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The purpose of this paper is to explore how circular start-ups design and implement innovation into their business models to increase their positive impact.

This qualitative study is based on an exploratory multiple-case study involving six circular start-ups with positive impact in Poland. Data gathering took place via in-depth interviews with start-up founders.

The analysis demonstrates that three factors, which are strongly interconnected, can significantly influence the development of a circular start-up. The first is the purpose-led motivation for circularity as a solution, mostly concentrated on the environmental education of different market actors. The second factor is built on the aim to increase the positive impact by addressing the most pressing social and environmental problems. It determines the impact on society as well as on the environment and the extent to which its model can be scaled up. The third factor is driven by the understanding of the purpose of the innovation, concentrated on the business model innovation regarding circularity.

This paper demonstrates the benefits for diverse stakeholders and the importance of using circular business models in start-up development. Circularity can be perceived as a main part of the new approach to improve sustainability.

Circular start-ups represent a new phenomenon in the entrepreneurial market. While the structure and logic of the circular business model in start-ups are significantly unexplored in the management literature, this model is viewed as a crucial step in the direction of increasing the positive impact of start-ups. From a theoretical and practical perspective, it is important to understand the differences and similarities in this area within different markets.

This paper aims to investigate the interaction between the sustainability of the European social model and the European Union's revised Lisbon Strategy and its focus on jobs and growth. The success of this strategy – following its five‐year mid‐term review in 2005 – depends on attempts to renew European competitiveness through, for example, innovation and life‐long learning and well‐designed reforms of the European social model.

The paper reviews the evolution of the Lisbon Strategy and sets out the broader context for European policy on competitiveness. It provides the backdrop for discussions linking competitiveness to corporate responsibility.

The sustainability of the European social model depends on the success of the overall strategy for growth and jobs, in which innovation and life‐long learning are key. The concrete solutions to achieve a successful combination of those factors in each member state need to be found by countries themselves. That is why the preparation and implementation of Europe‐wide National Reform Programmes for growth and jobs opens an opportunity to drive competitiveness which should not be missed.

The paper addresses issues relevant for sustainable development, Europe's innovation potential and competitiveness and could open new areas for research. There is a need for a more forward‐looking approach to European citizens' aspirations that focuses on: sustaining their living conditions in a global economy; making Europe a stronger player in improving global governance; and creating a more democratic and effective political system.

The paper provides a new approach to renewing European competitiveness by fully exploiting the potential of Europe's own single and external market, as well sound macro‐economic management of its growth potential.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the main opportunities and limitations of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the countries of transformation.

The conditions determining the success of CSR in Poland have been defined in the paper on the basis of the previously cumulative knowledge as well as the results of various sociological research.

The paper finds that the main obstacles of CSR are: negative image of business, dysfunctional legal background, corruption, weakness of the III sector, difficult economic situation of many companies, the lack of an ethics and ethical standards, and difficult situation on the job market. The main opportunities are: contacts of the companies with the foreign partners, self‐regulation trends of business, good economic growth rate.

This paper provides knowledge which may be useful in the programs promoting CSR.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the changing role of governments promoting corporate responsibility (CR) as a result of the challenges raised by globalisation.

CR is linked to the restructuring of governments' agendas in the framework of government/private sector/civil society relationships. It is a result of the research project that applies the Relational State Model Approach to the analysis of CR public policies. The relational state situates the relations between the public and private sectors, between the state and society, in the sphere of co‐responsibility.

The paper concludes that in the UK a more systemic, national government‐centred and business‐oriented approach prevails, while Italy has a more extensive, multi‐stakeholder and multi‐level approach.

Future research should complete the comparative analysis expanding it to other European countries: northern and central European countries to analyse the difference between all European governments in order to promote CR.

The analytical framework of this paper could be used for academic, business leaders and policy makers to develop future actions in relation to CR public development.

The objective to be achieved is to understand the new political and public framework incorporating CR as a new form of governance. We compare two countries that represent two very different models of government action. The theoretical approach of the paper is based on the comparative analysis of CR governmental vision, objectives, strategies and internal government CR structure.

The purpose of this research is to attempt to gain a deeper understanding on the firm's ability to integrate stakeholder insights into the process of organizational innovation from a sustainable development viewpoint.

Given the early stage of empirical research on the topic, an exploratory case study was used of two Spanish companies that have successfully learned from stakeholder dialogue and have generated innovations that are beneficial both for the company and for sustainable development in general.

The evidence from the two case studies suggests the existence of two simple capabilities – stakeholder dialogue and stakeholder knowledge integration – for generating innovations in accordance with stakeholder needs. Whereas stakeholder dialogue leverages organizational resources that promote two‐way communication, transparency and appropriate feedback to stakeholders, stakeholder knowledge integration relies on non‐hierarchical structures, flexibility and openness to change.

The fact that the two companies studied are rather special cases of companies without shareholders might limit the results of the present research. Thus, future research could explore sustainable innovation as a response to the demands of other kinds of stakeholders and refine, validate and test the concept of dynamic capability identified in this paper.

The paper sheds some light on the under‐researched issue of linking stakeholder dialogue and sustainable innovation, and thus contributes to open the “black box” of dynamic capabilities and advance in the understanding of this fundamental organizational concept.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a blueprint for an optimal model of sectoral corporate responsibility (CR), through exploring a variety of current approaches. The necessity for a more sector‐wide approach is discussed and the best way to make it happen identified.

An exploration of the models for industry‐wide CR, based on practical experience and case study evidence. The approaches are critically appraised and developed into an overarching model for sector change. The paper answers five key questions: why is sector corporate responsibility important; how does this relate to competitiveness; what are the five existing models for sector change; what are their advantages and disadvantages and what does this teach us about the approach to take?

There are five established models for sector‐level corporate responsibility, each has pros and cons and each contributes to company and/or sector competitiveness and performance. The optimal model for sector change combines two or three models and that's where competitiveness gains really lie. Ideally all sectors would have a clear vision of the shift that they need to make. This vision would then drive leadership, some specific market‐based action and potentially form the basis for some smart regulation. Finally, education on CR would ensure embedding of a responsible approach into the future.

This viewpoint delivers a very useful model for industry groups to take a more meso‐level approach to corporate responsibility or address particular challenges that an industry faces.

More and more industries are facing clear social and environmental risks and opportunities. This paper provides an important model for them to address them effectively. It is based on the author's knowledge and experience and as such is an original piece of work.

The increasing engagement in corporate social responsibility (CSR) potentially indicates an attempt to “re‐embed” the economy in a wider societal context, following a period of neoliberal market exposure, deregulation, and separation of commercial and societal concerns. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between this new social embedding of the economy and older traditions of social embeddedness, such as the welfare state, neocorporatist arrangements, and other socio‐political and labour market arrangements.

The paper explores the relationship between old and new embeddedness by examining how 17 West European nations and the USA are ranked on “old” embeddedness dimensions and comparing this ranking with “new” CSR rankings of nationally aggregated industrial performance.

The overall findings at an aggregate level provides some support for the idea of a symmetric relationship between the “old”, politically‐driven embeddedness and the “new”, industry‐driven embeddedness. However, a finer inspection of the results reveals interesting diversity and variation between countries and between scores, indicating more complex national story lines.

Despite the limited set of countries and some measurement challenges, the analysis illustrates that the patterns of national industrial adaptation to the CSR agenda is strongly shaped by regional and national institutional contexts. While some of the institutional patterns shaping CSR in the “old” EU 15++ have been analysed in this paper, much work still remains to be done in extending and deepening our knowledge in this field.

The findings may help understand how a general framework like CSR interplays with political and institutional contexts as it trickles down into different West European political economies.

The systematic analysis of old political and new corporate social embeddedness of the economy based on a broad set of indicators is new and sheds light on the institutional preconditions for‐ and shaping of CSR.

The purpose of this research is to show how corporate social responsibility (CSR) is actually implemented and managed in business practice by a mobile communications provider in Switzerland. Based on this presentation the paper aims to analyze whether this implementation in the firm is consistent or not, to the responsibilities derived from the stakeholder view framework as it has been proposed by Post et al. (2002).

The goal of this investigation is twofold. From a theoretical perspective, the paper aims to find out if the stakeholder view framework is a suitable tool to assess a firm's practical efforts in the area of CSR. And from a practitioners perspective, the application of the stakeholder view framework may help in identifying “blind spots” whereby closing them could increase the firm's effectiveness concerning the implementation of their specific corporate responsibility.

Because of the empirical findings it is concluded that the application of the stakeholder responsibility framework yields interesting insights into how corporate responsibilities are managed from a stakeholder perspective.

The paper ends by suggesting several recommendations for the further CSR implementation of the company analyzed and for business practice in general.

This paper aims to show the need for Europe to invest more in health care management training. It should be seen as a catalyst for accelerating the restructuring of the sector.

The paper reports on an existing change management program developed and managed by Project Hope. The project is evaluated by investigating results achieved to date and the need for its services.

Empirical research suggests that there is considerable need for management training in health care. This is especially the case in some Central and Eastern European countries, reinforcing the need for health care management programs such as the one conducted by Project Hope.

The paper looks at a unique health care management training program in Central and Eastern Europe.