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Intensive agricultural production in the countries of the Aral Sea Basin has resulted in undesirable ecological and social consequences, including the drying of the Aral Sea. Water has become scarce due to a score of internal and external factors including the growing demand for water resources by the upstream countries, expansion of the irrigated areas to ease food insecurity, and the poor condition of irrigation and drainage networks. To cope with environmental consequences and regional water challenges, it is vital to look for pathways of improved integrated water resource management, higher water use efficiencies, and reducing overall water use.

A combination of value chain and water footprint analyses of the dominant crop, cotton, was applied to assess water use in different sectors of the Uzbekistan economy and to seek water saving and improved water management and efficiency options.

The findings show that reduction in water use could be achieved by diversifying the economy and moving from water intensive agricultural production to less water consuming industrial sectors by introducing water saving irrigation technologies and by raising awareness of the population about the real value of water.

The combined findings of the economic based value chain analysis and ecologically oriented water footprint analysis gave an added value for better informed decision-making to reach land, water, and ecosystem sustainability and to contribute to the Millennium Development Goals of eradicating poverty and hunger and achieving food and water security.

The Igbos are renowned for their success in business. This chapter traced the pre-colonial and post-colonial innovations among the Igbos to highlight salient factors that could be responsible for their outstanding success in recent times. In the pre-colonial era, the Igbos made their livelihood through vocations such as blacksmithing, traditional medicine, farming, pot moulding, hunting, food preservation, and textiles, especially in cloth weaving. The post-colonial period which witnessed the Nigerian civil war, led to a disruption of their entire business structure. However, through the principles of apprenticeship and hard work, ingredients of success in the pre-colonial years, the Igbos were able to rebuild their business structure and became renowned for their success. They retained some of their pre-colonial crafts such as cloth weaving of which the Akwete fabric is a good example and has gained both national and international prominence in recent times. The chapter presented the case of the Akwete Weaving Centre of Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike Ikwo (AE-FUNAI), established to promote cultural heritage and enhance the entrepreneurial skills of students in the craft through modern apprenticeship. The chapter made recommendations on ways to enhance the Akwete Weaving industry and effectively harness its potentials.

We construct a new consumer price index for Canada covering the period from 1870 to 1900. Unlike previous indexes, it includes prices of clothing and household furnishings. This is important because these previously neglected components accounted for roughly 20% of consumers' expenditures. Moreover, the price of cotton goods, the most important textile product used for clothing and household furnishings, fell by half between 1870 and 1900 (much faster than other components of the price level). This has ramifications for both the level and trend of Canadian GDP. Because the largest changes in estimation concern the 1870s, we show that the country grew substantially faster than generally believed. It outpaced the United States so much that it entered the twentieth century with an improved economic standing relative to its southern neighbor.

Sri Lanka is an island described as a “pearl” situated between latitudes 5.55° 9.51′ N and longitude 79.41° 81.54′ E in the Indian Ocean. It has a coastline of 1,585km (Coast Conservation Department [CCD], 1986a, 1986b). From the coastline, the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) extends 200 nautical miles. This is 6.7 times the country's land area, occupying 437,400km². Coastal waters extend from the continental shelf to the other limits of the EEZ. The coastal area forms a dynamic interface of land and water and is of special significance in the country's economical, ecological, and social fabric. Thus, a “coastal zone” has been defined where activities are regulated by the government (Coast Conservation Act of Sri Lanka [CCD], 1981). Sri Lanka's coastal zone is defined in the Coast Conservation Act as the area lying within a limit of 300m landward of the mean high waterline and, in the case of rivers, streams, lagoons, or any other body of water connected to the sea, either permanently or periodically, the landward boundary shall extend to a limit of 2km perpendicular to the strait baseline drawn between the natural entrance points thereof and shall include waters of such water bodies.

Adopting a knowledge-based view of the firm, this chapter explores how different contents of firm-level entrepreneurship may influence performance of SMEs in moderately dynamic industries, which represent the bulk of economic activity in several countries. More specifically, this study aims, first, at identifying what types of entrepreneurial behavior – new-market entry, new-product development, diversification – are more suitable in order to survive and prosper in industries characterized by moderate growth and dynamism. Second, the analysis aims at assessing whether knowledge sharing is to be promoted in order to successfully compete in these industries. Third, the study aims at identifying which type of knowledge – market knowledge or technology knowledge – is most needed to develop entrepreneurial behavior and performance in low-growth industrial contexts. Following a knowledge-driven approach, we propose a view on corporate renewal that may complement current streams of research focused on large firms in high-velocity settings. Emerging results contribute to advancing the literature on entrepreneurial renewal by providing both an investigation of such behaviors within an industrial setting different from the high-growth, high-technology industries in which investigations have been conducted so far, and by suggesting that rich insights may be gained by investigating entrepreneurial recombinations within smaller firms that operate in less-dynamic contexts.

This article analyses the issue of discipline violations in a Russian textile company. Discipline violations proliferated in Soviet times and were tolerated by managers. The cause has been identified in the limited form of control exercised over the production process, resulting from the social relations existing in the Soviet Union. Evidence from the case study indicates that no fundamental change has occurred in this area since the transition. The research documents the material and psychological hardships experienced by workers, the relational practices constraining line managers, and it tries to discern the conceptual and operative limits of disciplinary campaigns by top management.

This chapter takes inspiration from Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s artistic work and academic writing to attend to some of the under-utilised dimensions of her work to date, that of making. Using unconventional methodologies from Sedgewick, I present my own unconventional methodologies to queer CMS. In this way through theory and making, we can queer CMS anew.

The purpose of this chapter is to address the issue of climate change and its effects on developing insular countries like the Maldives in order to identify adaptive mechanisms and new opportunities in the international context towards achieving sustainable development, taking into account its environmental and social incidences.

Firstly, the chapter introduces some generalities of the Republic of the Maldives and its current challenges. Next, there is a description of the economy of the islands: here the importance of its major source of income, the tourism industry, is highlighted. Then, vulnerabilities and adaptive mechanisms are explored for the particular case of tourism.

Maldivian current efforts in disaster risk management (DRM) mitigation, preparedness, response, and reconstruction stages, and the work between government, private organizations, and civil society, implemented since the 2004 tsunami; and as a response to climate change, are examples of how to apply collaborative approaches proposed by Sustainable Development Objectives, COP21 agreement, and Sendai Framework.

It is difficult to measure the consequences of sustainable development actions by the Maldivian government, especially in the international environment.

The study of the Maldivian DRM strategy in the context of climate change and the lessons from the Maldives’ tourism sector development under climate action serves as a model for other international business organizations which aim to reach sustainable development standards in the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

This chapter evaluated important opportunities for sustainable development agenda that can be learned from DRM measures in Maldives.