The thesis acquaints readers with the basic ideas of a new trend in marketing -- green marketing. It points out its particularities, historical evolution and potential application, including warning about common mistakes. The thesis aspires to bring an overview of the topic.

The main purpose of this thesis is to explore the relationship between best practice adherence and the ownership status of an eco-labeling organization. The research question that is aiming to answer is what key factors most often explain differences in the level of credibility between for-profit carbon management eco-labels and not-for-profit carbon management eco-labels in transnational environmental governance. The case studies of interest are the two certification agencies Verra and The Carbon Reduction Institute. The issue of credibility of eco-labeling schemes will be looked through a Green IR theoretical perspective and debunked with Neoliberal IR theory. The methods which will be used are Small-N comparison and Qualitative Content Analysis conducted through Index for Best Practices. The data for the study is acquired from the online platforms of the two case studies for investigation.

Creating a competitive advantage is often contextualized as the finding the Holy Grail of strategy. This study examines how Nordic sports businesses incorporate sustainability and how it can be used as a strategy to create a competitive advantage. The climate change debate, and increased consumer environmental consciousness has compelled companies to endeavor for a sustainable development. The sport industry has in general lacking behind in the green transition. However, they are now progressively trying to reconstruct their businesses model to a more sustainable approach. Consequently, more companies are today trying to market their brands to be perceived as sustainable. Although, the challenge is to how position a brand as sustainable without being accused for greenwashing. The thesis structure is based on three segments. Corporate sustainability, sustainability marketing and corporate transformation. The study was based on a qualitative research method, based from six case study interviews with companies from Sweden and Finland. The main research findings was that sustainability has become an increasingly important issue for Nordic sports businesses. The driving force behind the sustainable development is three different stakeholder. Customers, policy makers and employees at the own organization. The Agenda 2030 can be seen as a powerful and tangible set of framework, used to better implement sustainability. Another finding is that sustainability is mostly communicated on product level rather than on corporate level because of the fear of greenwashing accusation. Finally, creating a competitive advantage through corporate sustainability is the main objectives. In order to accomplish that desired outcome, the strategy have to been based on sound businesses practices which depends on how the company is using, and absorbing both internal and external resources and capabilities.

This study deals with the critical analysis of sustainable investments and, therefore, ESG practices on financial performance during the year 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the financial market. The analysis examines sustainable investments in terms of their actual sustainability, risk, and earnings potential. For an improved tangibility of the findings, the overall market of the developed countries is represented by the two sample indices MSCI World and its sustainable benchmark MSCI World SRI. The analysis focuses on performance, volatility, and gross returns. Additionally, the knowledge of three financial experts supplements the analysis and connects the findings with their professional experience. The interview questions focused on the transparency and traceability of a sustainable investment product, the movement from shareholder-value to the stakeholder approach, the risk of sustainable investments, and the return analysis. The analysis shows that the Covid-19 pandemic has influenced the behavior of investors through the increasing importance of social and environmental topics. The analysis determines that intransparency and greenwashing of sustainable investments pose a danger to investors and are favored by a lack of legal framework conditions. Furthermore, the results reveal that ESG engagement reduces the agency problem and can be considered a stakeholder issue. An examination of market data shows that sustainable investments have a lower extreme risk and are thus subject to lower fluctuations in value during the year of the pandemic. In addition, sustainable investments show an abovemarket average development of value growth and gross returns. The conclusion is that sustainable investments are still in the development stage and need quickly binding legal regulations. Nevertheless, the lower risk, the above-market average performance, and the increasing demand point to a long-term establishment of sustainable investments in the market.

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.

Greenwashing means the advertisement of goods and services that are alleged to be of benefit to the environment, and is a phenomenon that persists as an advertising tactic in corporate marketing. Research has found that consumers are distrustful of greenwashing, as many claims of eco-friendly products have been shown to be false. This crisis of confidence recalls scandals of the past decade related to insider trading, price fixing, and lack of corporate social responsibility placing the brand equity of major corporations at risk. Given a limited understanding among corporate leaders of consumers' experiences with greenwashing, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore and describe the essence of these experiences. Research questions explored the phenomenon of greenwashing, informed by stakeholder theory, social identity theory, consumer culture theory, and the theory of corporate social responsibility. Interview questions were distributed to a purposeful, convenience sample of 20 research participants at a U.S. Military base in Germany. Interview data were collected via e-mail, transcribed, coded using open techniques, and analyzed to identify themes or patterns. Key themes included feelings of distrust in green advertising, indifference (business as usual), betrayal, and concern for the environment. Consumers also expressed a conscious awareness that educating themselves and exercising prudence when purchasing such goods and services is the best defense against greenwashing. The findings underscored the need for theorists of consumer culture and social identity to make trust a central topic when discussing consumers' identification with brands and products. The findings of this study may contribute to positive social change by educating consumers about greenwashing, which could help empower them to demand better environmental conduct from corporations.

Abstract The purpose of this cumulative dissertation is to introduce service, conceptualized by service-dominant logic, as a new explanatory framework to improve the understanding of sustainable development. Sustainability is a megatrend that challenges business and marketers to act upon and respond to global social and environmental problems. Even after over more than five decades of research related to sustainability there is a gap in the transformation to sustainable development of firms and society in large. Specifically, there appears to be a significant gap between sustainable awareness and the actual sustainable behavior of actors and organizations. A systematic approach to the topic of greenwashing is provided, including relevant approaches for its avoidance. Furthermore, the dissertation urges the need of a systematic and more general theoretic framework to connect marketing as a social science with sustainable development instead of fragmenting marketing in sub-disciplines (e.g., sustainable marketing, societal marketing, marketing ethics, etc.). S-D logic is proposed as model of marketing covering three dichotomies: (1) micro/macro, (2) positive (questioning what is?) / normative (questioning what ought to be), and (3) profit sector/nonprofit sector. S-D logic´s narrative is the continuing story of actors interacting, resource integrating and exchanging service, and co-creating value through service ecosystems, governed and evaluated through their institutional arrangements. Though with regards to sustainable development the reflection on conceptualizing value co-destruction is critical. For instance, through the value co-creation process negative value might be created for one actor, both actors, third parties, society, or nature. A strong conceptual link between the process of co-creation of value and the process of value co destruction is ascertainable in the sense of contra indication. In addition, the findings of a literature review indicate that further attention should be paid to imbalance, conflict and power relations between actors and the service ecosystem. Furthermore, the concept of service is extended beyond the human-created phenomenon, by observing that ecosystem services exist in the natural world. A change of perspective on nature is proposed to see nature no longer as a source of resource or a simple resource but as a services provider. Thus, the underlying human-nature relationships may improve.:Abstract III I Table of contents IV II List of Publications: VI III List of Figures VII IV List of Tables VIII 1 General Introduction 1 1.1 Purpose and scope 1 1.2 Theoretical introduction 3 1.2.1 Reason for a new theoretical framework for sustainable development 4 1.2.2 Service as the underlying process for sustainable development 7 1.2.3 S-D logic´s evolvement to a concept of service ecosystem 9 1.2.4 Conceptualizing value co-destruction 11 1.3 Structure of the dissertation 22 1.4 General Summary 24 1.4.1 Summarizing the implications of S-D logic and sustainable development 24 1.4.2 Outlook on general future research for evolving S-D logic in the field of sustainable development 26 1.4.2.1 Creation of value and well-being through fast, sacrifice, or renouncement 27 1.4.2.2 Improve the understanding for micro-macro paradox 27 1.4.2.3 Extension of the human-centric S-D logic to a more general service concept 28 1.4.2.4 Conceptualization of power relations in a service ecosystem 28 1.4.2.5 Pursuing the idea of destructive co-creation of value 30 2 Die normative Ordnung der service-dominierten Logik für ein komplexes Wertnetzwerk–ein innovativer Weg zu mehr Nachhaltigkeit? 32 2.1 Einführung 32 2.2 Das Triple-Bottom-Line-Konzept 34 2.3 Die S-D Logik und die Chance zur normativen Ordnung eines komplexen Wertnetzwerks für mehr Nachhaltigkeit 40 2.3.1 Verbesserung der normativen Ordnung für ein innovatives Nachhaltigkeitskonzept 40 2.3.2 Normative Ordnung im sozialen Raum 42 2.3.3 Einführung in die S-D Logik 44 2.3.4 S-D Logik und nachhaltige Entwicklung 49 2.4 Zusammenfassung und Ausblick 53 3 Avoiding Greenwashing in Event Marketing: An Exploration of Concepts, Literature and Methods 56 3.1 Introduction 57 3.2 Literature review 59 3.2.1 Characteristics of greenwashing in event marketing 59 3.2.2 Current approaches to avoid greenwashing in event marketing 61 3.2.2.1 Identifying greenwashing and its impacts through measurement 63 3.2.2.2 Developing and applying internal rules 65 3.2.2.3 Creating a (multi-)stakeholder approach 66 3.2.2.4 Realignment according to laws and statutory regulations 68 3.2.2.5 Applying eco-labelling 69 3.3 Discussion, implications and further research 73 3.3.1 Discussion 73 3.3.2 Theoretical contributions and practical implications 75 3.3.3 Limitations and future research 78 4 Service Dominant Logic as a New Fundamental Framework for Analyzing Event Sustainability: A Case Study from the German Meetings Industry 80 4.1 Introduction 80 4.2 Literature review 84 4.2.1 S-D Logic as a new approach for the sustainable development of events 84 4.2.2 Events and the Service Dominant logic 84 4.3 S-D Logic and (event) sustainability 89 4.4 Case study 92 4.4.1 Case study context 92 4.4.2 Data collection 93 4.4.3 Data analysis 94 4.4.4 Findings 95 4.4.4.1 Micro level 96 4.4.4.2 Meso level 99 4.4.4.3 Macro level 102 4.5 Discussion 106 4.5.1 Theoretical contributions 109 4.5.2 Practical implications 110 4.5.3 Limitations and future research 111 References 114 Darstellung des wissenschaftlichen Werdegangs 137 Selbständigkeitserklärung 139 Bibliographische Darstellung 140

Responsible investing is a growing concept as sustainability is becoming a much more apparent problem. Thus, the EU implemented a new regulation in 2021, the SFDR 2019/2088, to decrease information asymmetry between institutional investors and end investors regarding sustainable risks associated with funds’ investments. This thesis aims to study whether Swedish mutual funds are greenwashing in terms of funds that are classified as Article 9 funds and invest in firms with low ESG scores. I find that greenwashing occurs among some Swedish mutual funds classified as Article 9 funds, urging further actions to be taken by scholars, practitioners, and regulators given the complexity of the studied research field.

This is a degree project made by three students at the Linnéuniversity in Kalmar with thequalitative method. The work discusses the topic of casino- and betting company´s socialsustainability and builds on previous research. The project attempts to cover the gaps thathave occurred after a study from Ekström, Hultgren and Johansson (2021) “Gamblingcompanies are digging for gold at the same time as sustainability requirements areincreasing”. The core of the work is to analyze how young private savers between the ages of20 to 24 relate to casino- and betting companies when it comes to investing using commoneconomic- and philosophical theories. The study's research question is: “how do youngprivate savers relate to casino- and betting companies, and how do young private savers thinkin their decision-making processes about socially sustainable investments?”. The workdiscusses how the decision process behind the decisions and how ethics and morality comeinto play. The legitimacy of the study is that in today's society, sustainability has become anincreasingly important part of our lifestyle. But social sustainability can easily beovershadowed by ecological sustainability, which in turn can lead to ignorance and that socialsustainability gets neglected. From there, it is important to do academic studies in the subject.The study concludes that 20-24 year olds have no problem navigating their decisions basedon their ethics and morals. However, they have difficulties to describe it in theoretical termsin the aspects of social sustainability. Furthermore the young private savers have anunderstanding of the underlying topic and have no issues discussing it. For them, thedimension of social sustainability falls into the concept of sustainability. The study alsoconcludes that 20-24 year old young private savers think that it is the savers responsibility forsocially sustainable investments and everyone should take responsibility for what they investin.

This research analyzes the motives and future of the Nordic green bond market from an underwriter perspective. Threefold motives for being active in the Nordic green bond market are found. There are monetary gains, corporate social responsibility, and an opportunity to receive and maintain legitimacy. Several important factors for the future of the Nordic green bond market are identified. The EU Taxonomy will have a major impact on this market, and is the most important factor for the future of it. Further, sustainability-linked bonds enable the transition of various sectors towards sustainability and are an important factor for the development of the Nordic bond market in general. Experts that possess roles within green bond underwriting and green bond investing have been interviewed. Stakeholder theory, corporate social responsibility and legitimacy theory have been implemented in this research with the aim of analyzing the motives and future of the Nordic green bond market. By doing that, this research contributes to a broader theoretical discussion in the area of sustainable finance.