Green innovation is a new approach to achieving sustainable social development. Examining whether firms can reap the rewards of this costly and risky endeavor is essential to assessing whether they can sustainably adhere to a green strategy. This study was conducted on a sample of Chinese A-share-listed firms from 2010 to 2021 and employed a two-way fixed-effects approach. We found that substantive and strategic green innovations significantly impact firms’ financial and environmental performance. Specifically, substantive green innovation leads to a significant improvement in financial performance, while strategic green innovation weakens financial performance; both types of green innovations lead to a significant improvement in environmental performance, with strategic green innovation being more effective in this regard compared to substantive green innovation. Moreover, our heterogeneity analyses showed that substantive green innovation has a weaker effect on improving financial performance in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and in firms in regions with higher government environmental concerns; similarly, in SOEs, strategic green innovation has a weaker detrimental effect on financial performance. The findings of this study provide substantial evidence for promoting green innovation transformation and the upgrading of enterprises.

Entrepreneurship is regarded as the cornerstone of the sustainable development of a society. In this study, we empirically investigate the possible economic impacts of capital account liberalization on entrepreneurship. Using a panel dataset of 103 countries and regions and the system generalized method of moments (GMM), this paper demonstrates a positive relationship between capital account liberalization and entrepreneurship in developed economies whereas a negative relationship in developing economies. Furthermore, domestic financial development plays an important moderating role in the relationship between capital account openness and entrepreneurship. Specifically, the negative impact of capital account liberalization in developing economies is mitigated by a high degree of domestic credit and equity market development, the continuous deepening of finance and better financial inclusion. Our findings imply that domestic financial development is an essential prerequisite for the opening of a country’s capital account, especially for developing countries.

Innovation is crucial for firms’ sustainable development. However, the original motivation of innovation in China is insufficient and the key technology is controlled by other countries. Outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) is an important strategic choice in emerging economies to seek overseas advantageous technical knowledge and to participate in global competition. With the further development of China’s “go global” strategy, OFDI flows have risen considerably. Whether OFDI can promote firms’ innovation levels and whether OFDI entry modes (greenfield investment and cross-border M&A) have the same impact are still major issues to be solved. Therefore, we constructed a mathematical model and adopted the propensity score matching double difference method to analyze the impact and mechanism of OFDI on firms’ innovation. The results show that OFDI has a significant effect on innovation quantity, quality, and efficiency, and it has not led to innovative strategic behavior. Further research shows that cross-border M&A has a stronger effect on innovation quality than greenfield investment, and both have a sustainable innovation effect. Over time, the gap between the impact of greenfield investment and cross-border M&A on innovation quality has gradually narrowed. From the perspective of mechanism, the two entry modes of OFDI are beneficial to firms’ access to government resources and to promote innovation quality, while government resources have a stronger mediating effect on cross-border M&A firms. This paper deepens the research on the influence mechanism of OFDI entry modes on firms’ innovation levels, while also providing theoretical and practical support for the selection of OFDI modes and innovation strategies for firms.