The empirical literature considers firm specific aspects affecting corporate sustainability decisions but generally omits the influence of the competition. We advocate that sustainability actions of a company impact its marketplace and vice versa. Therefore, the sustainability return of the single firm is a function of the other firms' sustainability decisions. We approach sustainability decisions as strategic decisions and evaluate the effect of competition and spillovers in a static market entry game. We estimate the parameters of the discrete choice model using the social performance ratings from MSCI KLD 400 Social Index as proxy for sustainability decisions and financial information from Wharton Research Data Services' COMPUSTAT dataset. When strategic interaction is not accounted for, we find that the increasing number of competitors increases the likelihood of sustainability investments, seemingly shows the spillover effect dominates the competition. When we apply the multistage approach, which incorporates competitive interaction, we provide empirical evidence that the effect of competition on the likelihood of entry into the sustainability market dominates the effect of spillover. We find that strategic motives, typically ignored in the empirical literature, appear to be an important factor in understanding sustainability related decisions.

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the potential of blockchain technology (BT) to support the operational excellence in perishable food supply chain (PFSC) during outbreaks, by doing use-case analysis.Design/methodology/approachA systematic literature review is performed to determine the dimensions of operational excellence in the food supply chain (FSC), then a single use-case analysis is conducted to explore the potential of blockchain in order to achieve operational excellence for PFSC during the pandemics by applying context, interventions, mechanism and outcomes (CIMO) logic.FindingsThe findings of this study reveal that blockchain capabilities such as immutability and transparency, visibility, traceability, integration and interoperability, disintermediation and decentralisation, smart contracts and consensus mechanism provide better sustainable operational excellence outcomes for PFSCs to be more responsive, flexible, efficient and collaborative to cope with the impacts of COVID-19.Research limitations/implicationsThis research employs only one real case with multiple PFSC participants. Statistical generalisation is not possible at this stage of the research. However, the findings are not restricted to this single use-case.Practical implicationsThis study provides a research direction to explore the potential of BT to achieve operational excellence in the PFSC during outbreaks and generates prescriptive knowledge for better managerial decision-making across the PFSC during outbreaks.Originality/valueThis research conducts semi-structured interviews with different participants in one blockchain ecosystem to understand multiple participants' perspectives of operational excellence within PFSC.

A B S T R A C TRecent global developments lead companies to include into their strategic plans not only economic sustainability but environmental and social sustainability as well. Companies have been investing in environmental and social sustainability to meet stakeholder demand and/or regulatory demands. Considering this as a market mechanism, we view the sustainability actions of companies as interrelated strategic decisions and propose a Stackelberg game to model the effects of competition for sustainability and sustainability spillovers over the sustainability outcomes of companies. We provide equilibrium solutions for the one leader, two followers game over different intervals of competition levels and spillover rates. Using a numerical example, we observe how the sustainability investments and net benefits change as competition levels and spillover rates change and identify the competition-spillover regions, where each player invests the most and has the advantage in terms of benefit. We discuss implications for both the companies and the policy makers.

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Uluslararası literatürde sürdürülebilirlik ve finansal performans ilişkisini inceleyen çalışmalar birbirleri ile çelişen bulgular ortaya koymuşlardır. Her ne kadar sürdürülebilirlik etkisini pozitif bulan çalışma sayısı daha fazla olsa da ciddi miktarda çalışma ilişkiyi negatif bulmuş, yine birçok çalışma da herhangi anlamlı bir ilişki bulamamıştır. Bu durum ilişkinin yönü hakkında ciddi kuşku oluşturmaktadır ve dahası böyle bir ilişkinin var olup olmadığı hala önemli bir araştırma sorusu olarak gündemini korumaktadır. Özellikle, ilişkiyi pozitif bulan çalışmaların kullandıkları veri setleri ve değişkenlerin birbirinden çok farklı olduğu dikkate alındığında, bu çalışmaların oranı ilişkinin pozitif olduğunu bilimsel olarak kanıtlamaya yetecek kadar çok değildir. Türk literatüründe ise bu alanda yapılan çalışmalar kısıtlı örneklem sebebi ile istatistiksel açıdan sağlıklı sonuçlara ulaşamamıştır. Bu çalışmada Türk firmaları için sürdürülebilirliğin finansal performans üzerindeki etkisi ortaya konulmuştur. Analizler CSRHUB ve Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS) Compustat Global veri setleri birleştirilerek elde edilen ve 214 firmadan oluşan büyük bir örneklem üzerinden yapılmıştır. Sonuçlar sürdürülebilirliğin finansal performans üzerinde pozitif etkisi olduğunu göstermiştir. Ayrıca yaptığımız analizler sonucu yabancı ortaklı firmaların yerli sermayeli firmalara göre gerek finansal gerek sürdürülebilirlik açısından daha avantajlı konumda olduğu saptanmıştır.