Search Results (8)

The construction and enhancement of ecological niches are essential for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with digital platforms serving as key carriers for achieving niche improvement. However, SMEs encounter a “distinctiveness–conformity” paradox when leveraging digital platforms: they are expected to sustain differentiation to attract resource tilt while simultaneously integrating into the platform ecosystem to obtain a sense of belonging and complementary resources. Grounded in optimal distinctiveness theory, this study analyzes questionnaire data from 383 Chinese SMEs embedded in digital platforms. Results show that digital platform capabilities (integration and reconfiguration) enhance SMEs ecological niches through organizational agility and platform eco-embeddedness. Polynomial regression and response surface analyses reveal that balanced improvement in organizational agility and eco-embeddedness significantly strengthens niche enhancement, whereas imbalance between the two weakens it. This research clarifies how SMEs leverage digital platform capabilities to advance their ecological niches, offering theoretical and practical insights for achieving strategic balance between distinctiveness and conformity in digital platform ecosystems. Full article

This paper analyzes the Hindu concept of sevā—selfless service—as a theo-ethical practice that reconfigures the relationship between religion and economy, offering a snapshot of an Indian perspective on the convergence between postsecularism and postcapitalist discourses. Rather than being reducible to acts of charity, sevā integrates spiritual, ethical, and social dimensions that challenge the neoliberal emphasis on individual self-interest and material accumulation. Rooted in the pursuit of liberation and relational well-being, sevā frames economic and moral agency in terms of embeddedness, reciprocity, and care. To illustrate sevā’s unique attributes, the paper engages with two case studies. The first explores Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy, where sevā is articulated through a non-anthropocentric ethic of nonviolence (ahiṃsā), obliging the reconstruction of eco-economic mechanisms and environmental responsibility. The second examines contemporary guru-bhakti communities in Delhi’s urban peripheries, where sevā functions as spiritual discipline (sādhana), a means for communal uplifting, and the expression of kalyāṇ—holistic well-being that transcends individual boundaries. In both contexts, sevā emerges as a practice that intervenes in and reshapes socio-economic life. By foregrounding sevā as a lived practice, the paper situates Indian religious traditions as a distinctive contribution to broader postcapitalist and postsecular debates. It argues that sevā offers an alternative model of personhood and ethical intentionality—one that contests dominant binaries of spiritual/material, secular/religious, and human/nature, and reimagines human flourishing through the lens of relational ontology and collective responsibility. Full article

In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, non-core firms face increasing pressure to innovate while adhering to sustainable practices. Non-core firms are organizations that operate in peripheral or less central positions within an ecosystem, having limited access to critical resources but playing essential supportive roles in innovation processes. Innovation eco-embeddedness, which integrates ecological considerations into innovation processes, is becoming a critical factor for enhancing innovation performance. However, the dynamics between eco-embeddedness, breakthrough innovation, and innovation performance, especially under varying levels of ecological legitimacy and technology turbulence, remain under examination. This study aims to investigate the relationships between innovation eco-embeddedness, breakthrough innovation, and innovation performance in non-core firms. Additionally, it examines the moderating effects of ecological legitimacy and technology turbulence on these relationships. This study developed and tested seven hypotheses using a conceptual framework based on innovation ecosystem theory, breakthrough innovation theory, and institutional theory. We collected data from a diverse sample of non-core firms and used structural equation modeling to analyze the direct, mediating, and moderating effects. The findings reveal a positive relationship between innovation eco-embeddedness and both breakthrough innovation and innovation performance. Breakthrough innovation also directly enhances innovation performance and mediates the relationship between eco-embeddedness and performance. Ecological legitimacy significantly moderates the impact of eco-embeddedness on breakthrough innovation, while technology turbulence intensifies the mediated relationship between eco-embeddedness and innovation performance when both moderating factors are high. This study provides valuable perceptions for managers and policymakers in non-core firms, highlighting the importance of embedding ecological considerations in innovation processes. Full article

Under the fierce business competition and sustainable development pressure, the pattern of enterprise innovation has gradually changed from independent innovation to cooperative innovation. As a collection of multi-type innovation actors, the innovation ecosystem provides opportunities and platforms for cooperative innovation among government–industry–university–research institutions. While the present studies on innovation ecosystems are mostly from the perspective of the system level, few studies pay attention to the innovation mechanism of small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SMMEs) in the innovation ecosystem. Therefore, this study takes SMMEs embedded in innovation ecosystems as research objects and explores the factors affecting green innovation. We constructed a theoretical model to explain the effect of innovation eco-embeddedness on green innovation performance based on ecosystem theory and network embeddedness theory; we then collected 363 samples of SMMEs in China through surveys and further tested the data empirically. The results show that the innovation eco-embeddedness (IEE) of SMMEs has a positive effect on their green innovation performance (GIP), and their green value co-creation practices (GVCCPs) partially mediate the relationship between IEE and GIP. Moreover, ecological norms (ENs) in the innovation ecosystem not only positively moderate the impact of IEE on GVCCPs but also positively moderate the mediating role of GVCCPs. This study enriches the relevant research on innovation ecosystems from the perspective of non-core enterprises and provides a theoretical basis and practical reference for SMMEs to implement green innovation practices and realize growth through innovation ecosystems. Full article

Eco-environmental issues are a complex problem for the development of contemporary China, among which river water pollution control is one of the most challenging issues. In the continuous pursuit of river pollution control, the Chinese government has adopted the river chief system (RCS) model to appoint government officials as river chiefs of each section. This review first analyzes the water quality data of the Huaihe River basin over the past five years using Origin 2021. A violin plot shows that the water quality of the Huaihe River basin improved, and COD_Mn and NH_3-N were significantly reduced. Secondly, this review analyzes the effectiveness of the river chief system according to the “embeddedness theory”, which argues that the river chief system has been integrated into the traditional hierarchy of environmental governance in China through institutional embeddedness to activate the vitality of the subject’s control and spatial embeddedness to eliminate fragmented watershed governance and promote governance capacity. Practical suggestions and initiatives were proposed based on the existing RCS, including the rule of law construction, regional collaborative management, and public participation to restore the local ecology. Full article

Circularity in manufacturing is critical to reducing raw material usage and waste. Ecological embeddedness examines circular relationships intended to benefit both economic actors and the natural environment. By understanding circular relationships in the value chain, manufacturers can formulate strategies that are eco-effective. This work develops and validates an original circularity tool to measure the ecological embeddedness of manufacturers using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The tool is tested on process manufacturers selling products in the United Kingdom. The three main results are that the tool is useful and comprehensive (87% of users), enables simple comparisons with competitors, and identifies weaknesses in strategies related to the five dimensions connecting manufacturers, consumers, and the environment: understanding, realising, utilising, negotiating, and reclaiming. Manufacturers may use the tool to improve their ecological embeddedness, and sector-based circularity levels may be established for policy development. The novelty of the tool is in the use of ecological relationships to support achievement of a circular economy. Full article

Circular economy has gained momentum since the 1970s as a regenerative alternative to the traditional linear economy. However, as the circular economy has gone mainstream, circularity claims have become fragmented and remote, consisting of indirect contributions, such as the life extension of other products and the use of waste as feedstock, without addressing the actual cause of waste. The present study aims to identify the strategic motivations of manufacturers participating in the circular economy and the corresponding relationship to ecological embeddedness. This paper explores the circular economy in manufacturing through existing products on the market and their relationship to eco-design by considering the product, packaging, and its production. Legitimacy is found to be a decisive factor in whether the type of circular economy strategy manufacturers adopt yields ecological benefits. The results from the case study of products clearly indicate the superiority of ecological embeddedness, as a form of circularity supporting strong sustainability. Finally, a novel template is proposed to support the implementation of ecological embeddedness in manufacturing. Full article

China has implemented eco-industrial park (EIP) initiatives as a mainstream strategy of a circular economy since the turn of the new century. This paper presents the sustainable transition processes and outcomes of three EIP cases, Tianjin Economic and Technological Development Area (TEDA), Fuzhou Economic and Technological Development Area (FEDA) and the Xi’an High-Tech Zone (XHTZ). The cases uncovered four factors key to the transition of EIPs: technological trajectory dependency, spaces for experimentation, government as an enabler and regional embeddedness. Full article