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In the last decade the discussion on green innovations has gained in importance, both in practice and in academia. This chapter builds on the idea that performance in innovation capturing environmental aspects doesn’t depend only on inputs but also the synchronization of different stakeholders, firms and policy-makers that make an innovation-driven society. In disruptive periods, green adaptive ability which refers to ability to comply with environmental regulations is based on corporate environmental commitments and their social responsibility as well as on green human capital. Based on corporate environmental commitments, companies seek business opportunities by changing their business models as well as by integrating, building and reconfiguring competences to comply with environmental standards. Green human capital, on the other side, builds organizational culture that supports green innovation. The aim of this chapter is to present a conceptual model that stimulates green innovations at the company level and discusses the proper governance structure supportive of innovation and effective strategies of policy-making.

The paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of the drivers for the use of Industry 4.0 technologies by investigating (1) what motivates companies to consider using I4 technologies and (2) what enables (or hinders) the intention to use I4 technologies to translate into their actual use.

The study uses survey data collected from a sample of export-oriented manufacturing companies with more than 10 employees. Final analysis is conducted on 124 companies.

The results show that companies are proactively approaching I4. Only efficiency motives and expected competitive advantage have a positive effect on the intention to use I4 technologies, which in turn positively influences their actual use. The external, legitimacy-based, motives do not play a significant role in explaining the intention to use. With respect to I4 technology enablers, employee competency positively moderates and availability of finance negatively moderates the relationship between intention to use and actual use.

The work extends the existing knowledge base on I4 technology drivers in companies that are not major global trendsetters but are heavily embedded in the value chains of companies from the most industrially developed economies. The study is limited to manufacturing companies in a small European economy and should be retested in other contexts.

The study can help managers implement I4 technologies in their companies more successfully.

We take a novel research approach by proposing a framework that clearly distinguishes between motives and enablers for the use of I4 technologies.

European Union (EU) as a whole has made modest short-term progress toward sustainable development goals (SDG). Only in one goal (ensuring healthy lives and promotion of well-being) out of 17, the progress was substantial. The most problematic goals, which show movements away from sustainable development objectives, are goals that are focused on building resilient infrastructure, promotion of inclusive, sustainable industrialization, fostering innovation, and the goal that takes urgent action to combat climate changes. The analysis between old and new EU members revealed that median new EU member has made bigger progress in the last five years. For 11 SDGs, the average score is lover for median new EU member compared to median old EU member. However, the last available level of the indicator is in general still more favorable for median old EU member compared to median new EU member.

The chapter describes the milestones at the global and European level on the path toward sustainable development. The first steps toward a different growth agenda were made in 1970s when the “Limits to growth” highlighted the divergence with the increasing needs of the growing population, the limited supply of resources, the planet can provide and the growing pollution. In 1980s the Brundtland report defined sustainable development as a three-dimensional one: economic, social and environmental, stressing not only the interplay between the goals, but also the global interdependence and the need for joint action to achieve the goals. Several ambitious strategies were prepared, most notably the Kyoto protocol, the Millenium Development Goals and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), which are shaping global policies at the moment. The European Union has always been at the forefront of the efforts toward sustainability with its ambitious goals, which includes not only achieving SDGs, but also moving further, for example, toward a circular development approach.

This chapter provides comments and suggestions to the lawmaker, and especially to economic policy-makers in the field of the optimal regulatory framework and implementation of sustainable practices. The main findings are as follows: (1) degradation of the rule of law in several European Union (EU) Member States and constant political undermining of the legal institutions represent the main threat for the implementation of sustainable practices and development; (2) the golden regulatory rule of thumb provides that regulatory intervention is suggested merely in cases of market failures under the condition that the costs of such intervention do not exceed the benefits; (3) over-regulation might impede implementation of sustainable practices, distort the operation of the market, undermine productivity, diminish growth and social wealth and consequently also sustainability; (4) efficiency and wealth maximization should be the lawmaker’s leading normative principle in designing the legal framework that will enable effective implementation of sustainable practices; (5) the efficient level of harmonization or subsidiarity of decision-making in the EU urges for a rigorous investigation of costs and benefits of the EU top-down harmonization policies which should lead to a better, efficient vertical allocation of sustainability agenda between EU and the Member States; and (6) The Reflection Paper on Sustainable Development Goals – “Towards a Sustainable Europe in 2030” – represents an effective institutional framework in pursue of the overall sustainability targets.

This chapter analyses the evolution of strategic corporate social responsibility (CSR). Despite extensive research on the strategic aspects of CSR, the absence of a well-defined theoretical concept has hindered the development of the field. The authors build on the four mechanisms that conceptually distinguish strategic CSR from CSR in general: enhancing firm reputation, increasing stakeholder reciprocation, mitigating firm risk, and strengthening innovation capacity. By using bibliometric methods, we analyze the main topics, references, and sources of papers, found in the Web of Science Core Collection database. The analysis of the strategic CSR field discusses main topics through three periods (1991–2009, 2010–2014, and 2015–2019). The findings help identify the mapping of conceptual space of the strategic CSR field and suggest grounds for continuing the debates on how to advance the micro-level perspectives on CSR.

By utilizing a large sample of firms during the period 2006–2017, the author determine which types of firms are more likely to go bankrupt. The author shows that over-leveraged firms have significantly higher probability of going bankrupt, which highlight the importance of the concept of optimal corporate capital structure. The author finds that private firms and export-oriented firms experience lower hazard rates. Proposed hazard statistical model highlights that more profitable firms, firms with better liquidity, firms with more tangible assets and larger firms all have statistically higher survival rates. The author finds that bankruptcy rates are the lowest among service firms and the highest in construction industry. Ownership variables indicate that state-owned firms, firms with foreign ownership and firms, owned by holdings, are less likely to fail, all else equal. Finally, the author demonstrates that proposed statistical model successfully predicts the probability of bankruptcy. The mean cumulative hazard function for a group of surviving firms is statistically significantly lower compared to a group of failing firms. In order to survive in a long run, firm’s management should especially be aware of their optimal capital structure and use rather less leverage than going over the sustainable level.