Nowadays, in the context of a complex fragility that radically transforms the economic habitat, the cyclical evolution of the economy is governed by new rules and constraints that transcend the economic area and increasingly interfere with the socio-cultural features of life. In this context, the aim of this paper is to outline the conceptual domain of a new insight into the relationship between social and economic dimensions of life by summarizing and integrating two of the main groundbreaking and inspirational streams of thought—social trust and economic dynamics. To do so, we developed theoretical syntheses of the most important contributions documenting the nature of trust and business cycle; then, the much more recent ”niche” of the influence between them was placed under conceptual discussion. One of the more significant findings to emerge from this study is that the nature of the relationship between social trust and economic dynamics is still minimally explored and understood, and the research conducted thus far is mainly positioned in a macroeconomic perspective, combining quantitative and qualitative approaches that still leave many questions unanswered. However, the lack of a deep understanding of these influences launches new challenges for theoretical developments and creates the framework for an integrative understanding. These new insights can support more rigorous studies whose results could be of utmost importance for business organizations in addressing the problem of business sustainability, but also for economic decision-makers. At the macro level, economic crises are influencing the income distribution and are expected to exacerbate poverty, thus affecting progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 01 (No poverty).

The aim of this paper is to explore the nexus between innovation and internationalization (the “self-selection hypothesis”) in the behavior of business organizations operating in the ICT sector. The data was gathered from a survey of national and multinational companies in the Romanian ICT sector. The results show a significant positive influence between innovation and internationalization, although this relationship is more robust for multinational companies, due to the history and strategies of parent companies. The findings have major implications for literature, macroeconomic management, and business practice.

This study aims to assess and identify the role of disruptive/digital technologies in financial innovation strategies as part of social innovations at both the firm and country level. The analysis proposed by the present study brings useful theoretical/pragmatic insights on the application of financial technologies in the context of the “fintech” revolution, as a disruptive innovation. There are few studies of this type that “cross-examine” technical/social innovative capacity at the firm level vs. the same innovative capacity at the level of the world’s major countries. Our proposed study brings some novel elements to the literature on this topic. First, the study synthesizes the factors/variables explaining technical/social innovative capacity as ranked by the GCI (Global Competitiveness Index) and GII (Global Innovation Index) at the country level and then correlates informal/empirical variables with the factors explaining innovative capacity for the 50 companies in the BCG (Boston Consulting Group) ranking. Second, the study identifies three “driving forces” (digital technologies, managers, and the market) as the main variables determining financial innovativeness (fintech revolution) at the firm level. Third, based on the “over-cross assessment” (non- statistical) of the information/data provided by the BCG study vs. the GII and GCI studies, the study suggests some ways to delineate and quantify financial innovation as part of social innovation (e.g., it is argued that up to 80% of the social innovation achieved annually by a firm relates to the financial relationships engaged by the firm with various categories of stakeholders). Finally, the study is also important from a pragmatic point of view as it suggests/proposes a number of principles that can be considered by managers for building a KM (knowledge management) and continuous financial innovation strategy. From a theoretical perspective, the study provides a starting point for further research aimed at explaining firm-level financial innovation (fintech as a disruptor) through the massive use of disruptive technologies.