Business Performance and Sustainable Innovation Strategies

Dear Colleagues,

Recent corporate business administration and technology innovation face tough challenges triggered by unexpected global issues such as Brexit, the trade tensions between the United States and China, and the Covid-19 pandemic. Hence, many companies have started to consider the new-normal business guidelines focusing on environment and sustainability, named of ESG or TBL. ESG (environment, sustainability, and governance) has surfaced as a new business principle with an expanded perspective beyond the traditional CSR (corporate social responsibility). The triple bottom line (TBL), a coined term by John Elkington in 1998, consists of three parts—social, environmental, and financial—and has also received considerable interest from academia and practice. ESG and TBL believe that companies should focus on social and environmental concerns, in the same way as they do economic performance. It is also essential to investigate the roles of innovations in business development and sustainable competitiveness and growth.

However, as Pezzey (1989) noted, there are more than 60 definitions of sustainability. This number would likely have increased since then. The term sustainability is stimulating debates, not only regarding its definition, but also when addressing it in the business context. There are notions that innovation could play a pivotal role in promoting sustainability, but some argue that innovation's role cannot be over-emphasized. In this context, we believe that it is essential to bring together different perspectives on sustainability and innovation in academia and practice. Given solid evidence, we can take a step toward building a desirable relationship between innovation, sustainability, and business performance.

This Special Issue on “Business Performance and Sustainable Innovation Strategies” is aimed at filling significant theoretical or practical gaps in the literature by answering the following questions:

• How global uncertain events are changing and will change corporate management, corporate social responsibility, and innovation practices?
• How can TBL (or ESG) be defined and designed as the new normal framework for innovation after unexpectable global factors such as Covid-19?
• How can innovation efforts be revised and refined as a result of TBL (or ESG)?
• What are the new issues and factors in planning and implementing TBL (or ESG) compared with the traditional sustainable business framework (such as corporate social responsibility (CSR))?
• Do we need the global standard or international cooperation to effectuate TBL (or ESG) regarding innovation efforts?
• How do we know whether such sustainability efforts have substantially improved business performances?
• What are public institutions' roles (e.g., universitiesa and government) in supporting and balancing TBL (or ESG) initiatives in the innovation sector?
• How can innovative technologies be combined and assimilated with TBL (or ESG)?
• How can entrepreneurship explore and exploit resources for successful and sustainable venture startups?
• Is it possible to achieve a higher performance by adopting a new sustainable business model (BM) over traditional BMs?
• How can we anticipate the future of sustainability and innovation?
• How can companies manage climate change while improving financial performance?

There are many related articles already published in the journal of Sustainability, such as the recent papers; “Influencing Factors on Knowledge Management for Organizational Sustainability” (Mila Kavalić et al., 2021), “A Review of Eco-Innovations and Exports Interrelationship, with Special Reference to International Agrifood Supply Chains” (Galera-Quiles et al., 2021), "The Impact of R&D Intensity on the Innovation Performance of Artificial Intelligence Enterprises-Based on the Moderating Effect of Patent Portfolio" (Yuanyuan Dong et al., 2021), "How Does Corporate Sustainability Increase Financial Performance for Small- and Medium-Sized Fashion Companies: Roles of Organizational Values and Business Model Innovation" (Yang and Jang, 2020), "Coopetition for Sustainable Competitiveness: R&D Collaboration in Perspective of Productivity" (Ko et al., 2020), "Outsourcing Strategies of Established Firms and Sustainable Competitiveness: Medical Device Firms" (Paek et al., 2019), “The Nonlinear Relation between Institutional Ownership and Environmental, Social, and Governance Performance in Emerging Countries” (Martinez-Ferrero and Lozano, 2021), “Stakeholder Value Creation: Comparing ESG and Value Added in European Companies” (Signori, San-Jose, Retolaza, and Rusconi, 2021), and “Environmental, Social, Governance Activities and Firm Performance: Evidence from China” (Ruan and Liu, 2021).

Prof. Dr. Heesang Lee
Prof. Dr. Juneseuk Shin
Prof. Dr. Heedong Yang
Guest Editors

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• sustainable innovation
• innovation for ESG (or TBL)
• performance for ESG (or TBL)
• corporate performance for ESG (or TBL)
• new business models for ESG (or TBL)
• sustainable innovation in emerging economies
• sustainable innovation in developed countries
• sustainable innovation in the hitech industry
• future of sustainability and innovation
• corporate climate change and disaster management
• managing sustainability culture