Search

In this article, eco-efficiency – ‘sustainable development at the company level’ or ‘value added per environmental impact’ – is operationalized at the production unit level. An eco-efficiency index is developed and tested with 31 Finnish and 37 Swedish pulp, paper and board mills in 1993–1996. In essence, gross value added without a change in inventories is divided by environmental impact aggregated with seven valuation methods. The definition of eco-efficiency as sustainable development at the company level appears to be problematic. [Eco]2-efficiency does not include the third, ethical dimension sustainable development, but only ecology and economy. Value added is a limited indicator of economic performance and very sensitive to changes in market prices, while environmental impact changes with valuation assumptions. The Swedish mills were generally more eco-efficient, while the Finnish mills were more eco-efficient in integrated woodfree paper, solid bleached sulphate board and liquid packaging board. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Circular economy (CE) has garnered increasing attention in political circles and practitioner literature thanks to its potential to overcome the harmful consequences of linear patterns of growth. Nonetheless, the adoption of sustainable practices entails a holistic approach requiring businesses to make significant changes to their production, technologies and stakeholder management. These challenges resulted in limited progress in terms of the practical implementation of CE. This paper addresses the need for more literature focused on the pragmatic aspects of applying this paradigm to incumbent firms. The author presents the journey that Lucart S.p.A., a major European tissue paper manufacturer, has undertaken between 2014 and 2020 to apply CE principles to its practices. Insights from the transformation process, reconstructed through interviews with the firm's management and environmental impact data, suggest that to succeed it takes innovating (plants, products and marketing strategies) and setting up supply chains that reconcile environmental and economic sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the systematic review and bibliometric analysis of current literature, this paper attempts to investigate whether the wealth generated through cryptocurrency trading can assist in attaining the United Nations' (UN) sustainable development goal (SDG) 7, affordable and clean energy and UN SDG 13 related to climate action. The critical analysis of literature indicates a growing interest in cryptocurrency, the UN's SDGs and the negative effect that crypto mining has on the use of enormous energy. However, there is a clear gap in the literature that focuses on the possibility of using the wealth generated through cryptocurrency trading in financing environmentally friendly projects and attaining the UN's SDG 7 and SDG 13. The findings and the future research direction of this study aim to firstly expand the academic literature related to SDG 7 and SDG 13 and secondly to examine the relationship between cryptocurrency and sustainability even during an uncertain period. This study provides evidence pertaining to the theoretical models that can be applied within discussion of the complex relationship between cryptocurrency, clean energy and climate action. Our findings will provide policymakers with information regarding actions that need to be taken in order to convert cryptocurrency generated wealth and consequently attaining sustainable socio‐economic goals in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, business models for environmental sustainability have gained increasing attention in the management field and among practitioners and stakeholders. This study aims to analyse the state of the art on the topic by reviewing the growing but mainly phenomenon‐driven research. In particular, by identifying main research trends and relevant gaps in the literature and by providing future research avenues, this paper advances the debate on the need for alternative concepts of doing business that go beyond the creation of economic value for a company in a way that generates value for the society. Our article undertakes two stages of screening the available literature and selects 151 peer‐reviewed articles published between 2007 and early 2019 for the review. The paper provides the first comprehensive systematic review of business models in the field of environmental sustainability with a detailed descriptive and critical analysis and with a discussion of future research opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the origins and development of the concept of ‘market transformation’, from its beginnings as a part of energy policy in the USA, to its subsequent development in the UK. It discusses whether it could become a strategic option for British business in pursuit of sustainable growth. Drawing together themes from the academic literature on marketing, consumer behaviour, business, and energy policy, together with data from national programmes, and British government sources, the paper argues that such an approach would be based on a twin false premise – that selling energy efficiency to consumers is in accordance with modern marketing thinking, and that it has much to do with achieving sustainable development. It concludes that while achieving sustainable development will certainly encompass the transformation of markets for many products, ‘market transformation’ itself cannot be seen as a key driver for change. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The carbon emissions trading scheme (CETS) is an important institutional innovation that internalizes external costs caused by corporate carbon emissions and promotes firms to engage in green development. Based on a 2009–2019 sample of Chinese enterprises of heavily polluting industries listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) and Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE), this paper employs the difference‐in‐differences model to examine the effect of CETS on corporate green investment and discuss the moderating effects of external pressure and internal incentive. We find that the implementation of CETS significantly promotes corporate green investment, and this finding still holds after a series of robustness tests such as Propensity Score Matching‐Difference in Differences (PSM‐DID) method and alternative measure of green investment. The heterogeneity analysis indicates that the positive effect of CETS is stronger in large‐scale enterprises, state‐owned firms, and companies located in regions with strict environmental regulation. In addition, less local government intervention and more internal executive compensation incentive significantly enhance the positive impact of CETS on corporate green investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

My study is framed against the backdrop of increasingly stringent environmental demands on the pulp and paper industry to reduce water and air pollution, and the changing global market conditions. I first present an observation-based analysis conducted by visiting selected paper mills in Finland, the US, Germany and Sweden. Interesting differences and similarities emerge. Some of the observed differences lie in their focus on achieving incremental efficiency gains from better management of production processes, inventories, supply-chain, product distribution and timing of modernization investments such as information technology. In the second part of the paper I present evidence on firms' productivity paths and the heterogeneity in productivity among relatively similar firms, and selected evidence of firms' investments in specific areas and how these affected productivity. My findings have implications for organizational behavior and business strategies employed by firms to improve their performance and productivity under changing environmental standards and market conditions. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many European countries with plentiful forest resources, novel forest‐based businesses play a key role in the transition from our current fossil‐based economy towards a circular bioeconomy. For example, kraft lignin, a by‐product from the pulping industry, is produced in large amounts globally. To date, however, it is still only offered on the market by a small number of pulping companies. The successful innovation diffusion of related new technologies and businesses requires establishing a collective effort among multiple societal actors to motivate the sharing of value creation processes. In this paper, potential innovation diffusion pathways are modeled and simulated by means of an agent‐based approach (Biorefinery Products Innovation Diffusion model, BioPID). The paper investigates the conditions needed to encourage the diffusion of kraft lignin innovations as a (partial) replacement for fossil‐based feedstock in selected applications. The results reveal the basic mechanisms behind potential innovation diffusion pathways. The major barriers were found to be the high level of uncertainty surrounding the additional costs arising in lignin processing, the small number of lignin providers, and the presence of relatively homogeneous pricing strategies based on opportunity and basic preparation costs. The analysis of two product categories revealed different patterns in terms of innovation diffusion and potential greenhouse gas emissions. A novelty of BioPID is that it allows for iterative technology evaluation and technology foresight analysis of biorefinery projects (e.g., by combining techno‐economic, socio‐technical, and environmental aspects). This produces knowledge for diverse stakeholders involved in the lignin innovation ecosystem, thus enabling better communication on shared values and furthering innovation diffusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital technology is regarded as providing a promising means of moving production and consumption towards the circular economy. However, it is still unclear which functions of digital technologies are most useful to improving circularity, and how these functions could be used to enhance different circular economy strategies. This paper aims to address this knowledge gap by conducting a systematic literature review. After examining 174 papers, creating 782 original codes and 259 second‐round codes, the study identifies 13 critical functions of digital technologies which are most relevant to circular economy strategies. The paper then proposes a framework which reveals seven mechanisms of how these digital functions can enhance different circular economy strategies. The framework also reveals which combinations of the digital functions and circular economy strategies have already been studied extensively as well as where there may be gaps. This indicates which digital functions are more mature in terms of possible implementation for circular economy as well as what missing links there are in the empirical and theoretical research. The study advances the synergies between digital technologies and the circular economy paradigm through the lens of digital functions. The proposed framework and mechanisms build a theoretical foundation for future research, and we highlight five research areas for further studies. This study also provides a structured way for managers to explore the appropriate digital functions for their CE strategies, so as to identify required digital technologies and new value creation through digital functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public sector purchasing processes are gaining increasing prominence as a demand‐side innovation tool for addressing national sustainability challenges. Accordingly, there has been growing research attention to this topic. Prior studies suggest three key rationales that underlie the use of public sector procurement to drive innovation: (i) the buyer–user rationale (for creating new needs); (ii) the market/system failure rationale (for improving suppliers' capacity to innovate); and (iii) the public services rationale (for improving public services). However, operational activities at the upstream supply chain affecting the sustainable innovation capacities of supplier firms appear to be under‐researched in the public procurement for innovation (PPI) scholarship, despite knowledge about innovation capacity being critical to successfully implementing PPI. This paper adopts a systematic literature review approach to synthesise existing fragmented literature on sustainability‐oriented PPI, focusing on supplier perspectives. Findings from a synthesis of 41 relevant articles suggest, among others conditions, that a procurement framework that maintains a good balance of competition and innovation, builds buyer–supplier relationship and urges strong supply networks, maintains a stable political commitment, offers security for niche markets with effective innovation risk management culture would enhance suppliers' sustainability capacity and propensity to innovate. This paper contributes to the PPI literature and the literature on determinants of sustainable innovation systems from supplier firms' sustainability lens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes how the concept of sustainable value is used in the business model literature to understand and structure the concepts used in analyzing the value creation process in business models to date. We found that in discussing sustainable business models, sustainable value, a term encompassing the environmental, social, and economic benefits of a given model, has been used in place of the conventional term, value. However, the conceptual implications of this substitution have not been sufficiently addressed. A systematic literature review reveals both positive and negative perspectives of value as well as the misuse of several multilevel value concepts. We categorize these concepts according to their meaning, differences, similarities, and implications. As a result, we propose a holistic framework that structures them, integrates both positive and negative perspectives of value, and proposes an activity‐based analysis for sustainable value in business models. The contributions of this paper are twofold: theoretically, it structures value concepts in order to better understand the sustainable value process in business models, and practically, it offers a tool for sustainable development by providing a framework to analyze sustainable value in a variety of business models as a basis for improvement in sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, more and more attention is paid to the sustainable development of enterprises. In particular, in the context of frequent financial crises and COVID‐19 pandemic, how the performance of listed companies' environmental, social, and governance (ESG) affects the company's market value has attracted widespread attention. Different from existing studies, this paper takes financial performance as a mediating variable and constructs linear regression model and mediating effect model based on analyzing the relationship between ESG performance, financial performance, and company market value and their influencing mechanism. The ESG rating data of Chinese listed companies newly developed by SynTao Green Finance from 2014 to 2019 were selected for empirical test. The results show that the improvement of ESG performance of listed companies can improve the market value of the company, and the financial performance of the company presents an obvious mediating effect. At the same time, operational capacity is an important mediating way for ESG performance to affect the company's market value. Further research shows that ESG performance of state‐owned listed companies exerts a stronger mediating effect on corporate operating capacity. Finally, this paper provides relevant suggestions for regulators, listed companies, and investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving environmental equity is important for ensuring resource utilization efficiency and realizing sustainable development. Using panel data of 286 cities in China from 2011 to 2018, this paper analyzes whether financial support in the form of digital finance can mitigate environmental inequality. The findings indicate that (1) digital finance has a significant mitigating effect on environmental inequality. Digital finance development has a stronger industrial pollution emission reduction effect on high‐polluting regions than on low‐polluting regions and can reduce the environmental pollution gap between regions. The results of robustness tests such as an endogeneity test support this finding. (2) Digital finance development can have a stronger mitigating effect on environmental inequality in regions with a stronger local government governance capacity and environmental preferences. Digital finance can be a more significant inhibitor of environmental inequality in areas where industries transfer out due to their stronger needs for industrial transformation and finance. (3) Residential income and green technology innovation are important factors affecting industrial pollution emissions and reductions. Digital finance development can narrow the income gap between regions and promote the convergence of green technology innovation capacity, in turn alleviating environmental inequality. In the future, while continuing to promote the development of digital finance, it is necessary to improve the governance capacity of local governments, to increase the efficiency of resource utilization in places where industrial transfer is undertaken and to strengthen the role of financial support in industrial pollution control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a stakeholder perspective to study tensions in hybrid organizations (HOs). In this study, we investigate social enterprises (SEs) as emblematic cases of HO. The paper responds to literature that calls for studies about the interactions with stakeholders and proposes the relational paths SEs can implement to alleviate the emerging tensions between environmental–social and business goals. It also contributes to the academic debate offering empirical evidence on HO‐related tensions. Solving these tensions is beneficial for HOs and in terms of sustainable development. The paper presents a longitudinal case study of a leading SE in the fair trade industry. Fair trade represents an industry where economic, social, and environmental goals may be jointly achieved through the action of SEs. The main paper's contributions regard a stakeholders‐generated view of tensions and the identification of stakeholders‐tailored solutions to managing them. In addition, the proposed ad hoc approach contributes to a deeper understanding of how an SE deals with its hybrid nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through appropriate operations and policies, such as green processes and product development process (PDP), companies can respond to environmental sustainability. To remain competitive, one such approach, Design for X (DFX), involves considering different environment and sustainable strategies through different factors Xs. With regard to the availability of different DFX techniques that consider environmental issues, the decision as to which approach needs to be adopted remains absent. This paper aims at presenting an overview from 1980 to 2020 of the developed research, applications, and DFX techniques for assessing green issues. Selected DFX techniques are linked with strategies used in organizations. Following a literature analysis, a collaborative knowledge‐based framework that addresses the design concepts needed to assess environmental, safety, and health concerns in the development of green products is proposed. Furthermore, as a pillar for considering the Semantic Web and an evolving approach linked with natural language processing (NLP) and artificial intelligence (AI), an ontology‐based knowledge management model for green assessment is developed for the representation, acquisition, organization, and capitalization of knowledge in a computer interpretable manner. The findings are useful for both managers and practitioners as they provide a coherent domain ontology that can help them manage knowledge, improve teamwork, and make decisions in a collaborative green PDP. Besides, an understanding of the essential design considerations that are required to implement environmental, safety, and health issues, as well as competencies used in the PDP is presented. Key barriers, managerial and strategic implications, and mitigation actions are also identified in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how the corporate social responsibility performance of the acquirer firm, measured with the environmental, social and governance score, is related to postmerger operating performance, by analysing 796 merger operations that took place between 2011 and 2018. The analysis was carried out by first considering the full sample and then dividing the sample into three subsamples: acquirer companies with an environmental, social and governance score below the median, acquirer companies with a rating above the median and finally those companies considered to have a very high score (over 80). To support the results obtained from this analysis, a machine learning technique was subsequently applied to the data. The results obtained from the analysis demonstrated that acquiring companies with a high environmental, social and governance rating manage to generate a significant improvement in operating performance postdeal after the merger, whereas this is not the case for companies with a low score or for companies with a score of above 80. These results seem to demonstrate that although a high environmental, social and governance score can have a positive impact on postmerger operating performance, this only true up to a point. A possible explanation for this could be that the costs involved in integrating and aligning the culture of the two merging companies increase when there is the need to maintain a high score. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of circular economy is increasingly receiving attention in different domains, including strategic management, operations management, and technology management. It requires companies to design their business model (i.e., the value network, the relationships with the supply chain partners, and the value propositions towards customers) around a new concept of sustainable development that reduces consumption of natural resources and preserves the environment. However, extant research falls short in terms of explaining how companies design their business model according to the circular economy principles. Starting from this premise, the present paper provides a systematic review of the literature on the design of business models in the context of circular economy, aiming to offer an overview of the state of research and outline a promising research agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given that entire industries face sustainable development challenges, it is important to understand the dynamics that lead incumbents to develop competence‐destroying sustainable product innovations. This paper provides a longitudinal analysis of automobile incumbents' open innovation strategies during the era of shift from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles by describing the process through which they leverage open innovation for the provision and development of electric batteries, the most distinct component of electric vehicles. The paper analyses the strategies of 13 carmakers over a period of 26 years and identifies a path‐based open innovation framework for green technology characterised by an inverse U‐shaped breadth and depth of partnerships correlated to different levels of technological uncertainty until carmakers start moving from market to hierarchy by producing in‐house electric batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the contribution of the B Corp movement in Europe to achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) compared with non‐B Corps. B Corp certification aims to identify organisations that utilise business as 'a force for good', but there is limited empirical evidence on how effectively certified organisations translate their prosocial claims into measurable SDG contributions. We address this through cluster analysis, comparing 313 B Corp‐certified and 1506 non‐certified European companies by way of the SDG Action Manager tool. Our findings reveal three clusters of B Corp‐certified organisations with varying contribution levels across all SDGs, indicating that the certification does not consistently identify organisations with significant SDG impacts. Non‐certified companies, meanwhile, do not exhibit distinct patterns. These results raise doubts about whether the B Corp category identifies a distinctive prototype member that can define clear prosocial norms and practices. The paper contributes to understanding B Corp organisations' narratives by providing insights into their empirical performance compared with non‐certified organisations. It also offers potential explanations for these discrepancies and proposes strategies to strengthen B Corp certification bodies in alignment with the SDGs, while acknowledging the presence of intra‐category variations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deeply exploring the formation path of tourists' environmentally responsible behavior is of great significance to standardize tourists' behavior and protect the environment of grassland tourist attractions. In this paper, an integrated model that mainly discussed two parts was explored by the stimulus–organism–response (S‐O‐R) theory adopting structural equation model (SEM) and multi‐group analysis (MGA). The first part is the direct role of the service quality, subjective norms, and environmental knowledge in motivating tourists' behavioral attitude and place attachment, as well as the indirect role of those three variables in shaping environmentally responsible behavior. As the second part, the potential moderating influence of visitor gender on the model is also discussed extensively in the paper. According to a survey of grassland tourists (n = 484) from Gansu and Qinghai provinces in China, it could be found that both environmental knowledge through behavioral attitude and service quality through local attachment have indirectly influence on environmentally responsible behavior. Direct and indirect effects of subjective norms on environmentally responsible behavior exist, and the indirect effects are based on behavioral attitude and local attachments. There is a significant moderating effect of gender on the effects of environmental knowledge on behavioral attitude, service quality, and subjective norms on place attachment. Finally, the future research directions were proposed based on existing limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low‐carbon sustainable development is considered an essential strategy for achieving economic growth and environmental protection, requiring a fundamental transformation of the industrial structure, including developing clean technologies, promoting energy efficiency, and adopting sustainable production and consumption patterns. Simultaneously, the evolving digital economy is acknowledged as an essential driver in optimizing the industrial structure. Therefore, can digital economy development reshape the industrial structure and lead to low‐carbon sustainable development? The main purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of industrial structure upgrading in the relationship between the digital economy and low‐carbon development. Its ultimate purpose is to explore more possible paths to achieve low‐carbon development. This paper builds a regression model based on the data of cities. We found that digital economic development can directly promote low‐carbon sustainable development, a conclusion that still holds after endogeneity discussion and robustness testing. Additionally, digital economy development can promote industrial structure upgrading and thus promote low‐carbon sustainable development, meaning that industrial structure upgrading is an effective mechanism for digital economy development to promote low‐carbon sustainable development. This paper provides empirical evidence for the positive environmental externalities of digital economic development and establishes a basic research framework of "digital economic development → industrial structure upgrading → low‐carbon sustainable development." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social solidarity economy is an approach to the production and consumption of goods, services and knowledge that promises to address contemporary economic, social and environmental crises more effectively than business as usual. The paper employs the concept of commons ecologies to examine the practices, relationships and interactions among actors and organisations in the social solidarity economy, as well as between them and the mainstream economy, which shape the field and its degree of autonomy in relation to capitalism, through a process defined as boundary commoning. Such process shapes both local and regional commons ecologies, as well as the participation of local and regional actors in wider networks at national, international and global levels. The paper takes a case study‐based approach to identify practices, relationships and interactions of commons ecologies in relation to selected community‐led initiatives in the UK, Portugal, Brazil and Senegal. Each case study illuminates different qualities of local/regional commons ecologies and their forms of engagement with wider networks. Further, the paper shows that these cases demonstrate how the social solidarity economy may facilitate delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals in a distinctive way. In each case, SSE acts as a vehicle for expressing participants' values and principles consistent with those underlying the SDGs. Local implementation of SDGs is thus an in‐built feature of these commons ecologies. The participation of community‐led initiatives in international and global networks offers opportunities to learn from local level experiences and successes, potentially strengthening SDG implementation more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This multidisciplinary paper examines the sustainability of supply chain partners from a foreignness perspective. The arguments draw from the research on institutional theory to explain the underlying mechanisms. We propose and discuss a comprehensive conceptual framework evaluating the relationships of foreignness to economic, social, and environmental sustainability. In addition, we consider contingent factors such as the level of development of supplier's nation, level of global integration of buyer, and type of industry, on sustainable development of focal firms. The direct and contingency frameworks introduced in this paper are presented along with research propositions that provide valuable insight into the sustainable supply chain management from the international business perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amidst the number of studies on sustainable purchasing and supply management (PSM), we have yet to learn how sustainability becomes a logic for organisations and their stakeholders. Thus, this paper offers an extended approach on the emergence of an institutional logic of sustainability (ILS). Our contribution includes the macro mechanisms supporting the robust and continuous adoption of an ILS for procurement. Three distinct trajectories of an ILS emerged from the literature, and their application to sustainable PSM is illustrated using real‐world examples. The trajectories rely upon the evolution of (1) institutional entrepreneurs or (2) PSM structures but also can happen through (3) the co‐evolution of both. By offering a conceptual model and a set of research propositions for future theory and empirical testing, this paper helps scholars and practitioners to advance their knowledge on managing purchasing departments according to sustainability values and making it a competitiveness factor. Lastly, this paper adds value to both implementation and formulation of sustainable business strategies as the application of our conceptual framework can lead to better strategic alignment of PSM practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blockchain is a disruptive technology that is revolutionizing information technology and represents a change of cultural paradigm for the way in which information is shared. Companies are rushing to understand how they can use blockchain distributed ledger technology to innovate processes, products and transactions. In a globalized world where environmental sustainability is a critical success factor, what is the role of the blockchain? By using a systematic review approach and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta‐Analyses (PRISMA) protocol, this study attempts to identify whether and how blockchain technology is considered able to affect environmental sustainability. Findings from 195 studies from 2015 to 2020 were analysed after the search protocol was applied. The results indicate that blockchain technology could contribute to environmentally sustainable development goals (SDGs) from different points of view, such as supporting the realization of a sustainable supply chain, improving energy efficiency and promoting the creation of secure and reliable smart cities. Furthermore, the investigation highlights the sectors where to focus research investments, providing a way to reward sustainable behaviour and increasing environmental sustainability. On the other hand, blockchain has no negligible negative effects on the environment that need to be considered before adoption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the resilience of environmentally friendly companies in an overwhelming economic and social environment that has been generated after the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) pandemic. To this respect, we have investigated the cointegration between the Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 Carbon Efficiency Index (CEI) with COVID‐19 cases, supplemented with covariates such as government response stringency to the pandemic, economic policy uncertainty, oil prices and global markets fluctuations. We have used daily data from 2nd January to 5th October 2020 and have employed a robust estimator within a Fourier approach to accommodate both sharp and smooth breaks. Our results suggest that green companies have been positively affected by the outbreak of COVID‐19. Our paper provides practical implications for companies that wish to furnish themselves with resilience during rough times and stakeholders who wish to invest in safe, long‐lasting returns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable entrepreneurs operating in protected areas face distinctive barriers that place additional emphasis on the need to build legitimacy. To date, how they do this has not been entirely explored. This paper addresses this need through an exploratory study of sustainable entrepreneurs in a transnational protected area. The results indicate that sustainable entrepreneurs in protected areas face barriers that can be broadly classified as cognition spanning, locale and sector‐related barriers. The findings highlight that a key way sustainable entrepreneurs overcome these distinctive barriers is by building legitimacy through activism. Activism became instrumental in building legitimacy with varied stakeholders and actors. This is all geared towards overcoming barriers during the sustainable entrepreneurship process. The findings add to existing literature on the role of legitimacy building in sustainable entrepreneurship by detailing the different forms of legitimacy and how they are built through activism. The paper concludes with propositions about the conditions necessary for sustainable entrepreneurs to build legitimacy in fragile socioecological contexts through activism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An economic growth target is a declaration by policy authorities of commitment to that target and the corresponding allocation of resources. The constraints created by economic growth target are an important economic management method in China, which has helped China's economy to achieve remarkable achievements. However, it has also brought about serious environmental problems, threatening China's sustainable development. Using the data about economic growth targets in the work reports of 30 Chinese provincial governments from 2006 to 2017, this paper constructs several spatial measurement methods, such as the spatial Durbin model, to examine the constraints created by economic growth target's impacts on air pollution. The main conclusions are as follows. First, a significant "U‐shaped" relationship exists between the constraints created by economic growth targets and air pollution. Second, the spatial Durbin model analysis revealed that PM2.5 across China's provinces display significant positive spatial spillover effects and spatial agglomeration characteristics. Third, the direct, indirect, and total effects of constraints created by economic growth targets on air pollution are all statistically significant and depict a "U shape." Finally, the constraints created by economic growth targets have an apparent threshold effect on air pollution, and the inhibiting effects increase with human capital and industrial restructuring. However, with the increase in foreign direct investments, constraints created by economic growth targets may increase air pollution. The conclusions of this paper are of great significance for improving the management of local government economic growth targets and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to review the state of the art on the topic of business models for sustainability. The paper screens 1744 peer‐reviewed papers with no temporal limitation and undertakes three stages of literature review analysis of a final set of 134 papers with a combination of systematic, bibliometric and multivariate techniques. The first output is the identification of six wide different but interconnected research streams of business model for sustainability: namely, elements and structure; applications; different types of business model for sustainability; transition process; circularity as sustainability; and technical aspects of innovation. A theoretical framework that allows to understand the themes explored by the literature so far and gives an interpretation of the evolution of the literature has been produced. Finally, the analysis provides opportunities and research directions for future research. The paper originality lies in providing the first co‐citation analysis of business models for sustainability with a descriptive and critical study by identifying main research trends and relevant gaps in the literature and by providing future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the potential impact of environmental sustainable development initiatives such as environmental collaboration with the supplier (ECS) on environmental and manufacturing performance is inconclusive. Specifically, it has overlooked the intermediary role that dynamic capabilities play in the relationship between ECS and performance. This explains why previous research, while correct in theory, found conflicting statistical results between environmental collaboration upstream and various performance outcomes. This study examines the following questions: What is the impact of environmental collaboration on manufacturing and environmental performance in outsourcing relationships? Do capabilities mediate the relationship between environmental collaboration and performance? Further, we propose that one particular mediating factor—innovative capabilities (ICs)—can influence the strength of this relationship and thus explain why previous research found conflicting statistical results. This paper uses structural equation modeling to analyze survey data from 247 North American manufacturers that outsourced their manufacturing. IC fully mediates the relationship between ECS and manufacturing performance and partially mediates the relationship between environmental collaboration and environmental performance. These findings enrich existing knowledge as it views ECS through the lens of resource‐based theory. Further, we shed light on the crucial role of IC in firms that choose to outsource critical capabilities. From a managerial perspective, the empirical results will inform outsourcing managers making strategic and tactical decisions to achieve desired environmental and manufacturing outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable packaging is a pivotal aspect of sustainable development, involving multi‐faceted issues such as stakeholder management and environmental policy compliance. Despite the efforts to find packaging solutions, the extant literature is largely fragmented, featuring a high level of heterogeneity among studies that spread across different disciplines, with the majority examining important packaging issues in isolation. A study that systematically consolidates findings of different important areas of sustainable packaging implementation is lacking. This challenges companies' adoption of research findings in business strategy development. Thus, this paper conducts a systematic literature review combining keyword co‐occurrence analysis, thematic analysis and qualitative content analysis to uncover major research domains, consolidate important findings and reveal unsolved research gaps, which are crucial to advancing sustainable packaging management. The findings reveal four major research domains: (1) sustainable packaging materials and properties, (2) management practices of sustainable packaging, (3) consumer behaviours towards sustainable packaging and (4) packaging waste management. Drawing on the natural‐resource‐based view (NRBV) theory and the review findings, this study proposes four future research directions: (1) identifying ways to enhance the commercialisation of sustainable packaging technological innovations, (2) uncovering reasons for insufficient social aspect investigation in sustainable packaging research, (3) exploring strategies to enhance stakeholder integration in sustainable packaging management and (4) examining contingency factors of packaging waste management effectiveness. The research agenda is important to provide practical and managerial insights for business strategy development in sustainable packaging to achieve pollution prevention, product stewardship and sustainable development capabilities to gain future growth and competitive advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over recent years, the Circular Economy (CE) has turned into a debated area worldwide as a way of achieving a more sustainable society. However, little is known about how companies can disclose CE‐related activities in their corporate reporting. This paper aims to explore how and to what extent CE‐related information is included in Integrated Reporting (IR) practices by promoting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The study applies qualitative content analysis and thematic analysis approaches to explore the associations with CE, IR, the six capitals and SDGs. The institutional theory approach has been adopted to justify incorporating CE R‐principles activities into IR practices. Multiple case study findings demonstrate that every case company minimum one time cites the CE R principle, while case companies seen to be more involved in the reduce (R1), reuse (R2) and recycle (R7) are engaged with IR practices and focussing on SDGs. Whereas coercive, normative, and mimetic isomorphism mechanism substantially impacts CE activities concerning IR practices, we can argue that mimetic isomorphisms need further investigation because no structures and frameworks are available. In terms of managerial implications, this study proposed a combined framework of CE and IR that provides a conceptual picture of how CE activities intermesh with the IR framework and the six capitals, both essential for the Sustainable Development (SD) agenda participation and value creation process of companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines barriers to supply chain digitization (SCD) and offers mitigation strategies, focusing on sustainable development goals (SDGs), technological adoption, and financial constraints. A hybrid research approach, combining qualitative and quantitative methods, has been used to analyze significant SCD barriers and strategies under budget constraints. According to the findings, "lack of proper research and development facility" is the most influential barrier to SCD. The overcoming strategies are then ranked by how likely they are to be implemented in response to barriers. From a sustainability perspective, "improving privacy and security" is identified as the most important strategy. Further, a mathematical model is developed to facilitate investment‐related decision‐making by determining the most suitable overcoming strategies under budget constraints. The proposed mathematical model is evaluated across a range of investments and for a set of overcoming strategies within a given scenario. The findings demonstrate that optimal investments of $1.78 million can cover the top two overcoming strategies for implementation. Furthermore, the results indicate that a minimum investment of $1.9 million is required to adopt all 10 overcoming strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the factors influencing the adoption of environmental innovations towards a circular economy (CE) by the EU firms, with special focus on technological capabilities and external support. A multivariate probit model is specified to allow the distinction between three types of eco‐innovative practices: Reduce, Recycle, and Redesign technological processes. Using a novel taxonomy based upon the distinction between narrowing, closing, and slowing loops in the use of resources, we find that financial and technological capabilities are essential drivers for all types of CE actions in the European firms. Similar findings are found for the public funding support but only when the firms are recycling (closing resource loops) and redesigning (slowing resource loops). Knowledge from private companies (pecuniary mode) is relevant to Reduce and Recycle strategies. These two eco‐innovative practices are also shown in firms with a wide external knowledge network. Results also show that there is an inverted U‐shaped relation between the diversity of collaboration and the circular Redesign of products. The paper ends up with some implications for practitioners and policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing research posits that there are tensions in addressing divergent sustainability issues which need to be managed and embraced by firms. However, if these tensions cannot be addressed adequately, it will not only have negative impacts on individuals' interests but also on the development of organisations and ultimately the prosperity of the society, ultimately resulting in unethical consequences. Hence, this paper empirically examines tensions in addressing divergent sustainability issues and how to manage them between Chinese and New Zealand firms in business partnerships. Guided by an interpretivist philosophy, this research adopts a qualitative and abductive approach as the preferred research method. In doing so, 33 in‐depth individual interviews alongside one informal group discussion were carried out at 16 relatively large Chinese and New Zealand firms known for their commitment to sustainability that are in business partnerships. Interestingly, we find that these companies are faced with complex and multiple sustainability tensions. In order to better manage these tensions, we found that these firms adopt integrative approaches with opening, surfacing, collaborative and synergistic strategies which can help these companies to enhance their organisational ambidexterity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizational change research to date has tended to proliferate on a conceptualization of change as a deliberate process driven by rational and formal strategic planning and fuelled by the expansion of exploitative resources. This conceptualization entails that change is essentially a process of reproduction in that it occurs along existing (incremental and cumulative) trajectories. Prompted by the need to manage increasingly complex and uncertain environments and foster progress towards sustainable development, the question of what are the exploratory forces that stimulate the capacity of business organizations to engage in discontinuous shifts towards new (flexible and creative) trajectories, without excessively disrupting existing ones, has comparatively been neglected. This paper contributes to address gaps in existing research by exploring how organizational change in response to complexity is framed in the literature on business model innovation. Three core categories of constraints to change are identified: relational flaws, functional flaws and the lack of moral motives; and three interacting forces that can be harnessed to overcome these constraints are suggested: sociability, agility and moral inclusivity. The resulting framework has broad implications for organizational change theory, practice, policy and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the competitive advantages of sustainable business models, developing management solutions to systematically support sustainability integration into organizational strategy is still a challenging approach for most organizations. Based on a critical analysis of existing tools to support sustainable business models, the present paper describes the development of a practical management tool to guide the strategic integration of sustainability in organizational business models. The proposed management tool results from the synergistic combination of the Sustainable Value Exchange Matrix and the Integrative Sustainable Intelligence Model, in a cyclic and continuous process supported by the periodic diagnosis of the key organizational factors with relevance for successful sustainability integration processes. The management tool described in this paper is expected to guide the strategic adaptation of organizations toward results with a positive impact on sustainability, with an effective contribution to the development of more sustainable business models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to present the first systematic literature review (SLR) on biodiversity and species extinction accounting publications. This strand of research is gaining increased attention due to emerging scientific evidence that finds a relationship between the human destruction of biodiversity and the recent Covid‐19 crisis, causing profound economic and health impacts. This justifies the need for an SLR of 40 articles from 2013 to 2020. Descriptive results show research contributions peaked in 2018 with the most publications appearing in the Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal. Results show legitimacy theory is the most applied theoretical framework with global studies and developed country specific research receiving the greatest attention. In addition, content analysis is identified as the preferred research methodology. Additionally, through synthesising and analysing literature, we provide potential opportunities for future research that is underexplored. This paper will provide a valuable study for academics, policymakers and practitioners pursuing research in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a highly competitive and changing environment, manufacturers are called to adopt the paradigms of smart, sustainable, resilient, and lean manufacturing (SSRL). However, despite the growing interest in the topic and the potential of smart manufacturing features to enable sustainable development, little is known about these interactions in the system of SSRL. Therefore, to address this gap, this study investigates the moderating effect of SM on lean manufacturing and resilient manufacturing for SP while examining the existing relationship between lean and resilience. Drawing upon a hybrid methodology including the partial least squares‐structural equation modeling (PLS‐SEM) and machine learning algorithms, this research paper develops and tests the hypothetical model using collected data from 399 organizations in China, Africa, and Europe. The findings reveal important implications regarding the fostering effect of SM on the components of the SSRL system and how firms can be both lean and resilient and achieve high sustainable performance simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organisations have been driving sustainability, where some efforts have focussed on the organisation itself and some on how organisations contribute to society, such as addressing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Although organisations have been working to address the SDGs, there has been limited integration of the SDGs in organisation systems. This paper aimed at analysing how organisations have been addressing the SDGs. A survey was developed to investigate the impacts and contribution of organisations to sustainability, where 294 responses were obtained for the questions on organisations' impacts to the sustainability. The data were analysed using descriptive analysis: Friedman test to rank the impacts on the SDGs and divided into quartiles; a ratio analysis between positive impacts and negative impacts; and correlations. The results show that organisations' impacts on the SDGs are quite generalisable to all types of organisations, with three exceptions (SDGs 4, 5 and 16). The results also served to develop an SDG impact categorisation. The correlation analysis showed that organisations address the SDGs through a compartmentalised approach. The results helped to propose the 'organisations' impacts on the SDGs framework' focussing on the contribution of organisations to sustainability. This research shows that organisations can contribute directly to some of the SDGs, but not to others. Therefore, the discourse must change from integration of SDGs on organisations to the contribution that organisations can have on the SDGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of the impact of central environmental protection inspection (CEPI) on corporate environmental, social, and governance（ESG) performance is important for reforming the operation mechanism of CEPI to improve its effectiveness and fundamentally enhance corporate ESG to achieve sustainable development. This paper empirically examines the mechanism of the impact of CEPI on corporate ESG performance using a multi‐period difference‐in‐differences (DID) model with a research sample of 674 listed firms in China from 2013 to 2018. The results show that CEPI can significantly improve corporate ESG performance, and the strengthening of regulation by local governments is a potential channel. The important internal governance mechanisms of foreign and institutional investor shareholding, as well as the external governance mechanisms of analyst following and media coverage, can effectively strengthen the improvement effects. Further analysis also reveals that there are differences in the effectiveness of different inspection approaches, with "look‐back" inspection outperforming routine inspection. Heterogeneity at the firm and regional levels is also a critical factor in causing differences in the effectiveness of ESG performance improvements. This work not only enriches the research on the micro‐effects of CEPI on firms but also provides a reference for firms to improve their ESG performance and use ESG for investment and business decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to investigate the impact of ambidexterity (exploration and exploitation) on green product innovation and the success of new products through the effects of sustainability, considering the moderating role of customer pressure. This research proposes a theoretical model that was tested using structural equation modelling (SEM) and a multigroup analysis to understand the moderating role of customer pressure. A 23‐item questionnaire was developed to explore the proposed relationships, applied in two different moments, answered by two other critical respondents from each company. At the end of the second collection moment, 336 valid questionnaires were collected from a sample of industrial SMEs in Portugal. The results show a positive influence of ambidexterity on sustainability and, therefore, on new product success and green product innovation. In addition, green product innovation increases the success of new products due to the growing demand for more sustainable products. Furthermore, the chain of effects between ambidexterity and further product success was strengthened when customer pressure was higher. This study stresses the need to actively manage exploration and exploitation investments to enhance ambidexterity, especially when sustainability and green innovation are the expected outcomes. The originality of this research is related to the contributions of hierarchical dynamic capabilities, combining and balancing exploration and exploitation, to produce successful ambidextrous companies in sustainability and green strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether environmental responsibility can promote corporate performance has always been a focus of debate in theory and practice. We address the dispute regarding the effect of environmental responsibility by focusing on small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in China. Furthermore, based on team faultline theory, we argue that top management team (TMT) faultlines and bankruptcy threat combine to affect the relationship between environmental responsibility and long‐term performance in SMEs. Using data from 410 Chinese companies listed on the Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) during 2011–2020, we find that SMEs that engage in more environmental responsibility tend to have worse long‐term performance. Additionally, this relationship varies depending on the conditions of TMT composition (i.e., faultlines) and situation (i.e., bankruptcy threat). Specifically, when the bankruptcy threat is high, TMT faultlines negatively affect the relationship between environmental responsibility and long‐term firm performance. However, TMT faultlines positively affect this relationship when the bankruptcy threat is low. This paper sheds new light on corporate environmental responsibility by adopting a theoretical perspective of TMT faultlines and identifying the specific situations in which TMT faultlines act. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A higher greenness of firms is crucial for the mitigation of climate change and other environmental pollution problems. This paper analyses the drivers of a greening of firms from a theoretical and empirical perspective. Three theoretical concepts—the stakeholder theory, the institutional theory and the resource‐based view—contribute to identifying the determinants of firms' greenness. In our empirical analysis based on recent World Bank data, greenness is measured by different environmentally related measures firms adopted over the preceding 3 years, such as more climate‐friendly energy generation, waste minimisation and the improvement of lighting systems. The results of probit and negative binomial regressions show that a high affectedness by environmental regulation triggers firms' greenness. In addition to this 'forced greenness', the results demonstrate that innovative firms are more likely to realise environmentally related measures. This finding also holds for firms affected by extreme weather events. A highly competitive environment is negatively connected with greenness. The corporate social responsibility of family‐owned firms seems to be higher than non‐family‐owned firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last years, sustainability has become a successful, relevant, critical factor in several food industries. The adoption of a sustainable marketing strategy contributes positively to changes in society in terms of environmental, social and economic development. The relationship between sustainability and business performance has been widely debated in management and organisational studies. However, despite its importance and relevance, fishery sustainability has not been systematically considered by scientific studies. This paper identifies and analyses the critical factors that describe the propensity towards sustainable development for large companies within the Italian fishery sector. For this purpose, the relationships among the following latent variables were analysed: sustainable social behaviour, sustainable environmental behaviour, sustainable marketing, and return on investment. A theoretical research model has been proposed and empirically tested using a methodology based on structural equation modelling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are an urgent call for action by all countries that provide a global framework for achieving global development while balancing social, economic, and environmental sustainability. SDGs are addressed to all actors in society, but both academia and professional recognize the particular importance of businesses. However, research is still needed to understand the role of companies as sustainable development agents. Relying on Scopus database consultation, the current research adopts an interdisciplinary systematic literature review to investigate, analyze, and present state‐of‐the‐art academic literature on the role of businesses in tackling SDGs. The final sample comprises 101 papers published between 2015 and 2020. It provides evidence that the main topics discussed by scholars are related to aspects of strategy execution. Recognizing different streams that are currently unexplored—despite strictly related to strategic business activities and to the sustainable development as a whole—the study provides many insights for future research on business and SDGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability reporting has become a central instrument in displaying a company's strategy and engagement with a more sustainable society. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is an important tool in this context as it is aimed to analyze the entire life cycle of the product/service, instead of focusing on one focal firm. However, the lack of standardized guidelines in its application raises questions regarding the usefulness and validity of results. This study contributes to the improvement of sustainability reporting through the identification of the uncertainty sources in life cycle methodologies that have the biggest impact in the definition of business and environmental strategies, exploring a supply chain‐oriented analysis. The focus is on life cycle inventory (LCI) and life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). A multiobjective optimization‐based methodology is applied to a supply chain case study in the pulp and paper industry. Environmental and economic objectives are considered. Results show that different LCIA methods and different normalization data sets result in significantly different business and environmental strategies. However, different system models and cultural perspectives at the LCI step and variations in the characterization factors tend to lead to the same decisions. Important insights are gained regarding the impact of nonstandardized analysis of the application of LCA in supply chain design and planning decisions and consequently on business strategy definition and sustainability reporting. Furthermore, the importance of operations research methods to improve LCA‐based studies and of bridging the gap between LCA and supply chain management bodies of knowledge is highlighted in this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collaboration in green product innovation (GPI) is becoming increasingly important, and research on such innovation has grown in recent years. This study reviews literature on external collaborations in GPI to investigate drivers, inter-organizational factors and intra-organizational factors for such collaborations. The review includes a total of 67 papers. Survey studies and case studies are the methodologies applied most in the reviewed papers. The most common collaborators are suppliers and customers. Drivers include economic factors, regulations, customer demand, competitiveness and firm performance. Numerous inter-organizational collaboration factors are presented and summarized in terms of partner selection, relationship management, knowledge access and agreements. Intra-organizational factors mainly concern cross-functional collaboration, capabilities and internal practices. Implications for policy and practitioners are presented. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the development of circular business models for a large white goods manufacturer. A 7‐year journey in designing, discussing, adapting, and finally finding a potentially profitable circular offer is summarized, and the barriers that had to be overcome in this process are highlighted. The shift from selling washing machines to repeated leases with remanufacturing steps in‐between turned out to be very challenging. Despite the numerous claims in the consulting world that both manufacturers and consumers can benefit from the transition to a circular economy, it took multiple iterations to find a business model with the potential of being economically attractive to both the company and the client. The transformation process of shifting to a circular business model tends to be highly underestimated by companies and involves many issues beyond product design such as customer relationships, return logistics, remanufacturing operations, and service contracts. Researchers will need to work with companies to address the transition issues and to increase the relevance of circular economy research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to investigate how stakeholder groups engaged by the company contribute to the value flow of business models for sustainability. The research aims to expand the knowledge on business models for sustainability by highlighting the most important contributions of stakeholders that are relevant from a value flow and sustainable development perspective. The research methodology is a multiple case study in five Italian B corporations. The paper contribution is a stakeholder value flow model of business models for sustainability that categorizes the stakeholders engaged in the specific value flow dimension, namely, value intention, value proposition, value creation, value delivery and value capture. The stakeholder value flow model can facilitate a systematic and deeper analysis of stakeholder contributions to the company business model. Moreover, the stakeholder value flow model can be used to map from the company perspective the most significant relationships and to facilitate the stakeholder engagement towards sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]