The aim of this article is not only to provide an overview of the state of recent discussion about the concept of social capital, it is also an attempt at critical reflection on theoretical and empirical research efforts. The question is whether the concept of social capital is a fashionable (and short-lived) term proposed as a cure-all for the maladies affecting contemporary communities, organizations and societies as a whole or whether it has more long-term strategic - theoretical as well as applicable - meaning for sociology and other social-science disciplines. Despite the deficiencies of the recent research findings, we argue that the latter is true. The concept represents a very important conceptual innovation which can facilitate the theoretical integration within sociology and the inter- and trans-disciplinary collaboration of sociology and other disciplines, especially economics. The article emphasizes the problems of reception, definition and operationalization, and the developmental role of social capital.

This paper provides a first insight into the level of understanding and implementation of industrial symbiosis (IS) in Slovenia. It is based on an online survey of a small sample of organizations actively involved in waste management. The results show that while their motivation to engage in IS include various environmental and economic benefits, as well as social responsibility, the concept and practice of IS is not well understood even within this group of organizations. Organizations that engage in IS would benefit from online tools enabling them to optimize their search for potential IS stakeholders with relevant types of waste materials for exchange. While the small sample size does not allow for generalizations, it provides evidence that an online platform to support IS can substantially contribute to a shift towards a circular economy. The article concludes with the presentation of one such successful initiative-e-Simbioza-as well as some guidelines for its future development.

Building upon social fields theory, the authors analyze the impact of the three social forces – institutions, social networks and cognitive frames – on the social topography of regional innovation systems. Unlike previous studies, which focused on individual social force, the authors’ fuzzy-set comparative analysis of fifteen diverse regions from four continents reveals nuanced impact of individual forces and shows that a well-functioning regional innovation system is the outcome of their combined influence. This implies a need for a coherent, reflexive, context-specific and multi-level innovation policy that supports the balanced development of an institutional framework, encourages the formation of social networks and enables supportive cognitive frames.

This paper compares place leadership patterns of five European cities that have different administrative and socio-cultural traditions in order to understand the role that context plays in shaping city leadership patterns in the policy domain of sport. This paper uses an exploratory approach to analyse the city as a complex adaptive system. In pursuing this research, we investigate the main actors, structures, processes and followership patterns across different forms of city leadership (political, managerial, business and civic). Our findings show the similarities and the differences across the five cities that lead us to a two-part conclusion. Firstly, context may or may not influence city leadership patterns but it remains an essential parameter in comparative analysis.2 Secondly, the main challenges for place leadership in the policy domain of sport appear generalizable and specifically we observe that civic leadership as praxis can reinforce the transformative nature of place leadership in developing and sustaining socioeconomic resilience.