This study attempts to examine the impact of corporate sustainability on firm performance by examining the indirect effect of sustainability-oriented supplier partnership and green innovation capabilities of a firm. The data acquired to address the research question is collected from management personnel, officers, and experts in the Ghana manufacturing sector using a list provided by the Association of Ghana Industries. Data acquired are tested for convergent validity and construct reliability and further examine the measurement model. The structural model is examined using partial least square structural equation modeling techniques. The empirical study supports seven (7) out of eight (8) stated hypotheses. Findings indicate that a sustainability-oriented supplier partnership indirectly influences the effect of social sustainability practices on a firm’s performance. In the same view, the outcome revealed that a sustainability-oriented supplier partnership does not positively influence the relationship between environmental, economic sustainability, and firm performance. Green innovation capabilities indirectly influence the effect of social and economic sustainability on firm performance except for environmental sustainability and firm performance. The findings of the study contribute to the literature by providing insights into the indirect effect of supplier–partnership and green innovation capabilities on firm performance, especially in the manufacturing sector.

The pressure to reduce emissions has induced the government to provide subsidies to urge eco-innovation in the new energy vehicle industry. Although the giving of such subsidies to the new energy vehicle industry has been practiced for a long time, few studies consider how the subsidy policies affect social welfare and the manufacturers’ profits and eco-innovation levels in the presence of the technology gap and the spillover effect. This paper fills the gap in the literature by studying two competitive supply chains consisting of two manufacturers and two retailers. Under three different subsidy policies, we derive the equilibrium outcomes. We find that, as the technology gap increases, the eco-innovation level of the leader increases, whereas the eco-innovation level of the follower decreases. We further investigate the conditions under which subsidy policy is better from the perspective of eco-innovation levels, firms, and social welfare. Specifically, under the centralized setting, the social welfare is lower with the unit production subsidy than with the green technology investment subsidy when the technology gap is low.

Given that the production process in the manufacturing industry is a significant contributor to carbon emissions, many governments have implemented carbon emission-related policies to incentivize manufacturers to optimize their production process or invest in green production technology, with the aim of reducing their carbon footprint. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the effectiveness of carbon policies considering manufacturers always tend to prioritize economic profits in their actual operations. We compare the effects of three different carbon emission policies—carbon tax, cap-and-trade, and intensity target—on manufacturers’ production strategies and technology innovation investments, which include production and carbon emission quantities, price of goods and emission permit, and technological innovation of the production improvement and the emission abatement. The study results show that the intensity target policy increases the carbon market price and decreases the carbon emission rate. For the manufacturers with higher (lower) initial emission intensity, intensity target policy induces them to decrease (increase) production quantities and carbon emission quantities. For the technology innovation choice, cap-and-trade induces more incentive on production improvement technology innovation for manufacturers with lower initial emission intensity and carbon emission abatement technology innovation for manufacturers with higher level initial emission intensity.

The chief digital or data officer (CDO) manage big data, analytics, and new information strategies in organizations. CDO appointments are strategic and we ask the question on whether announcing such appointments affect a broader-market reaction. Our results show that although the stock market reaction is generally neutral to newly created CDO positions, it does react positively under certain conditions. The reaction is more positive when firms have strong growth prospects and do not have existing chief information officers (CIOs). The market also reacts positively to an outsider CDO when CIOs are absent. Using these findings we argue firms need to effectively communicate the need and value of CDO positions and to ensure that they do not muddle CDO and CIO responsibilities.