Sustainable entrepreneurship and the Sustainable Development Goals: Community-led initiatives,the social solidarity economy and commons ecologies

The social solidarity economy is an approach to the production and consumption of goods, services and knowledge that promises to address contemporary economic, social and environmental crises more effectively than business as usual. The paper employs the concept of commons ecologies to examine the practices, relationships and interactions among actors and organisations in the social solidarity economy, as well as between them and the mainstream economy, which shape the field and its degree of autonomy in relation to capitalism, through a process defined as boundary commoning. Such process shapes both local and regional commons ecologies, as well as the participation of local and regional actors in wider networks at national, international and global levels. The paper takes a case study-based approach to identify practices, relationships and interactions of commons ecologies in relation to selected community-led initiatives in the UK, Portugal, Brazil and Senegal. Each case study illuminates different qualities of local/regional commons ecologies and their forms of engagement with wider networks. Further, the paper shows that these cases demonstrate how the social solidarity economy may facilitate delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals in a distinctive way. In each case, SSE acts as a vehicle for expressing participants' values and principles consistent with those underlying the SDGs. Local implementation of SDGs is thus an in-built feature of these commons ecologies. The participation of community-led initiatives in international and global networks offers opportunities to learn from local level experiences and successes, potentially strengthening SDG implementation more generally.     

Unstructuring incompetence: problems of contracting, trust and the development of the channel tunnel

This paper examines aspects of the contractual relationship between the principal actors in the construction of the Channel Tunnel. Based on interviews with key participants and a wealth of public and semi-public documentary data, the paper presents a case study illustrating the interconnect-edness of contractual form, process and trust, and the management and performance of complex, large-scale technological projects. Theoretically, the research is informed by, a cross-disciplinary approach, taking in contributions to the management of complexig and interrfirm relationships associated with the markets and hierarchies debate in economics and in organization theory, and research on the management of scale from the technology policy and project management literatures. More specifically, the paper builds upon Stinchcombe's findings that:(a) contrary to the Williamsonian view contracts between firms are employed in the practice of administering complex undertakings (i.e. rather than 'hierarchy' but (b) to enable such contracting to perform effectively, 'hierarchical'features are devised by the parties in a bid to 'structure' their joint 'incompetence' at managing the unknowns and unknowables of complex projects, and of selecting appropriate contract forms, In the case of the Channel Tunnel development, the nature of the various contractual arrangements is described. An evaluation of the extent and qua& of hierarchical aspects o f the contractual relationship between Eurotunnel, TML (the principal constructing contractor), financial, governmental and other organizations is conducted. This is carried out in terms of the ease or diffculty experienced in managing changes in design specfication, monitoring work that was executed or resoluing disputes over the interpretation of contractor performance criteria, for example. Ultimately, the paper points up the extent to which differing expecta-tions from the project, adversarial contractual relations and lack of trust between the client and the main contractor (against a background of 'fast track development' contributed to problems of cost-effectively designing, constructing and coordinating Channel Tunnel technology. The conclusions serve to indicate how and why hierarchical elements of contracts may exacerbate 'incompetence' in the management of complex or large-scale technology projects, rather than 'structure' it, to the detriment Of overall project performance.     

Rethinking constructive technology assessment as democratic, reflective, discourse

This paper conceives technology assessment potentially to be a constructively democratic, reflective and discursive process. The paper reviews selected literature focusing on the notion and practice of constructive technology assessment (CTA). CTA aims to produce better technology in a better society, and emphasises the early involvement of a broad array of actors to facilitate social learning about technology and potential impacts. The paper presents a new perspective of CTA based on a discussion of contiguous research on the social implications and control of technology, reflexivity and reflection in the ‘risk society’ (Beck), and on public understanding and participation in science and technology. The paper concludes that the future development of CTA is well served by improved articulation or revision of core elements of the approach, for example by emphasising a concern for interaction and socio-technical criticism based on democratic principles. In addition, to conceive of CTA as a discursive activity may facilitate the analysis of the limitations in practice on the role of non-experts participating in technology assessment and the capacity for self-reflection of all actors.     

Political construction and control of technology: wave-power renewable energy technologies

Recognizing that gouernment-sponsored research, development and demonstration (R,D&D) is a rentral factor in the construction of new technologies, this paper analyzes selected aspects of the relationships between government officials, 'private' businesses and technologists, within the process of technolog development. Building on precious zoork in the social construction of technology tradition for example, of Hughes, Pinch and Biker) and in technology policy and decision-making theoy (for example, of Collingridge and Morone and Woodhouse), and using the case of wave-power R&D in the UK; the paper identifies characteristics of embryonic technological artefacts and their institutional contexts which tend to bias the socio-political construction process. The key to the paper is the extent to which such distortions lead to unwise, uneconomical and/or unfair innovations or hinder learning about seemingly inflexible technologies, which could help to reduce their complexity, scale or cost.     

Changing the rules? Institutional innovation and the diffusion of microgeneration

The paper addresses the question of how institutional change relates to the diffusion of microgeneration energy technologies in the UK, posed in a research project comprising interviews with thirty-one respondents connected with the field of microgeneration in the UK. It analyses the nature of institutional rules in the prevailing regime of electricity generation and in microgeneration niches. It examines how such rules might facilitate systems innovation, or contribute to the maintenance of the prevailing system or partial change. The conclusions of the paper inform and deepen understanding of how conformity to or innovation in institutional rules may hamper or potentially contribute to diffusion of environmentally sustainable microgeneration of energy.     

On Constructive Technology Assessment and Limitations on Public Participation in Technology Assessment

The paper reviews selected literature on the theory and practice of constructive technology assessment (CTA), which represents a promising approach for managing technology through society. CTA emphasises the involvement and interaction of diverse participants to facilitate ‘upstream’ (or anticipatory) learning about possible impacts of technology and socially robust decision-making. The paper seeks to identify limitations of CTA, as these relate to the broadening of debate about nascent, controversial technology. In particular, it considers the relevance of CTA to the achievement of more democratic decision-making about technology. In addition, the paper directs attention towards differences in participants' discursive capacities and rhetorical skills that may affect the role and contribution of non-expert citizens in technology assessment. The paper draws upon the debate between Habermas and Foucault to suggest promising avenues for future research based on technology assessment conceptualised as discourse. It concludes that the theory and practice of CTA may be improved by addressing explicitly possible structural limitations on the broadening of debate, whilst invoking a notion of technology assessment as discourse to point up cultural, subjective or cognitive limitations on agency.     

Managing Large-scale IT Projects: The Case of National Air Traffic Services' New En Route Centre at Swanwick

UK experience with implementation of high-profile IT projects has been rather unhappy, with projects tending to be severely delayed, to operate poorly and to be prone to escalating costs. There is therefore a need to understand better and to improve the management of such investments. This paper adopts a synthetic approach to analysing large-scale IT projects, drawing upon research on managing inflexible technology, project management and information technology implementation. The paper combines findings from these literatures to produce a detailed set of factors that are known to adversely affect ambitious software and other large-scale development projects. It employs a case study of software development at National Air Traffic Services' NERC project at Swanwick potentially to illustrate these. The paper finds that experience at Swanwick does indeed mirror many of the pitfalls predicted but also that the synthesis of approaches attempted enhances our understanding of the difficulties involved in managing large-scale IT projects perhaps rather better than univocal approaches.     

Institutional entrepreneurship and permaculture: A practice theory perspective

Permaculture is a growing but little researched phenomenon emphasising care for the environment, equity, fair treatment of people and working with—and not against—nature. It thus represents a potential alternative to business as usual, capable of addressing fundamental challenges posed by human-made climate change. The paper examines a previously ignored site of entrepreneurship by taking a practice perspective, exploring connections between the practice and growth of permaculture and institutional entrepreneurship. It assesses practice-related and institutional factors affecting the start-up and operation of permaculture enterprises in the United Kingdom. The study maps and surveys UK Permaculture Association members who have started up their own business and reports on qualitative data from personal interviews with twenty of them. Data analysis employs NVivo software and involves thematic analysis pertaining to the practice, institutional biographies and institutional portfolios of permaculture entrepreneurs. The findings show the importance of permaculture activists' institutional biographies and institutional portfolios to the start-up and operation of permaculture enterprises and for shaping permaculture-related practice. The contribution of the paper lies in how it balances attention to individual agency with subfield-specific, organisational field and macrosocial factors in understanding ‘beyond profit’ entrepreneurship.