Search Results (609)

Natural fiber-based biocomposites are rapidly gaining traction in sustainable manufacturing. However, their supply chain (SC) designs at the feedstock pre-processing stage often lack robust multicriteria decision-making evaluations, which can impact downstream processes and final product quality. This case study proposes a sustainability-driven multicriteria decision-making framework for selecting pre-processing equipment configurations within a hemp-based biocomposite SC. Using a cradle-to-gate system boundary, four alternative configurations combining balers (square vs. round) and hammer mills (full-screen vs. half-screen) are evaluated. The analytical network process (ANP) model is used to evaluate alternative SC configurations while capturing the interdependencies among environmental, economic, social, and technical sustainability criteria. These criteria are further refined with the inclusion of sub-criteria, resulting in a list of 11 key performance indicators (KPIs). To evaluate ranking robustness, a non-linear programming (NLP)-based sensitivity model is developed, which minimizes the weight perturbations required to trigger rank reversals, using an IPOPT solver. The results indicated that the Half-Round setup provides the most balanced sustainability performance, while Full-Square performs best in economic and environmental terms but ranks lower socially and technically. Also, the ranking was most sensitive to the weight of the system reliability and product quality criteria, with up to a 100% shift being required to change the top choice under the ANP model, indicating strong robustness. Overall, the proposed framework enables decision-makers to incorporate uncertainty, interdependencies, and sustainability-related KPIs into the early-stage SC design of bio-based composite materials. Full article

Amid intensifying global ESG regulations and the expanding influence of green finance, China’s digital economy policies have emerged as key institutional instruments for promoting corporate sustainability. Leveraging the implementation of the National Big Data Comprehensive Pilot Zone as a quasi-natural experiment, this study utilizes panel data of Chinese listed firms from 2009 to 2023 and applies multi-period Difference-in-Differences (DID) and Spatial DID models to rigorously identify the policy’s effects on corporate ESG performance. Empirical results indicate that the impact of digital economy policy is not exerted through a direct linear pathway but operates via three institutional mechanisms, enhanced information transparency, eased financing constraints, and expanded fiscal support, collectively constructing a logic of “institutional embedding–governance restructuring.” Moreover, disruptive technological innovation significantly amplifies the effects of the transparency and fiscal mechanisms, but exhibits no statistically significant moderating effect on the financing constraint pathway, suggesting a misalignment between innovation heterogeneity and financial responsiveness. Further heterogeneity analysis confirms that the policy effect is concentrated among firms characterized by robust governance structures, high levels of property rights marketization, and greater digital maturity. This study contributes to the literature by developing an integrated moderated mediation framework rooted in institutional theory, agency theory, and dynamic capabilities theory. The findings advance the theoretical understanding of ESG policy transmission by unpacking the micro-foundations of institutional response under digital policy regimes, while offering actionable insights into the strategic alignment of digital transformation and sustainability-oriented governance. Full article

This study evaluates the competitiveness and sustainable development prospects of French-speaking African countries by constructing a comprehensive framework integrating the TOPSIS method and adaptive LASSO algorithm. Using multivariate data from sources such as the World Bank, 30 indicators covering core, basic, and auxiliary competitiveness were selected to quantitatively analyze the competitiveness of 26 French-speaking African countries. Results show that their comprehensive competitiveness exhibits spatial patterns of “high in the north and south, low in the east and west” and “high in coastal areas, low in inland areas”. Algeria, Morocco, and six other countries demonstrate high competitiveness, while Central African countries generally show low competitiveness. The adaptive LASSO algorithm identifies three key influencing factors, including the proportion of R&D expenditure to GDP, high-tech exports, and total reserves, as well as five secondary key factors, including the number of patent applications and total number of domestic listed companies, revealing that scientific and technological investment, financial strength, and innovation transformation capabilities are core constraints. Based on these findings, sustainable development strategies are proposed, such as strengthening scientific and technological research and development and innovation transformation, optimizing financial reserves and capital markets, and promoting China–Africa collaborative cooperation, providing decision-making references for competitiveness improvement and regional cooperation of French-speaking African countries under the background of the “Belt and Road Initiative”. Full article

This study aims to understand how companies address and integrate sustainability challenges in packaging design, as well as the motivations and processes that influence managers’ decisions when adopting sustainable practices. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers from five major Portuguese companies to gather qualitative data on the motivations and processes related to sustainable packaging strategies and actions. The list of questions was developed based on the literature review, from which the dimensions to be analyzed were identified. The results indicate that several factors influence companies’ decisions regarding sustainability in packaging. Despite some factors being beyond the control of companies, the interviews reveal that companies possess the necessary knowledge and are committed to adopting more sustainable packaging. Full article

This study aims to develop a preliminary list of indicators suitable for green restaurants in Taiwan. The research methodology includes expert consensus (Delphi method) and incorporates interviews with field experts. An analysis of the responses provided by these industry experts led to the identification of five dimensions of evaluation indicators for green restaurants. The K–S test involves using a z-test on ordinal variables for single samples to determine whether the sample distribution diverges from the frequency distribution. This study analyzed the responses provided by the interviewed experts to identify and extract evaluation indicators for green restaurants. The extracted indicators comprise five dimensions (resource management, ingredient and product selection, environmental and indoor quality, green certification and management, and customer awareness and participation), 15 sub-dimensions, and 70 detailed indicators. The research results can serve as a reference for course planning in related programs at universities and colleges, as well as for industry planning of green restaurants, and as a reference for the promotion of national sustainable environmental policies in Taiwan. Therefore, based on the results of this study, recommendations are provided for educational institutions related to green restaurants, official organizations related to green restaurants, the industry related to green restaurants, and future researchers. Full article

Promoting social equity is a global issue, and common prosperity is an important goal for human society’s sustainable development. This study is the first to examine climate risks’ impacts on common prosperity from the perspective of corporate employees, providing micro-level evidence for the coordinated development of climate governance and social equity. Employing data from companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2016 to 2023, a fixed-effects model analysis was conducted, and the results showed the following: (1) Climate risks are positively associated with the common prosperity of corporate employees in a significant way, and this effect is mainly achieved through employee guarantees, rather than employee remuneration or employment. (2) Climate risk will increase corporate financing constraints, but it will also force companies to improve their ESG performance. (3) The mechanism tests show that climate risks indirectly promote improvements in employee rights and interests by forcing companies to improve the quality of internal controls and audits. (4) The results of the moderating effect analysis show that corporate size and performance have a positive moderating effect on the relationship between climate risk and the common prosperity of corporate employees. This finding may indicate the transmission path of “climate pressure—governance upgrade—social equity” and suggest that climate governance may be transformed into social value through institutional changes in enterprises. This study breaks through the limitations of traditional research on the financial perspective of the economic consequences of climate risks, incorporates employee welfare into the climate governance assessment framework for the first time, expands the micro research dimension of common prosperity, provides a new paradigm for cross-research on ESG and social equity, and offers recommendations and references for different stakeholders. Full article

Background/Objectives. Social and Emotional Education (SEE) interventions during early childhood have shown considerable promise in enhancing children’s emotion understanding, social competence, and behavioural adjustments. However, few studies have examined their long-term impact, especially across the preschool-to-primary school transition. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a manualized SEE program, Timmy’s Trip to Planet Earth, in promoting emotional, behavioural, and social functioning over time. Methods. A quasi-experimental longitudinal design was adopted with pre- and post-test assessments conducted approximately 18 months apart. Participants were 89 typically developing children (aged 59–71 months), assigned to an experimental group (n = 45) or a waiting-list group (n = 44). The program combined teacher training, classroom-based lessons, home activities, and teachers’ ongoing implementation support. The effectiveness of the program was measured via the Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC), the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), and the Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation (SCBE-30). Results. Significant Time × Group interactions were observed for the TEC External and Mental components, indicating greater improvements in emotion recognition and mental state understanding in the intervention group. The SDQ revealed significant reductions in conduct problems and increased prosocial behaviours. In the SCBE-30, a significant interaction effect was found for social competence, with the intervention group showing greater improvement over time compared to the control group. Conclusions. The findings suggest that SEE programs can produce meaningful and lasting improvements in children’s emotional and social skills across key educational transitions. Teacher training and family involvement likely played a critical role in supporting the program’s sustained impact. Full article

The rapid development of the digital economy and the pursuit of green transformation are reshaping the innovation landscape of Chinese firms. However, limited attention has been paid to how digital industry agglomeration (DIA) influences corporate green innovation (CGI) at the firm level. Drawing on panel data from China’s A-share listed firms between 2017 and 2021, this study examines the differential effects of specialized agglomeration and diversified agglomeration of digital industry on CGI. The results indicate that DIA can promote CGI, with a 1% increase in DIA associated with a 1.503% increase in green innovation output. Further analysis reveals that specialized agglomeration exerts a significant positive effect, while diversified agglomeration has no evident impact. Our mechanism analysis indicates that knowledge spillovers serve as the key channel through which DIA fosters CGI. Moreover, heterogeneous effects analysis indicates that DIA exerts a stronger influence on non-high-tech enterprises and in regions where environmental regulation is less stringent. Drawing on these insights, fostering specialized digital clusters and strengthening knowledge-sharing mechanisms can help alleviate existing constraints on innovation diffusion, accelerating green innovation and supporting long-term sustainability. Full article

In an era where sustainable development is increasingly a core strategic issue for businesses, how top management, as the architects of corporate strategy, can achieve a synergy of economic, social, and environmental benefits through internal management mechanisms to promote corporate sustainability is a central focus for both academia and practice. This study aims to explore how Executive Cognitive Flexibility (CF) influences Firm Performance and to uncover the mediating effects of Non-market Strategy. We use panel data from Chinese A-share listed companies between 2016 and 2022 to examine and empirically analyze this mechanism. Our findings indicate that CF has a positive impact on Firm Performance. This relationship is realized through the pathway of Non-market Strategy, specifically manifesting as a reduction in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and an increase in Corporate Political Activity (CPA). Further analysis reveals that the impact of executive cognitive flexibility on firm performance is differentially influenced by internal and external environmental contexts. The findings of this study provide important practical insights and policy recommendations for companies on cultivating executive cognitive flexibility, optimizing non-market strategies, and enhancing firm performance in various internal and external environments. Full article

China’s national strategies emphasize both achieving carbon peaking and neutrality (“dual carbon” objectives) and fostering high-quality economic development. This dual focus highlights the critical importance of the Green and Low-Carbon Transition (GLCT) of the economy and the development of New Quality Productive Forces (NQPF). Firms are central actors in this transformation, prompting the core research question: How does corporate engagement in GLCT contribute to the formation of NQPF? We investigate this relationship using panel data comprising 33,768 firm-year observations for A-share listed companies across diverse industries in China from 2012 to 2022. Corporate GLCT is measured via textual analysis of annual reports, while an NQPF index, incorporating both tangible and intangible dimensions, is constructed using the entropy method. Our empirical analysis relies primarily on fixed-effects regressions, supplemented by various robustness checks and alternative econometric specifications. The results demonstrate a significantly positive relationship: corporate GLCT robustly promotes the development of NQPF, with dynamic lag structures suggesting delayed productivity realization. Mechanism analysis reveals that this effect operates through three primary channels: improved access to financing, stimulated collaborative innovation and enhanced resource-allocation efficiency. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the positive impact of GLCT on NQPF is more pronounced for state-owned enterprises (SOEs), firms operating in high-emission sectors, those in energy-efficient or environmentally friendly industries, technology-intensive sectors, non-heavily polluting industries and companies situated in China’s eastern regions. Overall, our findings suggest that corporate GLCT enhances NQPF by improving resource-utilization efficiency and fostering innovation, with these effects amplified by specific regional advantages and firm characteristics. This study offers implications for corporate strategy, highlighting how aligning GLCT initiatives with core business objectives can drive NQPF, and provides evidence relevant for policymakers aiming to optimize environmental governance and foster sustainable economic pathways. Full article

The management of transfer pricing operations is considered from the perspective of modeling financial and accounting processes for various organizations, using agricultural enterprises as an example. It is demonstrated that the execution of transfer pricing operations between related parties—which may function as responsibility centers within an organizational holding structure—serves as a managerial lever influencing the financial income and expenses of individual business units. It is revealed that the developed model of managerial accounting for transfer pricing operations, grounded in tax compliance and the balancing of stakeholder interests, is based on two key aspects: first, to ensure the balanced development of the company’s business units, a list of key performance indicators (KPIs) is developed and integrated into a balanced scorecard (BSC), promoting the sustainable and stable operation and growth of the company; second, with access to this list of KPIs, the manager of each business unit can exert indirect influence over a segment of the final product’s value chain by selecting transfer prices that adhere to the arm’s length principle. The practical application of the proposed model is illustrated using previously formed economic operations from the research base. Full article

Prior research often portrays Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a coercive institutional force compelling firms to passively conform for legitimacy. More recent studies, however, suggest firms actively pursue CSR to gain sustainable competitive advantages. Yet, how and when CSR buffers firms against adverse shocks of crises remains insufficiently understood. This study addresses this gap by using multiple regression analysis to examine the buffering effects of CSR investments during the COVID-19 crisis, which severely disrupted capital markets and firm valuation. Drawing on signaling theory and CSR literature, we analyze the stock market performance of China’s A-share listed firms using a sample of 2577 observations as of the end of 2019. Results indicate that firms with higher CSR investments experienced significantly greater cumulative abnormal returns during the pandemic. Moreover, the buffering effect is amplified among firms with higher debt burdens, greater financing constraints, and those operating in regions with stronger social trust and more severe COVID-19 impact. These findings are robust across multiple robustness checks. This study highlights the strategic value of CSR as a resilience mechanism during crises and supports a more proactive view of CSR engagement for sustainable development, complementing the traditional legitimacy-focused perspective in existing literature. Full article

Against the backdrop of the accelerated transition to sustainable development in global emerging markets, the synergistic mechanism between environmental governance innovation and corporate green transformation has become a key issue in realizing high-quality development. As the world’s largest emerging economy, China’s new Environmental Protection Law (EPL), implemented in 2015, has promoted green technology innovation and performance improvement of heavily polluting enterprises by strengthening environmental regulation. This paper takes Chinese A-share listed companies as samples from 2012–2023, treats the EPL as a quasi-natural experiment, and applies the DID method to explore the path of its impact on the performance of heavily polluting firms, with a focus on analyzing the mediating effect of green technological innovation and the moderating role of firm size and regional differences. The study revealed the following findings: the implementation of the EPL significantly improves the performance of heavily polluting enterprises, which verifies the applicability of “Porter’s hypothesis” in emerging markets; green technological innovation plays a partly intermediary role in the process of policy affecting enterprise performance, indicating that environmental regulation achieves win–win economic and environmental benefits by driving the innovation compensation mechanism; and there is significant heterogeneity in policy effects, with large-scale firms and firms in the eastern region experiencing more pronounced performance improvements, reflecting differences in resource endowments and institutional implementation strength within emerging markets. This study provides empirical evidence for emerging market countries to optimize their environmental governance policies and construct a “regulation–innovation–performance” synergistic mechanism, which will help green economic transformation and ecological civilization construction. Full article

This study examines the long-term financial sustainability of commercial banks, emphasizing the crucial role of credit risk management. Given that the core function of credit creation inherently exposes banks to credit risk, this analysis evaluates how five key bank-specific risk variables, namely expected credit losses (ECL_BS), impairment gains or losses (ECL_IS), non-performing loans (NPLs), common equity tier 1 capital (CET1), and leverage (LEV) affect long-term financial sustainability. Applying a panel error correction model on data from listed South African banks spanning 2006 to 2023, the study reveals a stable long-term relationship, with approximately 74% of short-term deviations corrected over time, indicating convergence towards equilibrium. By taking into account the significance of major exogeneous shocks such as the 2009–2010 global financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as regulatory framework changes, the results reveal persistent relationships between credit risk factors and banks’ long-term financial sustainability in both short and long horizons. Notably, expected credit losses, and impairment gains and losses exert significant negative influence on long-term financial sustainability, while higher CET1 and NPLs exhibit positive effects. The study findings are framed within four complementary theoretical perspectives—the resource-based view, institutional theory, industrial organisation, and the dynamic capabilities framework—highlighting the multidimensional drivers of financial resilience. Thus, the study’s originality lies in its integrated approach to assessing credit risk, offering a holistic model for evaluating its influence on long-term financial sustainability. This integrated framework provides valuable, actionable insights for financial regulators, bank executives, policymakers, and banking practitioners committed to strengthening credit risk frameworks and aligning banking sector stability with broader sustainable development goals. Full article

The effective design of green financial policies is crucial for balancing the operational pressures of heavily polluting enterprises with the goal of sustained carbon emission reduction. This study investigates the impact of the Green Finance Reform and Innovation Pilot Zone (GFRIPZ) policy by employing a multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) model based on firm-level panel data from 2012 to 2021, covering A-share listed enterprises in Shanghai and Shenzhen. The results show that GFRIPZs significantly reduced carbon emissions in pilot regions, with heterogeneous effects observed across enterprise types—particularly among large enterprises, state-owned enterprises, and those located in financially developed areas. To uncover the underlying mechanisms, we compare two behavioral responses: green innovation, marked by long-term investment in green technologies, and expedient compliance, involving short-term, strategic compliance behaviors. Our findings indicate that GFRIPZs did not effectively promote green innovation. Instead, it has encouraged a shift from productive capital investment toward un-productive, symbolic actions aimed at fulfilling policy requirements. These responses risk undermining the long-term objective of green transformation and may contribute to a broader shift from real economic activity toward speculative or less productive investments, raising concerns about the quality and sustainability of the low-carbon transition. Full article