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The purpose of this work is to present the modelling of the conditions of provision of growth of public–private partnership using digital technologies based on the game approach.

The methods of a systemic approach, linear programming and linear correlation, as well as statistical method, are used.

We performed the modelling of the conditions of provision of growth of public–private partnership using digital technologies based on the game approach. We also determined the level of development of public–private partnerships at the level of developed (United States, United Kingdom, Sweden and Denmark) and developing countries (Bulgaria, Venezuela and South Africa) and analysed the level of implementing digital technologies within the studied countries. We note a high level of public–private partnership in developed countries and a low level of this indicator in developing countries (except for Bulgaria, which has the positive dynamics of improvement). We also determine the main competitive advantages of implementing digital technologies, which have an impact on the improvement of the state of public–private partnerships at the level of the studied countries. Using the linear method of programming (game approach), we formulate the models of development of this type of interaction, within which the positive experience of developed countries is taken into account.

The originality and value of this research consist in the study of the specifics of the use of the game approach in the modelling of public–private partnership, which is based on the use of digital technologies.

The combination of strategic orientation and digitalization for sustainable competitive advantage among small businesses is still not given much attention in the literature. Therefore, this study aims to understand the influence of strategic orientation on sustainable competitive advantage while mediating the relationship with digitalization.

This study used a cross-sectional design. This design helped collect data from 234 small businesses in Arusha city, Tanzania. Since the study used latent variables, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze relationships and conduct confirmatory factor analysis. Through bootstrapping confidence intervals, Hayes's Process was also used to test how digitalization mediates the relationship between strategic orientations and sustainable competitive advantage.

The strategic orientation attributes that include market orientation, entrepreneurial orientation and learning orientation were positively and significantly related to digitalization. Furthermore, the results on digitalization and sustainable competitive advantage show a significant positive relationship. Finally, digitalization was analyzed to mediate the relationship between strategic orientation, market orientation, entrepreneurial orientation, learning orientation and sustainable competitive advantage. Hence, all hypotheses were supported.

This study adopted a cross-sectional design that helped to capture the quantitative information. In addition, the current study is limited to Tanzania's small businesses; thus, the findings cannot assure generalization of the conclusion to other countries because of the differences in social, cultural and technology across countries.

This study integrates the concepts of strategic orientation from the strategic management discipline and digitalization from a technology perspective. As a result, the study adds new knowledge about combining two aspects and determining whether they add value in terms of providing a sustainable competitive advantage. This knowledge comes from digitalization, which acts as a mediator between strategic orientation dimensions and a sustainable competitive advantage.

This study aims to investigate the influence of the digitalization of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on the sustainable competitive performance (SCP) of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in an emerging economy and to examine the moderating effect of digital organizational culture on this relationship.

Data collection was conducted through a survey completed by 311 owners and top managers operating in service, trading and manufacturing sector SMEs positioned within the twin cities of Pakistan. A convenient purposively sampling technique and snowball method were used for data collection, and structural equation modeling was used for data analysis.

The results of this study suggest that CSR digitalization has a markedly positive influence on the SCP. Digital organizational culture appears to moderate these relationships.

This study highlights the importance of considering CSR digitalization and fostering a digital organizational culture for SMEs to achieve SCP. The findings provide valuable insights for strategic decision-makers, including owners, CEOs and senior management of SMEs, to enhance their knowledge concerning how and why a digital organizational culture makes it easier to digitalize CSR activities, with the ultimate objective of ensuring SCP and SME growth. Overall, the findings of this study have practical implications for policymakers and managers in SMEs as they can promote the adoption of digital technologies in CSR initiatives and develop a digital organizational culture within the organization. This would contribute to enhancing the SCP of SMEs. Thus, this research is beneficial for business actors, policymakers and researchers seeking to enhance SMEs’ SCP.

This study provides valuable guidance to the senior management of SMEs regarding successfully adopting and integrating digital technologies into their CSR practices. This integration can lead to increased social and environmental benefits, which positively impact both business and society. Policymakers can use these findings to develop policies and initiatives to encourage CSR digitalization among SMEs. By providing support and incentives for digital transformation, policymakers can help SMEs adopt digital tools to improve their CSR performance, contributing to economic growth and sustainability.

This study pioneers research on the links between CSR digitalization, digital organizational culture and the SCP of SMEs. This study contributes to the literature by defining CSR digitalization as an antecedent to the SCP of SMEs. In addition, this study underlines the significance of CSR digitalization for the achievement of SMEs’ SCP of SMEs with the moderating role of digital organizational culture. Overall, this study enriches the resource base view literature through empirical evidence.

Studies concentrating on digitalization and interconnected capabilities have increased over the past several decades. Digitalization capability and open innovation are perceived as sources of sustained competitiveness across disciplines. This study investigated how digitalization capability and coopetition strategy affect the sustainable performance of firms by exploring the role of internal and external factors in influencing the adoption and success of open innovation in emerging markets.

To test the hypothesis, the authors conducted a structural equation model analysis on 509 firm datasets from the hub cities in China, an innovative battlefield where multilateral cooperation and competition are interwoven for globalization, clean development and the enhancement of economic growth.

The authors found that a firm's digitalization capability positively impacts outbound/inbound open innovation, coopetition strategy and sustainable performance. This study’s results support a series of mediating effects through outbound/inbound open innovation and coopetition strategy. Also, it provides a nuanced understanding of how digitalization capability and open innovation can affect sustainable performance in emerging markets.

The present study provides a nuanced understanding of how digitalization capability and in/out-bound open innovation can affect sustainable performance in emerging markets. The authors believe this model contributes to current knowledge by filling several research gaps, and this study’s findings offer valuable and practical implications for achieving open innovation and creating sustainable performance.

In international business (IB), the discussion of COVID-19-related global value chain (GVC) models driving resilience has taken momentum since May 2020. The purpose of this study is to uncover insights that the pandemic provided as a unique research opportunity, holistically, revealing the significant role of non-lead firms in GVC outcomes and resilience. This allows to extend theory as the authors critically identify impact criteria and assess interdependence and valence, thus progressing the traditional (pre-pandemic) IB view of GVC governance and orchestration.

This study opts for an integrative review to help create a much-needed extension of IB theory by means of a critical perspective on GVC theory. The authors examine the extant body of IB literature as the relevant stock of collective IB knowledge prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, uncovering contributions – with a focus on the role of non-lead firms in orchestration and resilience – that allows to clarify what was not evident pre-pandemic. With this, the authors move the theory from its efficiency focus to a better recognition of the interdependencies of power and profit outcomes stemming from asymmetries of interrelationships. By design, the authors focus on the unique research period of the pandemic and orchestration complexities along the development of configurational arguments beyond simple correlations (Fiss, 2011), revealing key dependencies as key themes. The authors highlight further research avenues following Snyder (2019) that are called upon to strengthen that understanding and that helps extend theory.

This research provides a critical perspective on the application of the traditional IB views for GVC governance (designed for efficiency, cost and proximity to markets with pre-dominance for just in time), which has shifted during the pandemic to accommodate for adaptation and adjustment to resilience and just in case considerations. The holistic review reveals not only the key country- and multinational enterprise (MNE)-dependencies with residual impact determining the balance between just-in-time and just-in-case. Also, the authors advance the understanding of the (un)balance of the traditional GVC – focused on just-in-case rather than just-in-time through a lead and non-lead GVC participation and power lens yet rarely observed. The authors find that governance should not be construed as “management” such that it resolves into decisions undertaken in lead firms for execution in subordinate GVC participants. Autonomy allows to subsidiary units by MNE lead firms and/or exercised by (mainly, innovative) non-subsidiary GVC participant firms, is uncovered as a key driver in this. Greater delegation capacity appears to help provide resilience to loss in profit, with a recognition that there may be a dynamic trade-off between power and profit. In addition, the authors are able to identify correlations with innovation, demand elasticity, digital uptake, investment and other, that the authors trust will set the scene for additional research deepening and extending the findings.

Integrative literature reviews include a problem formulation (i.e. that is limited to published topics around an emerging theme) and are hence very focused in nature and approach. This applies to this paper. Data analysis in this method is not typically using statistical methods in contrast to meta-analyses. Also, the authors limit the sample to a relatively short time period with 33 publications analysed, purposefully focusing on the most prompt and “acute” insights into GVCs during the pandemic.

The traditional GVC governance model is designed for efficiency, cost and proximity to markets with pre-dominance for just in time. The authors reveal dependencies that are instrumental to better understand lead and non-lead interaction and relative autonomy, with a focus on residual impact determining the balance between just-in-time and just-in-case that, if in the sought equilibrium and agile, can allow alignment with context and this resilience. This paper specifically provides practical insights and visualization that highlights stages/“ripple” effects and their impact and the questions to ask as stakeholders look for GVC resilience. This includes, int.al., firms and their role as strategic agents, prompting participants through the learnings from exogenous shock to realign their strategies, redistributed manufacturing of production across subsidiary and non-subsidiary non-lead firms, greater competition and hence power for suppliers leveraging resilience and innovation, greater understanding of localization and regionalization of production of essential supplies, interaction with governments, and of investment impacts abroad especially to secure GVC participation.

The insights provided through this extension of theory with its literature review reveal the importance of aligning IB research into GVCs to factors that became visible through alternative or unusual settings, as they have the power to reveal the limitations of traditional views. In this case, a mainly efficiency-led, just-in-time focused GVC governance model is reviewed through the literature that emanated during the pandemic, with a critical perspective, which helped uncover and underline the complexities and evolution of GVC governance, providing fundamental support to solutioning the continuing global supply chain challenges that started as a result of the pandemic and are yet again accelerated by the Ukraine and Middle Eastern wars and its impact with, int.al., concerns over possible severe global food, labour/migration and resources crises. IB holds a social responsibility to help identify critical challenges from the disciplinary perspective and help advance resilience for social benefit.

This paper supports the original IB theory development by extending GVC theory into the lead – non-lead dynamics that may, under certain conditions, provide a “Resilience wall” for GVCs. The value created through insights stemming from a unique period of time for GVC is significant. It allows us thus also to pave the way to an emerging and critical research adaption looking into equilibrium, nuancing demand elasticity, better understanding trade and investment impacts along GVCs and more. By examining views on the sources of pandemic risks in a possibly unique setting, the authors offer added value from extant IB research insights by combining them, revealing the importance for GVCs to investigate not only key dependencies between the exogenous shock, i.e. context, and the impacts assessed through this literature but to further use their inherent value to create a framework for further conceptualization and extension of the traditional IB view on GVC governance. This work illustrates the urgency and importance for IB to take a timely and possibly more critical approach to the investigation of governance models that have, to date, shown some significant limitations.

This study aims to test how three types of institutional pressure (normative, coercive, and mimetic) influence supply chain digital embeddedness (SCDE) and how SCDE benefits supply chain (SC) competences.

The authors develop and test hypotheses through structural equation modeling (SEM) based on data from 201 European firms. Institutional theory is applied to determine the reasons that lead SCs to embed digitally. SCDE is assessed through three dimensions: technology, infrastructure and culture. The data were analyzed using SEM-partial least squares (PLS-SEM) modeling with SmartPLS software.

The findings show a positive relationship of normative and coercive pressures to SCDE but no relationship between mimetic pressures and SCDE. Additionally, results confirm a positive relationship between SCDE and SC competences that contribute to SC competitive advantage obtaining.

The results underscore the importance of analyzing the environment when undertaking digital projects. Key issues include SC culture and infrastructure in these projects and the advisability of anticipating potential influence of digitalization projects on SC competences that support the chain’s competitive advantage.

This study contributes to institutional theory by providing empirical evidence of the individual effect of the three types of institutional pressure, with noteworthy lack of influence from mimetic pressures. The paper also contributes a conceptualization of SCDE composed of three dimensions: digital technologies, digital infrastructure and digital culture. Finally, the study advances the literature on SC competences.

Digitalization is considered an emerging phenomenon that enables businesses to develop new markets and business models. It helps firms expand the scope of their activities and enables organizations to become more efficient. It is now a reality for firms and contributes to their value creation. Thus, the aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between digitalization and firm performance through the mediating role of business model innovation (BMI) and to do so, a self-administered questionnaire with a sample of 70 Tunisian firms was conducted for this purpose. The main result of the analysis, confirms that digitalization is positively related to business performance, with BMI mediating this relationship.

This paper addresses the emergence of strategic agility as adaptive capability to face the need to adapt to a constantly changing environment. Special emphasis is paid to governance mechanisms as a microfoundation of dynamic capabilities, investigating the dynamics and outcome in regards to the digitalization of supply chains and its socio-economic relations of its members.

A multiple-case study method is applied to explain the impact of a digitalization initiative in the form of an I4.0 implementation in a supply chain context. Building on qualitative in-depth interviews of experts in managerial positions, 16 cases from the manufacturing industry involving an I4.0 implementation across the supply chain were analyzed. Based on a conceptual design science approach, the CIMO logic (context, intervention, mechanisms and outcome) framework is used to investigate the interplay between agility as a dynamic capability and governance mechanisms.

The studied cases demonstrate an intensification of synergistic combinations of inter-firm resources to manage digitalization across the supply chain (SC). With the implementation of I4.0, competitive advantage along the SC takes higher priority over the competitive advantage in the individual or dyadic perspective. Strategic agility as a dynamic capability to cope with and adapt to the changing environment is hereby crucial emphasizing relational SC governance (SCG) as essential as a microfoundation to adjust the structure and management of SCs. Relationships, which allow competitive advantage as a SC balance out traditional power mechanisms within the SC hierarchy. Trust, collaboration and flexibility, aligned with common incentives in generating competitive advantages enable the SCs to mitigate uncertainty and risk while preventing opportunistic behavior.

The study offers SCM managers in-depth insights into strategic agility and how to address the recent challenge of digitalization successfully. Identifying crucial dynamics within SCG mechanisms based on first-hand use cases, practical success factors for implementing I4.0 to optimize effectiveness and efficiency can be derived how to structure and manage future SCs.

This paper contributes to the first insights examining the implications of digitalization and the role of strategic agility as a capability to adapt. Investigating the microfoundation of governance within this capability, this research provides insights on the socio-economic level, while discussing specific mechanisms how relationships of SCs evolve proposing relevant insights for future research.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between dynamic capabilities and sustainable business performance in Vietnamese small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), focusing on the mediating role of digitalization strategies. Specifically, the authors seek to explore whether and how the three critical characteristics of dynamic capabilities (DCs) – sensing, seizing and transforming capabilities – are linked to business model innovation (BMI) or sustained performance and what dimensions contribute to their development and adoption in digitalization strategies.

The authors analyse a sample of 596 Vietnamese SMEs using a validated measurement framework to explore the three clusters of DCs activities and their contributions to digitalization strategies, BMI and sustainable business performance across economic, social and environmental dimensions.

The study highlights the pivotal role of sensing, seizing and transforming capabilities in the adoption of digitalization strategies, BMI, as well as in promoting sustainable business performance. Firstly, sensing capability profoundly influences product digitalization strategy, whereas seizing capability has the greatest impact on process digitalization strategy. Secondly, sensing and transforming capabilities significantly contribute to BMI. Thirdly, both process and product digitalization strategies exert a significant positive influence on sustainable business performance, especially the environmental dimension. Finally, the study exhibits the indirect impacts of seizing and sensing capabilities on sustainable business performance through product and process digitization strategies.

This study extends recent research by investigating the DCs underlying a firm’s digitalization strategies and contribute to ongoing calls for further investigation in the DCs literature. This research design, which draws from a validated measurement framework, responds to recent calls to broaden the toolkit used in DCs research. The practical implications of this study can benefit SMEs in Vietnam and beyond as they seek to enhance their digitalization strategies and achieve sustainable competitive advantage.

This study aims to examine and understand the impact of reverse logistics adoption on firms' digitalization and collaboration activities. Specifically, leveraging the knowledge-based view, this study examines how adopting sustainable logistic practices (reverse logistics) prepares firms to embrace digitalization and encourages them to collaborate with other organizations.

The study used longitudinal survey data from two waves (2017 and 2019) from the Mannheim Centre for European Economic Research. The authors used the negative binomial regression analyses to test the impact of reverse logistics adoption on the digitalization and inter-organizational collaboration dependent count variables.

The study's findings highlight the usefulness of reverse logistics in enabling digitalization and inter-organizational collaboration. The results show that the firms investing in sustainable supply chains will be better positioned to nurture digitalization and inter-organizational collaboration.

For resource-bound managers, this study provides an important insight into prioritizing activities by highlighting how reverse logistics can facilitate digitalization and collaboration. The study demonstrates that the knowledge generated by reverse logistics adoption can be an essential pillar and enabler toward achieving firms' digitalization and collaboration goals.

The study is among the first to examine the effect of reverse logistics adoption on firm activities that are not strictly associated with the circular economy (digitalization and collaboration). Utilizing the knowledge-based view, this study reports on the additional benefits of reverse logistics implementation previously not discussed in the literature.