This report covers seed stage financing for high growth companies in OECD and non-OECD countries with a primary focus on angel investment.

In a context of growing social and environmental concerns, the role of large enterprises and corporations in encouraging sustainability has drawn increasing attention in recent years. Both academic debates and public-opinion research have called into question the extended responsibilities of firms in our increasingly inter-connected world. By studying issues associated with the greatest challenges mankind is currently facing — from climate change to social exclusion — the scientific community is aware of the need to account for the actions and agendas of companies, especially large ones. They are becoming important global political actors with great power, but also unprecedented responsibilities. With this in mind, the authors believe that it is more important than ever that large enterprises, on the one hand, take into account the opinion of their stakeholder while defining their strategies and, on the other hand, disclose material and relevant information on their ability to contribute to sustainability while delivering value for all of their stakeholders. A consensus is being reached on the responsibility of large enterprises to report in a triple bottom perspective — not only on their financial performances, but also on their social and environmental outcomes. Consequently, it is important to understand what elements organizations need to report on in order to provide stakeholders with relevant and comprehensive sustainability reports. Against this background, this book presents a significant and original contribution, both empirically and theoretically, to the social and environmental accounting literature by studying the various features of stakeholder engagement in sustainability reporting.

Este libro nace con la intención de hacerle comprender al lector que la Responsabilidad Social Corporativa (RSC) es algo más que una moda y que es posible su implementación en la empresa de forma sencilla y práctica. La experiencia muestra que la RSC no se vive en la mayoría de las empresas por desconocimiento de su gestión y que muchos empresarios creen que supone un gasto, cuando en realidad se trata de una inversión. El cambio de visión hacia el equilibrio entre el desarrollo económico, social y medioambiental, tomando conciencia de la importancia de mantener conductas éticas para gestionar la imagen corporativa de forma transparente y honesta, ha sido la guía en la concepción y redacción de esta obra. En definitiva, explica cómo transmitir la gestión de la RSC y el impacto que tiene en la imagen de la empresa. En cuanto al contenido, los capítulos muestran una estructura similar. Constan de cinco apartados que recorren los conceptos esenciales de cada tema a tratado, abundando en el desarrollo de las cuestiones básicas que son necesarias para conocer el modelo de gestión de la RSC. Los contenidos teóricos se acompañan de un buen número de gráficos, figuras y tablas que ayudan a su comprensión. Además, se incluyen textos separados con ejemplos reales de empresas y opiniones de expertos. Los autores han elaborado una herramienta versátil de la que cada lector puede obtener el máximo beneficio dependiendo de sus necesidades y de la forma en que la utilice.

References: p.403-415.

The North American Mosaic has four overarching features. First, it is, to the extent feasible, based on comparable information on the status and trends of major indicators of the state of the environment in Canada,Mexico, and the United States. Second, the report confirms that these three countries together make up an incredibly complex, dynamic, and interconnected ecosystem in which humans play a dominant and decisive role. Third, the report raises important and sometimes disquieting questions concerning the sustainability of some current trends. Finally, the report is a reminder that our economic, social, and physical well-being are utterly dependent on the life-sustaining services provided by nature. This report emphasizes the importance of developing mutually compatible economic, social, and environmental goals and policies across the three-country region.

Going far beyond previous empirical work, John Kotter and James Heskett provide the first comprehensive critical analysis of how the "culture" of a corporation powerfully influences its economic performance, for better or for worse. Through painstaking research at such firms as Hewlett-Packard, Xerox, ICI, Nissan, and First Chicago, as well as a quantitative study of the relationship between culture and performance in more than 200 companies, the authors describe how shared values and unwritten rules can profoundly enhance economic success or, conversely, lead to failure to adapt to changing markets and environments. With penetrating insight, Kotter and Heskett trace the roots of both healthy and unhealthy cultures, demonstrating how easily the latter emerge, especially in firms which have experienced much past success. Challenging the widely held belief that "strong" corporate cultures create excellent business performance, Kotter and Heskett show that while many shared values and institutionalized practices can promote good performances in some instances, those cultures can also be characterized by arrogance, inward focus, and bureaucracy -- features that undermine an organization's ability to adapt to change. They also show that even "contextually or strategically appropriate" cultures -- ones that fit a firm's strategy and business context -- will not promote excellent performance over long periods of time unless they facilitate the adoption of strategies and practices that continuously respond to changing markets and new competitive environments. Fundamental to the process of reversing unhealthy cultures and making them more adaptive, the authors assert, is effective leadership. At the heart of this groundbreaking book, Kotter and Heskett describe how executives in ten corporations established new visions, aligned and motivated their managers to provide leadership to serve their customers, employees, and stockholders, and thus created more externally focused and responsive cultures.