The interest in sustainable business models has grown rapidly in recent years. Although some progress has been made in identifying this concept and making the practices more sustainable, little is known about the organizational design that is most appropriate for creating new business models or implementing changes in existing ones towards a sustainability approach. This paper presents a review of sustainable business models in terms of the key factors that influence firm design based on organization theory. We retrieved 394 Journal Citation Reports papers from the WoK and Scopus databases, identifying 19 papers that have addressed the interplay between both constructs. We used the Galbraith Star Model to analyze the selected papers. We discuss three key findings for the cross-fertilization of both literatures: (i) the extension of the design elements outside the firm boundaries at the inter-organizational and ecosystem levels; (ii) the emphasis on certain design elements (strategy, process, people, structure) rather than others (rewards); and (iii) the use of the organizational design construct as a tactic tool for strategy execution of the sustainable business model. We also present theoretical and practical implications for the use and further development of this framework, as well as future avenues of research.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence that adopting open innovation (OI) has on the innovativeness and performance of specialized small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This paper also examines the adoption of OI within a firm’s practices and models, and within the three dimensions of firm sustainability.Design/methodology/approach: Survey data from 48 specialized SMEs manufacturing supercars were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. SmartPLS software was used to conduct a path analysis and test the proposed framework.Findings: The findings suggest that high adoption of OI models tends to increase firm innovativeness. Similarly, the adoption of OI practices has a positive effect on innovativeness but to a lesser extent than OI models. The moderation results of innovativeness further show that OI models and practices can benefit the performance of SMEs. Specifically, two dimensions of performance – environmental and social performance – were found to be greatly influenced by OI.Research limitations/implications: Due to parsimony in the investigated model, this study only focuses on OI adoption as practices and models without considering its drivers or other contingency factors.Practical implications: This paper could help practitioners in SMEs better understand the benefits of adopting OI to be more innovative but also more sustainable.Originality/value: This study contributes to the literature on the role of OI practices and models regarding the dimensions of firm sustainability performance by being the first paper to investigate this relationship in the context of small and medium manufacturers of supercars.

Air pollution in megacities worldwide has been a severe public health and environmental problem; it contributes to climate change and threatens life. Among all services, the transport sector accounts for most of these pollutants. However, despite the strategies implemented to reduce these pollutants, mitigate their effects, and promote prosperity and sustainability, emission reduction targets remain unmet, causing the average global temperatures to keep increasing. In this study, the air pollution in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) is estimated through the design of an environmental simulation model using system dynamics, which constitutes a possibility for authorities to foresee the evolution of air quality in MCMA by assessing the emissions from the transport sector from a holistic perspective, based on the region DESTEP analysis factors. Simulation results estimate a more significant reduction than predicted by the local government’s current forecast; this emission reduction would be up to 106% lower for PM₁₀, 176% for PM_2.5, 34% for NOx, and 17% for VOC. The conclusion demonstrated that one of the main factors with the most significant impact on the control and reduction of emissions is the use and promotion of public transportation, along with the improvement of its road infrastructure.

It is widely acknowledged that small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) are important in terms of enabling national and regional economies to form strong industrial sectors that provide jobs and generate value and welfare for society. The need for these companies to increase their competitiveness and become integrated into national and international production chains has also been acknowledged. In this sense, innovation, of any sort, is desirable for manufacturing SMEs, as this substantially improves their possibilities for growth and development. In any case, innovation is a complex process that must be properly managed, with a holistic vision that allows a full understanding of its implications and reduces the risks involved. This chapter applies systems thinking to innovation processes in manufacturing SMEs, with two main contributions: first, it proposes an innovation model for SMEs in the dairy sector, based on the systems approach theory; second, the case study of the model’s implementation, through a framework for innovation management, in a Mexican SME in the dairy sector with an innovation project for its production processes.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to new digital practices and dynamics. Due to this forced digitization, teachers and students adopted distance learning modalities. This study aims to identify the challenges and opportunities that teachers of educational institutions had to adopt or reject distance classes. With an online survey of 93 teachers and a virtual discussion with another 30, we identified four general themes that group the main challenges and opportunities perceived by teachers when they had to adopt distance learning forcefully. These findings can help design better distance classes and understand scenarios of forced adoption of innovations. La pandemia ocasionada por la enfermedad COVID-19 tuvo diversos efectos en la sociedad. La educación no fue la excepción y medidas como la restricción de la movilidad derivó en nuevas prácticas y dinámicas digitales en el sector educativo. Debido a esta digitalización forzada, los docentes y alumnos se encontraron adoptando modalidades de clases a distancia que en la mayoría de los casos era una experiencia nueva y desconocida. Considerando estos escenarios, este estudio tiene como objetivo identificar los retos y oportunidades que tuvieron los docentes de instituciones educativas para adoptar o rechazar las modalidades de clases a distancia debido a la pandemia. A través de una encuesta en línea a 93 docentes y un conversatorio virtual con otros 30, se obtuvo información cuantitativa y cualitativa que se agrupó en 4 temáticas generales para identificar los principales retos y oportunidades percibidas por los docentes al tener que adoptar de manera forzada las clases a distancia. Estos hallazgos pueden ayudar a diseñar mejores prácticas en las clases a distancia pero también a entender las dinámicas y los efectos de la adopción forzada de las innovaciones.

Dynamics in the food and beverage (F&B) industry have become increasingly complex and abrupt because of consumer expectations regarding health issues, nutrition facts, functionality, sensory attributes, sustainability, and lifestyles. Companies are in a constant state of experimentation, under pressure from a post-pandemic business environment to accelerate product innovation. In this context, Research & Development (R&D) processes have changed over the past years to accelerate new product launches and display a high probability of success through a deep understanding of product design, formulation, raw materials, processing, packaging, storage, distribution, shelf life, and regulatory restrictions. This chapter tackles recent and innovative R&D practices in the F&B industry from a practical perspective and a graphic model based on innovation capabilities, innovation activities, and product innovation. The results illustrate the importance of considering the technical factors involved in formulation and production and market pull requirements to adapt swiftly to market trends and even fads that consumers demand.