Sustainable development and strategic management - what is on the horizon in our non-ergodic world research?

• Achieving the UN 2030 agenda remains challenging, with significant barriers remaining for most SDGs. • Disruptions and polycrises are reshaping sustainable development, highlighting the need for resilient strategic management. • The lack of a unified definition of sustainability fuels tensions between financial performance and long-term outcomes. • Since adopting the SDGs, integrating sustainable development into strategic management has significantly progressed. • Bibliometric analyses and topic modelling reveal various emerging sustainable development and strategic management topics. This study aimed to identify emerging trends and topics in strategic management and sustainable development research in the context of global disruptions, especially when they combine into polycrises, contributing to a state of uncertainty known as the non-ergodic world. The authors employed the Scopus database to collect and analyse academic literature from 2015 to 2023. Additionally, they reviewed United Nations reports to complement the academic data with a statistical analysis of the progress made in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The results revealed discrepancies in this progress, with advances in poverty eradication, responsible consumption and production and climate action. However, more progress is needed to reduce hunger, preserve life on land and below water, promote peace, establish justice and strengthen institutions. This lack of focus is also mirrored in the most cited academic research on strategic management and sustainable development. The analysed research experienced a 13.0 % annual growth, with an average of 26.9 citations from 84 countries. The bibliometric analysis identified further research areas, including sustainable economic development, business sustainability strategies, leadership, and the impact of global disruptions. Thus, reflecting the challenges of achieving the United Nations Agenda 2030 in the context of global disruptions, this study confirmed the increasing role of integrating sustainable development considerations into strategic management research and highlighted the need for more research and action to meet the SDGs.