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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2020) | Viewed by 39274

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Mário José Baptista Franco

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Guest Editor

Department of Management and Economics, CEFAGE-UBI Research Center, University of Beira Interior, 6200-209 Covilhã, Portugal
Interests: entrepreneurship; innovation; SMEs; strategic alliances; interorganizational networks; cooperation; partnerships
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue will comprise a selection of papers addressing approaches and tools to understand how entrepreneurship and innovation can be good vehicles for the competitiveness. Research papers should address the multifaceted topics around entrepreneurship, innovation, and competitiveness, such as (1) education entrepreneurship, (2) ecopreneurship, (3) green innovation, (4) territorial competitiveness, and (5) open networks (living labs), among others. These topics should include the definitions of the concepts of entrepreneurship, innovation, and competitiveness, as well as the identification of factors affecting these types of phenomena. Measurement tools for assessing these three topics are also requested. Perspectives guiding the design of entrepreneurship, innovation, and competitiveness should be presented to consider when implementing public policies for increasing economic growth.

Papers should also use various support theories to explain entrepreneurship, innovation, and competitiveness, such as network theory, sustainability theory, resources-based theory, and triple-helix theory, among others. Thus, in general, this Special Issue will be devoted to the study of the benefits of entrepreneurship, innovation practices, and competitiveness in various countries and regions worldwide.

Papers selected for this Special Issue will be subject to a rigorous peer review procedure with the aim of a rapid and wide dissemination of research results, developments, and applications.

Prof. Dr. Mário José Baptista Franco
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

cultural/creative entrepreneurship
agricultural entrepreneurship
entrepreneurial ecosystems
incubators
entrepreneurial networks
social capital in entrepreneurship
open innovation
green innovation
family businesses
copreneurship
cooperation among enterprises
regional competitiveness
university–enterprises collaboration
academic spin-off

Published Papers (11 papers)

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Editorial

Jump to: Research

5 pages, 194 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Entrepreneurship, Competitiveness and Innovation

by Mário Franco

Sustainability 2020, 12(16), 6576; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12166576 - 14 Aug 2020

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2577

Abstract

This Special Issue, “Entrepreneurship, Competitiveness and Innovation”, comprises a selection of papers addressing approaches and tools to understand how entrepreneurship and innovation can be good vehicles for competitiveness. These studies address the multifaceted topics surrounding entrepreneurship, such as exploratory and exploitative innovation performance, inter-enterprise knowledge, clusters, entrepreneurial orientation, learning orientation, sustainable growth, etc. These topics include the definitions of the concepts of entrepreneurship, innovation, and competitiveness, as well as the identification of factors affecting these types of phenomena. Perspectives guiding the design of entrepreneurship and innovation are presented to be considered when implementing public policies for increasing economic growth and competitiveness. Papers use some support theories to explain the topics studied here, such as cluster theory, resources-based theory, social theory and institutional theory, among others. Thus, in general, this Special Issue is devoted to the study of the benefits of entrepreneurship, innovation practices, and competitiveness in various countries and regions worldwide, but mainly in China. Therefore, this Special Issue is of particular value for both academic research and the context of business. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Entrepreneurship, Competitiveness and Innovation)

Research

Jump to: Editorial

19 pages, 1198 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Influence of Inter-Enterprise Knowledge Heterogeneity on Exploratory and Exploitative Innovation Performance: The Moderating Role of Trust and Contract

by Chen Tao, Yiying Qu, Hao Ren and Zhuopin Guo

Sustainability 2020, 12(14), 5677; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12145677 - 15 Jul 2020

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2486

Abstract

Improving enterprise innovation performance is key for enterprises to obtain sustainable competitiveness. With the increasingly fierce market competition of technological and product innovation, acquiring external heterogeneous knowledge of alliance enterprises becomes core to improving innovation performance. In this paper, we constructed a theoretical model to present the effect of inter-enterprise knowledge heterogeneity and alliance network governance mechanisms on enterprise innovation performance. We selected high-tech enterprises as the research object for empirical research and reached the following conclusions: (1) Inter-enterprise knowledge heterogeneity has a positive effect on exploratory and exploitative innovation performance, and (2) trust and contract have a moderating effect on the relationship between inter-enterprise knowledge heterogeneity and enterprise innovation performance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Entrepreneurship, Competitiveness and Innovation)

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22 pages, 730 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Explanatory Factors of Entrepreneurship in Food and Beverage Clusters in Spain

by Enrique Claver-Cortés, Bartolomé Marco-Lajara, Pedro Seva-Larrosa, Lorena Ruiz-Fernández and Eduardo Sánchez-García

Sustainability 2020, 12(14), 5625; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12145625 - 13 Jul 2020

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2887

Abstract

Research into entrepreneurship has gradually changed its perspective over recent decades, becoming a very relevant research topic. In the last few years, various lines of research have been developed to find new explanatory factors of entrepreneurial propensity in specific socioeconomic and institutional contexts, among which we can highlight local territorial agglomerations. The main objective of the study is to offer new knowledge about the factors that influence the entrepreneurial capacity of food and beverage clusters using different secondary sources. To reach this objective, we analyze how the degree of agglomeration, institutional thickness, and knowledge affects new companies created in the last five years within the 37 food and beverage clusters in Spain. Multiple regression results show that company agglomeration and the presence of supporting institutions positively influence entrepreneurial capacity in these clusters. However, available knowledge has a negative influence on entrepreneurial capacity in these specialized environments. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Entrepreneurship, Competitiveness and Innovation)

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19 pages, 499 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Study on the Effects of Entrepreneurial Orientation and Learning Orientation on Financial Performance: Focusing on Mediating Effects of Market Orientation

by Yun Hee Cho and Joo-Heon Lee

Sustainability 2020, 12(11), 4594; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12114594 - 4 Jun 2020

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3813

Abstract

The primary purpose of this article was to examine the mediating effects of market orientation on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and financial performance. The mediation effects of market orientation on the relationship between learning orientation and financial performance were also investigated. One hundred and seventy-four valid survey questionnaires were collected from Korean entrepreneurs, who were searching for angel investments or business consultants for growth. Our unique research design allowed us to test the mediating effects of the dimensions of market orientation between the dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation and financial performance. The most important research results are as follows. First, the innovative-proactiveness dimension of entrepreneurial orientation has a statistically significant effect on financial performance, but the risk-taking propensity dimension does not significantly affect financial performance. Second, the customer orientation dimension of market orientation fully mediates the relationships between innovative-proactiveness and financial performance. Second, the competitor orientation dimension of market orientation shows a partial mediating effect on the relationship between innovative-proactiveness and financial performance. Third, learning orientation does not significantly affect financial performance. To increase financial performance, growth-seeking entrepreneurs need to improve customer orientation, competitor orientation, and innovative-proactiveness. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Entrepreneurship, Competitiveness and Innovation)

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16 pages, 228 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Entrepreneurial Governance and Local Growth

by Amy Rader Olsson, Hans Westlund and Johan P. Larsson

Sustainability 2020, 12(9), 3857; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12093857 - 9 May 2020

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2944

Abstract

Do local development policies influence local employment growth? Based on a survey to municipal managers in all Swedish municipalities, this is one of the first studies to empirically assess the relationship between reported local development initiatives (entrepreneurial governance (EG)) and growth of local employment. We find a weak but significant association between EG and employment growth for urban municipalities. This suggests that EG is more effective in larger, growing municipalities than in smaller, declining rural areas. Urban municipalities may of course have more resources for entrepreneurial governance than rural ones as they have grown substantially faster for a long period of time. The result thus indicates that EG and growth are in a positive interplay of interaction. When the EG index was divided into three sub-indexes after the entrepreneurial process (discover or create opportunities, collect resources and exploit opportunities) the analyses also showed positive correspondence between some sub-indexes and employment growth for the rural municipalities, indicating that EG is not solely a phenomenon connected to growth in urban, growing municipalities. In sum, the article indicates several avenues through which entrepreneurial governance at local level might be linked to local growth. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Entrepreneurship, Competitiveness and Innovation)

23 pages, 753 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Achieving the Success of Sustainability Development Projects through Big Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence Capability

by Haili Zhang, Michael Song and Huanhuan He

Sustainability 2020, 12(3), 949; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12030949 - 28 Jan 2020

Cited by 33 | Viewed by 6026

Abstract

There has been increased interest in studying how big data analytics capability (BDAC) and artificial intelligence capability (AIC) lead to sustainable innovation and performance. Yet, few studies have investigated how these two emerging capabilities affect the success of sustainability development projects through the mediating effects of the sustainability design and commercialization processes. Based on Day and Wensley’s theoretical framework for diagnosing competitive superiority, we propose a research model to investigate how sustainability design and commercialization mediate the relationships between two emerging capabilities and sustainable growth and performance. To test the proposed research model, we collected empirical data from 905 sustainability development projects from China and the United States. This study makes theoretical and managerial contributions to sustainable development theory. The study findings reveal several interesting results. First, BDAC and AIC not only increase the proficiency of sustainability design and commercialization but also directly enhance sustainable growth and performance. Second, sustainability design and commercialization mediate the positive effects of BDAC and AIC on sustainable growth and performance. Finally, the empirical analyses uncovered several cross-national differences. For sustainability design, BDAC is more important than AIC in the United States, while AIC is more important than BDAC in China. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Entrepreneurship, Competitiveness and Innovation)

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19 pages, 1286 KiB

Open AccessArticle

How Knowledge Acquisition Diversity Affects Innovation Performance during the Technological Catch-Up in Emerging Economies: A Moderated Inverse U-Shape Relationship

by Qiang Li, Jing-Jing Guo, Wei Liu, Xiao-Guang Yue, Nelson Duarte and Carla Pereira

Sustainability 2020, 12(3), 945; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12030945 - 28 Jan 2020

Cited by 23 | Viewed by 3865

Abstract

Many domestic enterprises in emerging economies are concerned with the question of how to better utilize the portfolio of technology sourcing channels to achieve rapid economic growth by technological innovation. This paper looks at this issue by exploring the impacts of knowledge acquisition diversity (KAD) on innovation performance of domestic enterprises in China and the technological contexts (in terms of technology gap and technology development speed) under which KAD is most likely to contribute. Using panel data of the manufacturing industry in China over the 2001–2009 period, the results show that KAD has an inverse U-shaped relationship with innovation performance in terms of both product-related innovation performance (NPS) and knowledge-related innovation performance (PAT). Specifically, it reveals that the capability to generate technological innovation over time is dependent on how domestic enterprises manage their portfolio of knowledge sourcing channels to learn from foreign enterprises. Moreover, it is shown that the technology gap significantly moderates the inverted U-shaped relationship between KAD and both NPS and PAT. Technology development speed has a moderating effect on the inverted U-shaped relationship between KAD and innovation only in terms of NPS. The results of this study can help us to understand the relationships among technological contexts, KAD and innovation performance of domestic enterprises in emerging countries. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Entrepreneurship, Competitiveness and Innovation)

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18 pages, 589 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Entrepreneurial Business Tie and Product Innovation: A Moderated Mediation Model

by Gang Wang, Linwei Li and Gang Ma

Sustainability 2019, 11(23), 6628; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11236628 - 23 Nov 2019

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2650

Abstract

Radical innovation has attracted increasing attention in corporate sustainability research. Employing a social capital perspective, we explore how and when entrepreneurial business ties (EBTs) enhance radical innovation by considering risk taking as a critical mediator and environmental turbulence as a conditional factor of the mediation effect. Data is collected from 322 Chinese new ventures. We find empirical support for the moderated mediation model. Specifically, EBT is positively related to risk taking while risk taking is positively related to radical innovation. Risk taking further serves as a mediator in the EBT-radical innovation relationship, and this indirect effect is stronger at a high level of technological turbulence. By revealing how entrepreneurs translate their business ties into positive radical innovation outcomes through risk taking and when this indirect effect is most effective, we enhance understandings of the value of EBT and how to impel radical innovation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Entrepreneurship, Competitiveness and Innovation)

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22 pages, 659 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Does Social Capital Increase Innovation Speed? Empirical Evidence from China

by Xiaotang Zhang, Haili Zhang and Michael Song

Sustainability 2019, 11(22), 6432; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11226432 - 15 Nov 2019

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3030

Abstract

Past studies have suggested that social capital is a sustainable competitive advantage that leads to sustainable organizational growth and performance. However, few studies have explored how innovation speed moderates the relationship between social capital and sustainable organizational performance in China where the government plays key roles in promoting sustainable development goals. This paper develops a “social capital-innovation speed-performance” framework to investigate the mechanism of social capital influencing innovation speed, which in turn affects sustainable organizational growth and performance. Based on data collected from 125 Chinese firms, hierarchical moderated regression analyses indicate that structural social capital positively affects sustainable organizational performance but has no significant impact on sustainable innovation speed; relational social capital has no significant impact on sustainable organizational performance and is negatively correlated with innovation speed; cognitive social capital positively correlates with sustainable organizational performance and affects innovation speed, and government ties affect sustainable organizational performance and positively impact innovation speed. The study findings suggest that in China, increasing government ties is the most important social capital in creating sustainable organizational growth and performance. Both cognitive social capital and government ties are conducive to accelerating innovation speed, which gives firms a sustainable competitive advantage to achieve sustainable organizational performance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Entrepreneurship, Competitiveness and Innovation)

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28 pages, 643 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Study of the Relationship between Political Connections and Corporate Re-Entrepreneurial Performance

by Zhao Wang, Xiaobing Liu and Qinhua Liu

Sustainability 2019, 11(15), 4027; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11154027 - 25 Jul 2019

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3141

Abstract

Based on both resource-based theory and institution-based theory, this study places political connections, acquisition of entrepreneurial resources, institutional environment, and corporate re-entrepreneurial performance into the same research framework. Using data from 223 real estate companies in China as a sample and with the help of the statistical tools SPSS 22.0 and Mplus 7.0, the study examines the internal influence mechanism of political connections on corporate re-entrepreneurial performance as well as the mediating effect of acquisition of entrepreneurial resources and the moderating effect of institutional environment. The empirical results show that both explicit political connections and implicit ones have positive impacts on corporate re-entrepreneurial performance through the mediating effect of acquisition of entrepreneurial knowledge resources and entrepreneurial asset resources. Meanwhile, institutional environment positively regulates the relationship between political connections and corporate re-entrepreneurial performance. The results of the study suggest that political connections have positive impacts on corporate re-entrepreneurial performance under the circumstances of China’s transitional economy, but the impacts are restricted by institutional environment to a large extent. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Entrepreneurship, Competitiveness and Innovation)

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32 pages, 3485 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Past Themes and Tracking Research Trends in Entrepreneurship: A Co-Word, Cites and Usage Count Analysis

by Luis Javier Cabeza Ramírez, Sandra M. Sánchez-Cañizares and Fernando J. Fuentes-García

Sustainability 2019, 11(11), 3121; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11113121 - 3 Jun 2019

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4827

Abstract

This paper examines the evolution of research in Entrepreneurship published in Web of Science, a reference database. A bibliometric content analysis has been carried out as part of this investigation, allowing for a longitudinal study of the main research topics dealt with over time, ranging from classic topics such as its conception to more recent realities that include Social and Sustainable Entrepreneurship. This paper locates research trends by studying the evolution of citations and by incorporating use metrics. The results point to the existence of seven cognitive fronts that have marked the field’s growth and conceptual evolution. Furthermore, evidence is presented that shows how innovation has historically been the thread that links all the core themes. The topics and trends detected contribute specially to advancing the current discussion on entrepreneurship and coordinating future research efforts. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Entrepreneurship, Competitiveness and Innovation)

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