The purpose of this thesis is to explore how consumers experience green marketing within the fast fashion industry. The Theory of Planned Behavior was used as a foundation for a conceptual framework. A qualitative approach was used, and the empirical data was gathered through three semi-structured focus groups with a total of 17 participants. Participants were acquired through a convenience sampling method, influenced by purposive sampling. Firstly, we concluded that some consumers believe that green marketing within the fast fashion industry is a positive trend that contributes to a more sustainable industry, while some believe it is false, a facade and a sales ploy. Secondly, we found that important reference groups who influence consumers’ experience of green marketing within the fast fashion industry are social norms, trend, social media and influencers. Lastly, consumers sometimes choose to believe in green marketing campaigns since it is too time consuming to check the validity and it eliminates the search for further information. Due to the daily exposure of these campaigns, some consumers associate these with sustainable collections. However, some are more critical toward the use of green marketing within the fast fashion industry and believe that it contradicts sustainability. Previous scandals within the industry are also affecting consumers’ experience of fast fashion in relation to sustainability. The findings have contributed to understanding of how consumers experience green marketing within the fast fashion industry. Also, it provides useful insights that fast fashion companies can use to conduct a more trustworthy and genuine green marketing.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a topic that has been widely researched and is still a progressing and important subject to study. Many researchers have focused on the importance and risks of CSR but have been unsuccessful in conducting research that brings forth managerial implications regarding the challenges and complexity that comes from contextual differences. Furthermore, little attention has been assigned to consumer awareness, perception of CSR as well as analysing differences in related markets such as developed Western European countries (WECs) and emerging Post-Communist countries (PCCs) of Eastern Europe. This research is essential as theoretical ground and for managers to be able to successfully adapt and implement their CSR strategies to various markets, something that is beneficial for gaining a long-term competitive advantage. This study wishes to fill the existing research gap by gaining an insight into the differences in perceptions of CSR between consumers from WECs and PCCs. The outcomeof this study contributes to the existing frame of research regarding consumers’ perceptionson CSR and the importance of adapting a firm's CSR strategies to differentiating perceptions when operating in various international markets. The research was executed by using a qualitative method, carrying out three focus groups with participants originating from the two different regions respectively, and later mixed in a third group. The outcome from these focus groups was analysed using relatedtheoretical frameworks such as Carroll’s pyramid for corporate social responsibility (1991)and Dhanapal, Vashu, and Subramaniam (2015), who explores influencers affecting consumer perception. The findings conclude that CSR is gaining awareness among consumers across both regions, who agree that companies should be engaged in CSR, whereas members from PCCs desires a higher commitment than is currently done. Consumers are willing to pay a higher price when they know that the companies implement philanthropic projects. However, for WECs, this depends on the price of the product, and for PCCs, on whether the activities are locally implemented or not. Finally, this study concluded that companies can gain a competitive advantage by concentrating on social CSR in the PCC region and environmental CSR in the WEC region since the findings indicate that these are the most prioritised issues in each region. Furthermore, managers should adapt their CSR strategies based on these findings in order to relate to the consumer, create legitimacy, and gain trust.

Syftet med den här studien är att undersöka kvinnliga modeintresserade konsumenters medvetenhet kring greenwashing i relation till miljömärkningar inom klädindustrin. Vidare syftar studien till att undersöka hur kvinnliga modeintresserade konsumenter uppfattar ett plaggs hållbarhet utifrån miljömärkningar inom klädindustrin. För att besvara studiens syfte har en kvalitativ metod använts där insamling av empiriskt material genomfördes med hjälp av semistrukturerade intervjuer. Baserat på ett antal kriterier valdes tio modeintresserade kvinnor ut till att delta i intervjuerna som genomfördes via Zoom. Studiens resultat påvisar bristande kunskap om begreppet greenwashing vilket tyder på att respondenterna därmed inte är medvetna om greenwashing i relation till miljömärkningar inom klädindustrin. Vidare resulterade studien även i att kvinnliga modeintresserade konsumenter till stor del uppfattar plagg märkta med miljömärkningar som hållbara. Däremot varierar konsumenternas uppfattning om pålitligheten av de olika märkningarna. Vår studie visar att ungefär lika stor andel respondenter uppfattar plagg märkta med certifierade miljömärkningar, såväl som icke-certifierade miljömärkningar, som mer pålitliga. Oavsett märkningens upplevda pålitlighet uppfattade alla respondenter, trots detta, att märkningen bidrog med en känsla av hållbarhet. / The purpose of this study is to examine the awareness of greenwashing in relation toenvironmental labels in the clothing industry, among female fashion-interested consumers.Furthermore, the study aims to investigate how female fashion-interested consumers perceivethe environmental sustainability of a garment based on environmental labels in the clothingindustry. To answer the purpose of this study, a qualitative method was used where thecollection of empirical data was carried out by semi-structured interviews. Based on anumber of criteria, ten fashion-interested women were chosen to participate in interviewsconducted via Zoom.The result of the study demonstrates a lack of knowledge regarding the term greenwashing,which indicates that the respondents also lack awareness of greenwashing in relation toenvironmental labels within the clothing industry. Furthermore, the study demonstrates thatfashion-interested consumers perceive environmental labelled clothing as sustainable.However, the perception of reliability of the various labels varies among the respondents. Ourresult indicates that about half of our respondents perceive environmental labels certified bythird parties as the most trustworthy. Whereas the other half of the respondents perceivenon-certified environmental labels as more reliable. Irrespective of the perceived reliability ofthe environmental label, all respondents agreed that the environmental label in some waycontributed to a feeling of sustainability. This thesis is written in Swedish.

Purpose: The purpose of this research paper is to examine the potential of the Swedish textile industry to achieve more sustainability in the home textile segment, through establishing a local value chain for local consumption. The aim is to explore the potential of both the supply and demand side of the local market. For the supply, or the industry perspective, the goal is to show companies the relevant aspects to consider when choosing to establish a local value chain in Sweden, with a focus on the home textile segment. For the demand, or the consumer perspective, the objective is to find out how they perceive locally produced sustainable products and whether there is interest for purchasing such products. Methodology: Existing literature and relevant results from researches have been collected and used as secondary sources, for forming and backing up the industry perspective of the thesis work. Face to face interviews have been conducted and analyzed, for getting primary information for the consumer perspective for the paper. This work is an explorative study, combining information for both the supply and demand sides of the home textiles segment in Sweden. Findings: After combining the findings from the literature review and the results from the analysis from the interviews, it can be concluded that there is a potential to establish a local value chain in Sweden. The situation is not ideal though, also potential risks and drawbacks related to the locality of the value chain of the home textiles segment that are presented have to be considered. The paper explores both the advantages and the disadvantages for producing locally in Sweden, to estimate the existing potential.

While IoT safety and security incidents continue to increase in frequency, scope and severity, there remains a gap in how the issue will be addressed. While the debate continues within academia, industry standards bodies, government and industry media, new entrants continue to rapidly enter the market with cheaper more powerful products with little incentive to address information security issues. In a free market economy, the supply and the demand would determine the product and services and the associated prices without intervention. Manufacturers are free to innovate, consumers drive choice and competition brings these opposing forces to an equilibrium of market price. But how does this economic system factor in the risk of an event that neither party may ever consider and, yet, it may impact not only impact those involved, but has the potential to have catastrophic harm to others? The downside, the system does not consider “external factors”, i.e. a compromise to accommodate what consumers need. Economists often urge governments to adopt policies that "internalize" an externality, so that costs and benefits will affect mainly parties who choose to incur them. Such an intervention, however, often comes with many challenges and consequences. Even with the added urgency of growing risk to human safety, regulatory intervention takes time. Likewise, a self-regulating market would undoubtedly also take a significant amount of time to take the necessary actions to address such an externality, even if incentivized. While it continues to be all too easy to defer the blame and risk on consumer, like the industrial revolution, this industry must overcome its own safety challenges like the auto, transportation or energy industries before it. While, consumers must inevitably take some reasonable measures to protect their interests, clearly the accountability must reside elsewhere. There is a potentially increasingly significant influential subset of consumers in the IoT ecosystem, the Enterprise Buyer, specifically marketing and technology executives, who champion consumer needs within their organization’s broader products and services that incorporate IoT. In this thesis, we aim to investigate the following issue: What are the attitudes and potential role for Enterprise Buyers in influencing negative externalities, i.e. IoT security in the IoT market, specifically from the perspective of marketing and technology executives? We believe that this group is uniquely positioned to understand a consumer first mindset and how to articulate value in otherwise negatively perceived field of information security by examining context, business/technical challenges and opportunities and reveal awareness, attitude and accountability. The results of our survey show the majority of marketing and technology executives who responded believe information security awareness is increasingly an executive accountability and priority and Enterprise Buyers hold a highly influential position in their ability to influence the IoT market and its security development and maturation. / Medan IoT- säkerhetsincidenter fortsätter att öka i frekvens, omfattning och svårighetsgrad, finns det fortfarande ett gap i hur problemet ska hanteras. Samtidigt som debatten fortsätter inom akademin, branschstandardorganen, myndigheter i regeringen och industrin fortsätter nya aktörer att snabbt komma in på marknaden med billigare, kraftfullare produkter med få incitament att ta itu med informationssäkerhetsfrågor. I en öppen marknadsekonomi skulle utbud och efterfrågan avgöra produkt och tjänster och tillhörande priser utan intervention. Tillverkare kan obehindrat driva innovation, konsumenterna driver urval och konkurrens ger dessa motstridiga krafter jämvikt genom marknadspriset. Men hur påverkar detta ekonomiska system risken för en händelse som ingen av parterna någonsin kan överväga och som ändå kan påverka inte bara de inblandade som berörs utan även har potential att få katastrofala skador på andra? Nersidan är att systemet inte beaktar "yttre faktorer", det vill säga gör en kompromiss för att leverera vad konsumenterna behöver. Ekonomer uppmanar ofta regeringar att anta policies som "internaliserar" något externt, så att kostnader och fördelar kommer att påverka främst parter som väljer att ådra sig dem. Ett sådant ingrepp kommer emellertid ofta med många utmaningar och konsekvenser. Trots att förhöjda hot mot människors säkerhet ökar angelägenheten tar uppdatering av regelverken tid. På samma sätt skulle en självreglerande marknad utan tvivel också ta väldigt mycket tid på sig för att vidta nödvändiga åtgärder för att hantera en sådan extern faktor, även om det fanns incitament för att göra det. Medan det fortsätter att vara alltför lätt att överlåta ansvaret och risken till konsumenten, såsom under den industriella revolutionen, måste denna industri övervinna sina egna säkerhetsutmaningar såsom bil-, transport- eller energibranschen gjort före den. Samtidigt som konsumenter oundvikligen behöver vidta rimliga åtgärder för att skydda sina intressen, måste yttersta ansvaret ligga någon annanstans. Det finns en potentiellt allt större inflytelserik delmängd av konsumenter i IoT-ekosystemet; företagsköpare, specifikt ledare inom marknadsföring och teknologi, som driver konsumentbehov inom sin organisations bredare produkter och tjänster som innehåller IoT. I denna avhandling strävar vi efter att undersöka följande problem: Vad är företagsköparnas attityder och möjliga roll för att påverka negativa externa effekter, det vill säga IoT-säkerhet på IoT-marknaden, särskilt ur marknadsförings- och teknikledarens perspektiv? Vi tror att denna grupp är unik positionerad för att förstå en konsumenternas första tankegång och hur man kan uttrycka värdet i ett annars negativt uppfattat område för informationssäkerhet genom att undersöka kontext, affärs- / tekniska utmaningar och möjligheter och avslöja medvetenhet, attityd och ansvar. Resultaten av vår undersökning visar de flesta marknadsförings- och teknikchefer som svarade tror att informationssäkerhet blir del av ledningens ansvar och prioriteringar och att företagsköpare har en mycket inflytelserik position i deras förmåga att påverka IoT- marknaden och dess säkerhetsutveckling och mognad.