The food retail industry's Scope 3 GHG emissions significantly contribute to global GHG emissions. Furthermore, it is widely acknowledged that a company's leadership style and effective stakeholder communication are critical for GHG abatement. Nevertheless, research on stakeholder communicationto persuade them to become more active in a company's sustainability process beyond current regulations is scarce. Based on a qualitative study on a case company, the thesis aims to underline the importance of effective stakeholder communication and leadership in the decarbonization process, focusing on Scope 3 GHG emissions of the company’s own brands upstream supply chain in the field of animal products. It examines and identifies communication hinders and drivers that can be influencedby leadership. Furthermore, measures of how to improve stakeholder communication along the upstream supply chain for practitioners are developed. Conclusively, the thesis displays that stakeholder communication is important due to the complexity of Scope 3 GHG emission reporting and the lack of a common language among stakeholders. It is further confirmed that leadership is key to eliminating stakeholder communication barriers. Most barriers have been identified due to inconsistent communication, making communication the primary motivator for Scope 3 GHG emission reporting. Finally, measures to improve stakeholder communication and thus Scope 3 GHG emission reporting for Company X’s in the Austrian food retail sector are presented. Moreover, the necessity for joint governmental regulations to reach climate targets set by the Paris Agreement and the SBTi is highly emphasized. As a final step, theoretical contributions, as well as directions for future research, are identified.

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The agricultural industry has an opportunity to shift to a more sustainable practice that helps restore vital topsoil, improve water quality, reduce environmental impact, and sequester atmospheric carbon into the vast soil carbon pool. However, to implement these practices at considerable scale, agricultural producers require access to resources and capital they rarely have and can be difficult to acquire. As a company, investing in regenerative agriculture in supply chains can lead to reduced Scope 3 emissions, more resilient supply chains, and better marketability as an investment fund, an employer, and a brand. Insetting regenerative agriculture can protect supply chains against climate risks and productivity loss, as well as serve as a more secure alternative to carbon credit offsets. Four successful companies, General Mills, Organic Valley, Nestlé, and Nespresso, have been shown to benefit from investing in regenerative agriculture as part of their evolution towards reaching net zero emissions. Based on their strategies, this paper has developed a recommended framework for programming investments for insetting regenerative agriculture. The recommendations rest on six pillars: 1) determining impact, 2) providing direct support to farmers, 3) place-specific strategies, 4) collaboration through partnerships, 5) scalable programming, and 6) educate consumers. Together, these represent a comprehensive approach to insetting that will provide long-term benefits to businesses, suppliers, and the planet.

Programming language tools help software developers to understand a program and to recognize possible pitfalls. Used with the right knowledge, they can be instrumented to achieve better software quality. However, creating language tools that integrate well into the development environment and workflow is challenging.This thesis utilizes a user-centered design process to identify the needs of professional developers through in-depth interviews, address those needs through a concept, and finally implement and evaluate the concept. Taking 'scope' as an exemplary source of misconceptions in programming, a “Scope Inspector” plug-in for the Atom IDE—targeting experienced JavaScript developers in the open source community—is implemented.

Traditionally, environmental related work is not commonly practised by the Swedish small and medium enterprises (SME). This can be attributed to the non-inclusive Swedish sustainability reporting legislation, which is primarily targeted at the large corporations, but also due to shortage of resources, demands, prioritization and competences in the SME. The study is aimed to simulate the SME’s interest and confidence in taking the first step in incorporating sustainability into their business strategies by means of environmental inventory. Through the development of an easy-to-use inventory model in MS Excel and automatically generated inventory reports, the study provides the SME with a tool to account for lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and water resource utilization. The availability of Snacksbolaget, a wholesaling actor, as a case study company refines the research scope to put focus on the wholesale and retail trading sector. Carrying out in two phases, the study begins with developing a generic theoretical model to portray typical GHG emissions and water resource utilization in the wholesale and retail trading sector, which is followed by applying the theoretical model to Snacksbolaget as a case study. The application involves system boundary definitions in the company and product levels, data collections, calculations, inventory model building and verification by Snacksbolaget. The usability of the inventory model is verified by Snacksbolaget and the company is satisfied with the information the overarching inventory reports provided. The inventory results based on Snacksbolaget’s data demonstrate that Scope 3, indirect GHG emissions, contributes to the majority of the company’s overall emissions. Within Scope 3, the largest contributions are originated from purchased products cradle-to-gate stages and their upstream transportation, while sensitivity analysis proves that the energy production mix applied to the manufacturing of product and the modes of goods transport could play a vital role in GHG reduction. Correspondingly, indirect water use in electricity generation, particularly in the product manufacturing stage, is shown to be the largest water input and output source of the studied products. Recommendations to Snacksbolaget are provided in the report, aiming at potentially minimizing indirect GHG emitted and water withdrawn or discharged by the products and services they purchase. To reach a larger SME audience, it is recommended to further develop the current customized spreadsheet model into sector specific inventory models. The interest and uptake of the models will likely increase if they are well developed and maintained by expertise independent of the SME and made readily available to the use of the SME. / Jämfört med de större företagen är det i Sverige inte lika vanligt att små och medelstora företag (SME) jobbar med miljöfrågor. Detta beror delvis på att hållberhetsredovisningskraven inte gäller SME, men också på grund av att SME saknar resurser, tid, pengar, kompetens samt att kunderna inte alltid ställer krav kring att driva de frågorna. Genom att utveckla modeller kring hur man beräknar och redovisar växthusgasutsläpp (GHG) och vattenanvändning för ett företag är tanken att examensarbetet ska underlätta SME:s miljöarbete och locka flera SME till att adressera de miljörelaterade utmaningarna. Examensarbetet är uppdelat i två sektioner. Först tas en teoretisk modell fram med inriktning mot parti- och detaljhandelssektorn, där avgränsningarna är dragna i enlighet med GHG protokollstandarden och redovisningsprinciper för vattenanvändning. Modellen implementeras sedan som verktyg i MS Excel, med inbyggda beräknings- och rapporteringsfunktioner. Verifiering av modellen görs genom tillämpning av verktyget på Snacksbolaget, ett fallstudieföretag som har en grossistverksamhet inom hotell, restaurang och cateringbranschen. Inventeringsresultatet visar att Scope 3 GHG-utsläppen är störst i Snacksbolagets totala utsläppsprofil 2019, vilken är ganska typisk för partihandeln. Av Scope 3 utsläppen är materialutvinning och produkttillverkningsfaserna av de köpta produkterna det som bidrar till största delen, samtidigt som utsläppen från transport-kategorier sådan som Scope 1, Scope 3.4 och Scope 3.9 också är signifikanta. Inventeringen av vattenanvändning visar att produkttillverkningsfasen kräver den högsta vattenvolymen, där en relativ stor del är indirekt vatten som användas i elproduktionen. Inventeringsresultatet och känslighetsanalysen visar de potentiella åtgärder företaget kan implementera för att påverka storleken av Scope 3 emissionen och indirekta vattenanvändningen. Företaget rekommenderas att överväga sina produktval genom att utvärdera miljöprestationen genom att analysera flera miljöparametrar / miljödimensioner. Dessutom bör de inskaffa den underliggande produktinformation från leverantörerna för att säkerställa att man tar hänsyn till en korrekt produktlivscykel och validera de miljöfördelar som framhävs av leverantören. Det är också viktigt att välja produkter där materialet utvinns i, och produktens tillverkning sker i, länder eller regioner som utnyttjar förnybar energi och samtidigt inte är drabbat av vattenbrist. Företaget kan även motivera leverantören att frakta varorna med gröna transportalternativ. Sist men inte minst kan företaget uppmuntra till mindre konsumtion genom att erbjuda tjänster som uthyrning och återanvändning av produkter. Vidareutveckling av modellen inom parti- och detaljhandelssektorn kommer att kräva ytterligare data, tid och kompentens. Medan utvidgning av modellen för att omfatta andra affärssektor kan uppnås genom att utveckla separata modeller med likande tillvägagångssätt som beskrivs för den nuvarande modellen. Datakvaliteten kan förbättras under tiden genom regelbunden underhållning och uppdatering. För att kunna locka till sig fler små och medelstora företag, bör anpassande modeller utvecklas och underhålls av externa miljöexperter och göras tillgängliga för användning av SME.

<p>Knowledge on fuel use and muscle metabolism in high altitude mammals is very limited. Yet, as the oxidation of carbohydrates offers an oxygen-saving advantage over the oxidation of fatty acids (15-30% more energy produced per oxygen used), one possible adaptation to maintain performance at high altitude is to elevate the use of carbohydrates as a fuel source for energy metabolism. To test this hypothesis, I performed intraspecific and interspecific comparisons of whole-body fuel use and muscle metabolism in closely related high (4000-4500 m) and low altitude (100-300 m) native mice (genus <em>Phyllotis</em>), which I collected at different locations in Andean and coastal regions of Peru. My results show a higher proportional use of carbohydrates when oxygen becomes limited in high altitude <em>Phyllotis</em> in comparison to their low altitude counterparts. This phenotype does not seem to result from similar phylogenetic history or from a chronic exposure to hypobaric hypoxia during development or adulthood. Accordingly, this thesis provides the first compelling evidence of enhanced carbohydrate utilization as an adaptation to high altitude, a hypothesis proposed nearly 30 years ago. The mechanisms responsible for this shift in fuel use are unknown. There were no strong indications of a greater capacity for carbohydrate oxidation in skeletal and cardiac muscles of high altitude <em>Phyllotis</em> mice. Finally, as this thesis provides the first report of whole-body fuel use in mice, a comparison with other mammalian species (rats, dogs and goats) revealed that the current model of mammalian fuel selection, which is thought to be conserved among mammals, does not apply to small mammals. I thus revisited the current model and proposed a new one general to all mammals. This thesis thus provides significant advancements not only in the field of high altitude physiology but also in the field of mammalian energetics.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

In emergent high technology industries, entrepreneurs and their new ventures play a critical role in enhancing economic growth. In these industries, we can easily see some new ventures grow more rapidly to outperform their competitors. However, looking beyond the surface, new ventures’ growth path is idiosyncratic. More specifically, when growing, new ventures pursue different paths in terms of 1) which technologies they develop, 2) which products they make, and 3) what markets they enter. The question that has struck me is why high-tech new ventures differ on these key strategic choices. Building on literature on entrepreneurship, strategy, industry evolution, and network, this dissertation tries to answer this important question by focusing on intra-firm factors, more specifically, the individual and structural attributes of new ventures. Types of founder experience and new ventures’ knowledge structure are examined in depth. My three studies, each presented as a separate essay herein, investigate how individual (i.e. founder experience) and structural attributes (i.e. knowledge structure) affect key strategic choices regarding i) product market scope (Wernerfelt and Montgomery, 1988), ii) technological search scope (Katila and Ahuja, 2002), and iii) the types of new products (Sanchez and Mahoney, 1996; Henderson and Clark, 1990), respectively. In each, I discuss the relevant theories, methodology, data sources, results and implications. By investigating intra-firm factors that trigger different entrepreneurial strategies, my dissertation responds to an important call – micro-foundation of strategy formation – thus filling a key gap in the entrepreneurship literature. / Business Administration/Strategic Management