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Innovation Management, Competition Strategies and Corporate Sustainability—2nd Edition

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 27 August 2026 | Viewed by 3287

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
1. Centre for Governance and Sustainability, NUS Business School, National University of Singapore, 1 Business Link, Singapore 117592, Singapore
2. Department of Strategy and Policy, NUS Business School, National University of Singapore, 15 Kent Ridge Drive, Singapore 119245, Singapore
Interests: strategic management; innovation management; corporate sustainability; corporate governance
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With the development of globalization and digitalization, enterprises are facing an increasingly complex and dynamic market environment. Sustainability has rooted itself as a key underpinning for corporations seeking long-term success. Yet, the ability to generate benefits for their entire spectrum of stakeholders rests fundamentally on internal organization, particularly regarding how innovation is being managed, as well as on the external market, especially regarding how competition is being addressed. How to implement innovation management, formulate effective competitive strategies and realize the sustainable development of a business has become an important challenge for managers.

This Special Issue is seeking manuscripts on the interface of three thematic domains, namely innovation, competition and sustainability. We are interested in conceptual, applied or empirical research that examines a clear topic in any of the three domains with links to one or more of the other domains. The notion of sustainability itself or even the constituent pillars of environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards may also be considered.

Continuing from the first edition, the second edition of this Special Issue welcomes conceptual and empirical articles, as well as reviews.

Prof. Dr. Lawrence Loh
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • innovation
  • entrepreneurship
  • competition
  • strategy
  • sustainability
  • environmental, social and governance (ESG)

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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26 pages, 1142 KB  
Article
The Inverted U-Shaped Effect of Environmental Taxation on Green Innovation: The Roles of Corporate Environmental Responsibility and Green Finance
by Qi Zhang, Liangqun Qi and Lawrence Loh
Sustainability 2025, 17(21), 9915; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17219915 - 6 Nov 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1643
Abstract
Implementing environmental protection taxes implies a shift in environmental policy from government enforcement to market incentives, fostering long-term sustainability. Based on institutional theory, this study explores the nonlinear impact of environmental taxes on corporate green innovation and its influencing mechanism, by considering the [...] Read more.
Implementing environmental protection taxes implies a shift in environmental policy from government enforcement to market incentives, fostering long-term sustainability. Based on institutional theory, this study explores the nonlinear impact of environmental taxes on corporate green innovation and its influencing mechanism, by considering the complex interaction between innovation offsets and environmental costs. Utilizing data from Chinese A-share listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges during 2012 and 2023, the study reveals an inverse U-shaped relationship between environmental taxes and green innovation performance, within which corporate environmental responsibility functions as a mediator. Furthermore, the results also reveal that the relationship between environmental taxes and green innovation is positively moderated by the development level of regional green finance. In addition, the heterogeneity analyses show that the inverse U-shaped relationship is more pronounced among heavily polluting and large-scale firms, and firms in more marketized areas and areas with higher levels of intellectual property protection. The research enriches the literature on the dual-edged effects of environmental taxes anchored in green innovation and unpacks the internal mechanism of the effectiveness of environmental protection tax policy. It also provides practical implications for the design of tiered taxes and green finance policies aimed at achieving sustainable development. Full article
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26 pages, 416 KB  
Article
Fostering Sustainable Development: How Local Fiscal Sustainability Enhances High-Quality Corporate Innovation in China
by Man Yuan and Tengfei Yang
Sustainability 2025, 17(21), 9427; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17219427 - 23 Oct 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1132
Abstract
High-quality corporate innovation serves as a critical driver for achieving corporate sustainable development. This study bridges the gap between macroeconomic fiscal sustainability and microeconomic innovation quality. Specifically, this paper investigates the influence of local fiscal sustainability on high-quality corporate innovation, examining the underlying [...] Read more.
High-quality corporate innovation serves as a critical driver for achieving corporate sustainable development. This study bridges the gap between macroeconomic fiscal sustainability and microeconomic innovation quality. Specifically, this paper investigates the influence of local fiscal sustainability on high-quality corporate innovation, examining the underlying mechanisms and heterogeneous effects. Methodologically, data were collected using Python-based retrieval and web-scraping techniques. A multi-dimensional index of local fiscal sustainability was constructed, comprising five key dimensions to quantitatively map provincial fiscal sustainability across China. Corporate innovation quality was measured using patent citation metrics. Employing panel data from A-share listed companies over the 2015–2023 period, we implemented a two-way fixed-effects model for rigorous empirical econometric analysis. The findings indicate a significant positive relationship between local fiscal sustainability and high-quality corporate innovation. This result remains robust after a battery of robustness tests, including the use of instrumental variable (IV) methods. Mechanism analysis reveals that the resource compensation effect is the primary channel. Furthermore, our analysis identifies heterogeneity across varying innovation environments, economic regions, and industry characteristics. The positive influence is particularly pronounced in provinces with stronger intellectual property protection, firms located in the eastern regions, and High-Tech Enterprises. Collectively, the conclusions drawn from this research offer valuable policy implications for strengthening local fiscal sustainability and enhancing high-quality corporate innovation. Full article
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Other

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36 pages, 1554 KB  
Systematic Review
How Innovation Shapes Corporate Environmental Strategy: A Systematic Review and Future Research Agenda
by Li’ang Zhang, Ye Ma, Anna Kloczko-Gajewska and Bazhan Turebekova
Sustainability 2026, 18(10), 4993; https://doi.org/10.3390/su18104993 (registering DOI) - 15 May 2026
Abstract
In recent decades, escalating environmental risks have fundamentally reshaped the strategic landscape confronting firms. Against the intensifying pressures of the global climate crisis, corporate environmental strategy has evolved from a marginal compliance requirement into a central mechanism for long-term value creation. Innovation is [...] Read more.
In recent decades, escalating environmental risks have fundamentally reshaped the strategic landscape confronting firms. Against the intensifying pressures of the global climate crisis, corporate environmental strategy has evolved from a marginal compliance requirement into a central mechanism for long-term value creation. Innovation is widely regarded as a key driver of this transformation, yet scholarly understanding of its role remains fragmented across disconnected theoretical silos. Addressing this gap, this study systematically reviews 1614 English-language journal articles indexed in the Web of Science from 2000 to 2025, combining bibliometric mapping in Bibliometrix and VOSviewer with qualitative content analysis. To strengthen conceptual interpretation, the study also undertakes an in-depth manual review and coding of 100 highly cited core publications. The analysis identifies three structural shifts in the literature. First, the literature exhibits a three-stage thematic reconfiguration, moving from an early focus on strategy, capabilities, and environmental management to a current core centered on green innovation, ESG, digital transformation, and environmental performance. Second, this review reveals a clear two-track innovation structure, in which conventional innovation is concentrated in five upgrading-oriented categories, whereas green innovation spans a broader and more differentiated set of environmentally embedded categories, indicating a substantive shift from efficiency-centered improvement to strategically integrated environmental transformation. This study contributes by diagnosing why research growth has not translated into equivalent theoretical integration, clarifying the differentiated analytical roles of conventional and green innovation, and establishing a more cumulative basis for future theorizing in corporate environmental strategy research. Full article
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