The present thesis introduces an iterative expert-based Bayesian approach for assessing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the 2030 German new vehicle fleet and quantifying the impacts of their main drivers. A first set of expert interviews has been carried out in order to identify technologies which may help to lower car GHG emissions and to quantify their emission reduction potentials. Moreover, experts were asked for their probability assessments that the different technologies will be widely adopted, as well as for important prerequisites that could foster or hamper their adoption. Drawing on the results of these expert interviews, a Bayesian Belief Network has been built which explicitly models three vehicle types: Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles (which include mild and full Hybrid Electric Vehicles), Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles, and Battery Electric Vehicles. The conditional dependencies of twelve central variables within the BBN - battery energy, fuel and electricity consumption, relative costs, and sales shares of the vehicle types - have been quantified by experts from German car manufacturers in a second series of interviews. For each of the seven second-round interviews, an expert's individually specified BBN results. The BBN have been run for different hypothetical 2030 scenarios which differ, e.g., in regard to battery development, regulation, and fuel and electricity GHG intensities. The present thesis delivers results both in regard to the subject of the investigation and in regard to its method. On the subject level, it has been found that the different experts expect 2030 German new car fleet emission to be at 50 to 65% of 2008 new fleet emissions under the baseline scenario. They can be further reduced to 40 to 50% of the emissions of the 2008 fleet though a combination of a higher share of renewables in the electricity mix, a larger share of biofuels in the fuel mix, and a stricter regulation of car CO$_2$ emissions in the European Union. Technically, 2030 German new car fleet GHG emissions can be reduced to a minimum of 18 to 44% of 2008 emissions, a development which can not be triggered by any combination of measures modeled in the BBN alone but needs further commitment. Out of a wealth of existing BBN, few have been specified by individual experts through elicitation, and to my knowledge, none of them has been employed for analyzing perspectives for the future. On the level of methods, this work shows that expert-based BBN are a valuable tool for making experts' expectations for the future explicit and amenable to the analysis of different hypothetical scenarios. BBN can also be employed for quantifying the impacts of main drivers. They have been demonstrated to be a valuable tool for iterative stakeholder-based science approaches. / Die vorliegende Arbeit verfolgt zwei Forschungsziele - ein inhaltliches und ein methodisches. Auf der inhaltlichen Ebene wurde die Entwicklung der CO2-Emissionen der deutschen Neuwagenflotte bis 2030 untersucht. Es wurden verschiedene technische Möglichkeiten daraufhin überprüft, inwieweit sie zur Emissionsminderung beitragen können, wie wahrscheinlich es ist, dass sie umgesetzt werden, und welche Voraussetzungen und Rahmenbedingungen bedeutenden Einfluß haben. Die methodische Innovation dieser Arbeit besteht darin, subjektive Einschätzungen von Experten mit einem Bayesianischen Netzwerk zu verknüpfen, um die Anwendung solcher Netzwerke auf Situationen von Unsicherheit im Knight'schen Sinne zu erweitern, hier am Beispiel der zukünftigen, heute nicht vorhersagbaren Entwicklung der CO2-Emissionen der deutschen Neuwagenflotte. Ein erster Schritt dieser Untersuchung bestand in der Erhebung und Auswertung der Einschätzungen von 15 Experten in Bezug auf die Möglichkeiten, die CO2-Emissionen neuer PKW in Deutschland bis 2020 zu senken. Erhoben wurden Aussagen über verfügbare Technologien, ihre Einsparpotenziale, ihre Umsetzungswahrscheinlichkeiten sowie wichtige Rahmenbedingungen. Ziel war es, wesentliche Variablen und deren Abhängigkeiten zu identifizieren, um eine Grundlage für die spätere Modellierung zu schaffen. Um die Untersuchung auf eine breite Basis zu stellen, wurden Experten von Autobauern und Zulieferern, Nichtregierungsorganisationen, Verbänden sowie solche aus Wissenschaft und Journalismus einbezogen. Aufbauend auf diesen Ergebnissen wurde in einem zweiten Schritt ein Bayesianisches Netzwerk entwickelt, mit dem die CO2-Emissionen der deutschen Neuwagenflotte im Jahr 2030 quantifiziert werden können. Außerdem sollten die Marktchancen verschiedener Fahrzeugtypen untersucht werden. Ein weiteres Ziel war es, den Einfluss verschiedener technologischer und regulatorischer Einflussfaktoren zu quantifizieren, die in der ersten Interviewrunde identifiziert worden waren. Gegenüber der ersten Interviewrunde wurde der zeitliche Rahmen der Untersuchung um 10 Jahre auf das Jahr 2030 erweitert. Das Bayesianische Netz erstreckt sich auf die zukünftigen Eigenschaften und Marktchancen von drei Fahrzeugtypen: Verbrennungsmotorische Fahrzeuge einschließlich aller Hybridvarianten bis hin zum Vollhybrid, Plug-In Hybride und Batterie-Elektrofahrzeuge. Das Netzwerk umfasst 46 miteinander verknüpfte Variablen. Für zwölf entscheidende Variablen wurden per Expertenbefragung bedingte Wahrscheinlichkeiten erhoben. Befragt wurden sieben Experten, fast alle hochrangige F&E- oder Umweltexperten bei deutschen Autobauern. Für jeden Experten entstand ein individuell quantifiziertes Netzwerk. Um mögliche Technologie- und Emissionspfade zu untersuchen, wurden verschiedene Szenarien definiert, die unterschiedliche Regulierungen, Batterie-Entwicklungspfade und CO2-Intensitäten von Treibstoffen und elektrischer Energie in Betracht ziehen. Im Basis-Szenario liegen die Erwartungswerte der CO2-Emissionen der deutschen Neuwagenflotte 2030 nach Einschätzung der Experten bei 50 bis 65% der Emissionen der Neuwagenflotte 2008. Kombiniert man einen gesteigerten Anteil erneuerbarer Energien im Strommix, einen größeren Anteil von Biotreibstoffen im Treibstoff-Mix und eine strengere CO2-Emissionsregulierung seitens der Europäischen Union, liegen die erwarteten Emissionen der Neuwagenflotte 2030 bei 40 bis 50% der Emissionen der Neuwagen 2008. Die Erwartungswerte der Neuflotten-Emissionen 2030 können in den verschiedenen BBN auf minimale Werte von 18 bis 44% der Emissionen der deutschen Neuwagenflotte von 2008 festgelegt werden. Es ist in den BBN durchaus möglich, aber in den betrachteten Szenarien unwahrscheinlich, die Emissionen so stark zu senken. Neben der Untersuchung von Fahrzeugtechnologien und CO2-Emissionen bis 2030 verfolgte die vorliegende Arbeit das Ziel, eine innovative Methode zu erproben. Es hat meines Wissens bisher kein Experten-basiertes BBN gegeben, das zukünftige Entwicklungen untersucht. Eine weitere Besonderheit des Ansatzes ist, dass für jeden Experten ein eigenes BBN quantifiziert wurde, so dass eine Schar von Netzwerken entstanden ist, deren Aussagen verglichen werden können. Dadurch war es möglich, die Bandbreite der Erwartungen verschiedener Experten abzuleiten und festzustellen, wo Erwartungen relativ konsistent sind, und wo sie weit auseinander liegen. Daraus lassen sich wertvolle Schlüsse ableiten, an welchen Punkten weitere Forschung besonders erfolgversprechend ist. BBN haben sich damit als nützliches Werkzeug für Stakeholder-basierte iterative Forschungsprozesse erwiesen. Insgesamt hat es sich als fruchtbarer neuer Ansatz erwiesen, Experten-basierte Bayesianische Netzwerke zur Untersuchung zukünftiger Entwicklungsmöglichkeiten heranzuziehen. Die Methode ermöglicht es auch, den Einfluß von Rahmenbedingungen zu bestimmen.

Bakgrund och problem: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) är ett ramverk som beskriver företags sociala ansvar och engagemang. Vidare förknippas CSR även med stakeholder management som handlar om företags bemötande och balansering av sina intressenters intressen. Oenigheter i teoretiska definitioner av CSR tyder på att det empiriskt sett kan uppstå missförstånd kring ramverket. Carlsberg Sverige och Spendrups är två företag som tar ställning och socialt ansvar via CSR men kritiseras trots detta på grund av sin produktion och försäljningen av flaskvatten, som även visat sig har en negativ påverkan på företagens försäljning. Detta tyder på att det kan vara av företagens intresse att vilja bemöta och åtgärda de kritiska aspekter vilket görs utifrån CSR. Syfte: Studien syftar till att teoretiskt och empiriskt undersöka förhållandet mellan två bryggerier och dess kritikyttrande intressenter, vilket bidrar till ökad kunskap om komplexiteten av ramverken Corporate Social Responsibility och stakeholder management. Metod: En kvalitativ metod har använts där studien baseras på sekundärkällor för undersökningen av de två fallföretagen Carlsberg Sverige och Spendrups samt en undersökning av kritiken som riktas mot flaskvatten och dess produktion. Analys och slutsats: Produktionen, transporterna samt materialåtervinning och –förbränning kritiseras för att ha en negativ påverkan på miljön. Vidare jämför kritiker flaskvattnet med kranvatten som förhållandevis är ett sparsammare alternativ. Carlsberg Sverige och Spendrups är aktiva inom CSR och studien visar att företagen bemöter kritiken genom att påpeka konkreta åtgärder, projekt samt mål för exempelvis minskat koldioxidutsläpp. Författarna drar slutsatsen att, sett ur ett större perspektiv, talar de båda sidorna förbi varandra. Kritiker anser flaskvatten vara en onödig produkt vilket innebär att det inte är en önskvärd produkt på marknaden. Företagen å andra sidan sätter produkten samt dess påverkan på miljön i andra sammanhang där flaskvattnet visar sig vara mindre harmfullt. Vidare kan företagen inte bemöta kritikerna till hundra procent då detta skulle innebära att de inte tillgodoser andra intressenter som efterfrågar produkten. Utifrån ett stakeholder managment-perspektiv gäller det för företagen att hitta en balans mellan intressenterna. Detta resulterar i synen på CSR som ett verktyg snarare lämpat för generella än specifika ändamål. Med det i åtanke underlättas undvikandet av snäv kritik då denna inte behöver eller kan bemötas direkt. Företaget kan således prioritera sin egennytta. / Background and problem: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a framework which describes a companies social obligations and commitment. Further CSR is usually mentioned alongside another framework which is stakeholder management which in term promotes the idea that one has to balance every stakeholder’s interest. Disagreement regarding a definition of CSR can result in practical misunderstandings concerning the usage of the framework. Carlsberg Sverige and Spendrups are two companies that engage in CSR but are nonetheless criticized for their production and distribution of bottled water. This critique has resulted in diminished sales for both companies and can give the corporations a real reason for trying to meet and tackle the open critique, which has its origin in CSR. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to theoretically/empirically describe and explain the interaction between two breweries and their critical stakeholders. This will contribute to further knowledge regarding the complexity of the frameworks Corporate Social Responsibility and stakeholder management. Method: A qualitative method was used on secondary information of our case study corporations; Carlsberg Sverige and Spendrups. The same was undertaken with those critical towards bottled water in Sweden. Analysis and conclusion: The production process, transportation and the recycling process have all because of their negative impact on the environment been subject to criticism. Further there are those that compare bottled water to tapped water which is a more environmentally friendly and more economical reasonable alternative. This study is concerned with Carlsberg Sverige and Spendrups’ work within the CSR areas. It has shown that the corporations try to meet (fulfill) the requests of their critics largely by for instance mentioning specific actions/measures they have taken, future projects and goals concerning carbondioxid emission. The authors draw the conclusion that, when observing the whole situation, one can see that the two parties are not speaking from the same perspective. Critics of bottled water view it as an unnecessary product which in term means that they want it off the market. The corporations on the other hand see it from another perspective which in their eyes shows how environmentally friendly bottled water actually is compared to other beverages and/or food. Further it is not possible for the corporations to fully meet the critic’s requests because that would result in a direct conflict with other stakeholders. The stakeholder management framework emphasizes the need to balance the interests of all stakeholders. Trying to balance all stakeholders’ interests’ results in that CSR becomes a tool which suits a more general than specific purpose. This however may prove to be of an advantage for the corporations because it gives them the opportunity to avoid harmful critic and lets them focus on what is best for the company.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD (School of Business and Finance) / As organizations face stiff pressure from various stakeholders, management has had to move beyond the idea of shareholder wealth maximization and incorporate the environmental and social concerns from the various stakeholders. The study identifies how Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) practices enable the firm to manage the social, environmental and economic Triple Bottom Line (TBL) for four key stakeholder groups - customers, suppliers, regulators and the community. The study adopted a case study design, focused on Safaricom, arguably Africa's most innovative cellular firm which has championed the M-pesa money transfer platform. The objectives were, first, to establish key attributes namely; power, legitimacy and urgency of selected stakeholders of Safaricom and the key determinants of their salience, second, to determine stakeholder expectations and how they hold Safaricom accountable; third, to identify the extent of Safaricom's influence and control over the selected stakeholders; and finally, to establish how and to what extent the firm manages stakeholder exposure through their SSCM practices and TBL measures. Data from semi-structured interviews with Safaricom management and the four key selected stakeholder groups, together with company and public documents, were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Stakeholder groups were selected to represent examples of low, moderate or high levels of salience and exposure. While all are considered important, the case reveals how Safaricom management prioritizes and addresses stakeholder needs according to their attributes. As each stakeholder group is heterogeneous, the case reveals how the firm manages each distinctively and adopts diverse SSCM practices, which are aligned with the firm's TBL measures. Moreover, stakeholder exposure has a moderating effect on the relationship between the firm's SSCM practices and the TBL measures.

Every actor of the society has its own expectations about the companies. Shareholders are interested in the maximization of the profitability, managers are interested in sustainability, and partners are interested in fulfilment of the business ethics. And the company with well-structured CSR policy should be able to meet expectations of all stakeholders. This can cost large part of the company's resources. It can potentially impact on company’s profitability whether positively or negatively. Using the quantitative research method we tried to explore the impact of CSR policy on the short-term profitability. Our research question is composed as:What is the relationship between CSR and short-term profitability?The main purpose of this study is to analyze and present positive or negative links between CSR policy and corporate financial performance (CFP) using different profitability indicators. We analyzed impact of weighted average CSR score and environmental rank on the short-term profitability.The theoretical framework of the thesis consists of different theories, such as stakeholder theory, shareholder theory, agency theory, legitimacy theory and etc.The research conducted in accordance with the functionalist research paradigm, the objectivist ontological and positivist epistemic research philosophies using the deductive approach. Our result indicates that there negative relationship between CSR performance and short-term profitability. Also we found that CSR policy can negatively impact on return on assets. This in turn could have negative implications on shareholders and stakeholders. No positive correlation between CSR policy and profitability observed. All in all, the expenses on CSR policy have a negative impact on indicators of financial performance.

abstract: Universities and community organizations (e.g., nonprofit organizations, schools, government, and local residents) often form partnerships to address critical social issues, such as improving service delivery, enhancing education and educational access, reducing poverty, improving sustainability, sharing of resources, research, and program evaluation. The efficacy and success of such collaborations depends on the quality of the partnerships. This dissertation examined university-community partnership (UCP) relationships employing stakeholder theory to assess partnership attributes and identification. Four case studies that consisted of diverse UCPs, oriented toward research partnerships that were located at Arizona State University, were investigated for this study. Individual interviews were conducted with university agents and community partners to examine partnership history, partnership relationships, and partnership attributes. The results revealed several aspects of stakeholder relationships that drive partnership success. First, university and community partners are partnering for the greater social good, above all other reasons. Second, although each entity is partnering for the same reasons, partnership quality is different. University partners found their community counterparts more important than their community partners found them to be. Third, several themes such as credibility, institutional support, partner goodwill, quality interpersonal relationships have emerged and add descriptive elements to the stakeholder attributes. This study identifies aspects of UCPs that will be contextualized with literature on the subject and offer significant contributions to research on UCPs and their relational dynamics. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Community Resources and Development 2015

SMEs make up a large part of the global economy. Only in Sweden, for example, SMEs account for 61,3% of value added and employment (European Commision, 2016, p. 2). With such impressive presence, these firms exert a large impact on society and the environment. In an increasingly demanding and competitive landscape, organizations do not only have an economic responsibility to shareholders’ wealth, but also bear responsibilities towards society and the environment. With this shift, corporate social responsibility has become of significant importance and reshaped the way firms act and should act. Parallel to that, the evolving CSR paradigm has highlighted the need of stakeholder engagement in strategic decisions, as the growing importance of stakeholders is said to be the single most important element in the age of sustainability. Stakeholders affect and are affected by organizations and corporate decisions should thus take into consideration their needs and expectations. Opposing the “business of business is doing business” line of thought that dominated the business logic in the past decades, firms are now recognizing the significant importance of establishing and maintaining good relationships with stakeholders. With that, stakeholder engagement is argued to be one of the key aspects for an improved decision-making since it allows firms to integrate knowledge, generate mutual collaboration and mitigate risks, which in turn can lead to CSR strategies that are more aligned with stakeholders’ expectations and wishes and support responsible growth. Although CSR and stakeholder theory are two vastly studied academic fields, few studies have explored the reality of CSR among SMEs and stakeholder engagement on an individual group of stakeholders such as employees. While vital for any company’s survival, employees exert an even more unique role in SMEs. Given the identified research gaps, the purpose of this study is to shed light on both CSR and stakeholder engagement focused on employees among SMEs. In order to gain a better understanding of the realities of both topics, we formulated the research question: How do Swedish SMEs engage employees in the CSR strategy-making from a management perspective? With an inductive approach, a qualitative exploratory research study was chosen. From a mix of purposive and snowball sampling, eight semi-structured interviews were conducted among SMEs’ managers and CEO’s from firms in Umeå, Sweden. Our findings indicate that SMEs often have the willingness to engage employees in CSR decisions, but sometimes lack the knowledge and/or resources to promote this engagement. The most widely adopted means to foster employee engagement with CSR strategy-making is through informal discussions and talks during coffee breaks. Some companies also use more developed methods, such as town hall meetings, instant feedback mechanisms, anonymous notes and weekly employee surveys for this purpose. Our study contributes to the growing literature on CSR among smaller firms and broadens the understanding of stakeholder engagement focused on one particular stakeholder group. This research also presents managerial implications into how SMEs’ can promote a more inclusive governance around strategy. We also expect to have contributed by promoting a further debate and reflection around CSR.

Abstract A stakeholder analysis is commonly a part of the requirements engineering process in the development of software systems. It contributes to identifying, analysing, negotiating and validating requirements from multiple stakeholder viewpoints that do not necessary share the same views on a system under development and do not necessary express themselves using a similar language. Stakeholder analysis is often integrated into a used development method or practice and doesn’t necessarily appear as a separate process. The increase in software size, availability and use in different appliances, however, requires more from the stakeholder analysis than has been recognized in Software Engineering literature. The increasing scale of software systems and connections to other systems increase the number of involved stakeholders complicating the stakeholder analysis. In addition, how the actual stakeholder analysis should be implemented in large scale software development and how it supports the development effort is problematic in practice. The purpose of this thesis is to study the role and purpose of a stakeholder analysis in a large-scale software-intensive systems development. In this thesis, an empirical approach is taken to study the large-scale software-intensive systems development as phenomena in order to observe it as a whole. This approach allows this thesis to analyse the phenomena from different perspectives in order to identify and describe the nature and purpose of a stakeholder analysis in large-scale software-intensive systems development. The contribution of this thesis is the following. First, the thesis contributes to both the practical and scientific community by describing the role of stakeholder analysis in the software-intensive systems development process. Secondly, it demonstrates how a stakeholder analysis can be implemented in a large-scale software-intensive systems development process. / Tiivistelmä Sidosryhmäanalyysi on yleensä osa vaatimusmäärittelyprosessia ohjelmistojärjestelmien kehityksessä. Se edesauttaa vaatimusten tunnistamista, analysointia, sopimista ja vahvistamista useiden eri sidosryhmien näkökulmasta tilanteissa, missä eri sidosryhmät eivät välttämättä jaa samaa näkökulmaa kehitettävään järjestelmään ja eivät välttämättä käytä samaa kieltä ilmaistakseen itseään. Sidosryhmäanalyysi on usein integroitu suoraan käytettyyn kehitysmenetelmään tai käytäntöön ja ei välttämättä ilmene erillisenä prosessina. Ohjelmiston koon kasvaessa ja yhteyksien lisääntyminen yhä useampiin laitteisiin on johtanut tilanteeseen, missä sidosryhmäanalyysilta vaaditaan yhä enemmän kuin kirjallisuudessa on aiemmin tunnistettu. Ohjelmistojärjestelmien alati kasvava koko ja yhteyksien lisääntyminen muihin järjestelmiin kasvattaa sidosryhmien määrää vaikeuttaen sidosryhmäanalyysin tekemistä. Lisäksi on ongelmallista, että miten sidosryhmäanalyysin tulisi tukea suuren mittakaavan ohjelmistotuotantoa ja miten se käytännössä toteutetaan tällaisessa ympäristössä. Tämän väitöskirjan tavoitteena on tutkia sidosryhmän roolia ja tarkoitusta suuren mittakaavan ohjelmistointensiivisten järjestelmien tuotannossa. Tutkimus on toteutettu empiirisellä lähestymistavalla tarkkailemalla suuren mittakaavan ohjelmistointensiivisten järjestelmien tuotantoa kokonaisuutena. Tämä lähestymistapa mahdollistaa kokonaisuuden analysoinnin eri näkökulmista, jotta sidosryhmäanalyysin luonne ja tarkoitus voidaan tunnistaa ja kuvata suuren mittakaavan ohjelmistointensiivisten järjestelmien tuotannossa. Väitöskirjan tulosten kontribuutio jakautuu kahteen osaan. Ensimmäiseksi väitöskirjan tulokset auttavat sekä tiedeyhteisöä ja käytännön työtä tekeviä kuvaamalla sidosryhmäanalyysin suuren mittakaavan ohjelmistointensiivisten järjestelmien tuotannossa. Toiseksi tulokset havainnollistavat miten sidosryhmäanalyysi voidaan toteuttaa suuren mittakaavan ohjelmistointensiivisten järjestelmien tuotekehitysprosessissa.

The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and stakeholder management is relatively new to the Ghanaian business sector. Unilever Ghana ltd. has consistently had a prominent CSR drive in Ghana for several years. It has been found that stakeholder involvement in CSR is important for implementing relevant CSR programs which creates goodwill, good reputation and enhances business value. It is on this basis that this case study of Unilever Ghana was conducted. It investigates the CSR process of the company, the involvement and management of stakeholders in that regard and the relationship with corporate (financial) performance. Using the stakeholder approach as theoretical frame, interviews with open-ended questioning style as well as documents are used as sources of evidence. Analysis of the data is done with the help of building empirical models which will serve as guidelines for management practitioners dealing with stakeholder relations and CSR in modern Ghana.

The food industry represents one of the most promising business sectors for sustainable development comprising numerous environmental, social and economic challenges. The industry is fragmented into a multitude of organizations with particular supply chains based within a complex multi-stakeholder environment. Therefore, the organizational goal of creating a sustainable supply chain is experiencing increased attention within research. Even though previous literature has assessed the diverse drivers and barriers impacting sustainable supply chain management (SSCM), the theory of stakeholder management for SSCM has so far barely been recognized. This paper aims to fill this research gap and establishes the connection between the concepts of stakeholder management and SSCM taking into consideration the implicated drivers and barriers. The assessment of prominent drivers and barriers as well as crucial stakeholder groups functions as a basis for the evaluation of possible stakeholder strategies suitable for SSCM. This research study is situated in the context of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the German food industry. By conducting 13 semi-structured interviews with supply chain representatives this study follows a qualitative research approach. The data analysis reveals that SMEs in the German food industry face numerous obstacles in their attempt to implement sustainability within the supply chain. Moreover, it is apparent that current stakeholder strategies are insufficient in the context of supply chain sustainability. A closer network beyond business is considered the most effective strategic objective for the engagement with crucial stakeholder groups in order to enhance the drivers and reduce the impact of existing barriers. Consequently, this thesis provides a theoretical contribution by developing a deeper understanding of stakeholder management as a tool for increasing supply chain sustainability and further advances existing theory with the formation of a new analytical framework as well as the recognition of a novel stakeholder strategy.

Our planet suffers from severe climate change and environmental issues has never been as important as it is now. Countries and communities come together to get involved in environmental questions and to work against a sustainable future. Companies are also expected to take act on this concern and incorporate sustainability into their business practices. To account for this, company’s disclosure a sustainability report and the numbers of companies that do so has increased rapidly the last years. From 2011 to 2013 there was almost a 50% increase of submitted sustainability reports. Since then, sustainability reporting has gone from optional to mandatory as a new law came into place in 2016. However, as companies start to disclosure sustainability reports more than ever before, new issues have arisen. The lack of regulation means that there is no guarantee for quality in the report and studies has shown that the stakeholders demand higher quality and more transparency of the sustainability report. Thus, it could be of importance for companies to produce reports of better quality in order to meet the demands of their stakeholders. Retaining a good relationship is crucial and it affects the growth of the company as it affects competitive advantage and the possibility to manage risks. Previous literature has found evidence that stakeholder pressure has influence on the transparency, which has similarities to quality, of the sustainability reports globally. With this thesis we aim to contribute with additional information to existing literature with a new geographical area, Sweden. We also aim to contribute to understanding of how quality of the sustainability reports can be determined. The critical assessment of the sustainability reports from each stakeholder becomes more important and previous literature has shown that different stakeholders have different effect on transparency in the sustainability reports. First and foremost, the purpose of this thesis is to investigate if the pressure from different stakeholder groups has an effect on the quality of the sustainability report. We intend to do so with the following research question: Does stakeholder pressure have an effect on the quality of sustainability reports? The companies will be split into four different groups based on the industry the company operates within and the sub-purpose is to see if there is any difference in the impact on the quality of the sustainability reports between the different groups. The quality will be determined by adherence level to the GRI G4 framework, how many other standards and guidelines the report is in compliance with and the existence of external assurance. The population is the 127 companies who has their reports available in the GRI database. We have conducted a quantitative study using a linear regression analysis on those 127 companies. The results led us to the conclusion that the relationship between stakeholder pressure and the quality of the sustainability reports cannot be explained by the model used in this thesis. A two-sample t test was conducted for each group of industry to see if there was any difference of the mean of quality if the companies was represented in the industry or not. The results showed us that the mean of the quality was higher for the companies operating in an environmentally sensitive industry.