This book discusses the concepts of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) that are the core of various paradigms used in strategic management to understand competitive advantage as well as flexibility in organizational boundaries. It serves as a valuable reference resource in the area of VUCA markets. An increase in the levels and types of uncertainty has important implications potentially for the durability of a company's advantages, the way firms learn and adapt, approaches for managing innovation and knowledge, and the attractiveness of different strategies and organizational models. In today's world, strategic flexibility in VUCA is essential for business leaders to sustain market advantage and attain a clear vision amid the chaos. Business leaders who stay focused and are aware of external volatility as the prevalent characteristic are successful, while those who are not flexible in this VUCA world and lock themselves into fixed positions lose out. The book includes empirical and conceptual research papers along with case studies and models discussing strategies for emerging markets in volatile and uncertain environments. It also covers a variety of issues, including innovation, people and processes, financial management, and leadership and strategies in VUCA markets. Apart from research fraternity and academia, the contents of the book will be useful for practitioners as well as industry watchers.

This book proposes transformative, realist methodology for skills research and planning through an analysis of case studies of the changing world of work, new learning pathways and educational system challenges. Studies of the green economy and sustainability transitions are a growing field internationally, however there are few books that link this interest to the development of skills. This book draws on, and showcases, the experience and insights of researcher-practitioners who are at the cutting edge in this emerging field, internationally and in South Africa. The context for this book is South Africa, but application is worldwide. In many ways indicative of the global picture, South Africa is in the grip of economic and environmental imperatives, searching for safe and just transitions. The authors present a new, embedded transitioning systems model for studying skills for a sustainable, just future. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of sustainable development, ecological economics and skills planning.

This book focuses on understanding the status quo of sustainable practices in industry operations from an emerging economy perspective, presenting various practices in India. In order to offer a balance between theory and practice, it provides guidelines for applying models to achieve the goal of sustainability in this competitive environment. The chapters include theoretical perspectives, models and empirical evidence on sustainable practices from Indian industries. The book also presents a scholarly perspective on sustainable operations from various researchers and practitioners in India for a global audience in academia and industry.

Eco-innovations are crucial for reducing the environmental damages arising from economic activities, and are one of the main drivers of a successful transition towards sustainable development and remedying essential climate change problems. This book provides an overview of recent advances in the rapidly growing field of eco-innovation research, adopts an interdisciplinary perspective and outlines the main future developmental trends. A broad range of topics are addressed, including a bibliometric analysis of eco-innovation research, the relationship between eco-innovation and corporate sustainability, eco-innovation system analysis, new evidence on the economic effects of eco-innovation, and the relevance of policy and policy mixes for eco-innovation activities. The book is dedicated to Klaus Rennings, one of the most important representatives of this field, who unexpectedly passed away in September 2015.

This book explores how contemporary organisations are abandoning conventional tactics in order to survive and grow in an incessantly shifting business landscape, analysing fundamental aspects of management, marketing and strategy from an interdisciplinary perspective. Focusing on the paradigms of neuro-marketing, innovative change management, motivational creativity, and customer data management, to name a few, the authors provide practical learning outcomes which reflect how organisations are seeking to adopt innovative means to innovative ends, targeting capacity building in multiple ways. Ultimately, this edited collection implicitly defines an organisational philosophy that incorporates functionality, but also embraces business notions pertaining to wider contextual transformations and environmental developments. Theoretical and practical contributions highlight the importance of multidisciplinary research to practical business success, making this book an invaluable read to both scholars and business executives.

This proceedings volume examines the effects of transport on socio-economic development including innovation, public health and cultural behavior. Featuring contributions presented at the 2017 TranSopot Conference in Sopot, Poland, the enclosed papers are divided to provide emerging research in transport sustainability, innovation, structure, and in municipal transport economics. Collectively, the contributions provide not only the theoretical background for transport analysis but also empirical data and practical applications. Researchers in the transport sector strive to explore the nuances of various aspects of transport economics, which are connected on many levels. The sustainability of transport fits into a wide perspective of the sustainable economy. It treats the activities of individuals, companies and local, regional and national governments as means of achieving economic and social ends. Conversely, transport sustainability has a certain burden on society as it may generate external costs in the form of congestion, pollution and negative health effects. Many of these adverse effects might be counteracted by transport innovations, both the technical ones and the organizational ones. These innovations, while their main goal might be to increase the efficiency of the transport entities, should also fit into the desirable trend of responsible economic design thinking. These general ideas of transport research naturally have to influence the research in various branches of transport ranging from the road transport to railway. Lastly, there is the municipal transport, in which goals of different stakeholders are often contradictory which leads to highly complicated decision problems. Featuring case examples on topics as bike sharing, green travel, compact cars, freight transport and electric cars, this book will be of interest to researchers, practitioners, policy makers and students in the fields of transport economics, innovation, and sustainability.

This book presents the latest tools, techniques, and solutions that decision makers use to overcome the challenges faced by their sustainable supply chains. Given the ever increasing significance of socio-economic and environmental factors, the management of sustainable supply chains has become a complex and dynamic task. Multiple and conflicting objectives of stakeholders including suppliers, manufacturers, service providers, and retailers add to the complexity of decisions that modern day managers of supply chains face. With the unprecedented technological developments and innovations at hand, sustainability can be maximized for all the activities of a supply chain including: service concept and product design, material sourcing and procurement, manufacturing processes, delivery of the final product, and end-of-life management of the product. Consequently, the sustainable supply chains' problems require a systematic and integrated approach. Modeling and simulation, in general, as well as system dynamics and agent-based modeling, in particular, have the capabilities to deal with the complexity of sustainable supply chain related problems. This book will appeal to professionals and researchers in the field.

This book presents an eclectic mix of interesting new areas in the domain of economics, management and sustainability. Written by leading experts, it provides valuable food for thought, with essays introducing new lines of research and empirical research papers offering sound research methodology. The book not only provides answers, but also raises numerous interesting questions concerning the areas covered to whet readers' appetites to learn more. Professor Anup Sinha is a respected teacher and is a great mind with wide-ranging academic interests spanning from economics and sustainability to management. As well as in various other places in India and the US, he has taught at the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta and Presidency College (now a University) Calcutta for almost three decades. To commemorate his contributions, this festschrift presents a collection of essays that are broadly subdivided into four sections: Economic Development; Vulnerabilities and Inclusive Growth; Sustainability and Corporate Governance; and Innovation and Management.

This book brings together research on cooperative management from the agriculture and food sector. By examining issues from food-policy, trade and environmental perspectives and presenting both methodological and empirical work, it allows readers to develop a deeper understanding of collective management processes and cooperative initiatives, and provides a theoretical background for promoting research in the various sectors in which market communities operate. On a more global level the offers insights into how to building powerful tools for decision making, particularly at a time when agriculture and the economy alike are affected by a volatile political, social and economical environment and are forced to undergo major structural changes.

This book is designed as a basic text for courses that are part of an interdisciplinary program in environmental studies. The intended reader is anyone who expects environmental stewardship to be an important part of his or her life, as a citizen, a policy maker, or an environmental management professional. In addition to discussing major issues in environmental ethics, it invites readers to think about how an ethicist's perspective differs from the perspectives encountered in other environmental studies courses. Additional topics covered include corporate social responsibility, ecological citizenship, property theory, and the concept of stewardship as a vocation.

This edited volume deals with the attempts made by the scientists and practitioners to address contemporary issues in geoenvironmental engineering such as characterization of dredged sediments, geomaterials and waste, valorization of waste, sustainability in waste management and some other geoenvironmental issues that are becoming quite relevant in today's world especially in view of the high urbanization rates, advancement in technologies, and changes in consumption behavior of people. In this regard, wastes generated through the daily activities of individuals and organizations pose many challenges in their management. The volume is based on the best contributions to the 2nd GeoMEast International Congress and Exhibition on Sustainable Civil Infrastructures, Egypt 2018 - The official international congress of the Soil-Structure Interaction Group in Egypt (SSIGE).

This volume brings together scientific experts in different areas that contribute to the railway track and transportation engineering challenges, evaluate the state-of-the-art, identify the shortcomings and opportunities for research and promote the interaction with the industry. In particular, scientific topics that are addressed in this volume include railway ballasted track degradation/settlement problems and stabilization/reinforcement technologies, switches and crossings and related derailments causes, train-induced vibrations and mitigation measures, operations, management and performance of ground transportation, and traffic congestion and safety procedures. The volume is based on the best contributions to the 2nd GeoMEast International Congress and Exhibition on Sustainable Civil Infrastructures, Egypt 2018 - The official international congress of the Soil-Structure Interaction Group in Egypt (SSIGE).

Addressing the area of shared leadership, also known as collective or distributed leadership, this edited book embraces the underlying idea that leadership is a dynamic process that intersects closely with followership. While some authors present rigorously researched qualitative and quantitative case studies that investigate the dynamics of followership in distributive leadership in terms of collective decision-making, leadership identity, roles and demographic composition of groups in a variety of settings, other authors take a critical look at distributed leadership models by viewing them through the lens of nature and ecosystems as well as human development processes. The chapters aim to inspire readers to challenge the current definition of leadership and explore more inclusive and holistic paradigms. Distributed Leadership provides a comprehensive and constructive contribution to the field of leadership and will be an essential read for academics and scholar-practitioners interested in business management.

This book offers a timely snapshot of soft computing methodologies and their applications to various problems related to sustainability, including electric energy consumption; fault diagnosis; vessel fuel consumption; determining the best sites for new malls; maritime port projects; and ad-hoc vehicular networks. Further, it demonstrates how metaheuristics and machine learning methods, fuzzy linear programming, neural networks, computing with words, linguistic models and other soft computing methods can be efficiently used to solve real-world problems. Intended as a practice-oriented guide for students, researchers, and professionals working at the interface between computer science, industrial engineering, naval engineering, agriculture, and sustainable development / climate change research, it provides readers with a set of intelligent solutions, helping them answer a range of emerging questions related to sustainability.

As this book is the first book worldwide in the "sustainable" management of luxury area, it highlights key aspects in the sustainable management of luxury based on presentations using different approaches, whether reflexive, empirical, hands-on or applied theory and cases.

This books presents the curricula necessary for sustainability in higher education. It shows how the learning process is transforming in order to promote sustainability. It prepares administrators, teachers and students to diffuse the development in the field, showing a curricula based on three interconnected pillars: the environment, the economic and the social aspects. It contains 8 chapters introducing research advances in the field.

This book offers both marketing and sales professionals a rare combined insight into both worlds to continuously capture customer intelligence and create value, by blending detailed research with academic rigor and commercial experience of the authors in both Europe and North America. It has never been easier to produce great marketing content and sales collateral. And yet, 90% of the content that marketing produces is NEVER used by sales. Why not? Because it's not relevant to the audience or the prospect doesn't even know the content exists. Furthermore 58% of deals end up in "no decision" because Sales has not presented value effectively. Companies are creating lots of noise but failing to resonate with the customers. So what? The danger, aside from marketing wasting tens of millions of dollars on ineffective content and tools, is that customers will disengage. 94% of prospects say they have completely disengaged with vendors because of irrelevant content. In order to grow fast, the authors argue, Sales and Marketing teams need to slow down. They need to work together to truly understand their customers' needs, wants, motivations and pain points so that they can offer customized "value". The book sets out how to establish a formal program to continuously capture customer intelligence and insights - the shiny gems of understanding that help prospects to connect the dots - so that value can be consistently articulated in marketing and sales conversations. By integrating the best ideas and practice from commercial experience and academic research the authors show how to create value across the entire marketing and sales value chain - not only get a new customer, but to continue to create value for future purchases by creating "post-sales" value.

This book offers an interdisciplinary discussion of the fundamental issues concerning policies for sustainable transition to renewable energies from the perspectives of sociologists, physicists, engineers, economists, anthropologists, biologists, ecologists and policy analysts. Adopting a combined approach, these are analysed taking both complex systems and social practice theories into consideration to provide deeper insights into the evolution of energy systems. The book then draws a series of important conclusions and makes recommendations for the research community and policy makers involved in the design and implementation of policies for sustainable energy transitions.

This edited collection explores the challenges and opportunities presented by the transition to a low carbon economy, and outlines the different approaches taken to ensure the sustainability of such a transition. Chapters explore the nature of the transformation from a 'brown' to 'green' economy, the importance of effective carbon measurement and management methodologies, the use of behaviour economics, and the application of a growth-enabling approach. Offering valuable insights into how various stakeholders respond to the challenges of green growth and focusing in particular on the support of universities, The Low Carbon Economy covers themes of leadership, systems approach, stakeholder management, and collaborative action. This comprehensive study provides readers with constructive ideas for maximising the opportunities of transitioning to a low carbon economy, and will serve as a useful tool for practitioners and academics interested in sustainability.

This book examines the different ways companies can develop and design social innovation. Combining technological and social perspectives, the contributors present emerging research on social innovation from different sectors such as entrepreneurship, education and energy. Collectively, the authors demonstrate the ways in which social innovation can drive sustainability and development in regions around the world. All societies are characterized by their political, economic and social institutions, as well as by how they utilize technology. The social innovations with the highest importance are those which modify existing institutions or create new ones, and based on their magnitude, they can be considered as radical or incremental. For example, when Joseph Chamberlain encouraged workers to organize in order to achieve universal male suffrage in Great Britain in 1885, this was a considered a radical innovation for British society, which in turn changed its political framework. Social innovations may be based on intelligence and commitment, on technology or on social entrepreneurship in its most open forms. In addition, social innovations can be classified into those which correspond to an entire country or region, a field (e.g., education) or a sector (e.g., entrepreneurship, technology, social reform). Featuring contributions on topics such as agro-food, smart cities, higher education, gender equality and sports, this book is ideal for academics, students, scholars, professionals and policy makers in the areas of innovation, entrepreneurship, sustainability and regional development.

This book offers a comprehensive overview of sustainability and management in India and through its insightful essays highlights the complex and multifaceted nature of sustainability as a concept. It also demonstrates the debates surrounding the concept of sustainability and its ramifications for ground-level practice in managing organisations and for public policy. The contributions from sustainability enthusiasts, practitioners from disparate fields and academics working at the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, have been divided into five themes: (1) sustainability as a normative concept; (2) sustainability concept at the global level, (3) sustainability practices in Indian organisations and consumer behaviour; (4) sustainability, corporate governance and corporate social responsibility and (5) sustainability: a critique of organisational practice and government regulation. The themes reflect both new and continuing issues confronting management in the country today. Examples and in-depth studies make it relevant to the grounded reality in India. The expertise and experience of the contributors ensure that readers are left with a grasp of our current understanding of how sustainability is related to society and business, the direction this understanding will take in the future.

This book provides a richly illustrated study of sustainability, innovation and entrepreneurship. Specifically, it examines the ways in which governmental policies and practices modify the social conditions necessary to promote innovation in businesses and by so doing impact economic development. Exploring topics such as green innovation, green customer capital, smart cities, green entrepreneurship and environmental responsibility, this book presents some of the most current research and best practices in the field. In today's global economy, strategies, policies and practices that address the negative effects of human activity on the environment need to be incorporated into the business framework in order for companies to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. Around the world, such changes have already resulted in a broad range of products, production methods and technical features that ensure environmental protection. At the same time, the mass media's communication of a deteriorating earth have motivated a growing number of citizens in both developed and developing nations to modify their consumption habits towards more ecological products. Consequently, an increasing number of companies are reacting to these changes in business and legal frameworks and consumer preferences by investing in new forms of green innovation or "eco-innovation" designed to promote both environmental and corporate sustainability. For example, Hewlett-Packard eliminated lead from its welding process; Wal-Mart reduced the emissions of their suppliers; and Cisco, Dell and IBM are investing in smart grids. This volume showcases pioneering efforts among companies, citizens, and government agencies that are moving from theory to practice by placing sustainability at the core of their development strategies.

This edited volume brings together contributions from experts on a range of food security issues, and examines them through a number of case studies. A Millennium Development goal and important policy concern, food security is experiencing renewed interest due to globalisation, which has led to population affluence, changing consumption, and production and trade patterns. The authors discuss how globalisation brings a new dimension to the discussion on public policy on food security, and consider the extent to which Global Value Chains (GVCs) dominate trade, investment and international agricultural markets. Food Security and Sustainability therefore sheds new light on the nexus of food security and globalization, as well as its implications for investment and financing in the agro-food sector. The volume draws on papers presented at the inaugural Workshop of the Mediterranean Center for Food Security and Sustainable Growth (MED-SEC), an international network of academics focusing on issues of development, sustainability and food security.

This book provides a critical insight into sustainability and fashion in a retailing and marketing context. Examining a truly global industry, Sustainability in Fashion offers international application with a view to contextualising important developments within the industry. Contributors use their diverse backgrounds and expertise to provide a contemporary approach in examining key theoretical concepts, constructs and developments. Topics include consumer behaviour, communications, circular economy and supply chain management. The individual chapters focus on sustainability and provide a range of fashion sector examples from high street to luxury apparel.

This book provides a detailed study of the Thai rubber industry and its utilisation of renewable resources, focussing on the use of open source software in building supply chain models. By describing elements that the supply chain is composed of and relating this to Thailand's rubber industry, the authors then outline the construction of a Discrete Event Simulation (DES) model and use open source software to model renewable resources in this particular supply chain. Emphasis is placed on the way that modelling can aid the important decision-making required in the exploitation of natural resources. By taking a hands-on approach and offering a valuable guide for readers, this book not only appeals to academics in the fields of industrial engineering, operations, logistics and supply chain management, but also to practitioners, policy-makers and associations involved in the rubber industry.