Digitalisation, Entrepreneurship and Innovation for Sustainable Business Management

Dear Colleagues,

The interplay and mutual dependencies between digitalisation, innovation, entrepreneurship, and sustainable business management are attracting increasing attention in company boardrooms, in policy and pressure groups, and in academic communities across the globe. Nevertheless, studies to date highlight a lack of understanding of how these concepts interact in practice to enable organisations to improve their resource flows and value creation to promote sustainable business practises. It is, however, becoming increasingly evident that there are linkages between these concepts both in theory and in practice. For example, in answering the question “why is digitalisation critical to creating a global circular economy”, the World Economic Forum [1] (para. 1) claimed “we must accelerate the transformation to a circular economy in order to meet global climate goals by 2050”, and that “this can only be achieved through focused and responsible digitalisation”. In terms of the overlap with entrepreneurship and innovation, Garud et al. [2] (p. 1177) argued that “contexts are key moderators of success or failure, dictating the availability or the viability of entrepreneurial innovation”, and, more specifically, Stam and Bosma [3] (p. 329) identified a wide range of contextual factors seen to be important in explaining entrepreneurship including “entrepreneurship as an organizational product”, the “nature and localization of industries”, and “regional formal institutions”.

The relationship between entrepreneurship, digitalisation, and innovation also warrants further research in the context of sustainable business practises. Popadiuk and Choo [4] suggest that “innovation consists of new ideas that have been transformed or implemented as products, processes or services, generating value for the firm” (p.308), but there are different definitions and varying degrees of innovation. There is a common distinction in the existing literature between radical innovation and incremental innovation. The former normally involves the introduction of fundamental changes, often in the technology sphere, that are linked to a company’s long-term business objectives, and often take many years to fully materialise and deliver expected benefits. Incremental innovation, on the other hand, which may well also involve the application of new technology to deliver significant organisational benefits, is normally delivered within a shorter period, typically six months to two years. In the context of digitalization, radical innovation is often linked to the transition to new business models, but Ranta et al. [5] (para. 1) concluded that there is “a lack of understanding of how digital technologies enable individual firms in real-life settings to improve their resource flows and value creation and capture, and thereby enable business model innovation to emerge”.

This Special Issue looks to address these gaps in the academic literature by examining the multiple relationships and interactions between these concepts in the context of sustainable business management. Articles may explore any aspect of these concepts as they relate to overall sustainability in a business or organisational setting. Studies adopting either qualitative or quantitative research approaches are welcome, as are studies based on systematic reviews. Both practical applications and contributions to theory development are within the overall scope of the Special Issue. Topics that could be covered include (but are not restricted to) the following:

• How digitalisation is facilitating circular and sustainable business practises.
• The theory and practice of sustainable business management.
• The interplay between innovation and entrepreneurship in developing new sustainable business ventures.
• Specific industry case studies of sustainable business management.
• Leadership competencies for sustainable business management in the digital era.
• The strategy implications of transitioning to a sustainable digital business model.
• Sustainable business and the adoption of Industry 4.0/Industry 5.0 processes.

References

1. World Economic Forum. Why digitalization is critical to creating a global circular economy. 2021. Available online: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/08/digitalization-critical-creating-global-circular-economy/ (accessed on 13 December 2024).
2. Garud, R.; Gehman, J.; Giuliani A.P. Contextualising entrepreneurial innovation: A narrative perspective. Research Policy 2014, 43, 1177-1188.
3. Stam, E.; Bosma, N. Growing Entrepreneurial Economies: Entrepreneurship and Regional Development. In Baker, T.; Welter F., Eds. The Routledge Companion to Entrepreneurship. Routledge: London, UK, 2015; pp. 325-340.
4. Popadiuk, S.; Choo, C. W. Innovation and Knowledge Creation – How are these concepts related? International Journal of Information Management 2006, 26(4), 302–312. doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2006.03.01
5. Ranta, V.; Arrika-Stenroos, L.; Vaisanen, J.-M. Digital technologies catalyzing business model innovation for circular economy—Multiple case study. Resources, Conservation and Recycling 2021, 164. Available online: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344920304729  (accessed on 13 December 2024).

I look forward to receiving your contributions. 

Dr. Martin Wynn
Dr. Bilgin Metin
Guest Editors

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• sustainable business
• circular economy
• digitalisation
• entrepreneurship
• innovation
• leadership
• business strategy