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Floods and landslide threats were addressed under the Frontline process in the city of Limbe, Southwestern Cameroon. The purpose of this paper is to present actions undertaken through building local community resilience to floods which are a major threat in the city, with impacts on the local community ranging from death to complete destruction of services and livelihoods.

The actions carried out were informed by the GNDR-supported Frontline survey conducted in 2015 in which the Lower Motowoh community rated floods as an important threat. A series of reflection and learning sessions with the community members was carried out to better understand the problem. Scoping studies on the causes and extent of floods along river Njengele were undertaken by GEADIRR and the community team.

The findings of this paper indicated that the main problem resulted from river channel blockage caused by indiscriminate dumping of refuse into the waterway and sediment deposition from upstream. Further reflection and action planning led to preparatory meetings between GEADIRR and ten community leaders. The unanimous action adopted was to dredge the river. Dredging was carried out in late April and early May of 2016 using a hired bulldozer.

Follow-up shows that after many years of misery from floods, often associated with the loss of loved ones and property, about 500 community residents who benefited from the action did not go through this dreadful ordeal again during the rains of 2016 and 2017. People are currently rebuilding on the reclaimed land which was previously abandoned due to flooding.

Current challenges include changing the mindset of community members about the adverse effects of indiscriminate dumping of household waste into the waterway. It was also a big challenge convincing some members of the community who felt that floods are a natural phenomenon unstoppable by man.

With the shifting patterns of rain and dry periods as a result of global climate change, the people of Gunungkidul have to deal with extreme conditions, such as crop failure, ponds and artificial lakes drying up at an alarming rate due to high evaporation. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Participatory disaster and risks assessment and action planning were carried out to identify how communities perceive risks and identify priorities of actions. Farmers agreed to implement climate adaptive farming which combines organic farming, biological pest control and drought-resistant seedlings from local varieties.

The processes to adaptation required collective actions, paradigm shift and it also constitutes trial and error processes. Acceptance to innovation is mostly one of the major challenges. Working with “contact” farmers and “advance” farmers is the key to the community organizing strategy for innovation and adaptation.

This case study is limited to the adaptation program funded by Indonesia Climate Change Trust Fund in four farmer groups in Purwosari Sub-District, GunungKidul district and Yogyakarta province, Indonesia.

Trainings and direct assistance to climate adaptive farming have benefitted the farmers that they are able to increase the farming production and reduce the risk of crop failure.

The demonstration plot has strengthened farmer groups’ social modalities by working together to shift from traditional into adaptive farming.

This case study described how farmers have shifted from traditional practice into climate adaptive farming.

The purpose of this paper is to outline the iterative process which led to the production of the case studies prepared by Civil Society Organisations which are at the core of this Special issue.

The development of the papers has been a process of “case study authors” peer group (editors included) exchange and discussed development, in a reactive or “stepwise” process encouraging authors to develop their material to reflect very varied contexts and cases related to community-driven actions and vulnerabilities.

The collaborative process has enabled authors to develop and share both the breadth and depth of complex local issues that address emerging vulnerabilities and barriers to community-driven action.

Encouraging local authors to critically explore their local experience and action has deepened our understanding of how communities actually assess and address their local reality and the challenges they face, whether these are locally considered as “disasters” or not, or indeed seen as long-term evolving risks and threats to survival.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between effective knowledge management and corporate performance, to explore the dynamic symbiosis phenomenon of effective knowledge management based on organizational ecology with multinational companies (MNCs) and non-multinational companies (non-MNCs) and to explore the symbiosis strategy of knowledge management between multinational and non-multinational companies (non-MNCs) in China.

To measure effective knowledge management, this paper first uses structural equation model to measure knowledge management, based on the evolution dynamics equation in organizational ecology to measure the effectiveness of knowledge management, and studies the symbiosis of effective knowledge management between MNCs and non-MNCs based on ecological perspective.

Effective knowledge management can promote the financial performance of enterprises, but different degrees of effectiveness have different effects. In addition, the coupling and collaboration between knowledge management and corporate performance can reflect the value of effective knowledge management. The results show that effective knowledge management plays a positive moderating effect between knowledge management and corporate performance. Finally, the effective knowledge management system of MNCs (non-MNCs) has negative effect on non-MNCs (MNCs), showing the exclusive relationship between MNCs and non-MNCs in China.

The effectiveness of knowledge management is only based on the measurement of financial performance coupling. For other types of performance, it needs to be tested. The samples may not cover symbiosis relationship of effective knowledge management in other countries.

This paper provides practical and theoretical reference for confirming the symbiotic interaction and identifying the opportunities and challenges of knowledge management among different types of corporation groups.

The paper is one of the pioneering studies to explore the pattern of symbiotic evolution of effective knowledge management between MNCs and non-MNCs. From completely new perspectives, this study advances the research of knowledge management to a new and promising area.

The purpose of this paper is to examine insurers’ and intermediaries’ perceptions of the response to Thailand's non‐life insurance industry to deregulation.

This research paper is based on existing literature and consultation with industry experts, resulting in the development of a 13‐variable questionnaire on perceptions of the local non‐life insurance industry's response to deregulation. A convenience sampling technique was used for the survey respondents, who comprised two groups (insurers and intermediaries), involved in the non‐life insurance industry in Thailand. Factor analysis was applied to the 246 responses to provide some exploratory analysis of underlying factors that account for the patterns among the variables.

The results of the factor analysis derived four factors that explain the perceptions of insurers and intermediaries to the response of local non‐life insurance industry to deregulation. The four factors include survival, alliance, local knowledge, and mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Furthermore, the findings indicate that whereas insurers perceived that survival would be the highest priority for local insurers, it was considered to be a secondary priority by the intermediaries. The latter group perceived that alliances and local knowledge were the most significant priorities for local insurance companies after deregulation.

The data gathered for the study are limited to the perceptions of two respondent groups from one industry. Moreover, this paper did not consider the views of policy makers or the variables that relate to or are caused by deregulation factors. Therefore, future research may extend these findings to other industries, countries, and respondents to provide a more general application.

The research findings offer managerial implications for both insurers and intermediaries and also implications for researchers on refocusing their efforts in managing non‐life insurance companies. Local insurers should improve and generate factors such as financial strength, accurate pricing, innovative sale methods, an understanding of the local culture, and alliances with other industries.

The paper presents an original insight into an important element of insurers’ and intermediaries’ perspectives on response of local insurance companies after deregulation to the Thai non‐life insurance industry.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the key drivers and challenges to supply chain collaboration in the humanitarian sector; to appraise the relationships between international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) and local non-governmental organizations (LNGOs) during disaster relief; and to explore the humanitarian context in regard to supply chain collaboration.

Literature from both the commercial and humanitarian sectors is discussed in the context of vertical partnerships. A Jordanian study spanning a network of 26 international and LNGOs is explored via semi-structured interviews.

The research provides valuable insights on the challenges facing LNGOs and INGOs when developing partnerships. Contextual factors, including host governmental policies and the social-economic setting of a disaster directly affect the motivations for supply chain collaboration between LNGOs and INGOs.

The research is built on interviewees with 30 humanitarian professionals working in one country during an extended crisis. The majority of the empirical data are only from one actor’s perspective, thus further research into dyadic and network relationships is required. Approaches to addressing the diverse cultural and decision-making perspectives of LNGOs and INGOs warrant further investigation.

Recognizing the motives and challenges to vertical partnerships between LNGOs and INGOs will assist the managers, both at the strategic and operational levels, to find solutions and evolve strategies to build effective partnerships. Compromise and consideration for partner’s drivers and cultural views are essential for effective joint humanitarian relief initiatives.

This paper extends supply chain collaboration to a humanitarian context. Overcoming the challenges facing collaborative efforts and complementary nature of the drivers provide a means to achieve effective partnerships. Despite the uniqueness of the humanitarian context, such as the secondary nature of cost and dynamic demand, the core principles of collaboration still hold.

Drawing upon the theoretical framework of the service-dominant (S-D) logic, value co-creation and social practices, this paper aims to investigate how value is co-created among guests, hosts and the wider local community in the sharing economy context of Airbnb.

A qualitative enquiry through an online content analysis was applied to thematically analyse Airbnb online guest reviews to explore the value-co-creation practices in local tourist experiences in Jamaica.

Based on Airbnb guest and host engagements, a theoretical framework emerges, depicting integrated operant and operand resources, host–guest value co-creation practices embedded in the destination’s authentic culture and specific value outcomes.

Being grounded in the geographical and cultural context of Airbnbs in Jamaica, the findings are transferable to similar platforms of the sharing economy, tourism contexts and destinations.

Critical implications unfold for Airbnb accommodation providers, destination stakeholders and policymakers by revealing a specific set of nuanced social practices that need to occur for local authentic experiences and value to be co-created among guests, hosts and the wider local community.

The paper makes an original contribution to knowledge by being one of the first studies to apply a S-D logic lens to the Airbnb sharing economy. It breaks down resource integration, host – guest value co-creation practices and value outcomes that occur for experiences and value to emerge in an Airbnb hospitality context.

The purpose of this paper is to study a multi-institutional and multi-layer nature of open data-driven communication processes that provide a collaborative platform to meet the interests of various stakeholders in advancing public sector innovations, namely, government agents, citizens, independent developers, non-governmental organizations, mass media and businesses alike and understand an important role of mutually beneficial public–private partnerships in the area.

This is a case study research, which itself is based on a combinative approach, especially in applying, in a successive order, two methods of investigation, namely, stakeholder and policy analysis. In general, the combination of these two research techniques is useful in understanding the most important collaborative trends in the area and locating key institutional drivers and challenges that open data policymakers face today in implementing related digital collaborative and participatory platforms.

The open data concept could provide a promising collaborative platform to network various e-government stakeholders and accelerate related technology-driven public reforms. The successful implementation of the idea demands a fairly equal contribution from representatives of both public and private sectors of economy. The case has also clearly demonstrated the importance of cooperation with the local non-governmental sector, independent developers and journalists, whose active participation is a key factor for the overall progress of the open data phenomenon, to a greater degree, as a collaborative movement rather than an instrument of public sector innovations.

One of the fundamental limitations of the investigation is that it is a single case study. It explores the development of open data phenomena in the context of such an advanced post-industrial society as Finland. In this regard, in order to support key arguments of the research, it is necessary to compare its findings with the results of similar case studies in other administrative, political and socioeconomic settings, which would open new promising dimensions for future research in this direction.

Policy recommendations are proposed by the author in the discussion section, which could help, for example, to boost information campaigns in popularizing open data technologies and its reuse among independent developers. A lot of unique visualizations and illustrations are presented in the paper to help readers grasp better key ideas of the research. In this respect, the paper is intended for a global professional community of open data experts, e-government specialists, political scientists, journalists, lawyers, students of public policy and public administration and all those who are interested in studying the phenomenon from the perspective of its key stakeholders.

The author of the paper tried to develop a universal framework of case study research that could be used in investigating phenomena of open data not only in Finland but also in the context of other post-industrial societies, especially in analyzing roles of various stakeholders in adopting open data-driven collaborative and civic engagement platforms and startups.

This research presents a first case study that investigates a collaborative potential of open data phenomena from a stakeholder perspective in a more holistic manner, especially in analyzing professional networking platforms and related communication activities that meet the interests of stakeholders as diverse as government agents and journalists, independent developers and academia, charities and businesses in an attempt to better understand the fundamental factors of the open data movement as a collaborative socioeconomic trend.

This study aims to examine the effect on firms’ new product development (NPD) and significant product modification of knowledge interaction with local and non-local knowledge actors.

This study draws insights from the literature on external knowledge sources. The negative binomial regression is used to analyse the data of 245 sample food-processing establishments in Thailand.

Local knowledge actors play only limited roles in enhancing food-processing establishments’ product innovations. Only knowledge interaction with local universities and public research organisations helps enhance establishments’ ability to modify their products. For the NPD, significant sources of knowledge are non-local industrial actors.

This study adds new empirical evidence on knowledge sources for innovation of low-tech firms in less developed countries. It contributes new findings to an on-going debate on the importance of local vs non-local knowledge sources on firms’ innovativeness. It also contributes some implications for the Thai Government’s cluster-based innovation strategy.

This paper seeks to demonstrate a unique project with tsunami height poles and disaster education to maintain disaster awareness for several decades in the area where the Indian Ocean tsunami caused significant damage in 2004.

A case study approach is utilized combined with field observation, participatory observation and a general literature review of relevant studies and secondary sources.

The major finding is that the unique device of 85 tsunami height poles was brought from the outside to Banda Aceh city so that people may remember the impact of the tsunami over a longer period of time when awareness is likely to reduce. As local people gradually understood the significance of the poles, the number of local cooperators increased and the project's impact improved significantly.

The long‐term impact of the disaster resilience is yet to be verified in Banda Aceh city. The field research results of the project's process and impact immediately connected with grassroots practice with people to maintain disaster awareness and resilence for the city. The practice to which the Hyogo Framework for Action gives priority connects with building understanding of tsunami risk and disaster awareness with local knowledge, assimilated by preserving disaster records and visualizing disaster.

The paper describes a field‐based project in Banda Aceh city and the suburb, Indonesia, which was implemented in cooperation with local communities, local non‐government organizations, local school boards and specialists from Kyoto University, Japan. Thus, the study findings are directly related to its practical implications.

The paper highlights how the device of 85 tsunami height poles which were built in order to visualize disaster and maintain disaster awareness under the concept, blended an expert's unique idea with old Japanese knowledge in Banda Aceh city by the local community in Indonesia in June 2007. The paper shows that local ideas maintain living knowledge and lessons with sustainable development in the local place after the project had finished and recommendations can apply to the other tsunami affected areas.