Search Results (176)

The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) and growing global fragmentation are reshaping how multinational enterprises manage cross-border strategic alliances. Prior research has focused on alliance formation and resource access, yet less attention has been paid to how AI transforms the managerial capabilities required for effective alliance orchestration. This study addresses this gap by examining how AI augmentation may alter the microfoundations of dynamic managerial capabilities (DMC) in cross-border alliances. Building on DMC theory, the paper proposes an AI-augmented framework with four interrelated microfoundations: AI-enhanced managerial cognition, algorithmic social capital, hybrid human–AI capital, and AI-enabled political capital. Using an abductive research design and longitudinal case analyses of Carrefour–Google, Walmart–IBM, and Tesco–Carrefour, the study illustrates how AI may support the reshaping of sensing, seizing, and reconfiguring processes. It uses a Gioia-informed coding procedure to enhance transparency in the elaboration of theory. The findings suggest that AI may improve data-driven sensing, enable scalable coordination through algorithmic trust, enhance ambidexterity through human–AI collaboration, and support proactive regulatory positioning. However, these benefits are expected to be contingent on institutional conditions, including data governance constraints and power asymmetries. The study contributes by extending DMC theory and highlighting how AI-enabled capabilities could drive alliance performance in complex global environments. Full article

This article will offer a comparative analysis between Latin American Liberation Theology (LALT) and Islamic Coalition Theology in the broader literature on liberation theology. The purpose of this comparison is to highlight a fundamental structural divergence in their political and theological orientations. The 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran is elaborated in this conceptual context to situate the debate in a recent practical example of the Islamic Coalition Theology that led to a political revolution. Whereas LALT developed as an autonomous Christian critique of structural injustice and Western capitalist domination, Islamic Coalition Theology, as also reverberated in the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran evolved through a coalitional paradigm—what was contemporaneously described as the ‘red and the black reaction’ (ertejāʿ-e sorkh o siyāh in Persian)—in which Islamic, non-religious, and even irreligious ideologies temporarily converged to confront a shared adversary: Western imperialism and its domestic expansionism worldwide. Under the broader intellectual influence of twentieth-century global leftist movements, Iran’s revolutionary Islamism absorbed and adapted elements of Marxist and anti-capitalist discourse, and indeed merged with them without relinquishing its theological core. This study argues that such ideological hybridity reveals a distinctive pragmatism within Islamic political philosophy, wherein the pursuit of liberation is not confined to doctrinal purity but is instrumentally open to external alliances and ‘coalitions’ that lead to a common political goal. Through a comparative theological and political hermeneutic, the article will situate Islamic Coalition Theology within the global genealogy of liberationist thought, demonstrating how its strategic inclusiveness contrasts with LALT’s predominantly intra-Christian reformism. The article will build on the argument that Islam primarily encompasses a comprehensive normative and political and jurisprudential order grounded in the Quran; therefore, its coalition theology is charged with its political openness to be chaperoned with any political agenda that too pursues the common political goal. Full article

This study examines how community-based organizations (CBOs) engaged in education organizing develop and sustain strategic alliances within complex education policy environments. It explores how alliances are deliberately constructed, maintained, and adapted in response to shifting political contexts. Using a QUAN–QUAL mixed-methods design, the study combines ego-centric social network survey data from 12 CBOs in mid-sized U.S. cities (N = 84 stakeholder ties) with follow-up interviews conducted with CBO leaders. Quantitative analyses revealed positive relationships among trust, communication, perceived importance, and collaboration intensity, with trust and communication as highly interconnected dimensions of alliance building. Qualitative findings provided insight into how CBO leaders strategically evaluate potential relationships, highlighting the importance of power, accessibility, responsiveness, shared interests, and accountability. While stakeholder groups were viewed similarly across many dimensions, leaders described alliance formation as an ongoing process of negotiation rather than a straightforward accumulation of social capital. Findings suggest that effective alliances depend not only on relationship strength but also on how organizations navigate competing interests, unequal power dynamics, and shifting political landscapes. Full article

This review examines the evolving intersections of data analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence—terms that have been frequently conflated since 2016 during a period of increased hype and investment. Following recent reviews across areas such as open innovation, supply chain deep learning, strategic alliances, natural language processing, and big data streaming, we focus on the emerging field of Responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI). We apply descriptive analysis to identify trends, patterns, and gaps in the research through a review of academic literature from 2020 to 2025. Analysis reveals five distinct clusters of Responsible AI papers using five dimensions: fairness, cross-validity, transparency, accuracy–interpretability tradeoff, and drift detection. This review discusses patterns across the artificial intelligence literature and identifies future research opportunities with an emphasis on Responsible AI. Full article

This study evaluates the implications of Egypt’s accession to the BRICS+ bloc by integrating a Poisson Pseudo-Maximum Likelihood gravity model with a comprehensive PESTEL analysis. Using panel data on Egypt’s bilateral trade with BRICS+ from 2005 to 2024, our econometric results reveal that partner-country economic size and cultural proximity are the primary drivers of trade, whereas geographical distance exerts a negligible effect. Furthermore, trade policy variables—specifically tariffs, exchange rate fluctuations, and existing preferential trade agreements—significantly shape trade flows, while logistics performance and general trade openness demonstrate limited short-term impact. Beyond trade mechanics, the PESTEL analysis indicates that while BRICS+ membership enhances Egypt’s strategic autonomy and broadens its political influence, tangible economic gains remain heavily constrained by persistent structural trade imbalances and a lack of export diversification. Although the bloc offers valuable opportunities for human capital development and green infrastructure financing, technological cooperation is hindered by capacity disparities, and the soft-law nature of the alliance limits the enforceability of economic agreements. Ultimately, this study concludes that to maximize the benefits of BRICS+, Egypt must implement sustained structural reforms aimed at upgrading industrial competitiveness, diversifying its export base, strengthening domestic technological capabilities, and embedding itself more deeply within global value chains. Full article

This article theorizes a womanist semiotics of advocacy by reading the unnamed Shunammite woman of 2 Kings 4—renamed Polet (defender)—alongside Ida B. Wells’ anti-lynching crusade. A womanist semiotics decodes how Black women’s bodies and voices signify within systems of White patriarchal power that simultaneously demand their advocacy while denying them protection. Through close readings of biblical narrative and historical archive, the article identifies five components that structure Black women’s resistance: communal grounding, strategic alliance-building, trauma witness, prophetic truth-telling, and sacred self-preservation. Both women embodied kenotic love—a paradoxical self-emptying that becomes fierce self-assertion—confronting prophetic and political authority to demand accountability for life against death. This framework exposes how contemporary democratic systems exploit Black women as “democracy’s backbone” while marginalizing their policy priorities, and offers theological authorization for strategic withdrawal from exploitative contexts. By centering Black women’s epistemological standpoint, this womanist ethic reframes rest and disengagement not as abandonment but as revolutionary self-love essential for sustainable justice work. Full article

In the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) era, platform enterprises face the critical challenge of balancing flexibility and controllability to sustain competitive advantage. Existing studies have examined these two dimensions separately but offer limited insight into their synergistic mechanisms within complex adaptive ecosystems. Drawing on the structural, cognitive, and relational dimensions of social capital theory, with a particular emphasis on institutional-level collaborative social capital among platform enterprises and their supply-chain partners, this study employs dynamic fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) to identify the configurational pathways through which Chinese platform enterprises achieve high sustainable development performance. Using panel data from Chinese A-share listed platform enterprises (2014–2024), we identify three equifinal configurational pathways sufficient for high sustainable development performance: (1) a cognitive-relational alliance-driven path, (2) a structural-relational hybrid synergy path, (3) a structural-cognitive flexible innovation path. Innovation value consensus emerges as a core condition across all pathways. These configurations are sufficient for platforms to exhibit flexible market responsiveness and strategic controllability under varying environmental conditions. The study advances social capital theory by demonstrating the multidimensional, synergistic, and context-sensitive nature of flexibility-controllability coupling in platform governance. It also provides managers with actionable insights for tailoring social capital investments to specific regional and strategic contexts. Full article

Against the backdrop of increasingly stringent natural forest protection and comprehensive logging bans, forest-dependent regions confront structural constraints between ecological conservation and economic development, necessitating the exploration of alternative livelihood pathways and collaborative governance mechanisms. As a cross-regional institutional synergy arrangement, the “Poverty-Relief Enclave” model integrates factor resources and industrial platforms, thereby offering a new trajectory for income source transformation and industrial succession in forest areas. However, its operational process entails multi-agent interactions and complex incentive and constraint relationships, and the stability of cooperation still warrants systematic investigation. In light of this, this paper constructs a quadripartite evolutionary game model encompassing the host government, the home government, the forest region industrial alliance, and the village collective. Within a bounded rationality and dynamic evolutionary framework, it analyzes the multi-agent strategic evolution process and its stability conditions. The findings reveal that the “Poverty-Relief Enclave” model in forest regions does not spontaneously converge to a high-level cooperative state; rather, three types of stable equilibria may emerge under varying cost–benefit structures and institutional incentives. An ideal state of multi-agent synergy is attainable only under conditions of incentive compatibility. Coordinated supervision by both governments, incentives for high-quality production by industrial entities, and guaranteed participation of village collectives are identified as pivotal factors shaping cooperation stability. The cross-regional institutional arrangement facilitating the “outward shift of income sources” helps alleviate pressure on direct forest resource utilization and fortifies the institutional enforcement foundation through grassroots participation mechanisms. From the perspectives of forest governance and multi-agent collaboration, this study unveils the intrinsic operating mechanism of the “Poverty-Relief Enclave” model in forest regions, thereby furnishing a theoretical underpinning for sustainable transformation and institutional innovation in forest-dependent areas. Full article

Driven by the rapid growth of the low-altitude economy, drone logistics is emerging as a critical component of modern smart logistics systems. This study aims to examine how heterogeneous logistics service providers (LSPs) select among technological innovation, inter-firm cooperation, and hybrid strategies, as well as how these strategic choices affect ESG performance. We develop a two-stage duopoly Cournot game model that accounts for asymmetric logistics capabilities and consumers’ service-quality sensitivity, and compare the three strategic arrangements against a benchmark scenario without innovation or cooperation. Results show that a capability-driven Matthew effect already exists in the benchmark market. Technological innovation may further widen the performance gap between firms, yet it generates the highest social welfare by improving service quality and preserving market competition. Pure cooperation enhances coordination efficiency and environmental performance, but may reduce consumer surplus by weakening competition. The hybrid strategy generally delivers the highest system profit and robust environmental performance, while its advantages depend on market parameters and require sound benefit-sharing governance mechanisms. This study contributes to sustainable drone logistics research by integrating strategic interaction, firm heterogeneity and ESG outcomes into a unified framework, and provides targeted managerial and policy implications for innovation support, alliance governance and competition regulation. Full article

The accelerating convergence of geopolitical volatility, technological disruption, environmental stress, and societal transformation has rendered traditional strategic management frameworks insufficient. Organizations now operate in environments defined not only by disruptions with existential implications but by wickedness—conditions in which problems are ambiguous, stakeholders disagree, and solutions reshape the challenge itself. Building on the premise that strategy itself is a wicked problem, this article advances a central claim: organizational resilience is best understood as an architectural capability largely grounded in humanity-based identity. Unlike organizational structure, mission, or even current strategy, each of which may be transient in turbulent environments, organizational identity, which is a construct that derives from individuals and humanity, provides an enduring basis for harmonizing the organization and its environment. Utilizing the lens of “humanity”—in its two dimensions of humankind and humaneness—we synthesize research on wicked problems, organizational identity, dynamic capabilities, modular design, alliances and smart power, and hybrid intelligence. We then propose an integrative model linking humanity-driven identity to resilience through three vectors—Inspirational Transformative Ambition, Innovative Value Networks, and Hybrid Intelligence Ecosystems—operationalized via a recently developed diagnostic tool. Finally, we offer corroborative evidence for the “Business of Humanity” logic, arguing that aligning humankind (opportunity across the full market spectrum) with humaneness (values-based evaluation) strengthens resilience by expanding opportunity sets while enhancing legitimacy, trust, and stakeholder alignment. Full article

Yacuri National Park (YNP) is a Ramsar site located within Ecuador’s Podocarpus-El Cóndor Biosphere Reserve. The Park faces critical threats from illegal mining, livestock grazing, wildfires and the harvesting of wax palms. This study employed participatory action research to co-design a Communication, Education and Public Engagement (CEPA) plan with park managers and local communities as equal partners. Moving beyond traditional, top-down information campaigns, the CEPA framework establishes a co-governance model that integrates indigenous knowledge with local socio-economic realities. The plan implements four targeted interventions: (1) strengthening community fire brigades (BRICOM); (2) promoting culturally appropriate alternatives to Holy Week wax palm harvesting; (3) establishing participatory waste management; and (4) engaging tourists as conservation allies through experiential learning. Strategic alliances with municipalities, universities, and civil society organizations provide institutional backing and secure resources, while a participatory monitoring system using SMART indicators tracks behavioral and ecological outcomes. Ultimately, the findings demonstrate that conserving culturally complex, biodiverse landscapes requires social legitimacy, environmental justice and equitable power-sharing. Recognizing local communities as co-managers is essential to ensuring the long-term protection of Andean ecosystems. Full article

Strategic alliances have assumed a pivotal role in the growth and competitiveness of organisations, especially in contexts of rapid technological change and high environmental complexity. Drawing on the Dynamic Capabilities View (DCV), this study aims to analyse the impact of strategic alliance management on technological, marketing, and new product development capabilities, considering the mediating role of dynamic capabilities. This research is based on a sample of 200 Portuguese firms, predominantly SMEs, using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to test a conceptual model composed of six hypotheses. The results demonstrate that effective alliance management is positively associated with dynamic capabilities, which in turn function as a pivotal mechanism for integrating and reconfiguring resources. Specifically, the findings reveal that these dynamic capabilities (exploration and exploitation) are fundamental to strengthening marketing and technological skills. Notably, technological capability did not yield a significant direct impact on new-product development, suggesting that in this service-intensive context, marketing capabilities and the overall orchestration of dynamic routines are more critical to innovation success. This research offers empirical evidence of how strategic alliances strengthen the competitiveness of SMEs in peripheral EU economies, highlighting that innovation stems from a configuration of integrative capabilities rather than technological assets alone. Full article

Green technological innovation is a core driving force for firms’ low-carbon transformation. However, because critical green technologies and knowledge are often dispersed across upstream and downstream partners within supply chains, firms’ green transformation faces substantial challenges. Previous studies have primarily focused on internal drivers at the firm level while overlooking the empowering role of green collaborative cooperation among supply chain partners. To address this gap, this study introduces empowerment theory to systematically examine how supply chain green strategic alliances enhance firms’ green innovation capability. Using a sample of Chinese A-share listed firms from 2011 to 2023, we construct a firm-level indicator of supply chain green strategic alliances based on textual analysis and machine learning techniques and empirically test its impact on green innovation. The results show that participation in green strategic alliances significantly promotes firms’ green innovation. Mechanism analyses further reveal that this effect operates through the reconstruction of green knowledge, increased environmental investment, and improved green governance. Moreover, the positive effect is more pronounced in regions with stronger intellectual property protection, greater green credit support, and stricter environmental regulation, as well as among firms with closer supply chain relationships. This study identifies supply chain green strategic alliances as a key inter-organizational empowerment mechanism and provides important practical implications for leveraging supply chain collaboration to accelerate sustainable development and firms’ green transformation. Full article

As improving power sector energy efficiency is crucial for China’s sustainable low-carbon transition, this study investigates the impact and spatial spillover effects of carbon market pilot policies. Utilizing panel data from 30 Chinese provinces spanning 2009 to 2022, we employ a super-efficiency Slack-Based Measure (SBM) model alongside a Spatial Difference-in-Differences (SDID) approach to assess policy outcomes. Empirical findings reveal that while the pilot policy significantly improves local power energy efficiency by an average of 10.68%, it exerts a negative spatial spillover on neighboring regions (rho = −0.3802). This disparity occurs because asymmetric resource agglomeration causes the policy-driven “polarization effect” to dominate the “trickle-down effect”. Furthermore, mechanism analyses demonstrate that increasing the clean energy share—primarily driven by technological substitution, fiscal subsidies, and policy guidance—serves as the main transmission channel. However, strict short-term compliance costs induce a “strategic innovation” response, which promotes green utility model patents but crowds out substantive green inventions. Ultimately, this study highlights the necessity of establishing cross-regional carbon market alliances and technology diffusion mechanisms to mitigate regional disparities and foster collaborative carbon reduction, and promote long-term sustainability. Full article

Due to environmental challenges, the global luxury hospitality industry faces increasing pressure to reduce its consumption of natural resources while maintaining service quality. In this paper a conceptual study is conducted to identify three primary problems of the tourism industry and highlight their impact on sustainable water resources and ecosystems: excessive water, electricity and towel/linen consumption in luxury hotels and resorts. This paper proposes a solution that uses a digital smart meter system linked to guest rooms. It is activated upon check-in, and guest participation is optional. It uses tangible or intangible incentives—such as discounts upon departure for future stays or for hotel laundry/meals/beverages—that rationalize consumption without affecting the quality of basic services. This approach may be implemented either independently by a single hotel or collaboratively through strategic alliances among multiple hotels, thus enabling customers to redeem their incentives/credits at any participating property. Guests are grouped into three consumption levels: high-saving guests (high incentives), average-saving guests (average incentives) and third-level guests (low/below-average incentives). Adopting this approach helps luxury hotels/resorts reduce their operational costs and enhance their image by applying green marketing in practice. Moreover, this conceptual paper proposes the provision of badges, including international environmental certifications, to hotels that adopt this responsible approach. This mechanism is a modern model that directly benefits all involved parties: service providers, customers/guests, environmental organizations and the environment. Full article