Role of the knowledge-based resources in promoting sustainability in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is currently a topic of debate. Financial literacy has been identified as a vital knowledge resource for financial decision making, but insufficient attention has been given to how SMEs’ financial literacy affects their sustainability. Drawing upon a knowledge-based perspective, peaking order theory and dual process theory, we constructed an integrated model to examine the impact of financial literacy, access to finance and financial risk attitude on SMEs’ sustainability. The sample included 291 chief financial officers (CFOs) of SMEs in Sri Lanka. The output of structural equation modelling revealed direct positive effects of financial literacy, access to finance and financial risk attitude on sustainability. Financial literacy also emerged as a predictor of access to finance and financial risk attitude. Moreover, access to finance and financial risk attitude were found to be partial mediators of the relationship between financial literacy and SMEs’ sustainability. Theoretical implications and practical implications for policymakers, industry practitioners and academics interested in promoting sustainability amongst SMEs are discussed.

The knowledge-based view (KBV) in the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is a debatable topic in the current literature. Although convergence of technological and financial literacy (techno-finance literacy) is an essential knowledge-based tool to address rapid digitalization of business, the influence of techno-finance literacy in the development of SMEs is still not adequately researched. Drawing upon KBV, we developed a single-mediator structural model with an aim to explore the effect of techno-finance literacy and enterprise risk management (ERM) practices (applications) on the performance of SMEs. A self-administered structured questionnaire was employed to collect data from 319 chief financial offers (CFOs) in Sri Lankan SMEs. The outcome of our study highlights that techno-finance literacy is a significant determinant of two endogenous constructs, namely, SME performance and ERM practices. Furthermore, ERM practices of SMEs were also positively affected to the SME performance. Moreover, ERM practices were observed to have a partial mediation on the relationship between financial literacy and SME performance. These findings form the basis for theories in techno-finance literacy and SME performance, as well as present managerial implications to enhance the performance of SMEs.

The paper employs Panel regression approach to investigate capital structure impact on firm’s performance in Morocco, Based on the result of Haussmann test, fixed effect fit the first model better; thus it was utilized to examine the capital structure determinants in Morocco firms. The annual data was collected from Moroccan authority of capital market and Casablanca stock exchange official website; it covers a period of eight years from 2009 to 2016 of 52 Moroccan companies. The results of this research conclude that out of seven variables there are four more significant ones, which are: return on asset, asset tangibility, size and liquidity, all of them have a negative impact, except for size is positively significant. Therefore, the main determinants of capital structure are firms’ specifics factors in Morocco and the choice of leverage is different from industry to another according to the specifics of its activity.

The present research paper focused on the phenomenon of innovation as a key solution for business success as it relates to corporate environmental responsibility (CER). The ultimate aim of CER is to prevent and even eliminate, if possible, the harmful impact of business performance on the environment. Every modern company should adhere to the obligations of CER since environmental pollution is a serious hazard that endangers future existence of humankind. For example, it is essential to implement strategies that can contribute to air and water protection. Ecological innovation emerged on the grounds of such urgent needs of environment. Eco-innovation strives to make a transition from business with harmful effects to one of the accountability. Therefore, the present study aimed to review relevant, reliable and up-to-date sources dealing with eco-based innovations in the context of CER. A qualitative research is selected so as to collect sufficient amount of detailed credible data on the issue of concern. The given paper relied on a secondary research encompassing literature review and relevant case studies and a survey as the primary research. Based on the outcomes, several innovations were identified and presented to the target audience.

As an important psychological feature that affects the strategic decision-making of top management team (TMT), risk preference exerts important impact on the failure of innovation. Taking Chinese pharmaceutical listed companies from 2011 to 2017 as research samples, this paper uses principal component analysis and probit regression model to empirically test the impact of TMT risk preference on technological innovation failure of firms from the perspective of government intervention. It is found that TMT’s risk preference has a significantly positive impact on the failure of firms’ technological innovation. The regulatory role of government intervention between TMT’s risk preference and failure of firms’ technological innovation is an inverted U-shaped relationship. Low or high level of government intervention will promote the positive impact of TMT’s risk preference on the failure of technological innovation, and increase the risk of technological innovation failure. The findings of this study contribute to: (1) broaden the research perspective of technological innovation failure. (2) The innovation failure rate can be reduced by constructing or optimizing the TMT and the government intervening in firm innovation through reasonable and perfect technology innovation guidance policies. (3) expand the research means of innovation failure, making the results more convincing.