The paper aims to identify the main research (threads and) trends and evaluate the relationships between (and the impact of) the publications/articles investigating the interplays between artificial ...intelligence (AI) and sustainability against a business or management related context. To reach this objective, 863 articles from Web of Science Core Collection were analyzed, using VOSviewer as a bibliometric tool. Performance analysis was employed to mainly explore the interest and popularity of the topic, assess the main interest areas and fields of both the sources and the publications, determine the most relevant SDGs for the topic, and identify the most popular journals hosting articles in the analyzed field. Science mapping was carried out to identify the most influential articles in the field, understand the antecedent topics/ideas (in the fields of AI and sustainability, respectively) contributing to the emergence of a new interest area at the intersection between AI and sustainability, appraise the current developments in the analyzed interest area, and discover new trends / areas for future research.
Over the last few decades Big Data has impetuously penetrated almost every domain of human interest/action and it has (more or less consciously) become a ubiquitous presence of day to day life. The ...main questions this exploratory paper seeks to address (throughout its two parts) are the following: What is the (actual) impact of Big Data on Business & Management and How can businesses (through their management) leverage the potential of Big Data to their benefit? A gradual, step by step approach (based on literature review and a variety of secondary data) will guide the paper in search for answers to the abovementioned questions: starting with a concise history of the topic Big Data as reflected in academia and a critical content analysis of the Big Data concept, the paper will then continue by emphasizing some of the most significant realities and trends that characterize the supply-side of the big data industry; the second part of the paper is dedicated to the investigation of the demand-side of the big data industry – by highlighting some evidences (and projections) on the impact of big data analytics on Business & Management (both at aggregate and granular level) and exploring what companies could and should do (through their management) in order to best capitalize on the opportunities of big data and avoid/minimize the impact of its threats.
Over the last few decades Big Data has impetuously penetrated almost every domain of human interest/action and it has (more or less consciously) become a ubiquitous presence of day to day life. The ...main questions this exploratory paper seeks to address (throughout its two parts) are the following: What is the (actual) impact of Big Data on Business & Management and How can businesses (through their management) leverage the potential of Big Data to their benefit? This second part of the paper is dedicated to the investigation of the demand-side of the big data industry – by highlighting some evidences (and projections) on the impact of big data analytics on Business & Management (both at aggregate and granular level) and exploring what companies could and should do (through their management) in order to best capitalize on the opportunities of big data and avoid/minimize the impact of its threats.
The global commandments of sustainable development, assumed and translated by the EU into a series of communications and resolutions, have found themselves a new (and more powerful) expression into ...the “Directive 2014/95/EU (…) as regards disclosure of non-financial and diversity information by certain large undertakings and groups”; in order to increase the transparency of their sustainability-related actions and results, these companies need to report (starting from 2018, by referring to the financial year 2017) information “relating to, as a minimum, environmental, social and employee matters, respect for human rights, anti-corruption and bribery matters”. As regards the Romanian companies, although they have had a relatively delayed start in terms of embracing CSR initiatives and practices (and SCR reporting respectively), the Directive 2014/95/EU could represent a great opportunity for diminishing the gap – if properly internalized and strategically operationalized. The paper aims to perform a strategic diagnosis analysis on the CSR practices and CSR reporting in Romania, on the threshold of the Directive 2014/95/EU enforcement, in order to make an effective prognosis on its consequences and impacts.
As time went by, innovations have not only accompanied, but also shaped the evolution of humankind, while being its loyal source of progress; and they have played the same leading role at ...organizational (firm/company) level – although, if moving beyond the cumulative (global) outputs, a thorough (unit based) analysis would reveal that (the same) innovations have always distinguished between first movers and followers, innovators and imitators, winners and losers. Thus, the most innovative companies have had the opportunity of capitalizing on their realized innovation potential as industry innovation leaders, while the other companies have had to search for other types of strategic positioning in order to be competitive. But realities and trends are quite different nowadays – the unprecedented (time-related) pace and (space-related) diffusion rate that characterize innovations ask for companies to fundamentally change their approach on innovation: under the new circumstances, innovation can no longer be an option (but a perennial must – a marathon, not a sprint) and each company has to become (to a certain degree) an innovative company – in order to survive. Against this background, the paper aims to: (a). provide an outline of the main categories/topics the literature on organizational innovation deal with; (b). identify the profile and main characteristics of innovative companies; (c). compare and contrast two globally recognized rankings of the most innovative companies (BCG & PwC) in terms of companies’ characteristics.
The increasing interest for (the topic of) digital transformation – fueled by the synergies between technological developments (in terms of business-related applications of digital technologies) and ...businesses’ search for (new determinants of digital technology-based) competitive advantage, while accelerated by the covid-19 pandemic – is an undeniable reality of nowadays (which is here to stay). Through a bibliometric analysis - built on data extracted from SCOPUS database and using VOSviewer - the paper aims to: make an overall assessment on the subject (and the ways it was addressed by academia); identify the main topics that configures the research on digital transformation (while being critical for the practice); assess the validity of digital transformation as strategic shift.
Innovation has invariably been a precursor to development and competitiveness, while creating (at least temporary) barriers to differentiate between its leaders and its laggards. Although Europe is ...ranked the second most innovative region in the world, the EU faces a significant innovation divide, that is attenuating its footprint on the global competitiveness arena and weakening its mission of enhancing the wellbeing of all Europeans. The EU’s goal of the twin (green and digital) transition brings innovation (in its broadest sense) in the spotlight, while the EU Cohesion Policy (aiming to remedy the disparities between countries and regions) heavily relies on the smart specialization strategy as main methodology for reinforcing national and regional innovation eco-systems. In this context, the objectives of the paper are: (1) to explore Romania’s innovation performance (and profile over time) within the EU and identify the strengths and weaknesses of Romania’s innovation ecosystem – based on the analysis of the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) data; (2) to examine and assess how Romania and its eight development regions address the innovation challenges through their smart specialization strategies 2021(2)-2027 – based on the content analysis of the (national and regional) S3s using QDA Miner v6.0.
European Commission’s six priorities for 2019-2024 are all in line with and leverage each other to support Europe’s twin transition to digitalization and sustainability; aiming to address the ...challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, The Recovery Plan for Europe adds resilience as key dimension of EU’s progress, while reinforcing its commitment to the green and digital transformation. Counting for more than 99% of the enterprises, employing about two of three people, and generating more than a half of the value added - with similar weights as concerns Romania - EU’s SMEs are the engine of Europe's economy, therefore essential contributors to these transformative processes - as emphasized in the SME Strategy for a sustainable and digital Europe.
Against this background, the main questions the paper is addressing are: how ready the Romania’s SMEs are for the twin (digital and sustainability) transition the EU has embarked on? What are RO’s SMEs approaches to and performances on digitalization and sustainability against the EU27 SMEs’ average benchmark? How can the RO’s SMEs twin transition process may be speeded up? The analysis was mainly built on data provided by the Flash Eurobarometer 486: SMEs, start-ups, scale-ups and entrepreneurship (released in September 2020). The review of Eurobarometer 486 data on the two topics will then be examined and discussed, in order for the paper to eventually: identify the gaps between RO SMEs and EU27 SMEs in terms of perceptions, attitudes and behaviors related to the twin transition; explore the challenges (in terms of both opportunities and threats) RO’s SMEs face as regards the twin transition; provide some guidelines able to speed up the twin transition of RO’s SMEs.
Fully committed to a digital future and actively engaged in the transition to a digital economy, the European Union has issued (in March 2021) “2030 Digital Compass: the European way for the Digital ...Decade’. While setting the EU’s digital ambitions on Skills, Business, Infrastructures, and Public services, the Digital Compass also envisions an enhanced DESI” (Digital Economy and Society Index) to become an official and concerted instrument for monitoring the EU’s progress towards the stated targets. As regards Romania’s digital transformation path (and speed), its persistent lack of DESI performance compared to the EU average raised the question of whether there is something more / deeper that needs be identified, assessed, and properly managed to make Romania fit for the digital age (in general) and to Digital Europe (in particular). Therefore, the paper aims to explore Romania’s digital gap both top-down (via DESI lenses) and bottom-up (up to the “key competences and basic skills” evaluated by PISA, the OECD’s periodic assessment on student performance) - in search of DESI’s (deeper / hidden) determinants / causes needing to be addressed - due to their capacity to impact Romania’s fit for the digital age on the long run.
For better or for worse, the “corporations rule the world” assertion is nowadays more actual and accurate than ever before, as multinational companies represent the undisputable engine of the ...globalization process, and the latter continuously (re)creates the background against which global multinationals are flourishing, while reinforcing their “domination”. Since 1995, the Fortune Global 500 ranking (FG 500) annually provides a comprehensive and eloquent image of the world of global multinationals; the merits of the FG 500 ranking go beyond the synchronic approach of the characteristics of global multinationals (in terms of revenues, profits, assets and employees - by sector, industry and country), as it also favors diachronic analysis and comparisons - which are essential for strategists in identifying evolving trends and substantiating corporate strategies able to lead to sustainable competitiveness. The paper aims to determine the contribution of sectors to FG 500 ranking in 2016, on one hand, and to emphasize on some industry-based dynamics in FG 500 - by comparatively analyzing the 2016 and 1996 rankings, on the other hand.
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