The EU remains well ranked in many indicators of global competitiveness, with extra-EU trade showing very good figures for both goods and services. This is in spite of the recent growth problems that have affected intra-European trade. The quality of European exports, the role of manufacturing in Europe and the capacity to sustain creative and innovative dynamics are all significant positive performers that must be kept in full swing, in the face of growing pressures from emerging economies in all these areas. To do this requires reinforcing the EU's position as a global actor, and involving a growing critical mass from within the productive sector. In addition, tendencies towards mega-regional trade agreements – with agreements projected on the Atlantic and Pacific stages – propose new ways of establishing rules in global trade, something that calls for a carefully composed response from the EU.

In the last three decades, network industries have experienced major changes the world over. It can be presumed that they will continue to do so, driven by technological and economic changes and also by the campaigns of interest groups framed by institutional and ideological parameters. In the European Union these changes have seen a growing degree of involvement at the community level, without reaching the point of creating European networks. Paradoxically, this could be beneficial for the resolution of certain dilemmas that arise in an electricity sector where a European demos is not well established, a factor that is problematic in other aspects. A consolidated European demos would require a consolidated European political arena, European public with European political parties and lobbyists working at a European level, and so on. The reason this lack of development of a European demos may be favourable to sectors such as electricity or communications is that it can stop public interventions in these sectors from being made into political issues. Although the European Union has already played an important role in increasing competition in these sectors, it may play a much more important role in a future that advances towards a market that is truly integrated, in which networks of a real European scope exist.

Although Wikipedia is an information source used extensively by students at all academic levels, it is hard to find higher education courses in which Wikipedia has a formal role in the learning process. Using the principal results of the Wiki4HE project as its foundation, this article briefly describes key factors that influence the decisions of academic staff regarding the use of Wikipedia in their teaching. In addition to technological factors relating to the user-friendliness and utility of the work platform this encyclopaedia provides, it also examines the academic and professional factors that have a greater influence: the perceived quality of Wikipedia, its social image, the 2.0 profile of academic staff and their collaborative attitudes, and institutional recognition of this resource.

The article has two main objectives: the first is to highlight the importance of the opinions academic colleagues have of Wikipedia, and the influence this has on decisions to use the encyclopaedia actively in teaching; the second is to show how this decision could be affected by access to a guide to good practice, one that systematically brought together the experiences of other academic staff and enabled an improvement in Wikipedia's social image.

Social Innovation is an emerging phenomenon where groups of people are connected to face mutual challenges. Social innovation is arriving into society through internet based platforms and social networking that allow people with the same objectives to get in touch.

Social innovation formats are diverse, and they are based on the exchange of things and services, the shared use of resources, knowledge transmission, and reliability related to collective reputation.

Social innovation is consolidating because it is based on changes in users' values, in the demand for services, and in the way services are consumed. Phenomena like Airbnb, Uber or Goteo are the tip of the iceberg of Social Innovation in Spain, a process that is just beginning.

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.

This article is a synthesis of my final degree project in Administration and Management, specifically in the area of Accounting and Financial Management, where I have analyzed a company in the leather tanning industry with the aim of determining the key factors towards meeting its target. For this purpose, I have done a quantitative (economic and financial) and qualitative analysis of the company, the industry it operates in and the macroeconomic variables of its environment.

The company studied in my FDP is Adobinve, S.L. It is a tanning company with a national and EU-wide scope, specializing in beamhouse operations with sheep and goat leather for the clothing industry.

For this article, I have deemed more appropriate to take the methodology used in the comprehensive study of the company in order to single out the key factors to meet its "Being Europe’s skin beamhouse" target. I am sure this can be helpful for future FDPs within Accounting and Financial Management.

In this interview, Enrique Dans, a Professor in Information Systems at IE Business School, looks into the main changes ICT is bringing to people, organisations, and the society. This renowned expert argues that, with the breakthrough of social media, organisations need above all to think about how to develop processes to absorb information. This will allow them to identify conversations of their customers, prescribers and competitors. Prof. Dans explains that the development of personal protocols in accepting technological change always lags behind technology. In his opinion, regulations need to adapt to change by setting the new situation as a standard; moreover, help should be provided to those suffering under disruption.

Nowadays, social media have become a major marketing tool for businesses. But, in addition to being an excellent tool for managing the relationship with customers, social media are also used by companies for many other purposes. This article analyses these other uses.

The emergence of social media has led many companies to adopt them as marketing channels. Yet these media are novel enough to still leave many marketers unsure as to how to plan an effective social media marketing strategy, actually oriented towards engaging prospects. In this article, we discuss how to shape a social media strategy. To do so, we show the key concepts and steps involved in the planning process of this type of digital marketing strategy, and how to measure their impact immediately.