<p>There are many views in the concept of corporate reputation and the massive research in the area tends to result in many new definitions. Research has shown that a good corporate reputation has a positive relation to Sustainable Competitive Advantage, financial performance and attraction to competent employees. The many views in the concept make it especially interesting to examine the view on corporate reputation in a perspective of big Swedish corporations. Another interesting area to examine is whether the companies manage their reputation or not. The empirical findings of this essay are based on qualitative interviews to get a deeper understanding in the area of reputation. In the analysis the empirical findings were linked to the theoretical framework chosen for the study and earlier research in the area. Through this study it has been shown that companies are defining reputation as a part of the brand. They also explain reputation as the stakeholders aggregated view of a company. The companies manage their reputation, but as an integrated component in the work of brand and communication. The companies had difficulties in separating the concept of reputation andthe concept of brand.</p>

<p><strong>Problem: </strong>Det finns skillnader kring hållbarhetsredovisning mellan länder när det gäller reglering, tillämpning av GRI:s (Global Reporting Initiatives) riktlinjer, intressenternas makt att påverka med flera. Dessa skillnader kan ha uppstått på grund av många orsaker men i denna uppsats kommer det att utredas om kulturen kan förklara dessa skillnader.  </p><p><strong>Syfte:</strong> Syftet med denna uppsats är att beskriva och förklara i vilken utsträckning kulturen har en inverkan på hur de olika nordiska länderna väljer att lagstifta kring hållbarhetsredovisning och hur företagen tillämpar GRI:s riktlinjer. Men även om intressenternas makt att påverka företagen att göra en hållbarhetsredovisning har någon förklaring i kulturen.</p><p><strong>Metod: </strong>Den insamlade<strong> </strong>datan är huvudsakligen kvalitativ men har kompletterats med en del kvantitativ data. Insamlingen har skett genom litteratursökning, telefonintervjuer och en e-mailkontakt. Vid telefonintervjuerna har vi utgått ifrån ett frågeformulär och låtit respondenterna besvara frågorna med egna ord. Respondenterna har valts utifrån Fredrik Ljungdahls affärsnätverk inom PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers).                             </p><p><strong>Resultat: </strong>Det finns en svag kulturell förklaring till<strong> </strong>hur företagen i nordens länder väljer att lagstifta kring hållbarhetsredovisning, tillämpa GRI:s riktlinjer samt vilken makt intressenterna har att påverka företagen till att hållbarhetsredovisa. Graden av lagstadgad kontroll kan förklara skillnader i reglering medan det inte finns någon kulturell förklaring till tillämpningen av GRI:s riktlinjer. Graden av maktdistans kan slutligen förklara intressenternas makt att påverka företagen till att hållbarhetsredovisa.</p> / <p><strong>Problem: </strong>There are some differences in sustainability reporting between countries when it comes to regulation, applying GRI:s (Global Reporting Initiatives) guiding principles, stakeholders´ power to influence and so on. These differences can appear from different reasons but in this graduate paper we will investigate if these differences can be explained by cultural factors.</p><p><strong>Purpose:</strong> The purpose of this paper is to describe and explain to which extent the culture has any impact on how the Nordic countries choose to regulate the sustainability reporting and how the companies apply GRI:s guiding principles. But also if the stakeholders´ power to affect companies to do a sustainability report can have its explanation in the culture.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>The gathered data is mainly qualitative but has been complemented with quantitative data. The gathering has been done through literature research, telephone interviews and an e-mail contact. In the telephone interviews we used a question form although the interviewee was allowed to answer the questions in his or her own words. The interviewee have been chosen on the basis of Fredrik Ljungdahls business network within PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers).            </p><p><strong>Result: </strong>There are a weak cultural explanation to how the Nordic countries choose to regulate the sustainability reporting, apply GRI:s guiding principles and which power the stakeholders´ have to influence the companies to do a sustainability report. The degree of statutory control can explain the differences in regulation while there are no cultural explanation to the application of GRI:s guiding principles. The degree of powerdistance can finally explain the stakeholders´ power to influence the companies to do a sustainability report.</p>

<p> </p><p>This study is made, on behalf of Västerbottens Fotbollsförbund, with the purpose to investigate how the 2008 financial crisis have affected the sponsorship to the voluntary sports sector in the Västerbotten region, with focus on the womens elite football teams. The background of this study was to investigate the effect of the financial crisis to help the voluntary organizations in the future. The study was carried out with a qualitative approach as depth interviews with ten people representing both the voluntary organizations and the sponsoring companies, which one was a previous sponsor. To understand and interpret the result of the interviews we used models such as the stakeholder model, the A-ERIC model and a communication model for sponsorship from literature such as Donaldson and Preston (1995), Mitchell et. al. (1997) and Jiffer and Roos (1999). The result indicated that the financial crisis of 2008 had an effect on the voluntary sport sector in Västerbotten on many different levels. The voluntary organizations work differently today towards sponsors than they did a couple of years ago but this has nothing to do with the financial crises. It is rather a procedure they are going through to keep the companies interested. The result also evinced that communication is important to establish a good relation, but this has not changed during the crisis.</p>

Thesis (M.A. (Communication Studies))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Ethical issues and problems in business are receiving increasing attention, both in terms of criticism of examples of "bad" behaviour of business actors and in terms of the development of ethical codes of conduct in certain companies, ethical visions for businesses etc. In general, ethical problems seem to be increasingly prevalent in business, but ethics tend to be disre­garded by traditional organisational and managerial theory. This calls for the development of an ethical perspective on business. This study adopts a stakeholder approach to the problem, meaning that the empirical focus lies on how business actors deal with the ethical issues that arise in their daily work in relation to various stakeholder groups. Two empirical studies have been conducted: one is a survey study of the attitudes of Swedish managing directors, and the other a case study of the ethical values and behaviour of two companies. These studies resulted in the formulation of concepts which reflect contextually interpreted moral views on the individual and organisational levels, respectively. On the individual level, a distinction was made between humanitarian morality, meaning that ethical problems in business are judged according to what is best for individuals, and organisational morality, where economic and practical concerns for the company are considered. On the organisational level, I found a principled, individually based morality where rule-following, voluntary agreements and personal moral norms were important, and an instrumental, collectively based morality, which meant that company goals dictated the way stakeholder relations and ethical dilemmas were taken care of. Overall, it was possible to make a distinction between two basic ethical criteria business actors use when judging ethical dilemmas: principles versus objectives. The results indicate that the use of principles and moral rules presuppose an intimate and personal handling of stakeholder relations. On the other hand, when business actors acquire a more professional way of managing their activi­ties, stakeholder relationships are handled in accordance with objectives and economic utility, these usually being the same as company goals. One of the major contributions of this thesis is the concept of the ethical contract, as a meta­phor for the relationship between a company and any one particular stakeholder with special focus on the informal and implicit aspects of the relationship. The contract is characterised by two opposing forces: the striving for self-interest, which underpins ethical problems, and the development of self-imposed duties, which are necessary if instrumentally based interaction is to be "good". The mutual development of such duties is stimulated by proximity and personal relations. / digitalisering@umu

Bakgrund: I dagens kunskapssamhälle, som också benämns"den nya ekonomin", utgörs många företags värde inte längre av fastigheter och maskinpark utan istället av kundlojalitet, elektronisk infrastruktur, innovation och anställdas kunskap. Det blir allt viktigare för företagen att lyfta fram dessa tillgångar för att uppnå konkurrensfördelar. Dagens redovisning ifrågasätts av dem som förespråkar att humankapital skall värderas och aktiveras på balansräkningen. Motståndarna till en aktivering talar om en alltför låg grad av pålitlighet vad gäller den här typen av infomation. Syfte: Uppsatsens syfte är att belysa humankapitalets roll utifrån ett stakeholderperspektiv samt att kartlägga hur IT-bolag idag redovisar sitt humankapital i årsredovisningen. Vi ämnar även att undersöka intresset för en genensam standardmodell. Avgränsningar: Uppsatsen har begränsats till att gälla humankapital i marknadsnoterade IT-bolag. Vidare riktar sig vår studie enbart på hur företagen redovisar sitt humankapital externt. Hur företagen behandlar sitt humankapital internt tas inte upp i uppsatsen. Genomförande: I uppsatsen kartläggs hur IT-bolag redovisar sitt humankapital som tilläggsinformation i årsredovisningen. Dessutom genomförs intervjuer med personer ur de olika grupper som vi identifierat uifrån gruppernas förmodade relation till begreppet humankapital. Grupperna är; företag, kapitalmarknad och revisorer. Resultat: Företagen antas redovisa sitt humankapital för att marknadsföra sig. Kapitalmarknaden tillmäterinte tilläggsinformationen någon större vikt vid värdering av företag. En eventuell aktivering på balansräkningen ses som ogenomförbar av revisorn.

There are many views in the concept of corporate reputation and the massive research in the area tends to result in many new definitions. Research has shown that a good corporate reputation has a positive relation to Sustainable Competitive Advantage, financial performance and attraction to competent employees. The many views in the concept make it especially interesting to examine the view on corporate reputation in a perspective of big Swedish corporations. Another interesting area to examine is whether the companies manage their reputation or not. The empirical findings of this essay are based on qualitative interviews to get a deeper understanding in the area of reputation. In the analysis the empirical findings were linked to the theoretical framework chosen for the study and earlier research in the area. Through this study it has been shown that companies are defining reputation as a part of the brand. They also explain reputation as the stakeholders aggregated view of a company. The companies manage their reputation, but as an integrated component in the work of brand and communication. The companies had difficulties in separating the concept of reputation andthe concept of brand.

Problem: Det finns skillnader kring hållbarhetsredovisning mellan länder när det gäller reglering, tillämpning av GRI:s (Global Reporting Initiatives) riktlinjer, intressenternas makt att påverka med flera. Dessa skillnader kan ha uppstått på grund av många orsaker men i denna uppsats kommer det att utredas om kulturen kan förklara dessa skillnader.   Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att beskriva och förklara i vilken utsträckning kulturen har en inverkan på hur de olika nordiska länderna väljer att lagstifta kring hållbarhetsredovisning och hur företagen tillämpar GRI:s riktlinjer. Men även om intressenternas makt att påverka företagen att göra en hållbarhetsredovisning har någon förklaring i kulturen. Metod: Den insamlade datan är huvudsakligen kvalitativ men har kompletterats med en del kvantitativ data. Insamlingen har skett genom litteratursökning, telefonintervjuer och en e-mailkontakt. Vid telefonintervjuerna har vi utgått ifrån ett frågeformulär och låtit respondenterna besvara frågorna med egna ord. Respondenterna har valts utifrån Fredrik Ljungdahls affärsnätverk inom PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers).                              Resultat: Det finns en svag kulturell förklaring till hur företagen i nordens länder väljer att lagstifta kring hållbarhetsredovisning, tillämpa GRI:s riktlinjer samt vilken makt intressenterna har att påverka företagen till att hållbarhetsredovisa. Graden av lagstadgad kontroll kan förklara skillnader i reglering medan det inte finns någon kulturell förklaring till tillämpningen av GRI:s riktlinjer. Graden av maktdistans kan slutligen förklara intressenternas makt att påverka företagen till att hållbarhetsredovisa. / Problem: There are some differences in sustainability reporting between countries when it comes to regulation, applying GRI:s (Global Reporting Initiatives) guiding principles, stakeholders´ power to influence and so on. These differences can appear from different reasons but in this graduate paper we will investigate if these differences can be explained by cultural factors. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe and explain to which extent the culture has any impact on how the Nordic countries choose to regulate the sustainability reporting and how the companies apply GRI:s guiding principles. But also if the stakeholders´ power to affect companies to do a sustainability report can have its explanation in the culture. Method: The gathered data is mainly qualitative but has been complemented with quantitative data. The gathering has been done through literature research, telephone interviews and an e-mail contact. In the telephone interviews we used a question form although the interviewee was allowed to answer the questions in his or her own words. The interviewee have been chosen on the basis of Fredrik Ljungdahls business network within PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers).             Result: There are a weak cultural explanation to how the Nordic countries choose to regulate the sustainability reporting, apply GRI:s guiding principles and which power the stakeholders´ have to influence the companies to do a sustainability report. The degree of statutory control can explain the differences in regulation while there are no cultural explanation to the application of GRI:s guiding principles. The degree of powerdistance can finally explain the stakeholders´ power to influence the companies to do a sustainability report.

This study is made, on behalf of Västerbottens Fotbollsförbund, with the purpose to investigate how the 2008 financial crisis have affected the sponsorship to the voluntary sports sector in the Västerbotten region, with focus on the womens elite football teams. The background of this study was to investigate the effect of the financial crisis to help the voluntary organizations in the future. The study was carried out with a qualitative approach as depth interviews with ten people representing both the voluntary organizations and the sponsoring companies, which one was a previous sponsor. To understand and interpret the result of the interviews we used models such as the stakeholder model, the A-ERIC model and a communication model for sponsorship from literature such as Donaldson and Preston (1995), Mitchell et. al. (1997) and Jiffer and Roos (1999). The result indicated that the financial crisis of 2008 had an effect on the voluntary sport sector in Västerbotten on many different levels. The voluntary organizations work differently today towards sponsors than they did a couple of years ago but this has nothing to do with the financial crises. It is rather a procedure they are going through to keep the companies interested. The result also evinced that communication is important to establish a good relation, but this has not changed during the crisis.

Forest Stewardship council (FSC) is a good example of a civil regulated environmental labelling-initiative. It is also an arena for different organisations interesting in sustainable forestry to work and handle forestry issues. FSC has allowed many private initiatives to move ahead of poor national and international environmental legislation. Instead they have turned towards the market with consumer pressure and in co-operation with companies. The sustainable forestry initiative has become a part of organisations’ ‘Environmental Responsibility’ which is a part of their ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ (CSR) work. The aim of my thesis is to describe the phenomenon of FSC, both practically and theoretically, from a stakeholder approach. I have picked out two companies which are heavily involved in the FSC practice, IKEA and Sveaskog. The two companies are important players in shaping and developing FSC. The different practices are handled as two separate case-studies. A third case-study explores FSC both on national and international basis. The following research question will be answered: From a stakeholder view, how does FSC works in practice? To describe these three forestry practices is a contribution in itself. I will also use an analysing tool inspired by stakeholder theory to make the studies’ stakeholder partnerships as clear as possible. With the knowledge exposed in answering the first question I will further ask: Can stakeholder partnerships in a civil regulated environmental practice, create sustainability? Kemp’s (2005) five dimensions for sustainability improve the understanding. Every dimension will be followed by an interpretation from my forestry practice in the previous chapter. Both IKEA and Sveaskog drives an ambitious work to create sustainable business, which will be analysed through an ethical-, social-, nature-philosophic-, economic- and legal perspective of the sustainability concept. The thesis is analysed by an explorative methodological approach with qualitative data, since it best can encapsulate the essence of the complexity which constitutes the answers to the research questions. Each case study will be described in separate texts which make up multiple realities mentally constructed by ourselves. The analysis shows, both for Sveaskog and IKEA, that stakeholder partnerships generate a number of things. The partnerships generate constructive interaction where new and experienced ideas are born; obligations, processes and responsibilities for their stakeholder engagement; and environmental and social benefits in terms of FSC and other civil regulations and what environmental and social benefits the work leads to. But my description and analysis of the practice and the stakeholder analysis do not answer the general question of the thesis: Can stakeholder partnerships create sustainability? When going through the critical voices from the five dimensions of sustainability, the task of creating sustainability seems to be impossible. I have confronted the five dimensions with environmental and social responsibility practice in Sveaskog and IKEA, and found substantial efforts in each and every dimension of sustainability. This practical work seems hopeful, whether there is sustainability or not, a serious ambition and extensive goals sometimes makes a difference.