Does technology orientation predict firm performance through firm innovativeness?

The contingent effects of strategic orientations and strategic capabilities on competitive performance: Evidence from Ethiopian manufacturing enterprises

While there are several studies that examine the performance implications of different strategic orientations, little is known regarding the complex interplay between the two prominent strategic orientations and strategic capabilities in impacting firm performance. Notably, it is ambiguous how a firm's strategic orientations are aligned with different strategic capabilities to maintain competitive performance. To address this gap, the study employs a moderated mediation analysis to investigate the mediating role of strategic capabilities in the relationship between market, technology orientations, and firm performance. It also examines the moderating effect of environmental dynamism in shaping the mediated association between strategic orientations and performance. Based on the survey results of 205 large Ethiopian manufacturing firms, our findings confirm that market orientation exerts a positive and significant influence on both marketing and market-linking capabilities, while only marketing capabilities mediate the relationship between market orientation and firm performance. Likewise, there is a strong association between technology orientation and strategic capabilities (i.e., technology and information technology capabilities), mediating the relationship with firm performance. Meanwhile, environmental dynamism influences the indirect relationship that exists between market, technology, and firm performance through their corresponding strategic capabilities. Our study sheds light on strategic management literature by showing the unique relationship and interdependency between strategic orientations and capabilities in attaining superior performance. This study also forwarded some practical implications of the findings.

Impact of financial decentralization on energy poverty and energy demand tendencies in Chinese settings

This study intends to test the connection between fiscal decentralization, energy demand dynamics, and energy poverty status from the context of China. The study has collected large datasets ranging from 2001 to 2019 to justify the empirical findings. The long-run analysis economic techniques were considered and applied for this. The results indicated that a 1% adverse change in energy demand dynamics causes 13% of energy poverty. Supportively, a 1% positive rise in energy supply to fulfill energy demand reduces energy poverty by 9.4% in the study context. Moreover, empirical findings show that a 7% rise in fiscal decentralization accelerates 19% fulfillment in energy demand and mitigates energy poverty up to 10.5%. We demonstrate that if enterprises can only alter their technology choices in the long run, the short-run reaction of energy demand must be less than the long-run response. Second, we demonstrate that the elasticity of demand approaches its long-run level exponentially at the rate defined by the capital depreciation rate and the economy's growth rate, using a putty-clay model with induced technical development. According to the model, it takes more than 8 years for half of the long-run impact of induced technological change on energy consumption to be realized in industrialized nations once the carbon price is implemented. This research document also gives multiple policy directions for policy developers.

Studying financial inclusion, energy poverty, and economic development of South Asian countries

This research investigated the association between financial inclusion, energy poverty alleviation, and economic development in South Asian countries and found significant connections. In order to make multilateral conclusions, we have created a panel of data for nations in South Asia and estimated not only the dynamic panel estimation but also the panel unit root, Kao (1999) estimates, and the ARDL tests for each country. A significant association between financial inclusion and economic development and poverty reduction is discovered by using dynamic panel estimates. Economic development has also been shown to have a favorable influence on energy poverty alleviation. According to the findings of the ARDL analysis, financial inclusion has a beneficial influence on economic development. Financial inclusion and economic growth have reciprocal causalities in energy poverty alleviation, as shown by the study's testing of this association. As a result, it is acceptable to infer that financial inclusion favors economic development and poverty reduction in South Asia. The study also suggests the policy implications for stakeholders.

Modelling the significance of strategic orientation for competitive advantage and economic sustainability: the use of hybrid SEM-neural network analysis

Economic sustainability involves the development of an organisation that meets its future needs through an integrated policy, planning, and social learning process. The purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating role of competitive advantage in the relationship between strategic orientation and economic sustainability under unpredictable circumstances. This study collected quantitative data from a total of 284 halal small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from Indonesia through structured interviews. Data were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). Moreover, this study adopted artificial neural network (ANN) analysis for a model-free estimation using non-linear, multilayer, and parallel regression. The results revealed statistically significant and positive effect of strategic orientation on economic sustainability. Additionally, this study found that competitive advantage expanded the effect of strategic orientation on economic sustainability. Findings of ANN analysis confirm high prediction accuracy of the model. Findings of the sensitivity analysis highlighted the importance of innovation, network and technological orientation, and the positive effect of competitive advantage on halal SMEs economic sustainability. In order to achieve long-term economic sustainability, halal SMEs should therefore focus on innovation capacity, vertical and horizontal networking and adoption of the latest technologies. The uniqueness of this study focused on the strategic orientation and value of competitive advantage of halal SMEs towards economic sustainability. Additionally, this study was the first to develop hybrid SEM-neural network analysis to apply sensitivity analysis for the evaluation of the contribution of each exogenous predictor towards the endogenous construct.

Evaluating an economic application of renewable generated hydrogen: A way forward for green economic performance and policy measures

Energy security and environmental measurements are incomplete without renewable energy; therefore, there is a dire need to explore new energy sources. Hence, this study aimed to measure the wind power potential to generate renewable hydrogen (H2), including its production and supply cost. This study used first-order engineering model and net present value to measure the levelized cost of wind-generated renewable hydrogen by using the data source of the Pakistan Meteorological Department and State Bank of Pakistan. Results showed that the use of surplus wind and renewable hydrogen energy for green economic production is suggested as an innovative project option for large-scale hydrogen use. The key annual running expenses for hydrogen are electricity and storage costs, which have a significant impact on the costs of renewable hydrogen. The results also indicated that the project can potentially cut carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution by 139 million metric tons and raise revenue for wind power plants by US$2998.52 million. The renewable electrolyzer plants avoided CO2 at a rate of US$24.9-36.9/ton under baseload service, relative to US$44.3/ton for the benchmark. However, in the more practical mid-load situation, these plants have significant benefits. Further, the wind-generated renewable hydrogen delivers 6-11% larger annual rate of return than the standard CO2 catch plant due to their capacity to remain running and supply hydrogen to the consumer through periods of plentiful wind and heat. Also, the measured levelized output cost of hydrogen (LCOH) was US$6.22/kgH2, and for the PEC system, it was US$8.43/kgH2. Finally, it is a mutually agreed consensus among environmental scientists that the integration of renewable energy is the way forward to increase energy security and environmental performance by ensuring uninterrupted clean and green energy. This application has the potential to address Pakistan's urgent issues of large-scale surplus wind- and solar-generated energy, as well as rising energy demand.

How do environmental regulations affect carbon emission and energy efficiency patterns? A provincial-level analysis of Chinese energy-intensive industries

This study measures the environmental regulation effect and pattern of carbon emission and energy efficiency through data envelopment analysis and econometric estimation. One of the most important ways to achieve a green transition is promoting technical progress through environmental regulation. Though China has witnessed rapid economic growth over the last two decades, the country can improve it further through adopting sustainable green energy and establishing more energy-efficient industries to strike a good balance between economic and social developments. The oil and carbon dioxide emission performances form the most important metrics. This study uses panel data from 30 Chinese provinces from 2008 to 2017 to assess the effect of environmental regulation on energy production. The nonradial directional distance function (NDDF) is used to measure the total factor energy efficiency index (TFEEI). The panel system GMM model, which can effectively address endogenous problems and regional variability, is utilized to research the nonlinear relationship between environmental regulations and EEI under various environmental regulations to study it. The findings reveal a considerably modest total average EEI amount for energy-intensive industries, averaging between 0.55 and 0.58, which is way below the ideal value (i.e., 1). Furthermore, the results of the dynamic panel data model revealed a significant U-shaped relationship between China's EEI and environmental regulation. The results show that as the values of market-based environmental regulations (MERs) and command and control environmental regulations (CCERs) exceed the corresponding levels, the impact of environmental regulation on the TFEEI increases gradually. This study will aid policymakers in better understanding the efficacy of different levels of environmental regulations to make more educated decisions.

How marine tourism promote financial development in sustainable economy: new evidences from South Asia and implications to future tourism students

The ocean economy and marine tourism policies are global economic concerns being looked at from a deeply holistic viewpoint. For South Asian countries, the ocean economy and marine tourism have successive socio-economic importance. The quantification of the ocean economy and marine tourism also poses some major challenges, and these challenges pose limitations for policymaking by the government and other relevant agencies. The study has used the newly developed hidden panel cointegration test, and the nonlinear panel autoregressive distributed lag (NPARDL) model for a relationship between economic growth and tourism is assessed. This study offers consistent and reliable results of cointegration by incorporating the findings of four approaches to cointegration. The empirical results illustrate the asymmetric relationship between ocean and marine tourism and economic growth. The findings showed that 1% increase in long-term tourism economic growth is adjusted by 2.95% annually. This research paper aims to provide a policy related to South Asia's economic activities and ocean and marine tourism economic significance. Protecting local marine protected areas (MPAs) will improve the economic benefits of the ocean and the marine economy. The policy suggests that there should be a law ensuring that marine tourism is of high quality and environment friendly. This paper provides a guideline for further research with a strong emphasis on ocean- and marine-related economic development and tourism.

Testing role of green financing on climate change mitigation: Evidences from G7 and E7 countries

The study estimates the long-run dynamics of a cleaner environment in promoting the gross domestic product of E7 and G7 countries. The recent study intends to estimate the climate change mitigation factor for a cleaner environment with the GDP of E7 countries and G7 countries from 2010 to 2018. For long-run estimation, second-generation panel data techniques including augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF), Phillip-Peron technique and fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS) techniques are applied to draw the long-run inference. The results of the study are robust with VECM technique. The outcomes of the study revealed that climate change mitigation indicators significantly affect the GDP of G7 countries than that of E7 countries. The GDP of both E7 and G7 countries is found depleting due to less clean environment. However, green financing techniques helps to clean the environment and reinforce the confidence of policymakers on the elevation of green economic growth in G7 and E7 countries. Furthermore, study results shown that a 1% rise in green financing index improves the environmental quality by 0.375% in G7 countries, while it purifies 0.3920% environment in E7 countries. There is a need to reduce environmental pollution, shift energy generation sources towards alternative, innovative and green sources.The study also provides different policy implications for the stakeholders guiding to actively promote financial hedging for green financing. So that climate change and envoirnmental pollution reduction could be achieved effectively. The novelty of the study lies in study framework.

Nexus between energy policy and environmental performance in China: The moderating role of green finance adopted firms

This study measures the association between resources and the atmosphere; social and environmental aspects of energy production have become critical. In this context, the aim of this research is to explore the mediating effect of renewable energy patents in developing potential frameworks for energy policy viewpoints on the climate. The study took panel data from 2010 to 2017 and used a non-radial data envelopment analysis (DEA) process and panel data model for 30 Chinese provinces. The findings indicate that between 2010 and 2017, the average environmental efficiency index (EPI) of Chinese areas increased by 9.88%. When firms' internal variables are proxied by their commodity (revenue), the relationship term's point approximate coefficient is about 0.05. This magnitude means that a 1% rise in a company's assets will result in a 5% increase is estimated to be about 0.157, implying that a 1% rise in firm leverage is correlated with a 15.7%. Finally, based on the study results, some policy implications were proposed.

Evaluating green innovation and performance of financial development: mediating concerns of environmental regulation

This research measures the relationship between green innovation and the performance of financial development by using an econometric estimation during the year of 2000 to 2018 in 28 Chinese provinces. It is intended to explore the relative role of green technological innovation in driving green financial development in the west and central China, as well as how it influences economic growth in these regions. Ordinary least square (OLS) framework was utilized in mainland China to perform empirical studies by using an econometric estimation. This study claims that China has adopted research-based education system, while those for economic growth and expenditure in the regions while the innovation parts results shows that the  tertiary education were 12.42% and 13.53% versus the 10.50% and 10.6% in the eastern area. The research-based education increases the patents in green innovation and boosts the environmental policy. The financial development led to green technological development and innovation. Green innovation and financial development decrease the emissions, and it is apparent that as environmental regulations stimulate technical development, the superiority of human resources increases. The findings indicate that green financing reduces short-term lending, thus limiting clean energy overinvestment, while the long-term loans have little impact on renewable energy overinvestment, and the intermediary effect is unmaintainable. Meanwhile, the green financial growth will reduce renewable energy overinvestment and increase renewable energy investment productivity to certain amount.

Assessing energy efficiency in the Asia-Pacific region and the mediating role of environmental pollution: evidence from a super-efficiency model with a weighting preference scheme

The demand for primary energy resources has increased significantly due to the rapid growth of the global economy and increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Therefore, improving energy efficiency levels is essential for global energy, energy security, and environmental sustainability. In the context of the Asia-Pacific region, the study of energy efficiency among different countries can play a role in better energy utilization. These countries also provide a policy for the Asia-Pacific region to improve its energy utilization. This study's primary focus is to investigate the optimal efficiency score of 15 areas of the Asia-Pacific region, and the analysis is based on super-efficiency (radical) and super slacks-based measure (SBM) data in a nonparametric DEA model. Three areas in the Asia-Pacific are selected for energy efficiency measures: South Asia, East Asia, and Australasia. The results suggest that Bangladesh, Pakistan, China, Singapore, New Zealand, the Philippines, Japan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam obtain the most efficient score of 1 in both DEA models throughout the study period. Australia and Sri Lanka receive a low score during all study periods, while Hong Kong does not have data for all study years. The results of the study will help improve energy performance, cost-effectiveness, and environmental sustainability, increasing the competitiveness and scalability of efficient energy sources.

Assessing the mechanism of energy efficiency and energy poverty alleviation based on environmental regulation policy measures

This work aims to assess multidimensional energy poverty and energy efficiency for environmental policy measures using data envelopment analysis (DEA), a DEA-Like mathematical composite indicator applied on a dataset based on multiple sets of variables from South Asian economies. The multidimensional energy poverty index (MEPI) is computed to analyze the combining effects and energy poverty in these countries. Simultaneously, South Asia's metropolitan areas' population rose by 130 million between 2001 and 2011 and is projected to expand by approximately 250 million by 2030. The findings reveal that endogenous increasing population shocks account for about 72% of energy use. In contrast, the long-term effects of remittance revenue, economic growth, and urbanization on energy use are approximately 20%, 8.25%, and 0.03%, respectively. This work advocates more coordinated and innovative policies to eliminate energy poverty. It can act as a base for policymakers and government officials to make efficient policies and enforce them properly in the regional power sector. Policies should be designed around a smarter use of biomass for cooking, alternate sources for domestic energy production, increased programs for biomass-based cookstoves, and periodic regional-level energy database development.

Does the combining effects of energy and consideration of financial development lead to environmental burden: social perspective of energy finance?

In light of the rapidly growing industrialization in BRICS and G7 regions, thorough energy, financials, and environmental analyses are essential for sustainable financial development in these countries. In this context, this work analyzes the relationship between energy, financial, and environmental sustainability and the regions' social performance. Data from 2000 to 2017 is analyzed through a data envelopment analysis (DEA) like a composite index. Results show China and Brazil's better performance in the region, with a sustainability score of 0.96, India was the third, followed by South Africa and Russia. Japan, the UK, and the USA were the most energy-efficient countries for five consecutive years. A 0.18%, 0.27%, 0.22%, 0.09%, 0.31%, and 0.32% reduction in carbon emission is observed with a 1% increase in R&D costs by Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the USA, respectively. This work contributes to the existing literature regarding an eco-friendly sustainable policy design for the G7 countries based on multiple indicators.

Socioeconomic impacts of domestic biogas plants on rural households to strengthen energy security

The central theme of the study is to assess the socioeconomic impact of household biogas plants on rural households. To this end, the study selected respondents from biogas plant holders and non-holders of biogas plants in rural areas of Muzaffar-Garh. During the field survey, a questionnaire survey was conducted on 40 biogas users in two villages in each Tehsil and 40 non-biogas users in the same village. A survey based on pre-designed questionnaire was conducted, and main data of 320 households in four Tehsil districts (interviewees) in the Muzaffar-Garh region were collected. In this study, biogas is the input variable, while elderly education and total household income are the input socioeconomic variables. Farm productivity, time saving, indoor air pollution, household hygiene, and expenditure are intermediate variables. The output variables include income, health, and education level of minor children aged 2-5 years. Structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques that describe the relationship between input variables and output variables can be used to obtain steadfast results. Based on the estimates, we have observed that BG investments have substantial impacts on farm productivity, time savings, indoor air pollution, household hygiene, and expenditure, which in turn has played a role in improving the status of people. It is concluded that many direct and indirect socioeconomic impacts of holding biogas plants on rural households can be measured. In order to widely promote biogas technology as an alternative energy source nationwide, there must be greater public participation.

Strategic orientations, firm performance and the moderating effect of absorptive capacity

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to study the moderating effect of absorptive capacity, defined as the set of organizational routines and processes through which companies acquire, assimilate, transform and exploit knowledge to produce a dynamic organizational capacity (Zahra and George, 2002), in three strategic orientations: market orientation; technology orientation and entrepreneurial orientation and their positive relationship in the performance of the medium and large Mexican manufacturing firms. Likewise, it is determined whether these three combined SOs influence firm performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The data was collected from 171 medium and large-sized Mexican manufacturing firms. The proposed hypotheses are tested using partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

Findings

Despite the importance of knowledge for the development of firms, the results indicate that the moderating effect of absorptive capacity is only present in the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance. That is, firms cannot take advantage of knowledge simultaneously between the three strategic orientations. For their part, market orientation and entrepreneurial orientation exert a positive influence on firm performance.

Practical implications

The main practical implication for the manufacturing industry is that they must develop mechanisms to detect what kind of knowledge affects each strategic orientation, in this way it can make the absorptive capacity influence the relationships between SO and FP.

Originality/value

The main contribution consists of studying the moderating effect of the absorptive capacity on the relationship between three strategic orientations and firm performance, and not concentrating solely on the simultaneous use of these strategies as is commonly done.

Co-movement of energy prices and stock market return: environmental wavelet nexus of COVID-19 pandemic from the USA, Europe, and China

This work aims to study the time-frequency relationship between the recent COVID-19 pandemic and instabilities in oil price and the stock market, geopolitical risks, and uncertainty in the economic policy in the USA, Europe, and China. The coherence wavelet method and the wavelet-based Granger causality tests are applied to the data (31st December 2019 to 1st August 2020) based on daily COVID-19 observations, oil prices, US-EPU, the US geopolitical risk index, and the US stock price index. The short- and long-term COVID-19 consequences are depicted differently and may initially be viewed as an economic crisis. The results illustrate the reduced industrial productivity, which intensifies with the increase in the pandemic's severeness (i.e., a 10.57% decrease in the productivity index with a 1% increase in the pandemic severeness). Similarly, indices for oil demand, stock market, GDP growth, and electricity demand decrease significantly with an increase in the pandemic severeness index (i.e., a 1% increase in the pandemic severeness results in a 0.9%, 0.67%, 1.12%, and 0.65% decrease, respectively). However, the oil market shows low co-movement with the stock exchange, exchange rate, and gold markets. Therefore, investors and the government are recommended to invest in the oil market to generate revenue during the sanctions period.