Aims & Scope

Economic and Business Review (EBR)

Advancing the Understanding of Competitiveness Dynamics

Economic and Business Review (EBR) is a double-blind peer-reviewed, open-access journal that focuses on advancing the understanding of competitiveness in dynamic and often conflicting environments. In today’s world—shaped by tensions such as global vs local, innovation vs regulation, growth vs sustainability, and integration vs fragmentation—organizations and policymakers must navigate contrasting demands. We are interested in research that explores how balancing these juxtaposed forces influences competitive outcomes at both the national and organizational levels. These pressures often require organisations to pursue diverging objectives, adding complexity to internal strategic dynamics and decision-making. The journal provides a platform for original research work that examines how economies and businesses can not only respond to such environments but also leverage these tensions to create strategic advantage.

Core Focus Areas:

We welcome submissions that explore how businesses, economies, and institutions balance polarized forces and conflicting objectives in pursuit of competitive advantage, such as:

• Intangible Capital and Productivity Growth: To remain competitive advanced economies across the globe have been undergoing a process of rapid transformation towards becoming knowledge economies. Intangible capital has been a crucial element in the competitiveness and growth performance of these economies and their sectors and businesses.
• Balancing Global and Local Pressures: Businesses increasingly face the challenge of competing in global markets while adapting to specific local cultural, regulatory, and economic conditions. Understanding how firms navigate these “glocal” tensions is central to developing sustainable competitive advantage, particularly for internationally active or regionally grounded firms.
• Innovation and Regulation in Competitive Markets: The rapid pace of technological change demands innovation, yet businesses must also comply with evolving regulatory frameworks. Exploring how firms balance the drive for innovation with legal and societal expectations, especially considering the influence of new generations as tech-savvy consumers and employees, is crucial for long-term success.
• Sustainability vs Financial Profitability: As expectations for corporate responsibility grow, firms must align sustainability goals with financial performance, capital allocation, and investor expectations. This often involves pursuing diverging objectives—meeting stakeholder demands for ethical and environmental action while ensuring profitability. The balance is particularly relevant as generational shifts increasingly push businesses to integrate ethical, social, and environmental concerns into their competitive strategies.
• Behavioral Perspectives on Polarization: Polarized environments influence how individuals and organizations make economic and business decisions. Understanding behavioral responses to social, political, and economic divides helps explain for example shifts in consumer preferences, investment choices, and workforce dynamics, especially among emerging generations. This theme also considers how technological developments, including the growing use of AI, shape and respond to these behaviors in competitive environments.
• Governance, Risk, and Resilience: In volatile and fragmented environments, firms must find a way among diverging objectives, managing and mitigating risks while maintaining governance structures and financial strategies that support adaptability and competitiveness. Research in this area helps reveal how businesses build resilience amidst institutional uncertainty and global disruptions.
• Public Policy in Divided Contexts: Policymakers must reconcile diverse and often conflicting interests to foster competitive business environments. Examining how public policy addresses contrasts—whether through regulation, incentives, or coordination—can illuminate strategies that support economic growth and social cohesion.

While EBR has a broad European focus, it draws from the experiences of small, export-oriented economies, notably Slovenia, which has successfully navigated the transition from a state-led to a market-driven system. This journey illustrates how organizations and societies adapt their behavior and strategies to balance polarized forces, such as integration into global markets versus local economic realities, to improve competitiveness. Slovenia’s experience offers valuable insights into how managing these tensions can shape institutional evolution, business practices, and policy responses in similar contexts.

Perspectives and Methodologies: EBR welcomes research grounded in behavioral, normative, or positive perspectives. We value methodological rigor and encourage submissions that employ: quantitative or qualitative research, including mixed methods that meaningfully combine both; empirical studies supported by robust data analysis; theoretical contributions that offer clear conceptual frameworks with practical relevance; interdisciplinary and comparative research that deepens understanding across contexts, sectors, or societal groups.

EBR does not publish:

• purely descriptive or anecdotal case studies without analytical depth;
• research lacking clear theoretical grounding or practical implications:
• studies focused solely on technical or methodological innovations without substantive business or economic insights or clear relevance to research in the field;
• manuscripts with a narrow local focus that lack relevance to broader European or international audiences.

We expect submissions to clearly define their research question, methodological approach, and contribution. EBR serves academics, practitioners, and policymakers seeking insights into how organizations and economies can strategically manage contrasts to foster competitive advantage. Submissions should demonstrate high academic rigor, practical relevance, and a clear connection to the journal’s focus on polarization and competitiveness, particularly in the European context.