Business Strategy and Development最新文献

As environmental urgency and digital transformation converge, understanding how emerging technologies create sustainable value has become a strategic imperative for businesses. This study investigates how artificial intelligence (AI) enables circular economy (CE) practices and strategic green marketing orientation (SGMO) to improve environmental performance (EP). Anchored in the resource orchestration view (ROV) and supported by the dynamic capability view (DCV) and complementarity theory, the research highlights AI not only as a technological asset but as an orchestrated capability that complements circular and green strategic initiatives. A sequential mixed-method design was employed: a model developed from an extensive literature review was tested using survey data from 310 participants in 115 firms, and a qualitative content analysis of integrated corporate reports provided contextual validation. The model captures the relationships among AI usage, CE capacity, SGMO, and EP, and PLS-SEM was used to assess mediation (SGMO) and moderation (AI) effects. Findings reveal that CE capacity enhances EP directly and through SGMO, while strategically orchestrated AI strengthens these effects. The study contributes to theory by integrating ROV, DCV, and complementarity theory to explain how digital transformation and environmental strategies jointly create long-term environmental values.

Sustainable corporate governance, which integrates environmental, social, and governance principles and sustainable development goals into corporate decision-making processes, has increasingly been recognized as a vital component of long-term business success. Although sustainable corporate governance (SCG) practices are widely believed to be positively associated with higher firm value, often accompanied by lower risk exposure, enhanced innovation capability, and stronger stakeholder relationships, existing empirical evidence remains mixed, particularly in emerging market contexts. This study examines the relationship between sustainable corporate governance and firm value using data from Chinese listed companies from 2014 to 2023. Results reveal a significant positive relationship between sustainable corporate governance and firm value. This study provides empirical evidence on the relationship between sustainable corporate governance and firm value within China's unique institutional context, thereby enriching the corporate governance literature. The findings also offer important implications for policymakers and practitioners, suggesting that companies pursuing economic performance while balancing environmental and social responsibilities are more likely to achieve superior long-term outcomes.

This study examines whether green innovation (GIN) helps newly established small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) ease credit constraints and strengthen their debt repayment capacity. Drawing on signaling and stakeholder theories, it conceptualizes GIN as a credible signal that mitigates information asymmetries and aligns firms with the rising expectations of sustainability-oriented financial stakeholders. The analysis uses a longitudinal sample of 7,027 Italian entrepreneurial ventures founded in 2013. GIN is measured through patent-based indicators obtained by matching International Patent Classification (IPC) codes with the WIPO Green Inventory. Panel regression models assess the effects of GIN on short- and long-term bank debt and the Interest Coverage Ratio (ICR), accounting for firm lifecycle heterogeneity and the pre and post-EU Taxonomy periods. Green-innovative firms show greater access to bank financing and stronger debt-servicing capacity. The positive impact on credit access is strongest for early-stage ventures but weakens as firms mature. Conversely, the association between GIN and ICR strengthens over time. However, the signaling power of GIN appears to be reduced following the EU Taxonomy. The study provides novel evidence on the signaling role of GIN in facilitating bank finance for young ventures – an underexplored area in sustainable entrepreneurial finance research. Financial institutions are encouraged to incorporate GIN into credit assessment frameworks while considering firm lifecycle and evolving regulatory contexts. The study shows that the signaling relevance of GIN varies across the corporate life cycle and institutional developments, extending signaling theory to sustainable entrepreneurship.

In the wake of pressing global environmental challenges and the urgent need for sustainable development (SD), green entrepreneurship (GE) has emerged as a promising avenue for supporting economic growth while addressing environmental and social concerns in developing economies. This research paper explores the critical success factors (CSFs) of GE that can potentially impact the digitalization of circular supply chain management (CSCM) toward a net-zero economy in the Indian textile industry. The CSFs were identified through a comprehensive literature review and validated using expert feedback. To prioritize these factors, the “Best-Worst Method” (BWM) was applied, and “Total Interpretive Structural Modelling” (ISM) and “Matrice d'Impacts Croisés Multiplication Appliquée à un Classement” (MICMAC) techniques were used to classify them into clusters. The results indicate that institutional CSFs and financing for entrepreneurs received the highest priority and were identified as the key driving factors based on expert evaluations. These insights will aid entrepreneurs, managers, and policymakers in formulating effective policies and strategies for achieving SDGs.

Family firms represent a large share of the private sector in emerging economies. A key feature of family firms is that their behavior is driven by factors other than financial, making them more prone to adopt proactive environmental strategies (PES). Our objective is to assess the relationship between the firms' degree of family ownership and PES adoption through the lens of Socio-Emotional Wealth (SEW), the emotional and non-economic value family members consider when making decisions. We also investigate the moderating effect of two institutional factors: the perceived level of informal firms' competition and the perceived degree of environmental policy stringency in adopting PES. Our results suggest that family firms are more likely to adopt PES. However, both moderating factors tend to weaken this effect. Our results suggest that for family managers aiming to implement PES, they should consider institutional external factors rather than focus solely on internal drivers. Policymakers, meanwhile, should recognize that environmental stringency alone is insufficient for family firms to achieve sustainable production. As an alternative, these regulations may be accompanied by enforcement, monitoring, and support measures.

The transition to sustainability has become an urgent priority for firms in emerging economies, where rapid industrial growth often collides with environmental limits. Against this backdrop, circular business strategy offers a pathway to decouple development from ecological harm, yet the organizational capabilities that enable its adoption remain underexplored, particularly in contexts shaped by institutional constraints and uneven digital readiness. To address this gap, this study examines how green innovation supports the adoption of circular practices, while also assessing the mediating role of strategic environmental orientation and the moderating effect of digital transformation. Drawing on Dynamic Capabilities Theory and the Technology–Organization–Environment framework, the analysis uses panel data from 413 listed manufacturing firms in India, Brazil, South Africa, and Kenya between 2010 and 2023, and applies advanced econometric techniques with instrumental variables to ensure robust estimation. The results show that innovation significantly strengthens circular adoption, especially when firms intensify their innovation efforts. Moreover, strategic environmental orientation provides the alignment needed to embed innovation into long-term sustainability goals, while digital transformation amplifies the influence of both, particularly in digitally advanced firms. Variation across ownership types and industry sectors further underscores the role of context in shaping outcomes. Taken together, the study advances theoretical understanding of how innovation, environmental orientation, and digitalization interact to accelerate circular transitions in emerging markets, while offering practical guidance for managers, policymakers, and development actors.

Firms attempt to recover from the damage caused by ESG controversies by improving their sustainability efforts to enhance post-controversy performance. We argue that a firm's ability to recover from such damage is influenced by decreased financial performance resulting from the controversies. Furthermore, we investigate whether this financial decline acts as a complementary mediator, whereby both the mediated and direct effects of controversies on sustainability performance operate in the same direction. Using 37,291 longitudinal observations from 2007 to 2023 across 35 countries in America, Asia, Europe, and Oceania, we employ instrumental variable approaches for the generalized method of moments (GMM IV) and structural equation modeling (SEM IV). The main results reveal that the decrease in accounting, market, and growth-based financial performance has complementary mediating effects on the relationship between controversies and sustainability performance. Moreover, earnings acceleration emerges as a robust indicator of growth-based financial performance, significantly influencing sustainability performance. These findings advance stakeholder and legitimacy theory perspectives by highlighting decreased financial performance as a key driver of recovery mechanisms following ESG controversies.