The Spanish economy is more productive but employment rates have not returned to levels prior to the recession. Therefore, the main challenge is reducing unemployment and temporary employment, creating quality, stable and productive jobs that help reduce inequality, as well as resuming the path of convergence with more advanced economies. The model of flexicurity is defined as a strategy to modernize the labour market through two paths that converge: flexibility (for both business and workers, to respond to the needs of both) and safety (for workers who must be able to develop their careers, expand their skills and receive support from social security systems during periods of inactivity). However, this model of Danish flexicurity cannot be implemented directly to each Member State or region of the European Union, but rather it must be adapted to each context with an adequate combination of instruments that respond in our region to the debate between different social and political sensitivities. The goal is not increasing precariousness through flexibility, but rather flexible specialization.

This contribution seeks to provide an overview of current research into sustainable tourism from two angles. It describes firstly the key arguments in the theoretical discussion on the idea of sustainability in the tourism sector, and secondly the areas of academic research that are of interest for research into tourism and sustainability. This study will enable a global evaluation of not only the factors that influence the discussion on the sustainability of tourism, but also the central thematic areas in which this matter is addressed.

The assumption that tourism growth can be sustainable is widespread in certain academic sectors and public institutions. It is an assumption that is partly founded on the Tourist Multiplier theory, proposed by Archer and Owen in the early 1970s. However, this premise is coming up against an increasingly urgent reality: the finite nature of our planet and its resources. Economic development has natural limits. The article presents a conflictivist view of tourism development that is more in line with this reality: The emergence of new economic activity – or its growth – forces us to restructure our use of the available resources. These resources cannot always be multiplied. And as part of this process, some will lose and others will win.

This article analyses the sustainability of the monetary system, with a systemic focus based in complex thinking. This thinking is far removed from the simple and the conventional, considering not only the distinct actors involved in the system but also the relationships and interactions between them. It is a way of thinking that views systems not as static or permanent, but as dynamic equilibriums linked to adaptation and change.

Being a socio-ecological system, the monetary system is subject to the dynamic behaviour of an adaptive cycle, which in turn is part of a panarchy of systems drawn to different scales across space and time. It is only when one considers this nested network of interconnected systems that it is possible to ensure the sustainability of each system individually and of the group as a whole.

The current monopoly of money in the form of bank debt has reached a point where it is so rigid and centralized it has become unsustainable. Proof of this can be seen in the systemic crisis we are currently living in. From a systemic focus based in complex thinking, this article analyses how the introduction of complementary currencies into the monetary system is one way in which its sustainability can be improved, also contributing to the sustainability of the planetary system as a whole, both economically and environmentally.

Lluerna is a business plan developed by students from both the UOC's Executive MBA course and its MBA in Social Entrepreneurship course.

This work combines classical techniques from business schools with a more innovative approach related to impact-centred (rather than profit-centred) businesses. This business plan demonstrates that it is possible to run a sustainable company with a social objective, in this case the electrification of rural areas.

Furthermore, the plan shows a profitable business model that can be exported to many countries, where it is possible to create a market with a remarkable positive impact on a great number of families. Specifically, Lluerna is implemented in Bolivia, a country with an important lack of rural electrification, and where significant levels of collaboration from local actors in the area of rural electrification can be found.

Lluerna is also an example of how putting together new technologies and new commerce management tools makes it possible to generate a positive impact, even with a population that is normally considered too poor to be part of the market.