Achieving the Dream (AtD) assumes that leadership is critical for student success. These Leader Colleges have been able to demonstrate innovation sustainability through specific practices leading to increased student outcomes, while others have not been able to sustain the same level of student success. Limited research exists which highlights specific leadership practices employed by Achieving the Dream colleges, particularly Leader Colleges, which are known for being successful in sustaining innovations. The purpose of this study was to ascertain leadership practices used to increase student success through sustained innovation at two Achieving the Dream Leader Colleges. This study may add to the knowledge base regarding Achieving the Dream colleges as well as sustainability practices leading to increased student success in community colleges. The research was guided by the following questions: What leadership practices were employed by the Chief Executive Officer, Board of Trustees, Leadership Team, and Faculty to sustain innovation that led to increased student success?; What was the perception of the AtD coach and data facilitator regarding the leadership practices that contributed to student success?; What obstacles to change were encountered by internal stakeholders during innovation sustainability? This qualitative study consisted of three components: interviews, focus group, and document reviews with purposeful sampling. The participants included Chief Executive Officers, Board of Trustees members, the Leadership Team, faculty, and Achieving the Dream coaches and data facilitators at two AtD Leader Colleges. Findings from the study indicated: (a) commitment and support must be priorities of the Chief Executive Officer and senior leaders of the institution; (b) using data to inform decisions illuminates achievement gaps; (c) communication between internal and external stakeholders is imperative to affect change; (d) the institutionalization of interventions is essential to sustain student success; and (e) leading with passion is a critical component of leadership. / text

This research intends to gain deeper insight into the social innovation processes within public and private organizations. The purpose of the study will be to determine if public and private organizations are influenced more by internal organizational factors or external organizational factors. Using Roger’s diffusion theory, Mohr’s internal determinants and Berry and Berry’s unified theory as a foundation, this research will endeavor to prove hypotheses which suggest that private organizations are influenced more by internal organizational factors and public organizations are influenced more by external organizational factors although not exclusively. The research method for this study will involve a mixed methods approach. A survey of innovation champions will be implemented online followed by a qualitative interview of a subset of those respondents. In addition to the research specific to internal and external organizational factors, this study will also seek to assess the importance of the use of innovation champions during the social innovation process. Social innovation is a new concept in the realm of innovation. This research will offer much needed insight into a process that is new and evolving.

Un crescente numero di aziende è oggi impegnato in attività ESG. È fondamentale dunque comprendere se tali attività conducano all’ottenimento di migliori performance economiche o meno. I risultati in letteratura non sono univoci in merito. Il progetto ha l’obiettivo di dimostrare che l’attività ESG non è autonomamente in grado di produrre migliori prestazioni economiche. Solo quando aziende innovative implementano attività ESG, esiste una relazione positiva tra ESG e performance. Nell’ambito dello studio è dunque testato il ruolo moderatore che la variabile “innovazione” esercita sulla relazione fra ESG e performance economica. Lo studio tenta di contribuire alla letteratura esistente sotto tre aspetti. In primo luogo, prende in considerazione sia le attività ESG che l'innovazione. In secondo luogo, il campione utilizzato è molto più ampio di quelli di studi analoghi. Infine, include variabili innovative, che sono in grado di spiegare meglio il livello di attività ESG delle aziende. I risultati ottenuti consentono di confermare che solo per aziende innovative esiste un effetto positivo dell’attività ESG sulle performance. / A growing number of corporations are now engaged in a broad set of ESG activities. A central question is of course whether companies that enhance their ESG activities gain an advantage over companies that do not. Results in the literature are mixed. This project aims to demonstrate that ESG considered standalone is not able to provide better economic performance. Only when innovative companies implement ESG, a positive relation between ESG and performance exists. The moderating role of the R&D variable in then tested in the relationship between ESG and Corporate Financial Performance. The study attempts to bring novelty under three aspects. Firstly, it takes into consideration both ESG activities and innovation. Secondly, the sample used is larger than the ones of alike studies, in that it analyzed a larger time span, and it is cross-country. Finally, it includes innovative variables, which are better able to explain the ESG activities level of companies. Results obtained allow to confirm that a positive effect on performance by ESG activities exist only for innovative companies.

Over the last twenty years, the concepts of sustainability and sustainable development have assumed political importance around the world, and have been largely embraced by governments and prominent international institutions. These concepts have been a means of tackling the challenges of population growth and environmental change. For the UK water sector, these concepts now represent a multitude of challenges. The confluence of climate change and population growth is reducing access to, and the availability of, water resources. The financial costs of inputs such as energy, chemicals, materials and cost of process by-products such as greenhouse gases, carbon, and waste services continue to rise. Government regulators are demanding an improvement in the quality of services, increasingly stringent conditions for emissions to water, air or land, catchment-specific management of the water environment, and the adoption of longterm planning horizons. The UK government has expectations that the water sector will play a role in the delivery of its targets for reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions. Society demands that WaSCs engage in high-level stakeholder consultations and employ long-term visions to guide their decision-making. Finally, WaSCs are increasingly expected to demonstrate and respond to local and global concerns (under the rubric of corporate responsibility) to further justify their value to society. Cont/d.

As a purposive sustainability transition requires environmental innovation and innovation policy, we discuss potentials and limitations of three dominant strands of literature in this field, namely the multi-level perspective on socio-technical transitions (MLP), the innovation systems approach (IS), and the long-wave theory of techno-economic paradigm shifts (LWT). All three are epistemologically rooted in an evolutionary understanding of socio-technical change. While these approaches are appropriate to understand market-driven processes of change, they may be deficient as analytical tools for exploring and designing processes of purposive societal transformation. In particular, we argue that the evolutionary mechanism of selection is the key to introducing the strong directionality required for purposive transformative change. In all three innovation theories, we find that the prime selection environment is constituted by the market and, thus, normative societal goals like sustainability are sidelined. Consequently, selection is depoliticised and neither strong directionality nor incumbent regime destabilisation are societally steered. Finally, we offer an analytical framework that builds upon a more political conception of selection and retention and calls for new political institutions to make normatively guided selections. Institutions for transformative innovation need to improve the capacities of complex societies to make binding decisions in politically contested fields.

The global world has been strongly changed and year 2013 - was for automotive big challenge! At the beginning of the year 2013 automotive experts predicted stable growth in LDC's and CIS's. But today in 2014, we know, that was different. How are the markets turbulenting shows current changes in U.S. economical and financial politics which also influents structural economical deformations and market warping in LDC's. On the other hand the current political crisis in Ukraine influence in turn CIS's markets where the ŠKODA is called the international automotive leader. Likewise, good to know is, that the current Russia annexation political approach influence negatively international exchange rates which brings strategical calm down to the ŠKODA growth and profit. In the same time running national politicical systems crises in the markets where ŠKODA long-term strong is, e.g. Arabian world. Despite of turbulent market trends introduced ŠKODA in 2013 the biggest model offensive in own history connected shortly with the biggest investment costs. Everything in the age when the world is more connected and requests bigger flexibility, faster launches of products and bigger frequency of radical innovations. Exist strategical coherence between automotive enterprises, national economies and self-started employees? Is sustainability the key condition for the growth in automotive industry? If yes, it is possible to measure sustainable growth in automotive enterprises? How manage correctly the automotive enterprise to be long-term sustainable and profitable growth despite of turbulent market environment?

Sustainability and the penetration of new markets beyond developed industries are two topics that are gaining increasing attention both in research and in business practice. As Western industries are becoming saturated, companies are looking for further business alternatives and are focusing on North-South opportunities, among others. Therefore, bottom-of-the-pyramid markets are often mentioned as promising mass markets. However, market access remains a challenge, as bottom-of-the-pyramid contexts are characterized by low incomes, resource constraints, and infrastructural barriers. In addition, sustainable practices are a challenge. Since the introduction of the Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations, which apply to all countries, companies are required to address aspects of sustainability in their business practices. However, they have to cope with conflicting dimensions inherent to sustainability such as improving economic and social aspects, which are usually accompanied by higher resource demands and environmental degradation. Previous literature started to address these issues by focusing on innovative approaches such as frugal innovation, social innovation, or resource-constrained innovation. In the last decade, research on frugal innovations has particularly focused on how to address the challenges of low-income and resource-constrained contexts, often with aspects of sustainability in mind. However, to address these low-income contexts, having a suitable innovation is not enough; businesses must actually reach the target group, such as by overcoming accessibility issues in rural areas. Initial research has examined the value chains of frugal innovations and ways to engage the consumer, which also leads to social improvements. Building on this research, this dissertation combines four themes – frugal innovation, sustainability, inclusive business, and Scrum – to illustrate how innovations can address the needs of target groups in bottom-of-the-pyramid contexts and how these innovations can be implemented by engaging target customers. The first paper illustrates the links between frugal innovation and sustainability based on a new sustainability evaluation framework. All cases considered contribute to sustainability, with social improvements being most notable. New employment and income opportunities are key social improvements. They reflect inclusive business approaches, which are the focus of the second paper. The case examples of the second paper show how frugal innovation can be implemented in accordance with inclusive business, which leads to customer involvement and thus mutually supports frugal innovation. The Inclusive Business Link Model for Frugal Innovation was built to show connections of frugal innovation and inclusive business and to provide application possibilities. A key finding was that for the cases considered a high level of customer integration can be achieved through frugal innovations with modular designs and is supported by knowledge transfer and partnerships. To address knowledge transfer and partnerships in particular, the last paper applies Scrum as an agile approach at the execution level for inclusive business. In developing the conceptual model Inclusive Business Scrum Approach, inclusive business is considered as the 'what' and Scrum as the 'how' in engaging low-income consumers. With regard to all three papers and the four included topics, this dissertation achieves several outcomes and contributes to a broader view of how low-income consumers can be addressed. First, each paper illustrates benefits of combining the concepts that could be valuable when addressing the bottom-of-the-pyramid context. Thereby, the papers build on each other and include previous results. Second, aspects of social sustainability are addressed mainly by combining frugal innovation and inclusive business. Third, each paper develops a model or framework intending to support practical applicability. Finally, an outline is provided for how combining frugal innovation, inclusive business, and Scrum positively could impact partnerships, knowledge transfer, and the empowerment of the target group, which could culminate in an approach that addresses challenges experienced when entering the Bottom of the Pyramid that also considers sustainability. The new management options developed begin at a general level and end at an execution level and thus contribute to holistic perspectives on innovations, approaches, and implementation options for organizations intending to address the Bottom of the Pyramid.:Abstract 1 Table of Contents 3 List of Abbreviations 6 List of Tables 7 List of Figures 8 1 Introduction 9 2 Theoretical background 15 2.1 Defining sustainability 15 2.2 The BoP as target group 18 2.3 Frugal innovation 20 2.4 Inclusive business 22 2.5 The agile approach Scrum 25 2.6 Contribution of the investigations and the current relevance of topics 28 3 Methodology 30 4 Papers 32 4.1 Publication 1: Introducing a Sustainability Evaluation Framework based on the Sustainable Development Goals applied to Four Cases of South African Frugal Innovation 32 4.1.1 Introduction 33 4.1.2 Theoretical background and research context 34 4.1.3 Methodology 38 4.1.4 Developing an evaluation framework 40 4.1.5 Limitations 44 4.1.6 Introducing the frugal cases 44 4.1.7 Findings 45 4.1.8 Discussion 48 4.1.9 Conclusion 49 4.2 Publication 2: How Frugal Innovation and Inclusive Business Are Linked to Tackle Low-income Markets 51 4.2.1 Introduction 51 4.2.2 Literature review 55 4.2.3 Methods 62 4.2.4 Results 66 4.2.5 Cross case analysis 75 4.2.6 Inclusive business integration stair model 77 4.2.7 Development of propositions 82 4.2.8 Discussion 84 4.2.9 Research implications 86 4.2.10 Managerial implications 87 4.2.11 Concluding remarks and future research 88 4.3 Publication 3: Boosting Inclusive Businesses’ Opportunities Through the Adoption of Scrum: an Execution Strategy to Enter Low-end Markets 91 4.3.1 Introduction 92 4.3.2 Theoretical background 94 4.3.3 Conceptual model: Inclusive Business Scrum Approach 99 4.3.4 Challenges 106 4.3.5 Summary of key facts and propositions 108 4.3.6 Conclusion 111 4.3.7 Research implications 112 4.3.8 Managerial implications 113 4.3.9 Limitations and future research ideas 114 5 Discussion 116 5.1 Social sustainability 117 5.2 Partnerships 118 5.3 Knowledge transfer 118 5.4 Empowering the target group 119 5.5 Context challenges 119 6 Critical considerations and additional thoughts 121 6.1 Definition and contributions of frugal innovation 121 6.2 Sustainability of initiatives at the BoP and inclusive business 122 6.3 Aspects of leadership theories in Scrum 124 7 Methodological limitations 126 8 Research implications and future research ideas 128 9 Managerial implications 131 10 Conclusion 133 11 References 135 11.1 List of interviews 171 11.2 Further references used in Publication 2, anonymized form 171

Circular economy (CE) is seen as a strategy to achieve sustainable development, requiring commitment and support from multiple actors on all system levels; from companies and products to governments and nations. Circular business models (CBMs) are regarded as an important leverage to implement circularity at an organizational level, and business support is considered an important enabler of these. Communication between practitioners and policy-makers, as well as understanding the barriers of CE in the local context, can facilitate the development of efficient business support. This thesis has from a company perspective explored barriers to circular business model innovation (CBMI) and the impact of firm-specific business support activities on this innovation process. This was done through a multiple-case study of ten Swedish SMEs who had received direct business support for circularity, and thus had initiated a circular project. The study has identified seventeen different barriers across five categories, spanning over the entire innovation process from idea to full implementation. Overall, economic viability appears to be an important factor which relates to and depends on several other barriers, and the novelty of CE contributes to the occurrence of many identified challenges. While some barriers are more common across all ten cases, often challenges related to market demand, financing and knowledge, others are more specific for each case and circular strategy. Furthermore, this study has found that coaching, training, and funding are firm-specific activities that can help SMEs overcome mainly internal barriers in the early stages of the CBMI process, addressing several of the most common barriers identified in this study. This research has also included a company perspective on the costs and benefits of the activities, and pointed at important factors to consider in the development of future business support. / Cirkulär ekonomi ses som en strategi för att uppnå hållbar utveckling, och kräver engagemang och stöd från flertalet aktörer på samtliga systemnivåer; från företag och produkter till regeringar och nationer. Cirkulära affärsmodeller betraktas som en viktig hävstång för att implementera cirkularitet på en organisatorisk nivå, och företagsstöd anses vara en viktig möjliggörare av dessa. Kommunikation mellan utövare och beslutsfattare, samt förståelse för barriärer till cirkulär ekonomi i det lokala sammanhanget, kan underlätta utvecklandet av effektiva företagsstöd. Denna uppsats har ur ett företagsperspektiv utforskat barriärer till cirkulär affärsmodellsinnovation och den inverkan som företagsstöd har på denna innovationsprocess. Detta utfördes genom en fallstudie av tio svenska små och medelstora företag som mottagit stöd för cirkularitet, och som således initierat ett cirkulärt projekt. Studien har identifierat sjutton barriärer inom fem kategorier, vilka sträcker sig över hela innovationsprocessen från idé till full implementation. Generellt framträder ekonomisk livskraft som en viktig faktor, relaterad till samt beroende av flertalet andra barriärer, och nymodigheten i cirkulär ekonomi bidrar till förekommande av flera identifierade barriärer. Medan vissa barriärer är mer vanligt förekommande bland de tio fallen, ofta utmaningar relaterade till marknadens efterfrågan, finansiering och kunskap, är andra mer specifika för varje fall och cirkulär strategi. Vidare finner denna studie att rådgivning, träning och finansiering är företagsspecifika aktiviteter som kan hjälpa små och medelstora företag att överkomma huvudsakligen interna barriärer i de tidiga faserna av cirkulär affärsmodellsinnovation, och som bemöter flertalet av de vanligaste barriärerna som har identifierats i denna studie. Denna studie har även inkluderat ett företagsperspektiv på aktiviteternas nytta och kostnader, samt belyst viktiga faktorer att ta hänsyn till i utvecklingen av framtida företagsstöd.

Tomas Friedman 的著作The World is Flat（世界是平的）中提及在21世紀是抹平的世界，無限商機的世界。從全球經濟發展的角度來看，全球企業面對的市場是一個無國界的平面，國際競爭更加劇烈。在這個全球市場競爭劇烈的環境中，中國企業要能在全球市場中立足與競爭的首要條件就是站穩中國市場，在國際競爭市場中發展獲利，最重要的就是打造中國企業品牌發展為國際化品牌。中國企業若想在國際市場上進行品牌行銷，中國製造的經營哲學及營運模式必須重新進行調整，才能在國際市場上建立自身的品牌（International Branding）。 2008年為中國改革開放的30週年，品牌國際化趨勢是21世紀全球市場競爭發展的趨勢，國家競爭力的強弱程度也在於中國企業擁有國際化品牌的多與少。面對不同國家和區域的競爭環境市場，探討中國企業要發展為國際化品牌的關鍵能力為相當重要之課題。 本研究是從全球化企業品牌國際化與中國企業品牌國際化著手，來探討個案公司品牌國際化。進而探討個案公司品牌國際化發展關鍵能力，包含企業品牌核心能力、持續創新力、環境適應力與組織內部能力，以及在品牌國際化管理流程的四個階段：分別為評估階段、市場進入策略規劃階段、品牌行銷策略規劃階段、和執行階段。本研究將個案公司結合這四力的現況與關連，然後提出有關未來發展的建議並將藉由中國企業的個案研究，結合中國企業國際化、國際行銷管理及品牌管理的理論與文獻，以管理的觀點，點出中國企業品牌國際化發展的關鍵能力，提供給中國企業在全球化市場下發展品牌國際化的參考，同時也希望能對相關學術研究有所助益。 / 21st century, as being described in the book “The World is Flat” written by Tomas Friedman, is a flat world with unlimited business opportunities generated by globalization whereas the competition within is also fierce. In order to be competitive in this context of global market environment, it is recognized by growing Chinese enterprises the importance to win in domestic China market first, where being identified as the next biggest consumption market after U.S, further to develop company competence for wining a place as an international brand. It is also being acknowledged that Chinese enterprises have to experience continuous business process as well as management philosophy evolvement in order to achieve this ultimate goal – building an International Brand in global market. The tendency of the local brand to be international is as well an index to observe the competitive ability of a country in global market. While year 2008 is the 30th anniversary for China's reformation, the potentials for current Chinese enterprises to develop International Brands also speak for China national competence. It is a focus to examine the competitive capability embraced by Chinese enterprises for developing international brands while reviewing current global commercial markets. This study aims to exploit the competitive capability within Chinese enterprises to develop international brands, which include Core Competency, Innovation Sustainability, Environment Adaption, and Organization Capability. In addition, four stages for Brand Management process are also reviewed: Brand Evaluation, Market Entry, Brand Marketing as well as Brand Execution. Case study is the methodology applied in the study, in which four Chinese enterprises – L company in 3C industry, H company in domestics appliances industry, Li company in sport retailing industry, are presented with in-depth interview conducted from L company, H company, Li company in year 2009.

Soziale Innovation – Sie gilt als Lebenselixier moderner Gesellschaften und wird im sozialen Miteinander doch wenig benannt. Politiker und Wissenschaftlicher sehen in ihr den Schlüssel der gesellschaftlichen Neuerung, die durch Bürgerinnen und Bürger veranlasst wird. Und doch birgt die Vergegenständlichung einige Herausforderungen. Mit und in diesem Herausgeberband, der an der Technischen Universität Chemnitz entstanden ist, fragen wir uns: Mit welchem Paradigma wird sie belegt? Können wir das Konstrukt philosophisch fassen? Wie können Prozessmodelle der sozialen Innovation visualisiert werden? Welche Besonderheiten treten bei der Evaluierung und Steuerbarkeit auf? Und sind Non Profit Organisationen ein Inkubator für soziale Innovationen? Somit intendieren wir im vorliegenden Band einen holistischen Blick auf das beschriebene Phänomen für Wissenschaftler, Studierende und Interessierte. / Social Innovation - It is regarded as an elixir of modern societies, but sparse named in social togetherness. Politicians and scholars see it as the key to new social practices, which is caused by citizens. However, the clarification contains some challenges. In this publication, which was developed at Technische Universität Chemnitz, we ask: Which paradigm is deposited? Can we comprehend the construct philosophically? How can process models of social innovation be visualized? Are there conditions of evaluation and controllability? Are non-profit organizations an incubator for social innovation? Thus, in the present volume we intend a holistic view of the described phenomenon for scientists, students and interested parties.