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Sustainability
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Business Success Through Sustainability in the Post-COVID-19 Era
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Business Success Through Sustainability in the Post-COVID-19 Era

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2022) | Viewed by 15812

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Marcin Staniewski

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw, Poland, ul. Okopowa 59, 01-043 Warsaw, Poland
Interests: entrepreneurial success; entrepreneurship; innovation; competitiveness; human resource management; knowledge management
Dr. Hafezali Iqbal Hussain

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Taylor’s Business School, Taylor’s University Lakeside Campus, 1 Jalan Taylors, Subang Jaya 47500, Malaysia
2. University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw, Okopowa 59, 01-043 Warsaw, Poland
Interests: islamic finance; corporate finance; financial economics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Alexandru Capatina

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Business Administration Department, Dunarea de Jos University of Galati, Galati, 800003, Romania
Interests: business intelligence; customer relationship management; digital marketing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Valeska V. Geldres Weiss

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Law and Business, Universidad de La Frontera, Av. Francisco Salazar 01145, 4811230 Temuco, Chile
Interests: international business; international marketing; international entrepreneurship; innovation; sustainability

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on the global economy, causing business failure and global recession. Consequently, previously planned investments in sustainable projects, energy efficiency, and environmental preservation are expected to experience downward revisions. The significant pandemic-induced slowdown in economic activities affects sustainable projects negatively. Thus, it poses a significant threat to sustainable economic growth. Accordingly, new economic and business policies may be required to curtail these negative effects of the pandemic on sustainable projects. Such initiatives may include: streamlining regulations and policies that deal with business success through sustainability, green financing innovations, green infrastructure projects, taxing carbon emissions (at the regional or global level), facilitating the issuance of green bonds, establishing a set of standards for green credit ratings, and reducing the risks of green investments.

This Special Issue of Sustainability is seeking theoretical, empirical, and policy-oriented papers which deal with the future of business success through sustainability in the post-COVID-19 world. Accepted manuscripts will consist of fully developed papers that are based on a sound theoretical framework and make a significant contribution to the literature.

Dr. Marcin Staniewski
Dr. Hafezali Iqbal Hussain
Dr. Alexandru Capatina
Dr. Valeska V. Geldres Weiss
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • post-COVID-19
  • sustainable projects
  • green financing innovations
  • green infrastructure projects
  • taxing carbon emissions
  • green bonds
  • green credit ratings
  • green investments

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 599 KiB  
Article
Entrepreneur Mindset, Social Capital and Adaptive Capacity for Tourism SME Resilience and Transformation during the COVID-19 Pandemic
by Kritinee Pongtanalert and Nuttapol Assarut
Sustainability 2022, 14(19), 12675; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su141912675 - 05 Oct 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3521
Abstract
Although many studies have explored business resilience during crisis, most subjects are large companies with abundant resources. Hardly any research has explored how small and medium companies with limited resources overcome crisis. This study aims to fill this void by investigating the process [...] Read more.
Although many studies have explored business resilience during crisis, most subjects are large companies with abundant resources. Hardly any research has explored how small and medium companies with limited resources overcome crisis. This study aims to fill this void by investigating the process of resilience and transformation of small firms during and post-COVID-19. The multiple case study method was applied under the framework of entrepreneur mindset, adaptive capacity and social capital. Small hostels in Thailand and their reaction towards COVID-19 are explored as they were hugely impacted by the pandemic. Four hostels were selected as representative cases of business resilience during September 2020–2021. The results show that these hostels managed to utilize bonding social capital to reshape the business in the short term. In response to the prolonging of the COVID-19 pandemic, bridging social capital was employed to develop a new business model and business sustainability. The entrepreneur mindset is essential for succeeding in the proposed business and helping the owner to be aware of and engage with specific social capital. The entrepreneur mindset also helped to create trust between owner and staff, which enhances adaptive capacity in the firm for resilience and transformation of the business. The findings can guide SMEs to become aware of having a good entrepreneur mindset as well as to utilize their social capital and create business innovation and sustainability to survive the crisis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Business Success Through Sustainability in the Post-COVID-19 Era)
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25 pages, 2042 KiB  
Article
Towards Sustainable Production Processes Reengineering: Case Study at INCOM Egypt
by Rasha Fady Ismail, Fadi Safieddine, Rawad Hammad and Mazhar Hallak Kantakji
Sustainability 2022, 14(11), 6564; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14116564 - 27 May 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2272
Abstract
INCOM Egypt has undergone automation in some processes where critical aspects of its operations are transformed and automated. This paper presents an overview of INCOM Egypt processes using Ould Riva and analyses the process of ‘handling a product’. It aims to demonstrate effective [...] Read more.
INCOM Egypt has undergone automation in some processes where critical aspects of its operations are transformed and automated. This paper presents an overview of INCOM Egypt processes using Ould Riva and analyses the process of ‘handling a product’. It aims to demonstrate effective automation of the production of wires and cables process accompanied to Industry 4.0 while considering environmental and economic sustainability goals that were inhibited by COVID-19 restrictions. Ould’s Riva method is used to analyse the production process of wires and cables to propose improvements for automating the process. Business process modelling is utilised to study the processes for clearer understating. The flow of information within the process is also analysed to integrate the production process with other processes and supply chains, which helps to identify which production activities can be automated and mainstreamed into the information flow to achieve environmental and economic sustainability. The context of INCOM Egypt, as a case study, is presented along with the Riva model of its operations. The paper identifies the before, i.e., As-Is process, and after, i.e., To-Be Process, automation of the ‘handle a product’ process using the Role Activity Diagram (RAD). The process involved redesigning and improving different activities to increase resource-use efficiency to participate in achieving the goals of sustainability. The focus of this paper is to investigate the negative impact of COVID-19 on sustainability and to examine the accomplishments of process automation of wire production towards environmental and economic sustainability. The results of the research reveal a relationship between business process modelling and sustainability. Moreover, automation of processes (Industry 4.0) is found to reduce the negative effect of COVID-19 on production. A triangulation between process modelling, process automation (Industry 4.0), and sustainability was determined. Each one is reinforcing and impacting one another. The RAD model demonstrates that automation of the activities in the process reduces waste, time, cost, and redundant processes as factors of sustainability, which may also help to lessen the unfavorable effects of the pandemic. The results proved generalisation on other organisations in the same line of business. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Business Success Through Sustainability in the Post-COVID-19 Era)
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22 pages, 759 KiB  
Article
New Strategies to Explain Organizational Resilience on the Firms: A Cross-Countries Configurations Approach
by Jorge Heredia, Cathy Rubiños, William Vega, Walter Heredia and Alejandro Flores
Sustainability 2022, 14(3), 1612; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14031612 - 29 Jan 2022
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 6229
Abstract
Organizations need to develop their resilience to foster future success to survive complex environments. This research conducts a comparative analysis to understand firms’ strategies in a “black swan” event. We use the “strategy tripod” to operationalize resilience theory and explain the configurations or [...] Read more.
Organizations need to develop their resilience to foster future success to survive complex environments. This research conducts a comparative analysis to understand firms’ strategies in a “black swan” event. We use the “strategy tripod” to operationalize resilience theory and explain the configurations or pathways that lead to high organizational resilience in a crisis context. The data correspond to 1936 firms drawn from the “Enterprise Survey 2020 for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in China (ESIEC)”, and to 66 Central American firms drawn from the “World Bank 2020 Enterprise Surveys” are also analyzed. The methodological approach fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) is applied. We discuss and analyze the strategies of companies in this “new normal”; our results establish that in the case of emerging economies, organizational innovation seems to be a necessary condition for becoming an organizational resilience to a black swan crisis (finding from both cases). We also found that labor flexibility and emotional intelligence for the case of firms from China, and adequate control of the turbulence environment for the cases of Central America, were also necessary conditions for each region. We further argue that digitalization depends on access to government support for its success. China reinforces its strategies in an intensification of human resources flexibility. In addition, they are better prepared for the “black swan” crisis, allowing them to adapt quickly and generate business model innovation to mitigate the effects of the pandemic in this “new normal.” In contrast, Central America needs rapid organization for organizational resilience. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Business Success Through Sustainability in the Post-COVID-19 Era)
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24 pages, 359 KiB  
Article
Export Promotion Agencies’ Lived Turmoil, Response and Strategies in COVID-19 Times
by Valeska V. Geldres-Weiss, Nathaniel P. Massa and Joaquín Monreal-Pérez
Sustainability 2021, 13(21), 12056; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su132112056 - 01 Nov 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2257
Abstract
This paper explores Export Promotion Agencies’ (EPAs’) lived turmoil amid the COVID-19 crisis. It investigates: the EPAs’ perspective on pandemic impact on exporting SMEs; the pandemic impact on EPAs, their operations and response strategies; and EPAs’ perception and expectations post-COVID. The research draws [...] Read more.
This paper explores Export Promotion Agencies’ (EPAs’) lived turmoil amid the COVID-19 crisis. It investigates: the EPAs’ perspective on pandemic impact on exporting SMEs; the pandemic impact on EPAs, their operations and response strategies; and EPAs’ perception and expectations post-COVID. The research draws on in-depth interviews with three countries’ EPA managers (Chile, Ecuador, Peru); five elite informants engaged operationally and strategically. A narrative approach inquiring on human experience is adopted, enabling rich insights on complex dynamics and contextual realities ‘from the inside’. Notwithstanding heavy regional impact, no research exists on South America; especially EPAs’ role in COVID times. The methodology provides intimate first-hand knowledge on idiosyncratic circumstances shrouded in uncertainty; unprecedented challenges faced at ground zero, addressed in unconventional ways. Country-specific complexities compounded pandemic impact. EPAs were compelled to rediscover their purpose, devising novel responses to help exporting SMEs. Notwithstanding reduced budgets and layoffs, the EPAs persevered, innovating resource-light solutions to pragmatically surmount turmoil; effectively serving their mission amid uncertainty and adversity. In/formal emergent trust-based cooperation strategies proved crucial. Also accentuated was production and consumption environmental sustainability. Detailed front-line perspectives provide valuable insight and important lessons on complex challenges endured and effective EPA action. Post-COVID perspectives, best practice and policy support recommendations are forthcoming. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Business Success Through Sustainability in the Post-COVID-19 Era)
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