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This study aims to focus on a key unanswered question about how digitalization and the knowledge processes it enables affect firms’ strategies in the international arena.

The authors conduct a systematic literature review of relevant theoretical and empirical studies covering over 20 years of research (from 2000 to 2023) and including 73 journal papers.

This review allows us to highlight a relationship between firms’ international strategies and the knowledge processes enabled by applying digital technologies. Specifically, the authors discuss the characteristics of patterns of knowledge flows and knowledge processes (their origin, the type of knowledge they carry on and their directionality) as determinants for the emergence of diverse international strategies embraced by single firms or by populations of firms within ecosystems, networks, global value chains or alliances.

Despite digital technologies constituting important antecedents and critical factors for the internationalization process, and international businesses in general, and operating cross borders implies the enactment of highly knowledge-intensive processes, current literature still fails to provide a holistic picture of how firms strategically use what they know and seek out what they do not know in the international environment, using the affordances of digital technologies.

The internationalization of business has grown the production value chains and created performance challenges for industrial production. Industry 4.0, the digital transformation of industrial processes, promises to deliver performance improvements through smart functionalities. This study investigates how digital transformation translates to performance gain by adopting a systems perspective to drive smartness.

This study uses qualitative research to collect data on the lived experiences of digital transformation practitioners for theory development. It uses semi-structured interviews with industry experts and applies the Gioia methodology for analysis.

The study determined that enterprise smartness is an organizational capability developed by digital transformation, it is a function of integration and the enabler of organizational performance gains in the Industry 4.0 context. The study determined that performance gains are experienced in productivity, sustainability, safety and customer experience, which represents performance metrics for Industry 4.0.

This study contributes a model that inserts smartness in the linkage between digital transformation and organizational outcomes to the digital transformation and production management literature.

The study indicates that digital transformation programs should focus on developing smartness rather than technology implementations, which must be considered an enabling activity.

Existing studies recognized the positive impact of technology on performance in industrial production. The study addresses a missing link in the Industry 4.0 value creation process. It adopts a systems perspective to establish the role of smartness in translating technology use to performance outcomes. Smart capabilities have been the critical missing link in the literature on harnessing digital transformation in organizations. The study advances theory development by contributing an Industry 4.0 value model that establishes a link between digital technologies, smartness and organizational performance.

This study explores how the family influences the entrepreneurial orientation (EO) process in immigrant businesses.

The paper draws on inductive multiple-case studies using 34 in-depth interviews. This paper relies on three cases of immigrant entrepreneurs originating from Mexico and Colombia that established firms in Sweden.

The results suggest that EO development trajectories vary in the presence of family roles (i.e. inspirers, backers and partners), resulting in the immigrant family business configurations of family-role-influenced proactiveness, risk-taking and innovation.

The immigrant family configurations drive three EO-enabling scenarios: (1) home-country framing, (2) family backing and (3) transnational translating. Immigrant family dynamics facilitate the development of EO over time through reciprocal interaction processes across contexts. This study indicates that, through family dynamics, EO develops as mutually interactive processes between the immigrant entrepreneur's family in the home and host countries.

This paper delves into cross-border E-business, unraveling its intricate dynamics and forecasting its future trajectory.

This paper projects the prospective market size of cross-border E-business in China for the year 2023 using the GM (1,1) gray forecasting model. Furthermore, to enhance the analysis, the paper attempts to simulate and forecast the size of China’s cross-border E-business sector using the GM (1,3) gray model. This extended model considers not only the historical trends of cross-border E-business but also the growth patterns of GDP and the digital economy.

The forecast indicates a market size of 18,760 to 18,934 billion RMB in 2023, aligning with the consistent growth observed in previous years. This suggests a sustained positive trajectory for cross-border E-business.

Cross-border e-commerce critically shapes China’s global integration and traditional industry development. The research in this paper provides insights beyond statistical trends, contributing to a nuanced understanding of the pivotal role played by cross-border e-commerce in shaping China’s economic future.

Crowdfunding (CF) is a digital-financial innovation that, bypassing credit crisis, bank system rigidities and constraints of the capital market, is allowing new ventures and established companies to get the needed funds to support innovations. After one decade of research, mainly focused on relations between variables and outcomes of the CF campaign, the literature shows methodological lacks about the study of its overall behavior. These reflect into a weak theoretical understanding and inconsistent managerial guidance, leading to a 27% success ratio of campaigns. To bridge this gap, this paper embraces a “complex system” perspective of the CF campaign, able to explore the system's behavior of a campaign over time, in light of its causal loop structure.

By adopting and following the document model building (DMB) methodology, a set of 26 variables and mutual causal relations modeled the system “Crowdfunding campaign” and a data set based on them and crafted to model the “Crowdfunding campaign” with a causal loop diagram. Finally, system archetypes have been used to link the causal loop structure with qualitative trends of CF's behavior (i.e. the raised capital over time).

The research brought to 26 variables making the system a “Crowdfunding campaign.” The variables influence each other, thus showing a set of feedback loops, whose structure determines the behavior of the CF campaign. The causal loop structure is traced back to three system archetypes, presiding the behavior in three stages of the campaign.

The value of this paper is both methodological and theoretical. First, the DMB methodology has been expanded and reinforced concerning previous applications; second, we carried out a causation analysis, unlike the common correlation analysis; further, we created a theoretical model of a “Crowdfunding Campaign” unlike the common empirical models built on CF platform's data.

The purpose of this paper is to try to reach the main factors that could put national security at risk as a result of government cloud computing programs.

The paper adopts the analytical approach to first lay foundations of the relation between national security, cybersecurity and cloud computing, then it moves to analyze the main vulnerabilities that could affect national security in cases of government cloud computing usage.

The paper reached several findings such as the relation between cybersecurity and national security as well as a group of factors that may affect national security when governments shift to cloud computing mainly pertaining to storing data over the internet, the involvement of a third party, the lack of clear regulatory frameworks inside and between countries.

Governments are continuously working on developing their digital capacities to meet citizens’ demands. One of the most trending technologies adopted by governments is “cloud computing”, because of the tremendous advantages that the technology provides; such as huge cost-cutting, huge storage and computing capabilities. However, shifting to cloud computing raises a lot of security concerns.

The value of the paper resides in the novelty of the topic, which is a new contribution to the theoretical literature on relations between new technologies and national security. It is empirically important as well to help governments stay safe while enjoying the advantages of cloud computing.

The paper aims to contribute to the broader literature on just transition by examining the intersection of technology and justice, and identifying opportunities for bridging the gap between theory and practice. The work seeks to emphasize the importance of transformative change, which ensures that no individual, community or sector is left behind in the transition towards a sustainable future, both on a global and local scale.

The paper explores the potential for linking justice to the ongoing technological transition, focusing on its impacts on climate and sustainability. Drawing on various sociological, environmental and technological studies, this work examines the intersections between justice and technological change. Through a qualitative analysis of case studies and a review of literature, the article offers insights and recommendations for policymakers, practitioners and scholars involved in the pursuit of a sustainable and equitable future.

The paper concludes that balancing environmental, social and economic goals is necessary on a large scale within the framework of a “just transition”, in order to ensure that no individual, community or sector is left behind in the path to a sustainable future. This involves reflecting on sensitive issues such as competition, intellectual property, market openness, liability and fighting against inequalities. Additionally, it requires considering smart and welfare policies from a multilevel perspective.

The originality of this work lies in its contribution to advancing the understanding of the limitations of a technology-centric approach to climate action and the need for systemic changes. The paper emphasizes the importance of addressing social equity, policy reform and collective action in conjunction with technological transition to achieve a sustainable future. It highlights the risks of overlooking the systemic drivers of the climate crisis, such as unsustainable consumption patterns and reliance on fossil fuels, while pursuing technological solutions. Furthermore, the work emphasizes the relevance of the Sustainable Development Goals of Agenda 2030 in guiding a just transition towards sustainability.

Key to transnational higher education (HE) cooperation is building trust to allow for seamless recognition of studies. Building on the Tuning Educational Structures initiative (2001) and lessons learnt from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)-Assessment of Learning Outcomes in Higher Education (AHELO) feasibility study, this paper offers a sophisticated approach developed by the European Union (EU)-co-financed project Measuring and Comparing Achievements of Learning Outcomes in Europe (CALOHEE). These evidence the quality and relevance of learning by applying transparent and reliable indicators at the overarching and disciplinary levels. The model results allow for transnational diagnostic assessments to identify the strength and weaknesses of degree programmes.

The materials presented have been developed from 2016 to 2023, applying a bottom-up approach involving approximately 150 academics from 20+ European countries, reflecting the full spectrum of academic fields. Based on intensive face-to-face debate and consultation of stakeholders and anchored in academic literature and wide experience.

As a result, general (overarching) state-of-the-art reference frameworks have been prepared for the associated degree, bachelor, master and doctorate, as well as aligned qualifications reference frameworks and more detailed learning outcomes/assessment frameworks for 11 subject areas, offering a sound basis for quality assurance. As a follow-up, actual assessment formats for five academic fields have been developed to allow for measuring the actual level of learning at the institutional level from a comparative perspective.

Frameworks as well as assessment models and items are highly innovative, content-wise as in the strategy of development, involving renown academics finding common ground. Its value is not limited to Europe but has global significance. The model developed, is also relevant for micro-credentials in defining levels of mastery.

The purpose of this study is to examine the South African banks’ customer due diligence (CDD) practices in the fintech era to mitigate money laundering (ML) risks and ensure financial stability. Financial technologies have brought substantial transformations to the financial services sector. However, such technologies have exposed the sector to emerging risks that threaten the integrity and stability of the financial system globally. Before any bank–customer relationship is established, proper customer background checks must be conducted. These background checks enable financial institutions to validate information provided and ensure customers are properly risk profiled. Failure to risk profile customers could result in financial institutions being used as conduits for ML. Undoubtedly, CDD procedures are pivotal to overall anti-money laundering efforts and curbing financing terrorism in a regulatory framework.

A qualitative research approach was adopted to address the research questions of the study. Given the confidentiality associated with the financial services sector, data triangulation was used in blending mainly secondary and primary data sources. Secondary data sources used in the study were published reports available in the public domain that were corroborated with subject matter experts’ interviews.

Based on the findings of this study, it is concluded that in South Africa, technological solutions have been incorporated into CDD functions, which is now risk-based (enhanced due diligence). Also, legally, South Africa has incorporated the biometrics, integration with Department of Home Affairs and Companies and Intellectual Property Commission databases, customer consent to third-party sources with the Financial Intelligence Centre Act and the Protection of Personal Information Act.

The shift towards digital banking in South Africa results in increased data and dynamic risk profiling. This study advocates a policy shift requiring a risk-based approach to mitigating emerging ML risks (in particular digital laundering), especially in the wake of South Africa’s recent greylisting by the Financial Action Task Force.

In this paper, the authors aim to introduce international dynamic marketing capabilities (IDMCs) theoretically derived from marketing capabilities (MCs), dynamic marketing capabilities (DMCs) and international marketing capabilities (IMCs) and provide a novel conceptualization of the concept by applying a holistic view of the international enterprise.

This is a literature review that maps the current research on MCs, DMCs and IMCs and serves as a basis for the theoretical conceptualization of a novel IDMCs concept as well as for the identification of research gaps and the development of future research directions on this phenomenon.

Existing typologies of MCs, DMCs and IMCs are classified into four categories: strategic, operational, analytical and value creation capabilities. A new typology of IDMCs is proposed, consisting of digital MC and dynamic internationalization capability as strategic capabilities, agile IMC, IM excellence and absorptive capability in IM as operational capabilities, IM resilience capability, IM knowledge management capability, AI-enabled IDMC and Industry 4.0-enabled IDMC as analytical capabilities, and ambidextrous IM innovation capability as value creation capability. Finally, the authors identify research gaps and develop research questions that open future research avenues for the coming years.

This paper offers a novel view of MCs, DMCs and IMCs and argues that, in contrast to the majority of previous research, a comprehensive understanding of these is only possible if all levels are considered simultaneously: the strategic, the operational, the analytical and the value creation level. A new conceptualization and typology of IDMCs follows this logic.