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Managing Sustainability is a comprehensive guide to governing,
leading, and managing a successful sustainability-focused business.
Being a socially and environmentally responsible business is a
worthy goal for many people; however, turning the goal into reality
is a daunting process. This book takes a clear and practical
approach to the "nuts-and-bolt" of achieving this goal, and covers
steps to be taken by directors and executives to create and
implement appropriate strategies, policies, and management systems.
It recognizes that corporate social responsibility ("CSR") is like
any other important management initiative and requires proactive
leadership from the top of the organization. Key topics include: *
Understanding how CSR is changing the traditional fiduciary duties
of directors and officers * Developing and implementing internal
governance instruments to provide a foundation for decision-making
around CSR * Integrating CSR into the duties and responsibilities
of the chief executive officer and other members of the C-suite
team, as well as into their compensation arrangements * Conducting
continuous audits and assessments of the sustainability governance
and management framework using certification and rating systems to
evaluate and improve CSR performance and effectiveness Current and
aspiring leaders wishing to build a sustainability-centered
business will appreciate the straightforward and actionable
guidance offered by this book.
Managing Sustainability is a comprehensive guide to governing,
leading, and managing a successful sustainability-focused business.
Being a socially and environmentally responsible business is a
worthy goal for many people; however, turning the goal into reality
is a daunting process. This book takes a clear and practical
approach to the "nuts-and-bolt" of achieving this goal, and covers
steps to be taken by directors and executives to create and
implement appropriate strategies, policies, and management systems.
It recognizes that corporate social responsibility ("CSR") is like
any other important management initiative and requires proactive
leadership from the top of the organization. Key topics include: *
Understanding how CSR is changing the traditional fiduciary duties
of directors and officers * Developing and implementing internal
governance instruments to provide a foundation for decision-making
around CSR * Integrating CSR into the duties and responsibilities
of the chief executive officer and other members of the C-suite
team, as well as into their compensation arrangements * Conducting
continuous audits and assessments of the sustainability governance
and management framework using certification and rating systems to
evaluate and improve CSR performance and effectiveness Current and
aspiring leaders wishing to build a sustainability-centered
business will appreciate the straightforward and actionable
guidance offered by this book.
This comprehensive guide to all the essential legal and business
considerations in financing the business activities of the modern
corporation. Readers are provided with a clear and concise
introduction to the legal and contractual framework that governs
the major capital raising transactions in which a firm might be
involved, with a particular emphasis upon the federal and state
securities laws. An indispensable resource for consummating any
private investment transaction, public offering, or commerical loan
transaction, as well as dealing with disclosure requirements, the
structuring of underwriting arrangements, and complying with public
company responsibilities. Intended for entrepreneurs and managers
at firms of all sizes.
The comprehensive guide to all the essential legal and business
considerations in structuring domestic and international strategic
business alliances. Readers are provided with a clear and concise
introduction to the various domestic and international laws and
regulations that impact strategic business relationships, including
intellectual property law, antitrust law, commercial law, tax law,
agency and distribution laws, and foreign investment laws. An
indispensable resource for consummating sales representation
arrangements, licensing arrangements, research and development
arrangements, manufacturing and distribution arrangements, joint
ventures, equity investment, and negotiated acquisitions. The book
is intended for entrepreneurs, executives, and professionals.
Entrepreneurs, executives, lawyers, accounts, and others involved
in structuring cooperative business arrangements will benefit from
the step-by-step approach to each strategic business relationship.
The book provides guidance on each of the crucial steps in the
negotiation process, including the selection of the prospective
strategic business partner, the protection of trade secrets and
confidential information, the due diligence process,
representations and warranties, and dispute resolutions. Readers
will gain an understanding of the essential bodies of law that
might affect a relationship, such as intellectual property law,
antitrust and competition law, laws relating to the sale of goods,
agency and distribution laws, tax laws, export controls and
antiboycott laws, and foreign inbound investment and technology
transfer laws. The book covers each basic strategic business
relationship that a firm might enter into to facilitate the
development, manufacture, and distribution of products and
services, including long-term functional contracts and joint
ventures, minority investments, and negotiated acquisitions.
The comprehensive guide to all the essential legal and business
considerations to be taken into account in structuring and
negotiating technology-driven corporate alliances. Readers are
provided with a clear and concise introduction to the nature and
scope of the legal rights relating to new technologies and a
framework for evaluating prospective business partners and for
identifying the key contracting issues. An indispensable resource
for consummating licensing, research and development, manufacturing
and distribution, and corporate partnering arrangements, as well as
managing relationships with university researchers and raising
capital for research activities.
Entrepreneurs, executives, technology managers, lawyers,
accountants and researchers will benefit from the step-by-step
approach to each technology-driven transaction, beginning with the
description of the law of technology and intellectual property;
continuing with the initial investigation of the technology which
is to be the subject of the transaction and the general contractual
components of any transaction; and ending with the essential
elements of each relationship, including permitted uses of the
technology, compensation, representations and warranties,
covenants, closing conditions, indemnification, and the procedures
for ensuring that the technology remain a valuable asset for each
party. The book covers each of the stages involved in developing,
manufacturing, licensing, distributing, and financing
technology-based products and will serve as an invaluable and
constant resource in making sure that all of the important issues
have been considered before the deal is sealed.
Sustainability and Corporate Governance is the first extensive and
targeted guide for directors and their legal advisors on creating a
governance framework for corporations that integrates all the
recognized principles of sustainability now being discussed in
boardrooms all over the world. The book provides a step-by-step
approach on integrating sustainability principles into the
activities of the board of directors including detailed guidance on
legal, regulatory and business aspects of organizing and operating
board committees and designing the sustainability management unit.
Essential topics covered include: * Elements of an effective
framework for implementation of sustainability governance,
including required policies, procedures and committee charters *
Organization of the governing board to effectively address
sustainability issues and implement sustainability strategies *
Best practices and processes to engage company stakeholders
Corporate board members and attorneys will appreciate the book's
practical forms and checklists, complete coverage of all facets of
sustainability governance, summaries of relevant international and
national guidelines and instruments, and a curated list of samples
and case studies from companies all around the world.
Although corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been adopted by
many companies, few of them are practicing it with any formal
strategy, and the common situation seems to be a portfolio of
disparate CSR programs and initiatives, some of which the support
core strategy and others of which appear adjacent and
discretionary. The diversity of potential CSR initiatives is one
issue; however, developing a strategic orientation is complicated
by the fact that each company has its own unique set of drivers and
motivations for CSR and ideas and responsibilities for those
initiatives come from all parts and levels of the organization.
Strategic planning for sustainability is far from easy or precise,
if only because it requires that simultaneous consideration be
given not only to economic performance and development but also to
environmental protection and the social wellbeing of employees and
other persons and groups outside of the organization. This book is
intended as a comprehensive guide to the key steps required to
strategically approach becoming a successful sustainable business
including conducting a CSR assessment, developing a CSR strategy
and the accompanying business case, developing and implementing CSR
commitments, and measuring the performance and effectiveness of the
planning initiative.
In order to know whether or not the corporate social responsibility
(CSR) initiative and its related commitments are actually improving
the company's performance, it is necessary to have in place
procedures for reporting and verification, each of which are
important tools for measuring change and communicating those
changes to the company's stakeholders. While certain CSR and
corporate sustainability disclosures have now become minimum legal
requirements in some jurisdictions, in general such disclosures are
still a voluntary matter and companies have some leeway as to the
scope of their disclosures and how they are presented to investors
and other stakeholders. This book is intended to be a practical
introduction to sustainability reporting and communications that
begins by discussing material legal and regulatory considerations
and the some of the major sustainability reporting frameworks and
then continues with detailed illustrations of how companies might
create and distribute their sustainability reports and develop and
implement their CSR communications strategies.
Leadership is a universal phenomenon that has preoccupied scholars,
politicians and others for centuries. In the management context
leadership has been consistently identified as playing a critical
role in the success or failure of organizations and some surveys
have pegged almost half of an organization's performance on the
quality and effectiveness of its leadership team. Apart from
organizational performance, researchers have consistently found a
strong correlation between leadership styles and behaviors and the
job satisfaction and performance of subordinates. When formal
interest in the study of leadership first began in the 19th and
early 20th centuries, the so-called "great man" theory, which
assumed that certain individual characteristics or traits could be
found in leaders but not in non-leaders and that those
characteristics could not be developed but must be inherited, was
quite popular and many assumed that leaders were simply "born and
not made". As time passed, however, the consensus within the
community of leadership scholars and consultants shifted
significantly to the current working proposition that while some
people do indeed appear to be natural leaders from birth it is
nonetheless possible for many others with sufficient desire and
willpower to develop into a "leader" by following a continuous
process of work, self-study, education, training and experience.
Practicing Leadership is intended to serve as a guide to basic
principles of leadership and begins with an overview of definitions
and conceptions of leadership and then continues with discussions
of the roles and activities expected from an effective leader;
personality traits and attributes which can be learned and
perfected by persons that aspire to leadership positions; styles of
leadership, which encompass the strategies used by leaders to
engage with their followers and leadership in developing countries.
Leadership is a universal phenomenon that has been consistently
identified as playing a critical role in the success or failure of
organizations. This book begins with an overview of the history and
evolution of leadership studies and traces some of the major
"schools" of leadership studies that have attracted the interest of
researchers since the 19th century. Also discussed are the various
theories and models of leadership that have emerged over that
period. The author introduces cross-cultural leadership studies and
then discusses cross-cultural competencies of global leaders, which
are the practical applications of the information available from
the researchers to the day-to-day activities of leaders in business
organizations around the world. Finally, the book assesses the
research on cross-cultural leadership, culture, and leadership in
developing countries.
Sustainability has become a multidimensional concept that extends
beyond environmental protection to economic development and social
equity-in other words, entrepreneurship guided and measured by the
three pillars of the "triple bottom line." Sustainable
entrepreneurship is the continuing commitment by businesses to
behave ethically and contribute to economic development while
improving the quality of life of the workforce, their families, the
local and global community as well as future generations. This
definition recognizes that several different stakeholder groups,
not just shareholders, must be taken into account when managerial
decisions are made and operational activities in furtherance of the
organizational purposes are carried out. This book traces the
foundations for sustainable entrepreneurship, beginning with
sustainability, ecopreneurship, and social entrepreneurship and
then continuing with a comprehensive review of the basic principles
of sustainable entrepreneurship and how entrepreneurs can integrate
sustainability into their business models. This book will be an
invaluable resource for entrepreneurs who have chosen to focus
their efforts on building a new concept based on the principles of
sustainability from the outset. In addition, the book can be used
by academics teaching sustainable entrepreneurship, a topic of
surging interest to students, and by attorneys and professionals
working with sustainable businesses.
Entrepreneurship has become a popular career path in developed and
developing countries, a phenomenon that has contributed to the
intense interest in the subject shown by researchers and
policymakers around the world. Several factors have come into play,
including advances in technology that allowed smaller firms to take
advantage of economies of scale that previously were only available
to larger firms; the ability of smaller firms, because of their
size, to be more flexible and responsive to market changes;
implementation of government policies calculated to encourage
entrepreneurial activities and behavior; support from governments
and other economic units that established procurement programs to
assist small businesses; high unemployment rates in recent decades
due to corporate restructuring and downsizing, which have caused
some workers to choose an entrepreneurial path rather than retrain
for placement in an unsteady job market as a means for dealing with
their midlife crisis; and changes in typical career patterns away
from expectations of long-term employment with large firms in a
single occupation toward a flexible labor force, a phenomenon that
has led to increased interest in entrepreneurship among those with
post-secondary education and an established career record build
over several decades in the workplace. This book provides an
introduction to a number of important topics relevant to the study
and understanding of entrepreneurship and the process of creating,
or giving birth to, a new business. The chapters cover definitions
and types of entrepreneurship; the relationships among
entrepreneurship, innovation and development; research on
entrepreneurship, comparative research into entrepreneurship in
multiple countries and research into cross- border entrepreneurship
(i.e., international activity of small- and medium-sized
enterprises and new ventures); factors influencing entrepreneurial
activities; motivational traits of prospective entrepreneurs; the
influence of societal culture on entrepreneurial activities and
attitudes regarding entrepreneurship as a career path; the
influence that the institutional environment has on
entrepreneurship; and the role of entrepreneurs in launching new
businesses. This book is an excellent introductory source of
information on entrepreneurship research for use by academics and
other professionals in their courses and for entrepreneurs looking
to fit their dreams and aspirations in the broader context of
entrepreneurship.
All managers, regardless of where they work, must understand
certain basic concepts such as the functions, roles, and skills
associated with the managerial position and the styles available to
managers for use in any given situation. However, context matters,
and it is essential that managers understand the role that culture
plays in being effective in their positions. This book begins with
a brief description of the history and evolution of "management
studies", continues with an overview of the scope and practice of
comparative management studies, and provides examples of the
research that has been done on cross-cultural transfer of
management theories. In addition, the book includes materials on
the search for, and analysis of, dimensions of management styles
that can be used as a basis for creating models that can be used
for comparison purposes.
A wide range of definitions and conceptualizations of "management"
have been offered and it is often difficult for managers to fully
and clearly understand their roles within the organization;
however, managers striving for effectiveness and success would do
well to invest time and effort into understanding the functions,
roles and skills associated with the managerial position. As with
definitions of management, researchers and commentators have
developed a variety of lists of managerial functions. The consensus
seems to be that managers can expect to be involved in planning,
organizing, leading and controlling, and that these functions will
be needed when working with a range of organizational resources
including people, cash, physical assets and information. While the
specific day-to-day activities of managers will vary depending on
his or her place in the organizational hierarchy, he or she must
nonetheless have the ability to understand the behaviors and
feelings of the people who report to them, senior officials above
them in the organizational hierarchy, other colleagues throughout
the organization, and external stakeholders such as customers,
supplier and regulators. In addition, managers must be able to
maintain self-awareness and monitor their personal capacities for
dealing with the stress of their jobs and engaging in activities
that will further their career development. In order to be adroit
practitioners of their craft, managers must understand certain
basic concepts such as the functions, roles and skills associated
with the managerial position; the different levels of managerial
effectiveness and how they are measured; and the styles available
to managers and the factors that determine which style might be
preferred in a particular instance. Practicing Management includes
guides on a wide array of topic relating to the practice of
management including the roles and activities expected from an
effective manager; specific skills which can be learned and
perfected by persons that aspire to management positions; styles of
management; management systems; organizational performance and
effectiveness and managing in developing countries.
The terms founder and promoter are used frequently when discussing
new businesses. Neither of these terms has a particular technical
legal meaning and they are used somewhat interchangeably in
practice. However, it is useful and accurate to think of a founder
as a person who assists in the formation of a new business and then
continues to devote a significant amount of time and resources to
the operation of business once it has been formed. The founders
often become the officers, directors, general partners or managing
members, and the term ""founding shareholder"" or ""founding
president,"" for example, is often used to refer to one of the
first shareholders of a corporation or a corporation's first
president. A promoter, on the other hand, is a person, including
possibly a legal entity, who assists in the formation of a business
entity or obtaining subscriptions for its ownership interests, but
who does not necessarily have any continuing relationship to the
business once it is formed and funded. It is not surprising to find
that founders play a pivotal role in the success of any new
business even in situations where the founder is active in the
business for only a short period of time and responsibility for
oversight of the business is turned over to professional managers
who were not affiliated with the business at inception. Founders
not only bring the original business idea to the table, they also
have a substantial influence on the organizational culture and
values and goals of the initial managers and employees that lives
on for a significant period of time. This book covers a variety of
topics relating to founders, beginning with an overview of the
motivational traits of prospective entrepreneurs and the role that
entrepreneurs play in launching new businesses and then moving on
the personality traits and skill sets of those persons who seek to
form new business followed by a discussion of some of the practical
issues relating to founders with respect to their pre-formation
duties and liabilities, particularly their relationships with prior
employers, and their relationships and agreements with other
members of the founding group. The book also examines the role that
founders have on the organizational culture of their firms and the
positions that founder occupy if and when their firms reach the
point where they are ready to take on the rigors of public company
status and complete an initial public offering of their securities.
This book is a must-have guide for anyone thinking about launching
a new business and also is an excellent resource for attorneys and
other professionals providing advice to their clients and academics
teaching entrepreneurship classes.
A number of different methods have been used to describe
growth-oriented entrepreneurship; however, there is a consensus
that there is a particularly desirable form of entrepreneurship
that seeks to create and scale up businesses that will drive
productivity growth, create new employment, increase innovation,
promote business internationalization and achieve sustainable
economic growth. Innovation is a condition of growth-oriented
entrepreneurship that includes both the development and
commercialization of new products and services and the development
and implementation of new or improved processes that enhance
productivity or reduce costs associated with manufacturing or
distributing existing products. Innovation involves firms pursuing
distinctive business strategies and doing new things in new ways to
increase productivity, product development, sales and
profitability, including finding and developing new ways of
identifying the needs of new and existing customers and making and
marketing products that satisfy those needs. The goal of the launch
phase for growth-oriented entrepreneurial ventures is to reach the
point of scale up and common goals and activities associated with
the launch phase include market disruption and penetration; gaining
access to capital and markets and mentorship opportunities;
organizational growth through management capacity, systems,
resources (i.e., people, product and assets) management; embedding
organizational culture; development of stakeholder relationships;
monitoring and evaluation; and governance and reporting. This book
provides an extensive introduction to research on growth-oriented
entrepreneurship and continues with an assessment of attempts to
create the appropriate framework conditions for growth-oriented
entrepreneurship to flourish and sustain including financial
support; government policies; government programs; education and
training; research and development transfer; commercial and
professional infrastructure; internal market openness; access to
physical infrastructure; cultural and social norms; and protection
of intellectual property rights. The final chapter looks at
growth-oriented entrepreneurs in practice as they work to launch
and growth emerging companies. This book is a unique compendium of
research and analysis on a dynamic and important segment of
entrepreneurship and will be useful to entrepreneurs, academics and
policymakers.
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