In today's global political and media climate, the stakes are high for corporations, local or otherwise, to create and maintain an `ethical' perception of not only their daily business activities and how they can benefit society or protect the environment, but also their enduring characteristics or `corporate identity' (Conrad, 2011) for numerous, sometimes conflicting stakeholder audiences (Cheney, 1983). This dissertation examines how such forms of `socially responsible' corporate identities are created and maintained through the use of persuasive language. In particular it examines the role and implications of rhetoric within the contexts of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), as well as Creating Shared Value (CSV) the latest management phenomenon embraced by academics and corporations alike (Porter & Kramer, 2006, 2011). The use of a critical rhetorical approach as both theory and praxis to these topics supports the idea that CSR rhetoric is a fruitful avenue for firms to generate a particular form of `ethos' or social legitimation as reparation for the consequences of their actions (i.e. Ihlen, 2009, 2011). Meanwhile I illustrate how the conception of shared value itself functions as a rhetorical `toolkit' of success or explicit set of instructions for corporations to follow that informs them on how to present to their stakeholder audiences what is supposedly a mutually beneficial social and economic agenda. While both approaches initially appear to be widely divergent, both purse the same goal: to produce positive conceptions of a firm's identity as a form of rhetoric. Through the case studies presented here, I show how such rhetoric works to promote a sense of `identification' (Burke, 1950) with stakeholder audiences through the common ground technique (Cheney, 1983) or `god' terms (Burke, 1945) as a tactic of appeal wherein firms express concern for their stakeholders and the environment as a way of engaging their `buy-in.' Such a symbolic tactic takes place on a global stage and thus despite utopian promises of producing value for society, must continue to face the inherent political, historical, and economic issues embedded within the material inequalities between firms and civil society actors. A major contribution of such work is not to provide a `breakthrough' analysis or documentation of corporate efforts towards social responsibility but rather to make accessible to researchers outside of rhetorical studies and even communication studies the importance of the role of rhetoric in constructing corporate identities within the contexts of social responsibility and globalization.

This thesis deals with the practical implementation of the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Creating Shared Value (CSV) into the business activities of Nestlé Česko, s. r. o. The thesis offers a brief introduction of the two mentioned concepts, their basic principles and implementation process. The application is shown at Nestlé example, this company is devoting to the area of Corporate Social Responsibility and Creating Shared Value for a long time. The thesis provides basic overview of the Nestlé activities in this area. In the second half of this paper are presented the results of the own questionnaire about customers behavior, their decisions, their awareness of CSR and CSV and brands of mentioned company. The aim is to determine whether the implementation of these concepts positively affects consumers and customers when purchasing food products of company Nestlé.

Alors que la création de valeur demeure un objectif légitime et naturel de l’évolution d’une firme, cette recherche a montré que les éditeurs de presse d’information se trouvent, depuis le début du XXIe siècle, d’une part, dans une situation financière dégradée et subséquemment dans une spirale de destruction massive de valeur au point de mettre en péril leur pérennité – certains étant d’ailleurs en faillite virtuelle – et, d’autre part, dans l’incapacité à l’horizon 2016, au-delà du simple équilibre opérationnel, d’inverser la tendance, dès lors que le raisonnement se conduit à périmètre structurel constant. Pour autant, en considérant une interdépendance systémique de plusieurs facteurs d’influence – des déterminants de la performance qui puisent leur origine dans l’histoire et la nature même du bien informationnel et qui s’enrichissent d’éléments structurels et environnementaux –, et en acceptant que chaque industrie ne soit plus que le maillon d’une chaîne de valeur globale dans laquelle l’éditeur n’a plus le monopole, il ressort, par une mise en scène de différents scenarii construits, entre prévision et prospective, sur une période allant de 2010 à 2020, que les différentes conditions requises pour une dynamique vertueuse, malgré les pierres d’achoppement possibles, s’articulent autour de trois axes majeurs – reconquête des marchés, recherche de marges de manoeuvre opérationnelles et financières, changement de référentiel. La dynamique se construit dans un enchaînement de circonstances contraint, ajusté et structuré en trois grandes étapes, qui permet finalement à quelques groupes de se réorganiser pour constituer des firmes de taille critique et ainsi dégager, grâce à une équation de valeur efficiente, simplement réajustée et différenciée, les moyens de migrer vers ce nouveau paradigme informationnel né de cet univers numérique. / Creating value is the natural aim of any private company. This study shows however that from the beginning of the 21st century print media publishers have been losing money and getting into a spiral of value-destruction so vicious as to jeopardise their very survival. Some are practically bankrupt. Nor is there any sign they will have turned the corner or even be breaking even by 2016 if the industry doesn’t restructure. There are three ways for print media firms to turn this round and regain positive momentum: recapturing market-share, improving their operational freedom and their margins and changing market perception. To do this however they will need to understand and take account of some big and interrelated themes – the ways in which the new uses of data, its ‘history’, its location and its very nature have enriched the value of information itself. They will also need to accept that publishers no longer have a monopoly of information and that they are only a link in a global value chain. To reach this conclusion the study runs a range of scenarios comparing confident short term forecasts and foresights for the longer term, from 2010 to 2020. We find that there will probably be three key stages of constraint, change and restructuring. A few publishers probably will manage to reorganise themselves, reach critical size and create value in this new world. To do so they will have a profoundly new and efficient value-creation ‘equation’, readjusted and differentiated from what has gone before. It is this that will allow them to migrate into and flourish in the new informational paradigm born from this digital universe.

While sustainability is a common trend in business, the practical challenges companies face when striving towards becoming more sustainable are not thoroughly researched. By applying Porter and Kramer's (2011) theory on Creating Shared Value (CSV) to Swedish SMEs in the fashion industry, the challenges of adopting sustainable practices were identified in the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight case companies with an ambition to be sustainable. This paper argues that even sustainably-aware companies face complex challenges with activities meant to benefit both society and the company itself. Despite many positive characteristics of SMEs, including more flexibility to adapt to new circumstances and innovative approaches to CSR development (Jenkins, 2009), our research display difficulties with leveraging these characteristics. The study shows that the seven challenges of shared value creation are: investment costs, functionality issues, supplier complexities, supplier control, supplier abilities, managing certifications and cluster control. Moreover, the study has also confirmed Crane et al., (2014) regarding the positioning of CSV as an umbrella construct for loosely related concepts within conscious capitalism.

This qualitative study contributes to the research field on legitimacy theory and creating shared value (CSV) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), regarding helping entrepreneurs and business owners better understand the journey of engaging with social and environmental issues. Recent years have seen a growing number of organisations engage in CSV, which builds on identifying societal needs and approaching these as business opportunities. A standard that purports to uphold these values and is comprised of for-profit companies committed to sustainability-related initiatives is the B Corp label. We consider B Corp certification and explore how sustainably oriented SMEs engage with their wider community in a way that fosters corporate credibility and legitimacy.  Empirical data about five SMEs organisational narratives working with CSV, implementation of social and environmental activities, and effects of B Corp certification were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews with company representatives and a range of secondary data materials. Analysing the data from these five interviewed companies established them to be engaging with the notion of CSV and regard addressing societal or environmental issues as the purpose of their business. Furthermore, findings suggested that values and beliefs incorporated by the SMEs supersede the generally adopted values in society, thereby representing a paradox with legitimacy theory. As a result, these businesses aim to close the perceived legitimacy gap by trying to raise awareness and engage the public with the appropriateness of their business, thereby slowly providing citizens with a more conscious mindset.

The interest and demand of sustainable actions have alongside with societal development increased over time. It has become crucial for companies in today’s society to show responsibility for the footprints they leave behind as a consequence of operating. A possible course of action could be the implementation of Creating Shared Value – CSV, which encompasses undertakings that result in value creation for both the company itself, and the local environment in which the company operates. Even though companies are expected to contribute to societal issues, there are still no blueprints declaring how to satisfy societal needs, and the challenges accompanied with it. CSV aims to tackle the distances between societal and business goals, however, despite CSV’s acknowledgement in academia, the concept is often criticized for being insufficient in practice. This has led to businesses trying to apply a CSV approach while still undertaking Corporate Social Responsibility – CSR related activities. The mixture of these concepts has made it difficult to explore what factors that affect the process of capturing Shared Value opportunities. This research investigates what factors that influence the process of capturing Shared Value in the Swedish insurance industry. The findings derived from this single company case study suggests that depending on what managerial decision-making approach used in a company affects the rate of success in terms of Creating Shared Value. An unclear communication plan, combined with the continuous confusion between the concepts, seems to increase the uncertainness of why and how different decisions are taken, hindering the process of CSV as well as the understanding of how Shared Value is created. A variety of factors were identified, where three main factors were considered to play a key role in, not only the capturing of Shared Value opportunities but the entire implementation process of the concept. Based on these factors, a model was established, showing how these main factors obstructs the realization of Shared Value opportunities.

The world is jeopardized by several social and environmental threats. The limited resources are being used at a rapid rate which contributes to negative effects on global warming. Along with increased poverty, human rights are being violated and labor is exploited. Therefore, sustainability is perhaps a more urgent topic than ever. CSV is proposed as an answer to these environmental and social threats, which is identified by a gap in the concept of CSR. Sweden is a leading country in terms of sustainability, and therefore the purpose is to gain knowledge on how Swedish companies work with shared value creation in their sustainable practices. This study follows an interpretive philosophy through a qualitative study, and semi-structured interviews are conducted with six companies. The empirical data is analyzed through coding where four themes are evolved. This study develops existing concepts through an inductive approach and further proposes that the companies pursue CSV by the mediating role of CSR. Sustainable innovation, innovative raw materials, and digitalization are the major contributors to shared value creation. Sustainable development goals and science-based targets are essential tools to guide companies toward a sustainable future. However, two barriers to pursuing shared value creating activities are being a small company and adapting to the local context.

For a prolonged period of time, corporations and society have been out of synergy. There are many industries that have contributed to our environmental problems, but the fashion industry has been very active in contributing to the negative climate change, particularly the value chain. There is an eminent need for change, regarding how fashion companies operate and how consumers choose to consume. Creating Shared Value has emerged in recent years, answering societal and environmental issues, but the concept is still very nebulous and a relatively new concept. Throughout this thesis, the purpose was to examine if or how Swedish fashion companies create shared value and how CSV initiatives can contribute to sustainable value chains within the Swedish fashion industry.  The qualitative research strategy has been implemented throughout the thesis. This decision was made in order to successfully create a rich primary data collection so that a deep analysis could be conducted in relation to the literature review. The results and conclusion of this thesis is that Swedish fashion companies create shared value subconsciously, some of the participating companies do it more than others. The results suggest that CSV initiatives can contribute to increasingly sustainable value chains for the various companies, but that there are also several boundaries and opportunities along the way. There is a further need of more research regarding the concept of CSV, especially in the fashion industry.

The effects of businesses all over the globe on social issues like climate change have caused an increasing demand for those businesses to take responsibility for their actions. While corporate social responsibility has been concerned with such topics for a while, the more recent concept of ‘creating shared value’ aims to have a more justified approach in a way that it provides economic value for the implementing company while also targeting social issues simultaneously. Still, specific tools helping companies to implement initiatives that create shared value are missing.Multinational large-fleet operators, such as logistics companies or car rental services, are considered to contribute a significant share to the earlier mentioned social issue of climate change. With the rising adoption of electric vehicles by such large-fleet operators, the concept of Vehicle-to-Grid is identified as a way for multinational large-fleet operators to create shared value. Vehicle-to-Grid is a technology that promises to help increase the utilisation of renewable energy sources, thereby helping to tackle climate change. Since the concepts of creating shared value and Vehicle-to-Grid have not been combined so far, a research gap was identified. Therefore, this research aims to answer the questions of how Vehicle-to-Grid can create shared value for multinational large-fleet operators and how expected results of that implementation can be measured for the implementing company, society and other considered stakeholders.Empirical data is collected by qualitatively interviewing organisations that have been involved in Vehicle-to-Grid related projects and is analysed with the help of a conceptual framework that the authors developed. The conclusion of this study closes the identified research gap and contributes to the theory of how shared value initiatives can be implemented. The research suggests that for multinational large-fleet operators, shared value creation by implementing Vehicle-to-Grid could be achieved by redefining productivity in the value chain and enable local cluster development. Additionally, the research gives implications on how progress for all considered parties can be measured and suggests managerial and policy implications that would help to define Vehicle-to-Grid business cases in the future.

Social sustainability is one of the three dimensions that make up sustainable development. The social dimension has for long been seen as the weakest and has often been ignored in favour of the economic and ecological dimension. The importance of the social dimension is getting more recognition both by the private and the public sector and as a result of external pressures, companies have started to work with their social responsibility to strengthen their competitiveness on the market. From this way of working, the concept of creating shared value has been introduced by professor Michael E. Porter and lecturer Mark R. Kramer who suggests that companies can create economic value by creating societal value and thereby create shared value. They argue that companies can, by addressing a social issue and using their power, create shared values in our society. Employment requirements in public procurement is one way of addressing the social sustainability in the society and together with the prevailing construction boom and the shortage of manpower, companies must look for new places to recruit. Hence, the purpose of this descriptive research is to contribute with knowledge on how employment requirements are used in Sweden and study the development of the concept creating shared value. Additionally, it is investigated if employment requirements in public procurements can be used to create shared value. Two examples of varied character serve the basis of the empirics. The theory of creating shared value originates, as mentioned earlier, from creating social value and thereby creating economic value which, in turn, creates shared value. The study shows that, even though Porter and Kramer’s theory of creating shared value might not be fully applicable in public procurement, employment requirements can be a way of creating shared value in the society. Through collaboration between the private and the public sector, social issues such as unemployment, can be addressed and mitigated. / Social hållbarhet är en av tre dimensioner som utgör hållbar utveckling. Den sociala dimensionen har länge setts som den svagaste och har ofta ignorerats till förmån för den ekonomiska och ekologiska dimensionen. Betydelsen av den sociala dimensionen börjar uppmärksammas alltmer, både av den privata och offentliga sektorn och som ett resultat av yttre påtryckningar har företag börjat arbeta med sitt sociala ansvar för att därigenom stärka sin konkurrenskraft på marknaden. Från detta arbetssätt har konceptet creating shared value introducerats av professor Michael E. Porter och föreläsaren Mark R. Kramer som menar att företagen kan skapa ekonomiskt värde genom att skapa ett socialt värde vilket tillsammans i sin tur resulterar i ett delat värde. De menar att företag, genom att adressera ett socialt problem och använda sin makt, kan bidra till att skapa ett delat värde i samhället. Sysselsättningskrav i offentliga upphandlingar är ett sätt på vilket den sociala hållbarheten i samhället kan adresseras och tillsammans med den rådande högkonjunkturen i byggbranschen och byggföretagens personalbrist måste de se till alternativa platser för rekrytering. Därför har syftet med denna beskrivande uppsats varit att utöka kunskapen om hur sysselsättningskrav används och studera utvecklingen av konceptet creating shared value. Dessutom har det undersökts om sysselsättningskrav i offentliga upphandlingar kan skapa delat värde. Två exempel av varierande karaktär ligger således till grund för den empiriska inhämtningen. Teorin om att skapa delat värde utgår, som tidigare nämnt, från att skapa socialt värde och därigenom ekonomiskt värde vilket i sin tur skapar delat värde. Studien visar att även om Porter och Kramers teori om värdeskapande inte är helt applicerbart i offentlig upphandling, kan sysselsättningskrav vara ett sätt att skapa detta. Genom samarbete mellan den privata och offentliga sektorn kan sociala problem såsom arbetslöshet, adresseras och minskas.