Mark Starik – författare

Transdisciplinary in scope, this book emphasizes the need for universities to advance both environmental and socio-economic sustainability, specifically by utilizing five key higher education functions: research, operations, outreach, teaching and stakeholder interactions. Authors explain how higher education institutions have the knowledge, legitimacy, and resources to make significant impacts on individuals and systems in their respective communities. They discuss the evolving nature of sustainability education in its movement away from anthropocentrism toward forward-thinking ecocentrism, with increased recognition of indigenous worldviews. Examining various avenues for innovation, authors dissect issues such as infrastructure, research and curriculum integration, and internal and external community engagement, and explore how sustainable solutions require commitment on all levels, and in all disciplines.

This book is a crucial resource for students and academics in management and sustainability and management and universities. It is also an inspiring read for university and college stakeholders including sustainability officers and staff and administrators.

Environmental sustainability practice and research have advanced over the past decade from novelty to near-mainstream status today. During this environmentally critical time period, sustainability practitioner techniques, such as environmental, energy and social auditing, other sustainability information and related systems, and a wide variety of environmental sustainability approaches have been developed, improved and institutionalised, advancing both the practice and research of environmental sustainability management and policy. However, academics and practitioners in the sustainability field still have widely differing perspectives on what a sustainable organisation is or might be, but seldom take the opportunity to share these respective sustainability visions, let alone the multiple ways to achieve them. New Horizons in Research on Sustainable Organisations is intended to bridge this gap between academics and practitioners with cutting-edge research from both groups on progress towards sustainability.

After working on sustainability-related projects involving other academics, both research- and practitioner-oriented graduate students, consultants, managers and activists, the lead co-editors of this volume saw the need to encourage information exchanges among differing networks of sustainability stakeholders to create a pathway for researchers and practitioners in the general area of organisations and the natural environment to address issues of common interest. There are many networks in the general subject area, but the cross-pollination of ideas between academics and practitioners remains sketchy. New Horizons in Research on Sustainable Organisations is intended to present and encourage such cross-pollination.

The chapters in this volume are presented in three subsets, generally proceeding from the most "macro" to the most "micro" in terms of perspective and applicability. However, this arbitrary division belies the integration from macro through meso (or mid-range) to micro levels that is apparent in these studies. Macro approaches typically include wider geographic scopes, greater numbers of stakeholders, and more complex explanatory factors than micro approaches. Each chapter adopts one or more particular sustainability world-view and then grounds these and the other chapter elements within actual organisations. Therefore, the reader is advised to envision not a one-dimensional continuum but rather a circle in which the macro view both feeds back and feeds forward to the micro view.

This volume addresses a number of intriguing and important sustainable organisation phenomena such as multiple sustainable development perspectives, changing environmental politics, environmental management systems variations, voluntary environmental programme performance, complex adaptive systems, and environmental technology development. Additionally, several models are suggested, such as cultivation, capabilities and business ecology frameworks.

Environmental sustainability practice and research have advanced over the past decade from novelty to near-mainstream status today. During this environmentally critical time period, sustainability practitioner techniques, such as environmental, energy and social auditing, other sustainability information and related systems, and a wide variety of environmental sustainability approaches have been developed, improved and institutionalised, advancing both the practice and research of environmental sustainability management and policy. However, academics and practitioners in the sustainability field still have widely differing perspectives on what a sustainable organisation is or might be, but seldom take the opportunity to share these respective sustainability visions, let alone the multiple ways to achieve them. New Horizons in Research on Sustainable Organisations is intended to bridge this gap between academics and practitioners with cutting-edge research from both groups on progress towards sustainability.

After working on sustainability-related projects involving other academics, both research- and practitioner-oriented graduate students, consultants, managers and activists, the lead co-editors of this volume saw the need to encourage information exchanges among differing networks of sustainability stakeholders to create a pathway for researchers and practitioners in the general area of organisations and the natural environment to address issues of common interest. There are many networks in the general subject area, but the cross-pollination of ideas between academics and practitioners remains sketchy. New Horizons in Research on Sustainable Organisations is intended to present and encourage such cross-pollination.

The chapters in this volume are presented in three subsets, generally proceeding from the most "macro" to the most "micro" in terms of perspective and applicability. However, this arbitrary division belies the integration from macro through meso (or mid-range) to micro levels that is apparent in these studies. Macro approaches typically include wider geographic scopes, greater numbers of stakeholders, and more complex explanatory factors than micro approaches. Each chapter adopts one or more particular sustainability world-view and then grounds these and the other chapter elements within actual organisations. Therefore, the reader is advised to envision not a one-dimensional continuum but rather a circle in which the macro view both feeds back and feeds forward to the micro view.

This volume addresses a number of intriguing and important sustainable organisation phenomena such as multiple sustainable development perspectives, changing environmental politics, environmental management systems variations, voluntary environmental programme performance, complex adaptive systems, and environmental technology development. Additionally, several models are suggested, such as cultivation, capabilities and business ecology frameworks.

The chapter contributions highlight the several main concepts of systems, internal and external integration, curriculum development, and social movements. The key takeaway is that many sustainability scholars are practicing and communicating a wide variety of sustainability actions but that greater consistency and frequency among faculty sustainability values, expression, and actions are generally possible and necessary, and that further exploration of this overall topic is encouraged.

Current faculty and doctoral students in the field of environmental or socio-economic sustainability, as well as business, government and nonprofit organization executives who interact with said faculty, will be inspired by the examination of values and personal practices.

Nearly two dozen knowledgeable, caring, and active authors, representing both academics and practitioners, from multiple countries and disciplines, have risen to the challenge of attempting to motivate as many people as possible to take whatever actions they can as urgently as possible, to ensure that future generations of both humans and non-humans on this planet will have a sustainable climate that meets their on-going needs.

This Handbook is an important work for scholars and practitioners working in the realm of environmental and climate issues, sustainability and CSR. It provides a comprehensive exploration of the current global situation, while also inspiring immediate action and forward thinking.

The authors examine the role stakeholders play in influencing regulations on global issues such as climate change and national and regional problems. Stakeholder selection of companies and the sustainability issues they choose to target are explored, as are the ways in which organizations motivate them to participate in the evolution of holistic sustainable solutions. The interactions between stakeholder pressures, organizational characteristics and corporate sustainability practices are also covered. Finally, the volume provides an examination of the dynamic structure of organizational fields in the European automobile industry in order to analyze the factors that foster or hinder ecological modernization.

Academics, environmental consultants, sustainability managers, NGOs, and international development institutions will find this timely volume of great value.

The international cast of contributors addresses the wide range of issues in the balance between growth and environmental concerns. The first five chapters discuss various aspects of sustainable entrepreneurship. This is followed by two chapters that look at innovation within existing firms. Innovation is not successful until it finds a customer, so the two chapters that follow delve into the marketing aspects of business-to-consumer and business-to-business settings. The book closes with a broad discussion of the evolution and future of the research agenda into the intersection of sustainability, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Academics, students, business professionals, and NGOs will find this volume enlightening and useful.