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Climate change requires the reduction of direct and indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, a task that seems to clash with increasing supply chain complexity. This study aims to analyse the upstream supply chain complexity dimensions suggesting the importance of understanding the information processing that these may entail. Reducing equivocality can be an issue in some dimensions, requiring the introduction of written guidelines to moderate the effects of supply chain complexity dimensions on GHG emissions at the firm and supply chain level.

A three-year panel data was built with information obtained from Bloomberg, Trucost and Compustat. Hypotheses were tested using random effect regressions with robust standard errors on a sample of 394 SP500 companies, addressing endogeneity through the control function approach.

Horizontal complexity reduces GHG emissions at the firm level, whereas vertical and spatial complexity dimensions increase GHG emissions at the firm and supply chain level. Although the introduction of written guidelines neutralises the negative effects of vertical complexity on firm and supply chain GHG emissions, it is not sufficient in the presence of spatial complexity.

This paper offers novel insights by suggesting that managers need to reconcile the potential trade-off effects on GHG emissions that horizontally complex supply chain structures can present. Their priority in vertically and spatially complex supply chain structures should be to reduce equivocality.

The current tourism model based on luxury hotel resorts in the Gulf of Papagayo (Guanacaste, Costa Rica) is largely affecting the living condition of its nearby communities. This paper aims to discuss the importance of promoting public–private partnerships (PPPs) as innovative forms of governance to increase the sustainability of this tourism model.

Based on the review of institutional documents and the PPP literature, this article critically maps each stage of the process to design PPPs for sustainable tourism, taking into account the case of Guanacaste. In this way, it offers a practical guideline to plan partnerships involving academia, public institutions and private partners in particular tourism sites.

The paper shows that the feasibility of a PPP in Guanacaste strongly depends on the alignment of partners’ local interests, on the adequacy of the partnership to the social and economic conditions of the context wherein it has to be carried out, and on the appropriation of results from partners.

This work combines a theoretical and practical perspective to understand the interactive process to be carried out to design PPPs in developing tourism destinations.

This study aims to address three research questions pertaining to climate neutrality within the supply chain of metal and mining industry: (1) How can an organization implement practices related to climate neutrality in the supply chain? (2) How do members of the supply chain adopt different measures and essential processes to assist an organization in responding to climate change-related concerns? (3) How can the SAP-LAP framework assist in analyzing and proposing solutions to attain climate neutrality?

To address the proposed research questions concerning climate neutrality, this study employs a case study approach utilizing the SAP-LAP (situation, actor, process–learning, action, performance) framework. Within the SAP-LAP framework, adopting a natural resource-based perspective, the study thoroughly examines the intricacies and interactions among existing situations, pertinent actors and processes that impact climate initiatives within a metal and mining company.

The study's findings suggest that organizations can achieve the objective of climate neutrality by prioritizing resources and capabilities that lead to reduced GHG emissions, lower energy consumption and optimal resource utilization. The study further proposes key elements that significantly influence the pursuit of climate neutrality within enterprises.

This study is one of the earliest contributions to the development of a holistic understanding of climate neutrality in the supply chain of the metal and mining industry.

The study will assist practitioners and policymakers in comprehending the present circumstances, actors and processes involved in enterprises' supply networks in order to attain climate neutrality in supply chains, as well as in taking the right steps to enhance performance.

This study presents a climate neutrality model and provides valuable insights into emission management, contributing to the achievement of the climate neutrality objective.

Despite differing strategies towards environmental sustainability in developed and developing nations, the manufacturing sector in these regional domains faces substantial environmental issues. The purpose of this study is to examine the green-lean-six sigma (GLSS) enablers and outcomes for enhancing environmental sustainability of manufacturing firms in both, a developed and developing country context by using an environment-centric natural resource-based view (NRBV).

First, a framework of GLSS enablers and outcomes aligned with the NRBV strategic capabilities is proposed through a systematic literature review. Second, this framework is used to empirically investigate the GLSS enablers and outcomes of manufacturing firms through in-depth interviews with lean six sigma and environmental consultants from New Zealand (NZ) and Pakistan (PK) (developed and developing nations).

Analysis from both regional domains highlights the use of GLSS enablers and outcomes under different NRBV capabilities of pollution prevention, product stewardship and sustainable development. A comparison reveals that NZ firms practice GLSS to comply with environmental regulatory requirements, avoid penalties and maintain their clean-green image. Conversely, Pakistani firms execute GLSS to reduce energy use, satisfy international customers and create a green image.

This paper provides new insights on GLSS for environmental sustainability which can assist industrial experts and academia for future strategies and research.

This is one of the early comparative studies that has used the NRBV to investigate GLSS enablers and outcomes in manufacturing firms for enhancing environmental performance comparing developed and developing nations

Manufacturing companies continue to encounter a diverse set of obstacles while embracing sustainable development goals. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to explore critical sustainable development-related barriers to flexible packaging manufacturing companies in the New Zealand context.

Drawing on a qualitative multiple case studies approach, the authors collected data from the New Zealand flexible packaging industry. Semistructured interviews were conducted with the senior corporate managers in two large flexible packaging companies. Following the thematic analysis approach, the authors analyzed the information collected from the participants and synthesized our findings under the key dimensions of internal and external barriers to sustainable development.

The findings revealed that internal barriers to sustainable flexible packaging are linked to economic, operational and technical issues. Conversely, external barriers include global crises and disruption, customer behavior and preferences and institutional and infrastructural-related aspects. Based on the analysis of empirical findings, the authors further identified the underlying reasons for sustainable flexible packaging barriers and recommended guidelines that could assist corporate managers and policymakers in addressing obstacles inhibiting the flexible packaging industry from adopting sustainable business practices.

The authors argue that this study is one of the early studies to consider inhibiting factors to incorporate sustainable development into the New Zealand flexible packaging industry context. Building on a range of theoretical perspectives, the authors extend the current body of knowledge seeking to advance the sustainable development agenda in the New Zealand flexible packaging industry and offer recommended pathways fostering sustainable development in a distinctive manufacturing context.

This paper aims to provide answers to the question: “What are the key innovative strategies needed for future tourism in the world?” At the outset, this paper redefines the word “innovation” in the context of the hospitality and tourism industry. It then captures the essence of 13 proceeding papers on innovative initiatives in 17 countries and presents concluding remarks to this Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes (WHATT) theme issue on innovation (v. 11 n. 2, 2019).

This paper draws from a wide spectrum of innovation types, concepts, strategies, suggestions and solutions written by 24 authors, who cumulatively have valuable and diverse experience in managing, operating, teaching, researching and consulting on innovation.

Innovation is relevant to all macro- and micro-level aspects of all industries. In conclusion, to identify common elements in all 13 papers, the author presents a shorter definition: “Innovation is the art of implementing new ideas to improve productivity, products and services, while enhancing customer satisfaction, revenues and profitability”. In addition, he emphasizes that innovation needs vision, mission and passion!

This research contributes to the emerging research theme of innovation in the hospitality and tourism industry and extends/re-defines the word: “innovation”.

There are significant practical implications in terms of industry approaches to use innovative strategies across the world.

Readers who are interested in international best practices of hospitality and tourism would benefit from this paper.

The advantages of offshoring are increasingly under scrutiny, and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has advanced the debate, calling for a redefinition of firms' production location strategies. While attention has primarily focused on the relocation of second-degree strategies, such as back-shoring, near-shoring and further offshoring, there are also other alternatives, including home country-based domestic product and process innovations, and the development of new business activities. The objective of the authors' paper is to identify which factors influence decision-makers when they select and implement such post-offshoring strategic alternatives.

The authors consider 11 Italian manufacturing companies that implemented these strategies and analyze triggers, drivers, enabling factors and barriers of the decision phase, as well as content, governance mode and timing of the implementation phase.

Based on the collected findings, the authors suggest a set of propositions for further research. First of all, firms can simultaneously manage multiple strategies by adopting an ambidextrous approach through which to mitigate supply chain risks. They may integrate their domestic and international production activities, but the home country remains central for innovations and production of high-end products and Industry 4.0 technologies increases the probability of investing in their home country. At the same time, lack of competence induces selective near- and back-shoring, while full back-shoring is mainly a consequence of managerial mistakes. Competence availability acts as a barrier to relocation in the home country, inducing the implementation of either an insourcing strategy or a combination of insourcing and outsourcing.

The authors' work identifies post-offshoring as a dynamic process and provides insights into the post-pandemic scenario. The conceptual framework may represent a useful tool for company managers in re-evaluating their initial offshoring strategies.

We present a critical literature review debating Brazilian research on social and environmental accounting (SEA). The aim of this study is to understand the role of politics in the construction of hegemonies in SEA research in Brazil. In particular, we examine the role of hegemony in relation to the co-option of SEA literature and sustainability in the Brazilian context by the logic of development for economic growth in emerging economies. The methodological approach adopts a post-structural perspective that reflects Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory. The study employs a hermeneutical, rhetorical approach to understand and classify 352 Brazilian research articles on SEA. We employ Brown and Fraser’s (2006) categorizations of SEA literature to help in our analysis: the business case, the stakeholder–accountability approach, and the critical case. We argue that the business case is prominent in Brazilian studies. Second-stage analysis suggests that the major themes under discussion include measurement, consulting, and descriptive approach. We argue that these themes illustrate the degree of influence of the hegemonic politics relevant to emerging economics, as these themes predominantly concern economic growth and a capitalist context. This paper discusses trends and practices in the Brazilian literature on SEA and argues that the focus means that SEA avoids critical debates of the role of capitalist logics in an emerging economy concerning sustainability. We urge the Brazilian academy to understand the implications of its reifying agenda and engage, counter-hegemonically, in a social and political agenda beyond the hegemonic support of a particular set of capitalist interests.

The cost-optimal analysis is not able to address the multi-dimensionality of the decision according to the new European objectives and International sustainable development goals in the field of the nearly-zero energy building (NZEB) design. The purpose of this paper is to study the role of multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) for guiding energy investment decisions.

The paper explores the Preference ranking organization method for enrichment of evaluations II (PROMETHEE II) application to support the project of transforming a rural building into a NZEB. The evaluation provides an estimate of the effects of alternative energy efficiency measures, involving energy consumption, life cycle costs, carbon emissions, property value and indoor comfort criteria. The study performs a multi-actors analysis in order to understand how different consumers' point of views can influence the final choice of the best investment. Furthermore, a multi-site analysis explores the spatial variation of NZEB building appreciation in the real estate market.

The PROMETHEE II-based model ranks 16 alternative solutions for the NZEB according to energy, economic and extra-economic criteria. The multi-actors analysis highlights the configuration of the NZEB building that best meets the needs of different end-users, respecting the European directives and national standards. The multi-site analysis concludes that location does not change users' appreciation and not influence the output for the best solution.

The MCDA occurs as a support tool that helps to optimize the preliminary design phase of NZEB through the exploration of the optimal solution considering crucial criteria in the energy and environmental and real estate market rules.

Global value chains (GVCs) have been challenged by several emerging macro-trends during the last years. Among them, sustainability of production and consumption patterns is becoming a central theme given the necessity to mitigate the degradation of the environment and the over-exploitation of scarce natural resources. In this respect, scholars and practitioners increasingly propose the circular economy (CE) approach as a systemic solution to overcome the conventional linear “take–make–use–dispose” model underlying the structure of contemporary global economy. However, the international business (IB) community has introduced the topic of CE only marginally in its debate. The aim of the present study is to fill this research gap identifying the opportunities for integrating IB and CE principles. Thus, the main objective is to investigate whether and how the adoption of the CE paradigm by multinational enterprises (MNEs) may affect activities, geographical configuration, and governance of their relevant GVCs.

The authors address the issue from a conceptual point of view, identifying direct and indirect impacts of CE adoption on GVC, relative enablers, and possible broader implications. Lastly, the authors propose some reflections for future investigations.