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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: 1 March 2027 | Viewed by 39232

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Yan Yan

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Guest Editor

School of Business, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China
Interests: innovation; networks; alternative energy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Jingjing Zhang

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Guest Editor

School of Public Policy and Management, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Interests: innovation policy; public management; innovation networks

Dr. Yinghuan Wang

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Guest Editor

College of Business Administration, Capital University of Economics and Business, Beijing, China
Interests: innovation; networks; crowdfunding

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In today’s landscape of intense competition, innovation has emerged as a pivotal element of strategic management. A robust strategic management approach must prioritize innovation, allowing firms to maintain a competitive advantage in the face of rapid technological advancements as well as complex strategic scenarios (Keupp et al., 2012). This Special Issue explores the expanding significance of innovation and strategic management amid the multitude of disruptions challenging traditional business.

This Special Issue aims to explore the role of innovation and strategic management in business, particularly highlighting how artificial intelligence and digital transformation influence innovation and strategic management (Appio et al., 2021; Cosimato and Vona, 2021), the relationship between innovation strategy and firm performance, the role of innovation ecosystems in competitive advantage (Daymond et al., 2023), and importance of sustainable innovation (Maier et al., 2020). It also examines the strategic alliance and networks (Yan et al., 2022), the innovation policy, the strategic entrepreneurship, and the dynamics of innovation strategies (Wang et al., 2024).

We welcome original research articles and reviews that delve into these topics and more, contributing to a deeper understanding of innovation and strategic management. The topics of interest include but are not limited to the following:

The impact of AI on innovative practices and strategy management.
The impact of digital transformation in innovation and strategic management.
Relationships between innovation and strategic and firm performance.
Relationships between innovation ecosystems and strategic competitive advantage.
Sustainable innovation strategy, social responsibility, and ESG.
Collaboration network and strategic alliance under the open innovation context.
Technological innovation policy and enterprise strategic management.
Strategic entrepreneurship and innovation management in business.
The Dynamic development of innovation strategies.

This Special Issue aims to share insights and findings from researchers on innovation and strategic management in business, to serve as a basis for future research and advance the development of the business world.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

References

Appio, F. P., Frattini, F., Petruzzelli, A. M., & Neirotti, P. (2021). Digital transformation and innovation management: A synthesis of existing research and an agenda for future studies. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 38(1), 4-20.

Cosimato, S., & Vona, R. (2021). Digital innovation for the sustainability of reshoring strategies: A literature review. Sustainability, 13(14), 7601.

Daymond, J., Knight, E., Rumyantseva, M., & Maguire, S. (2023). Managing ecosystem emergence and evolution: Strategies for ecosystem architects. Strategic Management Journal, 44(4), O1-O27.

Keupp, M. M., Palmié, M., & Gassmann, O. (2012). The strategic management of innovation: A systematic review and paths for future research. International journal of management reviews, 14(4), 367-390.

Maier, D., Maier, A., Așchilean, I., Anastasiu, L., & Gavriș, O. (2020) The Relationship between Innovation and Sustainability: A Bibliometric Review of the Literature. Sustainability, 12(10), 4083.

Wang, Y., Zhang, J., Yan, Y., & Guan, J. (2024). The bidirectional causality of tie stability and innovation performance. Research Policy, 53(10), 105102.

Yan, Y., Li, J., & Zhang, J. (2022). Protecting intellectual property in foreign subsidiaries: An internal network defense perspective. Journal of International Business Studies, 53(9), 1924-1944.

Dr. Yan Yan
Dr. Jingjing Zhang
Dr. Yinghuan Wang
Guest Editors

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
strategic management
artificial intelligence
digital transformation
network
policy

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Published Papers (9 papers)

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Research

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24 pages, 818 KB

Open AccessArticle

Business Analytics Socio-Technical Perspective in Driving Market Orientation and Absorptive Capacity: Its Impacts on Innovation Ambidexterity

by Ari Yanuar Ridwan, Rajesri Govindaraju and Made Andriani

Sustainability 2026, 18(5), 2311; https://doi.org/10.3390/su18052311 - 27 Feb 2026

Viewed by 443

Abstract

This study examines the influence of business analytics, social capital, market orientation, and absorptive capacity on innovation ambidexterity in Indonesia’s emerging market context. Drawing on the socio-technical perspective and dynamic capabilities views, the study develops a conceptual model and tests it with a disjoint two-stage SEM-PLS approach to examine the hierarchical component model using data from 218 large and medium-sized enterprises. The results show that business analytics significantly enhances social capital and builds socio-technical capabilities. Market orientation positively influences absorptive capacity, and both constructs act as complementary partial mediators. The study advances business analytics and sustainable innovation literature by strategically harnessing business analytics while acknowledging social capital. Some countries have practical manifestations of social capital in their communities that support their innovation activities. Furthermore, firms’ business analytics adoption strategy must be tailored to local cultural values to harness economic and social performance. These findings also highlight the critical roles of market orientation and absorptive capacity in selecting insights with high potential utility from the vast data amassed and preserved by business analytics. This relationship, in turn, helps balance the competing activities of exploitative and exploratory to sustain innovation in an emerging market. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovation and Strategic Management in Business)

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17 pages, 295 KB

Open AccessArticle

Economic Globalization and Environmental Technology: Implications for Environmental Degradation in G7 Countries

by Mehdi Seraj

Sustainability 2026, 18(4), 1819; https://doi.org/10.3390/su18041819 - 10 Feb 2026

Viewed by 545

Abstract

The global ecological conditions are degrading rapidly, and even after the commitment to achieve Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, G7 countries still struggle to meet basic environmental standards. This study offers a novel marginal contribution by analyzing how economic globalization (EG), economic growth intensity (EGI), financial innovation (FI), and environmental technology (ET) influenced environmental degradation (ED) in the G7 countries from 2000 to 2021. Using the Method of Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR) alongside Driscoll and Kraay Standard Error (DKSE), this research provides a first-of-its-kind distributional mapping that accounts for cross-sectional dependency and heterogeneous slopes. Crucially, the findings reveal a “decoupling failure” in advanced economies, where the existing treatment mechanism for ET is insufficient to separate industrial growth from emissions due to institutional discrepancies. While FI is often viewed as a green catalyst, this study identifies it as a “double-edged sword,” showing that it significantly increases environmental degradation in higher quantiles due to carbon-intensive global supply chains. Conversely, EGI is discovered to be mitigatory, suggesting that enhancing financial efficiency and growth soundness can diminish ecological damage. This research fills a critical literature gap by reconciling the Pollution Haven Hypothesis and Green Finance Theory, providing empirical evidence that developed financial systems may inadvertently exacerbate damage if not specifically aligned with green mandates. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovation and Strategic Management in Business)

22 pages, 1461 KB

Open AccessArticle

Predicting Patent Life Using Robust Ensemble Algorithm

by Sang-Hyeon Park, Min-Seung Kim, Jaewon Rhee, Sang-Hwa Lee, Jeong Kyu Kim, Si-Hyun Oh and Tae-Eung Sung

Sustainability 2025, 17(21), 9658; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17219658 - 30 Oct 2025

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1472

Abstract

Increasing macroeconomic uncertainty necessitates that firms optimize their R&D investment and commercialization strategies. Patents, as crucial outcomes of R&D with legal protection, impose significant costs due to progressively increasing maintenance fees. Predicting patent life accurately thus becomes critical for effective patent management. Previous studies have often and primarily employed classification models for patent life prediction, while limiting practical utility due to coarse granularity. This study proposes a robust ensemble regression model combining multiple machine learning techniques, such as Random Forest and deep neural networks, to directly predict patent life. The proposed model achieved superior performance, surpassing individual baseline models, and recorded a Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of approximately 852.81. Additional validation with active patents further demonstrated the model’s practical feasibility, showing its potential to support sustainable intellectual property management by accurately predicting longer life for high-quality patents currently maintained. Consequently, the proposed model provides ongoing firms and brand-new startups with a decision support tool for strategic patent maintenance and commercialization decisions. By promoting efficient allocation of R&D resources and reducing unnecessary maintenance of low-value patents, the approach fosters sustainable management of innovation assets, enhancing predictive accuracy and long-term applicability. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovation and Strategic Management in Business)

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21 pages, 872 KB

Open AccessArticle

Employment in Portugal’s Tourism Sector: Structural Transformation and Working Conditions from 2012 to 2022

by Maria do Rosário Mira, Vânia Costa, Raquel Pereira and Andreia Antunes Moura

Sustainability 2025, 17(19), 8839; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17198839 - 2 Oct 2025

Viewed by 1609

Abstract

This study analyses employment in the tourism sector and seeks to identify trends in the evolution of worker profiles and transformation of the structure and working conditions in Portugal’s tourism sector from 2012 to 2022. It aims to understand how profiles, qualifications, and working conditions relate to the spatial distribution among Portuguese tourist regions and the typology and scale of tourism businesses, contributing valuable insights to defining sector strategies. It applies a quantitative approach based on statistical data from the Portuguese Ministry of Labour, Solidarity, and Social Security, disaggregated by the three segments of economic activity in the tourism sector: accommodation and food services, recreational and cultural activities, and transport and logistics. Descriptive statistics, MANOVA, and ANOVA tests analyse differences based on establishment size, tourist regions, and activity segments. The results show significant employment growth, regional variations, high turnover, and an increase in fixed-term contracts. Weak but significant correlations link education, nationality, gender, and working hours, indicating potential inequalities. The study highlights gender and educational differences among workers, as well as disparities related to employment status and nationality. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovation and Strategic Management in Business)

16 pages, 938 KB

Open AccessArticle

Wine Tourism in Galicia, Sustainability, Circular Economy and Unique Experiences, the Future for the Wine Sector

by José Luis del Campo-Villares and Rosana Fuentes-Fernández

Sustainability 2025, 17(12), 5335; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17125335 - 9 Jun 2025

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 18733

Abstract

Wine tourism has emerged as a thriving activity within the international wine sector, evolving from simple winery visits to immersive and experiential engagements. This study explores the role of wine tourism in Galicia, emphasizing its integration into the circular economy and sustainability frameworks. By analyzing visitor expectations and leveraging Galicia’s unique attributes—such as its natural beauty, cultural heritage, and renowned gastronomy—this research aims to position Galicia as a leading wine tourism destination in Spain. The study employs surveys targeting wineries, accommodation providers, and wine tourists to assess the impact of sustainable practices on economic performance and community development. Key findings indicate that activities related to renewable energy and sustainable tourism significantly enhance winery revenues, while also contributing to local economic growth and population retention in rural areas. The research concludes that a collaborative approach between public and private sectors is essential for designing a sustainable and circular economy in wine tourism, ensuring long-term benefits for both the environment and local communities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovation and Strategic Management in Business)

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42 pages, 2349 KB

Open AccessArticle

Industry 4.0 and Management 4.0: Examining the Impact of Environmental, Cultural, and Technological Changes

by Aylin Yılmaz Gezgin and Mustafa Atilla Arıcıoğlu

Sustainability 2025, 17(8), 3601; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17083601 - 16 Apr 2025

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 5516

Abstract

Environmental, cultural, and technological developments, along with Industry 4.0 technologies—one of the most significant topics of recent years—have led to a paradigm shift in management functions and practices. These changes raise questions about the necessity of discussing the emergence of a new revolution in management, referred to as Management 4.0. Accordingly, the purpose of this exploratory sequential mixed-methods study is to examine the impact of environmental, cultural, and technological developments on management functions through Industry 4.0 technologies and to explore the underlying elements of the qualitative findings in depth. To address the research problem, 401 business managers participated in the quantitative phase of the study, while 10 business managers took part in the qualitative phase. The quantitative phase also included scale development. The study discusses the prediction of Management 4.0 and evaluates its feasibility. The findings from the quantitative research indicate that Industry 4.0 technologies play a mediating role between environmental changes and management functions. Meanwhile, the qualitative findings suggest that environmental, cultural, and technological developments are shaping a new cultural environment, necessitating adaptation to a new order. As a result of these changes, employees are expected to take part in decision-making processes. In terms of management functions, key developments include enhanced planning and coordination, the rise of platform-based business models, increased collaboration with competitors, the adoption of a modern management approach, and more frequent monitoring and control. Furthermore, the study reveals that although business managers in Turkey recognize the necessity of adopting Industry 4.0 technologies, their widespread implementation remains limited. This study contributes to the literature by introducing the concept of Management 4.0 and developing the Management 4.0 Foresight Scale. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovation and Strategic Management in Business)

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16 pages, 399 KB

Open AccessArticle

Ambidextrous Alliances, Complementary Assets, and Firms’ Breakthrough Innovations: Evidence from High-Tech Firms in China

by Bo Fan, Yunfei Shao, Zhichun Dong and Xiangrong Zhou

Sustainability 2025, 17(7), 2812; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17072812 - 21 Mar 2025

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2386

Abstract

Breakthrough innovations present both opportunities and challenges for firms navigating unpredictable technological and market dynamics, which is significant to firms’ sustainable development. However, the impact of strategic alliances on breakthrough innovations remains contested, and the underlying mechanisms are yet to be fully clarified. Drawing on ambidexterity theory and profiting from innovation (PFI) theory, this study investigates the relationships among ambidextrous (exploratory vs. exploitative) alliances, complementary assets, and firms’ breakthrough innovations. By analyzing 279 questionnaire responses from Chinese firms, we demonstrate that both exploratory and exploitative alliances, alongside complementary assets, significantly enhance breakthrough innovations. Furthermore, complementary assets play a complete mediating role between exploratory alliances and breakthrough market innovations. In addition, complementary assets also play a partial mediating role between exploratory alliances and breakthrough technological innovations, as well as between exploitative alliances and both breakthrough technological and market innovations. These findings advance ambidextrous theory by delineating the ambidextrous roles of alliances, extend PFI theory through the integration of the mediating roles of complementary assets, and offer actionable insights for managers seeking to leverage ambidextrous alliances for breakthrough innovation success. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovation and Strategic Management in Business)

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19 pages, 824 KB

Open AccessArticle

Soft HRM Practices Fostering Service Innovations and Performance in Hospitality Firms

by Hung-Tai Tsou, Ja-Shen Chen, Thi Oanh Mai and Nguyen B. Ngoc Jade

Sustainability 2025, 17(3), 895; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17030895 - 23 Jan 2025

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 5771

Abstract

This study explores the connections between soft HRM practices and organizational performance through the lenses of incremental service innovation (ISI) and radical service innovation (RSI). Data were collected via an online survey involving 225 hospitality managers in Vietnam’s hospitality sector. We utilized Partial Least Squares (PLS) analysis through SmartPLS 4.0 to examine the data. The findings reveal that soft HRM practices significantly influence both ISI and RSI, thereby enhancing financial and market performance. Additionally, ISI and RSI serve as mediators in the relationship between soft HRM practices and organizational performance. Our results offer fresh perspectives on the innovation-driven performance effects of soft HRM practices and contribute to bridging the gap in modeling the relationship between soft HRM and organizational performance within the context of service innovations. This study provides valuable insights for managers, suggesting strategies to enhance and identify critical aspects of soft HRM implementation that enable organizations to be more strategically adaptable and to consistently develop new services. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovation and Strategic Management in Business)

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Review

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37 pages, 2438 KB

Open AccessReview

Sustainable Strategic Management: Connecting Business Performance and Eco-Innovation

by Letycja Magdalena Sołoducho-Pelc and Adam Sulich

Sustainability 2026, 18(3), 1327; https://doi.org/10.3390/su18031327 - 28 Jan 2026

Viewed by 555

Abstract

The aim of this article is to identify and systematize the principal research directions in sustainable strategic management (SSM) at the intersection of eco-innovation and business performance. Despite the growing prominence of sustainability in management scholarship, systematic understanding of how SSM, eco-innovation, and business performance are connected in the academic literature remains limited. In particular, it is unclear whether this intersection constitutes a coherent research domain or instead reflects a set of loosely related and fragmented lines of inquiry. To address this gap, the study combines bibliometric analysis and science mapping of 181 Scopus-indexed publications (2006–2024) with a PRISMA-guided scoping review of five core papers that explicitly link SSM, eco-innovation, and business performance. VOSviewer was used to identify thematic clusters and structural gaps, including missing or weak linkages between eco-innovation and different dimensions of business performance. Building on these findings, the article proposes a dual-path conceptual model: (1) a mediated path in which eco-innovation functions as a transmission mechanism between SSM and multidimensional business performance, and (2) a direct path linking SSM to business performance without mediation. The model further distinguishes between internal organizational conditions, which predominantly support the direct path, and external business environment factors, which are critical in enabling the mediated path through eco-innovation. The main contributions are as follows: (a) a structured mapping of the SSM–eco-innovation research field and its emerging thematic architecture; and (b) a conceptual model specifying the dual role of eco-innovation in shaping business performance outcomes. The study also outlines implications for theory, managerial practice, and public policy, particularly in terms of how organizations and their environments influence the effectiveness of different strategic sustainability pathways. The proposed framework should be interpreted as an evidence-informed conceptual model derived from bibliometric patterns and focused qualitative synthesis, rather than as a statistically validated causal model. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovation and Strategic Management in Business)

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