Purpose – Businesses focus on digital transformation (DT) to improve performance; hence, this study aims to examine the relationship between DT and green innovation performance (GIP) within small- and mediumsized enterprises. In line with stakeholder theory, the study investigated the mediating impact of absorptive capacity (AC) and the moderating role of competitive pressure (CP) and environmental regulations (ERs). Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from 233 enterprises in China via an online survey and analyzed empirically. Findings – Outcomes explained the positive and significant impact of DT on GIP and highlighted the mediating role of AC. In addition, CP and ERs were found to be convincing moderators, modeling dynamics of GIP. Conclusions extend enterprises’ understanding of how to strategically control DT and emphasize AC linked with ERs and CP. Social implications – The study supports cleaner business practices by showing how digital transformation and knowledge absorption can help SMEs reduce environmental harm and contribute to sustainable development. Originality/value – Theoretically, this study advances the literature on stakeholder theory and DT, shaping GIP. It also offers practical guidance for small- and medium-sized enterprises on aligning digital strategies with regulatory demands and using external knowledge to improve green innovation outcomes.
Purpose – This study aims to examine how Global South firms mitigate political risk when operating in armed conflict zones and politically unstable international markets. It addresses the limited understanding of how firms develop, mobilize and transfer institutional capabilities in highly unstable contexts, where traditional predictive approaches lose effectiveness. Specifically, it investigates how Brazilian firms mobilize immediate resources, relational networks and trust to transform uncertainty into opportunity, uncovering patterns of resilience, adaptability and organizational learning underexplored in the literature on the internationalization of Global South multinational enterprises. Design/methodology/approach – This study adopts a qualitative, multiple-case design grounded in an inductive approach, examining six Brazilian firms with operations in, or exposure to, conflict-affected or politically unstable environments. Primary data comprised seven semistructured interviews conducted between February and March 2023, complemented by documentary evidence including corporate documents, media coverage, export data and institutional reports. Data were analyzed through iterative open coding, second-order theming and crosscase pattern matching, with documentary triangulation enhancing construct validity. Findings – The findings highlight the central role of strategic partnerships in managing financial exposure, enabling market entry and navigating political uncertainty. Firms rarely rely on formal predictive models; instead, they combine commercial safeguards, trusted relationships, effectual reasoning and adaptive responses. Concrete mechanisms include trust-based distributor networks, advance-payment safeguards, institutional bricolage and rapid reconfiguration routines, alongside effectuation heuristics such as bird-in-hand and affordable loss. Networks function as relational infrastructure, providing critical information, local resources and logistical support that strengthen organizational resilience and enable firms to convert political shocks into opportunities. Research limitations/implications – The small case sample limits generalizability, calling for comparative studies across Global South regions and sectors and for investigating whether the findings extend to multinationals from developed economies. The durability and scalability of effectuation-based responses warrant longitudinal and mixed-method research, including whether non-predictive routines become institutionalized over time and the development of measures linking effectual reasoning to firm performance under political shocks. Practical implications – Managers of emerging multinationals and smaller exporters in fragile markets should cultivate diverse partnerships and strengthen local intermediaries, which provide legitimacy, market intelligence and operational capacity beyond what predictive models offer. Acceptable-loss rules, implemented through contractual clauses, payment safeguards or staged investments, preserve strategic flexibility and limit downside exposure, while rapid relocation routines and logistics reconfiguration enhance agility. Public policy and multilateral agencies can support these efforts through risk-mitigation instruments, internationalization programs and stronger intermediary networks. Social implications – By showing how firms sustain operations in conflict-affected and institutionally fragile regions, the study illuminates how continued trade and investment can preserve access to essential goods, employment and local economic activity in underserved markets often abandoned by established competitors. Cases such as engagement with international institutions to improve trade facilitation and participation in humanitarian reconstruction suggest that resilient Global South firms can contribute to post-crisis recovery. Strengthening intermediary networks and risk-mitigation instruments, as recommended to policymakers and multilateral agencies, may foster more stable trade links and reduce the economic isolation of politically unstable regions. Originality/value – By specifying the microfoundations of non-predictive strategy, this study extends effectuation theory to political-risk settings and advances debates on the interplay among effectuation, resilience and institutions in Global South internationalization. It shows that political risk management depends less on prediction than on transforming embedded relationships into adaptive action, offering value to researchers of emerging-market multinationals and to managers sustaining international operations in volatile environments.
Purpose – This research aims to investigate the main components of an engagement and participation process in the context of mine closure and how they contribute to a sustainable territorial transition in the post-mining period in Itabira, Brazil. Design/methodology/approach – Based on literature reviews, interviews and a focus group, this study identifies five analytical categories: information flow, engagement context, scope of engagement, type of engagement and social acceptance. Although consultation and communication initiatives exist, practices remain largely unilateral and weakly deliberative, generating uncertainty about socioeconomic impacts as ore reserves are depleted. Findings – The authors argue that enduring participatory forums and strengthened local capacities are essential for anticipating impacts, reducing asymmetries, and stimulating alternative productive activities. These contributions are particularly relevant in the Global South to ensure a legacy in mining territories that promotes inequality reduction, social inclusion and local development, as envisaged in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10 of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. Research limitations/implications – Single case evidence and absence of Vale interviews limit broader analytical generalization. Practical implications – Permanent multi-stakeholder forums can reduce asymmetries and guide mine closure decisions. Social implications – Inclusive closure governance can reduce vulnerability and support equitable local development. Originality/value – Integrates stakeholder engagement, social license to close, and transition governance debates.
Purpose – The purpose of this study is to analyze three Brazilian territories marked by tense relationships between companies and communities, seeking to understand how these ties are constructed over time. Design/methodology/approach – This study adopts an exploratory qualitative approach (Eisenhardt, 1989). From an epistemological standpoint, the study is grounded in an interpretivist perspective (Cunliffe, 2011). Findings – The findings indicate that multi-stakeholder governance is a dynamic process, in which organizational arrangements, power distribution and forms of social value creation are continuously reconfigured over time. The study demonstrates how governance models emerge, evolve and are contested throughout the relationship cycle, thereby influencing the generation of social value. Social implications – Although the study does not measure social impact through public policy indicators, its findings engage with key challenges of the 2030 Agenda, particularly sustainable development goals (SDG) 16 (governance, coordination and legitimacy in contexts of institutional fragility), SDG 10 (power asymmetries and the expansion of community participation) and SDG 11 (territorial dynamics and firm–community relationships). Thus, the article provides an analytical foundation for understanding how multistakeholder arrangements may enable or constrain more equitable and sustainable responses in Global South territories. Originality/value – This study makes three contributions to the literature on multi-stakeholder governance (Bridoux & Stoelhorst, 2022) and social value creation (Lazzarini, 2020).
Purpose-This study explores the impacts of high-speed rail (HSR) on regional tourism performance. This study aims to identify short-term shocks, medium-term causal effects and long-term dynamic trends and analyze heterogeneous influences across cities with different scales and resource endowments. Design/methodology/approach-Based on 2005-2023 panel data of Chinese prefecture-level cities, this research adopts the Synthetic Control Method, instrumental variable difference-in-differences and a Bayesian dynamic panel model for multi-angle empirical analysis and conducts multi-dimensional heterogeneity tests. Findings-HSR significantly boosts tourism gross domestic product, employment and revenue with cumulative lag effects. Its impacts are stronger in large and tourism-intensive cities. Regional disparities exist across geographic areas and urban development levels. Social implications-The findings support differentiated HSR and tourism policies. It helps balance regional development, promote decent jobs, advance sustainable tourism and ecological governance and align with inclusive growth goals. Originality/value-This integrated multi-method framework addresses endogeneity and uncertainty. It enriches policy evaluation methods for transport infrastructure and provides references for tourism development worldwide.
