Call
for Papers for a Special Issue
Smart
Technologies, Innovation, and Sustainable Performance
Sun
Yat-Sen Management Review
中山管理評論
Special Issue Editors
Yi-Ying Chang, Distinguished Professor,
National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan. y.chang@mail.ntust.edu.tw
I-Chieh Hsu, Distinguished Professor, National Changhua
University of Education, Taiwan. fbhsu@cc.ncue.edu.tw
Andy Yu, Professor, University of
Wisconsin-Whitewater, U.S.A. yua@uww.edu
Hsing-Er Lin, Professor, Editor-in-Chief, Sun
Yat-Sen Management Review, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Taiwan. hsingerlin@cm.nsysu.edu.tw
The digitalization of
international businesses, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and family
businesses enhancing innovation and sustainability outcomes have spurred
growing conversations among management and business researchers in recent
years. Yet, so far, research in this domain has largely focused on
understanding the implications of digital platforms and ecosystems for
businesses and enterprises including multinational companies (MNCs) from
advanced economies, and to a limited extent, the implications of digital
transformation initiatives, primarily from strategic perspectives (Meyer et
al., 2023). We have little knowledge of smart technologies—smart automation,
intelligence based on big data, cyber-physical connectivity, decentralized
networks, edge computing, and the “integration of virtual and reality” (張譯尹、劉逸平, 2022a)—signifying a more transformative global business landscape. These
issues with profound implications are not only about where and how MNCs,
(international) entrepreneurs (張譯尹、劉逸平, 2022b), SMEs, and family
businesses create and capture value, but also about how they impact the
well-being of employees, local communities, and the broader society (Chang et
al., 2024), innovation and sustainable performance. This special issue, hence, seeks
to expand the scope of research on the challenges and opportunities stemming
from the deployment of smart technologies by MNCs, (international)
entrepreneurs, SMEs, and/or family businesses. By adopting diversified
theoretical perspectives, such as strategic, innovative, social, and
sustainable considerations, we aim to foster a more comprehensive understanding
of these complex issues.
Smart technologies, such as
artificial intelligence (AI), Internet-of-Things (IoT), digital sensors,
robotics, blockchain, virtual/augmented reality (VR/AR) (e.g., 張譯尹、劉逸平, 2022a) and 3D printing, promise new pathways to mobilize global resources,
bundle firm-specific and country-specific advantages, redesign business models,
offerings, and operations, as well as orchestrate global value chains and human
capital (Nambisan, 2023; Nambisan & Luo, 2022). As
companies incorporate smart technologies in their global operations and
offerings for problem-solving and decision-making, many critical inquiries
arise related to innovation, sustainability, decision-making processes,
governance structures, and ethical/moral responsibilities to achieve the United
Nations’s (UN) sustainable development goals (SDGs).
In realizing the above promises offered by smart technologies—whether they be enterprise-focused or societal-focused—entrepreneurs and organizations are also confronted with challenging geopolitical realities. With the UN’s SDGs, CDM (Clean Development Mechanism), and European Union (EU) CBAM (Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism), recent advances in this area of inquiry offer first insights that entrepreneurs and organizations are deeply involved with the social and environmental challenges and are not mere exploitative business entities anymore (e.g. Günzel-Jensen et al., 2020; Hanna et al., 2024). Therefore, we seek to better understand the unique challenges imposed by SDG-related issues that MNCs, entrepreneurs, SMEs, family businesses, along with supply chains, face and how to address these challenges with smart technologies.
Topics of Interest
We welcome theoretical
and empirical papers addressing any challenge unique to MNCs, (international)
entrepreneurs, SMEs, family businesses, as well as their supply chain firms
potentially powerful to deepen our understanding of the SDG-related issues that
they face. The topics below provide an indicative, but non-exhaustive, list of
questions that can be tackled through conceptual, quantitative, qualitative, or
mixed-method approaches, drawing on a variety of theoretical lenses and
paradigms. Distinctive contributions may be from addressing the following
issues:
How do MNCs, entrepreneurs,
SMEs, family businesses, and supply chain firms manage economic, social, and
environmental issues in relation to the nature of their products and operations
in the host countries, or in relation to UN SDGs/CDM and EU CBAM?
How do the responses of MNCs,
entrepreneurs, SMEs,
family businesses, and their supply chain firms facing political uncertainty or
risk differ when intend to advanced MNCs or local firms?
How do these firms respond to institutional reforms in relation to UN
SDGs/CDM and EU CBAM?
How do MNCs, entrepreneurs, SMEs, family businesses, and their supply
chain firms deal with institutional arrangements between the HQs and the host
country?
How do MNCs, entrepreneurs, SMEs, family businesses, and their supply
chain firms deal with institutional friction with the host country by
introducing smart technologies and EU CBAM and UN CDM?
How does the business model innovation of MNCs, entrepreneurs, SMEs,
family businesses, and their supply chain firms evolve between the policy of
carbon credit of the HQs and the host country as well as its interaction with
local stakeholders?
How do strategic decision-making processes work in MNCs, entrepreneurs,
SMEs, family businesses, and their supply chain firms under the impact of the
policy of carbon credit among different institutional and regulatory regimes in
relation to EU CBAM and UN CDM?
How do MNCs, entrepreneurs, SMEs, family businesses, and their supply
chain firms develop alliance management capabilities such that they are capable
of managing and developing alliance partnerships with other firms to deal with
the policy of carbon credit among different institutional and regulatory
regimes in relation to EU CBAM and UN CDM? How do smart technologies help in
such endeavors?
How do MNCs, entrepreneurs, SMEs, and family businesses, design effective
governance mechanisms to manage and develop relationships with supply chains
such that collectively, they meet the challenges imposed by the policy of
carbon credit among different institutional and regulatory regimes in relation
to EU CBAM and UN CDM? How do smart technologies help in such endeavors?
How do MNCs, entrepreneurs, SMEs, family businesses, and their supply chain firms acquire and develop talent to meet the policy of carbon credit among different institutional and regulatory regimes in relation to EU CBAM and UN CDM? How do smart technologies help in such endeavors?
Tentative Timeline
Submission Opens: Now
Deadline: Jan. 15, 2025
Expected Online Publication: Dec. 2025
Submissions should follow the author guidelines of Sun Yat-Sen
Management Review. When submitting, please select the checkbox indicating
the special issue “Smart Technologies, Innovation, and Sustainable
Performance.” For questions, please contact any of the special issue editors.
We look forward to your contribution.
With kind regards,
Yi-Ying Chang, I-Chieh
Hsu, Andy Yu, and Hsing-Er Lin
Reference
Chang, Y.Y., Chiang, Feng-Yi, Hu, Q., Hughes,
M. (2024). From green HRM to SDG success: Pathways through exploratory
innovation and developmental culture. Review of Managerial Science,
online, forthcoming.
Günzel-Jensen, F., Siebold, N., Kroeger, A.,
& Korsgaard, S. (2020). Do the United Nations’ Sustainable Development
Goals matter for social entrepreneurial ventures? A bottom-up perspective. Journal
of Business Venturing Insights, 13, e00162.
Hanna, B., Xu, G., Wang, X., & Hossain, J.
(2024). Integrating UN Sustainable Development Goals into family business
practices: a perspective article. Journal of Family Business Management.
Meyer, K. E., Li, J., & Brouthers, K. D.
(2023). International business in the digital age: Global strategies in a world
of national institutions. Journal of International Business Studies, 54(4),
577.
張譯尹 、劉逸平 (2022a). 優雅漫步元宇宙。新陸書局。
張譯尹 、劉逸平 (2022b). 創新創業12堂課。新陸書局。