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The principal–agent literature often draws criticism for its ahistorical, acontextual and static nature, particularly when theories such as the agency or the stewardship theory are being used. This is because the field of economics tends to develop universalistic models and theories, excluding history, context and change, which renders them unusable for practitioners whose behavior is (partially) guided by the complex and differing environments in which they find themselves. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to this criticism by investigating how (and if) history, context and change influence the principal–agent relationship.

Instead of using the typical economic methodologies to study the principal–agent relationship, this paper makes use of the methodologies of the field of history to investigate how history, context and change affect principal–agent relationships in three cases in the early modern Southern Netherlands (the Dukes of Arenberg, the Roosewalle farm and Abbot De Loose of the Abbey of Ename). This methodology is especially suited, as it results in historical narratives that incorporate all of these three elements.

The main finding is that the cases show how history, context and change clearly affect the principal–agent relationship. These aspects are intricately intertwined, as earlier choices and context can cause a change in the principal–agent relationship, this creates a new presence (with an altered history) and sometimes even a new context. This results in a highly dynamic relationship that can evolve in very short periods, mostly in a path-dependent manner.

The paper advocates by example for a shift in principal–agent research, emphasizing the necessity of considering history, context and change. This study demonstrates that these factors greatly affect the nature of the principal–agent relationship. In doing so, it may provide practitioners with better insights, as real-world principal–agent relationships are indeed impacted by these three factors.

By using historical methods, this study shows for the first time how context, change and history indeed influence principal–agent relationships. The findings of this paper encourage the development of theories and theoretical frameworks that more closely resemble reality, rather than being universalistic.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) use indicators in an attempt to foster policy integration and coherence in order to achieve transformative societal change. But the SDGs, like their predecessor Millennium Goals, have not been entirely successful in this effort. Many studies have identified continuing challenges to integrating multiple goals in this way, linked to the complex patterns of interaction between the goals and the nature of the policy systems and subsystems in which they operate. This chapter builds on the policy design literature to argue that the main aim of the SDGs is to reconcile what are otherwise incoherent policy goals and inconsistent policy instruments in a process of policy integration. This process is made more complex in the case of this kind of “super-wicked” problem in which multiple actors face time constraints across multiple policy levels, sectors and venues. It identifies four different techniques for policy integration in such policy nexuses – policy harmonization, mainstreaming, coordination, and institutionalization – and assesses their possibilities for success in the SDG case against what is possible given the nature of the nexus and the capacity of governments to deal with it. The paper contributes to the current literature on policy integration, wicked problems, and the SDGs by further conceptualizing how integrative strategies can be better designed and implemented through capacity-building efforts aimed at developing coordinative relationships within conflict-ridden, multi-actor and multilevel cross-sectoral policy domains.

Published in June 2020, the European Union (EU) Taxonomy Regulation is an important tool for the reorientation of capital flows toward sustainability, establishing a classification system that enables investors to identify green economic activities. Confronted by the reporting demands of this regulation, companies are caught in a sustainability economic revolution. This study seeks primarily to understand firms’ responses to the EU taxonomy, and whether they recognize value creation opportunities by aligning market and nonmarket strategies with the taxonomy goals. For that, we conducted expert interviews and adopted a conceptual framework based on institutional theory, dynamic capabilities view and nonmarket strategy research. Our findings indicate that most firms respond reactively, while firms with sustainability-driven business models tend to respond in an anticipatory way, and firms with high greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and low taxonomy eligibility in a defensive way. We also find evidence for mimetic isomorphism related to the influence of consulting and auditing services. Further, high levels of uncertainty, ambiguity and lack of clarity has a great impact on firms’ responses and motives. Finally, this study highlights the EU taxonomy considering a paradigmatic shift toward sustainability, which is not recognized by most firms. To this end, we find that most companies have not identified opportunities arising from nonmarket integration and, rather, see the taxonomy only as an extra regulation to be compliant with. Hence, we argue that it is crucial that firms contextualize the taxonomy within its larger institutional paradigmatic shift to capture the importance of going beyond mere compliance.

In this manuscript, we aimed to (1) illustrate the differences in school–university partnership under the school reform and renewal models and (2) describe the practice of and learning about school–university partnership by reflecting on the three large, federally funded projects, all conducted under the school renewal model.

We used archival data from the three large, federally funded projects, synthesized our research related to school–university partnerships and developed themes for actions and learnings related to the topic of school–university partnerships.

The school–university partnerships under the school renewal model are different from that under the school reform model. School–university partnership under the school renewal model is associated with positive results for schools and the university. There are clear themes for the actions and learning in the school–university partnership under the school renewal model.

It is original to study school–university partnerships in the context of the school renewal model.

Universities in the United Kingdom, like their counterparts globally, are confronting difficulties associated with the well-being of students. The origins of these challenges are complex, exacerbated by various global events. In response, universities are trying to address these growing concerns and the escalating need for student support. Faculty members are often recruited to assist students in navigating academic and personal challenges. The aim of this study was to investigate how the process of student mentoring, by faculty members, could be made more operationally robust to better support student demand, thus yielding greater value for both students and staff.

A qualitative approach was adopted with 19 academic faculty working as mentors within a UK business school who participated in 90-minute semi-structured interviews. Interviews were analysed using an operational (transformation) management framework, with findings categorised under three key headings – inputs, transformations and outputs – to discover how the operational process of mentoring students could be enhanced.

Participants discussed the inputs required to deliver mentoring, the process of transformation and their desired outputs. Findings suggest coordinated and relevant inputs that is, information, environments and technology, coupled with good mentor selection and recruitment improves operational robustness, adding greater value to the student experience by creating more purposeful outputs, thereby benefiting themselves and their students.

The application of an operational (transformation) process framework to analyse faculty mentoring of students is unique, thereby offering new insights into the construction and management of these types of academic support initiatives.

This work aims to demonstrate the feasibility of fully preserving the historical heritage at the same time reordering the cities and their traffic.

This paper describes the sustainable solution designed for the landscape change required and to maintain the bridge integrity by excavating under the pier with the maintenance of traffic during its execution.

It is concluded that the elimination of urban motorways on the surface often leads to the excavation of tunnels under the existing buildings, with little coverage in most of them. This complicates the implementation of burials in cities with an important historical heritage, which must be given conservation priority in the choice of technical solutions.

The Segovia Bridge over the Manzanares River, the oldest bridge in Madrid, was built in the 16th century. With the burial of the M-30 motorway, it has been necessary to build a tunnel immediately under one of the bridge piers, practically without lining between the foundations and the upper slab of the tunnel.

The automotive industry in Slovakia underwent a steep development pathway during the last 20 years, mostly thanks to the inflow of foreign direct investments, resulting in increasing production outputs, exports, and employment. In this chapter, we highlight the limits of this growth, pointing out on production function of the industry heavily based on foreign capital. Under the current challenges of production digitalization, automatization, and car electrification, the position of the country seems uncertain. As a response, the government of Slovakia, but also others in the region, embarked on supporting new wave of foreign direct investments mostly in battery production and in the case of Slovakia also attracting a fifth car manufacturer. We conclude that this strategy fixes the current dependency on foreign capital and know-how rather than allows for upgrading.

The purpose of this paper is to provide the first comprehensive examination of the early cannabis-based food products industry, using Sweden as a case study. Drawing upon historical newspaper articles and advertisements from the Swedish Historical Newspaper Archive, the authors trace the short-lived development of the industry, from the initial exploitation of fears of tuberculosis in the late 19th century, followed by the “boom” in hempseed extract products and the widening of its claimed effects and, finally, increased skepticism and critiques of such products across the popular press in the early 20th century.

A rigorous search of the Swedish Historical Newspaper Archive was conducted to gather newspaper articles and advertisements on cannabis-based foods. The collected resources were scrutinized using critical discourse analysis to tease out key discourses at work, particularly around the concepts of health, nutrition and science.

The authors find that central to the marketization of cannabis-based foods was the construction of disease based on scientific and medical discourse, fearmongering to create a strong consumer base and individualization to place responsibility on consumers to take action to protect their family’s health. This demonstrates not only the long historical relationship between science and food marketing but also how brands’ health claims could often be fraudulent or overstated.

It is important to cast a historical lens on the commercialization of cannabis-based food products because demand for similar types of products has rapidly grown over the past decade. Now, just as before, manufacturers tap into consumers’ insecurities about health, and many of the same questions continue to be mooted about products’ safety. Paying greater attention to the broader and problematic history of commercial cannabis can, thus, serve as a reminder for both consumers and policymakers to think twice about whether hemp really is for health and if the claims it espouses are a mirage rather than a miracle.