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This chapter offers a dynamic model of authentic leadership that links authentic leadership to situational leadership theory and shows how dynamics in the academic environment, one of the most difficult settings that leaders face, can be addressed. Kindsiko and Vadi detail the concept of situational authenticity, which reveals how authentic leadership takes place via forms of sensing – sense-giving, sense-making, sense-breaking and sense-keeping – in work-related situations. The authors highlight questions for future research: Is sensing the key to success? Are situational ethics valid if they adapt to evolving circumstances? Are situational ethics, in effect, just another way of expressing relativism? If so, can that be reconciled with authentic leadership theory?

In this chapter, we discuss initiatives that aim to improve children’s literacy in low- and middle-income (LMI) countries through m-learning. These projects, predominantly introduced by governments and international aid organisations, often involve the provision of e-books and apps including game-based apps, to be used either inside or outside school. In some cases, lesson plans and content for teachers in poorly resourced schools are also delivered via mobile devices. After a general overview, we briefly describe a selection of projects with reference to m-learning and literacy theory and research. It is indicated in this chapter that the use of mobile devices to improve literacy opportunities for children in LMI countries has a great deal of potential but that, in many cases, there are limitations in pedagogical design and implementation practices, not to mention restricted views of what literacy is and might be for children in these locations.

This chapter discusses the utility of authentic leadership for the UN's Sustainable Development Goals and argues that the capacity-building value of authentic leadership enables change and improves performance. The authors view authentic leadership as a genuine, transparent, positive, ethical form of leadership that strives to address grand challenges. They outline its application in two cases: well-being (SDG3) and education (SDG4). Daskou and Tzokas conclude with a criticism of the value of authentic leadership in the successful delivery of the SDGs. Daskou and Tzokas recommend investigating how authentic leaders' balanced information processing and internalised moral perspective contribute to positive self-development, better education outcomes and well-being among students, educators and employees.

We believe that management and strategy scholars should engage in research around the role of informal economic activity in the perpetuation of poverty on the African continent.

We argue that the study of informal economic activity, because of its explicit and often purposefully created hidden nature, requires a new method of inquiry and we propose that the practice of hermeneutics provides such a method. Our chapter describes the foundations of hermeneutic research and outlines key principles to guide inquiry.

We move from a rigorous introduction to the general method (a form of hermeneutic investigation) and its implementation in the narrative interview. The chapter concludes with a set of practical guidelines to help researchers employ narrative interviews to uncover collective memory structures and gain deeper insight and real understanding of the workings of informal economies.

We believe this chapter will motivate management and strategy scholars to examine the role of informal economic activity in the perpetuation of poverty in Africa and provide a starting point for developing the tools necessary to engage in research that creates a real and deep understanding of the contexts of poverty on the African continent.

The origin of perfumery can be traced back to the true cradle of human civilization and culture in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. The world’s first referenced chemist was a perfumer named Tapputi-Belatekallim who lived in Babylon more than 3,000 years ago. She used her intimate knowledge of chemistry to develop various formulations and techniques to revolutionize the process of perfumery creation. Similarly, Ajmal is one of the first companies in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to have pioneered the science and art of perfumery creation. This case study describes the inspiring journey of Ajmal Perfumes which began in the farms of a small village located in Hojai, Assam, to becoming a world-class perfumer with a global reach of over 45 countries. From “Farm to Flacon,” (Flacon a.k.a glass bottle) the company’s perfect control over their seamless value chain has enabled them to sustainably grow their business while maintaining high standards of quality. Their performance across five major dimensions (finance, market, processes, people, and corporate social responsibility [CSR]) is used to gauge their success. In this case analysis, the strategic framework behind the success of Ajmal Perfumes is captured. Transformational Leadership (TL), Customer Centricity (CC), Intrapreneurial Behavior (IB), Total Quality Management (TQM), Innovation Success (IS), Absorptive Capacity (AC), and CSR are identified as their key drivers of success. A critical review of existing literature related to success drivers was also undertaken that brought forward knowledge gaps and future areas of research in the domain of TQM and AC.

The fact that the ME has been an area of conflicts throughout its history is an indication of its utmost relevance to the strategy formulations of major powers. The ME can be called “the land bridge of civilization” because it links Africa with Eurasia, and it has been the trade route of peoples from Asia, Africa, and Europe. Ancient empires, as well as contemporary major powers, have competed for power and influence in the region to enhance their relative economic and military positions. The discovery of oil in the region escalated the struggle among major powers, created societal dislocations, and increased internal and external conflicts. The ME has been the major artery of contact for over 3000 years (Weatherby, 2001, pp. 1–4). One hundred years ago, scholar-adventurer John L. Stoddard recognized this fact when he described a small portion of the region, Palestine. According to Stoddard, “Palestine has an area only a little larger than the state of Massachusetts, while Russia occupies one seventh of the habitable globe: yet in the scales of intellectuals and moral value the little province of Judea outweighs beyond comparison the empire of Czar” (Weatherby, 2001, pp. 1–4).