Syfte: Som bakgrund till val av ämne och syfte ligger huvudsakligen ett hos författarna delat intresse för hållbarhet. Syftet utvecklades, då vi gjorde en teoretisk djupdykning kopplad till verksamhetsstyrning. Syftet med studien är att med en induktiv ansats synliggöra betydelsen av hållbarhet i SME’s och öka förståelsen för de utmaningar som föreligger inom verksamhetsstyrning vid mätning av hållbarhetsarbete. Metod: Studien inspireras av grundad teori, där vi utgår från det empiriska materialet som underlag för vår kunskap. Den empiriska datan utgörs av material från en kvalitativ studie med intervjuer av ostrukturerad karaktär, som har genomförts med tio verksamhetsledare i små- och medelstora (SME) företag. Med en induktiv ansats och hermeneutisk metod har den empiriska datan tolkats förutsättningslöst. Examensarbetets bidrag: Vi har utarbetat två modeller för att konceptualisera den normativa bild vi menar att befintlig forskning målar, samt den ur empirin utvunna teorin. Den tydligaste avvikelsen som vi funnit modellerna emellan är att den strävan som befintlig teori riktar mot att utveckla fungerande mätverktyg kopplade till hållbarhet, faller undan då den empiriskt grundade modellen vittnar om att inget behov eller önskan finns till att utveckla ett sådant. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Vår empiriska modell har identifierat värdeskapande och medarbetaren som det mest väsentliga för att driva hållbarhetsarbetet framåt, därav menar vi att det exempelvis skulle vara av intresse med en djupare undersökning av medarbetarens roll i värdeskapandet och hur rekryteringsprocessen kan tänkas se ut. Hur bemyndigande möjliggörs är också en intressant fråga, då vi bygger vår empiriskt grundade modell runt en bemyndigande styrmodell.

Human Resource Management (HRM) consultants are becoming more common. Simultaneously there is a lack of HRM in small and medium enterprises (SME’s). SME’s states neither to afford, nor have the time to perform HRM in their business. This thesis is a Working Scholarly essay based on qualitative method, based on ten semi- structured interviews. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether external HRM consultants can help SME’s with their HRM work. The questions to be answered are: - What business opportunities there are for HRM consultants to work with SME’s? - What obstacles HRM consultants working towards SME’s face in the market? The survey was conducted using a “data triangulation” of three different target groups where all participants originated from different companies. Interviews were performed on ten people with knowledge of HRM. Five of those interviewed with specific knowledge of HRM consultants working towards SMEs. The interviews were analysed by categorizing and placed into a SWOT analysis to identify the HRM consultants' business opportunities in relation to SME’s. The study's results showed that the HRM consultants have good business opportunities to work towards SME’s but there also exist some obstacles and threats. / Human Resource Management- (HRM) konsulter blir allt vanligare samtidigt som det råder brist på HRM-arbete i små- och medelstora företag (SME-företag). SME-företagen påstår sig varken har råd eller tid att utföra HRM-arbete. Studien är en Arbetsvetenskaplig uppsats utarbetad ur en kvalitativ metodansats baserad på tio stycken semistrukturerade intervjuer. Syftet med studien är att undersöka huruvida externa HRM-konsulter kan hjälpa SME-företag med deras HRM-arbete. Frågorna som ställs är vilka affärsmöjligheter det finns för HRM-konsulter att arbeta med SME-företag, samt vilka hinder HRM-konsulter som jobbar mot SME-företag möter på marknaden. Undersökningen genomfördes med hjälp av en datatriangulering av tre olika målgrupper, där samtliga deltagare kom från olika företag. Intervjuer utfördes med tio personer med kunskap inom HRM, varav fem stycken med specifik kunskap om HRM-konsulter som jobbar mot SME-företag. Intervjuerna analyserades genom kategorisering och placerades in i en SWOT- analys för att kartlägga HRM-konsulters affärsmöjligheter gentemot SME-företag. Studiens resultat visade att HRM-konsulter har goda affärsmöjligheter att arbeta gentemot SME-företag men att det även föreligger en del hinder och hot.

<p>E-commerce is far more common in large firms than in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). As a result SMEs risk competitive disadvantages. A growing body of research has attended to this problem but few studies examine the adoption of e-commerce from a broader contextual perspective. To be able to understand SMEs’ adoption of e-commerce it is desirable to study their contextual preconditions, approaches and effects.</p><p>The purpose of this study is to contribute to the theory building in the e-commerce area by forming a conceptual framework over SMEs’ adoption of e-commerce: the ECA (Electronic Commerce Adoption) framework. A central starting point for the study is Pettigrew’s (1985) contextual framework for strategic changes. The analysis dimensions in Pettigrew’s framework − content, context and process − are adapted to adoption of e-commerce. Thus, the ECA framework consists of analysis models that focus on a) the content, b) the context and c) the process of e-commerce adoption in SMEs. Further, the ECA framework includes an analysis model over the interplay between content, context and process and a typology over adoption situations. The SME in its role as a supplier is the unit of analysis. The study uses an abductive approach where results from previous studies in areas such as e-commerce, information systems and decision making are used as sources for forming the ECA framework. The ECA framework is then applied to the collection, interpretation and analyze of empirical data from the case studies of two small and one medium-sized enterprise. The case studies lead to the identification of additional elements that are added to the analysis models.</p><p>One contribution from the study is the typology over adoption situations. The typology, which builds on studies of Junghagen (1998) and Engsbo et al. (2001), divides the adoption of e-commerce in SMEs into five categories of adoption situations: proactive adoption situations, adaptive adoption situations, pragmatic adoption situations, forced adoption situations and enabled adoption situations. An adoption situation describes what is being adopted (content), why (context) and how (process).</p><p>Another contribution is the so called adoption guides. These are contextual conditions whose states indicate if a SME will adopt e-commerce or not and if so, which adoption situation they are likely to find themselves in. The adoption guides are: the relative dependence on individual customers, the degree of customer pressure, the strategic needs of e-commerce, the information complexity and, the CEO’s extent of aversion towards risk-taking. Consequently two major conclusions from this study are that SMEs’ e-commerce adoption can be divided into five different adoption situations and a small number of contextual conditions – here called adoption guides – determine which of them a SME tend to go through. The typology enables organizations that educate SMEs or support their development of e-commerce to design their efforts more efficiently and researchers to diversify the studied population. As the study is theory building the contributions and conclusions are propositions that need to be tested empirically in future studies.</p>

E-commerce is far more common in large firms than in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). As a result SMEs risk competitive disadvantages. A growing body of research has attended to this problem but few studies examine the adoption of e-commerce from a broader contextual perspective. To be able to understand SMEs’ adoption of e-commerce it is desirable to study their contextual preconditions, approaches and effects. The purpose of this study is to contribute to the theory building in the e-commerce area by forming a conceptual framework over SMEs’ adoption of e-commerce: the ECA (Electronic Commerce Adoption) framework. A central starting point for the study is Pettigrew’s (1985) contextual framework for strategic changes. The analysis dimensions in Pettigrew’s framework − content, context and process − are adapted to adoption of e-commerce. Thus, the ECA framework consists of analysis models that focus on a) the content, b) the context and c) the process of e-commerce adoption in SMEs. Further, the ECA framework includes an analysis model over the interplay between content, context and process and a typology over adoption situations. The SME in its role as a supplier is the unit of analysis. The study uses an abductive approach where results from previous studies in areas such as e-commerce, information systems and decision making are used as sources for forming the ECA framework. The ECA framework is then applied to the collection, interpretation and analyze of empirical data from the case studies of two small and one medium-sized enterprise. The case studies lead to the identification of additional elements that are added to the analysis models. One contribution from the study is the typology over adoption situations. The typology, which builds on studies of Junghagen (1998) and Engsbo et al. (2001), divides the adoption of e-commerce in SMEs into five categories of adoption situations: proactive adoption situations, adaptive adoption situations, pragmatic adoption situations, forced adoption situations and enabled adoption situations. An adoption situation describes what is being adopted (content), why (context) and how (process). Another contribution is the so called adoption guides. These are contextual conditions whose states indicate if a SME will adopt e-commerce or not and if so, which adoption situation they are likely to find themselves in. The adoption guides are: the relative dependence on individual customers, the degree of customer pressure, the strategic needs of e-commerce, the information complexity and, the CEO’s extent of aversion towards risk-taking. Consequently two major conclusions from this study are that SMEs’ e-commerce adoption can be divided into five different adoption situations and a small number of contextual conditions – here called adoption guides – determine which of them a SME tend to go through. The typology enables organizations that educate SMEs or support their development of e-commerce to design their efforts more efficiently and researchers to diversify the studied population. As the study is theory building the contributions and conclusions are propositions that need to be tested empirically in future studies.

The current global changes and regulations in sustainability have a direct impact on suppliers to the automotive industry. Therefore, it is crucial for suppliers to the automotive industry to proactively monitor developments to avoid risking their competitiveness. This involves an increased focus on documentation and compliance with sustainability policies and certifications. Company X is a family-owned company located in Gnosjö, operating for nearly 80 years and supplying products to the automotive industry, among other sectors. The company specializes in industrial work and focuses on machining (turning and milling). To remain competitive and, above all, relevant for at least another 80 years, they strive for continuous development to meet customer demands. The guiding philosophy is to operate within the ”Global Automotive Sustainability Guiding Principles”, which clarify the automotive industry ́s expectations regarding sustainability efforts from their suppliers. In late 2022, Drive Sustainability, responsible for creating and maintaining the Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ), raised the requirements from SAQ 4.0 to SAQ 5.0. The consequence of not being approved before June 2023 is the inability to initiate new business as a supplier to Scania. The thesis was conducted at Company X with the aim of investigating what is required for Business X to upgrade from SAQ 4.0 to SAQ 5.0. This involved identifying any gaps in the company’s environmental and quality management systems in relation to the SAQ portal. The project also aimed to examine whether the current quality and environmental management system needs adjustment to better reflect data in the SAQ portal. The main task of the author was to explore possible solutions to help Company X and other SMEs implement the SAQ process in a resource-efficient manner. To achieve the study ́s purpose, an analysis of the documentation in the company ́s environmental and quality management systems in relation to the SAQ portal was conducted. This analysis was used to identify the resources required to meet the requirements in the SAQ. Based on the formulated research questions, gaps in the company ́s environmental and quality management systems were identified concerning the SAQ portal. Additionally, proposals and arguments were provided for adjustments to the current management system. The result of the thesis was that Company X acted on the suggestions and was approved in SAQ 5.0 with a fulfillment rate of 81%, compared to the previous score 79% in SAQ 4.0. The model presented in the analysis of the SAQ scoring system can also be utilized by other SMEs to implement the SAQ process in a resource-efficient manner.