Business Strategy and Development最新文献

{"title":"Doing Great by Doing Good: The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Knowledge Acquisition Through Foreign Subsidiaries","authors":"Praphasiri Dolbundalchok,&nbsp;Kiattichai Kalasin","doi":"10.1002/bsd2.70383","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bsd2.70383","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This study examines how corporate social responsibility (CSR) enhances knowledge acquisition of multinational enterprises (MNEs) through overseas subsidiaries. Building on institutional theory and resource-based view, we hypothesize a positive relationship between CSR and foreign knowledge acquisition. Specifically, CSR enhances firms' legitimacy and local embeddedness. External legitimacy allows firms to gain knowledge from their foreign partners. Meanwhile, internal legitimacy promotes trust and strong relationships between headquarters and subsidiaries, fostering knowledge acquisition. Additionally, conventional wisdom suggests that firm efficiency negatively relates to knowledge-related activities. Without slack resources, efficiency-focused MNEs struggle to engage in R&amp;D. In this study, we argue that CSR weakens the negative impact of firm efficiency (financial and operational) on knowledge acquisition. The institutional logics of CSR influence MNEs to adopt a long-term focus while enhancing resource accessibility and allocation for knowledge-related activities. An empirical analysis of 135 US-based pharmaceutical firms with 3393 subsidiaries during 2013–2020 supports our hypotheses.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":36531,"journal":{"name":"Business Strategy and Development","volume":"9 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-07-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148386659","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Public Perceptions of Impacts of Corporate Social Responsibility on Poverty Alleviation and Sustainable Development in Nigeria: Critical Appraisal of Initiatives by Selected Firms","authors":"Ochanya Ajii,&nbsp;Nilüfer Türksoy,&nbsp;Ogbu Stephen Ajii,&nbsp;Cemal Kılıç","doi":"10.1002/bsd2.70381","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bsd2.70381","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives contribute significantly to societal development, yet their direct impact on poverty alleviation remains under-explored, especially through participatory communication models (PCM). This study investigates public perceptions of CSR initiatives' effectiveness, guided by participatory communication theory. Using structural equation modeling, findings indicate a non-significant relationship between PCM and public perception of CSR initiative impacts (<i>p</i> = 0.778). This suggests current CSR initiative frameworks in Nigeria lack resonance with public expectations and fail to address deeper societal needs. The results emphasize the need for corporations to realign their CSR strategies to prioritize community engagement, participatory approaches, and empowerment. By integrating local knowledge and collective problem-solving, corporations can enhance their role in addressing poverty and promoting sustainable development. These insights are particularly relevant for sub-Saharan Africa, with a focus on Nigeria, highlighting the critical role of inclusive communication and community engagement in driving meaningful societal change.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":36531,"journal":{"name":"Business Strategy and Development","volume":"9 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148386244","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"From Insider Leadership to Sustainable Firm Performance: Exploring the Role of Corporate Innovation and CEO Foreign Experience","authors":"Fitriani Sardju,&nbsp;La Ode Sabaruddin","doi":"10.1002/bsd2.70380","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bsd2.70380","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This study investigates how insider leadership influences sustainable firm performance, as well as how corporate innovation mediates this relationship and how CEO international experience strengthens the effect of insider leadership on innovation and sustainability performance. Using a sample of non-financial public companies from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore during the period 2018–2024, this study applies moderated-mediating panel regression analysis with fixed effects to empirically test the relationships between variables. The results indicate that insider CEOs significantly improve sustainable firm performance, and this relationship is partially mediated by corporate innovation. Furthermore, CEO foreign experience acts as a moderating factor that strengthens the influence of insider CEOs on firm innovation, which ultimately has a positive impact on sustainability performance. This study opens up opportunities for regulators and stakeholders to improve the quality of strategic leadership by developing global competencies and strengthening innovation orientation. However, limitations related to the measurement of variables based on archival data and potential country bias need to be considered in interpreting the results. This research contributes to the strategic leadership and sustainability literature by integrating the perspectives of insider leadership, dynamic innovation capability, and CEO global exposure into a single empirical framework. This cross-ASEAN study provides new evidence on the mechanisms by which CEO characteristics shape sustainability performance through innovation pathways and the context of international experience.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":36531,"journal":{"name":"Business Strategy and Development","volume":"9 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148386245","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sustainable Development and Inorganic Growth: A Bibliometric and NLP Driven Review of ESG in Mergers and Acquisitions (1982–2024)","authors":"Subhadip Dey,&nbsp;K. Rangarajan","doi":"10.1002/bsd2.70374","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bsd2.70374","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 requires firms to embed sustainability into core strategic decisions. Mergers and acquisitions (M&amp;A), a primary vehicle for inorganic growth, are increasingly shaped by Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) considerations. However, the ESG–M&amp;A intersection remains fragmented and theoretically underdeveloped. This study systematically maps the intellectual architecture of this emerging field, identifies latent thematic frontiers, and derives theoretically grounded directions for future research. Following a PRISMA-guided selection protocol, 1225 articles from the combined Web of Science and Scopus databases (1982–2024) were analysed using a three-method triangulation design. Bibliometric analysis—including citation, co-citation, bibliographic coupling, and keyword co-occurrence—identified dominant scholars, journals, countries, and research themes. Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA, <i>k</i> = 11) and BERTopic (<i>k</i> = 13) were applied to extract latent semantic structures and uncover nuanced thematic clusters beyond the reach of conventional co-word methods. Existing literature on M&amp;A as strategy revealed dominant streams such as valuation, corporate governance, and performance. However, ESG integration remained underexplored. NLP-driven models provided novel insights, uncovering emerging clusters on green logistics, skills and social development policy, gender and biodiversity, ethical consumption, and psychological drivers of green finance—topics overlooked by conventional methods. Combining bibliometrics with NLP techniques offers methodological novelty, exposes new thematic frontiers, and informs future scholarship and practice in sustainability-driven corporate strategies. This study presents the largest assembled corpus at the ESG–M&amp;A intersection to date, uniquely combining classical science mapping with transformer-based semantic clustering to map four decades of interdisciplinary scholarship.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":36531,"journal":{"name":"Business Strategy and Development","volume":"9 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148386059","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Beyond Compliance: Investigating the Impact of Environmental Innovation on Operational Efficiency and the Moderating Role of Board Independence and Gender Diversity—Evidence From Frankfurt-Listed Firms","authors":"Leviticus Mensah,&nbsp;Richard Arhinful,&nbsp;Bright Akwasi Gyamfi","doi":"10.1002/bsd2.70378","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bsd2.70378","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Germany, a leader in environmental sustainability and corporate governance, has implemented the pioneering Energiewende strategy. This national initiative promotes the adoption of sustainable technologies by incentivizing renewable energy use and ecological innovation in businesses. Building on this framework, the study applies dynamic capabilities theory to examine the effect of environmental innovation on operational efficiency. Using a rigorous inclusion criterion, purposive sampling was employed to collect 18 years of data (2006–2023) from 150 non-financial companies listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, sourced from Thomson Reuters Eikon DataStream. The analysis relied on the Augmented Mean Group (AMG) estimator, Driscoll-Kraay standard errors with fixed effects, and the two-step Generalized Method of Moments (GMM). Findings reveal that environmental innovation improves asset turnover while reducing the operating ratio. Additionally, the moderating roles of board independence and board diversity strengthen the relationship between environmental innovation and operational efficiency. Based on these results, corporate managers are encouraged to prioritize investments in sustainable technologies and practices. Strategic allocation of resources toward research and development (R&amp;D) can foster the creation of environmentally friendly products and processes, ultimately reducing energy consumption and waste while enhancing operational performance.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":36531,"journal":{"name":"Business Strategy and Development","volume":"9 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148386062","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Correction to “The Voluntary Adoption of Integrated Reporting for Releasing Sustainability and Circular Economy Disclosure: An Empirical Case”","authors":"","doi":"10.1002/bsd2.70379","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bsd2.70379","url":null,"abstract":"<p>\u0000 <span>Nastari, R.</span>, <span>A. Bruno</span>, <span>S. Pisano</span>, and <span>M. Pozzoli</span>. <span>2026</span>. “ <span>The Voluntary Adoption of Integrated Reporting for Releasing Sustainability and Circular Economy Disclosure: An Empirical Case</span>.” <i>Business Strategy &amp; Development</i> <span>9</span>, no. <span>2</span>: e70346. https://doi.org/10.1002/bsd2.70346.\u0000 </p><p>The first and last names of the first and third authors were swapped and have been corrected in the author list and the Biographies section. The name of the first author has also been corrected in the Correspondence section.</p><p>The online version of this article has been corrected accordingly.</p><p>We apologize for this error</p>","PeriodicalId":36531,"journal":{"name":"Business Strategy and Development","volume":"9 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/bsd2.70379","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148386060","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Do Sustainable Firms Pay Better Dividends? International Evidence on ESG and Payout Policy","authors":"Abeer Alqayidi,&nbsp;Asaad Sendi,&nbsp;Kamel Si Mohammed","doi":"10.1002/bsd2.70362","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bsd2.70362","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This study investigates how environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance shapes corporate dividend policy using an international panel of 3665 publicly listed enterprises from 14 countries in the Americas, Europe, and Asia from 2010 to 2022, spanning six sectors: finance, industry, technology, healthcare, basic materials, and utilities. We document an apparent size-based asymmetry: ESG has little effect in small firms, but it is associated with higher dividend per share and more stable payout ratios among medium and large firms, with dividend growth improving mainly for large firms. Sectoral evidence shows that ESG-related dividend benefits are most substantial in financial and technology firms. Importantly, disaggregating ESG reveals that the overall effect is driven primarily by the governance pillar, while environmental performance shows weaker, and sometimes costly, links to payout outcomes, especially for smaller firms. These results contribute new cross-country, multi-sector evidence that ESG mainly operates as a governance-driven dividend-stability mechanism, implying governance catch-up rather than a uniform sustainability–payout channel.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":36531,"journal":{"name":"Business Strategy and Development","volume":"9 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148387007","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Transition Toward Green Economic Growth: The Mediating Role of Organizational Green Capability","authors":"Abir Sen Gupta,&nbsp;S. M. Sayem,&nbsp;Nahida Sultana,&nbsp;Sadia Akter,&nbsp;Kazi Saiful Islam","doi":"10.1002/bsd2.70377","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bsd2.70377","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Environmental issues have emerged as major global concerns that adversely affect overall productivity and sustainable development. This study explores the factors that enhance the green economic growth of organizations, with a specific focus on the mediating effect of green capability, using the Natural Resource-Based View (NRBV) theory and the Ecological Modernization Theory (EMT). For research purposes, a standard questionnaire was circulated among distinct corporate employees using a non-probability purposive sampling technique and among them, 407 valid responses were used for analysis using SPSS 25 and SmartPLS 4. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to examine the correlation between the predictor and predicted variables. The findings indicate that green innovation (GI0, composed of elements: green product innovation, green process innovation, green technology innovation) does not show a significant direct impact on green economic growth (GEG). Conversely, Green Tax (GTX), Green Climate Finance (GCF), ESG Practices (EP), and Green Capability (GC) exhibit statistically significant direct effect on GEG. This study also found that GC fully mediates the relationship between GI and GEG, and partially mediates the relationship between GTX and GEG and between GCF and GEG. The research is original and novel for its comprehensive generational analysis of how the GEG is shaped in an emerging country context. This study extends green economic benefits concepts by integrating NRBV and EMT to explain how green strategic decisions influence GEG using organizational capability. These findings also create pragmatic insights for firms as well as policymakers to incorporate green ideology in their activities and policies. Organizations should focus on implementing green capabilities based on their accessible resources and integrate ESG practices into capability progression. Also, the adoption of these factors, which ensure green economic growth, can aid our country in attaining five SDGs. Moreover, the study contributes to global sustainability objectives by aligning with SDG 8 (Decent work and Economic growth), SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure), SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), and SDG 13 (Climate Action).</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":36531,"journal":{"name":"Business Strategy and Development","volume":"9 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148387006","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mediating and Moderating Role of Green Innovation and Environmental Regulation Between Green Knowledge Management and Environmental Performance: Evidence From Ethiopian Industrial Parks","authors":"Ayano Wako Jenga,&nbsp;Sandeep Singh","doi":"10.1002/bsd2.70376","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bsd2.70376","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Grounded in the resource-based view (RBV), the knowledge-based view (KBV), and the institutional theory (IT), this study examines how green product and process innovations serve as mechanisms linking green knowledge management (GKM) and environmental performance (EP) in an emerging economy context. The study also examined how environmental regulation (ER) serves as a boundary condition. To achieve this objective, the study develops and tests the mediation and moderation model utilizing cross-sectional survey data from 331 managerial-level employees of firms in Ethiopian Industrial Parks. Covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) with AMOS was employed to test the relationships. The findings indicate that GKM has a significant direct influence on green product innovation (GPtI), green process innovation (GPcI), and EP. Furthermore, GPcI partially mediates the relationship between GKM and EP, whereas GPtI does not. Finally, ER does not show a significant moderating effect on the relationship between GKM and EP. These findings contribute by refining the mechanisms by which GKM enhances EP through disaggregating GI into product and process dimensions and examining the conditional role of ER within the RBV, KBV, and IT framework. The findings provide context-specific and actionable insights for managers and policymakers, highlighting the stronger role of GPcI relative to GPtI and the complementary benefits of GKM and GPcI in enhancing EP, while indicating a limited role of ER.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":36531,"journal":{"name":"Business Strategy and Development","volume":"9 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148343293","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Women Leadership Index and Corporate Cash Holdings: The Serial Mediation Role of ESG Assurance and ESG Performance","authors":"Saiful Anwar,&nbsp;Dian Agustia,&nbsp;Wiwiek Dianawati","doi":"10.1002/bsd2.70369","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bsd2.70369","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Corporate cash holding policies have become increasingly important as firms face heightened global uncertainty, growing sustainability demands, and greater transparency expectations. This study examines the effect of the Women Leadership Index (WLI) on corporate cash holdings through ESG assurance and ESG performance within a serial mediation framework. The analysis is based on 12,330 firm-year observations from non-financial companies across Asia-Pacific and Europe. Empirically, the study employs a serial mediation approach using System GMM and Hayes' PROCESS Model 6, complemented by robustness tests and additional analyses. The findings reveal that WLI has a positive and significant effect on corporate cash holdings, suggesting that firms with higher-quality female board representation tend to retain more cash as a strategic response to governance discipline and sustainability demands. Furthermore, this relationship operates through a serial mediation mechanism. WLI enhances ESG assurance as a monitoring function, strengthening transparency and credibility and, in turn, promoting higher ESG performance. Improved ESG performance subsequently increases long-term investment needs and exposure to uncertainty, leading firms to hold more cash as a strategic buffer. These results indicate that high-quality female leadership not only mitigates cash inefficiencies but also aligns cash holding policies with firms' strategic needs. From a practical perspective, regulators, firms, and investors should expand women's access to leadership development and promote higher-quality ESG assurance as a governance instrument to enhance transparency and sustainability risk management. This study contributes to the literature by uncovering the mechanisms through which women's leadership influences corporate cash holding policies, integrating ESG assurance and performance. This area remains relatively underexplored in prior research.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":36531,"journal":{"name":"Business Strategy and Development","volume":"9 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2026-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148343292","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}