• Energy Research

1. Background. It is well-known that innovation contributes to economic growth, improves productivity and enables competitive advantage. However, beyond these matters, it would be of interest to know what role innovation plays in relation to sustainability. This paper focuses on whether innovation is a driver of sustainability in its three dimensions: social, economic and environmental. 2. Methods. The study was conducted with companies in the Valencian community (Spain) to analyze whether they significantly contribute to sustainability as innovators. Economical sustainability was assessed based on economic and financial profitability; social sustainability was assessed by employment generation. To determine whether companies contributed to environmental sustainability, we considered those which, apart from a reputation (“label”) in innovation, had some kind of environmental certification. 3. Results. Our results indicate that innovative companies are more profitable and generate more employment. However, there are no differences in terms of performance and employment generation between innovative companies and those that are also environmentally sensitive. 4. Conclusion. Innovation is a driving force of economic and social sustainability in the studied area, but environmental sensitivity is not a driver for economic and social sustainability.

The growing interest in sustainable development is reflected in both the market’s sensitivity to environmental and social issues and companies’ interest in the opportunities that sustainable development objectives provide. SMEs, which account for most of the world’s pollution, have significant resource constraints for a sustainable development. Sharing their scarce resources can help them to overcome these constraints and to gain agility and organisational resilience against uncertainties, but the distrust inherent in belonging to different companies prevents them from sharing the necessary information for coordination purposes. This paper presents a coordination mechanism proposal with information asymmetry to allow independent companies’ resources to be sustainably shared as a technological driver. The proposed distributed coordination mechanism is compared to both a decentralised–uncoordinated and a centralised situation. The interest of the proposal is evaluated by a computer simulation experiment employing mathematical programming models with independent objectives in the Generic Materials and Operations Planning formulation with a rolling horizon procedure in different demand, uncertainty and product scenarios. Competitive improvement is identified for all members for their excess capacity use and their operations planning.

1. Background. The Orange economy includes creative and cultural activities; and it has aroused great interest, both for research on growth and for public agencies and institutions, which have highlighted its capacity as an economic engine and a generator of sustainable growth. Despite this widely disseminated argument, empirical evidence is scarce. 2. Methods. This paper aims to resolve that, based on an analysis of Orange economy companies in two Spanish regions—the Valencian and Galician Autonomous Communities—for the period between 2000 and 2019. Based on the SABI® database, which contains data from the annual accounts that companies must submit to Mercantile Registry, company’s data have been grouped into three large subgroups and within activity branches. 3. Results. The Orange economy revenues and earnings have contributed at a higher growth rate than of the economy as a whole. It has achieved higher profitability ratios on a lasting basis over time. Although, there are differences between the various activities included in this sector 4. Conclusions. The Orange economy can be considered as an engine and a generator of sustained growth over time. Furthermore, results obtained show that the Orange economy is a sector that is resilient against crisis.

Pressure from stakeholders for sustainable development is forcing top management to reconsider its supply chain management. This form of sustainability must consider the risks, insecurities, and lack of proximity caused by any event on the global economy. Organizations must identify and manage the risks of every link in the chain, while pursuing sustainable development. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainable development must be the result of a deliberate and coordinated response by the entire organization. A suitable segmentation of suppliers allows development strategies to be prioritized. This article presents the steps that should be followed in supply chain management, the identification of risks, and the new leadership of purchasing management to develop a sustainable supply chain. To this end, some of the key industrial actions reported in the literature are outlined, and two case studies are presented to identify the steps for the segmentation and dynamic development of suppliers. This article provides reflections on the responsibilities of senior management in the new era of sustainable development and presents guidance on how to coordinate sustainable development in the supply chain.