Syfte: Företag har idag en skyldighet att verka för ett hållbart samhälle utifrån enskilda organisatoriska förutsättningar. Utifrån det har vi studerat hur små och medelstora företag i Gävleborg arbetar med socialt ansvarstagande utifrån förutsättningar de har. Studien är genomförd i syfte att utöka den befintliga forskningen för vad små och medelstora företag kan bidra med till socialt ansvarstagande.         Syftet med studien är att skapa förståelse för hur små och medelstora företag arbetar med socialt ansvarstagande utifrån ett internt och externt organisatoriskt perspektiv.  Metod: Vi har använt en kvalitativ forskningsmetod. För att samla in data har vi utfört semi-strukturerade intervjuer som sedan bearbetades i analysverktyget Nvivo. Empirimaterialet presenteras i ett enskilt kapitel. Analys & slutsats: Analysen i studien tyder på att arbetet med socialt ansvarstagande är viktigt oavsett vilken storlek, bransch eller ekonomisk möjlighet företaget har. Skillnader i resultatet uppstod mellan det interna och externa sociala ansvarstagandet då det externa upplevdes som svårare av intervjupersonerna.  Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Vi föreslår att studien bör ligga till grund för forskning i större omfattning, förslagsvis med fler små och medelstora företag. Vidare forskning kan även genomföras med fler intervjupersoner samt i andra positioner än intervjupersonerna som deltagit denna studie vilket vi tror kan bidra till andra insikter. Uppsatsens bidrag: Det teoretiska bidraget utgör ett kvalitativt perspektiv i syfte att öka förståelsen för hur små och medelstora företag arbetar med socialt ansvarstagande. Det praktiska bidraget är en översikt på hur små och medelstora företag kan arbeta med socialt ansvarstagande utifrån organisatoriska förutsättningar. / Aim: Today companies are required to work for a sustainable society based on individual organizational conditions. Based on that, we have studied how small and medium-sized enterprises in Gavleborg are working with social responsibility on the basis of the conditions they possess. The study was conducted in order to expand the existing research for what small and medium-sized enterprises can contribute to social responsibility. The purpose of the study is to create an understanding of how small and mediumsized companies work with social responsibility from an internal and external organizational perspective. Method: We have used a qualitative research method. To collect data, we conducted semi-structured interviews and then processed them in the analysis tool Nvivo. The empirical material is presented in a private chapter. Analysis & Conclusions: The analysis of the study suggest that the work of social responsibility is important regardless of the size, industry and economic possibilities the company possesses. Differences in the results arose between the internal and external social responsibility as the external was perceived as more difficult in the interviews. Suggestions for future research: We suggest that the study should be the basis for research on a larger scale, preferably with more small and medium-sized enterprises. Further research may be conducted with more respondents and in other positions than those who were interviewed in this study, which we believe can contribute to other insights. Contribution of the thesis: The theoretical contribution represents a qualitative perspective to increase the understanding of how small and medium-sized companies work with social responsibility. The practical contribution is an overview of how small and medium-sized enterprises can work with social responsibility on the basis of organizational conditions.

Background: Following the development of digitalization and the emergence of social media a lot of attention has been drawn upon how these platforms are influencing the fashion industry and fashion marketing. As society is becoming more ethics and health conscious, fashion companies’ visual representations in social media are drawing more attention - who is represented and how are these representations portrayed. Previous research has shown that white and thin models are a recurrent over-representation in media, consumers through these see the ‘ideal’ or stereotypical body types or norms, and not an actual or full representation of society. The issue is, however, not that white or thin people are represented in media. The problem is how companies portray these representations and how the portrayals lead to the exclusion and misrepresentation of other groups in society. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the CSR practice of fashion companies regarding the body image representations in social media marketing communications, with specific focus on the marketer’s perspective. Methodology: For this study an exploratory cross-sectional case-study research design approach was applied. Four corporate cases of fashion companies were analyzed using data triangulation methods on the basis of content analysis and semi-structured interviews. First, case analysis of social media contents and interviews were conducted, followed by cross- sectional analysis to find out if fashion companies’ practiced social responsibility is aligned with the verbally expressed social responsibility. Findings: The findings of this study demonstrate that fashion companies consider external social responsibility as an important issue, however, a gap between the companies practiced social responsibility and verbally expressed social responsibility remains. The study shows that two of the companies’ practiced social responsibility on their Instagram channel is in alignment with their verbally expressed social responsibility, when it comes to representing diversity in terms of body size, ethnicity and skin color. However, when it comes to the representational conventions it was noted that all the companies are lacking in external responsibility due to the continuous signs of idealization and body-ism on all the companies’ Instagram channels. Conclusion: This study contributes to the research field regarding companies’ external social responsibility on Instagram. The findings provide companies and researchers with awareness of which representational conventions/key social aspects are currently lacking in corporate marketing activities and should become the focus for further improvement. Based on obtained results, a modified framework for image analysis and criteria for image/content creation are suggested. The framework and criteria can assist future researchers, help content creators and other practitioners to understand the complexity of external social responsibility and how to implement it in practice.