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The paper aims at advancing our understanding of the architecture and diversification dynamics of industrial ecosystems, and identifying policies for the innovative industrial renewal of mature economies. Industrial ecosystems are here defined as multi-tiered production systems involving heterogeneous agents operating in sectoral value chains and contributing to the capability domains of the ecosystem (and its participants) with closely complementary but dissimilar sets of resources and capabilities. The geographical boundaries of the industrial ecosystem are shaped by the evolving interdependencies linking organisations within the ecosystem and by the new linkages consolidating beyond that. Thus, the industrial ecosystem is a structured production space centred mainly on its productive organisations, as well as other institutions, intermediaries and demand-side actors, purposefully involved in co-value creation processes along various types of diversification and innovative industrial renewal trajectories. Drawing on a five-year research programme in the Emilia Romagna industrial ecosystem, a number of case studies are introduced to highlight these trajectories and the underpinning structural learning dynamics. The paper concludes by identifying a number of policy implications, focusing on strategies for enhancing the structural readiness of the industrial ecosystem and promoting smart diversification and innovative industrial renewal policies.

Regions throughout the world are confronted with the challenge of restructuring their economies when existing growth paths decline. In regional strategies, directions are defined into which their economies shall be developed, thereby constituting a crucial moment for setting the course for future diversification. While considerable progress has been made in retrospectively understanding regional industrial path developments once these have emerged successfully, little attention has been paid to the processes by which regions develop strategies for future diversification. This article argues that in order to understand why a region aims to develop certain economic areas rather than others, this has to be seen in the context of the policymaking process. Based on a case study of the German lignite mining region 'Rheinisches Revier', the paper explores the role played by the configuration of regional policymaking processes, in which regions develop strategies, for the direction of these strategies. The findings highlight that regional strategies have to be understood as the product of a region-specific multi-actor process whose configuration affects the policy outcomes.

This study explores the impact of B Corp certification and its associated impact assessment on four case studies of small and medium-sized Brazilian companies certified as B Corps. The results reveal that although all companies had achieved high scores in the certification assessment, awarded on the basis of existing performance, they did not subsequently develop road maps for the future to improve their scores in the way which the B Corp Impact Assessment process endorses as one of the benefits of certification. Their incremental changes are discussed in the light of the main motivations and expectations of these companies' founders with regard to the certification. A central role of the B Corp certification for this group of companies was to improve their external reputation with investors, clients and consumers. They were not strongly driven to reshape internal processes in ways which would advance their scores in the impact assessment and which would tackle complex problems of corporate governance. Our findings contribute to enriching the discussion of stakeholder engagement and corporate governance in hybrid organizations and contribute to the emerging agenda on studying change over time in B Corps.

We aim to build a greater understanding of how young entrepreneurial firms internationalize fast through foreign subsidiaries to become a multinational enterprise (MNE). Despite the prevalence of fast-paced international expansion, theory development on how it is achieved through high-commitment entry modes has been scarce. Our work substantially addresses this gap by conceptualizing how rapid multinationalization occurs. Using qualitative case studies, we explore eight young entrepreneurial firms operating in the software-as-a-service industry aspiring to achieve early market dominance internationally through rapid multinationalization. Drawing on the concept of industry recipes, we explain how recipe heuristics and recipe augmentation enable rapid multinationalization and showcase the economic and knowledge acquisition logics which underpin these endeavors. This study introduces internationalization via industry recipe, explains the micro-level regulation of internationalization speed, and contributes to aligning international entrepreneurship and MNE perspectives on internationalization.

How do firms in global value chains react to input shortages? We examine micro-level adjustments to supply chain shocks, building on the Covid-19 pandemic as a case study. French firms sourcing inputs from China just before the early lockdown in the country experienced a relative drop in imports that increases from February to April 2020. This shock on input purchases transmits to the rest of the supply chain through exposed firm’s domestic and export sales. Between February and June, firms exposed to the Chinese early lockdown experienced a 5.5% drop in domestic sales and a 5% drop in exports, in relative terms with respect to comparable non-exposed firms. The drop in foreign sales is entirely attributable to a lower volume of exports driven by a temporary withdrawal from occasional markets. We then dig into the heterogeneity of the transmission across treated firms. Whereas the ex-ante geographic diversification of inputs does not seem to mitigate the impact of the shock, firms with relatively high inventories have been able to absorb the supply shock better.

In recent years, research on corporate entrepreneurship (CE) has expanded and aroused an increasing amount of attention. Although the importance of CE, innovation, and knowledge conversion within organizations is recognized, the link between them is still theoretically and empirically little understood. Thus, it seems important to support knowledge sharing (KS) within organizations through the implementation of digital platforms (DP), in order to enrich the existing knowledge about CE strategy and product innovation (PI). Indeed, the rise of Internet and ICTs, alongside the development of the sharing economy, has enabled organizations to be connected with suppliers and consumers and other actors through DPs. The current paper therefore aims to understand and contribute to the literature about how CE, through the implementation of DPs, enhances product innovation. This is done using an exploratory longitudinal study, drawing on multiple case studies. Specifically, a variety of data sources collected within three Tunisian SMEs operating in the sector of dairy products are analyzed. The findings indicate the significance of DPs as a motivation, opportunity, and ability (MOA) framework. This enables a CE process and promotes a favorable climate wherein knowledge can be freely exchanged and captured, the process of organizational learning (OL) is well established, and the absorptive capacity of the company is optimized. Results indicate that CE affects product innovation and several conditions are recommended to ensure success.

The paper examines the impact of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) on US-African trade relations, economic development, and regional stability in sub- Saharan Africa between 2000 and 2023. Through a comprehensive analysis of trade data, economic indicators, and diplomatic records from five case study nations- South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Lesotho-the study reveals significant but uneven progress in AGOA utilization. The findings demonstrate an average impact achievement of 50.5% across key metrics, with projected growth potential reaching 75.0% by 2030. While AGOA has successfully increased US textile and apparel exports, fostered export diversification, and stimulated economic growth through job creation and foreign direct investment, technical capacity gaps affect 60% of participating countries and infrastructure adequacy remains at 50% of required capacity. The study highlights the need for strategic policy adjustments, including reviewing rules of origin and expanding product coverage, alongside complementary initiatives in infrastructure development and skills training. The study concludes that realizing AGOA's full potential requires targeted interventions, sustained commitment to policy implementation, and enhanced cooperation between the US and African nations.

The proper management of exhaustible natural resources requires the responsible management of the revenues generated from the exploitation of these resources and addressing a broad set of political and economic challenges. This paper is intended to demonstrate that understanding the positive effects of natural resource revenues on economic diversification in extractive regions plays a significant role in economic development when considering the contribution of extractive industries. Using national and sectoral data, this paper, on the one hand, examines how mining revenues are managed and spent in relation to the Romanian tax structure and regime and, on the other hand, how the diversification of the local economy can be achieved. The case study presented herein X-rays the complex realities faced by those regions in Romania, where the predominant economic activity is the extractive industry. The results provided by this analysis led us to the conclusion that although the distribution systems related to the extractive revenues give precedence mostly to the producing territories and seek, in particular, to transfer the benefits to the impacted areas, in the case of Romania, we are witnessing a failure in determining local economic diversification.

Purpose The global recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has led to the closure of thousands of village-owned enterprises (VOEs), which are community-managed enterprises that operate in the hostile rural areas in emerging economies. Thus, considering that a Schumpeterian view of economic downturn sees recessions as times where old products/services decline while new products/services emerge, this paper aims to explore the specific innovation-based diversification strategies that matter for the survival of emerging economy VOEs in recession periods to develop new theoretical insights. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on multiple-case studies of 13 leading VOEs operating in the rural areas of Java Island in Indonesia, an emerging economy. The data was analysed using within-case and cross-case analyses. Findings Overall, a number of major novel findings have emerged from the analysis, based on which the authors developed several new propositions. First, from the perspectives of both new product and new service diversification, “unrelated diversification” is the primary resilience strategy that seems to be associated with the survival of VOEs in the COVID-19 recession, over and above “related diversification”. Second, from an industrial sector diversification perspective, the most dominant resilient strategy for surviving the recession is “unrelated diversification into tertiary sectors (service sector)”, over and above diversification into the primary sector (agriculture, fisheries and mining) and secondary sector (manufacturing and construction). Originality/value The authors contribute to the literature on entrepreneurship in emerging economies by identifying the resilience diversification strategies that matter for the survival of VOEs in recession.