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This paper aims to focus on academics in three private foreign universities located in Cairo (Egypt) to explore the influence of organizational learning (OL) on the level of organizational resilience of academics with and without the mediating effect of a multi-stakeholder network.

The authors used a comprehensive count sampling in which every academic was handed a questionnaire form to fill. This led to a decrease in the likelihood of research bias. In total, the authors distributed 960 questionnaire forms and collected 576 completed questionnaires, which is almost more than 60% of the total population. The authors used structural equation to determine the effect of OL on academics’ level of organizational resilience. The same equation was later used to assess the mediating role of the multi-stakeholder network on the aforementioned relationship.

The findings highlight a statistically significant influence of OL on academics’ level of organizational resilience. Moreover, the results revealed the significant role of the multi-stakeholder network in mediating the relationship between OL and organizational resilience.

This paper contributes by filling a gap in human resource management and organization literature in the higher education sector, in which empirical studies on the relationship between OL, multi-stakeholder networks and organizational resilience have been limited until now.

This paper examines the accountability and governance mechanisms and the challenges in a multi-stakeholder partnership seeking to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a developing country (DC), namely Tanzania.

The paper draws on work on the shift from government to governance to meta-governance to examine the SDGs framework's governance regime. The data stems from documentation, focussed group discussions and face-to-face interviews with key stakeholders involved in the localisation of SDGs in Tanzania.

Despite the emphasis given by promoters of SDGs on the need for multi-stakeholder engagement, and network and market-based governance, Tanzania's hierarchical governance framed in national legislations dominated the localisation of the SDGs. The national-level meta-governance structures were somewhat dysfunctional, partly due to a lack of well-designed coordination mechanisms for collaborative engagement with key stakeholders. The limited involvement of different meta-governors, and particularly network and market-based governance arrangements, has had severe implications for achieving the SDGs in DCs in general and Tanzania, in particular.

The paper calls for a more explicit SDG policy and strategy, alongside strengthening institutional structures and related governance arrangements in Tanzania, to promote the realisation of the SDGs. For the SDGs framework to succeed, the authors suggest that, in addition to adopting SDG friendly policies, the Tanzanian government should devise plans for financial resources, strategies for empowering and engaging with key stakeholders and promote an integrative governance system that underpins accountability at the local level.

Focussing on Tanzania, the paper sheds light on how context in DCs, interactions between state and non-state actors, modes of governance and accountability mechanisms shape the localisation of SDGs and realising the SDGs' agenda. The implementation in Tanzania focussed on priorities in the development plan, thereby neglecting some important SDGs. This raises doubts about the possibility of meeting the SDGs by 2030. The localisation of SDGs remained within the top-down governance structure, as Tanzania's government failed to enact the policy and strategy for multi-stakeholder partnership consistent with the SDGs' principle of “leave no-one behind”. Consequently, meta-governors' efforts and ability to monitor and demand accountability from the government was constrained by the political context, the governance system and regulations enacted to side-line them.

This chapter focuses on an innovative effort in the Italian context in which a complex web of partnerships was created as the foundation of an alternative model of health care. More specifically, the start-up of a health-care organization – Welfare Italia Servizi (WIS) – is analyzed and discussed with respect to its sustainability.

The process of organizing a sustainable health care is analyzed through the theoretical lenses of multi-stakeholders management and partnership perspectives.

The possibility of developing dense knowledge about the WIS’s case has stemmed from our collaboration with the organization board with regard to a research process intended to monitor the organizational start-up and its sustainability challenges.

The case provides new insights into the dynamic nature of building multi-stakeholder partnership in a complex environment; the developmental life-cycle challenge of multi-stakeholder partnership, and the meaning of sustainability. The case suggests a tapestry of issues such as how sustainability may be “paradoxical,” dynamic, led by different and sometimes conflicting logics, and changeable over time like a growing tree in an intricate forest.

The case can stimulate learning and discussions both within the community of practitioners and the community of academics with respect to which promising conditions could help address the challenge of starting-up a sustainable organization in the health-care field.

This study aims to explore the challenges and complexities of interaction in international stakeholder networks within the context of projects focused on the implementation of sustainable development goals (SDGs). In particular, it examines the challenges faced by stakeholders in a network from a developed country during interaction in the context of a developing country.

Using a qualitative approach, this study analyses interview data collected from the key managers of an international consulting company in charge of a water supply and sanitation project in Nepal. The primary data is triangulated with secondary data, such as project reports and related academic articles.

This study illustrates how interaction in international stakeholder networks affects and is interrelated with SDGs, as well as how aiming to achieve one specific goal can stimulate the implementation of other sustainable goals. Further, this research shows how project managers from a developed country had to adapt to the specifics of the developing country context and how their sustainability project influenced the well-being of local communities by improving environmental and social sustainability.

The research suggests that challenges in stakeholder interaction may arise because of differences in process management methods used by the international stakeholders involved in the project and country-context specifics, such as corruption, imperfect national regulations, cultural specifics, effects of climate change, etc.

The paper contributes to the literature on international multi-stakeholder interaction between actors from developed and developing countries. Furthermore, it adds to the literature on stakeholder networking by highlighting the importance of engaging in a dialogue with local communities during the conceptualisation stages of both sustainability and SDG implementation because of diverging worldviews and practices.

This chapter analyses the multiple embeddedness of MNEs, and their participation in solving contemporary societal issues. We aim to increase understanding on the relational processes and network dynamics present in MNEs’ participation in cross-sector partnerships.

Our study addresses the issue of the poor ecological state of the Baltic Sea and illustrates the early developments in cross-sector collaboration. We build on a single exploratory case study of the cooperation of one MNE (IBM) with an environmental NGO (BSAG) in Finland. We analyse how participation in the cross-sector collaboration manifests itself in the external and internal networks of the MNE.

We show that an initiative by the NGO to participate in environmental work was actively adopted within the MNE and led to network changes. These changes concerned both the activation of existing links and the establishment of new links with such actors as authorities and research institutes. The NGO acted as a catalyser and cultural mediator to create a bridge between the MNE and governmental actors.

There is a need to investigate cross-sector collaboration in other contexts – particularly from the perspective of MNEs and (international) business networks. Questions such as how do enduring (business and socio-political) relationships emerge from MNE’s participation in issue networks and how technology that has been developed to solve a specific societal issue may be translated into commercial solutions are especially promising. We also urge scholars to investigate the ties, texture and dynamics (including tensions) of business relationships with those of public actors and civil society.

Participation in cross-sector initiatives may grant an MNE a forerunner position in the creation of new sustainable markets and technologies. It may also create an opportunity to influence policymakers and build new socio-political networks. From the perspective of a subsidiary of an MNE, engagement with cross-sector partnerships may strengthen its voice within the MNE network.

Our study contributes to the understanding of the relationship dynamics between actors in cross-sector collaboration around a societal (environmental) issue. Our analysis illustrates the embeddedness of MNE networks, where actions in the regional and global networks (the representatives of the headquarters) overlap with and strengthen the local actions of the subsidiary.

This chapter investigates the origins of cross-sectoral collaboration by exploring when and why policy networks form within the Turkish health sector – a least likely case for network formation. The analysis presented here draws on information collected from a number of official documents, semi-structured interviews with professional experts, and two multi-stakeholder meetings. Timewise, networks entered the policy jargon during the introduction of the Health Transformation Program in 2003. Yet, the years between 2011 and 2015 were ground-breaking in producing concrete cross-sectoral collaborative instruments of policy making. The findings of the analysis reveal that policy networks form as a result of central government’s choice to devolve responsibility and expand the policy space with new issues and actors. Moreover, policy networks emerge not only during the times of policy change which has a reactionary, abrupt, and nature but also during the times of policy stability and legitimacy. These contextual factors are crucial in maintaining an atmosphere of trust among stakeholders, particularly between state and non-state actors. The refugee crisis and spreading securitization discourse in the post-2015 period explain the shifting policy and political agenda leading to public sector retrenchment from cross-sectoral projects within the field of health. This chapter intends to contribute to the literature of comparative public policy by examining the link between policy networks and policy change in addition to adding to the debates on network governance by exploring the processes of network formation. Finally, this chapter contributes to Turkish studies by examining the process of network formation within the Turkish health sector.

The purpose of this paper is to assist the United Nations Regional Centres of Expertise (RCEs) in continuing their fundamental work within the region and to address some of the prominent challenges within the RCE community. Specific RCE case studies from the global network were employed, emphasizing experiences in collaboration with multiple stakeholders including higher education institutions.

Conducting a literature review and employing a qualitative research methodology with the use of a guided questionnaire, the paper aims to gain a deeper understanding of the operations of RCEs in general and more specifically the case studies.

The paper shows some of the strategies implemented by the cohort of case studies to overcome their common challenges. Key recommendations based on the findings are made in its quest for continual development and final conclusions assessing the contentious challenges are drawn.

This paper focuses on RCEs within Europe, with cases from the USA and Canada for comparison. Although the paper highlights common themes and challenges, it is highly probable that RCEs outside of the studied regions may contend with similar challenges; further research would have to be conducted to assess the wider scope of the situation.

The paper gives an external perspective of the challenges faced and identifies some areas in which improvements could be made. It is also generated from information gathered from multi-case study RCEs.

The purpose of this paper is to propose incorporating another theoretical perspective enabling corporate social responsibility (CSR) to be approached more structurally and with correspondingly broader impacts. Despite CSR being associated with competitive advantage and providing recognised sustainability related benefits, it is argued that the individual CSR results of each company and community acting separately remain insufficient not only in terms of individual competitiveness but also in terms of achieving a global and systemic improvement.

It is from this perspective that the clusters concept and the territorial social responsibility (SR) concept are advanced as susceptible to bringing important insights for advancing SR. This article seeks to reflect on the potential of SR networks for strengthening competitiveness and bringing about sustainable development. Based upon a theoretical review of the CSR literature, limitations are discussed before setting out alternative action strategies for the construction of networks focusing upon generating territorial dynamics within the logic of global sustainability.

The idea of CSR clusters and territorial SR presupposes groupings of companies located in the same territory and engaged in some degree of interaction with other local actors to optimise practices contributing towards sustained regional development in an integrated and global perspective. The definition of social goals shared by different actors structured within a network thus improves the design and implementation of actions that extend beyond a micro-scale of action, with significant benefits accruing to local communities. Analysis of these forms of social innovation, based on integrated CSR networks, constitutes the central objective of the present research.

This theoretical perspective is, in turn, based upon the assumption that only the consideration of a wider and more extensive conception of CSR, which aligns and guides various social actors (companies, civil society organisations and local authorities) and seeks to nurture integrated SR networks, will be able to drive development characterised by significant higher levels of sustainability.

These concepts (SR clusters and territorial SR) presuppose groupings of companies located in the same territory and engaged in some degree of interaction with other local actors are able to optimise practices contributing towards sustained regional development from an integrated and global perspective. The definition of social goals shared by different actors structured within a network thus improves the design and implementation of actions that extend beyond a micro-scale of action, with significant benefits accruing to local communities.

Considering a larger scope of intervention, connecting different social actors (companies, civil society organisations and local authorities) and working for the construction of a development model based on the concept of sustainability constitute the relevance of clusters to CSR and the SR of territories.

This article highlights the position that SR, to have any effective and widespread impact, has to extend beyond isolated actions uncoordinated with overall territorial development. The challenge involves establishing a connection between the business level and civil society organisations in which each acts within their own spheres and with their respective specific competences and skills whilst able to ensure cooperation and engagement in actions focussed upon improving the quality of life of the host community and bringing about cluster development in overall terms. This theoretical perspective is, in turn, based upon the assumption that only the consideration of a wider and more extensive conception of CSR, which aligns and guides various social actors (companies, civil society organisations and local authorities) and seeks to nurture integrated SR networks, will be able to drive development characterised by significantly higher levels of sustainability.

In this chapter, we discuss the case of the Knowledge Network for Applied Education Research (KNAER) to illustrate the context for evidence-informed practice (EIP) in Ontario, Canada. KNAER (www.knaer-recrae.ca) is an initiative to strengthen relationships between research producers, users, and the communities that schools serve to improve outcomes for students in four priority areas: mathematics, equity, well-being, and Indigenous knowledge. As developmental evaluators for KNAER from 2017 to 2019, we reference and integrate two main sources of data: a research model created to inform the network's planning and activities, and semistructured interviews with network leaders (N = 11) and policymakers (N = 3). Reflecting on our findings, we discuss five key lessons for EIP: the need to build reciprocal streets of engagement, the need to shift data use from accountability and compliance to partnership learning, the need to coproduce and identify specific entry points of change, the need to focus on capacity building and leveraging brokers across partnerships, and the need to use communication as a problem-solving tool to assess and adjust innovations and implementation rather than passive reports of activities.