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The aim of the study is to get a comprehensive understanding of the research landscape at the nexus between business model innovation, sustainability and/or digitalization, in order to determine key research patterns and trends. Accordingly, the following objectives have guided the development of the paper: (a) to examine the dynamics and structure of the research output (articles and citations) on the topic; (b) to explore the network of the most impactful articles; (c) to trace the origins of the research on the topic; (d) to decipher current developments in the research on the topic; and (e) to search for emerging trends in the research on the topic. An advanced search of the SCOPUS database was conducted to identify the relevant literature available; 1195 articles (published between 2014 and 2023) were selected and exported in VOSviewer for bibliometric analysis. The results suggest the emergence of a niche research area in the broad strategic management field, bringing together four related (sub)topics: (1) circular economy and sustainable business models; (2) tools, frameworks and processes for sustainable business model innovation; (3) digitalization and business model transformation; (4) business models for societal and sustainability transitions. For this research area to crystallize, the identified emerging research trends – on digital innovation and technology; strategic management and analytical methods; supply chain and manufacturing; policy, governance and sustainability – need to be further explored, both individually (in search of refinement and clarity) and collectively (in search of consistency and synergy).

The purpose of the current paper is to study how customer loyalty varies in time according to customer segments and external factors. In the first part of the paper, the authors have reviewed in a funnel-like manner the relevant literature, starting with relationship marketing and customer relationship management theories, and ending with customer loyalty. To achieve the paper’s research purpose, buying behavior data (recency of last transaction, buying frequency and monetary value spent) from a company’s internal information system was analyzed for 2019 and 2020, respectively. RFM model was applied on the 2019 data and resulted in three segments: heavy, medium, and low users - segments which varied in their loyalty for the year 2020. Based on the obtained findings, the authors concluded that the more intense a customer’s buying behavior is, the higher their probability is of being loyal in the future. A second conclusion assumes that customers characterized by intense buying behavior are less vulnerable to external threats, the Covid-19 pandemic in our case.

The paper aims to identify the main research (threads and) trends and evaluate the relationships between (and the impact of) the publications/articles investigating the interplays between artificial intelligence (AI) and sustainability against a business or management related context. To reach this objective, 863 articles from Web of Science Core Collection were analyzed, using VOSviewer as a bibliometric tool. Performance analysis was employed to mainly explore the interest and popularity of the topic, assess the main interest areas and fields of both the sources and the publications, determine the most relevant SDGs for the topic, and identify the most popular journals hosting articles in the analyzed field. Science mapping was carried out to identify the most influential articles in the field, understand the antecedent topics/ideas (in the fields of AI and sustainability, respectively) contributing to the emergence of a new interest area at the intersection between AI and sustainability, appraise the current developments in the analyzed interest area, and discover new trends / areas for future research.

The main objective of this paper is to analyze if there is a link between financial performance and sustainability in the case of listed companies on stock markets, worldwide, and across all sectors of activity because sustainability has become an important part of the company’s strategy. The financial performance of the companies was calculated using public financial data from the annual financial statements, while the environmental, social, and governance (ESG), and controversies scores were used as performance metrics for sustainability at company level. To evaluate financial performance a variety of indicators were used, such as assets management, debt management or market value performance, as a benchmark tool to compare the standing of companies in each sector of activity analyzed. Our findings showed that there are different relations (strong or weak) between financial performance and sustainability if a sectoral-based approach is considered. As a result, the link between financial performance and sustainability was tested on a sample of more than 5,000 companies divided into 10 sectors of activities, according to the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS), for the period 2017-2021. The main conclusion of this study is that they are interrelated, capitalizing on each other.

The rapid expansion of the electric vehicle (EV) markets over the last decade (due to the combined effect of technology advancement and rising sustainability concern) is part of bigger transformations – towards electric/net-zero mobility and sustainability – that got momentum and (both public and policy) validation. In this context, the companies in the auto industry – that have traditionally been part of the “sustainability problem” – are being urged to join the “sustainable solution” the EVs are part of. Their sustainability-related practices and impacts are being highly challenged, while increasingly under scrutiny, making sustainability reporting a strategically significant endeavor. The paper aims to explore the sustainability performance and reporting of the global (top five) electric car automakers (that are both “born EV” and “traditional”) – in order to compare and contrast their strategic perspectives on sustainability performance and reporting. The S&P Global ESG Scores have been used as proxy for the sustainability performance of the five companies, and the analysis was detailed to the level of the three dimensions and nine criteria of S&P Global ESG Scores. As for the assessment of sustainability reporting, a qualitative analysis of the non-financial (Sustainability/CSR/Impact) Reports of the five companies was performed – using QDA Miner.

The increasing interest for (the topic of) digital transformation – fueled by the synergies between technological developments (in terms of business-related applications of digital technologies) and businesses’ search for (new determinants of digital technology-based) competitive advantage, while accelerated by the covid-19 pandemic – is an undeniable reality of nowadays (which is here to stay). Through a bibliometric analysis - built on data extracted from SCOPUS database and using VOSviewer - the paper aims to: make an overall assessment on the subject (and the ways it was addressed by academia); identify the main topics that configures the research on digital transformation (while being critical for the practice); assess the validity of digital transformation as strategic shift.

European Commission’s six priorities for 2019-2024 are all in line with and leverage each other to support Europe’s twin transition to digitalization and sustainability; aiming to address the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, The Recovery Plan for Europe adds resilience as key dimension of EU’s progress, while reinforcing its commitment to the green and digital transformation. Counting for more than 99% of the enterprises, employing about two of three people, and generating more than a half of the value added - with similar weights as concerns Romania - EU’s SMEs are the engine of Europe's economy, therefore essential contributors to these transformative processes - as emphasized in the SME Strategy for a sustainable and digital Europe.

Part of a bigger research project conducted by Media Reputation Lab (Media REP Lab) on the reputation of media in Europe, the study explores the reputation of media among informed population in Romania. A sample of 100 cases was involved in the online survey taking place in December 2019. The results provide a description of the country’s media reputation (media in general: radio, print, digital and television). For each one of these media, the valuation obtained by each of the reputational attributes (credibility, rigor, impartiality, willingness to rectify) by the informed population would be indicated. Moreover, insights on the knowledge and use, as well as on the reputation (overall and by category, considering ten key reputation aspects) - of twelve selected media - would be provided.

Over the last few decades Big Data has impetuously penetrated almost every domain of human interest/action and it has (more or less consciously) become a ubiquitous presence of day to day life. The main questions this exploratory paper seeks to address (throughout its two parts) are the following: What is the (actual) impact of Big Data on Business & Management and How can businesses (through their management) leverage the potential of Big Data to their benefit? This second part of the paper is dedicated to the investigation of the demand-side of the big data industry – by highlighting some evidences (and projections) on the impact of big data analytics on Business & Management (both at aggregate and granular level) and exploring what companies could and should do (through their management) in order to best capitalize on the opportunities of big data and avoid/minimize the impact of its threats.

Business sustainable competitiveness is a very complex concept. This complexity generates a variety of possibilities to define, to measure and to test it. The purpose of the paper is to develop the concept of businessness (for business sustainable competitiveness) by leveraging productivity, profitability, effectiveness and sustainability, at firm level. The interrelations between them, in terms of revenues per employee, return on assets, total assets turnover and Dow Jones Sustainability Index, were integrated into models/functions in order to develop, test and apply businessness. The article is about proposing functions (by using multiple discriminant analysis) in order to measure business sustainable competitiveness (businessness). The hypotheses and functions were tested using a sample of 500 companies (2000 observations) from Global Fortune 500. The results showed that there are direct and positive interrelations between the following items: number of employees, revenues, net income and total assets, but with different degree of correlations between groups. Therefore, it is very important to consider industry/group when conducting an analysis on business sustainable competitiveness.

Over the last few decades Big Data has impetuously penetrated almost every domain of human interest/action and it has (more or less consciously) become a ubiquitous presence of day to day life. The main questions this exploratory paper seeks to address (throughout its two parts) are the following: What is the (actual) impact of Big Data on Business & Management and How can businesses (through their management) leverage the potential of Big Data to their benefit? A gradual, step by step approach (based on literature review and a variety of secondary data) will guide the paper in search for answers to the abovementioned questions: starting with a concise history of the topic Big Data as reflected in academia and a critical content analysis of the Big Data concept, the paper will then continue by emphasizing some of the most significant realities and trends that characterize the supply-side of the big data industry; the second part of the paper is dedicated to the investigation of the demand-side of the big data industry – by highlighting some evidences (and projections) on the impact of big data analytics on Business & Management (both at aggregate and granular level) and exploring what companies could and should do (through their management) in order to best capitalize on the opportunities of big data and avoid/minimize the impact of its threats.

During the last few decades, the search for sustainability has experienced a tremendous momentum, encompassing all the levels of the global system. Fuelled by complex (both proactive and reactive) motivators, the process has surpassed the characteristics of an intellectual endeavor – more preoccupied by idealist goals, and less focused on the actual means to achieve them – and has proved that it can successfully be transposed into the corporate real world – of decision making, objective assessment, and relentless scrutiny. The paper aims to (broadly) explore the world of the most sustainable corporations – based on a descriptive (factual and dynamic) analysis of Corporate Knight’s annual rankings (2016-2018) of the Most Sustainable Corporations – in order to: (a). determine (by comparing and contrasting) the main features these organizations – able to transform the fuzzy concept of corporate sustainability into a coherent reality – display; and (b). set the premises for future (narrower) researches – aiming to explain the “how-s” behind the design, development and implementation of the strategies these corporations follow in their search for (sustainable) competitiveness.

Every company has a different structure of balance sheet. Some of the companies have more liabilities than equity. Considering the industry or debt-to-equity ratio, the balance sheet structure affects the company profitability measured by DuPont system. The main objective of the paper is to analyze the structure of balance sheet and to identify some optimal levels in order to increase company profitability. The DuPont returns like ROA (return on assets) and ROE (return on equity) will be used to measure the company profitability, while the debt-to-equity ratio will be used as a measure (reflection) of capital structure. The samples consist on the most profitable non-financial companies ranked in Fortune Global 500. The companies will be grouped in clusters (based on industry or debt-to-equity ratio) in order to identify the signification of the correlation between the profit and the balance sheet structure. The main results of the paper refer to the company profitability that can be increased by using an optimal structure of liabilities and equity.

For better or for worse, the “corporations rule the world” assertion is nowadays more actual and accurate than ever before, as multinational companies represent the undisputable engine of the globalization process, and the latter continuously (re)creates the background against which global multinationals are flourishing, while reinforcing their “domination”. Since 1995, the Fortune Global 500 ranking (FG 500) annually provides a comprehensive and eloquent image of the world of global multinationals; the merits of the FG 500 ranking go beyond the synchronic approach of the characteristics of global multinationals (in terms of revenues, profits, assets and employees - by sector, industry and country), as it also favors diachronic analysis and comparisons - which are essential for strategists in identifying evolving trends and substantiating corporate strategies able to lead to sustainable competitiveness. The paper aims to determine the contribution of sectors to FG 500 ranking in 2016, on one hand, and to emphasize on some industry-based dynamics in FG 500 - by comparatively analyzing the 2016 and 1996 rankings, on the other hand.

The global commandments of sustainable development, assumed and translated by the EU into a series of communications and resolutions, have found themselves a new (and more powerful) expression into the “Directive 2014/95/EU (…) as regards disclosure of non-financial and diversity information by certain large undertakings and groups”; in order to increase the transparency of their sustainability-related actions and results, these companies need to report (starting from 2018, by referring to the financial year 2017) information “relating to, as a minimum, environmental, social and employee matters, respect for human rights, anti-corruption and bribery matters”. As regards the Romanian companies, although they have had a relatively delayed start in terms of embracing CSR initiatives and practices (and SCR reporting respectively), the Directive 2014/95/EU could represent a great opportunity for diminishing the gap – if properly internalized and strategically operationalized. The paper aims to perform a strategic diagnosis analysis on the CSR practices and CSR reporting in Romania, on the threshold of the Directive 2014/95/EU enforcement, in order to make an effective prognosis on its consequences and impacts.

Premise: globalization represents both the fertile background and the accountable foreground that accompanies the evolution of TNCs/MNEs, within a self-enforcing spiral of co-evolution which gratifies the winners and discards the losers.

In a world of unprecedented (diachronic and synchronic) complexities like ours, firms are forced to deal with an increasing number of organizational paradoxes that challenge their strategic choices. Under these circumstances, ambidexterity could become a (dynamic) core competence for firms, making the ambidextrous organization an imperative for businesses more than ever before. The paper aims to explore, based on an integrative approach, the most relevant literature on the interdependencies between the two topics (strategic paradoxes and organizational ambidexterity), in order to identify the most important thesis, arguments and solutions that support the ambidextrous organization, four decades after its first introduction into the academic literature (Duncan, 1976).

Value represents one of the key concepts in strategic management, because the evolution of both the theory and practice of strategic management has been greatly shaped by the generic searching for value. But the approaches of value have been quite various and sometimes controversial, making value one of the most complex and dynamic determinants and metrics of the strategic competitiveness of the firm. Therefore, the paper aims to identify, based on literature review, the multiple valences value has for the strategic management process (in all of its phases: analysis, formulation and implementation), in order to capture as much as possible of its multiple facets (as concerns value drivers, value creation and value distribution) into a comprehensive framework – able to successfully manage and measure the contribution of value to the strategic competitiveness of the firm, while enhancing it.

The main focus of (the two parts of) this article is on the emerging countries and their development paths. Particularly, it emphasizes on the role and contribution of innovation (of all kinds, in all its forms) for multinational companies from emerging economies (EMNC); the entire research endeavor is placed under the auspices of the knowledge-based society - the one that makes knowledge the ultimate source of power, enabling entities to use and potentially multiply it at the same time at global scale. Analyzing the situation of some emerging economies (starting from their best ranked multinationals), the article draws some empirical and theoretical conclusions on the ways knowledge and innovation could become determinants of progress beyond national boundaries.

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