This paper treats Corporate Social Responsibility as an investment in corporate reputation andas such aims at investigating the return of that investment. It does so partly by estimating theeffect of being perceived as socially responsible on the firm’s ability to maximize shareholdervalue and partly by estimating the effect on a more traditional accounting based measure offinancial performance. Results indicate that socially responsible firms are able to maximizeshareholder value to a greater extent than less responsible firms while at the same time notnecessarily performing better in traditional accounting terms.

In this thesis, we have identified the difference between Agile and Lean methodsbased on stakeholder’s perspectives. To achieve the goal we have dealwith only Agile and Lean principles. In addition, in order to identify thestakeholders from Agile and Lean principles we have used the relevant practicesfrom both sides. As the principles of Agile manifesto are directly followedby most of the organizations, we have also used Agile principles directlyin this research. On the other hand lean methods have no pure principles,as a result we have used the most common and popular lean principlesderived from different authors. We have only considered the mostrelevant principles that might be useful in software development. To achievea stronger result of this thesis we have also considered stakeholder theory.Moreover we have identified the stakeholder’s involvement with Agile/Leanprinciples and stakeholder theory.

In a world of increasing environmental awareness and activism, is it economically advantageous for a forestry resource firm to be proactive in the integration of community stakeholders desires into the business operations? To what degree, and in what form, does the firm include the local community as a stakeholder? What are the economic consequences to the firm from taking various stances in relationship to the community and the resulting allocation of forest resources to the firm? The objective of this research is to test the hypothesis that large industrial resource companies should decentralize more of the production process to the communities which they draw the resource from as a means of sustaining their profitability within a changing sociopolitical climate of community resource ownership. The Province of Saskatchewan and more specifically northwest Saskatchewan including the towns of Meadow Lake, Beauval, Green Lake, and north are the geographic focus of this study. This research examines the economic feasibility of decentralizing the Oriented Strand Board (OSB) feedstock manufacturing process to the remote communities where the primary resource is extracted. A game-theoretic approach is used to assess the long-run gain or cost of co-operating with the community and installing a remote stranding facility instead of hauling the unprocessed fiber to a centrally located Oriented Strand Board (OSB) plant. There are no technical reasons for lack of implementation of remote stranding facilities in North America. Current practices relate to the economics of centralization and to the ownership/control of the resource. This research shows that the major forestry firms long-term profitability could improve, or diminish less, with a remote stranding plant due to a stabilized wood-supply to the OSB plant. The installation of the remote strander reduces the communitys incentive to seeking alternative allocation, through judicial and/or legal means, for the wood fiber that it deems to be its property. Based on this research, the forestry resource firm needs to examine the ability of the community to process the regional wood fiber instead of the firm. The community development corporation can empower itself through the acquisition of the technical expertise and financial backing to process some of the wood fiber from the region. This would increase their bargaining credibility as a viable threat to the firm, and thus induce co-operation from the resource firm in pursuing community economic development. If they have the capabilities to follow through on alternative processing, the forestry firm should view the community as having a high salience to their long-term profitability.

In a world of increasing environmental awareness and activism, is it economically advantageous for a forestry resource firm to be proactive in the integration of community stakeholders desires into the business operations? To what degree, and in what form, does the firm include the local community as a stakeholder? What are the economic consequences to the firm from taking various stances in relationship to the community and the resulting allocation of forest resources to the firm? The objective of this research is to test the hypothesis that large industrial resource companies should decentralize more of the production process to the communities which they draw the resource from as a means of sustaining their profitability within a changing sociopolitical climate of community resource ownership. The Province of Saskatchewan and more specifically northwest Saskatchewan including the towns of Meadow Lake, Beauval, Green Lake, and north are the geographic focus of this study. This research examines the economic feasibility of decentralizing the Oriented Strand Board (OSB) feedstock manufacturing process to the remote communities where the primary resource is extracted. A game-theoretic approach is used to assess the long-run gain or cost of co-operating with the community and installing a remote stranding facility instead of hauling the unprocessed fiber to a centrally located Oriented Strand Board (OSB) plant. There are no technical reasons for lack of implementation of remote stranding facilities in North America. Current practices relate to the economics of centralization and to the ownership/control of the resource. This research shows that the major forestry firms long-term profitability could improve, or diminish less, with a remote stranding plant due to a stabilized wood-supply to the OSB plant. The installation of the remote strander reduces the communitys incentive to seeking alternative allocation, through judicial and/or legal means, for the wood fiber that it deems to be its property. Based on this research, the forestry resource firm needs to examine the ability of the community to process the regional wood fiber instead of the firm. The community development corporation can empower itself through the acquisition of the technical expertise and financial backing to process some of the wood fiber from the region. This would increase their bargaining credibility as a viable threat to the firm, and thus induce co-operation from the resource firm in pursuing community economic development. If they have the capabilities to follow through on alternative processing, the forestry firm should view the community as having a high salience to their long-term profitability.

This study sets out to address the question of whether the costs and the benefits of measuring intellectual capital assets differ depending on the driver for that measure. Although pressure is growing on firms to measure and report on their intellectual capital assets no research has yet been published that questions the costs associated with such actions. And although academic research has purported to show links between the management of intellectual capital assets and real business benefits the research carried out thus far'has not focussed specifically on the benefits of measuring intellectual capital assets. Although there are now a variety of intellectual capital asset measurement frameworks there has been no cross comparison as to which intellectual capital asset measures provide the most business insight or where the outcome of that measurement is most effective. Using a multi method approach the thesis is tested in three phases; an extensive literature review covering intellectual capital, performance measurement and organisational effectiveness; a survey and content analysis to explore what and why companies measure; and structured interviewing of six companies to investigate the costs and the benefits of measurement. The thesis is tested through the investigation of thirteen propositions which show that: firstly, there is a difference in the relative cost of measuring intellectual capital assets given the measurement driver, which is explained by the frequency of measurement, the mode of data collection and analysis, and whether the use of the measure is a by product of some other driver, secondly, that the insight provided by an intellectual capital asset measure differs given the measurement driver, thirdly, that the measurement of intellectual capital assets is most effective for planning the future; and lastly, that particular measurement drivers are effective, to differing degrees, in financial, customer, operational, people and future organisational performance domains.

This dissertation presents the findings of an exploratory collective case-study examining corporate innovations arising from voluntary dyadic engagement between UK firms and nonprofit organisations (NPOs) focused on social issues. Whilst the extant literature demonstrates that pro-active engagement with NPOs can assist firms innovate, there has been no empirical work which explores the relationship between the engagement and the innovation outcome: a gap which this research addresses. In doing so, it illustrates how concepts and constructs from the innovation management literature can be applied usefully to the stakeholder and cross-sector collaboration field. To date, empirical studies addressing firm-NPO engagements have concentrated overwhelmingly on partnerships to address environmental issues. This study provides insights into cross-sector engagements focused on addressing social issues. Using a form of analytic induction to evaluate qualitative case-data from ten dyadic engagements, this dissertation addresses the question: “how do firms innovate through engagement with social issues nonprofit organisations?” The research found that product and service innovations resulted from engagements where the firm had an external stakeholder orientation and was focused on delivering tangible demonstrations of corporate responsibility. Process innovations, by contrast, were produced from engagements where firms had an internal stakeholder orientation. Two distinctions were noted in the innovation process, too. Firstly, a more exploratory approach to dyadic engagement activities, which resulted in an emergent innovation process; and secondly, a focused and pre-determined search activity to exploit the resources of the nonprofit partner which demonstrated a more planned innovation process. In addition, two distinct boundary spanning roles were identified: in dyads with no direct management involvement in the engagement, the role was associated with formal responsibilities from senior management to „manage‟ innovation opportunities and outcomes. In dyads where senior management were involved, there was no such formality; the boundary spanner acted to „facilitate‟ search and exploration to locate opportunities for innovation through idea exchange. The application of innovation constructs to the business and society field has enabled firm engagement with nonprofit stakeholders to be examined through a new lens and demonstrated how firms innovate from such relationships. In particular it has highlighted the key role played by the firm boundary spanner (relationship manager) and how this role alters depending on senior management involvement: a distinction which has not been made in the extant literature and would benefit from further examination.

Roughly 10% of the Namibian GDP and over 40% of total exports are dependent on themining sector. Namibia is one of the five leading uranium producing countries worldwide withperspectives to triple the production in the following years. This study aims to identify the implicationsto sustainable development of the country carried by such a strategy to stimulate the economic growth.The complexity of the issue is addressed by an interdisciplinary set of methods leading to a betterunderstanding of processes linking uranium mining in Namibia with the environment, society and theglobal economy. Regulatory, trade and production systems are outlined and assessed, after which astakeholder analysis is conducted in order to determine who are the most influential actors as well asparties affected by the uranium production in Namibia. The results reveal a great dependence of the Namibian uranium mining sector on external factors, with the government perceived as the most affected stakeholder.

Historically, a great deal of water has been allocated to the agricultural sector in Alberta to support economic development and to contribute to food security. However, demand from other areas has increased in recent years, notably from the environment. Meeting new demands while still satisfying existing users has become a significant challenge. The combination of increased water use efficiency and productivity combined with reallocating water from agriculture to other sectors has emerged globally as a solution to this challenge. Thus, new policies regarding water reallocation need to be developed. Designing policies that are acceptable to the various stakeholders involved poses a considerable challenge. The values held by individuals determine how they will react to new public policies. Hence, to support effective policy making, a better understanding of how the non-irrigator population perceives water reallocation issues is necessary. Using mail-out surveys to collect data from the populations of Lethbridge, Alberta, and the surrounding smaller communities, this research aimed to identify the values regarding water allocation held by domestic, non-irrigator water users, and to determine how these values influence their acceptance of water allocation policies. Findings from the survey reveal how non-irrigators’ values influence their opinion of water transfers from the irrigation sector to the urban and environment sectors, and the conditions under which they should take place. A pro-environment value orientation was most prominent amongst the urban sample, while the rural sample was mainly moderate in their value orientation. The large moderate value cluster within the rural sample represented both pro-economic and pro-environment values depending on the focus of the survey item. Statements that would affect the community (irrigation sector) were met with pro-economic values while statements that involved making a personal sacrifice in order to protect the aquatic environment were strongly supported. Value orientation was found to greatly influence the respondents’ perception of water reallocation policy.

Waterfront development is acknowledged as being significant to urban tourism planning and, ideally, the involvement of multiple stakeholders should be required in the development program. This research explores why and how Multi Stakeholder Approach (MSA) might contribute to good practice for the planning and decision-making processes for resource and environmental management, especially for long-term waterfront planning. Principles for the involvement of stakeholders in planning are reviewed and evaluated in the context of tourism and waterfront development in Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. The principles of MSA are assessed in a situation in which there is tension between the achievement of socio-economic benefits and the protection of environmental quality. This research involved a mixed methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative research techniques. Fieldwork comprising questionnaire surveys, interviews, on-site observations and the evaluation of planning documents were used to provide evidences of waterfront development in Manado, and the decision-making process that preceded it. Waterfront development in Manado has massively expanded the economic opportunities that are ugently required in less-developed countries. However, such develoment is occurring at the coast of adequate environmental protection. The study provides evidence of the links between MSA, waterfront development and tourism planning in a mid-sized city in a less-developed country. Governments and Manado waterfront developers expect high returns from MWD through increasing local revenues and a stronger regional economy. However, the sustainability of the development is debatable. A stronger economy, increased incomes and wider job opportunities are widely acknowledged, but an enhanced quality of life for local people is not yet certain, especially if environmental degradation continues. Successful MSA practices can enhance awareness which, in turn, can be used to increase the support of various stakeholders and, thereby, enhance benefit-sharing. Greater involvement of multiple stakeholders in Manado Waterfront Development (MSA) would be expected to enhance their contributions to a broad range of development issues such as tourism development, environment protection, social stability and the economy, leading in the direction of sustainability. This is relevant to the main purposes of MWD which is to create socio-economic advantages both for city residents and the region in which the city is located. MWD has greatly influenced the coastal areas and environmental modification is unavoidable. However, in the case of Manado, waterfront development is being achieved at considerable environmental costs. In a developing country which places economic gains as a priority, the tangible benefits appear to exceed the apparent costs in the short term. However, for the long term, the maintenance of environmental quality is very important.

Corporations  care  more  and  more  about  their social  responsible  performance,  and  this stands to reason. Conscience, business ethics and pressure of public opinion are playing important  roles. Furthermore,  some  evidence  shows that  better  CSR  performance  may bring the financial performance of a corporation to a higher stage. The purpose of this study  is  to  investigate  the  relationship  between  corporate  social  responsibility  (CSR) and corporate financial performance (CFP). Drawing on the triple bottom line principle and the stakeholder theory, we divided the stakeholders that corporations should take re-sponsibility  for  into  seven  categories: shareholders,  employees,  customers,  suppliers, creditors, community and environment (natural environment).  We  used  a quantitative  method  to  conduct the empirical  study. The  empirical  study  is based  on  samples  of 95 US  listed  firms.  We  have  used  seven CSR  indicators  as  inde-pendent variables and the CFP index as dependent variable. The independent variables concern CSR performance on shareholders, customers, suppliers, creditors, employees, community  and  environment.  SPSS  software  was  used  as  a  help for investigating  the correlation  between  the  dependent  variable  and  each  independent  variables.  We  run  a multi-index  regression  using  the  indexes  we  calculated  or  got  directly  from  databases. There is a significant positive short-term relationship between CSR for employees and CFP and a significant negative short-term relationship between CSR for community and CFP. Our  main  results  show  that the  seven  groups  of  stakeholders  (including  environ-ment) can be divided into three groups: fast responders, long term responders, and occa-sional supporter.