In January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of a new coronavirus disease, COVID-19, to be a public health emergency of international concern. Currently, in several countries globally, this pandemic continues to enforce the temporary closure of all nonessential shops and services aside from supermarkets and pharmacies. Workers in countries that are at a high risk of infection have been asked to work from home, as cities have been placed under lockdown. Even curfews to combat the spread of the virus have been imposed in several countries, with all this signaling an unprecedented disruption of commerce. Companies are facing various challenges regarding health and safety, supply chain, labor force, cash flow, consumer demand and marketing. People in the thousands are dying every day from the virus’s symptoms, while a public health issue has forced the world to come to a halt and rethink what a sustainable future for our planet and existence is. These drastic recent events have raised the deliberation by the authors to redefine the concept of sustainability.

Digitalization and big data are currently moving many industries forward and creating value-added efficiency improvements, new services, and business models. One area in industrial digitalization is RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) and related sensor technologies with benefits in asset visibility, employee productivity, risk management, loss, and theft mitigation. This literature review article is focused on specifically looking at digitalization in the apparel industry. Due to its complex global network, it has been a challenging industry to implement such technological advancements. Recent novel RFID system integrations have included highly innovative solutions in new store concepts, business models, and product traceability in the value chain. Inventory management has been improved by using RFID technology for creating and updating and for more efficient controls. Also, chain of custody of the various products in apparel and fashion can be more traceable and efficient. Improved customer connectivity and, therefore, customization are also important benefits using these technologies. Most benefits in using RFID in the apparel industry are related to economics and efficiencies. Similarly looking at scientific literature, the majority is focused on the more business-related value creation. In this publication, results of a systematically made literature review focusing on the three dimensions of sustainability (environmental, social, and economic systems) is reported. This review is done using value chain analyses, and it focuses on reported case studies to highlight the sustainability benefits of the RFID technology. According to the literature findings, this is the first review article that reports on the broader sustainability impact of RFID in the apparel industry. The findings show a very limited number of articles and the main focus of the articles found was in environmental aspects (44%). Following that was economic benefits (36%), and only a limited amount of research articles was found in social aspects of sustainability (20%). In addition to identifying the sustainability areas that RFID technology is related to, this article shows other areas of improvements using RFID technology in different parts of the apparel value chain.

A company’s board of directors plays a critical role in making decisions relating to strategy, high-level structure, and the appointment of the CEO. The role of the board and its impact on corporate performance has been well studied; however, the diversity of the board of directors and the corresponding correlation to the level of corporate innovativeness has not been previously investigated. Here, we provide a critical analysis of board members’ diversity as it relates to innovative corporations in what is considered a mature industry in transition to a bioeconomy: the pulp and paper industry. Our findings contribute to the body of knowledge on the role of board member diversity in shaping company culture and how that drives, shapes, and sustains innovation.

Senior executives have a major role in leading corporations both strategically and operationally. In large corporations, the executive team is leading through their respective organizations, ensuring that corporate strategy is executed efficiently and effectively. In addition, executive management plays the key role in shaping the culture and the values of the corporation. There exists a wealth of research conducted on executive management team dynamics and the success factors related to their performance. This study examines how diversity in executive management impacts the perceived innovativeness of companies. We compare the most innovative companies and the largest players in the bioeconomy. Currently, the bioeconomy has received a lot of attention as it is considered one of the industries associated with solving global societal and environmental challenges. However, it is not perceived as highly innovative and is considered to be lacking in diversity among senior executive teams. This study adds to the body of knowledge connecting innovation, diversity, and corporate leadership and highlights similarities and differences from diversity perspective related to the companies investigated.

Digitalization and big data are continuing to revolutionize industries impacting the global economy, environment, and society as a whole. The retail industry is not an exception and is facing a paradigm shift in many aspects of its operations. One of the latest innovations in this industry is the development of unmanned stores concepts and business models. These novel business models are mostly used in the grocery stores segment with an impetus to eliminate the need for check-out lines and to create more efficiencies in the whole process of the shopping experience. Because of the disruptive nature of this business model, it is important to research the effects of its expansion into society. In this article, we are making a critical analysis of the sustainability impact of unmanned stores and assess the strategic direction and growth strategies of major corporations and organizations within the value chain. We used an unambiguous and straightforward questionnaire as the research tool and the results show grocery as the current target for expansion, however, future expectations from business developers lean heavily towards coffee and books. Interestingly, the investment logic for expected benefits from the participants seemed to be biased towards efficiencies and the value chain benefits seemed to mostly come from the use of big data and data analytics. The most important use of the data was associated with the dynamic pricing models. Additionally, our study shows interesting insight for example to the growth segments, the role of sustainability, and barriers of entry.