Ownership is considered a precondition for sustainable results of development projects, this primarily refers to ownership after the project is concluded. Yet the impact of the relationship between sustainability and ownership at the project stages is not yet clear. This study therefore analyses the ownership-results’ sustainability nexus at the project level, with particular attention to the implication of multi-stakeholder ownership, and how sustainability of results relates to stakeholder ownership of impacts throughout the project life cycle. This study uses the qualitative research design with an empirical point of departure combined with the abduction approach. The research analyses a multi-stakeholder project, the Kosovo Environmental Programme (KEP), using data from online semi-structured interviews with key individuals from four different stakeholder categories involved in the project: Donors, implementing agencies, partners, and right holders. The analytical framework used for the study was the Local Engagement Assessment Framework (LEAF), where the ownership of KEP stakeholders was assessed in three different categories: priorities, implementation/resources, and sustainability. By assessing KEP, the study makes several key findings that can be applicable to a wide range of cases. Firstly, that ownership develops over time and that it is a process that goes on throughout the project cycle. If there is active and effective cultivation of ownership along the process, sustainability will be strengthened in a systemic and comprehensive way. Promoting ownership and sustainability throughout the project cycle is therefore necessary for sustainability and this should start at the initial phase, not during the process nor near the end. Secondly, ownership does not belong to one actor anymore; rather, it sits with different groups of actors, and these can include both relevant international and local actors. Thus, a multi-stakeholder approach is considered especially relevant in broad based projects and where the right conditions exists, such as mutual understanding and trust between stakeholders, awareness, communication, partnership etc. Thirdly, while there have been attempts to fill the ownership gap between donor and recipient governments, the gap between recipient governments and other state and non-state-actors is evident and remains an issue. Therefore, further research is needed into extending ownership beyond central governmental institutions.

Discussions about the significance of the social license phenomenon have been increasing over the last two decades, yet the trend has been to approach it from a company perspective. Over the same period, there have been increasing challenges in mine-community relations, and company interventions have not led to the desired outcomes. A credible process for achieving a social licence within a complex and historically sensitive context is currently not in place, which has perpetuated the feelings of dissatisfaction and has led to serious conflict between mining communities and companies. The literature revealed a lack of clarity on the role of the community in the process, necessitating an interrogation of the phenomenon from a community perspective. Legitimacy theory was used as the basis of the study. The multi-dimensional and dynamic nature of the study necessitated the use of qualitative methods and an inductive approach, based upon a case study within two South African mining communities. The results of the study demonstrated that communities are limited in influencing the social licence, and this highlighted the need to incorporate community specific legitimacy, which more closely reflects the reality within communities (their diversity, informality, broad representation, and dynamic nature). The lack of agreement (emanating from communities, government and industry) on legitimate community leadership significantly also impacts on the social licence process. Communities are unable to articulate their expectations to mining companies, and the requirements for a social licence are not being satisfied. The study also highlighted the deep and complex nature of discourse transition, and that mining companies must concentrate on understanding context and produce context-specific interventions. This research contributes by extending the theorisation of legitimacy, as it relates to the social licence, by adding the concept of community legitimacy and proposes a community leadership framework, to incorporate this aspect. A conceptual model, which integrates the context-specific nuances, is therefore proposed for sectors which are dependent upon achieving accord with stakeholders via a social contract, and are experiencing increasing complexity and social tensions relating to their operations. Such a framework would facilitate engagement through representative structures and result in a more robust social licence outcome. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2018. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / PhD / Unrestricted

Stakeholder interaction has been recognised as one of the main principles to advance organisational sustainability. However, there is only limited knowledge on how organisations interact with their stakeholders to develop sustainability practices from an overarching perspective. There is also only fragmented research on the role of stakeholders when developing a sustainable business model (SBM). The purpose of this thesis is therefore to explore the role of stakeholder interaction for developing organisational sustainability practices and SBMs. Three research questions drive this thesis which compiles three papers based on three individual studies. The first study concentrates on stakeholder interaction as an organisational sustainability practice applying quantitative methods. The second study is a systematic literature review analysing the role of stakeholder interaction to develop SBMs. The third study explores how organisations implemented stakeholder interaction efforts, using qualitative methods. The results reveal that stakeholder interaction implemented as organisational sustainability practices and part of the SBM includes multiple stakeholders and different interaction degrees, potentially leading to new value opportunities and virtuous cycles of sustainable value creation. However, while organisations recognise the importance of stakeholder interaction, most organisations focus on low-to medium interaction degrees related to specific sustainability activities. This may limits the potential of stakeholder interaction for developing organisational sustainability practices and SBMs. This thesis contributes to sustainability, stakeholder and SBM literature by systematically exploring the role of stakeholder interaction, highlighting different degrees and extents practices are implemented in organisations. For practitioners, insights are offered how to foster stakeholder interaction practices and with that move towards organisational sustainability.

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There is no sustainability without responsibility. This research considers the connection between collaboration and responsibility. Responsible tourism has been discussed together with sustainable tourism, but who is responsible for increasing sustainability have not been researched widely. The research focus is on the nature tourism network. The tourism network consists of multiple public and private stakeholders with different agreements. All the stakeholders have their agendas, but sustainability can be seen as a common goal for each stakeholder in the nature tourism network. The question is how to implement more sustainability within tourism stakeholders and how much public-private partnerships affect the responsibility of sustainability. The qualitative research was done by mixed methods. The survey for SMEs and semi-structured interviews for SMEs and DMOs. The research area in coastal Finland includes multiple nature destinations which are owned by the state. In the previous research, it was stated that a sustainable tourism destination needs collaboration. In this research was found that SMEs cannot work without cooperation, especially in nature-based tourism destinations. The purpose of this paper was to see how the quality of collaboration between the stakeholders influences taking responsibility for sustainability actions. The lack of communication and cooperation between the public-private sector may lead to misunderstandings in sustainable tourism cooperation. Miscommunication of the delegation for the responsibilities affects the success of the sustainability implementations. This research highlights the importance of efficient stakeholder management and future research on sharing responsibility for achieving sustainability in the tourism sector.

Data literacy has become one of the most important competencies for a citizen to exercise in their personal and professional lives. It contributes to more informed decision-making in all aspects of life, and is more frequently being utilized in organizations to drive innovation and change. These skills are especially important for communications professionals, as interpreting and communicating data to various publics is the foundation of information sharing in virtually every industry and sector. Data competencies are typically acquired in post-secondary education; however, existing curricula are lacking robustness, adaptability, and transferability of skills needed in the workplace and in our ever-changing world. Through the results collected from both professors and practitioners in the communications field, this study identifies the gaps in existing curricula, and justifies the importance of communications students acquiring data literacy skills to ensure that they will be equipped for their careers and the world at large. This research highlights that improving data and research skills will better prepare citizens for their professional and personal lives.

Governance is a predominant paradigm in political science, characterizing how current regimes are increasingly steered by multiple societal actors and structures. The specific purpose and processes of such arrangements however, remain vague in theory and in practice. This thesis relies on narratological and ethnographic methods to describe how motivations, goals, and interactions of collaborative governance arrangements advance theoretical and empirical definitions. The focus of this paper is the Swedish National Innovation Council (NIC), which provides a rare case of collaborative governance at the national government level. By interpreting the active narratives of this council, theoretical definitions of collaborative governance are stabilized. I rely on semi-structured elite interviews and document analyses to gain access to the council’s otherwise exclusive arrangement. I find that this constructivist approach adds sociopolitical dimensions to the concept of collaborative governance, including a deeper understanding of collaboration, change and contribution. These theoretical findings are grounded on empirical observations, including my concept of ‘bilateral opportunism,’ the semantics presented in the concept of change, and the reconceptualization of public service. The will to improve expressed by the NIC has political and democratic implications that this thesis will discuss.

Thesis (MTech (Public Relations Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2017 / In popular opinion political public relations practitioners have long been regarded as spin doctors. Their lane of actions is mostly viewed as propaganda and they are perceived as spin doctors who manipulate power-relations. The pervasive role of public relations in political campaigns cannot be denied as political actors rely on communication to reach their key stakeholders. While it can be used as an important tool that can mediate in these power relations, the facts remain in the case of this study that the political party campaign communication was rather reactive than strategic. The answer lays in the accurate application of the strategic nature and role of public relations. I believe that there is a strategic public relations role that is evident and has to be played in political party campaign communication. As a matter of fact, public relations strives to ensure an effective and efficient communication on behalf of its organisation. The purpose of this study was to explore the application of public relations principles in political parties’ campaign communication of the Democratic Alliance, in the context of three other political parties in a regional newspaper during the build-up to the 2014 South African general elections. Four distinct political parties were at the centre of this research, namely African National Congress, Democratic Alliance, Economic Freedom Fighters and Agang. Particular attention was given to the elite parties, African National Congress, and Democratic Alliance; the main environment of the study. It is true that political parties ‘communication with stakeholders reflects in essence public relations. Managing communication to promote the organisational agenda is to talk about issues important to both the public and the political party. This suggests that an effective political organisation will act on a two-way operation to build a common political position that influences public attitudes. Hence, a comparative case study was used as the strategy of inquiry. I conducted a content analysis of the political party campaign communication of the Democratic Alliance, covered in the Cape Times newspaper; as well as their election manifesto, to identify the public relations principles and strategies that were used. The daily newspapers were surveyed from January 8 to May 7, 2014. An overall of one hundred and forty-four related newspapers articles were analysed and formed the data for analysis. A close reading and counting of frequencies of varieties of themes in the newspaper revealed that the Democratic Alliance, as well as the African National congress, took a tactical and responsive approach, rather than a strategic and proactive approach, to their political party campaign communication. News coverage indicated that there was extensive counterpunching to other political parties ‘statuses, but very little promotion or management of the issues included in their election manifesto. Nkandla was the most controversial issue covered in the pre-election media coverage; while the proposed merger with AGANG; and the subsequent fall out was damaging to both political parties ‘reputation and relationship with voters. Therefore, more research on this topic needs to be undertaken, as public relations is crucial in translating public opinions to the organisation. In the political scope, this can serve as an attempt to adjust the socio-political environment to suit the political principles, as well as to help the political principles adjust to the environment by creating the right balance to mutual benefit an organisation and its publics that further ensures a real participatory democracy. Further studies should be done to investigate whether, the advocacy of the two-way symmetrical, as a way to central route to persuasion, along with the dialogical approach can impact on more effective decisions making, and ultimately create a more dynamic public sphere that seeks the resolution of socio-political conflicts. This new knowledge will lead to guidelines for public relations practitioners and can provide useful insights for political communication specialists.

In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden zwei wichtige Themenbereiche untersucht - zum einen der des Risikomanagements und zum anderen der der strategischen Unternehmensdiversifikation. Beide Gebiete werden mit dem Ziel verknüpft, spezifische Diversifikationsrisiken aufzuzeigen. Ausgehend vom Ressourcen- und Kompetenzansatz des strategischen Managements werden verschiedene Arten von Diversifikationsstrategien vorgestellt und darauf aufbauend verschiedene Formen strategischer Synergieeffekte voneinander abgegrenzt. Einen weiteren Schwerpunkt bildet die Verknüpfung von Risikomanagement und strategischem Management. Es wird dargelegt, wie Elemente des Risikomanagements in das Zielsystem sowie die Phasen der strategischen Planung und Kontrolle integriert werden können. Dabei wird die besondere Bedeutung von Stakeholderinteressen für das Risikomanagement herausgestellt. Im Anschluss werden diese Erkenntnisse auf die strategische Planung von Diversifikationsentscheidungen übertragen und diversifikationsbedingte Risiken aufgezeigt. / The thesis focuses on two major issues - risk management on the on hand and strategic corporate diversification on the other. The author combines these two topics in order to identify specific risks of diversification. At first different types of corporate diversification, that are founded on the insights of the resource and competence based view of strategy, are introduced, and different types of strategic synergies are defined. Secondly, the topics of risk management and strategy are linked and it is demonstrated how certain elements of risk management can be integrated into the process of strategic planning and control. Furthermore, the author emphasizes the special importance of stakeholder interests in the context of risk management. Finally, the resulting insights are applied to the process of strategic planning of corporate diversification and specific risks of diversification are identified.