Atle Midttun

"Governance and Business Models for Sustainable Capitalism touches upon many of the central themes of today's debate on business and society. In particular, it brings attention to a recurrent tension between efficiency, innovation and productivity on the one hand, and fairness, equity and sustainability on the other. The book argues that we need radical rethinking of business models and economic governance, beyond the classical doctrine which sees social and ecological responsibility as lying with public policy regulation of purely profit-seeking firms. In spite of the popular CSR agenda, business - as we know it today - is both too transient and too limited in its motivation to carry the regulatory burden. We need to adopt a much wider concept of "partnered governance", where advanced states and pioneering companies work together to raise the social and environmental bar. The book suggests that civil engagements based on moral rather than formal rights, and amplified through the media, may provide a healthy challenge both to autocratic planning and to solely profit-centered commercialization. The book also proposes a triple cycle theory of innovation for sustainability: a novel framing of the efficacy of green and prosocial entrepreneurship as intertwined with political visions and supportive institutions. In addition, the book offers reflections on the ways in which further digital robotizaton may enable transition to an 'Agora Economy' where productive efficiency is combined with expanded civic freedoms. Aimed primarily at researchers, academics and students in the fields of political economy, business and society, corporate governance, business ethics, corporate social responsibility and sustainability, the book will additionally be of value to practitioners, supplying them with information regarding the challenges associated with the shaping of sustainable or 'civilised' market capitalism for a better world"--

Governance and Business Models for Sustainable Capitalism

Following the neoliberal turn in the 1980s, leading global companies have established an influential trend in business through adoption of the doctrine of corporate social and environmental responsibility (CSR). This book critically explores the new megatrend and its varying interpretations and presents overviews of several fields of CSR practice: governance, business ethics, SRI/ESG investment, communication, reporting, labour relations/HR, supply chain management, life cycle analysis, climate strategy, innovation, leadership and public policy. The book also presents visions of CSR development going forward. While the book contributes to the international research frontier, it also reflects its Nordic context, both with respect to authorship and empirical focus. Chapters on leading companies and on state CSR initiatives illustrate how the Nordic tradition has fostered pioneering CSR positions both in business and public policy. In the final chapter the book engages in the broader international debate on CSR, democracy, and value creation, with leading international critical thinkers in dialogue with industrial strategists.

A Nordic Perspective

CSR and Beyond

Thomas Baumgartner

Thomas Martin Baumgartner

This book examines the process of model-building and forecasting with particular reference to energy.

A Comparative Study of Energy Forecasting in Western Europe and North America

The Politics of Energy Forecasting

Since the European Union's de-regulation policy for electricity and energy suppliers was implemented, new strategic configurations have emerged. Traditional restraints of geographical limitations on energy companies have been partly removed: the diversity at national regulatory and company level means that the European scene is one of a multiplicity of strategic configurations and developments, whilst also being complex and segmented. This book highlights the strategic and regulatory challenges of European deregulation, with its main focus being on the business strategies within the emerging de-regulated electricity markets; various regulatory implications which are being raised in this new climate are discussed. Some of the central strategic issues facing the electricity industry in its new competitive context are explored and reviewed, with classical themes debated as a prelude to the following empirical investigation of actual business strategies pursued by the electricity and energy industries. The main section of this work consists of 7 national case studies of business strategies which also include one North and one South American case. These were considered important inclusions as the North American companies are large investors in the European market, whilst the European companies invest in the South American market. The final chapter is a comparison and summary of the national patterns of market structures, business strategies and regulatory styles with a brief look at some challenges to be faced in future.

European Energy Industry Business Strategies

Nina Witoszek

In the 21st century, Norway, Denmark and Sweden remain the icons of fair societies, with high economic productivity and quality of life. But they are also an enigma in a cultural-evolutionary sense: though by no means following the same socio-economic formula, they are all cases of a "non-hubristic", socially sustainable modernity that puzzles outside observers. Using Nordic welfare states as its laboratory, Sustainable Modernity combines evolutionary and socio-cultural perspectives to illuminate the mainsprings of what the authors call the "well-being society". The main contention is that the Nordic uniqueness is not merely the outcome of one particular set of historical institutional or political arrangements, or sheer historical luck; rather, the high welfare creation inherent in the Nordic model has been predicated on a long and durable tradition of social cooperation, which has interacted with global competitive forces. Hence the socially sustainable Nordic modernity should be approached as an integrated and tightly orchestrated ecosystem based on a complex interplay of cooperative and competitive strategies within and across several domains: normative-cultural, socio-political and redistributive. The key question is: Can the Nordic countries uphold the balance of competition and cooperation and reproduce their resilience in the age of globalization, cultural collisions, the digital economy, the fragmentation of the work/life division, and often intrusive EU regulation? With contributors providing insights from the humanities, the social sciences and evolutionary science, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of political science, sociology, history, institutional economics, Nordic studies and human evolution studies.

The Nordic Model and Beyond

Sustainable Modernity

This book breaks new ground in the studies of green transition. It frames the ongoing transformation in terms of a "battle of modernities" with the emerging vision of ecomodernity as the final destination. It also offers a systematic exploration of the potential for extensive transformation of carbon-intensive sectors – with a focus on energy and transport – towards a low or post-carbon economy. The book does so in a comparative perspective, by pointing to a diversity of techno-economic and institutional solutions in the mature Western economies, and in the rapidly growing East and developing South. The contributors highlight a broad spectrum of available alternatives as well as illuminate conflicting interests involved. They also demonstrate how solutions to the climate challenge require parallel technological and governance innovation. The book advocates a new, overarching vision and agenda of ecomodernity – based on a synergistic paradigm-shift in industry, politics and culture – to trigger and sustain the ecological innovation necessary to tip development in a green direction. This vision cannot be monolithic; rather, it should reflect the diverse interests and conditions of the global population. This book is aimed at researchers and postgraduate students of energy, transport, environmental and climate policies, as well as development, environment, innovation and sustainability.

Atle Midttun

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