Business transformation through sustainability based on Industry 4.0

A study of the impact of digital technology on industrial ecologisation in the Yellow River Basin of China

The Yellow River Basin is an important ecological barrier and economic core area in China, with problems such as fragile ecological environment and ecosystem degradation, and promoting industrial ecological transformation in resource cities is an important way to protect and improve the ecological and logical environment of the Yellow River Basin. Using panel data of 35 resource-based cities in the Yellow River Basin from 2012 to 2021, the impact of digital technology on industrial colonisation is empirically explored. The study finds (1) digital technology has a driving effect on the industrial ecological transformation of resource-based cities in the Yellow River Basin, and can be a new production tool to stimulate economic vitality; there is obvious regional heterogeneity in the impact of digital technology on industrial ecology, which significantly promotes the industrial ecological transformation of mid-stream and declining resource-based cities, and the facilitating effect is more obvious for declining resource-based cities. (2) From the moderating effect, fiscal decentralisation positively moderates the non-linear relationship between digital technology and industrial ecology. (3) From the perspective of threshold effect, the impact of digital technology on industrial ecologisation has a double threshold effect based on fiscal decentralisation, i.e. at the early stage of digital technology development, a reasonable degree of fiscal decentralisation can significantly promote the industrial ecological transformation of resource cities, but after the development of digital technology to a certain extent, the impact of fiscal decentralisation on industrial ecologisation will be gradually weakened, and will even bring negative effects to industrial transformation. Therefore, improving the development system of digital technology, giving the government moderate financial autonomy, and at the same time adhering to the local conditions and exploring the ecological development road in line with the characteristics of resource cities in the Yellow River Basin have positive significance for the industrial ecological transformation of resource cities in the Yellow River Basin.

A scientometric review of hotspots and emerging trends in sustainable business model

A sustainable business model (SBM) has become an inevitable trend for the traditional business model to follow the development of the times. Based on scientometrics, we explored and visually analyzed SBM's hotspots and emerging trends using the references co-citation networks, landmark references, burst references, keywords co-occurring networks, timeline map, and burst keywords indicators. Our findings consist of four aspects: hotspots and emerging trends, hotspots evolution history, landmark references, and burst references evolution history. First, the core hotspots are "sustainable innovation" and "open innovation". Second, the main hotspots have evolved from "sustainable innovation," "strategy," "performance," and "supply chain" from 1998 to 2012 into "resource-based view," "product-service system," "China," "life cycle assessment," and "conceptual framework" in 2013-2017. And "circular economy," "renewable energy," "value creation," "decarbonization" have appeared since 2019, which are emerging trends of SBM. Third, we have found ten landmark references in total. Articles written by Bocken & Short, Boons & Ludeke-Freund, and Zott & Amit are the three most landmark references that significantly impact the whole field. Last, the top 10 cited references have burst since 2011 and lasted until 2022. The article written by Teece became a long-term cited hotspot from 2011 to 2018. Moreover, the article written by Geissdoerfer & Vladimirova, which burst in 2020-2022, was the most cutting-edge. This research aims to enrich the existing research theories related to SBM and help governments and enterprises capture hotspots and emerging trends of SBM so that they can better understand and study SBM.

Do business strategies and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance mitigate the likelihood of financial distress? A multiple mediation model

This study explores the connection between business strategies, ESG performance, and the probability of bankruptcy. Using a sample comprising 1970 U.S. firm-year observations from 2016 to 2020, this study adopts several techniques to achieve its goals, including the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) algorithm and additional analyses. The results demonstrate that a firm with a better cost leadership strategy has higher ESG performance. A sound cost leadership strategy and ESG performance negatively influence a firm's likelihood of financial distress. Using a mediating analysis model, we also find that financial and ESG performance mediate and mitigate the probability of experiencing financial distress through a cost leadership strategy, indicating that these are essential factors that cannot be ignored when mitigating bankruptcy probability. Financial performance also mediates and mitigates the probability of experiencing financial distress through the ESG path. This study adds to the existing body of knowledge by revealing the role of sound business strategies and ESG performance in mitigating the likelihood of financial distress, an under-explored topic. It also analyzes the mediation roles of financial and ESG performance to provide significant insights to companies' decision-makers in order to support them in their endeavors toward performance improvement and achieving best practices.

Drivers for circular economy development: making businesses more environmentally friendly

Stakeholders have been pressuring companies to develop more environmentally friendly strategic and operational solutions. In this sense, companies are seeking alternatives that reduce the negative impacts of organizational activities, Circular Economy (CE) is one of the solutions with the greatest potential for success. Thus, the goal of this paper is to provide drivers for organizations' transition from a linear to a CE. For this reason, content analysis was used as the scientific method, for being appropriate for the interpretation of qualitative data and the identification, clustering, and systematization of themes in a given field of knowledge. In the case of this work, a set of 30 articles with information related to the implementation and development of CE were analyzed, allowing the identification of 19 key elements of CE. These key elements were then grouped and systematized into four drivers: decision-making; capacity and training; sustainable practices; and green supply chain. Scientifically, this work contributes to the improvement and increase of the block of knowledge about the CE, because the drivers can be used to advance the state of the art and as a starting point for the development of new research. In an applied way, the drivers proposed in this article provide a range of actions for managers to make their companies greener and improve their organizational performance, thus contributing environmentally and socially to the planet.

Critical challenges of integrating OPEX strategies with I4.0 technologies in manufacturing SMEs: a few pieces of evidence from developing economies

Purpose

The study proposes to determine the impending challenges to lean integration with Industry 4.0 (I4.0) in manufacturing that aims at achieving desired operational performance. Integrating lean and Industry 4.0 as the two industrial approaches is synergetic in providing operational benefits such as increasing flexibility, improving productivity, reducing cost, reducing delivery time, improving quality and value stream mapping (VSM). There is an urgent need to understand the integrated potential of OPEX strategies like lean manufacturing and also to determine the challenges for manufacturing SMEs and further suggest a strategic roadmap for the future.

Design/methodology/approach

The current work has used a combined approach on interpretative structural modeling (ISM) and fuzzy Matrice d'impacts croisés multiplication appliquée á un classment (MICMAC) approach to structure the multiple level analysis for the implementation challenges to integrate OPEX strategies with Industry 4.0.

Findings

The research has found that the indulgence of various implementation issues like lack of standardization, lack of vision and lack of trained support, all are the major challenges that inhibit the integration of OPEX strategies with I4.0 technologies in manufacturing.

Research limitations/implications

The research has investigated the internal factors acting as a roadblock to lean and Industry 4.0 adoption. Further studies may consider external factors to lean and Industry 4.0 implementation. Also, further research may consider other operational excellence approaches and extend further to relevant sectors.

Practical implications

This study provides the analysis of barriers that is useful for the managers to take strategic actions for implementing OPEX strategies with I4.0 in smart manufacturing.

Originality/value

The research determines the adoption challenges towards the integrated framework. This is the first study to explore challenges in integrating OPEX strategies with I4.0 technologies in manufacturing SMEs.