Literature review of emerging trends and future directions of e-commerce in global business landscape

There has been a seismic shift in the global business landscape—those companies who clung to previously successful business models are frantically trying to reinvent themselves or dying. One only has to look at the demise of Eastman Kodak and Circuit City to see that the old business models no longer apply. A phrase being bantered about is the “global hyper-competitive marketplace” (Harvey, Kiessling, and Novicevic, 2003) in which the global landscape is a combination of rapidly changing variables, technology, uncertainty, and quickly appearing competitive threats (Ilinitch, Soderstrom, and Thomas, 1998). The world is increasingly diverse, complicated, and moving quickly. Everyone understands that the nature of competitive advantage is changing but no one is sure what will be required in ten years. Most understand what is needed: flexibility, adaptability, innovation, and the ability to replicate this across a number of markets. It is the ability to manage innate tensions from thinking globally but acting locally, not once but in 190 different locations. Some organizations are able to do this, others have failed, and still others choose not to even try.KeywordsForeign Direct InvestmentStrategic AllianceEntry ModeOutward Foreign Direct InvestmentEquity ModeThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are pivotal economic entities, and their adaptability in an evolving global business landscape is integral to sustainable growth. This study delves into the profound influence of digital transformation on Nigerian SMEs, offering a comprehensive analysis of the extent to which digitalization shapes their competitiveness, operations, and associated challenges. Employing a quantitative research approach, data from a diverse sample of Nigerian SMEs is collected to assess the relationship between digital transformation and SME outcomes. Demographically, the surveyed SMEs portray a multifaceted distribution across various industries, business sizes, geographic locations, annual revenues, and years in operation. A substantial proportion actively integrates digital tools and technologies into their operations, underscoring their recognition of the strategic value of digitalization. Perceived benefits of digital transformation encompass amplified operational efficiency, extended market access, innovation, elevated customer satisfaction, cost savings, and streamlined internal processes. However, challenges, notably financial constraints, a dearth of digital skills among employees, and regulatory barriers, reflect the multifaceted nature of obstacles faced by SMEs in their digital transformation journey. The study establishes a significant relationship between digital transformation and SME competitiveness. SMEs acknowledge its role in amplifying their global market reach, augmenting their competitiveness on a global scale, strengthening their competitive position within industries, nurturing international partnerships, expanding market share, and enhancing brand visibility in global markets. In essence, this research posits that digital transformation plays an indispensable role in the growth and competitiveness of Nigerian SMEs within the global business landscape. The findings serve as a cornerstone for informed decisions, strategies, and interventions to augment the digital capabilities of Nigerian SMEs, fostering their resilience and competitiveness in an increasingly digital world.

Purpose. The aim of the article is to explore modern trends in the development of the fintech industry in the context of the transformation of the global business landscape and to identify key challenges and opportunities for the further advancement of financial technologies. Methodology of research. General scientific and specialized methods were used in the process of the study, namely: a systematic approach to analyse the interconnections between financial technologies and the transformation of the global business landscape; comparative analysis methods to assess fintech development trends in different countries; economic and statistical methods to study the dynamics of the financial technology market; and forecasting methods to determine the prospects for the development of the financial sector in the era of digitalization and globalization. Findings. Theoretical foundations have been examined, and key trends in the development of financial technologies in the context of the transformation of the global business landscape have been systematized. The impact of central bank digital currencies (CBDC), decentralized finance (DeFi), SuperApps, and the "Buy Now, Pay Later" (BNPL) model on the structure of the financial market has been analysed. The main regulatory challenges, cybersecurity threats and the specifics of adapting financial institutions' business models to rapid technological changes have been identified. Originality. The substantiation of the interrelationship between globalization, the digitalization of the financial sector, and the evolution of financial technologies has been further developed, taking into account the challenges of cybersecurity, regulatory compliance, and business model adaptation. Particular attention has been paid to the integration of fintech solutions into the international economic system and their potential impact on traditional banking institutions. Practical value. The conclusions and recommendations derived from the study can be used by financial institutions, fintech companies, and regulatory bodies to develop strategies for adapting to emerging technological changes, improving regulatory policies, and enhancing the resilience of the financial system in the context of global digital transformation. Key words: financial technologies, fintech industry, global business landscape, global development trends, FinTech, CBDC, DeFi, BNPL, SuperApps, globalization, digitalization of the financial sector, regulatory challenges, cybersecurity.

Technology brings transformative changes in global trade and commerce. The last decade has witnessed a radical change in information and communication technology (ICT), impacting communication, data analysis, and automation, and increasing efficiency and competitiveness. There is a very strong relationship with the use in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and the business context around the world. Data were obtained from 455 people from various sectors, and the data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software. The study illustrates the interactive dynamics of technology, its interaction with trade internationally, and the complexity of the technology as it informs international business. The results showed that digital platforms, e‐commerce, and supply chain management systems provided connectivity to a global market. The novel contribution of the study lies in how the global business landscape is influenced, and it provides an understanding of the dynamics of technology in e‐commerce for sustainable practices. The study's innovation was the technology itself, which brought about a change that presented opportunities for future supply chain optimization and secure international trade. The study demonstrates that the technology is to help develop speed in communication, which facilitates smoother, seamless global trade. Understanding the specific issues faced by businesses will be valuable for adapting to necessary adjustments while shaping the future landscape of business and leveraging the power of technology.

Employee engagement and motivation are critical for success in today's global business landscape. This study examines leadership strategies to address challenges in diverse and dispersed workforces, such as linguistic barriers and differing expectations. It explores how transformational, transactional, and servant leadership styles enhance commitment and align employee efforts with organizational goals. Emphasizing cultural awareness, inclusivity, and adaptability, the study highlights strategies tailored to diverse norms and expectations. The role of technology and digital platforms in improving collaboration and connectivity among remote teams is also analyzed. Drawing on case studies and theoretical frameworks, the research offers actionable insights for creating cohesive, accountable, and high-performing teams. By prioritizing employee well-being while fostering alignment with organizational objectives, these strategies provide practical guidance for leaders in multinational organizations, bridging academic research and real-world human resource management applications.

This paper delves into the contemporary significance of organizational facilitation for international benchmarking within enterprises. It explores strategies and methodologies, shedding light on pivotal aspects of organizing the benchmarking process amidst the evolving demands of the global business environment. The study is driven by a commitment to providing practical insights into fostering effective international benchmarking practices. The core of the paper navigates through the intricacies of international benchmarking for enterprises, particularly within the context of the construction industry. It addresses the dynamic strategies and methodologies integral to the benchmarking process, taking into account the requirements of the global business landscape. The author emphasizes the role of information technologies, reflecting on their influence on the efficiency and accuracy of benchmarking comparisons. Furthermore, the paper scrutinizes the selection of benchmarking partners and the management of data exchange, recognizing their pivotal roles in ensuring the success of international benchmarking endeavors. It explores contemporary trends and challenges, with a keen eye on fostering competitiveness and innovation. The benefits accruing to enterprises through international benchmarking are highlighted, emphasizing the insights gained from external comparisons and their potential to streamline management processes. In conclusion, this paper contributes to the understanding of organizational facilitation for international benchmarking, offering a roadmap for enterprises to navigate the complexities of this process. It combines theoretical insights with practical recommendations, underscoring the importance of strategic international benchmarking for fostering competitiveness and innovation in the contemporary global business landscape.

This paper delves into the contemporary significance of organizational facilitation for international benchmarking within enterprises. It explores strategies and methodologies, shedding light on pivotal aspects of organizing the benchmarking process amidst the evolving demands of the global business environment. The study is driven by a commitment to providing practical insights into fostering effective international benchmarking practices. The core of the paper navigates through the intricacies of international benchmarking for enterprises, particularly within the context of the construction industry. It addresses the dynamic strategies and methodologies integral to the benchmarking process, taking into account the requirements of the global business landscape. The author emphasizes the role of information technologies, reflecting on their influence on the efficiency and accuracy of benchmarking comparisons. Furthermore, the paper scrutinizes the selection of benchmarking partners and the management of data exchange, recognizing their pivotal roles in ensuring the success of international benchmarking endeavors. It explores contemporary trends and challenges, with a keen eye on fostering competitiveness and innovation. The benefits accruing to enterprises through international benchmarking are highlighted, emphasizing the insights gained from external comparisons and their potential to streamline management processes. In conclusion, this paper contributes to the understanding of organizational facilitation for international benchmarking, offering a roadmap for enterprises to navigate the complexities of this process. It combines theoretical insights with practical recommendations, underscoring the importance of strategic international benchmarking for fostering competitiveness and innovation in the contemporary global business landscape. Moreover, it discusses the evolving role of digital tools and platforms in supporting benchmarking activities, providing businesses with more accurate data and analytical capabilities. The integration of these tools is crucial in enhancing the benchmarking process, ensuring that organizations can stay competitive in an ever-changing global market. The paper stresses the importance of continuous adaptation to technological advancements and the evolving business environment. By examining various case studies and benchmarking best practices, the paper further highlights how enterprises can leverage benchmarking as a tool for sustainable growth, efficiency, and competitive advantage. Overall, this research aims to serve as a guide for businesses looking to enhance their strategic decision-making through effective international benchmarking practices.

The global business landscape is undergoing a dynamic transformation due to the increasing penetration of internet and communication technologies. This article reviews the e-commerce literature to understand the emerging trends and future directions, which are shaping the competitive trends in the global business landscape. The article focuses on the following research dimensions - e-commerce definition; underlying research themes; theoretical models and frameworks used to understand e-commerce adoption; and key challenges faced by the e-commerce providers. The first contribution involves elaborating the broad perspectives and statistical overview of the selected articles including the publications summary, research themes, methodology, and locations. The second contribution involves presenting an integrated view of e-commerce definitions across five dimensions - information, technology, buy-sell transactions, monetary transactions and competition. The third contribution involves highlighting the theoretical models being used to study patterns of consumer behaviour. The fourth contribution lies in identifying the key challenges faced by the e-commerce organisations.

This research addresses obstacles to effective English communication, focusing on essential language competencies—listening, speaking, reading, and writing—that are critical in global business. It explores which language skills are most important for international business communication and examines the impact of language proficiency on professional success. The goal of the study is to identify these key competencies for successful global business interactions and to provide insight into which skills professionals should focus on developing. To achieve this, a systematic literature review is conducted, establishing a structured theoretical framework by drawing on findings from previous research. The study concludes that essential language competencies for global business success include verbal communication, writing skills, cross-cultural understanding, listening, and negotiation abilities. Among these, verbal skills in English, as an international language, are especially crucial in settings such as presentations, meetings, and negotiations. Effective verbal communication requires not only mastery of grammar but also the ability to use non-verbal cues, like intonation and body language, to reinforce and clarify messages. These competencies are emphasized as crucial for professionals who wish to excel in the global business landscape, where effective communication can significantly influence outcomes. The findings suggest that developing both language and cultural understanding equips professionals to engage more effectively across linguistic and cultural boundaries, enhancing their ability to negotiate, collaborate, and succeed in diverse business environments.

This paper explores the application of advanced analytics in enhancing supply chain resilience, offering a comparative review between African and USA practices. Supply chain resilience has become a critical factor in the global business landscape, particularly in the face of unprecedented disruptions and uncertainties. As organizations strive to mitigate risks and improve responsiveness, advanced analytics emerges as a powerful tool in achieving these objectives. The study begins by providing a comprehensive overview of the key components of supply chain resilience and the role advanced analytics plays in fortifying these components. It delves into various analytical techniques, such as predictive modeling, machine learning, and data visualization, and their application in predicting and mitigating disruptions. By harnessing the power of big data, organizations can gain insights into demand patterns, supply chain vulnerabilities, and potential risks, enabling proactive decision-making. A comparative analysis is conducted between African and USA supply chain practices, recognizing the unique challenges and opportunities each region presents. Africa, with its diverse economies and infrastructural constraints, faces distinct challenges in achieving supply chain resilience. The study investigates how African organizations leverage advanced analytics to overcome these challenges and identifies best practices. Similarly, the analysis explores how USA practices utilize advanced analytics to bolster supply chain resilience, drawing parallels and distinctions with the African context. The paper also discusses the implications of these findings for policymakers, businesses, and academia. Understanding the effectiveness of advanced analytics in different supply chain contexts can inform the development of tailored strategies for enhancing resilience. The study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by shedding light on the state of advanced analytics adoption in the supply chain domain in these regions and by providing insights that can guide future research and practical implementations. This paper provides a glimpse into the dynamic landscape of supply chain resilience, showcasing the pivotal role advanced analytics plays in fortifying global supply chains. The comparative review of African and USA practices offers a nuanced understanding of the challenges and opportunities these regions face, contributing valuable insights for practitioners and researchers alike. Keywords: Analytics, Supply Chain, USA, Africa, Review.

Purpose The sharing economy (SE) has transformed the tourism industry and continues to disrupt multiple sectors in the global business landscape. This paper aims to investigate the potential of the SE entering the aviation sector and examines travelers’ willingness to pay (WTP) a premium for shared private air travel. Design/methodology/approach The context for the empirical study was the platform JetSmarter, one of the emerging SE platforms in the private aviation sector. A quantitative survey with a random sampling method was adopted to measure customers’ WTP premium prices. Findings The results reveal a glaring interest of commercial air travelers in flying on a shared, private aircraft and show significant differences in the WTP for private aviation. The findings highlight a difference of WTP between customer segments, including Northern American and European customers, as well as business and leisure travelers. Originality/value The study makes a three-fold contribution to theory and practice. First, it bridges SE literature and the WTP construct, and with that, expands the understanding of pricing behaviors in a SE context. For tourism businesses, the study is valuable in that it offers concrete pricing suggestions for SE services when aimed at a premium rather than a budget customer segment. Third, the study is novel in that it taps into the aviation sector as a subsector of the SE ecosystem and offers critical implications suggesting the potential of the SE disrupting traditional aviation businesses.

In response to the ever-increasing pursuit of competitiveness among organizations in today’s global business landscape, the subject of supply chain management has become a vital domain encompassing a wide range of sectors and industries across the economy. The growing concern about sustainable development has prompted public and private supply chain players to incorporate the three pillars of sustainability, namely, economic, environmental, and social, into the design of their supply chain networks. This study reviews and examines the content of 102 relevant papers to discuss the mathematical models, modeling approaches, and solutions that have been explored in the existing literature on forward sustainable supply chain network design. This paper also investigates the sustainability elements and supply chain network peculiarities including design factors and decision levels. In this review, several limitations in the current literature on sustainable supply chain network design optimization models are highlighted. According to the analysis, it was found that a better understanding of the industry and its sustainability requirements and priorities is essential for designing sustainable supply chain networks that are tailored to the needs of a specific industry rather than achieving general sustainability objectives. In addition, integrating strategic, tactical, and operational decision levels in the design of supply chain networks is critical for evaluating their impact on each other in terms of sustainability. More sophisticated mathematical solution methods for dealing with real-life scenarios including nonlinearity and uncertainty sources are required. The paper concludes with new prospects of research to promote a better integration of sustainability into supply chain networks.

The global business landscape has entered a period of rapid structural change, where the fusion of cutting-edge digital technologies, the urgency of ecological sustainability, and constantly shifting market dynamics redefine how organizations compete, survive, and grow. This multidimensional pressure is acutely felt by Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), which form the backbone of the economy in emerging markets. This research report presents a comprehensive academic analysis of how digital transformation and green innovation interact to drive high-quality development in SMEs, positioning Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) management as the central mediating mechanism. Through the integrative lens of the Resource-Based View (RBV) and Dynamic Capabilities Theory, this report unpacks the transmission routes through which investments in digital assets and green technology capabilities yield resilient and sustainable competitive advantages. Furthermore, ESG management operates as a crucial partial mediator, translating digital and green capabilities into high-quality business performance outcomes. Rooted in the academic context of the Yangtze River Delta Economic Belt a strategic industrial hub frequently studied by leading institutions such as the Business School at Yangzhou University this report outlines advanced strategic insights for executives and policymakers navigating the dual economy transition.

Over the past few decades, India has become one of the world’s most vibrant economies (Chari & Banalieva, 2015). While the first forty years after India’s independence in 1947 was characterized by a sluggish annual growth rate (of approximately 3%), economic reforms initiated in 1991 have resulted in the GDP growing at a rate of around 6.8% in the last quarter century (Chari & Banalieva, 2015; McCloskey, 2010). Conversely, while the pre-reform institutional environment generally underemphasized and undermined entrepreneurial and innovative activity (Bardhan, 1994; Baumol, Litan, & Schramm, 2009; Sivaraman, 1991), the post-reform period has been characterized by a much wider acceptance of the value of innovation and entrepreneurship. Moreover, many Indian firms and entrepreneurs have emerged as global leaders in information technology (IT) services, auto, steel and generic drug production as well as medical services (Chari & Banalieva, 2015). India’s emergence as a significant player in the global business landscape has been accompanied by a boom in discourse about Indian economy and management, with academics, journalists, consultants and managers alike studying and chronicling these in numerous articles and books (e.g. Das, Asia Pac J Manag (2015) 32:835–841 DOI 10.1007/s10490-015-9444-x

This era is a technologically advanced civilization. The day when everything had to be done manually is long gone. Today, technology plays a significant part in our everyday lives. Artificial Intelligence is one of the technologies (AI). It becomes a part of daily life and alters how individuals do their business. In certain cases, we even fail to recognize that we are employing AI. It may be observed in the form of wearable technology, self-driving automobiles, smartphone applications, and home automation gadgets. Everything that is a part of it is transformed. The most cutting-edge technology in use today is Artificial Intelligence. The global business landscape has also been revolutionized by the e-commerce sector. Additionally, India is one of the e-commerce marketplaces with one of the fastest rates of growth, and in the years to come, it might become a major draw for AI-based technologies. AI is also used in e-commerce, as is evident. In the world of e-commerce, AI is essential. AI will bring about a significant technical shift for the e-commerce sector. In the last ten years, the use of AI in the e-commerce sector has dramatically risen. AI is being used by the e-commerce sector to process a vast database of progressing consumers, interact with thinking chatbots, and assist with searching, categorizing, and selecting the right product. AI is more effective and accurate, and it allows for the large-scale collection, processing, and inference of data. Competitors in the e-commerce space are utilizing AI to develop customer-centric strategies, retarget potential consumers, develop more efficient sales processes, voice-powered search, increase customer recommendations, address bogus reviews, etc. With particular reference to Amazon.com and Flipkart.com, this research study will precisely explain what Artificial Intelligence (AI) is, how it is employed in the e-commerce sector, and how it will be useful in examining how these two competitors are employing AI.KeywordsArtificial intelligence (AI)e-commerceOnline shoppingAutomationCustomer experience