Background Achieving an environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable development is today a key aspect in many businesses. Accordingly, cross-sector collaborations between businesses and NPOs have on an increasing scale been considered a powerful and unavoidable tool for creating environmental, social, and economical value simultaneously.   Problem Relatively little is known about how the underlying dynamics of cross-sector collaborations relate to enhanced value creation. Furthermore, the terminology in previous documentation of cross-sector collaborations has been spread out and inconsistent.   Purpose The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how business-NPO collaborations increase the potential for enhanced value creation.   Method The study has been conducted through a comparative case study of three Swedish cross-sector collaborations. Qualitative data has mainly been obtained through interviews.   Conclusions The analysis showed that the potential for enhanced value creation increases as collaboration moves from sole-creation of value toward co-creation of value. The study found that achieving co-creation of value is facilitated by (1) an issue-salient approach to stakeholder engagement, (2) achieving mutual dependency, and (3) having sustainability itself as a central aspect of a business’ purpose, strategy, and operations.

Background:   The importance of creating social and economic value through social entrepreneurship has gained recognition in recent decades. However, the concept has mostly been studied within the Western world, contributing to a skewed perspective of social entrepreneurship, as it also occurs within other contexts. Moreover, the lone actor has been emphasized as the drive for social change. Still, it is argued that it is through several actors within cross sector collaborations that great social impact can be reached.  Purpose of the study: The purpose of this Master Thesis is to explore and broaden the understanding of the phenomenon of social entrepreneurship within a developing country. Moreover, the aim of this Master Thesis is to contribute with insights in how cross sector actors are collaborating in order to enable social entrepreneurship.  Methodological framework: In order to carry out this Master Thesis a qualitative research approach was chosen. A single case study in the western highlands of Guatemala was carried out. The empirical data was gathered through observations and 18 semi structured interviews. Conclusion: The conducted study acknowledges six contexts: the business, the social, the spatial, the formal institutional, informal institutional and the international influence, which are both enabling and constraining social entrepreneurship. Furthermore, the study reveals four factors of how organizations across sectors and nations are collaborating in order to enable social entrepreneurship: forging initial agreement, building leadership, continuous communication and generation and utilization of resources.  The study also reveals the connection of context, cross sector collaboration and social entrepreneurship.

Cross-sector  social-oriented  partnerships  which  address  social  or  environmental challenges are increasing in practice and in the literature. Although this is expected to continue  in the  future, management responsibilities are  largely unclear  in this type of cross-sector  collaboration.  Project  management  was  found  to  be  a  relevant  area  for investigation  because  cross-sector  collaborations  and  projects  have  similar characteristics and projects are mentioned separately in the two literature fields.   By joining them in a novel theoretical framework and by collecting empirical data, this thesis aims to explore, describe and analyse the context and use of project management in  the  formation  phase  of  cross-sector  social-oriented  partnerships.  The  study  was undertaken in the belief that project management can be enriched by being researched in collaborative settings and that cross-sector collaborations are interesting to investigate from a managerial perspective. In fact, they offer great potential for knowledge creation and sharing which has been addressed mainly by management research.   This  thesis  study  was  structured  according  to  three  research  objectives.  Firstly,  we analysed the role of contextual elements in cross-sector social-oriented partnerships by comparing cases in different European country contexts, which were selected based on established criteria. Secondly, we conceptualised the formation phase as  it was  found that  the  literature  lacked  an  overarching  understanding  of  this  phase.  Thirdly,  we identified  management  responsibilities  with  a  focus  on  project  and  knowledge management concepts in the formation of cross-sector social-oriented partnerships.    We  investigated  both  partners  in  a  multi-method  qualitative  study  to  get  a  holistic understanding  of  the  research  context.  Primary  data  was  collected  in  semi-structured interviews and supplemented with secondary data. The data was analysed on two levels which allowed for the triangulation of findings. Given the mainly inductive approach, template  analysis  was  deployed  allowing  for  flexibility  to  take  account  of  emerging aspects.   The  empirical  data  shows  that  project  management  is  deployed  differently  in  the formation  of  cross-sector  social-oriented  partnerships,  depending  on  contextual elements  and  the  intention  with  which  they  were  formed.  This  is  reflected  in  the interaction of partners, the level of trust between them, the way knowledge is shared and ultimately in the level of formality in which project management is deployed. In light of the generated findings, the extension of a collaboration continuum from the literature is proposed  by  integrating  project  management  as  a  parameter.  The  findings  and  this proposition have implications on practitioners and for further research in the field.

This intrinsic case study is about people who worked in partnerships. Each of the partnerships emerged from relationships formed between the business, education, government and community sectors. A principle aim of the cross-sector partnerships was to enhance learning opportunities, integral to which was the incorporation of ICT. The study explores through interweaving narratives, some of the key interrelationships that emerged from the evolving partnerships as they strived to accomplish their aims. The partnerships represented a rich and complex context for dynamic and strategic change occurring, not only in the evolving partnerships, but also in the systems they intended to consolidate and optimise. Furthermore, such complexity pervaded ideological notions of instability and discontinuity arising from difference that may be implicit or explicit in open, distributed complex systems. The metaphor of hypertext serves to both retain textural qualities of organisation and address key problematics associated with visualisation and representation and also as a means to reflect upon the study by encouraging improvisatory processes akin to those experienced by the participants. In this respect, hypertext is not used to simply challenge artificial boundaries, linearities and determinisms but rather, prompt the construction of meanings further to those partially represented. It also serves to maintain a clearer relationship between those contexts within which research has been, or becomes situated. The thesis largely rests on its representational form in terms of its self-sufficiency to portray, convey, express, evoke, engage and inform. Ambiguity forms a fundamental facet of the thesis. In addition to those that rest within the texts, graphic illustrations are used to provide narratives in different forms whereby, readers are not bound by the same inadequacies or constraints in drawing meaning about the subject from text alone. By taking the view of the artist, the illustrations provide a flexibility that overcomes some of the dimensional limitations of the thesis and further emphasises its connectionist, constructivist and aesthetic undertones. The links between components and nuanced meanings emphasises the interdependencies in terms that transcend the representational form of discursive language. The case is thus, synthesised in the following illustration:

Educational attainment in the United States is at the highest levels since recording started, yet large numbers of students are not completing education at the secondary and postsecondary levels. This lack of education impacts their long-term prospects for living wage careers, stable housing and the ability to support both themselves and their families. A growing response to this crisis is the development of cross-sector collaborative partnerships to address educational attainment resulting in an educated and skilled workforce that will ultimately improve prosperity in a community or region. This collaborative work has expanded as a result of growing recognition that all sectors of the economy have a stake in education as a way to create strong communities and regional prosperity. While evidence of the challenges in educating all students abounds, evidence of success in collaborative partnership efforts to improve education is sparse. This constructivist grounded theory research study was developed to explore the collaborative behaviors leading to success in improving educational outcomes for all students. Leaders at the executive and operational levels of collaborative partnerships participated in this study through a three-phase process of semi-structured interviews. Data collection and analysis for this study used a process of constant comparison and occurred simultaneously with a comprehensive literature review. Participants in this research study represented collaborative partnerships from across the United States that are focused on improving educational attainment at the secondary and postsecondary levels. Four findings from this research study support an overarching substantive grounded theory that explicates the importance of moral purpose as the underpinning for achievement of collaborative outcomes. The findings further describe the behaviors necessary for success in crafting strong relationships, building trust, and communicating for impact. These interpersonal behaviors can be supported by the presence of psychological safety at the group level to maximize the efficacy of collaborative partnerships to achieve systems improvements in education. This study also encourages all collaborative partnerships to consider using a continuous improvement approach to their work grounded in intellectual humility. The study concludes with recommendations for future research to further explore the implications of psychological safety in the context of collaborative partnerships, noting that both intellectual humility and curiosity are aligned with the concepts of psychological safety and continuous improvement or improvement science.

Background: Events happening in the 21st century- global economic crisis, naturaldisasters, extreme poverty, struggles and conflicts have led to a realization that we areliving in a troubled world where we are interdependent in one way or the other. These issues tend to be complex and intertwined such that delegating them to a single sectoris too huge of a task to bear, thus the need for social innovation through cross sector collaboration. The case of the Refugee Housing Unit is being studied- a collaboration between the IKEA Foundation, UNHCR and the Swedish Industrial Design Foundation led to the creation of a more sustainable environmental friendly shelter for refugees.Since social innovation is a green field especially in a BOP context, the research is aimed at understanding how the RHU case can provide important insight in which collaboration theory can be applied between sectors to shape future social innovation endeavors. Aim: The aim of this thesis is to study the collaboration of organizations belonging to different sectors to create social innovations. This research will examine how collaboration between sectors takes place, and through the empirical case of theRefugee Housing Unit, derive key learning points that could shape future social innovation projects. A framework will be developed that could provide important insightsfor future socially oriented collaborations. Methodology: The proposed framework was developed through a study of socialinnovation theory in terms how it can be accelerated through cross sector collaborationiitheory. A case study that entailed these two theories was chosen to enable the development of a suggested framework. The study involved collection of primary data inform of interviews with Johan Karlsson and Chris Earney, RHU project leader and UNHCR Innovation co-leader, respectively. Additionally, secondary data was used tohelp understand the case further. Results: Examining the core elements of cross-sectoral collaboration for social innovation showed imperative social aspects as well as key dimensions that are pillars for the process of collaboration. The RHU case revealed critical factors for collaboration between sectors that are well stipulated in the framework. The framework can act as a guide for organizations wishing to collaborate for social innovation as well as provide abasis for future research in this young field.

This research examined which factors of influence contributed towards efficacious systemic leadership development, within case studies in the energy and military sectors, and identified and explained common underlying themes and factors which could help formulate future interventions, as well as enhance extant theoretical knowledge. The literature showed that key challenges exist in identifying what contribution leadership development makes to enhancing organisational leadership, and as such, social capital and systemic development. To focus the research, specific definitions were constructed, as to what sort of effective leadership positively impacts upon organisational leadership; which cardinal themes of leadership development traverse interventions, namely Delivery, Contextualisation, Performance, Impact and Values integration; and what constitutes systemic leadership development. A Social Constructivist position was adopted which explains the nature of the phenomena underlying systemic leadership development.

Research suggests that reporting suicide has the potential to influence vulnerable individuals to emulate suicide behaviour. Media guidelines for the responsible reporting of suicide have been developed and disseminated worldwide, but with mixed success. One factor that may influence guideline uptake is the degree to which health professionals have collaborated with the media professionals in guideline development, dissemination and implementation. The study used semi-structured interviews with media professionals to understand attitudes towards the guidelines, to explore the ways in the media were engaged in communication regarding the guidelines, and to identify whether this engagement bears upon media attitudes toward the guidelines. Findings indicate that media professionals view the guidelines as useful information within the bounds of normal reporting, but find them difficult to implement. Excellence theory indicates that the predominantly one-way and asymmetrical strategies used to engage the media in communication around the guidelines may play a role in these attitudes. The study echoes literature suggesting that collaborative guideline development and implementation is essential to meaningfully change suicide reporting practices.

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction calls for collaboration across sectors in society as an effective way to reduce disaster risk in order to safeguard lives, human wellbeing, and development gains from potential disasters. However, the effectiveness of these cross-sector collaboration approaches has most often been studied in the context of rapid onset disasters such as floods, with less focus on slow-onset disasters such as multiple year droughts. There is also limited research on the contributions of cross-sector collaborations towards Disaster Risk Reduction in African cities. For this study, I set out to investigate cross-sector collaboration efforts contributing to drought response in the city of Harare, Zimbabwe; and how these collaborations were contributing towards fulfilling the four priority areas of the Sendai Framework. These include i) understanding disaster risk, ii) strengthening disaster risk governance, iii) investing in disaster risk reduction for resilience, and iv) enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response. In this qualitative study, I made use of purposive and snowball sampling methods to select 14 key informants from national and local government, non-governmental organisations, and civil society organisations who were directly involved in eight drought related cross-sector collaborations. I conducted in depth semi-structured interviews with these key informants between 2018 and 2019. For the analysis, I followed prior developed themes based on Bryson et al. (2006) theoretical framework to understand cross-sector collaborations. I also applied a typology of barriers and enablers developed from the literature in the analysis, and interpreted emergent themes using NVivo software. I then assessed the contributions of the identified cross-sector collaborations to the activities listed under each of the four priority areas in the Sendai Framework. The findings highlighted the socio-political and economic context of the city of Harare had seeped through and influenced the cross-sector collaborations responding to drought. They shed light on how taking advantage of widely accessible social media platforms serve to enhance collaborations. Additionally, the results highlight the importance of existing networks and relationships in enabling cross-sector collaborations to occur effectively. Most of the cross-sector collaborations occurring in response to drought were originally formed for other reasons and included drought response during the peak of the drought disaster. Collaborations were effective at contributing towards engaging communities in risk assessment and reporting at the local level (Priority 1) and ensuring continual provisioning of services (water) during and after disasters (Priority 4). I make suggestions for collaborations to consider issues of power and how these affect the effectiveness of collaborations on the ground with regards to ensuring social justice and reducing inequality. Finally, I conclude that cross-sector collaborations would be more effective in response to slow-onset disasters when they are formed and applied before the disaster is at its peak. I also suggest that the design and implementation of the cross-sector collaborations be tailor made to consider the socio-political and economic aspects of the city in their design for effective response.

The world today is built on energy. Every process, whether industrial or civil, from the moment one awakes in the morning all throughout the day and into the late night, is fuelled by energy. There is an energy consumption going on twentyfour hours, every day of the year (IEA, 2017). The traditional energy mix (coal, gas, oil) has been used up to now with disrupting effects on our planet. In order to stay in the sustainable development concept, the demand for energy will be optimally met with renewable energies (RE), so to also keep the global temperatures under 2°C or even 1.5°C, if ambitious measures are used (IPCC, 2011).The focus of this study is on the Association of South East Nations (ASEAN), because it has an unexploited potential to increase the usage of RE, due the fact that the region has over 140 million in population without access the electricity (Shi, 2016, IEA, 2017). The region is also still developing its energy infrastructure and decides on energy road maps for the next couple of years (Zamora, n.d., Brahim, 2014, Alison Riddell, Steve Ronson, Glenn Counts, n.d., Renner et al., 2018). Thus, this is the right time to research why ASEAN has not yet implemented more RE into its nations.The paper will explore the experts perceptions on the RE implementations in ASEAN as well as how does the government regulation and policy structures involve in the renewable energy implementation. To provide a better understanding of the impacts in the implementation phase of RE in ASEAN, the PESTEL framework helps to analyse the area on a macro level from six different perspectives. This framework will also help to identify and give suggestions to overcome several obstacles that have emerged in the implementation of RE in ASEAN.