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The aim of this study is to simulate the self-organized evolution mechanism of inner innovation of large-scale construction enterprises (LSCE) under different contexts. Based on NK stochastic combinatorial optimization model with two parameters (N, K), this study proposes three modules—ambidexterity, punctuated equilibrium, and automation—to simulate the change behaviors of the inner innovation system. Furthermore, this study analyses the influence of factor correlation on inner innovation performance under discusses nine different combination situations. The research results show that (a) regardless of how the relationship strength changes, fitness increases with an increasing K value; and (b) the comparison of optimization modes show that the punctuated equilibrium mode can guarantee the long- and short-term inner innovation performance LSCE. This study therefore reveals the mutual effects of the factors in the inner innovation system in LSCE and provides an effective model for internal systems analyses in the construction industry and in other sectors.

Platform-based companies are rapidly emerging and occupy major positions in the global market. In addition, the business model that relies on digital technology makes platform-based companies sustainable. This paper empirically examines the impact of internationalization breadth on corporate performance and explores the moderating role of the platform enterprise network effect and innovation investment. Annual panel data from listed Chinese platform-based companies between 2012 to 2020 were used to also verify the scale of overseas companies’ association and social networks and the moderating effect of centrality and innovation research and development (R&D) investment on these two factors. The results indicate that the irregular internationalization rhythm of platform-based companies was negatively correlated with corporate performance, and the association network and the social network centrality of overseas companies had a positive moderating effect. Innovative R&D investment could help platform-based companies expand overseas to improve their corporate performance, and its moderating effect was more significant for platform companies in the early stages of internationalization. In terms of the internationalization pace, overseas network construction, and innovative R&D investment strategies, this paper provides valuable suggestions for platform-based companies to expand internationally and improve their corporate performance.

The power system ranks the first among the greatest engineering achievements in the 20th century. With “strong electric power” as the carrier, the power system constitutes the great aorta of modern society for energy transmission; while with “weak electric power” as the carrier, the information network constitutes the nervous system of modern society. Both of them penetrate into all aspects of human society (e.g., science, production, life, international relations), and then promote the modern civilization to achieve rapid development. In terms of science, the power system has promoted the developments of materials, physics, chemistry, automation, information, medicine, and so on. This way, the system of modern science and technology is constituted. In terms of production, the second industrial revolution marked by the wide application of “strong electric power” is also called the electric power technology revolution. It has promoted another major leap in the productivity of human society after the steam revolution. The third industrial revolution marked by the widespread application of “weak electricity” is also known as the information technology revolution, which promotes the continuous evolution of industrial civilization to a much higher level. And the fourth industrial revolution, which is centered on the energy revolution, will meet the needs of human beings at a higher level and get rid of the constraints of the environment on human activities. In terms of life, electric power has become the most indispensable part of human life, ranging from material life to spiritual life, from behavioral habits to thinking ways, and from personal life to social life. In terms of international relations, the development of the power system is conducive to the fundamental solution of energy and environmental problems, thus the international political and economic competition around energy and environment has turned to the competition centered on clean power systems to some extent. As the basic platform for energy production and supply, the development of the future power system must follow the general orientation of the energy revolution. The basic form, management mechanism and technical characteristics of the power system will also undergo tremendous changes as follows: (1) The proportion of renewable energy in the power system will be increased continuously, and the power system will be tightly coupled with gas system and thermal system to form an electricity-centric energy internet. (2) The development mode of building “higher, farther and larger” power grid will turn to the co-development mode of large power grid and small power grid, and the trend of power electronation of power system will be strengthened gradually. (3) Market competition will penetrate into the weak monopolies of the power system. Each subject can play a full game in each link, so as to obtain the optimal allocation of funds, technology and human resources. (4) Digitalization and intellectualization will be the most important technical characteristics of the future power system, which will achieve leapfrog development in observability, controllability and intellectualization.

Global energy consumption has risen enormously over the past century due to population growth and increasing energy use per person. Industrial production consumes a significant portion of global energy resources. Thus, industrial sector’s investment in energy efficiency is critical to a sustainable future. For most global enterprises the consumption of energy and natural resources represents a major overhead and developing sustainable energy policies can represent a significant competitive advantage due to the growing price of energy and volatility of supply. This symbiotic relationship can lead to the mutual benefits of increasing industrial efficiency whilst allowing the transition to a sustainable renewables-based energy future and needs to be significantly harnessed. This paper describes a decision support framework to help industrial organisations make positive investment decisions on energy performance improvement projects.

Globally, sustainable procurement is seen as a crucial component of public sector sustainability initiatives. This research investigates the internal and external barriers to the implementation of sustainable procurement in China’s public sector. Primary data for this research were gathered using survey techniques from 287 respondents who were procurement officials at higher education institutions that are part of the public sector. Twelve hypotheses were developed based on the conceptual model and literature review and evaluated using SEM-AMOS in order to look at the correlations between the variables. The study’s findings demonstrate that employee competency, employee motivation, training programs, financial aspects, management commitment, government rules and regulations, unavailability of green products, supplier capacity, and third-party pressure statistically influence the sustainability of public procurement. At the same time, green practices, the ineffectiveness of green products, and prices of green items had statistically no significant influence on sustainability in public procurement. This is a crucial effort to identify the factors that influence sustainable purchasing in China’s public colleges. This study draws interest from stakeholders and adds to the scant body of knowledge on sustainability in developing nations. In addition, this research is crucial for creating a roadmap for China’s long-term sustainable development in the area of procurement.

Abstract Mitigating the effects of environmental deterioration requires a focus on not just CO2 emissions from energy consumption, but also environmental pollution from industry sectors. To reach this goal, recent studies have extended ecological footprint (EF) analysis to identify the ecological drivers of various key industry sectors. The role of the phosphorus (P) industry on the EF within the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) framework for China is the emphasis of this study. Autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL) as well as the impulse response function and robustness analysis were used to consider a time from 1985 to 2018. The study verifies the EKC hypothesis for China in both the long and the short run, and indispensable determinants are proposed to be included to assure the model’s fitness and robustness when conducting EF analysis of industry sectors. Energy consumption–based carbon emissions have been verified as the dominant contributor to EF, but P use and urbanization have a significant lagged positive influence on EF in the short run. P exports, in particular, have been highlighted as a critical driver of the EF of China’s P industry. The conducted frequency domain causality test reinforced the above findings and demonstrated bidirectional causality at different frequencies. This work suggests that formulating plausible P export policies to alleviate the conflict between the output of China’s P industry and the environmental sustainability of this industry are necessary. In this context, “multidisciplinary, multidimensional, and practical solutions” are most desirable for sustainable P management.

With the rapid development of materials science and construction technology, the concept of sustainable building (SB) and the Building Sustainability Assessment Tool (BSAT) have also evolved and developed. Understanding the development of BSAT and SB is of great significance to the sustainable development of the construction industry. This research used the bibliometric method to analyze the development and evolution in the relevant literature on SB and BSAT from 1990 to 2021, and the correlations and differences between them were investigated. We found that there are many common trends in the development of research efforts in SB and BSAT: (1) they focused solely on the environment, in the early days, and only later considered economic and social impacts; (2) the scales with which they are concerned continue to expand, from individual buildings to communities and even cities; (3) key areas, such as energy, materials, resources, indoor environmental quality, high-tech applications, adaptability, and concern for people are being given more attention by both SB and BSAT. On the other hand, the difference between them is that SB research focuses on more macro aspects, such as policy, culture, climate change, while BSAT research is more concerned with micro aspects, such as its system of tools. Furthermore, some current research gaps in the BSAT field are identified, clarifying its future research directions. By linking the evolution of the SB concept and the development of the BSAT research field, this review provides a new and valuable perspective for the sustainable assessment of the construction industry, which, itself, is conducive to the sustainable transformation of this industry, which could contribute greatly to the mitigation of global climate change.

To study the economic and environmental effects of human capital, previous studies measure human capital based on education; however, this approach has many shortcomings because not all educated people are innovative human capital. Hence, this study introduces the concept of innovative human capital by developing a new index that measures human capital based on the number of patents every one million R&D staff full-time equivalent. After this, this paper studies the impact of innovative human capital on CO2 emissions in China. The provincial panel data of 30 Chinese provinces from 2003 to 2017 is analyzed using the fixed effect, ordinary least squares, and the system generalized method of moments (SYS-GMM). The analysis revealed that innovative human capital alleviates environmental deterioration in China. The findings unfold the existence of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) considering innovative human capital in the model. It implies that Chinese economic development will eventually support environmental sustainability if China continues to develop its innovative human capital. Among the control variables, economic structure, population density, and energy intensity stimulate environmental degradation by increasing CO2 emissions. However, FDI has a negative relationship with CO2 emissions. Lastly, the study proposes comprehensive policies to increase innovative human capital for environmental sustainability.