Emerging digital technologies play a central role in tackling grand challenges. However, the increasing development of digital technologies demand significant resources, including energy, exacerbating environmental challenges. Literature has defined this as a dark side of digital innovation. This gives origin to a paradox related to, on the one hand, responding to the environmental grand challenge through digital technologies, and, on the other hand, the negative impact of such technologies to the environment. The semiconductor industry plays a key role in this context, and companies introduce circular innovations, which aim to deal with sustainability, and in particular, environmental related issues. In order to tackle the paradox of transitioning to circularity while developing digital technologies, MNEs resort to collaborations with other actors (other companies, research centers, universities, individuals, and governmental institutions) whose combinations evolve over time, to adapt to the maturity level of the innovation processes. Our empirical analysis analyses the innovative activities and the relevant collaboration portfolio performed by European Semiconductor Equipment Manufacturers (SEMs) in the past decade (2014-2023).

Crowdfunding has become a vital financial mechanism for new ventures, with significant growth anticipated by 2030. This method is particularly beneficial for sustainable ventures, which often struggle to access traditional funding. This paper investigates the intricate dynamics of investment behavior in sustainable crowdfunding campaigns, focusing on how elements such as campaign confidence, venture sustainability orientation, and specific campaign features affect the size of individual backer contributions. Moreover, it examines the moderating roles of backer experience and risk tolerance in these dynamics. The study employs a mixed-methods approach, analyzing a distinctive dataset from a successful sustainable venture, incorporating both primary and secondary data from over 1600 backers who collectively raised over 3 million euros. Through a detailed examination of backer motivations and the impact of various factors on investment levels, this research addresses critical gaps in existing literature and offers valuable insights for refining crowdfunding strategies. The findings aim to enhance our understanding of the determinants of backer investment decisions in crowdfunding campaigns and to support the creation of more effective promotional strategies, especially for sustainability-oriented initiatives.

Regarding why firms report voluntary initiatives to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG), little is known about interactions between the institutional configuration of the origin of FDI and host countries' institutions. Drawing on the New Institutional Economy and Varieties of Capitalism, we argue that FDI has a differentiated impact depending on its origin. FDI is positively externalizing the home institutions of the coordinated economies where it comes from. Host institutions, divided into economic freedom, environmental regulation, and informal institutions, play diverse roles. Environmental regulation and informal institutions moderate the negative impact of the FDI from liberal economies on these voluntary initiatives. The publicized economic freedom has adverse direct and indirect effects on these, the former being minimized by host informal institutions. Panel data models with dichotomous dependent variables receive strong support in this study on 1322 companies from twenty emerging countries that have reported GHG emission reduction initiatives as part of their involvement in the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) program.