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In the paper, there is the relationship between internal competitiveness factors and the perception of Russian SMEs’ level of competitiveness pressures examined, based on a secondary analysis of the RuFIGE (Russian Enterprises in global economy) survey data obtained in 2014 by 1,677 Russian industrial small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It comes out that neither the high technological level, nor the introduction of the CRM system, nor the availability of external financing are sufficient for Russian manufacturing SMEs to feel competitive on the global market. From the other side, those manufacturing SMEs whose main competitors are domestic enterprises, do count neither the technological level nor the presence of a CRM system to be necessary factors of competitiveness. Further, there are different «weight categories» among Russian manufacturing SMEs. SME owners, who work only in local markets, are immune to competition from large foreign companies and consider Russian firms similar to their own as main competitors. Those who work on the whole Russian market feel a high competitive pressure from foreign manufacturers.

The results of the review do not disappoint. The authors identified more than 120 cash transfer programs that were implemented between 2000 and mid-2009 in Sub-Saharan Africa. These programs have varying objectives, targeting, scale, conditions, technologies, and more. A sizable number of these programs conducted robust impact evaluations that provide important information, presented here, on the merits of cash transfer programs and their specific design features in the African context. The authors present summary information on programs, often in useful graphs, and provide detailed reference material in the appendixes. They highlight how many of the cash transfer programs in Africa that had not yet begun implementation at the time of writing will continue to provide important evaluation results that will guide the design of cash transfer programs in the region. In addition to presenting data and analysis on the mechanics of the programs, the authors discuss issues related to political economy. They highlight the importance of addressing key tradeoffs in cash transfers, political will, and buy-in, and they emphasize the need to build evidence-based debates on cash transfer programs. Useful anecdotes and discussion illustrate how some programs have dealt with these issues with varying degrees of success. This text will serve as a useful reference for years to come for those interested in large- and small-scale issues of cash transfer implementation, both in Africa and beyond. However, the book is not an end in itself. It also raises important questions that must be addressed and knowledge gaps that must be filled. Therefore, it is useful both in the information it provides and in the issues and questions it raises.

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to compare the effects of global competitive pressures on the UK and French B-schools' management systems through the lens of career ecosystems.Design/methodology/approachThis is a qualitative inquiry employing in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 44 business school academics in the two countries.FindingsThis paper demonstrates the importance of top-down and bottom-up ecosystem influences for creating contrasting performance management systems in competitive B-schools in the two countries, to different outcomes for institutions and faculty careers.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors focus on faculty working in top business schools, which limits the generalizability of the findings. Future research could apply the ecosystem lens to other institutions and geographical areas to highlight best practices and evaluate their transferability across borders.Practical implicationsThe study highlights alternative HR practices and potentially workable adjustments to current systems that could be envisaged in order to enhance performance of individuals and institutions without jeopardizing the chances of valuable human resources to bring their contributions to the success of B-schools.Originality/valueThis paper compares and contrasts different performance management systems, taking into account exogenous and endogenous influences on B-schools that operate in a highly competitive and rapidly changing global management education market.

Pre-competition anxiety is common among athletes and, if not managed properly, can hinder performance and long-term development. While competitive pressure is known to contribute to pre-competition anxiety, the mechanisms behind this relationship remain unclear. According to the protective factor–risk factor model, psychological resilience may mediate the link between competitive pressure and anxiety, with coping strategies playing a moderating role. However, research on this integrated model is still limited. A survey was conducted with 2,056 athletes (1,321 males and 735 females, with 71.9% of participants aged between 18 and 22) to assess the relationships between competitive pressure, psychological resilience, coping strategies, and pre-competition anxiety. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed to examine the mediating role of psychological resilience and the moderating effect of coping strategies on this relationship. Competitive pressure was significantly positively correlated with pre-competition anxiety. Psychological resilience mediated the relationship between competitive pressure and pre-competition anxiety ( β  = 0.264, t  = 17.772, p  < 0.001). Coping strategies significantly moderated the relationship between competitive pressure and psychological resilience ( β  = -0.303, t  = 5.999, p  < 0.001). This study identified the psychological mechanism through which competitive pressure affects athletes’ pre-competition anxiety via psychological resilience and highlighted that positive coping strategies can reduce the negative impact of competitive pressure on resilience. It emphasizes the importance of strengthening psychological resilience and fostering positive coping strategies in psychological interventions to help athletes manage pre-competition anxiety and improve their performance. However, the cross-sectional design of this study limits the ability to draw causal inferences. Future research could adopt a longitudinal design and explore additional factors, such as personality traits, that may further influence athletes’ responses to competitive pressure.

PurposeIn this article, the authors draw-upon an extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) and propose a research model involving performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), facilitating conditions (FC) and competitive pressure (CP) as potential salient factors explaining the adoption of digitalization in European SMEs. The authors also postulate that there may be cross-cultural differences, thereby leading us to include the country as a moderator in the model.Design/methodology/approachThe authors validate this model with a cross-cultural sample involving 188 owner-managers from the Czech Republic and Slovakia and through the partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) techniques as well as multi-group analysis.FindingsThe results using the study’s global dataset indicate that PE, FC and CP significantly affect owner-managers intentions toward digitalization in SMEs. The authors’ application of the multi-group analysis also suggests that although the two countries differ in digitalization adoption intention, the differences are statistically insignificant. In the conclusion, the authors highlight several implications these findings have for theory and practice.Practical implicationsThe authors recommend that the providers of emerging digital technologies should improve on the performance features of those technologies and ensure they are relevant to the SMEs. By doing so, the adoption of digitalization will grow, because owner-managers of SMEs will have the confidence that adopting such technologies will improve their operations. Second, SMEs are required to provide adequate organizational and technical infrastructure to support digitalization adoption.Originality/valueAside from being among the few attempts to extend the explanatory power of UTAUT with PE, EE, FC and CP in investigating digitalization adoption in SMEs context, this study also validates its model with rigorous methodological approach as well as three datasets (global, Czech Republic and Slovakia) thereby strengthening the validity of the results.

Drawing on the competitive dynamics perspective, this study examines how competitive aggressiveness and complexity affect the longevity of emerging market firms. In a longitudinal and survival analysis of 570 publicly listed Korean firms from 1998 to 2017, I theorize and reveal that emerging market firms pursuing competitive aggressiveness and complexity are more likely to survive longer, particularly those competing in industries with high competitive pressure stemming from industry globalization. Broadly, I contribute to the competitive dynamics literature by extending the scholarly understanding of the long-term survival implications of firms’ competitive initiatives, unveiling a new boundary condition—competitive pressure from industry globalization, and broadening the spectrum of competitive dynamics research from Western to non-Western contexts.

Using the technology-organization-environment framework, this study examines three antecedents of digital investment as well as the influence of digital investment on IT innovation. The empirical evidence from a sample of Chief Information Officers (CIO)from US firms suggests that IT competence, competitive pressure and organizational agility are key factors that influence digital investment. Furthermore, the findings confirm the positive relationship between digital investment and IT innovation. Contrary to prior research, IT competence did not have a significant relationship with IT innovation. However, the results revealed that digital investment mediated the relationship between IT competence and IT innovation.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are facing a critical moment in the face of growing global environmental concerns, which are fueled by rapid economic growth and industrialization. Environmental problems, from overuse of resources to air and water pollution, have worsened. Environmental degradation emphasizes companies, particularly SMEs, through environmental regulations to manage their environmental impact. Therefore, there is an urgent need to focus on the green innovation performance of SMEs. Hence, this study examines the multifaceted relationships (considering government support, competitive pressure, and digital transformation) between environmental regulations and the performance of green innovation, with a particular emphasis on SMEs. Data were collected from 217 SMEs in Jiangsu province, China, through an online survey and analyzed using partial least square structured equation modeling in SmartPLS (version 4.0) to provide outcomes concerning environmental sustainability. The findings obtained through structured equation modeling acknowledge that environmental regulations (flexible and non-flexible) play a significant role in influencing the development of green innovation performance. However, the green innovation of SMEs increases when government support is provided in the form of finances, technological aid, and market information. Moreover, managers’ focus on competitive pressure and digital transformation positively increases green innovation performance. The conclusions of this study fall under the viewpoint of the “contingency theory of management\" and fill the gaps in the literature through novel relationships and theoretical framework. The study provides ways for managers of SEMs to handle environmental regulations and green innovation performance.

Purpose Although environmental pressures have been covered in great detail in prior literature as the drivers of eco-innovation, there remains inconsistency in the empirical results concerning the effects of these pressures on eco-innovation behaviour. Hence, this paper aims to investigate the impact of environmental pressures, namely, regulatory pressure, green demand and competitive pressure, on eco-innovation among manufacturing SMEs. Moreover, it examined the mediating role of environmental capabilities on the environmental pressure–eco-innovation relationship. Design/methodology/approach Quantitative data were collected using an online self-reported questionnaire survey to test the hypothesised model. A total of 183 valid questionnaires were collected from managers and owners of manufacturing SMEs in Egypt. Findings The results of the data analysis using the Smart-PLS software package revealed that among environmental pressures, only green demand had a direct effect on eco-innovation. In addition, environmental capabilities only mediated the effect of competitive pressure on eco-innovation. Originality/value This study has been one of the few addressing the issue of how the drivers of eco-innovation interact. It has also provided the managers and owners of SMEs and policymakers with practical implications.

The sustainability-oriented innovation (SOI) has emerged as a critical approach for an organisation that addresses environmental, social, and economic challenges. The proposed study aims to identify key internal and external pressures by uncovering the main factors within and outside the organisation influencing the quantification of SOI impacts. In the given study’s research design adopts a primary qualitative approach to explore internal and external pressures affecting the quantification of sustainability-oriented innovation (SOI) that impacts the economic context. Qualitative research was chosen for its ability to provide an in-depth insight into a complex phenomenon that captures the nuances of the participant’s experience, attitudes and perception. The findings show that a leadership team’s commitment to sustainability and the proactive mindset of our employees fosters an environment where innovation thrives. The conclusion is that the implementation of internal policies and incentives encouraged sustainable practices and continuous improvement. SOI has been influenced by concepts like a crucial economy that promotes a continuation use of resources through its recycling and remanufacturing and to share economy, emphasizing access to over ownership.