The paper focuses on the social economy as an engine for development because of its principles on reciprocity and cooperation are meeting the needs that are not adequately addressed by neither the public nor private economy. Since the contemporary economic theory considers these forms of economic activity as something marginal, there is a growing need for more knowledge about the cooperative model as a business form, both in terms of its unique leadership and management structure, as well as the application of co-operative practice to a wide variety of activities. The goal of the paper is to present the principles of social economy in order to challenge current political and economic policies who still fail to provide minimum acceptable levels of economic and social well being to growing numbers of people. The ultimate goal of the paper is to emphasize the liberating potential of an anthropologically informed economics where social relations and human concerns are placed at the centre of economics. The paper's scope is by no means exhaustive, and primarily focuses on encouraging further interdisciplinary studies and participation of scholars from diverse fields, such as business management, sociology, political science, and economics in this respect.

This paper focuses on the link between mental models and leadership effectiveness. Reporting from different examples of mental models representing barriers for change, strategic implementation and organizational learning, the paper emphasizes the fact that mental models affect both leadership effectiveness and overall organizational development. Starting from the question what are mental models and why they represent a relevant management issue, the study focuses on the role and meaning of mental models in terms of their influence on organizational outcomes rather than the actions or decisions being made. Within descriptive mode of analysis, the study investigates how mental models affect organizational conversations through mechanisms such as theories in use and espoused theories. The goal of the paper is to demonstrate the need to move from the old paradigm and make a shift toward new mental models because they offer more valid and useful ways to effectively deal with the complex challenges in an increasingly competitive business environment.

The critical organizational form in the information age is networking. This new organizational principle is manifested through the processes of internationalization and global academic cooperation which have become inevitable strategies for every higher education institution in order to be competitive in a global education market. The effective use of information and communication technologies (ICT) such as synchronous and asynchronous methods of distance learning enables higher education institutions to reach out students, teachers and researchers in foreign countries without physically moving them. Besides improving communication and exchange of information followed by opportunities for cross-cultural learning, effective ICT implementation enables expansion of social and economic networks and strengthenes institutional and academic ties by thus building social capital. The following study investigates the role of ICT in building social capital and human capacity in terms of knowledge sharing, targeted training and developing education initiatives in higher education institutions. The focus of this paper is on such positive practices implemented at Zagreb School of Economics and Management (ZSEM). Since its foundation in 2002, a systematic use of new technologies in education has been encouraged which in turn provided the basis for major advances in development. Today ZSEM has around 1400 students and about 150 courses with integrated e-learning system while currently 7% of students take part in various types of international exchange.

The primary goal of this chapter is to examine the possibilities and effects of applying the principles of distributed leadership model and AI's approach positive stance into different educational contexts. Since there is a great need in Croatian school systems today to reform, the motivation for this case study is to point out that such reformation can occur from within: with a positive and collaborative inquiry that embraces shared leadership and taps into the answers that are already in the system. The presented case study shows AI approach as a shift of the focus away from problems, flaws, or weaknesses and toward the strengths of the group and their work, as identified by the involved participants themselves. The ultimate goal is to examine the powerful effects of AI to create change from within as well as to point out how the principles of distributed leadership contribute to the harmonious collaborative relationships, effective defining and implementing change and finding sustainable and creative solutions for efficient functioning of the modern and sustainable school.