The dissertation was defended at the public meeting of the Dissertation Defense Council of Management in the SRA-I Hall of Vilnius Gediminas Technical University at 10 a.m. on 30 April 2024.
The dissertation investigates the problematic and theoretical aspects of eco-innovation strategies in the context of internationalization with a particular focus on the entrance of furniture manufacturing companies to new foreign markets and the preparation for the internationalization phase. The dissertation aims to substantiate the decision-support framework for rational selection of eco-innovation strategy in the context of internationalization. The dissertation consists of an introduction, three chapters, general conclusions, a list of references, a list of the author’s publications, a summary in Lithuanian, and six annexes. The First Chapter presents the conceptualization of the four main pillars of this dissertation: eco-innovation, eco-innovation strategy, internationalization, and strategic decision-making. The chapter concludes by formulating the theoretical framework for the selection of an eco-innovation strategy in the pre-internationalization phase and a hierarchical structure of the decision problem, which serves as a starting point for empirical research. The empirical study was conducted within the Lithuanian furniture industry (NACE C31). This dissertation adopted an exploratory multiple case study approach with a positivistic philosophical paradigm as a research strategy and a mixed inquiry technique was applied, which is presented in the Second Chapter. Based on a theoretical framework and a hierarchical structure of the decision problem, the empirical research methodology with data collection tools was developed and tested through a pilot study with industry experts. For the development and empirical justification of the decision support framework, a mixed decision-making process, and a combination of MCDM methods were adopted, which include the Delphi technique, AHP, BWM, TOPSIS, and sensitivity analysis. Additionally, qualitative research was conducted to gain in-depth insight into the phenomenon under investigation. The proposed decision-support framework for the rational selection of the eco-innovation strategy in the pre-internationalization phase was applied in three real-world cases. The empirical research results of the pilot study, the practical application of the decision-support framework in multiple cases, and the qualitative research findings are presented in the Third Chapter, which is concluded with a discussion of theoretical and practical implications, limitations, and agenda for future research. The results of the dissertation have been disseminated in three articles in peer-reviewed international scientific journals that are indexed in the Clarivate Analytics Web of Science and Scopus databases and two papers in the international conference proceedings. The results were presented at four international scientific conferences in Lithuania and abroad.
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