Purpose – The purpose of this study is to generate a broader understanding of how and why SMEs works with CSR activities. Method – The methodological choice for this thesis is based on a qualitative research approach. A case study is conducted at one Swedish SME, and the data is primarily collected through an interview with two respondents from the case company who have active roles within the CSR plan. A document study was used as a complement source of data to strengthen the data collected from the interview. Findings – The findings indicated that it can be preferable that an SME’s owner-manager champions the implementation of CSR activities. It is also evident that the reasons behind CSR engagement are dependent on the owner-manager ability to see the organizational benefits generated through the implementation of CSR activities. The research also finds that SMEs tend to lack a clear strategy when it comes to CSR implementation, which is performed on a more ad hoc basis as SMEs typically do not have the resources for deliberate ’strategizing’. Limitations – The research has investigated how a manufacturing SME works with CSR beyond requirements from law and regulations, as well as receive a better understanding of what motivates them to implement CSR activities. Moreover, this research project has not included participant observations as the circumstances made them impossible to perform. Keywords - Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Small- to Medium Enterprises (SMEs), CSR Activities, Managerial Values, Manufacturing, CSR Engagement.

The increased interest and awareness of sustainability from an consumer perspective has also implicated increased interest among furniture and interior retailers. Sustainability does not only imply environmentally friendly products and have become a discussed topic in multiple contexts. Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) have been implemented in several businesses to align with what society demands, which includes sustainability in multiple aspects. The increased interest for this matter has also implied communicating CSR practices as an answer to consumers and stakeholders demands. CSR and communication has a strong connection in theory but excludes detailed CSR communication strategies.  Therefore, in this thesis, the aim is to gain a deeper understanding for CSR communication strategies from a consumer perspective in the form of a content analysis of the Swedish furniture and interior retailers. The purpose is to benefit both a theoretical and managerial perspective with contribution of CSR communication strategies main foundation.  The research that has been conducted is a content analysis of 8 companies' content conveyed in their communication. The content analysis includes sustainability reports, CSR related documents and annual reports that have been analyzed from the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) framework. To fortify the research, a deductive approach with previous research has been conducted to analyze the findings.  The conclusion of the research results in a clear pattern of content conveyed by furniture and interior retailers. Presentation of goals and practices, including only positive CSR material and a focus on the environmental aspect are distinct. The large and less complex retailers convey their CSR practices more than smaller and more complex retailers. Conclusion can also be drawn that the economical aspect is often underlying in the conveyed content and the three aspects of TBL are often merged together.

Det är inte bara lagkrav som blir striktare gällande företags hållbarhetsarbete utan även intressenters förväntningar. Business-to-business och business-to-consumer företag har skilda intressenter och således förväntningar som påverkar deras hållbarhetsarbete. Denna kvalitativa fallstudie ämnar till att undersöka hur hållbarhetsarbete kan generera konkurrensfördelar i en jämförande kontext mellan business-to-business och business-to-consumer företag inom bygg- och fastighetsbranschen. Med hjälp av Carrolls CSR-pyramid och Porter och Kramer ́s ramverk för ett strategiskt CSR-arbete har företagens hållbarhetsarbeten analyserats och granskats utifrån ett konkurrensperspektiv. För att belysa företagens differentieringsstrategier har tre differentieringspunkter grundat studien vilka är produkt- och processinnovation, kundlojalitet och långsiktig lönsamhet. Resultatet visar att företagen i likhet med varandra utformar sitt hållbarhetsarbete utifrån ett socialt, ekonomiskt och miljömässigt perspektiv samt att företagen konstruerar sitt hållbarhetsarbete olika utifrån deras skilda intressenters förväntningar. Detta resulterar i att företagen har olika differentieringsstrategier inom hållbarhetsarbetet som hjälper dem generera konkurrensfördelar. Vidare framkommer det i studien att kommersiella kunder ställer högre krav på företagens hållbarhetsarbete i jämförelse med privatkunder, vilket skiljer studiens resultat från den tidigare forskningen.

Abstract Problem: As sustainability grows larger in importance for consumers, so does the demand for information on companies’ sustainability work. In this situation, greenwashing has become a viable strategy for companies to use as a competitive advantage. Therefore, the EU came with a new directive in order to counteract this type of misleading behavior, the non-financial reporting directive (NFRD). Although many positive outcomes have come from non-financial reporting, the aspect of transparency remains uncharted.  Purpose: The purpose of this study is twofold. Firstly, it investigates how the non-financial reporting EU directive has impacted the transparency towards business partners active within the Swedish food industry. Secondly, the purpose is to explore how the Swedish non-financial reporting law benefits actors within the food industry. This paper embraces stakeholder theory. For the purpose of researching the topic of this paper, food production companies in Sweden were specifically chosen to narrow down the sample. Aim: This study aims to investigate the impacts of the NFRD on transparency and external communication, and through this, evaluate the efficiency of the directive and Swedish national law, which derives from the multi-national legislation, on transparency. Method: In this research, interpretivism was used as the guiding research approach. Being a qualitative study, semi-structured interviews were used as the primary source of data collection. Interviews were transcribed, and then coded and analyzed according to standard procedures.  Result and Conclusion: The results of the empirical findings were that the directive does not impact the transparency on Swedish partners at any significant level. It was also found that the primary benefits of the national non-financial reporting law of Sweden are not directed towards customers or partners, but rather the focal business, investors, and competitors. The main benefits were that the reports raised awareness for sustainability within the firm, they are of great use for benchmarking, as well as that the reports serve as useful information for green investors.

Today’s business world is highly dynamic, increasingly international, and marked by powerful corporations. Nonetheless, individual human beings shape the environment in which business takes place. In light of such surroundings, one increasingly important challenge for organizations is successful change management, which can only succeed with employees’ support. When facing a well-informed, interconnected array of stakeholders, companies must also tackle demands to take social responsibility. By combining various theoretical and methodological approaches, the present dissertation addressed these trends in four empirical papers. Study 1 and Study 2 considered the reactions of employees during organizational change. The first study investigated the connection between dispositional resistance to change and emotional exhaustion. In a multilevel model, work-unit level informational team climate and perceived organizational support were relevant moderators. Using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), the second paper turned to factors associated with employees’ intended support for change. Drawing from the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991), it revealed relevant configurations of attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. Study 3 focused on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and investigated which combinations of responsible and irresponsible activities, both recent and more historical, shape corporate reputation among the general public. Lastly, Study 4 expressly brought change management and CSR research together by showing that employees reacted more favorably to organizational change when their supervisors effectively communicated responsibility. Taken together, the present dissertation demonstrated that corporations can make a change through responsibility in order to favorably influence both stakeholder and business outcomes, thereby providing relevant implications for both research and practice.

Cette thèse s’intéresse à la manière dont des discours et des pratiques mis sous l’égide de la Responsabilité Sociale des Entreprises (RSE) et du Développement Durable (DD) se structurent dans le secteur hôtelier, en rendant compte de la façon dont ils participent à la dégradation du rapport social de travail. En proposant le concept intermédiaire de démarches DD/RSE pour qualifier l’ensemble de ces discours et pratiques, nous caractérisons ces démarches pour montrer qu’elles sont construites à partir d’une articulation avec les stratégies de profit de chacun des deux modèles productifs qui s’imposent, en l’occurrence les hôtels de luxe et les hôtels de chaînes intégrées. Incarnant de nouvelles stratégies de différenciation, elles participent au processus de sectorisation et renforcent les stratégies de domination intra-sectorielle. La construction de ces démarches dans les hôtels de luxe se fait par externalisation, quand elle se fait par intégration au processus de production dans les chaînes. Les démarches DD/RSE y sont standardisées à travers un modèle industriel de production. Il ressort de cette analyse que la manière dont ces hôtels intègrent les démarches participe de la dégradation du rapport social de travail. Telles qu’elles sont construites, les démarches de DD/RSE renforcent la division technique et genrée du travail, participant à l’intensification du travail et au renouvellement des stratégies de mobilisation et de mise au travail des salariés. / This thesis analyses the practices built from the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the Sustainable Development (SD) and the way they transform the French hospitality industry. We propose an intermediate concept of SD/CSR efforts to qualify all these speeches and practices. This thesis first characterizes these efforts to show that they are the result of successful and powerful actors strategies in the industry, the luxe hotels and hotel which belong to chain. Embodying new differentiation strategies, it makes this two hotel type stronger and participates to the process of sectorization by strengthens the sectorial processus. The insertion of SD/CSR efforts in luxury hotels is made by outsourcing, whereas the hotels which belong to chains integrate it into their process of production. They standardize SD/CSR efforts through an industrial model of production. We prove that the way these hotels integrate the SD/CSR participates of the degradation of the wage labor nexus, particularly regarding the working conditions and the forms of mobilization of the employees. We also demonstrate that such as they are built, the SD/CSR efforts as instruments in the service of the corporate strategy, strengthen the technical division and gendered of labor, participate in the intensification labor, and they give to mobilization speeches a revival with the idea or nature protection

Syfte: Genom ett ökat intresse för hållbarhetsfrågor världen över har företag krav på sig att vara transparenta och visa hur de jobbar med hållbarhetsfrågor. Samarbete och kommunikation med leverantörer är en viktig faktor för att företag ska kunna få insikt i, och kunna påverka de processer som används av dess leverantörer. Fokus ligger på skogsindustrin för att den är en av få industrier i Sverige som redovisar en positiv påverkan på klimatet. Studien syftar därför till att skapa förståelse för relationshanteringens roll i upprättandet av en hållbar leverantörskedja inom skogsindustrin. Forskningsfrågan lyder: Hur styr företag inom skogsindustrin sina leverantörer med hjälp av relationshantering för att skapa en hållbar leverantörskedja? Metod: Studien har grundats på en kvalitativ metod med utgångspunkt i tolkning och analys av organisatoriska dokument som kompletterats med semistrukturerade intervjuer av tre personer som har insikt i inköpsprocessen på tre utvalda företag inom skogsindustrin.   Resultat och Slutsats: Studien visar att relationshantering har en stor roll i skapandet av en hållbar leverantörskedja inom den svenska skogsindustrin. Slutsatsen som kan dras från resultatet är att företag inom den svenska skogsindustrin arbetar på liknande sätt för att främja relationer till leverantörer och att detta bidrar till en ökad hållbarhet, även om företagen kan skilja sig åt i användning av metoder och prioritering av hållbarhetskriterier.  Examensarbetets bidrag: Arbetet bidrar med ytterligare argument för att företag genom en bra hantering av relationer till leverantörer kan påverka hållbarheten och göra mer hållbara val som gynnar såväl det egna företaget som omvärlden. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Det hade varit intressant att se på den faktiska påverkan som relationshantering har på hållbarheten. Det tycks också intressant att gå djupare in på leverantörskedjan och studera relationshanteringens effekter på fler parter i leverantörskedjan, såsom underleverantörer.

The video games industry is taking more sustainability responsibilities since video games can reach a broad and tremendous audience. Apart from adopting sustainable business strategies, games companies also need to navigate various stakeholders’ expectations and draft strategies to communicate with them. However, despite an abundance of corporate social responsibility literature, there is no existing research specifically focusing on how the video games industry can contribute to this topic. The social and environmental responsibilities of games companies are usually discussed separately. Therefore, this project aims to explain, in the video games industry, how social and environmental impacts are addressed in the form of corporate social responsibility and how companies meet stakeholders’ needs as a part of their sustainable business strategies. Six companies in the Swedish games industry were selected and interviewed. Together with the published sustainability reports, a theory-based content analysis was applied. The results indicate that games companies have mature strategies to tackle social impacts. For environmental impacts, on the contrary, there are no united strategies. The measures used to address environmental impacts vary from corporate to corporate due to the significant differences in business models. Besides publishing documents to communicate with stakeholders, games companies can also communicate sustainability via their games, which can be done by integrating sustainability in game mechanics or as an add-on feature. In conclusion, achieving a competitive advantage is the ultimate goal in engaging corporate social responsibility. Also, stakeholders’ expectations push companies to be more sustainable. Communicating sustainability via games may raise environmental awareness among the players; however, it might only apply to a specific group of people. / Video game is a product that reaches millions of players worldwide. Therefore, it comes with responsibilities for the developers to ensure that the products do not result in negative impacts. Apart from social impacts, such as gender inequality and toxic player communities, there is also a rising environmental awareness among the games companies lately. However, existing research mainly discusses games companies’ social and environmental responsibilities separately. This project aims to explore how games companies address social and environmental issues in sustainability and how they communicate their sustainability efforts to their stakeholders. Six companies in the Swedish games industry were selected and interviewed. Together with the published sustainability reports, a theory-based content analysis was applied. The results show that games companies have a well-developed strategy to tackle social issues. In contrast, the measures to environmental issues vary due to differences in business models and their roles in the value chain. Games companies communicate their sustainability in two forms – through documentation and in-game features. To conclude, the main goal for companies to engage in sustainability is primarily to increase competitive advantage, and stakeholders’ expectations drive their sustainability engagement. Communicating sustainability via games may raise environmental awareness among the players; however, it might only apply to a specific group of people.

Background: CSR has become an integral part of most businesses during the years, however, it has not necessarily happened by choice for every company. Stakeholders have become aware of the negative impact ofcorporations’ operations and actions on the planet and on society, consequently, they started to pressure companies to be more responsible when conducting business. However, facing financial shortages might interfere with the accomplishment of these practices and corresponding activities. Furthermore, as differently sized and differently located companies might practice CSR in a different way, size and geographical location might also have an influence on these CSR practices and activities. Purpose: The purpose of this research is to explore the influence of size and geography on CSR practices and activities adopted by SMEs and large corporations in Sweden and in Hungary when facing shortage in their financial resources. Method: In order to achieve the purpose, a qualitative research method has been used. Multiple case studies were conducted with two Hungarian SMEs, a Hungarian large enterprise, a Swedish SME and a Swedish large firm. The empirical data was collected with the help of semi-structured interviews as well as data from corporate websites, annual reports, sustainability reports and social media. Conclusion: The results of this thesis show that the approach each company takes to practicing CSR seems to influence all of their activities. The size of the company appears to influence fewer practices, while geography comes across as having the least influence among these factors.

The subject of sustainable development is growing in relevance, and never before has research on the subject been as essential. Research shows that the globalization of the clothing industry has a significant impact on both climate and society. Furthermore, consumers today demand sustainably produced products, and they are willing to pay more to support such companies. Despite this, research shows that there is a gap between consumers' expressed demand for sustainable alternatives and their purchasing behavior in favor of sustainable organizations . This gap is often referred to as the 'attitude-behaviour gap' (ABG), which refers to the gap between positive attitudes and consumer behavior. The purpose of this study is to explore the area described as the 'attitude-behaviour gap' between consumers' CSR requirements and purchasing behavior. Specifically, this phenomenon will be examined within the clothing industry with the help of the following questions: "Are Swedish consumers' sustainable attitudes transformed into purchasing behavior within the clothing industry?" if not; "Which factors possibly influence ABG in the Swedish clothing industry?". Method: The study has been based on a qualitative approach where interviews with consumers have been carried out. The interviews were conducted in a semi-structured manner and analyzed thematically based on an analysis model designed from previous research. Results: The study has confirmed that ABG also exists in Swedish consumers. The results show that negative CSR information damages the company's relationship with consumers and in many cases leads to a loss of customers. In contrast, positive CSR information is not as significant. For consumers to switch to sustainable consumption, certain core factors need to be met; first, the consumer needs to have sufficient information and a personal interest in CSR. The consumer's perception of price, the availability of sustainable alternatives and the attributes of the clothes are also central factors. In addition to this, peripheral factors can influence consumers' purchasing behavior. These factors have been explained as company image and credibility, peer pressure, and consumer familiarity. / Ämnet hållbar utveckling växer sig allt större i relevans och aldrig förr har forskning kring ämnet varit så väsentligt. Forskning visar på att globaliseringen av klädindustrin har en betydande påverkan på både klimat och samhälle. Vidare efterfrågar konsumenter idag hållbart producerade produkter och att de är villiga att betala mer för att stödja sådana företag. Trots detta så visar forskning att det finns ett glapp mellan konsumenters uttalade efterfrågan på hållbara alternativ och deras köpbeteende i förmån för hållbara organisationer. Detta gap benämns ofta som ‘attitude-behavior gap’ (ABG) som refererar till mellanrummet mellan de positiva attityderna och konsumenternas beteenden. Syftet med denna studie är att utforska området som beskrivits som ‘attitude-behavior gap’ mellan konsumenters CSR krav och köpbeteende. Specifikt kommer detta fenomenet att granskas inom klädindustrin med hjälp av följande frågeställningar:“Omvandlas svenska konsumenters hållbara attityder till köpbeteenden inom klädindustrin?” om inte; “Vilka faktorer påverkar eventuellt ABG i den svenska klädindustrin?”. Metod: Studien har utgått från ett kvalitativt tillvägagångssätt där intervjuer med konsumenter har genomförts. Intervjuerna genomfördes på ett semistrukturerat sätt och analyserades tematiskt baserat på en analysmodell som utformats från tidigare forskning. Resultat: Studien har bekräftat att ABG existerar även hos svenska konsumenter. Resultaten visar på att negativ CSR-information skadar företagets relation till konsumenterna och leder i många fall till en förlust av kunder. Däremot är inte positiv CSR-information lika betydande. För att konsumenterna ska övergå till hållbar konsumtion behöver vissa kärnfaktorer uppfyllas; dels behöver konsumenten ha tillräckligt med information och en personlig angelägenhet gentemot CSR. Centralt är även konsumentens prisuppfattning, de hållbara alternativens tillgänglighet och klädernas attribut. Utöver detta kan perifera faktorer påverka konsumenternas köpbeteenden. Dessa faktorer har förklarats som företagets image och trovärdighet, grupptryck, samt konsumentens familjaritet.