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This thesis focuses on identifying hindrances of achieving a sustainable tourism development on a base of a World Heritage Site. Using a case study of the World Heritage Site Falun Great Copper Mountain, the thesis assesses the situational context by using qualitative methods. Five semi- structured interviews with influential stakeholders were conducted to get an inside view of the current situation and to identify site-specific issues. The thesis identifies a number of factors that determine the successful implementation of measures leading towards sustainable tourism in the long-run; the most important being the lack of clear guidelines for the whole destination and no holistic planning approach within the municipality. The thesis concludes that despite the increased pressures towards establishment of sustainable tourism, the concept remains challenging to operationalize for the World Heritage Site without frameworks and tools from UNESCO.

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.

The engagement of stakeholders in a dialogue on the decommissioning of nuclear facilities and the retrieval and treatment of nuclear waste in the UK has proved challenging. The action orientated research presented here has used a mixed methodological approach to examine participants’ perceptions regarding the nature of dialogue being carried out by the NDA National Stakeholder Group (NSG), with the emancipatory aim of raising participant awareness regarding their role and the nature of the dialogue used. Exploration of the emergent theme of fairness has enabled the researcher to provide a contribution to stakeholder theory. This research adds to the theory of the deliberative institution (Reed, 2008), providing evidence for why the effective influence of stakeholders on decision making, communication about this influence, and the institutionalization of stakeholder participation is as important as the engagement itself. The work also provides an important epistemological contribution regarding the role of dialogue within the concept of social sustainability.

Marine turtles are an ancient group of reptiles that have been used by humans as a source of protein for over 7,000 years. In recent decades, acknowledgement of the various threats to marine turtles, including the deleterious impact of historical and contemporary use on many populations, led the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to list all seven extant species of marine turtle on their Red List of Threatened Species. Consequently, marine turtles are often given protected status in the national legislation of countries around the world, despite the existence of ongoing use cultures in communities that live with marine turtles. Conservation strategies are challenged by the migratory nature of marine turtles, which have complex life histories typically involving the use of habitats in the jurisdictions of multiple sovereign states as well as the high seas. As a result, a suite of multi-lateral environmental agreements (MEAs) list marine turtles in the most highly protective categories. Thus, governments of sovereign states that have acceded to the various MEAs are committed to conservation strategies requiring national action and cooperative multi-lateral action, which can conflict with interests of communities with a tradition of marine turtle consumption. In this thesis I provide examples of how contemporary scientific research methods can elucidate the migratory behaviours of marine turtles, and can help define range of populations subject to national conservation action and use. I examine specific examples of how this information can inform national and multi-lateral conservation policies and strategies; how those policies and strategies interact and impact on traditional cultures of marine turtle use in the UK Overseas Territories in the Caribbean; and provide an example of the potential benefits of engaging stakeholders with contemporary research methods. This thesis highlights the utility of a multi-disciplinary approach to research underpinning marine turtle conservation and management, which acknowledges the limitations of MEAs and national government capacity, and which incorporates participation of those communities engaged in marine turtle consumption.

Lack of appropriate level of beneficiary involvement during the project lifecycle may lead to mismatch between the project output and needs of beneficiaries. Therefore, involving beneficiaries in the project helps to assure that the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) provide the right solution to needs of beneficiaries as well as sustaining project results. Although beneficiary involvement is useful, the challenge is to determine how and when to involve beneficiaries in the project.    The purpose of this study is to improve the process of managing beneficiary involvement in NGOs. To achieve this, a review of the existing literature was done to have an initial understanding of beneficiary involvement. During our literature review, we identified six progressive levels of involvement which include: information sharing, listening and learning, joint assessment, shared decision-making, collaboration and empowerment.  Based on this literature review, we suggested a framework for managing beneficiary involvement.   In addition, we conducted a multiple case study and collected data from five different cases through interviews. Our respondents were professionals with several years of experience in developing and implementing development projects which are aimed at improving the livelihood of vulnerable communities. Through the analysis of the empirical findings, we got new insights on how the process of beneficiary involvement is managed. We identified four additional levels of beneficiary involvement within the project cycle. These include incentive system, peer facilitators, group forming, and cost sharing. The study also reveals the factors that affect beneficiary involvement, such as cultural context and, donors’ influence and requirements. We also highlighted that the appropriate level of beneficiary involvement should be chosen depending on the project context. Regardless of these factors, the research findings show that beneficiary involvement creates a sense of ownership, enhances project outcome and is useful in sustaining a project’s results in the long term. Therefore, NGOs should endeavour to involve beneficiaries as much as possible to ensure that the projects being implemented are addressing community needs.

The crucial role of groundwater and the centrality of water governance in accommodating growing water demands sustainably are becoming well recognized. We review 10 case studies of groundwater governance-representing diverse global regions and local contexts-from the perspective of four well-established elements: (1) institutional setting; (2) availability and access to information and science; (3) robustness of civil society; and (4) economic and regulatory frameworks. For institutional setting, we find that governing is often a thankless task that paradoxically requires popularity; legislation does not always translate to implementation; conflict resolution is central to governance; and funding is critical for governance. In terms of information access, we see: a need for research for natural systems, social systems, and institutions; trust as an essential element in research; and that urbanized landscapes are critical components of groundwater governance. Looking at civil society robustness, we observe that equity is an essential element for governance; community-based governance requires intention; and leaders can play a powerful role in uniting stakeholders. As for frameworks, the cases suggest that economic incentives sometimes yield unintended results; "indirect" management should be used cautiously; and economic incentives' effectiveness depends on the system employed. Collectively, the lessons speak to the need for shared governance capacities on the part of governments at multiple levels and civil society actors.

The benefits of public participation in water management are recognized by governments, scholars, and stakeholders. These benefits, however, do not result from all engagement endeavors. This leads to the question: What are the determinants for effective public participation? Given a list of criteria for achieving the transformational capacity of participation, we analyze the benefits (including the influence on public policies) gained through public participation and the determinant factors for obtaining these benefits in the Ebro River Basin in Spain and in the Tucson Basin in Arizona (U.S.). Furthermore, and considering that droughts and floods are major water management challenges in both case studies, we focus on the potential of participation to build adaptive capacity. Our analysis of these case studies concludes that influence on public policies is determined more by the context of the participatory process, i.e., legal framework, political leadership, and social awareness, whereas influence on adaptive capacity building depends more on the characteristics of the participatory process, particularly the existence of active on-site consultation and deliberation.

In today’s dynamic business environment, stakeholders are seen as essential and companies are expected to engage stakeholders in mutually productive areas such as innovation and product development, market and sales development, sustainability, etc. However, prior literature of stakeholder engagement has mainly focused on large companies and the benefits of stakeholder engagement are usually narrowed to one specific area of growth. Therefore, this thesis focuses on the micro level of start-up companies and examines benefits of stakeholder engagement in terms of different aspects of company growth (namely financial performance, product development and innovation, marketing/sales development, reputation, sustainability and CSR, knowledge learning and information.).   Literature review of concepts of stakeholder engagement, start-ups and company growth has led to the theoretical framework of the thesis. It serves as guidance for the overall methodology. In order to meet the research objectives, we conduct a qualitative exploratory study on eight Swedish start-ups from different industries and with different characteristics. The data collection technique we use is semi-structured interviews with the eight owners (CEOs) of the start-ups. Through the interviews we examined the stakeholders that start-up companies are engaging, the benefits of engaging different stakeholders, the costs which may prevent them from engagement and the relationships between stakeholder engagement and their company growth.   The thesis has found that start-ups do engage different stakeholders for various growth aspects, and identified major focus areas and main stakeholders that start-ups attach more importance to than others. Customers and suppliers are frequently mentioned for driving product, market and sales development, which leads to direct financial growth. Owner-managers, employees and investors are in the second group of growth drivers, while the third group includes personal network, government organizations and communities. Meanwhile, the thesis has also categorized the benefits of stakeholder engagement into two groups according to the relative importance found out. Market and sales development, innovation and product development and financial performance are the primary, more frequently mentioned benefits than sustainability/CSR, Knowledge Learning/Information and reputation. Thus, the thesis has extended the theoretical framework by fitting it to the start-up context. The thesis has contributed to prior literature by reinforcing the prior research on stakeholder engagement and also filling the research gap in micro start-up company context. The thesis can give practical implications to start-up companies in terms of how to engagement stakeholders to drive company growth. We could conclude that start-up company context carries certain difference from large companies in stakeholder engagement, and start-ups should be encouraged to engage stakeholders more to drive company growth.

Biobanks pose unique challenges to legal and bioethical frameworks, and raise many as yet unanswered questions, including how these collections of biological samples and information should be governed and for whose benefit. While some commentators have suggested that biobanks should be regulated through specific legislation, I focus on exploring alternative models of governance. I examine, in particular, the interrelationship between benefit-sharing and public engagement, arguing that public engagement is a benefit in itself, valuable both in its own right and as an essential component of good governance, and critically examine proposals for more direct 'representative‘ forms of participant involvement and 'power-sharing‘ arrangements in the biobanking context. Central to my arguments is the concept of the "common heritage", which has been invoked by UNESCO and HUGO in relation to the human genome. From its early beginnings in the law of the sea, this concept has been linked to notions of solidarity, reciprocity and equitable access and sharing. Applied in the context of biobanks, the "common heritage" highlights the value of genetic collections and research for the benefit of present and future generations. Viewed as a third generation human right, the "common heritage" also links to notions of citizenship, civic involvement in policy processes and, ultimately, to participatory or deliberative democracy. From this, I suggest that robust biobank governance mechanisms require not only effective benefit-sharing arrangements but that these must necessarily involve provision for effective public engagement. Drawing on democratic and business management theory, I argue for a 'stakeholder' model of governance. This model draws its basic ideology from communitarian philosophy and regards any organisation (whether it be a corporation or a charity) as a 'social entity', accountable to a broad range of stakeholders. It is my contention that a stakeholder model is the most appropriate model of governance for large-scale population biobanks, such as UK Biobank, which are designed for public benefit, to enhance the health of all, including future generations. In sum, it is a model through which the common interest vested in biobank research might materialise.