mean traditional energy sources, specifically oil and natural gas, which constitute a significant axis of economic growth and foreign policy, making them clearly influential in countries’ geostrategic calculations. Originality/Value: The originality and value of the study lie in establishing an explanatory correlation between fossil energy consumption rates, economic growth, and the contradictions in the use of environmental issues within geostrategic calculations.
Fossil Energy, Economic Growth, Renewable Energy, Geostrategic Calculations
An Innovative Paradigm of Cross-Border Financial Education Based on Reverse Engineer Perspective - A Case Study of Big Data Credit Scoring
Addressing the cognitive challenge of the algorithm black box faced by business students in the context of the New Liberal Arts, this study proposes a novel experiential learning paradigm based on reverse engineering. Leveraging the Zhima Credit scoring modeling project, the study employs parametric scaffolding instruction to guide 27 business students with no programming background through the reverse deconstruction and value reconstruction of credit models. The results indicate that this model significantly enhanced students’ sensitivity to unstructured data and comprehension of risk control logic, while effectively awakening their ethical consciousness regarding the mitigation of algorithmic discrimination. This study confirms that Reverse Engineer Learning effectively breaks disciplinary barriers, providing a pedagogical paradigm for cultivating composite financial talents who possess both technical rationality and humanistic care.
Internet Finance, Reverse Engineer Learning, Big Data Credit Scoring, Algorithmic Ethics
Global Palm Oil Trade in Q2 2026: Navigating Geopolitical Disruptions, Energy Transition, and Supply-Demand Challenges
This literature review examines the prospects and challenges facing global palm oil commodities in Q2 2026. Palm oil is the world’s most widely traded vegetable oil, supplying roughly 40% of global edible oil demand. By 2026, Southeast Asian producers (Indonesia and Malaysia) will continue to dominate production, while market forces will be shaped by tightening supply chains, energy policies, and geopolitical shifts. Key factors include Indonesia’s ambitious biodiesel mandates (B40, planned B50) and Malaysia’s phased blending targets, which affect domestic demand and export availability. Geopolitical disruptions – notably Middle East conflicts that are pushing up crude prices-may boost biodiesel-driven demand and raise logistical costs. Climate variability (ENSO-related drought risk) and aging plantations will also influence output. On the demand side, strong growth is expected in emerging economies (e.g., India and China). In contrast, developed regions (e.g., the EU) tighten sustainability regulations (e.g., Deforestation Regulation), which limit market access and raise compliance costs. This review applies a thematic, qualitative synthesis of academic literature (2020–2026) to analyze these drivers. We identify five major themes: (1) global trade networks and geopolitical risk; (2) biofuel policy and energy transition; (3) production constraints (climate, replanting); (4) shifting consumption patterns; and (5) regulatory and sustainability issues. Our analysis highlights that while demand remains robust, supply constraints and policy uncertainties will create volatility. The Q2 2026 outlook calls for adaptive policies: balancing biodiesel expansion with export commitments, investing in yield improvements, and deepening international cooperation on sustainability. Policy implications include flexible blending mandates, targeted support for smallholders, and strategic stock management to navigate the complex palm oil market environment.
Palm Oil, Global Trade, Biodiesel Policy, Geopolitical Risk, Climate Impact, Sustainability, Supply Chain, Indonesia, Malaysia, Energy Transition
Designing Land Use for Climate Mitigation: When and How Oil Palm Plantations Can Contribute to Carbon Emission Reduction
Oil palm has become emblematic of tropical land-use change, often associated with deforestation and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. At the same time, emerging biophysical and policy research indicates that oil palm is a highly productive perennial crop with a substantial capacity to sequester and store carbon under appropriate land-use configurations and management regimes. This article develops a qualitative narrative literature review to synthesize recent evidence (primarily from 2020 to 2026) on the conditions under which oil palm plantations can contribute to net carbon emissions reduction within broader land-use planning frameworks. The review integrates biophysical studies on net primary production and carbon stocks with life-cycle assessment and analyses of land-use change, spatial planning, and climate policy, with a specific focus on Indonesia, the world’s largest palm oil producer. The findings indicate that oil palm’s mitigation contribution is conditional on (i) the initial land cover and land-use history, (ii) site biophysical characteristics (mineral versus peat soils), (iii) adoption of low-emission management and processing technologies, and (iv) alignment with low-carbon spatial planning and agrarian governance. When oil palm replaces degraded lands rather than natural forests or peatlands and is managed with best practices, the net greenhouse gas balance moves towards a carbon sink rather than a source. The article concludes with policy recommendations for land-use planning, regulation, and monitoring to enable oil palm development to support national climate targets while sustaining its economic and rural development roles.
Oil Palm, Land Use Change, Carbon Sequestration, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Spatial Planning, Peatland, Degraded Land, Life Cycle Assessment, Climate Mitigation, Indonesia
Vertical Integration as a Driver of Investment Efficiency: Evidence from China’s Food and Beverage Sector
Vertical integration is widely used in China’s food and beverage sector to secure supply and quality control, yet evidence on its financial benefits remains mixed and the mechanisms linking integration to stock-market outcomes are underexplored. Using a 15-year panel of 50 Chinese listed food and beverage firms (2008–2022; 750 firm-year observations), this study examines whether vertical integration affects stock yield directly and indirectly through firms’ investment behaviour. Employing firm and year fixed effects and mediation analysis, we find that higher vertical integration is associated with greater investment intensity, and that investment intensity is positively related to stock yield. Once the investment channel is accounted for, the direct effect of vertical integration on stock yield becomes statistically insignificant, suggesting that the stock-market relevance of integration primarily operates through investment. These results refine Transaction Cost Economics and the Resource-Based View by showing that integration creates shareholder value not automatically, but when translated into disciplined capital allocation in a regulation-intensive, perishable-goods industry. The study offers a mechanism based empirical framework for evaluating integration strategies in emerging-market settings.
Vertical Integration, Investment Intensity, Stock Returns, China, Food, Beverage Industry
Neuro-Computational Synergy: Bridging Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience for Next-Generation Cognitive Decision Systems
The convergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI), neuroscience, and cognitive science has catalyzed a paradigm shift in understanding and engineering decision making systems. This comprehensive review examines the bidirectional relationship between brain-inspired computational models and neuroscientific insights, focusing on how reinforcement learning, prefrontal cortex mechanisms, and basal ganglia circuits inform the development of advanced cognitive architectures. We synthesize findings from 218 peer-reviewed studies spanning computational neuroscience, cognitive modeling, and AI applications, revealing that brain-inspired approaches not only enhance AI performance in complex decision tasks but also provide testable hypotheses about neural computation. Key themes include dopamine-modulated learning, meta-reinforcement learning in prefrontal networks, hierarchical cognitive control, and the integration of model-based and model-free decision strategies. We identify critical gaps in current understanding, including the challenge of scaling biologically plausible models to real-world applications and the need for unified frameworks that bridge multiple levels of analysis. This review demonstrates that neuro-computational synergy offers transformative potential for developing adaptive, context-sensitive AI systems while simultaneously advancing our understanding of human cognition. We conclude by outlining future research directions that emphasize cross-disciplinary collaboration, neuromorphic computing, and the ethical implications of brain-inspired AI systems.
Artificial Intelligence, Neuroscience, Cognitive Decision Systems, Reinforcement Learning, Prefrontal Cortex, Basal Ganglia, Brain-Inspired Computing, Meta-Learning, Computational Neuroscience, Cognitive Architectures
Digital Empowerment and the Rise of Youth Entrepreneurship: Opportunities, Challenges, and a Framework for the Next Generation
The convergence of digital technology and entrepreneurial activity has created both unprecedented opportunities and persistent structural challenges for young people seeking to establish ventures. This review article examines four interrelated dimensions of youth entrepreneurship in the digital era: the enabling and disruptive effects of digital transformation, the persistent gap between traditional educational systems and the competencies demanded by digital entrepreneurship, the psychological foundations of an entrepreneurial mindset, and the role of inclusive ecosystems and supportive policy frameworks. Drawing on a systematic review of recent empirical literature and global data from 2020 to 2025, including evidence from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, OECD, UNDP, and peer-reviewed scholarship, this paper synthesises a coherent framework for empowering youth entrepreneurs across diverse geographic and socioeconomic contexts. The paper identifies key structural failures-including the digital divide, inadequate pedagogical approaches, and equity gaps-and proposes a coordinated policy and ecosystem agenda to address them. Results suggest that unlocking youth entrepreneurial potential requires simultaneous investment in digital infrastructure, experiential education reform, inclusive programme design, and multi-stakeholder ecosystem building.
Youth Entrepreneurship, Digital Transformation, Entrepreneurial Mindset, Digital Divide, Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, Entrepreneurship Education, Inclusive Innovation, Policy Reform
Indra in the Global High-Tech Economy: Anatomy of A Strategic Transformation (2005–2025)
This article analyses Indra’s trajectory as a Spanish high-tech company in the defence, transport and information technology sectors, from one of its turning points in 2005 to its consolidation as a multinational company present in more than 140 countries in 2025. The aim of the study is to examine how the interaction between the state, markets and private actors determined its evolution, highlighting the phases of birth, restructuring, growth and internationalisation. The methodology combines the analysis of corporate reports, sustainability reports, investor presentations and secondary sources, which are certainly scarce, allowing us to reconstruct a detailed picture of the business and institutional dynamics.
Indra, High-Tech Industry, Internationalisation, Innovation, Joint ventures
From Dogme 95 to Dogme 25: Cinema’s Ontological Resistance to the Domination of Digital and Artificial Intelligence Technologies
The promulgation of the Dogme 25 Manifesto during the 2025 Cannes Film Festival precipitated significant discourse within the global cinematic community, positioning itself as both a heir to and a transcendence of the Dogme 95 movement. Both manifestos serve as critical defenses of cinema’s ontological essence and creative autonomy in their respective technological epochs: digital technology for Dogme 95, and artificial intelligence for Dogme 25. Through the implementation of stringent creative protocols, Dogme 25 presents formidable resistance to technological alienation in the era of artificial intelligence, while simultaneously reaffirming cinema’s ontological value through the praxis of media primitivism. Moreover, Dogme 25 engendered a reconfigured notion of auteurism within the AI-dominated landscape, emphasizing the resurgence of human subjectivity within a post-human paradigm. Ultimately, this movement elucidates the theoretical contributions and practical implications of preserving and enhancing the ontological and humanistic value of cinema in the age of artificial intelligence
Dogme 25, Dogme 95, Artificial Intelligence, Media Primitivism, Neo-Auteurism
Women-Led FinTech: A Comparative Analysis Between the Western Balkans and Western Europe Toward Inclusive Digital Finance
The accelerated digital transformation of the financial sector—driven by artificial intelligence, open banking frameworks, blockchain applications, and data-enabled credit assessment—has generated unprecedented opportunities for innovation and financial inclusion. However, the pace, accessibility, and socio-economic impact of these technological advancements vary significantly between the Western Balkans and Western Europe. This keynote presentation examines the strategic role of women-led FinTech enterprises as catalysts of inclusive digital finance, economic empowerment, and structural modernization in emerging economies. The study employs a comparative mixed-methods research design, integrating: secondary data analysis of FinTech ecosystem indicators, gender-disaggregated digital finance metrics, regulatory maturity indices, and innovation capacity benchmarks (sourced from the World Bank, OECD, EIF, AFI, and regional financial authorities); policy and regulatory mapping, contrasting the advanced PSD2/GDPR-aligned frameworks of Western Europe with the fragmented and evolving regulatory architectures of the Western Balkans; qualitative case studies of women-led FinTech initiatives operating across both regions, with emphasis on digital lending, microfinance solutions, payment systems, and ed-tech platforms supporting financial capability and inclusion. Findings reveal considerable disparities in digital maturity, access to venture capital, technological readiness, cybersecurity infrastructure, and institutional trust. While Western Europe benefits from consolidated FinTech ecosystems and high levels of regulatory coherence, the Western Balkans demonstrate substantial potential for inclusion-driven innovation, particularly within underserved markets where women entrepreneurs are effectively positioned to design community-centric digital financial services. Women-led FinTech ventures in emerging contexts tend to produce disproportionately greater socio-economic impact by narrowing gender gaps in financial literacy, digital adoption, and access to finance for micro-enterprises. The presentation proposes a strategic framework to accelerate inclusive FinTech development, emphasizing: gender-responsive regulatory sandboxes; cross-regional knowledge-exchange mechanisms; AI- and Big-Data-driven credit models suited to data scarce environments; dedicated financial instruments for women innovators; and the establishment of a “Western Balkans–Western Europe FinTech Corridor” to enhance regulatory harmonization, talent mobility, and innovation scalability. This analysis underscores that empowering women entrepreneurs in the FinTech sector is not solely a matter of gender equity but a structural imperative for sustainable economic transformation, financial inclusion, and the modernization of digital financial ecosystems across diverse European markets.
FinTech, Women Entrepreneurship, Digital Inclusion, Artificial Intelligence in Finance, Western Balkans, Western Europe, Regulatory Innovation, Financial Technology Ecosystems
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The Future of Global Fintech: a Powerhouse for Inclusive Financial Services
The Future of Global Fintech: a Powerhouse for Inclusive Financial Services Abstract: The global fintech industry remains robust as it transitions to a more sustainable growth phase The industry maintains positive performance metrics, though at more moderate rates than during the COVID-19 pandemic surge. Average customer growth from 2020-2023 was positive, however, with a significant decline from 2020-2021, reflecting natural market normalisation as the industry matures beyond pandemic-driven digital acceleration. Encouragingly, revenue and profit growth are strong at, indicating that financial inclusion remains central to fintech value proposition, with traditionally underserved segments comprising significant portions of customer bases and tailored products of fintechs, mainly in EMDEs
Explainable AI in Financial Workflows: Blueprint for Scalable Digital Transformation
As financial institutions accelerate digital transformation, the convergence of AI, automation, and business process management (BPM) is redefining core operations from customer onboarding to risk governance. This session explores the next generation of intelligent financial systems that embed explainable AI directly into BPM workflows, delivering transparent, regulatory-aligned decisions at scale. The talk presents applied strategies for integrating machine learning models into real-time business process pipelines for fraud detection, loan underwriting, and compliance tracking. Drawing from field implementations, it showcases how BPM-driven orchestration enables traceability, modular governance, and policy-driven automation. Attendees will learn how to design systems that not only optimize throughput but also maintain explainability, audibility, and ethical integrity, critical for navigating financial compliance and consumer trust in the AI age. This session targets FinTech leaders, solution architects, and AI researchers aiming to operationalize AI responsibly within digital banking ecosystems.
Blockchain and Finance: Opportunities, Risks, and Real-World Applications in 2025
This presentation explores how blockchain technology is reshaping the financial sector in 2025. It provides a practical understanding of blockchain fundamentals, examines its real-world uses in banking and financial services, and highlights both the opportunities and challenges associated with its adoption. Key topics covered • Introduction to blockchain: principles, security, and blockchain types • Cryptocurrencies and digital assets: roles, trends, and market evolution • Decentralized Finance (DeFi): smart contracts, lending, exchanges • Real financial applications: payments, auditing, tokenization, traceability • Risks and limitations: volatility, security issues, regulation • Future perspectives: CBDCs, Web3 innovation, and the convergence of AI and blockchain
How RDH Uses Entanglement Emulation to Protect Smart Cards, POS Terminals and Digital Banking from AI and Quantum Threats
The global financial sector faces a perfect storm of emerging threats. Artificial intelligence is accelerating malware development and code decompilation, allowing attackers to reverse-engineer wallet apps and clone digital payment systems. At the same time, quantum computing is rapidly approaching the capability to break conventional encryption algorithms. Together, these forces threaten the very foundation of trust in online banking and e-commerce. The Randomized Data Handshake (RDH) introduces a new defense model for FinTech: a quantum-resilient, zero-trust encryption protocol designed specifically for mobile banking, e-commerce, and POS transactions. RDH wraps around lightweight ciphers such as ASCON and AES, enabling two parties to authenticate and create identical session keys without ever transmitting those keys or any sensitive account data. In practical terms, RDH can process a credit card purchase without ever transmitting the credit card numbers or data—eliminating the most common point of theft in financial systems. Unlike traditional software-based methods, RDH executes entirely within tamper-resistant hardware—smart cards, NFC tokens, or secure biometric dongles—ensuring that every cryptographic operation occurs only under explicit user control. A physical tap, button press, or fingerprint scan is required to activate a transaction. This architecture renders malware, spoofed apps, and relay based fraud attempts useless because the handshake cannot be initiated or cloned without verified user presence. For banks and payment providers, RDH offers a deployable path to quantum-safe, AI-resistant authentication that integrates directly with existing EMV, PCI-DSS, and ISO 7816 infrastructures. Benefits include: • No transmission of sensitive card data or session keys • Resistance to AI-based decompilation and code imitation • Post-quantum resilience using existing symmetric algorithms • Hardware-anchored two-factor authentication for wallets, POS, and banking apps RDH achieves these protections with minimal computational overhead—using 160 to 256 bytes of bandwidth per handshake— making it ideal for real-time financial transactions and IoT payment systems. As the industry prepares for the quantum era, RDH provides an immediately deployable bridge between today’s infrastructure and tomorrow’s threats. By removing data transmission from the encryption process itself, RDH restores what digital finance urgently needs most: trust without exposure
Stopping Crime in the Era of AI: How Compliance Can Stay Ahead
240-260Criminals are using artificial intelligence to scale money laundering in ways that were not possible only a few years ago. Synthetic identities built from fragments of real documents, deepfake onboarding videos that pass liveness checks and automated networks of mule accounts allow bad actors to move funds faster and hide their tracks more effectively. Traditional compliance systems, based on static rules and manual review, struggle to keep up. This presentation looks at how the AML landscape is shifting and why financial institutions need more adaptive technology. The industry is moving from simple red-flag detection toward richer behavioural analysis that understands how legitimate customers behave so anomalies become clearer. Graph intelligence is helping compliance teams uncover hidden relationships between accounts, wallets and devices that would never appear suspicious on their own. AI can reduce false positives and highlight the real threats that matter. The future of AML is not about replacing compliance teams. It is about equipping them with smarter tools that learn from new fraud patterns, integrate global sanctions intelligence and provide confidence at scale. With Singapores ambition to lead regional fintech innovation, the region is well positioned to adopt these capabilities early and set a benchmark for safer digital finance in Asia. Drawing on real-world implementation experience in high-risk sectors, this talk explores what is working today, how the technology must evolve and what forward-leaning financial institutions can do to stay ahead as criminals increasingly think and operate like algorithms.
Artificial Intelligence, Metaverse and FinTech
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Metaverse are transforming our world. Fintech is no exception. On the one hand, AI and the Metaverse can drive productivity enhancements, create new financial opportunities, and enable new business innovations. On the other hand, AI will transform work and the workplace and change the ways financial systems work and business functions. In this talk, we will discuss the opportunities and challenges presented by AI and the Metaverse for FinTech and how AI and the Metaverse will transform the future of work and humanity.
Calling for a Paradigm Shift in Higher Education in the Age of AI -Education as We Know it is Dead – Long Live Education!!
Recent years have seen an unprecedented evolution of technology with artificial intelligence (AI) proliferating every sphere of life, including Higher Education (HE) institutions. This rapid evolution has necessitated a paradigm shift as HE institutions navigate around fully utilising AI benefits while mitigating potential challenges within the teaching and learning context. On one hand, HE institutions stand to benefit from the advancement of AI capabilities through effective utilisation of AI tools’ ever-increasing abilities to replicate and automate complex cognitive, administrative and analytical tasks previously attributed to human capabilities. On the other hand, this presents challenges as many longstanding pedagogical models are rooted in developing leaners’ content mastery which subsequently translates into their ability to meet the requirements of standardized assessments. The proliferation of AI presents challenges to these longstanding pedagogical methodologies. This paper argues that “education as we know it, is dead,” not in its purpose, objectives and relevance, but in its prevailing ‘form’. Therefore, the paper calls for a reconceptualization of higher education which is aligned to the new, inescapable realities of an AI-driven landscape. While HE stands to benefit from leveraging AI’s transformative opportunities in areas such as personalization of learning, enhanced access to learning opportunities, efficiency of teaching and learning as well as opportunities for global collaboration; all of which are key to success in the 21st century, simultaneously, HE institutions are faced with profound challenges. Academic integrity concerns, data privacy risks, as well as digital divides are part of the challenges that are likely to be exacerbated within HE institutions in an AI era. Therefore, a central issue explored in the paper is the widening gap between digital-native learners, who are adept at leveraging AI and emerging technologies on one hand, and their educators, many of whom lack equivalent technological fluency on the other hand. This imbalance presents challenges to traditional teaching and assessment practices. It highlights the risk of producing graduates who present artificial competencies evident only on paper but lacking authentic competencies and skills in practice. It is in this context that the paper reviews the new challenges of existing curriculum and assessment methodologies and emphasizes the urgent need for a shift towards a focus on human-centred competencies such as critical thinking, contextual reasoning, ethical judgment, creativity, collaboration and emotional intelligence; skills that AI cannot easily replicate. To this effect, immersive, problem-based and competency-based approaches are highlighted as essential strategies to meaningfully engage digital natives, encouraging ethical utilisation of the wide array of functions that AI has to offer, while at the same time, discouraging over-reliance and unethical use of generative AI for academic shortcuts. Ultimately, the paper contends that the future of higher education hinges on its ability to integrate AI responsibly while redesigning curricular structures and pedagogical approaches that prioritize higher order thinking human capabilities. To achieve this, a collaborative effort is required from all key stakeholders including educators, HE institutions, policymakers and technology experts to ensure that AI augments and enhances learning, rather than working against it. This will result in robust, meaningful, ethical, adaptive and deeply-human HE offerings capable of preparing future leaders who can thrive alongside intelligent machines and remain able to navigate the complexities of the 21st-century world.
Artificial Intelligence in Education, Higher Education Transformation, Digital Natives, Academic Integrity, Competency Based Learning, Personalized Learning, Inclusive Learning