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The insurance industry has been slow to adopt digital technologies due to high barriers to entry, product complexity, capital reserves, solvency requirements, and regulatory constraints. This chapter focuses on how insurtech is disrupting the insurance industry, resulting in a transformation from a traditional structure to a dynamic user-centric ecosystem. Next, it highlights the insurtech ecosystem by providing an in-depth analysis of the new paradigm on how insurtech is transitioning from the linear value chain to a more dynamic and interconnected value network. Finally, this chapter defines a perspective of insurtech's impact by identifying three waves of transformation within the insurance industry and understanding the evolution and chronology of insurtech's influence. Thus, this chapter provides insights into the opportunities and challenges of this technological breakthrough, offering a comprehensive view of insurtech's transformative journey within the insurance landscape.

Firms need competitiveness in terms of quality, price, and delivery to satisfy public sector customers. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of innovation capability on this competitiveness in a market-oriented firm and to determine the role of supply chain integration and marketing-technical integration in enhancing innovation capability.

A theoretical model was developed to test hypotheses. Data was collected from 199 top-level managers serving pharmaceutical companies. Partial least squares-structural equation modelling was used for datas analysis.

The results highlight the vital role of innovation capability in the development of firm competitiveness. Significant results for all relationships were obtained. The effect of market orientation on supply-chain integration was stronger than its effect on marketing-technical integration. Partial multi-mediation of supply chain integration and marketing-technical integration was found in the relation between market orientation and innovation capability.

The study helps managers develop an efficient strategy by using firms’ innovation capability to supply products according to public sector customer needs.

The study is based on a real-time practical problem faced by firms, as the majority of them fail to sell their products to public sector customers. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the current study is one of the first studies that discusses the role of innovation capability at the marketing-supply chain management interface to help a firm become an attractive supplier for public sector customers.

Aside from grappling with technological advancements, enterprises in the industrial internet era are embracing business model innovation to align with the evolution of the industrial internet. However, a gap persists in the existing research regarding the strategies and methods available to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for executing business model innovation. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the connotation, characteristics and logic of business model innovation for SMEs in the industrial internet era.

To explore the business model innovation logic of small and medium-sized enterprises in the era of industrial internet, the paper adopts a longitudinal single-case study approach, with PAYA, a medium-sized enterprise in the electromechanical industry, serving as the subject of research. It systematically analyzes PAYA’s business model innovation, centering on four key elements of the business model: value proposition, value creation, value delivery and value capture.

The study proposes two types of business model innovation, namely, “Migration” and “Expansion”, and explains the logic of business model innovation for SMEs in the industrial internet era: faced with a rapidly changing market environment, entrepreneurs put forward the value proposition through the insight of the market environment, then enterprises conduct technological innovation to support the value creation by their own unique experience and knowledge, and then improve the legitimacy of the market by expanding the influence of market acceptance of the new business model to promote the value delivery, and finally capture the economic value and ecological value.

The types and logic of business model innovation proposed in this paper contribute to supplementing and developing the theory of business model innovation and meanwhile have important reference value for SMEs in the industrial internet era.

This paper aims to explore three operations and supply chain management (OSCM) approaches for meeting the 2 °C targets to counteract climate change: adaptation (adjusting to climatic impacts); mitigation (innovating towards low-carbon practices); and carbon-removing negative emissions technologies (NETs). We suggest that adaptation nor mitigation may be enough to meet the current climate targets, thus calling for NETs, resulting in the following question: How can operations and supply chains be reconceptualized for NETs?

We draw on the sustainable supply chain and transitions discourses along with interview data involving 125 experts gathered from a broad research project focused on geoengineering and NETs. We analyze three case studies of emerging NETs (biochar, direct air carbon capture and storage and ocean alkalinity enhancement), leading to propositions on the link between OSCM and NETs.

Although some NETs are promising, there remains considerable variance and uncertainty over supply chain configurations, efficacy, social acceptability and potential risks of unintended detrimental consequences. We introduce the concept of transformative OSCM, which encompasses policy interventions to foster the emergence of new technologies in industry sectors driven by social mandates but lack clear commercial incentives.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is among the first that studies NETs from an OSCM perspective. It suggests a pathway toward new industry structures and policy support to effectively tackle climate change through carbon removal.

This paper examines the relationship between open innovation (measured by exploratory and exploitative linkages) and firm-level innovative activity in the offshore renewable energy (ORE) sector.

A unique, purpose-built survey that targeted firms operating in the ORE sector and its supply chain was used. The data provides novel insights into the research activities and networking capabilities of an industry in its infant stages of development. Regression models are used to estimate the relationship between firm-level external linkages and innovative activity.

Exploratory linkages are positively related to more innovative activity. This relationship is subject to diminishing returns, distinguishing the ORE sector from other sectors. Collaborating with suppliers and accessing scientific journals are conducive to research and development (R&D) activity and process innovation, whilst collaborating with customers is associated with the decision to introduce new products and processes.

This study provides evidence of a positive, but curvilinear, relationship between external knowledge linkages and innovative activity, adding novel insights into the relationship between open innovation (OI) strategies, research and innovation outcomes for firms predominantly in the introductory stages of the technological life cycle with limited commercialisation experience. The nuanced finding that specific linkages matter for certain research and innovation (R&I) outcomes adds deeper complexity to March’s (1991) framework, where tailoring certain exploratory or exploitative linkages to specific innovation activities is important.

This paper examines how different configurations of societal impact are pursued by purpose-driven organizations (PDOs) and how these configurations align with the application of varying supply chain design (SCD) practices.

This multi-method study uses quantitative data from 1588 B Corps and qualitative data from 316 B Corps to examine how PDOs align SCD with the pursuit of diverse types of societal impact. The authors first conduct a cluster analysis to group organizations based on the impact they create. Second, qualitative content analysis connects impact with enabling SCD elements.

The analysis of the five identified clusters provides detailed empirical insights on influencers, design decisions and building blocks adopted by PDOs to drive a range of societal impacts. Specifically, the nature of the impact pursued affects (1) whether a PDO will be more influenced by a need in the political environment or an opportunity in the industry environment, (2) the relative importance of the design of social flows versus material flows and (3) the need to develop new relational resources with beneficiaries versus leveraging existing capabilities to manage inter-firm processes.

This study responds to calls to disaggregate different dimensions of societal impact and examines the relationship between SCD and a breadth of sustainability impacts for different stakeholders. In doing so, the authors identify four SCD pathways organizations can follow to achieve specific societal impacts. This study is also the first to employ a supply chain perspective in the study of certified B Corps.

This paper seeks to explore the influence of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) on employee performance in the workplace, viewed from a managerial perspective. It concentrates on key elements such as employee engagement, trust in GenAI and attitudes toward its implementation. This exploration is motivated by the ongoing evolution of GenAI, which presents managers with the crucial task of understanding and integrating this technology into their strategic frameworks.

We collected 251 responses from managers and senior managers representing companies that have embraced GenAI in Spain. A hierarchical regression analysis was employed to examine the hypotheses. Subsequently, mediating effects and moderated mediation effects were scrutinized using the bias-corrected bootstrapping method.

The data analysis suggests a significant enhancement in employee engagement and performance from a managerial perspective, attributed to improved attitudes and trust toward the adoption of GenAI. This conclusion is drawn from our research conducted with samples collected in Spain. Notably, our findings indicate that while positive attitudes toward GenAI correlate with enhanced engagement and performance, there exists a weakening effect on the significant positive impact of GenAI adoption in the workplace. This suggests that GenAI is still in its early stages of adoption within these companies, necessitating additional time for managers to develop greater confidence in its efficacy.

This study represents one of the pioneering investigations centered on the implementation of GenAI within the workplace context. It contributes significantly to the existing body of literature concerning the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model in technology innovation adoption within work environments.

This study identifies a methodology to explore the issues of enterprise innovation ecosystem health (EIEH).

First, this study constructs the indicator system of EIEH based on the research objective; second, the dynamic vertical projection method (DVPM) and entropy weight method are proposed to analyze the status and influencing factors of EIEH; finally, the future development of EIEH is analyzed using GM (1,1).

In terms of methodology, the DVPM can effectively analyze EIEH, which can not only analyze the development status and potential of EIEH every year but also analyze the comprehensive state of EIEH for many years. In terms of practice, the value and grade of EIEH in China have been gradually increasing from 2016 to 2020, but the overall development is unbalanced, and five key factors affecting EIEH have been identified. The EIEH in China is predicted to steadily grow from 2021 to 2025.

The analytical method employed in this study can effectively analyze EIEH, which provides a new analytical perspective for the evaluation of EIEH and enriches the research content of the enterprise innovation ecosystem (EIE). By analyzing the results, we can gain a comprehensive understanding of the state of different EIEs, enabling each EIE to design tailored remedial measures to enhance EIEH and achieve sustainable development.

This research aims to investigate how organisational and contextual factors affect supply chain collaboration and how that, in turn, influences firms' competitive advantage in the garment industry in the context of Vietnam, a developing country.

Following a qualitative research design, in-depth interviews were conducted with senior managers who are involved in supply chain collaboration in twelve garment companies in Vietnam. The data were recorded, transcribed and analysed using NVivo 12. Based on the literature and interview findings, a research model underpinned by the relational view (RV) and institutional theories, with organisational and contextual factors being the antecedents and competitive advantage as the outcome of supply chain collaboration, was proposed.

The findings showed that organisational and contextual factors induce both internal, supplier and customer supply chain collaboration. There is also a positive relationship between supply chain collaboration and competitive advantage. Based on these findings, a strategy matrix for supply chain collaboration is also put forward.

This is one of the first empirical attempts to investigate the role of organisational and contextual factors as potential antecedents of supply chain collaboration and its effects on competitive advantage in the garment industry. The research is expected to enrich both the literature and management practices on supply chain collaboration in the context of developing countries.

This research aims to investigate how absorptive capacity impacts artisan businesses' innovation performance in Jammu and Kashmir, India. Additionally, the study examines the role of strategic orientation (customer and technological orientation) as a mediator.

The study analysed data from 408 artisan entrepreneurs using partial least squares structural equation modelling. The research model was built on the “Dynamic-Capability Theory” of absorptive capacity and the “Resource-Based Theory” of performance.

The study’s findings suggest that both realised and potential absorptive capacity positively and significantly impact innovation performance. Moreover, customer and technology orientations positively and strongly influence innovation performance. Additionally, potential and realised absorptive capacity has a favourable impact on customer and technology orientation. The mediation analysis results indicate that customer and technological orientation have complementary partial mediation between potential absorptive capacity and innovation performance. Finally, mediating variables like customer and technological orientation show complementary partial mediation for realised absorptive capacity.

The research model would enrich the existing literature and offer an improved understanding of how absorptive capacity enhances the innovation performance among artisan entrepreneurs and concurrently validates the theory of “Dynamic-Capability Theory” of absorptive capacity and the “Resource Based Theory” of innovation performance of a firm.