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Every business company deals with the dilemma of how much to invest in long-term (LT) versus short-term (ST) problem (LTvST problem). LT operations increase the reputation of the company, and revenue is rewarded in the future. In contrast, ST operations result in immediate rewards. Thus, every organization faces the dilemma of how much to invest in LT versus ST activities. The former deals with the “what” or effectiveness, and the latter deals with the “how” or efficiency. The role of managers is to solve this dilemma; however, they often fail to do so, mainly because of a lack of knowledge. This study aims to propose a dynamic optimal control model that formulates and solves the LTvST problem.

This study proposes a dynamic optimal control model that formulates and solves the dilemma whether to invest in short- or LT operations.

This model is illustrated as an example of an academic institute that wants to maximize its reputation. Investing in effectiveness in the academy translates into investing in research, whereas investing in efficiency translates into investing in teaching. Universities and colleges with a good reputation attract stronger candidates and benefit from higher tuition fees. Steady-state conditions and insightful observations were obtained by studying the optimal solution and performing a sensitivity analysis.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first one to explore the optimal strategy when trying to maximize the short and LT activities of a company and solve the LTvST problem. Furthermore, it is applied on universities where teaching is the ST activity and research the LT activity. The insights gleaned from the application are relevant to many different fields. The authors believe that the paper makes a significant contribution to academic literature and to business managers.

This study aims to investigate the impact of supply chain concentration (SCC) on corporate research and development (R&D) investment and determine the moderating roles of industry concentration and financing constraints on the relationship between SCC and R&D investment.

The study collected data from Chinese listed companies, used the fixed effects model to test the research hypotheses and further used the two-stage Heckman test and propensity score matching (PSM) to address potential endogeneity issues.

The result reveals a negative impact of SCC on corporate R&D investment. In addition, industry concentration mitigates the negative impact of SCC on corporate R&D investment, but financing constraints strengthen the negative impact.

This study introduces the concept of SCC and empirically tests its effect on R&D investment, further explaining the lack of corporate innovation. This study inspires companies to strengthen SC management and weigh the level of SCC with environmental factors.

While implementing green innovation-driven strategies when facing growing grim environmental problems and the realistic demands of achieving high-quality development is increasingly urgent, changing abruptly is inevitably detrimental to the smooth functioning of social and economic development. Restrained by resources, innovation-driven strategy is a huge strategy for an organization to shift from traditional technological innovation to green innovation. Supports and implementation in green technology investment would necessarily crowd out other business investment and lead to reduction of innovation outputs and mount of financial uncertainty. Under the guidance of harmonious balance, the equilibrium allocation between green research and non-green counterpart is badly needed to be addressed for decision-makers inside and outside the organizations. The differentiated inputs of them would lead to different effects on organizational performance in practice.

The authors first conducted a Hausman test on green research intensity (GRI) and innovation performance, economic performance, social performance, and environmental performance, respectively. Adopting the fixed effects model for estimation seems accurate, if there is no significant heteroscedasticity shown in the BP test. The authors then adopted the least square dummy variable method to handle individual heterogeneity (Xia et al., 2020). After controlling the industry effect and time effect simultaneously, the results were consistent with that of fixed effects model, thereby eliminating the impact of heteroscedasticity.

The authors construct a multi-dimensional performance system—innovation performance, economic performance, social performance, and environmental performance—to probe into the influence of GRI from the resource-based view and allocation theory. Different performance does not benefit equally from increasing the intensity of green research. Performance increase may squeeze out the quantity of total innovation but can compensate quality for knowledge spillovers of green technology. The organization's growth and long-term value may be beneficial from the increase, but not the short-term financial performance. While the relationship between GRI and social performance has the characteristic of reverse U-curve, there has to be some scale of green research to gain considerable and nonlinear environmental performance. Low level of green research may increase pollution until green research has cross over the inflection point. These relationships are intensely moderated by the environmental regulation.

Because of the focus of this study is on the organizational performance of green research, the analysis comes with some limitations that should be addressed in future research. Data were inter-professional, with large enterprises and small businesses innovating green technology at the same time. Though the hypotheses presented here were grounded in existing theoretical rationale, the generality of this study cannot be assumed. Multi-performance of green activities in small- and medium-sized businesses should be further explored. Additionally, concrete index of the corresponding evaluation system constructed here contribute more to practical activities of green innovation. Refinement of synergy performance index is the task for future work. Further, grounded in Chinese context, the authors' results could be compared with other scenario with institutional heterogeneity to provide detailed evidences for institutional theory. Future studies could also move forward to longitudinal case study to delicately investigate the performance differentiation of green research when in different development stage.

First, what and how the authors do is novel as the authors use listed Chinese manufacturing companies to probe into the complex relationship between GRI and multiple performance rather than discussing the performance of green innovation input from a single perspective merely. Second, the authors systematically define the performance as economic performance, environmental performance, social performance and innovation performance in depth, which consider adequately the tangible and intangible value as well as internal and external benefits of green research. And finally, in the context of environmental regulation, the study discusses the differentiation of the increase of green research intensity from the perspective of resource constraints, providing reference for optimizing the resource allocation in green and non-green research and solving the decoupling between earnest social appeal and sluggish or reluctant green behaviors.

This study investigates how to motivate behavioral intentions toward green investment (BIGI) with the moderating effect of social media platforms usage (SMPU) among individual investors in Egypt.

The study used partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyze the data and test hypotheses based on a sample of 550 individual investors with investment experience.

The results show that attitude, subjective norm (SN), and perceived behavioral control (PBC) have a significant relationship with investors' behavioral intention toward green investment. The moderating effect of (SMPU) supported the relationship between (SN), (PBC), and (BIGI), but (SMPU) does not support the relationship between attitude and (BIGI).

This study provides some implications for investment providers, service providers, and policymakers.

Despite the increasing global interest in climate change and its consequent opportunities and challenges for business, previous studies did not strongly emphasize green investment. So, based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this study sheds light on the motivational factors that may push investors' behavioral intentions toward green investment. With the increasing interest in digital transformation, the study also examined how digital platforms support (BIGI), especially in Egypt as a developing country.

This study aims to investigate the impact of information and communication technology (ICT) investment on the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) profitability in the Indian context.

This study used a framework based on the ICT investment and firm size, measuring the impact on profit before depreciation, interest, tax and amortisation of MSME by taking a random sampling of 300 Indian MSME manufacturing firm’s secondary data from the Prowess database. This framework was analysed using the design of experiment (DoE) technique.

The study showed that ICT investment has a significant positive relationship with profitability. This study examines the different ICT investment levels to predict investment strategies and fine-tune profit targets. The critical finding is that ICT investment maximises profit at one million rupees. This discovery aids MSME leaders’ sustainable business decision-making.

This study has an explicit limit to the Indian context, where the firm requirements of countries are different, and these findings need to be validated with many operating variables and applied to more firms with more data. Even so, as a theoretical implication, this study took a novel approach to ICT adoption (through ICT investment) in the Indian MSME sector with guiding levels of ICT investment for each type of firm (i.e. micro, small and medium). This study opens new avenues for investigating researchers and stakeholders by exploring other factors responsible for ICT adoption.

This study uniquely provides practitioners with the functional level of ICT investment for MSMEs in the Indian context. These finding guides top management to make strategic ICT adoption decisions with information symmetry. At the same time, these findings suggest financial institutions astern their credit programme to provide credit for ICT investment in MSMEs.

This study highlights the value of ICT as a practical resource for business owners that significantly makes MSMEs more informed and profitable, thus creating more jobs and incrementing the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

This study offers unique empirical findings on how decision makers in MSMEs maximise profits through optimal ICT investment levels depending upon the firm size in an emerging economy like India. There is evidence in the study to conclude that ICT is a need of MSME and has implications for firm performance.

Globalization and increased outsourcing have contributed to increased supply chain complexity, exposing firms to greater vulnerability in the areas of product safety and supply chain security. Meanwhile, stakeholders pressure firms to ensure that their products are safe, and their supply chains are secure. Drawing from stakeholder theory, this paper aims to explore how the supply chain characteristics of distance and power affect the adoption of consumer protection (CP) practices, which ensure product safety and supply chain security.

Using primary survey data from a sample of Canadian manufacturing firms, this research examines the relationships among supply chain characteristics, adoption of CP practices and firm performance.

Analysis supported the use of two practices related to product safety (consumer education and product design) and three practices for supply chain security (packaging, tracking and authenticity). Greater cultural distance between the focal firm and its suppliers was positively associated with investments in safer design practices, while increased geographical distance between the focal firm and the customer was significantly related to increased consumer education. Moreover, as power of a focal firm relative to its suppliers increased, so too did investments in supply chain security. Finally, CP practices were related to improved operational performance along multiple dimensions.

This research focuses on the critical role of two key stakeholder groups in improving product safety and supply chain security: suppliers and customers. The authors add to the theoretical discussion of product safety and supply chain security by identifying critical differences between suppliers and customers for the focal firm. Second, the research informs the managerial community of the potential benefits of investments in CP practices.

The aim of this study is to understand the levels (i.e. mild vs intense) of task conflict (TC) expressions between angel investors and entrepreneurs at the post-investment stage and how it affect angel investors’ follow-on investment intentions with the same entrepreneur.

Survey data was gathered from 71 angel investors in China. Mplus was used to test the proposed research model.

This study found that angels perceive affective conflict (AC) when engaged in intense TC, unlike the case for mild TC expressions. Furthermore, the analysis shows that, unlike mild TC expressions, intense TC expressions impede angels’ reinvestment intentions when they perceive ACs. Other results indicate that when angels perceive that entrepreneurs are not open to coaching, the prominence of mild TC expression is sharply mitigated and becomes as detrimental as intense TC expressions.

This study only focused on one specific aspect of the angel–entrepreneur post-investment relationship: The effect of their TC expressions on angels’ reinvestment intentions. By no means do the authors imply that TC expression in the angel–entrepreneur post-investment relationship is the only factor that matters to angel investors in their follow-on investment intentions with the same entrepreneur.

The findings suggest that entrepreneurs should pay careful attention to TC that may arise between them and their financiers. TCs are not entirely detrimental, but their negative effect might depend on how they are expressed. An appropriate level of TC may also improve enterprise performance and collaboration. Thus, angels and entrepreneurs should set clear goals and performance standards, where task interactions mainly focus on the goals and expected outcomes.

Prior to this study, little was known about whether all TCs potentially lead to ACs. By distinguishing between levels (i.e. mild vs intense) of TC expressions between angels and entrepreneurs, this study adds a novel aspect to it by showing that TC, in and of itself, does not necessarily lead to AC but can lead to AC once its intensity grows.

This research investigates the impact of strategic research and development (R&D) (one led by a firm’s innovation orientation) on stock market performance during the economic disruption caused by the 2016 demonetization of high-value currency notes in India. It shows how firms’ strategic focus on innovation and integrated R&D initiatives can help mitigate shareholders’ losses and protect market value during negative macroeconomic shocks.

We analyzed financial and administrative data from firms listed in the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) 500 index and used the Fama French market model with appropriate instruments accounting for possible endogeneity to identify the impact. To ensure the reliability of our findings, we conducted robustness checks with alternate event windows, estimation methods, and variable measurements.

Strategic R&D plays a crucial role in building resilience against macroeconomic shocks. It effectively mitigated shareholders’ losses in the immediate aftermath of the shock, with an elasticity of abnormal returns of 7.65% on day zero, 13.1% during the first five days and 10.5% after the first fortnight. We also find that firms that are business-to-business (B2B), as well as those that are older and less leveraged, are better able to combat such a shock.

The study looked at one shock, namely demonetization. Future research is needed to demonstrate the generalizability of results during other macroeconomic shocks, like the COVID-19 pandemic. The study focuses on relatively near-term impacts, leaving the long-term value-creation effects of strategic R&D unexplored.

Innovation orientation acts as a structural enabler, allowing firms to make strategic R&D investments that mitigate losses during macroeconomic shocks. It explains that managers should avoid myopically managing R&D investments and align them with the firm’s innovation focus to enhance value creation.

While the currency demonetization was widely considered to be detrimental for firms as an unannounced negative monetary shock, our research shows that firms with high levels of strategic R&D were successfully able to counteract such a shock.

This is the first study to examine the short-term loss mitigation impact of firms’ focus on innovation and strategic R&D. It emphasizes the role of innovation-focused strategies during economic crises.

Independent directors are important corporate decision participants and makers. Based on the Chinese cultural background, this paper interprets the listing order of independent directors as independent directors’ status, exploring their influence on the corporate research and development (R&D) behavior.

This paper studies A-share listed firms in China from 2008 to 2018 as the sample. The main method is ordinary least square (OLS) regression. We also use other methods to deal with endogenous problems, such as the firm fixed effect method, change model method, two-stage instrumental variable method, and Heckman two-stage method.

(1) Higher independent directors’ status attribute to more effective exertion of supervision and consultation function, and positively enhance the corporate R&D investment. The increase of the independent director’ status by one standard deviation will increase the R&D investment by 4.6%. (2) The above effect is more influential in firms with stronger traditional culture atmosphere, higher information opacity and higher performance volatility. (3) High-status independent directors promote R&D investment by improving the scientificity of R&D evaluation and reducing information asymmetry. (4) The enhancing effect of independent director’ status on R&D investment is positively associated with the firm’s patent output and market value.

This paper contributes to understanding the relationship between the independent directors’ status and their duty execution from an embedded cultural background perspective. The findings of the study enlighten the improvement of corporate governance efficiency and the healthy development of the capital market.

Large scale research infrastructures (LSRIs) are rising in the competitive and globalized research environment, since they offer to external researchers-users, inputs and services for cutting-edge, large scale researches. Such researches would not be possible with usual infrastructures and budgets of single universities and research institutions. However, despite the strategic relevance acknowledged to LSRI by the nascent literature and by national policymakers, there is a lack of understanding of configurations and key performances of a LSRI. This paper aims to bridge this gap by identifying key morphologies of LSRIs and analysing their performances.

The research is carried out adopting a mixed research methodology, merging a literature review with a survey conducted on a sample of 11 LSRIs; they provided the data set for the parametrization of a morphological matrix.

The research led to the identification of seven LSRIs morphologies, with different performance linked to their structure.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper originally proposes the data set needed to develop a morphological analysis of LSRIs.