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This paper is prepared from the perspective of civil society and under the context of true democracy, where civil society directly participates in the public matter on a permanent basis, so that the public and private interests are reconciled and governments are made to truly work for all ranks of society and not for the owners of capital. The very concept of social responsibility is currently at the threshold dividing its future between remaining a corporate tool used by corporations to look good, without really doing the public good, or becoming a valuable instrument of civil society to make business become socially and environmentally responsible, in such a way that generates a meaningful net contribution to the sustainability of the planet. The social responsibility of business and what it should be remains very much in debate (White, 2005). For the overwhelming majority of business entities and governments, it is a voluntary option and not a legal or even a moral obligation. This has been the unrelenting position of business, which has been enthusiastically endorsed by governments, where most elected officials in high‐power positions have been the direct beneficiaries of great amounts of corporate money for their political campaigns. For civil society, in contrast, the social responsibility of business is an instrument to make corporations behave responsibly according to the standards defined by civil society at large, through due democratic process, and not according to standards conveniently selected by business (de Regil, 2005:17). In Iberian America, the most unequal region in the world, the need to make both domestic and global corporations practice a social and environmentally‐sustainable economic activity is far more urgent than elsewhere. In this region, a neocolonial business culture pervasively remains entrenched. Since the abandonment, in the 1980s, of endogenous social and economic development, aimed at developing a growing domestic market through aggregate demand to gradually include more people into the middle social strata, the region has returned, in many aspects, to times reminiscent of late Nineteen Century ‐ with the imposition of neoliberal economics globalisation ‐ when many people worked under conditions of slavery. As has been unfolding in many parts of the world, including the G7 countries, Iberian America is today back into an era reminiscent of the robber barons of the Gilded Age. Yet it has occurred in a far more pervasive and vicious way, as a result of a far more intolerant, racist and plutocratic mentality of the upper class, which has systematically jeopardised the development of a true democratic ethos. In this way, civil society in the region has begun to use and develop some CSR concepts in attempting to put in check the activity of business. However, the outright abandonment of Iberian American governments of their most basic and preeminent democratic responsibility ‐ to procure the welfare of every rank of society, especially the disposed ‐ is so extreme, that the concept of CSR may be too little and too late to do any good.

The purpose of this paper is to address the subject of work attitude drivers within the current scenario considering two influencing factors, culture and generation. Both membership of a particular generation and membership of a particular culture can affect individuals' work attitudes. The study considers these two factors in order to analyse five dimensions that are sources of work attitudes: life project, professional ethics, and attitude towards authority, leadership and commitment to the company.

Drawing upon a sample of almost one thousand people from various Ibero‐American countries, the results show significant differences between generations and cultures, particularly when focusing on the life project.

Among its conclusions, the paper points out that Latin America cannot be viewed as a homogenous whole in terms of individual work attitude. On the contrary, it is characterised by a significant degree of national diversity and managers should take this into account when designing initiatives to improve employee motivation.

The contribution that this paper seeks to make is to include the cross‐cultural perspective in the study of attitudes towards work, which has received less attention in previous studies.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the developments in resource sharing in Latin America.

The approach is based on research carried out in a number of countries in Latin America financed and supported by a number of organizations, including the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), The International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publication (INASP) and The International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC).

Dominance of English language databases, publications and indexing has notably created a barrier for access and entry of Spanish language publications in Latin America. The consortia project encountered barriers of language and infrastructure, conflicts with trade barriers, the value of forming consortia and the values of literacy. Prospects of positive change were noted with engagement in electronic resources.

One of the very few studies of developments in resource sharing in Latin America with an excellent apparatus of Web sites and references.

This paper aims to determine the level of awareness and implementation of family‐responsible parameters: policies, enablers, practices, and culture, in Spanish and Latin‐American companies, and how they impact work‐life balance.

The study uses data from different national IESE's Family‐Responsible Employer Index surveys in Spain (1,000 companies) and five Latin‐American countries (1,155 companies), Brazil, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador and Peru, done between 2006 and 2008. This is a structured questionnaire that assesses the stage of development the organization is in regarding four main family‐responsible parameters: policies, enablers, practices, and culture.

Latin‐American countries get a slightly higher number of companies that are fully supportive of work‐family balance environment than Spain, but with lesser formal policies implemented and a stronger presence of enablers and practices. Policies are important but might not be as effective if not accompanied by the example of managers and staff as well as by a deep understanding of the cultural value placed by them on work, family and personal life.

The survey‐based data used limits insight into causal relationships. Qualitative and longitudinal studies are needed in order to clarify motives for individual and organizational decisions regarding work‐life initiatives. Data collected are from one source only: employer's management. Multi‐source studies must follow and include the public sector.

This is the first comparison between Spanish companies and companies from five Latin‐American countries regarding work‐family policies, enablers, practices and culture with such an ample number of companies. Findings will aid HRD practitioners in developing work‐family initiatives and help researchers to address new questions in cross‐cultural comparisons.

This chapter elaborates on entrepreneurship in developed and developing countries and focuses on the optimization of entrepreneurial activities. Various scenarios are considered: independent functioning of the market, integration in the form of reorganization (mergers and acquisitions), integration in the form of clustering, and integration in the form of innovational networks and technological parks. The optimal structure of the integration processes and best-case scenarios for its implementation to accelerate the rate and increase the quality of economic growth are substantiated. The potential for uptake of integration processes in stimulating economic growth through entrepreneurship is determined by the level of institutionalization in an economy. In developed countries, all forms of company integration are characterized by the high level of institutionalization, which allows for their effective use for economic growth. Independent companies, mergers, and acquisitions restrain economic growth and reduce its quality, while clusters, technological parks, and innovational networks accelerate the rate of economic growth and increase its quality. In developing countries, integration processes in entrepreneurship have a different influence on economic growth and require further institutionalization.