scholarly journals The Green Business and Sustainable Development School—A Case Study for an Innovative Educational Concept to Prevent Big Ideas from Failure

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1943
Author(s):  
Jan Nicolai Hennemann ◽  
Bernd Draser ◽  
Katarina Repkova Stofkova
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Design Thinking ◽  
Stakeholder Participation ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Patterns Of Failure ◽  
Life Project ◽  
Stakeholder Groups ◽  
Educational Concept ◽  
Green Business

This article addresses the question of why initiatives in the field of green business and sustainable development often fail. Therefore, it dismantles some typical patterns of failure and shows—as a case study—how these patterns can be challenged through an innovative educational concept: the green business and sustainable development school. The applied methodology is a real-life project that is designed through methodological elements stemming from business model canvas, theory U, stakeholder participation, and design thinking. The results of the school initiative are discussed and evaluated by four distinctive stakeholder groups and the school’s supporting potential to overcome typical patterns of failure in the green business and sustainable development arena by the younger generation in the future is outlined. This article concludes with ideas to enhance the school concept to reach even more stakeholder-groups and increase its reliability and viability.

scholarly journals The Green Business & Sustainable Development School – A Case Study for an Innovative Educational Concept to Prevent Big Ideas from Failure

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Nicolai Hennemann ◽  
Bernd Draser ◽  
Katarina Repkova Stofkova ◽  
Christa Liedtke
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Design Thinking ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Patterns Of Failure ◽  
Life Project ◽  
Stakeholder Groups ◽  
Business Model Canvas ◽  
Educational Concept ◽  
Green Business

This article addresses the question why initiatives in the field of green business and sustainable development often fail. Therefore, it dismantles some typical patterns of failure and shows – as a case study – how these patterns can be challenged through an innovative educational concept: the green business and sustainable development school. The applied methodology is a real-life project that is designed through blended, interdisciplinary elements from business model canvas, Theory U, participation and design thinking. The results of the school initiative are discussed and evaluated by four distinctive stakeholder groups and outline the school’s supporting potential to overcome typical patterns of failure by the younger generation in the future. This article concludes with ideas to enhance the school concept reaching out to even more stakeholder-groups to increase its reliability and viability.

Renewable Energy for Sustainable Development

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed Salama ◽  
Mutasim Nour ◽  
Adel Haloub ◽  
Yara Al Jundi
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Life Project ◽  
Basic Concepts ◽  
Initiation Stage ◽  
Set Up

This chapter aims to introduce the reader in general, and project managers in particular, to the basic concepts and applications of renewable energy (RE) with emphasis on the various renewable energy technologies (RTEs), emerging as an alternative to traditional energy sources, in an applied, practical and project-focused context. The chapter builds on academic research-based cases studies conducted by the authors. The first case relates to a real-life project which will be the first advanced biofuels refinery to be built in the Middle Eastb with an estimated cost of $700m and commercial operation date in 2022. The financial close date is scheduled for the end of Q4, 2018, and it is expected to have a lower cost of production compared to European and US refineries. The second case study concerns the feasibility study to build a waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration plant in Dubai. It provides project managers with useful insight into the details of this vital initiation stage for this type of project, based on a real-life data set, in an applied research context. The details of both cases can be found on: https://www.goodfellowpublishers.com/sustprojman. The first few sections of the chapter set up the scene for the case studies by presenting brief definitions of the basic concepts of RE and various RETs in the context of sustainable development. Then at the start of each case study, a brief introduction to the specifics of the case is presented.

Enabling Democratic Local Governance through Rural E-Municipalities in Kyrgyzstan

2013 ◽  
pp. 34-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zamira Dzhusupova
Keyword(s):  
Local Governance ◽  
Real Life ◽  
National Development ◽  
Governance Structure ◽  
Careful Consideration ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Life Project ◽  
Development Context

This chapter presents a case study on rural e-municipalities in Kyrgyzstan as an enabling tool for facilitating and supporting democratic local governance. The authors examine the case based on their action research and discuss key findings in terms of challenges of implementing and sustaining ICT-enabled local governance observed throughout the life cycle of the real life project. The case presentation is guided by the conceptual framework built on an extensive literature review. Key findings and lessons drawn from this case study can guide policy makers and practitioners in other developing countries in designing and implementing similar initiatives with careful consideration of national development context, enabling political, administrative, and legal environment, governance structure and decentralization policies, institutional framework, and strength of rural municipalities and local communities. This chapter’s possible contribution to research includes improving understanding of the implementation and sustainability issues of rural e-municipality as one of the critical e-governance initiatives at the grassroots level.

Design thinking: breaking fixation for new relationships between organizations

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (6) ◽  
pp. 20-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Lewis ◽  
Scott Hayward ◽  
Rob Hornyak
Keyword(s):  
Value Creation ◽  
Design Thinking ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Interorganizational Relationships ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Social Implications ◽  
Brick Wall ◽  
Content Type

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to show how design thinking can be a useful approach for helping interorganizational partnerships create higher levels of value creation for both parties. By integrating concepts related to human cognition, contracts and performance, the authors show how interorganizational relationships often hit a brick wall. The authors show how they can break through such obstacles in a systematic way using design thinking. Design/methodology/approach The authors anchor their conceptual and prescriptive advice in a real-life case study between a large logistics company and a global technology firm. The case study was conducted over a multiyear period with many sources of data collected: interview data, observational, participant observation, archival presentations, etc. Findings The authors show the factors that lead to rigidity in interorganizational relationships over time, and the cycle of confirmation and exploitation that truly squeezes the life out of relationships if firms are not careful. They offer a prescriptive approach for addressing this issue that should be valuable for many firms across the globe. Research limitations/implications The study is based on a single-case study, so generalizability is always an issue. However, we think that most practicing managers who have been involved (in any way) with managing an interorganizational relationship will attest to the fact that they often experience the patterns that the authors illuminate in their study. Practical implications By applying the design thinking methodology within the context of interorganizational relationships, managers will help their firms break fixation and enter entirely new plateaus of value creation for both firms. Social implications The world of work occurs through partnerships and relationships, companies rarely “go it alone”. Thus, developing the capacities in managers to continuously assess relationship efficacy, break from inertia and discover new ways of creating value will lead to positive social implications. Additionally, the design thinking methodology is based on developing empathy for others, and the authors would argue that such capabilities are sorely needed in this world. Originality/value There is a lot of work on interorganizational partnerships, but an absence of help for practicing managers on how to make such relationships great. Grounded in a real-life case study, this paper provides practical contributions to those currently managing such relationships.

scholarly journals Phylogenetic analysis of software evolution, a case study: VE&MINT

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alvaro Ortiz-Troncoso
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Analysis ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Software Evolution ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Traditional View ◽  
Software Ecosystem ◽  
Life Project ◽  
Project Governance

Open source projects may face a forking situation at some point during their life-cycle. The traditional view is that forks are a waste of project resources and should be avoided. However, in a wider technological and organisational context, forks can be a way to foster the creation of a software ecosystem. Either way, forking is explicitly allowed by open source licenses. Notwithstanding, methods for quantifying the evolution of forks are currently scarce. The present work attempts to answer the question whether a real-life project has forked. It does so by considering code and organisational characteristics of the project, and analysing these characteristics by applying methods ported from biological phylogenetics. After finding that the project is forked, implications for project governance are discussed.

Changes of Projects by Considering the Principles of Sustainable Development Case Study

2013 ◽  
pp. 304-320
Author(s):  
Roland Gareis
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Project Management ◽  
Organizational Learning ◽  
Stakeholder Participation ◽  
Comprehensive Analysis ◽  
Change Processes ◽  
Temporary Organizations

Permanent organizations, such as companies, divisions, profit, and cost centres, as well as temporary organizations, i.e. projects and programmes, change. Reasons for changes might be new values of organizations such as transparency, empowerment, stakeholder participation, risk-orientation, etc., which are values on which sustainable development is based. Different change types, namely organizational learning, further developing, transforming, and radical re-positioning can be identified and can be described by specific chains of processes. For performing change processes of permanent organizations projects and programmes can be applied. The processes for managing the different changes of projects, in which the principles of SD might be considered, are described. The focus is on the management of transforming a project. The case study: Transforming the Project Hospital North is based on a comprehensive analysis of this project transformation in the book Project Management & Sustainable Development Principles by Roland Gareis, Martina Huemann, and André Martinuzzi (all WU Vienna) published by PMI (Gareis et al. 2013).

Enabling Democratic Local Governance through Rural E-Municipalities in Kyrgyzstan

2015 ◽  
pp. 1009-1033
Author(s):  
Zamira Dzhusupova
Keyword(s):  
Local Governance ◽  
Real Life ◽  
National Development ◽  
Governance Structure ◽  
Careful Consideration ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Life Project ◽  
Development Context

This chapter presents a case study on rural e-municipalities in Kyrgyzstan as an enabling tool for facilitating and supporting democratic local governance. The authors examine the case based on their action research and discuss key findings in terms of challenges of implementing and sustaining ICT-enabled local governance observed throughout the life cycle of the real life project. The case presentation is guided by the conceptual framework built on an extensive literature review. Key findings and lessons drawn from this case study can guide policy makers and practitioners in other developing countries in designing and implementing similar initiatives with careful consideration of national development context, enabling political, administrative, and legal environment, governance structure and decentralization policies, institutional framework, and strength of rural municipalities and local communities. This chapter's possible contribution to research includes improving understanding of the implementation and sustainability issues of rural e-municipality as one of the critical e-governance initiatives at the grassroots level.

scholarly journals Phylogenetic analysis of software evolution, a case study: VE&MINT

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alvaro Ortiz-Troncoso
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Analysis ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Software Evolution ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Traditional View ◽  
Software Ecosystem ◽  
Life Project ◽  
Project Governance

Open source projects may face a forking situation at some point during their life-cycle. The traditional view is that forks are a waste of project resources and should be avoided. However, in a wider technological and organisational context, forks can be a way to foster the creation of a software ecosystem. Either way, forking is explicitly allowed by open source licenses. Notwithstanding, methods for quantifying the evolution of forks are currently scarce. The present work attempts to answer the question whether a real-life project has forked. It does so by considering code and organisational characteristics of the project, and analysing these characteristics by applying methods ported from biological phylogenetics. After finding that the project is forked, implications for project governance are discussed.

Case-Based Problem Solving Exercises for Engineering Education

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Venkat Allada ◽  
Vivas Jose
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Six Sigma ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Laundry Detergent ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Cognitive Learning ◽  
Taguchi Methods ◽  
Life Project ◽  
Case Based

This paper describes the development of a case-behind problem solving exercise that emphasizes the managerial and the engineering aspects of a real life project. Using the real life example of a quality initiative project that was completed at a laundry detergent plant of a international company, a series of modular exercises have been developed on topics such as organizational structure, process capability, six sigma, and Taguchi methods. The exercise modules have been developed by referring to the Bloom’s six levels of cognitive learning process. This paper provides some of the highlights of the exercise development process that may be useful to educators interested in developing their own case study-based exercises or adapting the available ones to suit their needs.

scholarly journals An integrated approach to teaching and learning logistics: A case study

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacobus N. Cronjé
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Project Based Learning ◽  
University Teaching ◽  
Research Skills ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
Life Project ◽  
Approach To Teaching

Business managers and students often criticise university teaching for not addressing real-life problems. Furthermore, professors are dissatisfied with the research capabilities of postgraduate students. This paper advocates an integrated approach to teaching and learning based on the features of project-based learning aimed at enhancing the practical and research skills of undergraduate students in Logistics. A case study is presented where third-year students were engaged in a real-life project in collaboration with industry, exposing them to collaborative learning, questionnaire design, surveys, analysing and evaluating results, literature review and report writing. The project was carried out in phases where students were assessed after each phase. The paper analyses the assessment of students and their perception of the value of the project. It is concluded that an integrated teaching and learning approach will increase students’ interest in the subject, understanding of theoretical concepts, research skills, business skills and life skills.

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