Companies today face more and more demands from society and stakeholders. It is no longer about just satisfying shareholders, sales and making a profit. Consumers are becoming more aware of products effects and the consequences it has on humans, our environment and the generation ahead of us. NGO:s and society request that companies take responsibility and actions toward a more sustainable business. Many investors analyze companies’ sustainability regarding social and environmental issues when it comes to choosing a company to invest in. Sustainability has been an issue that companies today need to consider in their strategies, and several companies today develop a sustainability report on the side of their annual report. The intent with this report is to show stakeholders that they handle non financial issues such as environmental issues, social rights and business ethics but also what they do and do not do regarding the surrounding environment. How and to what extent they do this is the company’s choice. Since non government owned companies in Sweden do not need to develop a report, it is a free option. Even so, sustainability reporting is a common strategy and complement for companies today. The aim for this study is to study the possible effect that central stakeholders hold on companies’ sustainability reports. We also study what companies and stakeholders think about sustainability development and what the expression stands for. This study was undertaken through a literature-study with relevant theories and an empirical study on five non government owned companies that have a sustainability report available on the internet. We have also interviewed four stakeholders, whom according to the companies we interviewed are the most central. By this we receive stakeholder’s perspectives and opinions. Our study showed that stakeholders have an impact on the overall sustainability-work but not much impact on the sustainability report. Stakeholders that claimed they had effect on the report were the shareholders and NGO: s. Among other findings was that both stakeholders and companies supported the dialogue and relationship between each other as the main strategy for enhancing sustainability. However the dialogue and relationship did not seem as relevant in the actual creation of a sustainability report. To what extent the report is used by stakeholders and its actual purpose is therefore an aspect we are analyzing. Implications of this study show that stakeholders have little impact on sustainability reports and it is stakeholders with most power that have an impact; however, companies agree that stakeholders have impact on the overall sustainability development. Demands from stakeholders are then discussed through dialogues and cooperation. Limitations of this study could be that we focused on stakeholders that companies found most central, maybe we missed some perspectives from other stakeholders. We used telephone and email interviews and that could be a limitation. We could have missed some face to face expressions and opinions that are hard to catch over telephone and e-mail. The main value of this paper is that we interview both companies and central stakeholders and the possible impact they have on sustainability reports. By this we get a wide range of perspectives from both parts, which we have not found in article and theories before.

Introduction and research question:  This study investigates the widely discussed notion “Corporate Social Responsibility” and its practice in the tourism industry. In the contemporary society more companies are realizing the significance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and its potential as a means of differentiation.  The author’s interest in this particular phenomenon was awakened after reading about the business case of Scandic Hotels. This is a company that nowadays is referred to as “Scandinavia’s leading hotel chain”. However, in the early 90’s the company was facing bankruptcy. Hence, a new strategy based on responsibility towards the environment was developed and later on executed. These facts led the author to question how can and as of today are CSR implemented in the tourism industry. Consequently the research question for this thesis is: how is CSR implemented in the tourism industry? Purpose: This study aims to explore the CSR operations of two hotel chains. Delimitation: In order to present a study with greater depth and obtain a deeper understanding of the implementation of CSR, the study is therefore limited to two hotel chains. Method: The results of this study have been derived through the use of a qualitative method referred to as “grounded theory”.  Unstructured interviews with employees from the different hotel chains have been conducted in order to collect vital data and answer the research question as successful as possible. In order to develop a theoretical analytical framework the author has studied various scientific articles and other appropriate literature in the subject. Empirical data and conclusion: The study clarifies how CSR in this particular context is implemented strategically, both locally and globally. The hotel chains perceive CSR as an approach of enhancing their corporate reputation and thus its profitability. Due to these beliefs, CSR is implemented as a tool in e.g. the development of new services and/or modifications of services.  However, it is also revealed that acting responsible to employees is a precondition in order to successfully and legitimately practise CSR. In order for the CSR activities to be successfully implemented, the study also concludes the significance of leadership and employee knowledge and engagement. Ideas for further research involve investigating how organisational structures affect the implementation of CSR. Moreover, another proposition involves investigating how CSR is implemented as a competitive tool in customer sales interactions.

Abstract Title: Implementing CSR in Supply Chains Authors: Emmy Johansson and Stina Olén; Supervisor: Glenn Sjöstrand Date of submission: May 30, 2009   For decades there has been a debate about the environmental and social responsibilities of companies. The work conducted by corporations to meet the increasing demands from wider society to take responsibility is all summed up in the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Pressured to take responsibility also in the supply chains of their businesses, the corporations have increasingly integrated suppliers in their CSR strategies.   In this thesis the obstacles and possibilities with implementing CSR in supply chains are assessed, through a case study. The thesis is written on commission by a large Swedish industrial company that is working with implementing its CSR strategy in its supplier evaluations, and through using a theoretical framework based on institutional theory and CSR theory that implementing process is studied. Having understood that the process is affected by the norms, values et cetera that are inherent in the company, the aims of this thesis have been to understand and explain how the institutional embeddedness affects the implementation of the company’s CSR strategy in its supplier evaluations.   The thesis applies qualitative research methods with emphasis on primary sources. The main empirical data was gathered through ten interviews with employees at different levels in the company, but corporate documents with relevance for the implementation were also studied.   The results of this study indicate that the institutional embeddedness affects the implementation of the CSR strategy in supplier evaluations both positively and negatively. Firstly, it makes the reactive approach of the company, the unclear objectives and guidelines, the lack of commitment from the managers, and the lack of cooperation appear problematic for the implementation. Secondly, we conclude that the institutional embeddedness creates opportunities for an improved implementing process, as there are elements in the institutional identity that correspond with the strategy, but also that there are individual actors with much institutional resources that have potential to change the institution and create commitment towards the implementation.     Keywords: corporate social responsibility, supplier evaluations, implementing strategy, institutional theory, institutional embeddedness

Problemformulering: Denna uppsats avser att besvara/beröra följande frågor: - Hur tolkar företag begreppet CSR, hur arbetar de med det samt om det finns några skillnader/likheter mellan företagen? - Hur kommunicerar företagen sitt CSR arbete via olika dokument, finns det några skillnader/likheter mellan företagen? Syfte: Uppsatsen syftar till att beskriva, förklara och jämföra hur utvalda svenska företag inom konfektionsbranschen kommunicerar kring begreppet CSR mot sin marknad via olika dokument, hur företagen tolkar begreppet CSR samt hur de arbetar med det. Metod: En fallstudie har genomförts på tre företag inom konfektionsbranschen på den svenska marknaden. Textanalys har genomförts på utvalda dokument såsom respektive företags hemsida, årsredovisningar från 2002 och framåt samt tillgängliga hållbarhetsredovisningar för att se hur företagen kommunicerar kring CSR. Även kvalitativa intervjuer med respektive företag har genomförts för att komplettera textanalysen och för att få ytterligare en synvinkel utöver kommunikation på hur företagen arbetar med CSR. Teori: De teorier som använts är Carrolls CSR – pyramid samt företags olika ståndpunkter till CSR. Carrolls CSR pyramid tar hänsyn till olika ansvar som måste uppfyllas i CSR arbetet medan den andra teorin tar upp företags olika ståndpunkter till CSR samt hur ståndpunkten kan påverka i vilken utsträckning samt grad man arbetar med CSR. Slutsats: När det gäller CSR arbetet finns det mer likheter än skillnader mellan företagen. Kommunikationen skiljer sig i omfattning mellan företagen.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has recently been the subject of increased attention, both in the academic and the corporate arena. In general, definitions of CSR seem to have in common the idea that businesses make a decision to commit to social and environmental issues and go beyond their legal obligations. In practice, corporations define their approach to CSR by using their own lenses, being influenced by factors at regional, national, industrial and corporate levels. Although there is an increasing pressure on corporations to play a more explicit role in the welfare of society and the importance of behaving socially responsibly is well accepted in the literature(Falck and Heblich, 2007), there have been very few attempts at identifying how companies from different geographical regions themselves define and interpret CSR (Baughn et al, 2007; Maignan and Ralston, 2002). Most of the cross-national studies on CSR have focused on the situation within Europe (Aaronson, 2002; Perrini, 2005; Silberhorn and Warren, 2007) or between Europe and the U.S (Maignan and Ralston, 2002). Besides, CSR researchers usually focus on industries acknowledged as problematic in environmental issues. Although construction industry has a bad reputation of “poor quality and service, a bad safety record, and a history of broken promises and sharp practice” (Wood et. al, 2002:4), it is one of the less approached industries in the CSR literature. Such theoretical considerations led to the interest in exploring how top companies in the Construction industry of Sweden, Thailand and Brazil approach CSR. The authors aim to contribute to fulfill the gap of CSR theories by exploring cross-national similarities and differences based on the nature of motivations underlying CSR practices, CSR processes, stakeholder issues as well as the main factors shaping such similarities and differences. In the empirical part, a three way cross-national CSR study was conducted. The top construction companies from Sweden, Thailand and Brazil were chosen, totalizing twelve firms. The study was carried out using a qualitative approach, employing as the research method the analysis of corporate disclosure through organizational documents. The results for each country were then analyzed and compared in order to reveal similarities and differences in CSR approaches. Results suggest a predominant CSR value-driven approach, which might indicate that CSR has come a long way from its early roots of charity to become a strategic business practice inserted in corporate values. Although the cross-national differences were apparently mainly shaped by regional factors, the industry sector has emerged as an important factor shaping the areas of cross-national agreement. Swedish companies are strongly focused on environmental issues and stress the idea of sustainability, whereas Thai companies use Corporate Governance to group CSR activities, denoting a focus on legal compliance. Brazilian companies show high concern for social issues, which can be perceived in the nature of CSR processes the companies present, the stakeholders addressed and in the role companies seem to take as social agents, fulfilling the gap left by the national government.

Sammanfattning Examensarbete, turismekonomprogrammet, Ekonomihögskolan vid Linnéuniversitetet, 2FE40E, HT 2011 Författare: Christopher Dahl och Benita Johansson Handledare: Thomas Karlsson Examinator: Krister Bredmar Titel: Dags att hållbarhetsredovisa - Polyplank AB, en fallstudie   Bakgrund: Studier har påvisat att vi överkonsumerar jordens resurser i en allt snabbare takt. En ökad medvetenhet kring dagens miljöproblem har bidragit till att företag i större utsträckning aktivt arbetar för en hållbar utveckling samt för att ta ansvar i samhället. Begreppet Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) behandlar företags samhällsansvar utifrån tre perspektiv; miljömässigt, ekonomiskt och socialt. Arbetet inom dessa områden presenteras av många stora företag idag i en hållbarhetsredovisning. Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) är den organisation som bistår med riktlinjer för upprättning av den här typen av redovisningar.   Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att ta reda på vad GRI:s riktlinjer och rådande begrepp säger om hållbarhetsredovisning samt att utifrån vårt fallföretag Polyplank AB:s förutsättningar rekommendera lämpligt innehåll i en eventuell hållbarhetsredovisning.   Metod: Vårt fallobjekt, Polyplank AB, är ett företag som verkar inom tillverkningsbranschen och utmärks genom deras miljövänliga produkter. Det empiriska materialet till denna studie har erhållits genom intervjuer med nyckelpersoner inom företaget samt genom observation av företagets verksamhet.   Analys och diskussion: Resultatet av denna studie visar de faktorer som ligger bakom vår rekommendation för vilka indikatorer som Polyplank AB bör rapportera i en eventuell hållbarhetsredovisning. Exempelvis har intressenternas synpunkter och önskemål en stor del i vilken information som bör tas med i en redovisning, men det förekommer även andra krav som bör beaktas.   Slutsats: Avslutningsvis rekommenderas Polyplank AB tillämpa GRI:s redovisningsnivå C, vilket vi menar att företaget har goda förutsättningar för att göra. Vi tror att upprättandet av en hållbarhetsredovisning skulle kunna leda till positiva konsekvenser för företaget, utan att vara för resurskrävande.   Nyckelord: Hållbar utveckling, Hållbarhetsredovisning, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Polyplank AB.

Since 1987, the United Nations has promoted sustainable development as a form of development that takes into account and balances economic, ecological, and social considerations. To achieve sustainability, the United Nations has repeatedly required private businesses—among other actors—to assume a broader set of social responsibilities. This is though highly contested in the corporate world and among economists. To throw light on this debate, the aim of this paper is to assess whether contemporary theories of business ethics are compatible with the Brundtland notion of sustainable development. For that reason, the responsibilities for sustainable development that corporations should assume are deduced from the Brundtland Report; followed by an introduction to the field of business ethics and a detailed discussion of major contemporary theories reflecting instrumental, integrative, political, and ethical approaches to corporate social responsibility. By comparing the different responsibilities the compatibility of sustainability with each discussed theory on business ethics is assessed. This paper finds that the compatibility is low for instrumental theories, moderate for integrative and political theories, and high for ethical theories on business ethics. Nevertheless, ethical theories assume a normative perspective on sustainable development, idealizing how corporations ought to act in a sustainable world. In reality, the world is far from sustainability. This is not least a result of national economic and legal policies maintaining conditions and structures that continue to promote globalization and free markets. It is argued that the combination of fierce competition and corporations’ opportunities to take advantage of weak legal systems in emerging and developing countries leads firms to further subscribe to an instrumental approach to business ethics. It is suggested that international politics develop a global legal framework based on sustainable development that provides competitive conditions at arm’s length. At the same time, recent management research is presented that suggests that corporations can promote sustainability if they contribute solutions to the social and environmental problems of our time. The pursuit of sustainability, therefore, results more from business opportunities than from any ethical convictions.

¡@¡@Corporate foundations initiated by large family enterprises are usually explained from the social responsibility viewpoint. In that, the family initiated the corporate foundations to achieve the social responsibility in the society. However, what is the possible control role of corporate foundations in family businesses is seldom investigated. By utilizing the over-eight-year data in Taiwan¡¦s family business groups, this study tries to investigate the antecedent of corporate foundations in large family business groups from the resource dependence theory and institutional theory viewpoint. The results indicate that the family ownership and family management will influence the control of corporate foundations in large family business groups in Taiwan. Specifically, the more likely that the family members involve in key decision-making roles in the group, and the more likely that the family members will utilize pyramidal ownership structure to control the multiple affiliates in the group, the more likely that the family members will serve as the key decision-making roles in the corporate foundations in the family business groups. The findings provide a power explanation in initiating corporate foundations in family business context. Moreover, the findings indicate that the corporate foundation play a key role in the share-controlled relationships in the large family business groups. The results provide referable values in discussing the non-profit organizations roles in family business group¡¦s control issues.

The sense of calling has emerged as a burgeoning research interest for the past decade due to its tight connection to the meaning of work. However, the mechanism of the sense of calling, especially how it works in the work context remains unclear. This study aims at enhancing the understanding and knowledge of what the concept of calling is and how to apply it into organizations. Therefore, a cross-level model was proposed and the antecedents and consequences of calling along with the influence of organizational factors were examined. Data were collected from 24 organizations consisted of 186 employees, and hierarchical linear modeling techniques were applied to test the hypotheses. As a result, it is found that with certain personality traits (i.e., Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness and Openness), one¡¦s sense of calling is more easily to be discovered. On the other hand, it is also likely to foster or develop one¡¦s sense of calling through organization¡¦s manipulation (i.e., the emphasis of CSR and the supportive climate). More importantly, the positive impact of sense of calling on an individual¡¦s performance has been demonstrated. Consequently, by considering both organizational-level and individual-level factors into the mechanism of calling, a valuable insight and application of an individual¡¦s sense of calling in the work context have been established.

Nowadays most companies are now being faced with the reality that Corporate Social Responsibility is more than merely a fad. Drawing upon CSR, HR and stakeholder related theories this research aims to substantiate empirically by exploring HR¡¦s contribution to responsible leadership within corporations with the endeavor to explore to what extent Taiwanese companies have integrated CSR practices in their Human Resource Management policies and practices. Relying on the quantitative analysis of 82 questionnaires and qualitative analysis of interviews with CSR and HR executives from 3 corporations in Taiwan, an analysis of whether HR supporting functions towards employee training and development (CSR and General), employee wellbeing, employee engagement and CSR communication to employees contributed to the success of CSR programs. Findings of this research uncovered that companies pay due attention to employee training and development, employee wellbeing as well as employee engagement. The study also helped explain the existence of implicit CSR practices in Taiwanese firms suggesting that an inside-out approach to CSR communication exists in Taiwanese firms; most firms do not engage in philanthropic activities but are more akin to ensuring that they maintain a high level of employee work-life balance. The thesis concludes that the HR has the potential to dig deeper into the company levels and structures and identifying underlying definitional issues that may prevent or facilitate the success of CSR programs.