Sustainable Management and Innovation Performance: Innovation for Competitive Advantage in the Era of the Knowledge Economy

Dear Colleagues, 

Innovation has become the new driving force of economic development (Drucker, 1993). More firms have recognized the importance of knowledge and innovation in obtaining sustainable competitive advantages in the era of the knowledge economy (Grant, 1996; Ma et al., 2014; Nonaka, 1991; Tang et al., 2020). Along with more emerging economies joining the global market, the competition has become even fiercer, and only those firms that can continuously create, transmit, and absorb new knowledge and innovation are able to succeed in the increasingly turbulent environment (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995). It is thus essential for firms to keep innovating in order to face the challenges brought forth by domestic and international competitors, in particular in emerging economies (Huang et al., 2018; Ma et al., 2014). In this Special Issue, we want to explore the managerial perspectives of innovation in the rise of the knowledge economy coupled with big data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. A cluster of research on how sustainable management practice facilitates innovation performance is able to help to build a more innovation-based economic model for sustainable economic expansion across the globe. We welcome submissions that focus on but are not limited to the following topics of interest:

• The critical role of innovation and knowledge management in the era of economic diversification and globalization;
• The importance and potential contribution of knowledge management and innovation to a firm’s sustainable growth and competitive advantage;
• The role of knowledge management in the revitalization of emerging economies;
• The key factors for building a conducive environment to promote knowledge management and innovation, and the challenges and opportunities for innovation in the emerging trends of machine learning, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, crowdsourcing, and the virtual community;
• The partnerships among firms, university, research institutes, and the government for knowledge management and innovation in order to create effective innovation ecosystems;
• Challenges and barriers for college/universities, research institutes, and private companies to manage innovation and innovation ecosystems;
• The role of government and public policy and regulations in facilitating or hindering innovation activities;
• Individual differences (such as personality traits, past experiences including entrepreneurial experiences, education background) in knowledge management, innovation, and the online community;
• Technology- and innovation-based venturing and management of new businesses;
• Venture capital, angel investing, and entrepreneurial financing and their impact on a firms’ innovation and knowledge dissemination;
• The mechanism at the level of organizations and institutions employed to foster organizational learning and innovation-based R&D activities;
• Institutional factors that influence the performance of knowledge management and innovation;
• What is the interplay between individual, organizational, and institutional influence on innovation and knowledge management in the era of big data and artificial intelligence?
• What is the role of leadership in enhancing and maintaining knowledge management behaviors in organizations? Additionally, what are the roles of various stakeholders, including employees, customers, suppliers, competitors, strategic partners, and government agencies?
• What is the impact of high-performance work systems on a firm’s innovation performance?

References:

Drucker, P.F. (1993). Post-Capitalist Society, Harper Collins, New York, NY.

Grant, R. M. (1996). Toward a knowledge-based theory of the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 17(S2), 109-122.

Huang, Y., Ma, Z., & Meng, Y. (2018). High performance work systems and employee engagement: Empirical evidence from China. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 56(3), 341-359.

Ma, Z., Huang, Y., Wu, J., Dong, W., & Qi, L. (2014). What matters for knowledge sharing in collectivistic cultures? Empirical evidence from China. Journal of Knowledge Management, 18(5), 1004-1019.

Nonaka, I. (1991). The knowledge creating company. Harvard Business Review, 69(6), 96-104.

Nonaka, I., & Takeuchi, H. (1995). The knowledge-creating company: How Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation. Oxford university press.

Tang, H., Ma, Z., Xiao, J., & Xiao, L. (2020). Toward a more efficient knowledge network in innovation ecosystems: A simulated study on knowledge management. Sustainability,12(16), 6328.

Prof. Dr. Zhenzhong Ma
Guest Editor

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• competitive advantage
• emerging markets
• innovation
• innovation ecosystem
• knowledge management
• network effect
• platform enterprise innovation
• sustainable management system and practices
• sustainability