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This study investigates the relationships among digital transformation, technological innovation, industry–university–research collaborations and labor income share in manufacturing firms.

The relationships are tested using an empirical method, constructing regression models, by collecting 1,240 manufacturing firms and 9,029 items listed on the A-share market in China from 2013 to 2020.

The results indicate that digital transformation has a positive effect on manufacturing companies’ labor income share. Technological innovation can mediate the effect of digital transformation on labor income share. Industry–university–research cooperation can positively moderate the promotion effect of digital transformation on labor income share but cannot moderate the mediating effect of technological innovation. Heterogeneity analysis also found that firms without service-based transformation and nonstate-owned firms are better able to increase their labor income share through digital transformation.

This study provides a new path to increase the labor income share of enterprises to achieve common prosperity, which is important for manufacturing enterprises to better transform and upgrade to achieve high-quality development.

While the theory and practice of open innovation networks are flourishing, green innovation in manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is stagnant. This study explores the mechanism driving green innovation in manufacturing SMEs under open innovation networks based on the role of innovation platforms' relational governance.

A quantitative study was conducted using questionnaires to collect data from 270 manufacturing SMEs in Zhejiang Province and employing a structural equation model to test the developed hypotheses.

The results revealed that innovation platforms' relational governance positively affects green innovation in manufacturing SMEs. Furthermore, the collaborative innovation atmosphere and risk perception mediate this relationship through a respective mediating role and a chain-mediating role.

This study is the first to empirically investigate the mechanism of the influence of innovation platforms' relational governance on green innovation in manufacturing SMEs, provide a new perspective for understanding the antecedents of green innovation under open innovation networks, and expand the theoretical research on open innovation management.

The study aims to determine the impact of sustainable manufacturing on environmental performance through government regulation and eco-innovation in Indonesian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The results indicate sustainable manufacturing plays a significant role in SMEs' environmental performance and regulations, and eco-innovation can moderate it. It also reveals that government regulation has a positive and significant effect on environmental performance. Moreover, eco-innovation has a positive and significant effect on environmental performance.

The findings of this study indicate that SMEs can embrace sustainable manufacturing practices and achieve their long-term sustainability goals by adhering to regulations, collaborating with stakeholders and implementing eco-friendly innovations.

This research uncovers ground-breaking perspectives on the evolution of scientific knowledge about the impact of eco-innovation, regulatory measures and sustainable manufacturing practices on the environmental performance of SMEs.

The purpose of this study is twofold: to examine the impact of entrepreneurial competencies and innovation on manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises' (SMEs) sustainable performance and to explore the role of innovation as a mediator on the relationship between entrepreneurial competencies and manufacturing SMEs' sustainable performance.

Data collected from manufacturing SMEs in Malaysia were analysed via the partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) approach.

The results reveal that entrepreneurial competencies play a robust and noteworthy role in promoting innovation and the sustainable performance of manufacturing SMEs, respectively. Further, innovation has a partially mediated effect on the link between entrepreneurial competencies and manufacturing SMEs' sustainable performance. Manufacturing SMEs' aspirations to be the first to market with new products are reflected in these SMEs' implementation of positive entrepreneurial competencies or capabilities which enable them to scan the environment to identify high-quality business opportunities and respond through these SMEs' Research and Development (R&D) activities to create products that provide real benefit to customers' needs. Hence, these SME's seize the market opportunities.

Manufacturing SMEs' sustainable performance should be strengthened by linking entrepreneurial competencies with innovation to nurture greater agility to respond quickly to change and market demands. These SMEs should conduct tactical meetings on a regular basis to discuss current projects and assess critical indicators, as well as to identify and test fresh ideas for innovation and new business ventures in order to achieve sustainable performance in challenging business environments.

By applying the resource-based view (RBV) theory and the triple bottom line (TBL) framework into a single framework, this study highlights the role of innovation as a meaningful mediator between entrepreneurial competencies and manufacturing SMEs' sustainable performance. As exploration of this relationship has been very limited, the study makes a novel contribution to the extant literature.

With technological innovation elements and the competitive market environment becoming increasingly complex, numerous firms utilize network embeddedness to achieve and sustain innovation. However, empirical research has not conclusively established which form of network embeddedness more effectively facilitates corporate innovation. Drawing on the heterogeneous network resources perspective, this study explores the impact of market network embeddedness, technology network embeddedness and their synergy on the green innovation performance of manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Furthermore, it investigates the moderating role of resource orchestration capability in these relationships.

Through an online questionnaire survey of Chinese manufacturing SMEs, 293 sample data were collected, and the hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to test the hypothesis.

The results indicate that market and technology network embeddedness significantly enhance green innovation performance, with the former exerting a more significant impact. Furthermore, the synergy between market and technology network embeddedness positively influences green innovation performance. Additionally, resource orchestration capability strengthens the positive effects of both market and technology network embeddedness on green innovation performance, while the moderating effect of resource orchestration capability on the relationship between the synergy of the two and green innovation performance was insignificant.

The study faced many limitations, such as collecting primary data, which relied on a questionnaire only, using cross-sectional data and examining only manufacturing SMEs.

Based on the heterogeneous network resources perspective and integrating social network theory and resource orchestration theory, this study explores the impact of network embeddedness on the green innovation performance of manufacturing SMEs, which sheds new light on the network embeddedness research framework and also enriches the antecedents of green innovation. In addition, this study provides implications on how manufacturing SMEs effectively utilize network embeddedness and resource orchestration capability to enhance green innovation performance.

Export manufacturing firms from emerging markets can better meet customer needs by providing customization, which leads to competitive advantages. Although both practice and academic research have deeply discussed customization, the question of whether customization promotes export manufacturing firms' product innovation in the global B2B market is largely unexplored. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue.

This paper collects survey data from 2,248 export manufacturing firms in China and uses hierarchical moderated regression to explore the relationship between customization and product innovation in the global B2B market and their boundary conditions.

This research shows that customization positively affects export manufacturing firms' product innovation in the context of the global B2B market, and it shows that internal governance structure (contract governance and relationship governance) and external governance structure (legal enforceability) can be used as boundary conditions that affect the relationship. Specifically, contract governance has an inverted U-shaped moderating effect on the relationship between customization and product innovation; moreover, relationship governance and legal enforceability can strengthen the positive relationship between customization and product innovation.

The study explores the relationship between customization and product innovation in the global B2B market and examines the moderating effect of internal and external governance structures. In addition, the study enriches the research related to customization and product innovation in the context of the global B2B market and provides essential practical insight into the survival of export manufacturing firms from emerging markets.

Drawing on the integration of the knowledge-based theory and the resource orchestration theory, this study aims to develop a moderated mediation model on how design/manufacturing/administrative advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) influences product innovation performance. The authors hypothesized that the absorption capacity could mediate the AMT-innovation performance link and that design–manufacturing integration (DMI) could positively moderate the mediating effect of the absorption capacity.

To test the hypothesis, the authors conducted a mail survey of equipment manufacturing firms and obtained 302 valid responses for data analysis. Both hierarchical regression and bootstrapping analysis were conducted to empirically test the research model.

It is revealed that the absorption capacity partially mediated the effect of AMT on innovation and that DMI enhanced the mediated effect. Specifically, the mediating effect of the absorption capacity was more substantial and significant when DMI was high. However, the mediating effect of the absorption capacity was weaker and insignificant when DMI was low.

Overall, this study contributes to the AMT theory on innovation by identifying the absorption capacity and DMI as two key factors that elucidate why and under what conditions AMT affects innovation. Moreover, this study advises managers that besides developing AMT, firms should cultivate a strong DMI, which directs the absorption capacity toward converting the valuable knowledge in firms’ capital equipment into increased innovation performance.

Although there is a growing body of literature on the benefits of innovation ecosystem participation for keystone/focal firms, there are limited studies on what motivates or impedes other actors’ participation (i.e. suppliers and complementors) in collaborative innovation. Hence, this study aims to address the root causes of collaborative innovation failure and develop a better understanding of the hindering factors for the generation of collaborative innovation performance in ecosystem-based manufacturing.

This study adopted a qualitative research study with 45 managers involving an online survey with open-ended questions followed by an expert focus group with seven managers from a UK-based high value manufacturing ecosystem. Data analysis and coding followed a highly iterative process using a thematic analysis approach.

This study identified six common barriers to collaborative innovation from the perspective of supplier firms. Particularly, this study found unique impeding factors in relation to revealed and deterring barriers in an ecosystem-based manufacturing context. This paper argues that suppliers and small- and medium-sized enterprises not only require financial support but also need to develop a strategic mindset, confidence, effective partnerships and knowledge about risks and returns to participate in collaborative innovation.

The extant literature identifies the motivations for joining innovation ecosystems and the prominence of value co-creation activity from the perspective of focal firms or orchestrators. However, this study offers insights into the need for an effective value co-appropriation setup amongst the ecosystem actors including suppliers. Importantly, this study proposes that effective value co-appropriation is essential for making collaborative innovation happen in manufacturing ecosystems.

This thesis deeply studies the impact mechanism of digital service trade on the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry from the aspects of technological innovation and industrial structure.

In this thesis, 40 countries from 2010 to 2020 were selected as samples, and the panel fixed-effect model and intermediary effect model were used to empirically analyze the impact path of digital service trade on the high-quality development of global manufacturing.

Overall, digital service trade has a positive impact on the high-quality development of the global manufacturing industry. Through the analysis of the intermediary effect mechanism, it is found that digital service trade can further positively affect the high-quality development of the global manufacturing industry by promoting technological innovation and industrial structure upgrading.

Based on the empirical results, targeted countermeasures and suggestions are given in this paper.

Through the test of national heterogeneity, it is found that in developing countries, digital service trade mainly acts on the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry by promoting industrial structure upgrading.

In developed countries, digital service trade mainly promotes the high-quality development of manufacturing through technological innovation; from the perspective of industry heterogeneity, the three service industries of information and communication technology (ICT), other business services and property have the intermediary effect of technological innovation and industrial structure.

This manuscript suggests that trade in digital services should be promoted as a national trade priority.

This paper empirically explored the influence of external and internal factors on technological and non-technological innovation of 5747 Indian firms. The study also explored novel insights about manufacturing firms by segregating them into high-technology and low-technology industries.

The study employed hierarchical regression analysis to analyse a cross-sectional dataset gathered from the World Bank enterprise survey. The firms are segregated into high-technology and low-technology industries based on the technology-intensity classification of the manufacturing industry given by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The main results highlight that technological and non-technological innovation was primarily driven by internal resources and capabilities rather than external factors. The authors found the highest effect of research and development spending on both forms of innovation. In both high-tech and low-tech industries, technology transfer is positively associated with technological innovation and negatively associated with non-technological innovation. Furthermore, external business support has substantially influenced non-technological innovation in low-tech industries.

This study used two-step hierarchical regression to explore the influence of external and internal factors on technological and non-technological innovation separately. Exploring determinants of innovation in high-technology and low-technology industries also brings the distinct prerequisites of enhancing innovation to the attention of policymakers and industry experts.