Excise tax policies are increasingly used to regulate e-cigarette consumption, but their impact on consumer behavior remains complex. Understanding how these policies influence attitudes and purchasing decisions is essential for effective regulation and public health strategies. While prior studies have examined taxation effects, fewer have explored the roles of consumer awareness, fairness perceptions, affordability concerns, and government intent in shaping attitudes and repurchase intentions. This study analyzes how excise tax implementation affects consumer perceptions and behavior regarding e-cigarettes. Using a quantitative research design, data were collected and examined through regression analysis and correlation matrices to assess relationships between key factors. Consumer awareness emerged as the most significant influence on attitudes toward e-cigarette consumption, with fairness and affordability playing lesser roles. The government’s intent was found to have the weakest impact. Additionally, attitude was the strongest predictor of repurchase intention, with fairness and awareness also affecting purchasing behavior indirectly. Findings suggest that taxation alone may not effectively influence consumer behavior. A combination of fair tax policies, affordability considerations, and, most critically, awareness campaigns can improve consumer perceptions and promote responsible purchasing decisions. Policymakers should prioritize educational initiatives to inform consumers about the rationale and benefits of excise tax policies, ensuring that such measures are viewed as fair and justifiable. Integrating taxation with consumer education can create informed and responsible consumption patterns.

Strategic cost management practices are critical for SMEs in today's dynamic environment. While their benefits are acknowledged, empirical evidence on their influence on SME organizational performance remains limited. This study investigates the influence of activity-based costing (ABC), target costing (TC), and life cycle costing (LCC) on the organizational performance of SMEs, aiming to evidence their effectiveness in improving financial efficiency, promoting cost reduction, and ensuring long-term sustainability. Employing structural equation modeling, this research analyzes survey data from 390 participants in various SMEs to examine the influence of ABC, TC, and LCC on organizational performance. The results confirm that ABC, TC, and LCC significantly enhance organizational performance within SMEs. ABC improves financial efficiency, TC enables competitive pricing, and life cycle costing promotes long-term financial sustainability. These findings highlight the critical role of strategic cost management in optimizing SME performance. Integrating ABC, TC, and LCC into financial planning is essential for SMEs aiming to improve operational efficiency and achieve sustainable growth. The researcher found that the constructs accounted for a modest 16.4% of the variation in organizational performance. It is determined that this highlights the complex nature of organizational performance and the need to consider other, unmeasured factors.

This research explores the multifaceted relationship between e-governance and public value, focusing on its impact on citizen trust and engagement. The study investigates the effectiveness of e-governance in Malabon City and its influence on public service delivery and public trust. It aims to transform public administration by giving people the right information at the right time, improving responsiveness, and promoting transparency and citizen participation. The researchers employ quantitative research utilizing a correlational research design. Data was gathered through a quantitative survey with three sections assessing e-governance, public service delivery, and public trust, using a hybrid sampling technique that combines snowball and random sampling. The data was analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) to model the causal relationship between latent variables. The findings show that e-governance has a strong positive influence on the different aspects of public service delivery and trust. The results highlight e-governance’s significant explanatory power, particularly on policymaking, which variable or model had the highest squared multiple correlation value. These findings provide a helpful foundation for future studies aiming to maximize the effects of e-governance on public services and citizens’ trust.

While the fundamental importance of cash flow management for business success is widely recognized, this study offers a novel insight by explicitly examining the multifaceted correlation with diverse operational efficiency variables within food and beverage Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). This localized and granular analysis thereby contributes a unique understanding of how cash flow practices directly influence holistic operational performance, addressing a notable gap in existing literature concerning MSMEs in developing urban settings. Using a correlational matrix, the research examines how elements of cash flow management, like forecasting, control, and optimization, interact with key operational variables, such as financing sources, investment strategies, inventory management, production processes, sales and marketing, customer relationship management, and technology adoption. The findings highlight strong positive relationships between these areas. Cash flow forecasting, control, and optimization were not only closely linked to one another but also strongly associated with all measured operational efficiency variables. The results of the investigation showed a strong correlation, backed by statistical significance, between total cash flow management and operational efficiency. This emphasizes how important financial management is to the success of businesses. The study shows that efficient cash flow management is essential to MSMEs’ long-term growth and goes far beyond a simple financial safety net. By taking a comprehensive approach and improving cash flow tactics, companies can increase operational effectiveness, get more financial stability, and prosper in the face of competition. For MSMEs hoping to achieve long-term success, these insights provide insightful advice.

This study addresses the critical importance of customer-focused strategies and brand promotion within the food component import–export sector, a context that remains underexplored, particularly with respect to the influence of external factors across diverse geographical settings. Its objective was to empirically investigate how operational excellence, particularly customer relationship management (CRM), value-added services, and product quality and safety assurance affects customer loyalty and, in turn, drives brand promotion. Utilizing a descriptive quantitative research design, a cross-sectional survey was administered in the Philippines, with data analyzed through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The findings indicate that CRM exerts the most significant influence on customer loyalty, while product quality and safety assurance also positively contributes. Importantly, customer loyalty emerged as a strong driver of brand promotion. The model demonstrated high predictive power for customer loyalty and substantial explanatory power for brand promotion. These results highlight that strong customer relationships developed through CRM are essential for fostering loyalty and positioning customers as effective brand advocates. Preserving product quality and safety assurance is fundamental, the study's results imply that companies should purposefully put in comprehensive CRM systems and tailored encounters. To develop devoted clients, hence boosting brand awareness and securing sustained competitive advantage. Future studies ought to broaden the scope of investigated factors and explore more generalizable geographical settings to improve generalizability.