The Swedish Initiative on Sustainable Palm Oil in food and cosmetic and detergent industries hasemerged in 2014 following other EU national initiatives. This thesis project aims to explore thecondition of the initiative by examining who the key important stakeholders are and how these palmoil key stakeholders in Swedish market develop and implement their Sustainable Palm OilInitiatives. A qualitative approach using case study technique is used to guide the study andsupported by a combination of several theoretical frameworks, such as stakeholders’ theory and thevalue chain concept to address the research questions. Rooted from six organizations as study cases,the study found that the key important stakeholders for these organizations in developing andimplementing the initiatives are retailers, suppliers, consumers, trade associations, and Non-Governmental Organizations. Furthermore, the study also found that these six organizations useethical sourcing tool based on Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil certification scheme toimplement the Initiative in their respective member companies. As authorisers, the Swedish FoodFederation and the Swedish Cosmetics, Detergents and Toiletries Association developed Palm OilWorking Group and a simple platform for their member companies both in Swedish food andcosmetic and detergent industries in order to spread and manage the initiative. Världsnaturfonden,on the other hand serves as an external influencer that conducts lobbying and facilitations to supportSwedish companies to use certified segregated palm oil products to drive responsible palm oilproduction. The results show that Kicks, Croda, and Fazer facilitate the operationalization of ethicalsourcing initiative throughout their primary and supporting value chain activities. In addition,intertwined relationship between upstream and downstream parts of palm oil supply chain networksinfluences the outcome of the Swedish Initiative on Sustainable Palm Oil in spreading the initiativetoward market transformation in Sweden.

Seeberg, Fredrik & Zetterlund, Philip, 2017, Green energy, can it ever be wrong? - A qualitative study about how electricity supply companies uses CSR communications. (Grön el är aldrig fel? - En kvalitativ studie om hur elhandelsbolag i Sverige använder sig av CSR-Kommunikation) Environmental climate changes are a hot topic in the world today. Producing and delivering energy makes a big impact to that change and energy corporations are therefore inclined to use positive results and methods to claim a “Green” image. One common method to prove a corporation’s effort is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). This study compares the usage of CSR as a communication tool by two Swedish energy corporations of very different sizes, Mälarkraft, a local corporation with about 150,000 customers, and E.ON Sverige, Sweden’s second largest energy supplier with over a million customers. Our study shows, that despite the difference in sizes, that both corporations uses CSR to achieve the same notion, a more favourable reputation. Their means to achieve this however, is clearly different. By studying the corporations strategies with interviews and context analysis of internet web pages, we show that the difference in sizes and local connection help differentiate the strategies. Key Words: Communication, CSR, Energy Corporations, Communication Strategy, Stakeholder Theory, Corporate Social Responsibility, Greenwashing, Green hushing.

No description available.

This research seeks to connect the philosophical focus of the agency-structure debate with the practice of management through a comparative study of organisational decision-making in situations involving stakeholder consultation. Set in the context of decision-making following an airport master plan consultation, the study considers how the stakeholder framework can be integrated within institutional theory using institutional logics as a theoretical link between these two literatures. This thesis, which adopts a critical realist perspective, takes a comparative case approach of four airports, each owned in different ways. Interviews with airport managers are supplemented by discussions with stakeholders and industry experts. Two sets of a priori themes were identified from the literature. The first focuses on the institutional logics prevailing in the field and their influence on managers as they make decisions. The second considers four decision-making strategies managers might employ in this situation. Findings centre on the causal powers acting upon airport managers as they make their decisions. Whilst normative isomorphic pressure enables stakeholder consultation, the coercive pressure on the decision-making process deriving from English planning law, the adversarial and oscillating nature of Central Government policy, and a mimetic response to the nature of local authority development plans constrain the actions of airport managers. Indeed, the current bureaucratic form of capitalism limits stakeholder contribution to final master plans. This research makes four main contributions: Firstly, reflecting upon the agency-structure debate from a critical realist perspective has facilitated development of a model integrating the stakeholder framework within institutional theory. Secondly, it improves our understanding of how stakeholder contribution is managed in master planning. Thirdly, the study adds to the growing body of work that employs a critical realist perspective. Lastly, since reconciling conflicting stakeholder opinions may well be of vital importance to the future of the UK’s airport infrastructure, this work has practical significance for airport managers, government policy-makers and stakeholders as they strive to formulate worthwhile airport consultations.

Submitted by PPG Ci?ncia da Computa??o (ppgcc@pucrs.br) on 2018-06-26T11:05:37Z No. of bitstreams: 1 MATEUS_PRESOTTO_BALEN_DIS.pdf: 1919889 bytes, checksum: 44d920fb6535d287fb71793205e67ca4 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Sheila Dias (sheila.dias@pucrs.br) on 2018-07-02T11:52:57Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 MATEUS_PRESOTTO_BALEN_DIS.pdf: 1919889 bytes, checksum: 44d920fb6535d287fb71793205e67ca4 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-02T12:08:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 MATEUS_PRESOTTO_BALEN_DIS.pdf: 1919889 bytes, checksum: 44d920fb6535d287fb71793205e67ca4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-03-12 / Software systems have become larger and more complex with considerable dissemination in many industries. Due to the need to become more comprehensive, eventually, operationally and managerially independent systems tend to interoperate with themselves. This integration between independent systems with evolutionary nature and geographically distributed results a class of systems called System-of-Systems. Considering that the architeture of software defines a base structure of a system and the engineering of requirements identifieds the necessary functionalities for a system, these activities are essential for any system, as a consequence, the identification of the stakeholders of a system becomes a primordial activity to elicit the necessary requirements and consequently build the system with the expected functionalities. This study preesents a process and a model for the identification of the main stakeholders of Acknowledged System-of-Systems with the objective of minimizing the problems caused in the definitions of requirements system and software architecture in thus category system. / Sistemas de software t?m se tornado maiores e mais complexos com consider?vel dissemina??o em muitas ?reas. Devido ? necessidade de se tornarem mais abrangentes, eventualmente, os sistemas operacionalmente e gerencialmente independentes tendem a interoperar entre eles. Esta integra??o entre sistemas independentes com natureza evolutiva e geograficamente distribu?do resulta uma classe de sistemas chamada Sistema-de-Sistemas. Uma vez que a Arquitetura de Software define a estrutura base de um sistema e a Engenharia de Requisitos identifica as funcionalidades necess?rias para um sistema, entende-se que essas atividades s?o essenciais para qualquer sistema, assim tornando a identifica??o dos stakeholders de um sistema uma atividade primordial para elicitar os requisitos necess?rios e, consequentemente, construir o sistema com as funcionalidades esperadas. Esta disserta??o apresenta um processo e um modelo para a identifica??o dos principais stakeholders de Sistema-de-Sistemas Acknowledged com o intuito de minimizar os problemas causados nas defini??es dos requisitos do sistema e da arquitetura de software por desconhecer os principais stakeholders.

Hintergrund der Untersuchung ist die zunehmende Bedeutung von Humankapital als wettbewerbsentscheidendem Produktionsfaktor in modernen humankapitalintensiven Unternehmungen. Es stellt sich die Frage nach den Auswirkungen der Bedeutungszunahme und der Regelung des „Primärhumankapitals“, also des Managements innerhalb der Corporate-Governance-Systeme. Den Ausgangspunkt stellt die These dar, dass die ausschließliche Modellannahme der klassischen Prinzipal-Agent-Beziehung unzureichend ist, zu Ineffizienzen führt und keine hinreichende Antwort auf das von Berle und Means beschriebene Problem der Trennung von Eigentum und Kontrolle gibt. / This study is based on the growing significance of human capital as competition decisive production factor in modern enterprises, which are intensive in human capital. We reflect upon the consequences of the increasing significance and the regulation of "primary human capital", i.e. the management structure within the corporate governance systems. Our starting point is that the exclusive assumption of the classical principal-agent-relation is inadequate, leads to inefficiencies, and does not give satisfactory answers to the problem of the separation of property and control as described by Berle and Means. From the management''s viewpoint, however, there is no maximum incentive to invest human capital and create bonds within the company, since the rights to human capital cannot, or at least not directly, be assured.

This research seeks to connect the philosophical focus of the agency-structure debate with the practice of management through a comparative study of organisational decision-making in situations involving stakeholder consultation. Set in the context of decision-making following an airport master plan consultation, the study considers how the stakeholder framework can be integrated within institutional theory using institutional logics as a theoretical link between these two literatures. This thesis, which adopts a critical realist perspective, takes a comparative case approach of four airports, each owned in different ways. Interviews with airport managers are supplemented by discussions with stakeholders and industry experts. Two sets of a priori themes were identified from the literature. The first focuses on the institutional logics prevailing in the field and their influence on managers as they make decisions. The second considers four decision-making strategies managers might employ in this situation. Findings centre on the causal powers acting upon airport managers as they make their decisions. Whilst normative isomorphic pressure enables stakeholder consultation, the coercive pressure on the decision-making process deriving from English planning law, the adversarial and oscillating nature of Central Government policy, and a mimetic response to the nature of local authority development plans constrain the actions of airport managers. Indeed, the current bureaucratic form of capitalism limits stakeholder contribution to final master plans. This research makes four main contributions: Firstly, reflecting upon the agency-structure debate from a critical realist perspective has facilitated development of a model integrating the stakeholder framework within institutional theory. Secondly, it improves our understanding of how stakeholder contribution is managed in master planning. Thirdly, the study adds to the growing body of work that employs a critical realist perspective. Lastly, since reconciling conflicting stakeholder opinions may well be of vital importance to the future of the UK’s airport infrastructure, this work has practical significance for airport managers, government policy-makers and stakeholders as they strive to formulate worthwhile airport consultations.

No description available.

No description available.

Title: Designing Communication for Dialogue and Engagement Authors: Christopher Bradson & Sofia Amanuel Level: Master Thesis, 30p  Keywords: Dialogue, Communication Design, Stakeholder engagement, Stakeholder communication, CSR communication.  Background: The changed attitudes about the role of business in today's contemporary society alongside with globalization and the evolved media-information environment has enlarged the pressures on businesses in regards to how they should pursue profitability, while responding to demands about accountability that is motivated beyond financial gain. There is a need for a better understanding about communication choices and how these are perceived by intended stakeholders, in order to accelerate effective communication that initiates stakeholder engagement. Research Questions:(1)How is Volkswagens communication design constructed in creating dialogue and engagement after a corporate scandal with its customers? (2)How does Swedish Volkswagen customers, in attribute of being external stakeholders, perceive the opportunities for engagement based on the four selected Volkswagen tools? What challenges does Volkswagen encounter when trying to create dialogue through these tools? Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to examine how Volkswagen is creating opportunities for stakeholder dialogue and engagement through the theoretical perspective of communication design. By engagement we mean one-way or two-way communication, where stakeholders seek out or take part of communicative messages provided by the organisation.The study aims to examine how Volkswagen has designed their communication efforts, after being subjected to a global corporate scandal which proposed public demands for accountability and responsibility. Theoretical Framework: The framework consists of Communication theories, giving considerable space to literature from theorists Aakhus and Bzdak whom developed the framework for communication design used in this study. Additionally, the framework includes a smaller selection of CSR, Public Relation, and Media research focusing on stakeholder engagement.  Method: We have taken two parallel methodological pathways. The first method involved applying for elements provided by Aakhus and Bzdak framework for reconstructive design, while doing a thematic analysis on the media texts provided by the tools. The second research question was examined by conducting semi-structured interviews with Swedish Volkswagen stakeholders in order to gain a deeper understanding if Volkswagens communicative instruments were enabling engagement.   Findings & Conclusions: Our study concludes that Volkswagen is showcasing constructs in their design that aims to reduce scepticism among stakeholders, addressing important issues for stakeholders, providing solutions and articulating progress in multi-stake issues. Wealso conclude that Volkswagens communication messages are conveyed in a calculated way, with a persuasive nature to create an identity of being a ‘corporate good citizen’.There is a complexity in terms of diminishing scepticism, since stakeholders are being more demanding in today's society, particularly after a corporate scandal such as the one Volkswagen has been subjected to. Stakeholders are becoming more aware that companies are dictating the dialogic discourse, which affects the communication design in what motives a company incorporates in their communication. We conclude that customers felt that the opportunities to engage with the company was fairly low, and highly depended on how they where processing the nature of the messages (intrinsic/extrinsic),as well as how they defined engagement from personal beliefs and values.