Over the last decades, industrial development has brought prosperity and wealth together with triggering unintended ecological degradation. Therefore, a modern society has increasingly demanded companies to take responsibilities for the effects of those business activities that have a negative impact on the environment. Among businesses this has increased the interest towards adopting proactive approaches and practices which aim to reduce these negative impacts. Therefore, the topic of proactive integration of environmental concerns into or-ganizational structure and day-to-day operations is highly relevant and deserves to be investigated. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze why and how companies integrate environmental concerns in their business operations and organizational structure as well as to investigate the critical factors that enable such integration. In this thesis, the integrated deductive and inductive research approaches are applied and the qualitative study is selected in order to better understand the motivations, challenges and perceived benefits for companies when proactively integrating environmental concerns into their business operations and organizational framework. Moreover, the multiple cases study of three Swedish manufacturing companies, namely: Volvo Buses, Trelleborg and Kinnarps is selected as the research strategy. By conducting semi-structured in-depth interviews with the environmental managers, there has not been found a generic pattern as for the ways of incorporating environmental concerns into the operational activities and organizational structure. Nevertheless, the evidence of performing environmentally-conscious design and manufacturing (ECD&M) as well as implementing environmental management systems (EMSs) for achieving improvements in material utilization, hazardous waste and emissions reduction, efficient energy consumption and the use of different systems to prevent possible accidents and environmental emergencies have been identified in the studied manufacturing companies. The thesis concludes with the essence of main reasons and benefits from adopting the environmental practices and eco-efficient strategies. Furthermore, the empirical results focus on the tools and methodologies supporting this proactive adoption. Thus, while Design for Environment (DFE) has gained much attention in theory, still only some elements of this methodology are being experienced by studied companies. In line with this, material selection process is recognized in all three organizations as a vital component in product design. As for Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), although is the most reliable method for outlining the environmental performance of products still its use and implementation is disadvantaged by its complexity, comprehensive scope and time-intensive application. The empirical results also show that the focus on products, unlike manufacturing processes and manufacturing facili-ties, is still neglected to a certain degree. Furthermore, products are still not within the main focus of ISO 14001. Consequently, from an environmental point of view, EMS covering a wider scope would be preferable and a more useful tool when striving for a sustainable development. Finally, some critical factors for a successful integration of the environmental concerns in business practices are also identified.

These days, brands play an increasing important role in our life. Most of firm work hard for brand development. The purpose of this study is to analyze the brand development of H&M in general and how it starts opening in China. The result shows that H&M develops its brand successfully around the world. It not only creates a wonderful reputation and healthy brand image in consumers’ minds, but also makes them satisfied. Even it has been doing well in its penetration in the Chinese market.

Legitimitet är en viktig faktor för ett företags överlevnad. Klädbranschen, speciellt H&M, har det senaste årtiondet fått mycket publicitet och blivit hårt granskad, vilket föranleder att legitimiteten kan anses ha varit hotad. Med utgångspunkt i legitimitetsteorin studerar vi H&M:s årsredovisningar mellan 1998-2008 för att finna hur de genom årsredovisningarna försöker bibehålla legitimiteten. Som verktyg använder vi Lindbloms (1994) fyra strategier för att bibehålla legitimitet. Vi finner att samtliga strategier används men att vissa förekommer mer frekvent än andra. Vi diskuterar möjliga orsaker till detta, samt tycker oss se tecken på en femte strategi.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur ett starkt varumärke byggs upp. För att få svar på denna fråga har författarna valt att undersöka H&M, då de har byggt upp ett så starkt och känt varumärke. Vilka egenskaper är de främsta? Vidare vill författarna även granska vilken bild som H&M förmedlar till omvärlden och se om den överensstämmer med kundernas uppfattningar. Uppsatsen är baserad på en enkätundersökning av 120 personer i varierande ålder, från ca 20-40 års ålder. Respondenterna är av olika kön dock är majoriteten kvinnor. Alla respondenter är bosatta i Stockholm och de är alla kunder hos klädföretaget H&M. Informanterna fick besvara olika frågor som handlade om vilka egenskaper som är viktigast vid val av klädköp hos H&M. De fick även förklara hur de uppfattade H&M:s varumärke. Detta i syfte att få reda på vilken bild kunderna har om H&M samt dess varumärke. Författarna har med hjälp av ett antal teorier som handlar om varumärkesforskning analyserat resultatet av de empiriska data. Enligt enkätundersökningen verkar H&M förmedla sitt budskap på ett rätt sätt, då kunderna verkar uppfatta budskapet. Båda bilderna överensstämmer alltså med varandra, dock med en liten avvikelse. Respondenterna verkade ha en positiv bild av H&M samt dess varumärke, då alla skulle fortsätta vara kunder hos H&M även i framtiden / The purpose of this paper is to examine how to build a strong brand. To answer this question the authors have chosen to examine H&M, because they have built such a strong and famous brand. Which characteristics are the most important? Further on, the authors also want to examine which picture H&M mediates to the surrounding world and see if it agrees with the costumer’s ideas The paper is based on a survey of 120 people with different age, from approximately 20 – 40 years old. The respondents are of different sex but the majority are women. All respondents are located in Stockholm and they are all costumers at the clothing company H&M. The respondents had to answer different questions about which characteristics where most important when making the choice of buying clothes from H&M. They also had to explain how they understand the H&M brand. The purpose of this is to get to know which picture the customer’s have about H&M and its brand. The authors have with help of some theories that concern brand research analysed the result from different data. According to the survey H&M seem to mediate their message in a good way, as the customers seem to understand the message. In other words, both pictures agree with each other, but with a little exception. The respondents seem to have a positive picture about H&M and its brand, as everybody wanted to continue being costumers at H&M even in the future.

In the last years people has become more aware of issues regarding corporate social responsibility. This has led to a more thorough control of big multinational companies, which are often held account of violating social, ethical and environmental values. The term most often used for this is corporate social responsibility (CSR). H&M is a Swedish multinational company and the concept of H&M is fashion to a low price. The material most often used in producing clothes is cotton. Cotton is the most sprayed crop and a great amount of water, pesticides and inorganic fertilizers are used in order to get better and bigger harvests leading to a negative impact on both environment and people working in the production chain. Organic cotton is a great alternative and a growing number of consumers are asking for clothes made out of organic cotton. The purpose of the thesis is to investigate whether H&M is taking responsibility for the social, ethical and environmental parts of CSR and how H&M uses organic cotton in their clothes. The thesis also accounts for the role of the consumer and other stakeholders regarding demand of organic cotton.  Methods used are literature studies and interviews conducted by phone and e-mail. The results show that the overall impression is that H&M as a company is taking several actions in order to take responsibility. By using organic cotton in collections on all departments and by supporting a number of non governmental organizations (NGO) H&M has had a positive development and is now seen as one of the most successful companies regarding CSR. H&M has integrated a stakeholder perspective in their activities which shows that the company is putting focus not only at the consumers but also at other important stakeholders. H&M should however focus more on local sustainability, in order to help sustain a positive development in developing countries multinational companies such as H&M need to take a bigger responsibility and attend so that a bigger profit remains in the sub contractor countries.

Lindner, Murphy, and Wingenbach (2002), noted that agricultural education's core is communication because it is the component that spreads a variety of ideas to a large group of people and is the essential form of education needed for scholarship. Research is needed to ensure that agricultural education students are taught to write, effectively and efficiently, an argument paper that establishes the following components: coherence, audience awareness, argument, summary, sources, and grammar. The purpose of this descriptive study was to determine if the writing competencies of the Doc@Distance graduate students have changed or improved based on the recommendations made in a previous study. A census of the Doc@Distance students was taken for this study. Thirty students submitted an argument writing sample that they wrote during the orientation week of their program in August 2003. The conclusions of this study found that 68.8% of the 2004 Doc@Distance Cohort suggested inadequacy in writing an argument paper, and 71.4% of the 2007 Doc@Distance Cohort suggested inadequacy in writing an argument paper. Ending Cohort `04 demonstrated weakness in coherence, argument, summary, and grammar. Beginning Cohort `07 demonstrated weakness in coherence, audience awareness, summary, and grammar. As a result of this study, it is recommended that a follow-up study be conducted on Cohort `07 in two years to determine if writing abilities for argument papers have changed and to assess the overall changes in argument-writing for this cohort. It is recommended that a study be conducted on Cohort `10 upon admission to determine their argument-writing ability. Ending Cohort `07 and Beginning Cohort `10 should be tested to determine if a difference exists between students completing the program and students entering the program. It is recommended that undergraduate agricultural education students be tested to determine their argument-writing competencies. It is recommended to compare and contrast on-campus agricultural education students and distance education students at Texas A&M University. Finally, it is recommended that Cohorts `07 and `10 be evaluated on their competencies to write data reports, narratives, and informative and research analysis papeers.

<p>Over the last decades, industrial development has brought prosperity and wealth together with triggering unintended ecological degradation. Therefore, a modern society has increasingly demanded companies to take responsibilities for the effects of those business activities that have a negative impact on the environment. Among businesses this has increased the interest towards adopting proactive approaches and practices which aim to reduce these negative impacts. Therefore, the topic of proactive integration of environmental concerns into or-ganizational structure and day-to-day operations is highly relevant and deserves to be investigated.</p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to analyze why and how companies integrate environmental concerns in their business operations and organizational structure as well as to investigate the critical factors that enable such integration. In this thesis, the integrated deductive and inductive research approaches are applied and the qualitative study is selected in order to better understand the motivations, challenges and perceived benefits for companies when proactively integrating environmental concerns into their business operations and organizational framework. Moreover, the multiple cases study of three Swedish manufacturing companies, namely: Volvo Buses, Trelleborg and Kinnarps is selected as the research strategy. By conducting semi-structured in-depth interviews with the environmental managers, there has not been found a generic pattern as for the ways of incorporating environmental concerns into the operational activities and organizational structure. Nevertheless, the evidence of performing environmentally-conscious design and manufacturing (ECD&M) as well as implementing environmental management systems (EMSs) for achieving improvements in material utilization, hazardous waste and emissions reduction, efficient energy consumption and the use of different systems to prevent possible accidents and environmental emergencies have been identified in the studied manufacturing companies.</p><p>The thesis concludes with the essence of main reasons and benefits from adopting the environmental practices and eco-efficient strategies. Furthermore, the empirical results focus on the tools and methodologies supporting this proactive adoption. Thus, while Design for Environment (DFE) has gained much attention in theory, still only some elements of this methodology are being experienced by studied companies. In line with this, material selection process is recognized in all three organizations as a vital component in product design. As for Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), although is the most reliable method for outlining the environmental performance of products still its use and implementation is disadvantaged by its complexity, comprehensive scope and time-intensive application. The empirical results also show that the focus on products, unlike manufacturing processes and manufacturing facili-ties, is still neglected to a certain degree. Furthermore, products are still not within the main focus of ISO 14001. Consequently, from an environmental point of view, EMS covering a wider scope would be preferable and a more useful tool when striving for a sustainable development. Finally, some critical factors for a successful integration of the environmental concerns in business practices are also identified.</p>

Bakgrund: Att anställa rätt personal och utbilda dem i varumärkets grunder och värderingar får en allt mer avgörande roll. Konsumenten påverkas av medarbetaren i butik och de är numera företagets viktigaste marknadsföringskanal. Genom att öka medarbetarens motivation och engagemang sprids varumärkets identitet till konsumenten. Struktur och kultur inom organisationen anses vara en framgångsfaktor i arbetet med varumärket samt den långsiktiga relationen till konsumenten. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur ett företags varumärkesidentitet förmedlas genom organisationen ur ett företagsperspektiv, från ledning till medarbetare. Teorier: The Employee Brand: Is Yours an All-Star? av Mangold och Juanquart Miles (2007), Brand Management Through Narrowing the Gap Between Brand Identity and Brand Reputation av de Chernatony (1999), Promotion Mix av Kotler (1994), Impact of Satisfaction with Mandated CRM Use on Employee Service Quality av Hsieh et al. (2012), Identitetsprisma av Kapferer (1997) och Design Thinking av Brown (2008). Metod: En kvalitativ ansats har använts i form av primär- och sekundärdata innehållande djupintervjuer samt semistrukturerade intervjuer med medarbetare på H&amp;M samt H&amp;M:s eget material, “The H&amp;M Way”. Slutsats: I studien framkommer att vikten av en stark företagskultur är viktig för att förmedla varumärkets identitet genom organisationen. Det framkommer även att det finns kunskapsskillnader inom organisationen beroende på vilken position man har, hur länge man arbetat på företaget samt butikens geografiska placering i förhållande till huvudkontoret.

Den 24 oktober 2012 utför samhällsprogrammet Kalla Fakta en kritisk granskning av modeimperiet H&amp;M, där man ifrågasätter H&amp;M:s handlande angående levnadslönerna för textilarbetarna i deras produktionsländer. I denna uppsats är syftet att undersöka om H&amp;M valt att försvara sig mot denna granskning i en korrespondens med Kalla Fakta. Det är ur ett retoriskt perspektiv intressant att studera hur ett värdsledande förtetag, som H&amp;M, strategiskt väljer att svara på denna typ av situation för att försöka återuppta sin trovärdighet. I denna studie har jag med hjälp av retorikens statuslära och William L. Benoits apologia-teorier, kunnat konstatera att H&amp;M använt sig av olika försvarstrategier som  förändras över tid i korrespondensen.  I denna studie har jag även kunnat konstatera att korrespondensen är en del av H&amp;M:s återhämtningsarbetet i försök att förstärka deras ethos och till viss del reducera den bild som Kalla Fakta valt att målat upp av företaget.

Development of foam cutting machines for rapid prototyping and manufacturing purposes began shortly after the first additive manufacturing machines became commercialised in the late 1980s. Increased computer power, the development and adoption of CAD/CAM software and rising demand for customisation has caused the rapid prototyping industry to grow swiftly in recent decades. While conventional rapid prototyping technologies are continuing to improve in speed and accuracy the ability to produce large (> 1m³) prototypes, moulds or parts it is still expensive, time consuming and often impossible. Foam cutting rapid prototyping and manufacturing machines are ideally suited to fulfil this niche because of their high speed, large working volumes and inexpensive working materials. Few foam cutting rapid prototyping machines have been commercialised to-date leaving significant opportunities for research and development in this area. Thermal plastic foam cutting is the material removal process most commonly used in foam cutting rapid prototyping to shape or sculpt the plastic foam into desired shapes and sizes. The process is achieved by introducing a heat source (generally a wire or ribbon) which alters the physical properties of the plastic foam and allows low cutting forces to be achieved. In thermal plastic foam cutting the heat source is generated via Joule (electrical) heating. This study investigates the plastic foam cutting process using experimental cutting trials and finite element analysis. The first part of this thesis presents an introduction to conventional foam cutting machines and rapid prototyping machines. It is suggested that a market opportunity lies out of reach of both of these groups of machines. By combining attributes from each, foam cutting rapid prototyping machines can be developed to fill the gap. The second part of this thesis introduces the state-of-the-art in foam cutting rapid prototyping and investigates previous research into plastic foam cutting mechanics. The third part of this thesis describes cutting trials used to determine important factors which influence plastic foam cutting. Collectively over 800 individual cutting tests were made. The cutting trials included two main material sets, expanded polystyrene and extruded polystyrene, three different wire diameters, two hot-ribbon configurations and a wide range of feed rates and power inputs. For each cut the cutting force, wire temperature and kerf width was measured as well as observations of the surface texture. The data was then analysed and empirical relationships were identified. An excel spreadsheet is established which allows the calculation of important outcomes, such as kerf width, based on chosen inputs. Quantitative measurements of the surface roughness and form, of cuts made with hot-tools, will not be addressed in this thesis. This body of work is currently under investigation by a colleague within the FAST group. The fourth part of this thesis describes the formation of a nonlinear transient two-dimensional heat transfer finite element model, which is developed for plastic foam cutting simulations. The conclusion is that the cutting trials contributed to a better understanding of plastic foam cutting mechanics. A new parameter was identified called the mass specific effective heat input, which is a function of the foam material and the cutting tool, it allows the prediction of cutting conditions with given cutting parameters and hence provides the necessary relationships needed for adaptive automated foam sculpting. Simulation results were validated by comparison with experimental data and provide a strong base for further developments including optimisation processes with adaptive control for kerf width (cut error) minimization. This study has added considerably to the pool of knowledge for foam cutting with a hot-tool. In general, much of the work reported herein has not been previously published. This work provides the most advanced study of foam sculpting work available to date.