The subject of sustainability transitions has, in the past decade or so, become an established research field for academics, policy makers and practitioners alike. Conceptual and theoretical developments in the filed have gradually advanced from the perspectives of socio-technical systems and business models. Scholars contend that it is the interactions of the networks of actors, technologies, and institutions that drive transition processes toward sustainability. In this volume we further advance this line of inquiry with a special reference to strategic management of sustainability transitions, in both theory and practice. In theoretical development, we have selected three chapters to encompass the themes of (1) the interactions between ecological systems and human systems; (2) a critique on the continuous expansion of large multinational companies and their strategic control of key resource inputs through the lenses of circular economy and natural resource-based view; and (3) a multi-stakeholder ecosystems framework for the management of sustainability transitions with structural alignment of focal value propositions. The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are critically addressed and empirically examined. It will become an essential reader and a reference book for researchers and postgraduate students interested in strategic management, international business, innovation studies, consumer behavior, and public administration.

This edited book addresses two critical issues in international management: building trust and managing boundary spanning activities between international business partners. The duel-process of internationalization of multinational corporations (MNCs), through globalisation and regionalisation, has helped MNCs to increase their market expansion and improve the capabilities of innovation and learning. By creating various forms of international strategic alliances (ISAs), MNCs have become structurally more complex and geographically more dispersed. As a result, MNCs in general and ISAs in particular face the challenges of discerning blurred organisational boundaries, reconfiguring the control mechanisms, integrating diversified resources, and coordinating distributed activities in time and space. Research in organisation behaviour indicates that boundary spanners play critical yet unspecified roles and functions in managing cross-boundary relationships. A core boundary spanning function is to build trust relationships. When organisations engage in business transactions, members of the organisations are concerned with not only the outcomes of economic transactions but also the processes of social exchanges. Boundary spanners may succeed in building interpersonal trust in a partnership, nonetheless their effort may not lead to inter-partner trust without an effective implementation of the institutionalisation process. Whereas trustworthiness is the antecedent to trust providing the basis for trust to develop, distrust manifests itself as a separate and linked concept to trust. These dynamic features of trust, trustworthiness, and distrust are critically elaborated. Trust Building and Boundary Spanning in Cross-Border Management is dedicated to explicating these under-researched themes and contributing to the emerging streams of research in micro foundations and micro-structural approaches. It illustrates the latest research on the topic and will be of interest to both students at an advanced level, academics and reflective practitioners in the fields of organisational behaviour and theory, strategic management, international strategy and strategic alliances.

This edited book addresses two critical issues in international management: building trust and managing boundary spanning activities between international business partners. The duel-process of internationalization of multinational corporations (MNCs), through globalisation and regionalisation, has helped MNCs to increase their market expansion and improve the capabilities of innovation and learning. By creating various forms of international strategic alliances (ISAs), MNCs have become structurally more complex and geographically more dispersed. As a result, MNCs in general and ISAs in particular face the challenges of discerning blurred organisational boundaries, reconfiguring the control mechanisms, integrating diversified resources, and coordinating distributed activities in time and space. Research in organisation behaviour indicates that boundary spanners play critical yet unspecified roles and functions in managing cross-boundary relationships. A core boundary spanning function is to build trust relationships. When organisations engage in business transactions, members of the organisations are concerned with not only the outcomes of economic transactions but also the processes of social exchanges. Boundary spanners may succeed in building interpersonal trust in a partnership, nonetheless their effort may not lead to inter-partner trust without an effective implementation of the institutionalisation process. Whereas trustworthiness is the antecedent to trust providing the basis for trust to develop, distrust manifests itself as a separate and linked concept to trust. These dynamic features of trust, trustworthiness, and distrust are critically elaborated. Trust Building and Boundary Spanning in Cross-Border Management is dedicated to explicating these under-researched themes and contributing to the emerging streams of research in micro foundations and micro-structural approaches. It illustrates the latest research on the topic and will be of interest to both students at an advanced level, academics and reflective practitioners in the fields of organisational behaviour and theory, strategic management, international strategy and strategic alliances.

After three decades of rapid economic growth, China became the world's second largest economy in 2010 after the United States of America. Along with the prospect of lifting millions out of poverty and improving living standards, China is facing yet new challenges of rapid urbanization. Recent research findings show that in 2012 urbanization rate was 52.6% in China (Lacy et al., 2013). It is predicted that by 2020 the number of megacities in China with an urban population of more than 10 million will increase to thirteen. Along with the increase in urban population and living standards there has been rapid increase of car ownership in China. It is estimated that there are more than five million vehicles in Beijing (Cheng, 2013; Economist, 2013). Large cities and prefecture-level cities already contributed 89.6% of China's total industrial CO2 emissions. One day in January 2013 air in Beijing was heavily polluted to a level of toxicity (smog) forty times the standard safe level set by the World Health Organization (Economist, 2013).At the international level, transport contributed 61.5% to world petroleum consumption and 22.3% to global CO2 emissions in 2010 (IEA, 2012). While the overall level of CO2 emissions in developed economies is stabilizing and in some cases declining, the levels in the developing and emerging economies are increasing. Large emerging economies with megacities will imminently become the major concerns of transport-related CO2 emissions. Without strategic innovations in the automotive industry and transport management system the current state of China's transport sector is not sustainable. The long-term sustainable solutions are likely to emerge from the interplay of economic, environmental, social and technological factors.The Special Issue, partnered with the Second International Symposium on Sustainable Mobility, focuses on the issues of developing policies and corporate strategies to help the automotive industry, transport management systems, and urban planning to embark on a sustainable path to future growth and development (WBCSD, 2007; World Bank, 2008). The critical debate and research findings of this issue shed light on future research and practice on sustainable mobility in emerging economies.

Build interactive courses for online learning using Google's learning management solution Key Features Discover best practices for developing a creative educational experience using the features of Google Classroom Get to grips with the modern features of Google Classroom that can help you meet the demands of online teaching Create online courses and deliver classes in an interactive manner Book DescriptionGoogle Classroom is designed to help you manage and deliver online and in-person courses in an interactive manner. Using Google Classroom saves time organizing and communicating information to students and parents. This updated second edition of Teaching with Google Classroom covers the modern features of Google Classroom that meet the current needs of online teaching. The book is written from the high-school perspective but is applicable to teachers and educators of all age groups. If you're new to Google Classroom or an experienced user who wants to explore more advanced methods with Google Classroom, this book is for you. With hands-on tutorials, projects, and self-assessment questions, you'll learn how to create classes, add students to those classes, send announcements, and assign classwork. The book also demonstrates how to start an online discussion with your students. Later, you'll discover how you can involve parents by inviting them to receive guardian emails and sharing Google Calendar with a URL. This will help them to view assignment deadlines and other important information. The book goes step by step through all the features available and examples of how best to use them to manage your classroom. By the end of this book, you'll be able to do more with Google Classroom, managing your online or in-person school classes effectively. What you will learn Create a classroom and add customized information for each individual class Send announcements and questions to students Create, distribute, collect, and grade assignments through Google Classroom Link student accounts to guardian emails for daily or weekly updates Use Google Forms to create quizzes that automatically grade and return results to students Reuse posts, archive classrooms, and perform other administrative tasks in Google Classroom Host online sessions with students and set up Google Classroom's mobile app Who this book is forThis Google Classroom book is written by an educator, for educators. It's for anyone who wants to teach effectively with Google Classroom. There are rich examples, clear instructions, and enlightening explanations to help you put this platform to work.

Put Google Classroom to work while teaching your students and make your life easier About This Book * This is the first book to guide educators step by step through teaching with Google Classroom * It's focused on you, your students, and providing great learning experiences easily * It's easy to follow, with everything you need to get started and keep going even if you're not a technology fan Who This Book Is For This is a book for educators who want to use Google Classroom to teach better. It's not for geeks. There are rich examples, clear instructions, and enlightening explanations to help you put this platform to work. What You Will Learn * Create a Google Classroom and add customized information for each individual class * Add students to a Google Classroom * Send announcements and questions to students * Create, distribute, collect, and grade assignments through Google Classroom * Add events to and share a Google Classroom's calendar with parents to track a student's progress * Reuse posts, archive classrooms, and perform other administrative tasks in Google Classroom * Use Google Docs Add-ons, and Google Chrome Webstore Apps and Extensions to enhance assignments * Set up Google Classroom's mobile app In Detail Google Classroom helps teachers bring their work online. According to Google Trends, it's already bigger than Moodle after barely a year in the wild. This book is a complete start-to-finish guide for teachers using Google Classroom for the first time. It explains what Google Classroom is, what it can do, how to set it up, and how to use it to enhance student learning while making your life as a teacher easier. It shows you how to place resources and activities online, gather assignments, and develop group and individual activities. It's not just a manual, you'll also discover inspiring, easy ways to put Google Classroom to work for you and your class. Style and approach This is a step-by-step guide to using Google Classroom, the rapidly emerging platform for education, effectively.