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This paper investigates the priorities governing large companies in an emerging market regarding corporate social performance (CSP). The authors propose profile patterns of responsible managerial behavior and a framework for evaluating CSP relying on stakeholder theory. The study relies on a statistical analysis which is designed to examine the significance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) practice as it emerges from company business strategies. Taking the form of an empirical study involving 87 managers, this work relies on the cluster analysis theory, identifying six behavioral patterns when considering CSR practices: “lethargic”, “compliant, “pragmatist”, “auditor”, “formalist”, and “performer”. The cluster typology indicates the complexity of CSR practices and highlights the role of CSR in company strategy development. The proposed assessment model is intended to empower CSP diagnosis, while supporting management towards achieving sustainable growth.

Objective: The university-business partnership plays a particularly important role in society, allowing a symbiosis between socio-economic stakeholders and the university. This symbiosis is based on co-creating and sharing knowledge, creating collaborative projects, valorizing research, implementing SD principles, and on good governance. The aim of this research is to identify groups of francophone socio-economic organizations willing to engage in co-creating knowledge with universities to adapt the academic curriculum to the dynamic requirements of the labor market, supporting entrepreneurship, whilst implementing SDG principles, and ensuring sustainable education. We base our approach on the two-step cluster analysis, data being collected via questionnaires among representatives of francophone organizations in an emerging market. This allows the identification of two clusters of francophone organizations according to the extent to which they contribute to strengthening their relationship with the university by co-creating knowledge, implementing SDG principles, and supporting sustainable education.Findings: The first cluster is represented by francophone organizations reluctant to co-create knowledge and innovate with universities. These organizations have a rather unclear long-term vision and are not actively involved in supporting SDG education or understanding the universities’ training needs. The second cluster is represented by francophone organizations willing to strengthen the relationship with universities and to co-create value, developing students’ entrepreneurial skills and cooperating on the adaptation of the academic curriculum to labor market requirements.Originality/Implications: The originality of this paper consists in conducting exhaustive research among francophone organizations in Romania, with significant practical and social implications for strengthening the strategic university-business environment partnership and identifying solutions to improve knowledge co-creation and sustainable education within a proper university governance.

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Digital transformation affects all industries. This study targets how management consulting companies address this phenomenon. Based on a survey of 30 Romanian management consulting companies and a qualitative comparative analysis, we model the relationship between management consulting companies’ current context (customers’ industries, internal and external triggers for digital transformation), the current state of digital transformation, and expected digital transformation. By considering managerial expectations importance in future decisions, and contingency theory for explaining the links between context, current state and expected digital transformation, different paths concerning digital transformation are identified at Romanian management consulting companies. For some of them, the combination of internal and external triggers and the existence of previous digital transformation activities led to increases in the recognized importance of digital transformation in future business models and to newer business services (digital strategy). For others, which do not have powerful external triggers, digital transformation is associated with internal efficiency–related triggers, and it targets only improvements in existing business models due to technology adoption (technology strategy). A small number of management consulting companies do not expect digital transformation to have a large impact on their future business model, because of either the lack of external triggers to do so or the absence of previous digital transformation activities. This research demonstrates the contingency and evolutionary nature of the digital transformation process, in which specific combinations between internal and external triggers can explain the expectations of management consulting companies’ managers about digital transformation.