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Dear Colleagues,

With the development of globalization and digitalization, enterprises are facing an increasingly complex and dynamic market environment. Sustainability has rooted itself as a key underpinning for corporations seeking long-term success. Yet, the ability to generate benefits for the full spectrum of their stakeholders resides fundamentally on internal organizations, particularly in how innovation is being managed, as well as on the external market, especially in how competition is being addressed. How to realize innovation management, formulate effective competitive strategies, and realize the sustainable development of enterprises has become an important challenge for enterprise managers.

This Special Issue is seeking manuscripts on the interface of three thematic domains, namely innovation, competition and sustainability. It will be interested in conceptual, applied, and empirical research that examines a clear topic in any of the domains with linkages with any or all of the other domains. Specifically for the notion of sustainability itself, any or all of the constituent pillars of environmental, social and governance (ESG) can be considered.

In this context, this Special Issue welcomes conceptual and empirical articles, as well as reviews.

Prof. Dr. Lawrence Loh
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

innovation
entrepreneurship
competition
strategy
sustainability
environmental, social and governance (ESG)

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 502 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Strategic Resource Utilization for Enhancing Corporate Value: Dynamics of Exploration and Exploitation in Korea

by Gee-Jung Kwon and Won-Il Lee

Sustainability 2024, 16(11), 4621; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16114621 - 29 May 2024

Viewed by 212

Abstract

This study examines the impact of research and development (R&D) expenditures, training expenditures, and entertainment expenditures (business promotion expenditures) on firm value in the Korean electronics and metal industry. Extending the theoretical foundation of James March’s exploration and exploitation theory, this study analyzes the impact of R&D and training investments on firm value to explore new capabilities from a long-term perspective, and the impact of entertainment costs on firm value to achieve short-term organizational goals. Using Tobin’s Q methodology, which uses the ratio of a firm’s market value to its asset replacement cost as a proxy for firm value, this study finds the relationship between these types of expenditures and firm value. The analysis finds that R&D expenditures and training expenditures are significantly correlated with increases in firm value, suggesting that these investments play an important role in enhancing a firm’s competitiveness and performance. On the other hand, while we hypothesize that the balance of exploration and exploitation within an organization will affect firm value, we find that entertainment expenditures, which are business promotion expenditures, do not show a significant relationship with firm value. This suggests that these expenditures by companies in Korea’s electronics and metals industry contribute to the achievement of the organization’s short-term goals but do not have a significant impact on firm value. These findings suggest that resource allocation in the electronics and metal industries where technological innovation is important should be more heavily weighted toward investments in R&D and training for long-term exploration in order to increase firm value. To increase firm value, firms should prioritize investments that drive sustainable growth and enhance competitive advantage. This research allows for a deeper examination of how different types of costs contribute to firm value and underscores the need for strategic clarity in resource allocation decisions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovation Management, Competition Strategies and Corporate Sustainability)

36 pages, 690 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Innovating ESG Integration as Sustainable Strategy: ESG Transparency and Firm Valuation in the Palm Oil Sector

by Tricia Chong and Lawrence Loh

Sustainability 2023, 15(22), 15943; https://doi.org/10.3390/su152215943 - 14 Nov 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2859

Abstract

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) integration is an increasingly popular and innovative investing strategy that requires companies to be transparent about their ESG practices to facilitate investors’ decisions. In the palm oil sector, companies are addressing ESG risks by adopting and disclosing ESG efforts to improve access to financing. This study seeks to broaden existing research on ESG transparency and firms’ financial indicators by using firm valuation as a financial indicator and investigating the moderating role of firm size in the palm oil sector. It first investigates whether ESG transparency has a direct positive or negative effect on firm valuation. Transparency is measured using the Zoological Society of London’s (ZSL) Sustainability Policy Transparency Toolkit (SPOTT) 2021 assessment, which provides scores for palm oil companies’ total, environmental, social, and governance disclosures. Firm valuation is measured by the price-to-earnings ratio (P/E), a widely used ratio calculated by dividing the share price by earnings per share. The study also explores the moderating role of firm size, using accounting-based measures such as revenue and assets, in strengthening the relationship between ESG transparency and firm valuation. The results show statistically significant negative relationships between ESG transparency and firm valuation. Companies with stronger ESG transparency are valued at a discount relative to companies with weaker ESG transparency. Additionally, the results find that firm size plays a moderating role such that larger firms strengthen the negative relationships between all transparency measures and firm valuation. These findings encourage constructive action for various stakeholders and provide implications for future research to support mainstreaming sustainable palm oil. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovation Management, Competition Strategies and Corporate Sustainability)

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