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‘Tragedy of the commons’ is a powerful concept to analyse a variety of problems related to environmental sustainability. The commons problem can be solved if individuals behave altruistically. In the business context, this chapter studies the proposition that corporate social responsibility (CSR) can avert the tragedy of the commons by examining one case study in depth: Coca-Cola's bottling operations in Rajasthan, India. In spite of choosing a context favourable to the proposition, the results indicate that CSR does not avert the tragedy of the commons. To address the major environmental challenges, it is essential to develop regulatory regimes with appropriate incentives and ability to enforce sanctions.

Despite efforts to reduce environmental pollution and wasteful fossil fuel use, electric vehicles (EVs) are still rare on the road. Why is it so challenging to get widespread EV adoption? One significant factor on which it heavily depends is one's awareness and understanding of EVs. However, due to an absolute lack of knowledge on the part of the populace, this factor becomes a huge impediment to the uptake of EVs. A systematic review of the electronic database Scopus for the years 2003–2022 was carried out on ‘EV awareness and adoption of EV’ while considering the ‘Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis’ (PRISMA) standards. A three-step identification process resulted in the ultimate detection of 41 papers, which were then thoroughly examined. A conceptual framework that encompasses the three key awareness aspects that influence EV adoption is developed. To encourage greater uniformity among EV researchers, this study's conclusions serve as a foundation for operationalising upcoming research efforts within a predetermined framework. The authors must therefore be optimistic that lingering technological, legislative, cultural, behavioural and business-model barriers may be overcome over time through widespread dissemination of knowledge and awareness related to EVs, making it possible for everyone to switch to greener, more economical and more efficient transportation solutions.

This chapter describes the workforce trends in developed and developing countries, depicts the changes, and provides a road map for countries seeking to become a hub for professional workers. The roadmap outlined the factors that countries should consider in their strategic planning to succeed as suppliers, transforming the country into a knowledge economy and a hub for professional gig workers. As discussed in Chapter 4, professional gig workers are knowledge workers who work and deliver tasks online, and they participate in professional knowledge-based online jobs. How to organise, train, and structure this skilled workforce to maximise economic growth, income, decrease unemployment, prevent outflow, and transform the country into a professional hub is a critical question that requires special attention from the government and industry players.

Introduction: Banking institutions are instrumental for lending support and steering the economy in the planned direction to achieve long-term goals. Sustainable development has become the focal point of new policies so that the economies attain inclusive growth. This needs substantial funding to accelerate industrial activity; hence, banks have to play a dominant role in helping such plans succeed. Banks need to look beyond their current framework and play a proactive role in promoting sectors focussed on sustainable development. Banks can prioritise lending to green initiatives to reduce carbon footprint, which will provide impetus to the goals laid out in the COP 26 United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference. The chapter aims to identify the gap in investment for sustainable development and the funding support required from banks to help India achieve the desired sustainable goals. The chapter recommends that banks increase their green financing to provide the impetus for creating sustainable infrastructure.

Purpose: The present study aims to understand the banking sector’s importance in developing sustainable economic growth through lending practices. The study recommends certain practices for increasing focussed lending towards sustainable projects.

Methodology: In this study, the authors developed prepositions based on a literature review. Significant issues were raised based on the lending policies per the guidelines of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and a solution was proposed by preparing a conceptual model.

Findings: The study offers a lending technique that can assist the financial sector in supporting sustainable economic growth.

When organizations engage in misconduct, social control agents play a crucial role in sanctioning them to show the enforcement of societal norms and reduce the risk of future deviance. We study the interaction between the government and the media, two key social control agents, in the evaluation organizational misconduct. While past work has focused on the influence of the media on the government, we theorize the influence of the government on the media. The government is a social control agent with supreme formal authority to punish misconduct, and thus its actions are of particular interest to the media as they form evaluations of misbehaving organizations. However, the government, tied by conflicting demands, sometimes turns a blind eye to misconduct and supports misbehaving organizations for the greater societal good, instead of punishing them. How is the media’s perception of misbehaving organizations affected by such government actions? We explore this question by looking at the case of the 2008 government bailout of investment banks in the United States, after those were caught red-handed for their involvement in the sub-prime financial crisis. Carrying out a content analysis of newspaper reporting (2007–2011), we show that the negative perception of investment banks and their misconduct is attenuated when they receive government support. Our work contributes to the emerging literature on the social construction of organizational misconduct and illuminates the interaction between government and media in the evaluation of behavior as organizational misconduct.

The Rajapaksa regime over the 2005–2022 period promoted a national-popular project based on a militarised Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism promoting a market-driven rentier economy. It illustrated a form of patrimonial capitalism undermining public accountability and the efficacy of the state bureaucracy. This popular-national project was dependent on strengthening ties with China while distancing relations with India and the Global North (USA and the EU). The ways in which the external relations were coordinated reinforced discrimination against Tamil and Muslim communities, while disregarding their demands for justice and reparations. The increasing integration of the economy with financial markets, driven by the Central Bank, amplified the commercialisation of the state, restraining public revenues and state oversight. Meanwhile, the militarisation of the state involved the commercialisation of the military, opaque military budgets and violent repression of protests. The Rajapaksa regime, which enabled a minority-privileged (leisure) class to culturally flourish in regulated safe spaces, also instigated multiple protests from below demanding democracy as well as justice.