Textile industries contribute significantly to the economy of many developing countries. Every year, these countries export millions of dollars’ worth of textile products to developed countries. However, textile industries use expensive and corrosive chemicals that pose a significant threat to environmental quality and public health. This has led to serious concerns and necessitated the inclusion of safer and environmentally friendly alternatives. Consequently, bio-based processing has created a new approach utilizing biotechnological advances. This article uses evidence from the scientific literature to examine the application of industrial biotechnology in textile-processing industries, which includes enzymes, as a sustainable alternative to the harsh toxic chemicals currently used in textile processing. The article draws on evidence that enzymes offer a competitive advantage over chemicals with less resource requirements (energy and water), reduced emission and less waste. Due to high specificity, enzymes produce minimum byproducts. The implementation of enzymes in textile processing could offer environmental benefits, and improve public health and the sustainability of textiles and apparel. This article contributes to critical awareness by providing succinct information about major enzymes used in textile processes to improve the performance of textile materials, thus contributing to changes in behaviours and attitudes towards textile processing and environmental sustainability. This can assist textile manufacturers and governments in the developing world in campaigns to promote biotechnologies for environmental sustainability.

The global supply chain (SC) has faced unprecedented disruptions fueled by the COVID-19 virus. While scholarly research has explored various dimensions to counter the epidemic and bolster the SC, the literature is still dispersed and fragmented in managing the SC toward sustainable operational performance. We strengthened the notion of the SC by extending it toward the SC viability (SCV) approach. The objective of the study is to determine the factors to propose a model for sustainable SC viability in a pandemic context. We built our theoretical model based on the viable supply chain (VSC) theory. The study assessed the hypotheses using partial least square-based structural equation modelling with data from 428 flower-producing cum trading enterprises. The research found that supply chain integration and supply risk control positively influence ensuring SCV. Besides, supply chain resilience mediates the effect of SC integration and risk control on SCV. By exploring the role of SC integration, SC resilience, and SC risk control, the study contributes to SC viability theory. Our research fills the gap in the domain of SC viability dimension. From our study, the academicians and firms can get fresh antecedents of SC viability as an emerging sustainable SC management approach.

In the global value chain, suppliers from emerging countries get involved in the upgrading of activities. This paper postulates that firms from emerging countries can reach international markets by downgrading value chain activities. We conducted a bibliometric analysis on the downgrading literature by compiling 212 publications from 2001 to 2020. To identify the most influential articles, we formulated an Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) matrix by using the Total Citation (TC) and Average Citation Rate (ACR) of the publications. The study performed VOSviewer graphical analysis to determine the cooperation network among the key authors. The analysis identified the typologies of downgrading concepts from three levels: firm, local and global. The study also proposed the antecedents of the downgrading framework by explicating the firms’ motivation factors, facilitators and barriers of downgrading in the value chain. The findings provide directions for further research in downgrading as a supplier strategy.

Social businesses (SB) have significant relevance as they create social impact through revenue-generating business models. The current study is intended to contribute to social entrepreneurship literature by identifying the factors that can influence social business in the internationalisation process from a developing country context, Bangladesh. The research utilised the qualitative approach to extract the required information from the selected ten (10) business cases. MAXQDA software was used to generate the required codes and categories. From the findings, three broad categories of factors have been identified that influence internationalisation: firm-centric, entrepreneur-specific, and context-specific factors related to home and host country environments. The study determined that the firm’s capabilities, such as designing technological apps and platforms to provide essential health, education, and medical services, contribute to internationalisation. In addition, the research identified the adaptation of the business model as one of the determinants of SB internationalisation. Some adaptation practices include maintaining hybrid logic, adopting social franchising model, value delivery, and value capture processes through partnership with for-profit organisations in host countries. The findings of this study are expected to be useful for academicians and also for the social entrepreneurs willing to take their enterprises to the international market level.