The mediating effect of sustainability strategy between sustainability committees and business performance: can persistent assessment condition this effect?

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to analyse the role of persistence in the assessments carried out by sustainability agencies in the interaction between sustainability committee characteristics, sustainability strategies and performance. Design/methodology/approach The authors accessed a sample of European sustainable multinational and transnational companies (EMNs) for the period 2008–2017 from RobecoSAM universe. Using a set of simultaneous equation models, the authors test the effect of the sustainability committee on sustainability performance considering the sustainability strategy as a mediating element. Moreover, the authors analysed if the persistent assessment of sustainability agencies conditions the previous interaction. Findings Persistence of the sustainability assessment performed by an external agency is necessary to support the sustainability strategy and the sustainability committee, legitimating an organization in its institutional context. Practical implications This study provides practitioners with relevant insights into the identification of the sustainability strategy followed by an EMN and the effects associated with it can be useful for social and economic agents in decision-making processes. Social implications A persistent assessment could be a signal over time of the evolution of organizations, reinforcing the monitoring mechanisms. It is a stimulus to EMNs as they obtain both an indicator of their levels of performance and public recognition. Originality/value The lack of similarity in the levels of sustainable performance observed among companies can be explained by the persistence, which is an omitted variable in previous studies.

The impact of intellectual property protection on the development of digital economy and regional entrepreneurial activity: Evidence from small and medium enterprises

“…SMEs following inward open innovation through IPM and outward OI through its commercialization are influenced by ICT systems it has. Firms with high ICT systems indicated more performance in the commercialization of innovation (López-Arceiz et al, 2022). Undoubtedly, information technology has changed the dynamics of the world by providing a way of communication with businesses to improve products and development by sharing ideas (Khan and Ghayas, 2022).…”

“…Indeed, the organizations are working with the open innovation approach to balancing the challenges offered by digitalization and globalization. However, it is to be ensured that SMEs devise appropriate systems of intellectual property management to avoid any copy of products or services by any other company in an unethical way(López-Arceiz et al, 2022). Our findings suggest that the more effort companies exert into the intellectual property management systems, the more open flow of innovation would be in an organization.…”

“…In this regard, according to Shaikh (2018), the role of intellectual property is the right pathway to the business organisations for the betterment of new ideas in business performance to solve society's problems. The critical role of intellectual property laws is vital in any society because based on these laws, the moral standard of any society is set and it provides a pathway for better understanding the society (López-Arceiz et al, 2022). The business practices with intellectual property rights take the organizations to innovation because the unique ideas of the organization are protected to provide a sustainable and well-developed right to protect the unique business ideas.…”

“…Therefore, the joint venture and collaboration between businesses are essential to consider to defeat different organizations that are providing opportunities and working in a more comfortable and reliable way in the target market to improve the business performance and enhance the profit with commercialization activities (Udriyah et al, 2019;Oshodin and Omoregbe, 2021). The responsibility of the business management is to understand the changing dynamics of the target market and develop a strategy with the idea of sharing open innovation with businesses in America to develop a competitive advantage in the most prominent target market (López-Arceiz et al, 2022). The way of open innovation would provide an opportunity for entrepreneurial activities and increase the business performance of the business organization to work in a more competitive era.…”

“…For businesses that are not working on the modern trend and not utilizing information communication as a system to integrate all the related things, it would be challenging for the business organization to enhance the management experience by interacting with other organizations. In this regard, the responsibility of the business management is to provide the best alternative ways and determine all kinds of critical factors that are contributing to effective management for the commercialization performance and the business performance that the innovative leaders manage (Arraya et al, 2015;Andrei et al, 2020;López-Arceiz et al, 2022). Therefore, the responsibility of the government and other stakeholders is to provide opportunities to the businesses to communicate with each other and share the ideas for open innovation to develop different strategies and prosper in the business performance in the target market for commercialization performance.…”