Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:53:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 RESINA_Rodrigo_2013.pdf: 1378733 bytes, checksum: 22706495e4206944b062ab63a28ac3f4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-12-13 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / The quest for sustainable development is becoming more widespread among government, private organizations and members of civil society, motivated primarily by environmental imbalance and social problems. So the companies conceptualize measure and work toward sustainability and it has become the goal of many of these organizations. This research aimed to analyze how large retail supermarkets companies, that have operation in Brazil, measure their practices aimed at sustainable development. It was carried out during the research, a review of theory and the multiple case studies exploratory; it realized the data collection through public documents (Sustainability reports). First, it s analyzed 32 reports of 3 retail businesses for several years. It was analyzed as indicators of sustainability are reported by companies in the sector, it was also assessed developments in the application of sustainability reporting in retail and sustainability dimension is prioritized in the reporting of organizational management. It observed a non- regular reporting on sustainability in the periods analyzed, companies report a higher number of indicators related social issues and despite the use of the GRI indicators, the companies had different interpretations about the same indicators. Thus, it identified that companies need to improve their reports and using the external validation (audit) to ensure the transparency and quality of sustainable reporting, enabling the retail supermarket companies to act towards a sustainable management / A busca pelo desenvolvimento sustentável se torna cada vez mais difundida entre os agentes governamentais, organizações privadas e membros da sociedade civil. Esses grupos são motivados, principalmente, pelo desequilíbrio ambiental e pelos problemas sociais. Desse modo, conceituar, mensurar e atuar rumo à sustentabilidade tem se tornado o objetivo de muitas dessas organizações. Essa pesquisa visou analisar como as empresas de varejo supermercadistas de grande porte, que operam no Brasil, reportam e mensuram suas práticas voltadas ao desenvolvimento sustentável. Foi realizado, durante a pesquisa, a revisão da teoria e uma análise documental descritiva, com a coleta de dados através documentos públicos (relatórios de Sustentabilidade). A pesquisa avaliou 32 relatórios de 3 empresas publicados nos últimos anos. Foram analisados como os indicadores de sustentabilidade são reportados pelas empresas do setor, também foi avaliado a evolução na aplicação dos relatórios de sustentabilidade no varejo e a dimensão da sustentabilidade, que é priorizada no reporte da gestão organizacional. Observou-se, uma não regularidade no reporte da sustentabilidade nos períodos analisados, as empresas reportam um volume maior de indicadores relacionados às questões sociais e apesar do uso do modelo da Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) haviam interpretações diferentes dos indicadores por parte das empresas. Assim, identificou-se a necessidade das empresas aprimorarem seus relatórios e utilizarem a validação externa (auditoria) para garantirem a transparência e a qualidade das informações reportadas, possibilitando que as empresas do varejo supermercadista atuem rumo a uma gestão sustentável efetiva e eficiente.

This study aims to investigate how companies formulate external communication in social media and sustainability reports when dealing with public criticism linked to sustainable development, in a society where information spreads quickly via social media and thus risk leading to loss of legitimacy and damaged reputation. The study is based on a qualitative method with quantitative elements. A qualitative directed content analysis has been conducted on six different companies' Twitter and Facebook pages as well as sustainability reports, where data has been interpreted, categorized and analyzed based on Image Repair Theory's communication strategies. A selection was made among 14 295 words in social media and 80 234 words in sustainability reports to find out which strategies the companies used in their crisis management, which strategies were most common in each medium and why. The results show that strategies such as corrective action and mortification were equally common in both channels. In social media, it was also common for companies to formulate posts using strategies such as defeasibility and sympathy, while the content of sustainability reports often could be linked to strategies such as information, bolstering and transcendence. The study shows that companies' choice of communication strategies is based on a combination of the type of recipient and the type of channel used. A combination of one-way and two-way communication is thus important for the company to be able to meet the specific needs of both of these factors. Furthermore, the study shows that Image Repair Theory could be expanded with more strategies such as sympathy and information, as these were common in all companies' crisis management. Finally, the study shows that the monologic or dialogic characteristics of a medium have a major impact on how communication is formulated in response to public criticism.

Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur genus- och maktrelationer avbildas samt reproduceras genom bilder från The Big Fours års- och hållbarhetsrapporter. Tidigare forskning har klarlagt behovet att på ett adekvat sätt särskilja mellan kön och genus inom kritisk redovisningsforskning. Således grundas studien i en rad feministiska teorier och kritisk organisationsteori, såväl som tidigare forskning där genus står i fokus. Dessa teorier tillämpas vid en kvantitativ innehållsanalys och efterföljande slutledning. Detta för att identifiera dolda processer inom organisationerna som inverkar på hur hierarkier utformas inom dessa.  Resultaten påvisar att det existerar ett könande inom organisationerna som är till mannens fördel. Dock är generaliserbarheten av studiens empiri begränsad utifrån resultatet av den logistiska regressionen. Symboler för ett starkt ledarskap förknippas med maskulinitet och mannen avbildas oftare som stående inom urvalet, vilket studien härleder till uttryck för rådande och önskade hierarkier. Därtill påvisar empirin att aktivitet till högre grad avbildas som ett manligt attribut vilket studien förklarar som ett uttryck för ett rådande informationsövertag. Det återfinns dock frekvenser som gör gällande att kvinnan ges utrymme att komma till tals och således att dennes perspektiv tas tillvara på. Detta då kvinnan till en högre grad avbildas som seriös i sällskap av män än ensam. Genusrelationer identifieras men processerna är genomgående subtila. Sociala koder och normativa påtryckningar kan dock påpekas. / The purpose of this study is to examine how gender and power dynamics are depicted and reproduced through images from The Big Four’s Swedish branches, in their annual and sustainability reports. Previous research clarifies the need for a separation between sex and gender within critical accounting research in order to expand the current empirical reach. Hence this study utilizes several feminist perspectives as well as critical organizational theory combined with previous research where gender has been at the center. The study’s content analysis and deduction, along with its conclusion, is built upon these theories to identify hidden processes that constitute real-life gender based hierarchies within said organizations.  Furthermore the results of this study points to a continued gendering within these organizations that favour the male sex. However the generalizability of the empirical findings are limited due to the outcome of the logistic regression. Symbols of strong leadership are continuously associated with a sense of masculinity and the male is more often depicted as standing up, symbolizing being higher up in the organizational hierarchy. Empirical evidence is laid forth stating that a higher frequency of being active is tied to being male and furthermore a masculine attribute. Although, measured frequencies show that the woman is granted the opportunity of having her perspective listened to and through that her epistemic privilege utilized as she’s, to a relatively high degree, represented as serious when accompanied by men. Gender relations are identified as parts of subtle processes that are sometimes even to be labelled as ambiguous.

Sustainability has over the years been of interest and not least to the fast fashion industry. The phenomenon of sustainability reports has therefore occurred by small and large companies produced for society today. Companies present a list of past, present and future sustainable activities to suppliers, competitors, shareholders and customers. Furthermore, the fast fashion industry has grown and consumption tends to be higher than ten years ago. The information shared is therefore important to see how these activities are communicated to society, not at least to customers. Sustainability awareness is today a valuable tool for sustainable trust in companies. Thus, the purpose of this thesis was to investigate which sustainability issues are presented  in sustainability reports by companies and by customers. Empirical results were obtained using a qualitative multi-method, where Critical Discourse Analysis was adopted by the authors to interpret sustainability reports from seven Swedish companies interpreted as fast fashion. The authors then analysed the results of CDA of sustainability reports with the aim to find out how the sustainable issues are presented to society in variants, differences, images and language. In addition, semi-structured interviews with questions based on CDA and literature review were conducted to gain perspectives and a deeper understanding of the customers.The conclusion of this thesis showed that customers can be involved in companies' sustainable activities, although it tends to differ. Customers perceived sustainability reports in today's situation as low transparency and the trust is not as high as it could be. The GIOIA method was therefore conducted to see how these first concepts from customer interviews relate to the second theme of CDA. Furthermore, four dimensions could be constructed with further suggestions for companies that produce sustainability reports to customers on the issues of trust, transparency, customer awareness and important sustainable issues. The thesis further identified both general factors and problems within sustainability reports that can be used for future guidance and implementation of sustainable awareness for customers in the fast fashion industry.

Vikten av hållbarhetsredovisning kan ses genom den uppmärksamhet ämnet har från företag, media, myndigheter och den ökande regleringen genom införandet av nya direktiv och lagstiftning. Att manuellt analysera företags hållbarhetsredovisningar är en tidskrävande process. En automatiserad analys av hållbarhetsredovisningar skulle innebära ekonomiska och tidsmässiga vinster när viktiga insikter tas fram relaterat till större företags påverkan på sin miljö och omgivning. Denna studie syftar till att utforska möjligheterna till en automatisering av en befintlig manuell arbetsmetod. Prototypen som utvecklats tillämpar moderna språkbehandlingsmetoder, ett område inom maskininlärning, för att realisera denna vision. Studiens implementation uppnår för de utvärderade språkmodellerna upp till 96% precision för majoritetsklassen vid bearbetning av grunddatat respektive 55% precision för minoritetsdataklassen vid bearbetning av grunddata jämfört resultat från den manuellt genomförda metoden. Slutsatsen är att en automatiserad version av den befintliga manuella analysmetoden kan konstrueras och även förbättras med den snabba utveckling som sker inom teknologi och språkmodeller, om ytterligare resurser avsätts. Resultaten visar hopp om potentialen för en metodik som utvecklas i vidare arbeten. / The importance of sustainability reporting can be observed by the attention directed towards the subject from companies, media and authorities’ continuous new directives and laws. To manually analyze companies’ sustainability reports is a time-consuming process. An automated approach analyzing sustainability reports would give advantages regarding both time and economics when important insights related to companies’ operations are brought into light. This study aims to explore possibilities in automating an existing manual method related to analyzing sustainability reports. The developed prototype applies modern language models and methods related to machine learning to realize this vision. For the evaluated language models, the study’s implementation achieves up to 96% precision for the majority class, while the minority class achieves up to 55% precision in processing of data, when compared to reference results from the manual evaluation method. The work’s conclusion indicates that an automated version of the existing manual method for analysis can be constructed with sufficient resources, and even further improved as the area of technology further advances. The results are positive for the potential for a more sophisticated method that can be developed in further work.

This thesis analyses the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) with Husqvarna Group's sustainability reports as empirical basis. The concept of CSR has been studied and attempted to be understood by several previous researchers, but what remains is that it still is an unexplored concept. The aim of the study is to improve the understanding of the concept of CSR and its associated practices over time. To this aim, discourse analysis was identified as a relevant methodological approach. The purpose with discourse analysis is to interpret the written text, and this thesis is therefore based on the author's interpretations of the empirical material collected from Husqvarna Group's sustainability reports from 2010, 2017, and 2023. The empirical material has been analysed based on Carol Bacchi's "What’s the problem represented to be-approach" as well as the addressed theoretical frameworks, Carroll's pyramid of CSR and the neo-institutional concept of legitimacy. Through discourse analysis and the analysis tools, different discourses have been identified that account for mainly the social aspects of CSR. Diversity and innovation both compose an important part of Husqvarna Group's framing of CSR. In the empirical material, an inclusion discourse and an efficiency discourse were identified. Where the inclusion discourse aimed to solve an identified diversity problem, while the efficiency discourse aimed to solve an identified innovation problem. By, amongst others, attracting more women to the company, they contributed to increased diversity within the company. Through partnerships they believed that increased innovative solutions could be established. To follow the expectations and social norms during the given period, their work regarding diversity and innovation has in an unaffected way shifted over time, and thereby also their work regarding the concept of CSR.

Syftet med denna studie är att lämna förslag till Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara aktiebolags (LKAB i fortsättningen) arbetssätt för framtagning av hållbarhetsmål på koncernnivå. Två frågeställningar har konstruerats för att kunna besvara studiens syfte. Frågeställningarna undersöker hur LKAB arbetar idag med att ta fram hållbarhetsmål på koncernnivå och hur ett optimerat arbetssätt med framtagning av hållbarhetsmål skulle kunna se ut. Datainsamlingen består av intervjuer med olika medarbetare som på ett eller annat sätt har varit involverade i framtagning av förslag till hållbara mål. Resultatet visar att LKAB har arbetet med identifieringen av hållbarhetsmål utifrån ett projektbaserat arbetssätt. Detta är studiens första slutsats. Analysen visar att arbetssättet med framtagning av koncernmål skulle kunna genomföras utifrån ett processbaserat arbetssätt. Analysen och diskussionen i den här studien visar att ett optimerat arbetssätt skulle kunna uppnås genom att dela huvudprocessen till två och utveckla ett processbaserat arbetssätt för varje huvudprocess. Detta är studiens andra slutsats. / The purpose of this study is to submit proposals to the company Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara (LKAB) and its mythology of identifying sustainability goals at group level. two questions have been created in order to be able to answer the study´s purpose. The questions examine LKAB´s mythology of identifying sustainability goals at group level and how an optimized mythology of identifying sustainability goals could look like. The data collection consists of interviews with various employees who have been involved in the identifying of sustainability goals. The results shows that LKAB´s mythology of identifying sustainability goals has formed on a project-based approach. This is the first conclusion of this study. The analysis shows that the mythology of identifying sustainability goals could be implemented with a process-based mythology. The analysis and the discussion in this study show that an optimized mythology could be achieved by dividing the main process into two main processes and developing a process-based mythology for each main process. This is the second conclusion of this study.