Date:2022-06-02 Level:Master Thesis in Business Administration, 15cr Institution:School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalen University Authors:Agostina Romano(92/08/23) Olivia Gurås (98/01/21) Title:Fashion shouldn’t cost the Earth: an exploratory study on small businesses driving sufficiency in the Swedish fashion industry Supervisor:Edward Gillmore Research Questions:RQ1: How do small firms management develop and implement strategies to promote sufficient consumption? RQ2: How do small firms implement stakeholder management to minimize the challenges caused by the promotion of sufficient consumption? Purpose:To provide a better understanding of the processes, factors and forces that enable companies to promote sufficient consumption, and how they manage to overcome challenges with internal and external stakeholders that are created by the implementation of sufficient consumption practices Methodology:Being an exploratory qualitative research, this study uses primary data collected through 6 semi-structured interviews with management roles of 4 sustainable companies, as well as secondary data obtained from official data bases, books, and websites. Conclusion:Small businesses in the fashion industry implement different sustainable strategies that promote sufficient consumption among others. Whether they are designed and implemented with sufficiency as a goal or not, these strategies bear challenges with multiple stakeholders that firms must face. Some of the main challenges are related to consumer and supplier resistance, as well as lack of awareness, challenging governance, and the internal sustainability vs. profitability debate. This study empirically contributes to past literature in terms of strategies and challenges, and it contributes theoretically in terms of solutions put in place through stakeholder management. Keywords:CSR, Stakeholder Management, Sustainability, Sufficiency, Sufficient Consumption, Sustainable Fashion

As a repercussion of the ongoing climate crisis and the emerging system of stakeholder capitalism, organizations are required to take responsibility for their businesses throughout their entire value creation chain. To meet the demands of their stakeholders, companies must review among others, their business models, culture, trust, and approach towards innovations that meet the terms of sustainability. This thesis aims to investigate what needs to be included in a design process that emanates from the methodology of design thinking to ensure that multiple stakeholders are being considered. Furthermore, the thesis also sets out to review what key deliverables need to be validated in order to create sustainable innovations. Insights are drawn from related work, observations and interviews with employees at an innovation and design bureau who are engaged in creating sustainable solutions for organizations that are looking to transform themselves into becoming more sustainable. This thesis identifies gaps in an innovation bureau’s design process that prevent employees to include multiple stakeholders and the perspective of sustainability. A recommendation of a new design process has been developed to enable innovation bureaus to include multiple stakeholders in a structured manner in order to create and validate sustainable innovations. This thesis uses EY Doberman as a Use Case to identify the obstacles and requisites for involving sustainability and other stakeholders than the end-consumer in a design process that is sprung out of the methodology of design thinking. / Som ett resultat av den pågående klimatkrisen och det framväxande systemet stakeholder kapitalism måste organisationer ta ansvar för sina företag genom hela sin värdeskapande kedja. För att möta kraven från sina intressenter måste företagen granska bland annat sina affärsmodeller, kultur, förtroende och inställning till innovationer som uppfyller villkoren för hållbarhet. Denna uppsats syftar till att undersöka vad som behöver ingå i en designprocess som härrör från metodiken design thinking för att säkerställa att flera intressenter övervägs. Dessutom avser uppsatsen att granska vilka viktiga leveranser som behöver valideras för att skapa hållbara innovationer. Insikter hämtas från relaterat arbete, observationer och intervjuer med anställda vid en innovations- och designbyrå som arbetar med att skapa hållbara lösningar för organisationer som vill förvandla sig till att bli mer hållbara. Denna uppsats identifierar luckor i en innovationsbyrås designprocess som hindrar anställda att inkludera flera intressenter och hållbarhetsperspektiv. En rekommendation om en ny designprocess har utvecklats för att göra det möjligt för innovationsbyråer att inkludera flera intressenter på ett strukturerat sätt för att skapa och validera hållbara innovationer. Denna uppsats använder EY Doberman som ett användningsfall för att identifiera hinder och förutsättningar för att involvera hållbarhet och andra intressenter än slutkonsumenten i en designprocess som är sprungen ur metoden design thinking.

Drittmittelgeförderte Projekte (z. B. BMBF-geförderte QPL-Projekte) unterliegen auf allen Ebenen einer hohen personellen Fluktuation. In Hinblick auf die Architektur nachhaltig tragbarer Strukturen zur Implementation von Change-Projekten in der Lehre kann Stakeholder-Einbindung eine Strategie sein, um eine Verstetigung entwickelter, erprobter sowie etablierter Change-Projekte zu gewährleiten. Der Beitrag bietet Anregungen zur systematischen Stakeholder-Einbindung.

Att använda människor som varumärken är ett växande marknadsföringsfenomen som har fått benämningen human brand. I dag går det bland annat att hitta detta fenomen i musikbranschen där artister ses som varumärken för sin musik. Tidigare forskning visar att användning av human brand som marknadsföringsstrategi kan stärka relationen mellan konsumenter och kändisar. Att använda människor som varumärken är inte ett nytt koncept inom marknadsföring. Däremot menar forskning att begreppet human brand är relativt nytt och att det saknas kompletta ramverk och teorier inom området. Syftet med denna studie är att få en större förståelse för hur processen av varumärkesbyggande för ett human brand går till inom musikbranschen. Syftet är även att få förståelse för vilka komponenter som är viktiga, vilka aktörer som är delaktiga i processen samt vilka för- och nackdelar det finns med att använda human brand som marknadsföringsstrategi.  De valda teorierna för studien är stakeholder theory, attachment theory, brand authenticity, celebrity brand authenticity samt self-determinations theory. Studien utgår från en kvalitativ metod där semistrukturerade intervjuer med artister, marknadsförare och managers samt en fokusgrupp med konsumenter genomfördes. Resultatet visar att en av de största faktorerna till att artister lyckas med personal branding processen är genom tydliga mål och visioner av vad de vill åstadkomma. Utan detta är det svårt för marknadsförare och managers att utföra sitt jobb då det inte finns något att sträva mot. Planeringsfasen är även det en viktig faktor i processen att utveckla ett human brand. I denna fas ingår profilering och paketering, kontinuitet samt att skapa och upprätthålla en röd tråd i artisten karriär, detta för att uppfattas som äkta hos allmänheten. Studien visar att det är viktigt, både för artisten men även för konsumenter och fans att artisten är sann mot sig själv.  Resultatet visar att flera aktörer är viktiga för artisten och processen att bli ett human brand. Studien visar även på att det saknas en aktör som ser till artisten fysiska och psykiska hälsa, samt att det finns både för- och nackdelar med att använda human brand som marknadsföringsstrategi. / Using humans as brands is a growing marketing phenomena called human brand, that can be seen in the music industry where musicians have become their own brand for their music. Studies have shown that using human brands can result in a stronger relationship between the celebrity and consumers. Although using humans as brands is not a new concept in marketing, studies regarding human brands is a relatively new phenomenon that is still lacking a complete framework and theories. This study seeks to find a deeper understanding of how a musician becomes a human brand, which stakeholders are vital and what are the pros and cons of using the marketing tool human brand.  The chosen theories for the study are stakeholder theory, attachment theory, brand authenticity, celebrity brand authenticity and self-determinations theory. The selected method for the study is a qualitative research method with semi-structured interviews with musicians, marketers and managers and one focus grupp with consumers and fans. The result of the study shows that one of the biggest factors for succeeding as a musician is to have clear goals and visions of what they want to achieve. Without it, it is nearly impossible for marketers and managers to do their work. What is also found to be of great importance is the planning phase which involves profiling and packaging, continuity and maintaining a red thread through the musicians career and authenticity. The study shows that being true to oneself is an important aspect for the musician as well as to the consumers and fans.  Results show that there are numerous stakeholders that are vital for the process of becoming a human brand as a musician. The study also found a non existing stakeholder that the respondents would like to see in the future, that is an individual who only sees to the physical and psychological well-being of the musician. Furthermore the study showed that there are both pros and cons regarding using human brands as a marketing tool.

This study aimed at determining the factors that significantly impact on the implementation rate of open learning in the South African TVET college sector. Despite government’s visionary papers and open learning policy framework, TVET colleges in South Africa have been slow in following international trends. Pre-COVID19, only a handful of the 50 public TVET colleges had even ventured into the idea of multi-modal, or any teaching mode, other than the traditional classroom. The methodological and analytical lens of the study is two-fold. The Critical Theory in Education (CTE) and the Stakeholder Theory that depicts the interests of the different stakeholder groups within the Higher Education band and their expectations towards the activities of TVET colleges. Case study, a qualitative research design, was utilized in the study. Semi-structured interviews with top key decision makers in the Department of Higher Education and Training, as well as open learning champions on institutional level, were used as data collection tools. The interview data was analysed using descriptive and content analysis, and themes were obtained. The findings are brought into terms with the theoretical framework and potential catalysts are suggested. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria 2020. / pt2021 / Science, Mathematics and Technology Education / MEd / Unrestricted

There are increased calls for corporations to act responsibly. Those responsibilities exceed the classical assumption that the only responsibility of the firm is its shareholders and ultimately to maximize their wealth. Any social issue participation has been described as charity or squandering of resources at the expense of the shareholders. According to the Stakeholder theory, firms should consider every stakeholder that is affected by the company and stakeholder management can be a source of value. The risk reduction hypothesis is especially interesting in the context of corporate sustainability. There have been multiple studies that have explored the relationship between corporate sustainability performance and the risk of financial distress. Like those studies, this study found that corporate sustainability performance is negatively associated with the risk of financial distress. Thereby answering the research question proposed by the authors: “Does corporate sustainability performance affect the risk of financial distress?”. Companies with higher sustainability performance will experience less risk and engagement in those activities works as a risk reduction tool. Different levels of sustainability performance have different effect on the risk, which should be considered by investors and management. It should inspire investors to incorporate sustainable companies in their investment portfolios. Furthermore, the thesis contributes to the field of knowledge by analyzing the empirical results using the Stakeholder Theory, the Shareholder Theory, the Legitimacy Theory, the Resource-based view, the Agency Theory and the Stewardship Theory. The study provides evidence of an increasing importance of sustainability performance and suggests that firms can use sustainability performance to mitigate risk. This is a panel data analysis including approximately 16,000 firm-year observations. The study takes a deductive approach, and the research is conducted under a positivist paradigm. The data is tested through conducting OLS regressions with fixed effects. The results of the statistical testing have been compared to previous studies and other relevant literature.

Många politiska event har som syfte att vara en öppen mötesplats för alla, vilket gör att denna typ av event kan anses som komplexa. Dessa komplexa event har många aktörer, både offentliga och privata, som har en påverkan eller påverkas av att vara en del av ett politiskt event. Med teoretisk term benämns dessa aktörer som intressenter. Om dessa event ska vara framgångsrika kan det vara viktigt för de som organiserar eventet att vara medvetna om vilka som är deras intressenter och hur de bemöter dem. Syftet med studien var att undersöka vilka intressenter som politiska event har samt hur dessa bemöts. Detta gjorde vi genom en flerfallstudie där de fall som undersöktes var de största politiska eventen som ingår i nätverket Democracy Festivals: Almedalsveckan i Sverige, Arendalsuka i Norge, Folkemødet i Danmark och SuomiAreena i Finland. Genom fem semistrukturerade intervjuer med respondenter från samtliga event fick vi en förståelse för vilka intressenter som finns och hur dessa bemöts. Även sekundärdata samlades in för att kunna få en förståelse över respektive events organisationsstruktur. Den data som samlades in analyserades samt jämfördes med tidigare forskning och med följande modeller: intressentmodellen, Salience modellen och en modell för olika sätt att bemöta intressenter. Det vi kom fram till är att politiska event har många intressenter då dessa är samhällsengagerade event som är öppna för alla. De identifierade intressenterna är i stort sett samma i varje event. Politiska partier, politiker, näringslivet och besökare identifierades bland annat och ses som viktiga intressenter i dessa komplexa event. Det framgår även att alla intressenter som identifierats av organisatörerna har olika inflytande över respektive event och att de bemöts olika beroende på deras grad av inflytande. Detta trots att majoriteten av respondenterna uppger att de gör sitt bästa för att försöka bemöta alla intressenter lika. De flesta intressenter bemöts liknande i respektive event. De intressenter som inte bemöts på samma sätt var sponsorer och media vilket kan kopplas till organisationsstrukturen. Men i och med att bemötandet inte ter sig lika i samtliga event går det inte att säga att en intressent ska bemötas på ett specifikt sätt. I tidigare studier framgår det att landets kultur och politiska struktur påverkar hur intressenter bemöts. Detta kan vara en förklaring till att bemötandet ser olika ut i eventen då urvalet för denna studie är fyra event från fyra olika länder. / Many political events aim to be an open meeting place for everyone, which means that this type of event can be considered as complex. These complex events have many stakeholders. It can be of relevance for those who organize the event to be aware of who their stakeholders are and how they treat them if these events want to be successful. The purpose of the study was to investigate which stakeholders’ political events have and how these are treated. A multi-case study was used to examine the largest political events included in the network Democracy Festivals: Almedalsveckan in Sweden, Arendasuka in Norway, Folkemødet in Denmark, and SuomiAreena in Finland.  The conclusion of the study is that political events have many stakeholders. The identified stakeholders are basically the same in each event. Some stakeholders that were identified as important stakeholders in these complex events were: political parties, politicians, local businesses, and visitors. It also appears that all stakeholders identified by the organizers have different influences over each event and that they are treated differently depending on their degree of influence. Since the treatment does not look the same in all events, it is not possible to say that a stakeholder should be treated in a specific way.

In 1953, Howard R. Bowen gave rise to the debate on social responsibility, and since then it has become very widespread. The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility gained a lot of forms during the second half of the twentieth century and from the university campuses got into practice and also into the Czech Republic. On the background of changing theoretical approaches toward CSR we can see changes of business environment - especially in the change of the conceptualization of the enterprise - from shareholder perspective to stakeholder perspective. Stakeholder theory extensively influenced the approach to CSR. Based on the thematic analysis and interviews with the actors, I identified two main practiced approaches towards CSR. Some actors understand the corporate social responsibility on the background of moral values, on the contrary, other understand this concept on the background of economic interests of the company. Firms can be responsible from both reasons on the basis of external pressures. But, some companies "play a game on social responsibility" and society does not perceive it positively. This negative experience can be transferred to other companies with "CSR label". However, many researches have repeatedly shown that citizens expect from the companies involvement in social issues...

Till följd av ökad medvetenhet hos företagens intressenter förväntas företagoffentliggöra så kallad frivillig information i sina årsredovisningar för atttillfredsställa det ökade informationsbehovet. I bakgrund av detta har syftet medstudien varit att få en bättre inblick i utvecklingen av företags frivilligainformation i sina årsredovisningar. Vi har undersökt om mängden frivilliginformation i årsredovisningar har ökat från år 2015 till år 2019 och hurvariationen av den frivilliga informationen sett ut samt vad som kan förklara denvariationen. Vi har även undersökt om det förekommer skillnader mellan de tvåobserverade branscherna sjukvård- och teknikbranschen på Nasdaq OMXStockholm. Studien tillämpar en kvantitativ metod med en deduktiv ansats. Utifrånteorier och tidigare studier har vi utformat fem hypoteser som testats där urvaletbestod av totalt 66 företag. Datamaterialet har samlats in från årsredovisningarutifrån en checklista som består av fem inriktningar som tillsammans innehåller 27upplysningar. Vår studie identifierar en ökning av frivillig information iårsredovisningar med 6–10 procentenheter under en femårsperiod.Sjukvårdsbranschen tenderar att offentliggöra mer frivillig information änteknikbranschen inom samtliga inriktningar med undantag från inriktningenframtidsutsikter. Studien påvisar att frivillig information i årsredovisningartenderar att öka över tid samt att företagen generellt lämnar minst informationinom inriktningarna forskning och utveckling samt framtidsutsikter. / As a result of increased awareness among their stakeholders, companies areexpected to publish so-called voluntary information in their annual reports tosatisfy the increased need for information. The purpose of the study has been togain a better insight into the development of companies' voluntary information intheir annual reports. We investigate whether the amount of voluntary informationin annual reports has increased from 2015 to 2019 and how different the voluntaryinformation is and the explanation of the difference. We also investigate whetherthere are differences between the two observed industries, healthcare andtechnology on Nasdaq OMX Stockholm. The study applies a quantitative methodwith a deductive approach. Based on theories and previous studies, we havedesigned five hypotheses that are tested when the sample consists of a total of 66companies. The data was collected from annual reports based on a checklistconsisting of five specializations that together contain 27 pieces of information.Our study identifies an increase in voluntary information in annual reports by 6–10percentage points over a five-year period. The healthcare industry tends to publishmore voluntary information than the technology industry in all areas except forfuture prospects. The study confirms that voluntary information in annual reportstends to increase over time and that companies generally provide the leastinformation in the categories of research and development and prospects.

The aim of this study was to develop knowledge about the librarians role as a stakeholder to a current research information system (CRIS). These systems can be seen as a possibility to manage the vast amount of information that surrounds research projects and this investigation directed focus to the system Chalmers Research that was developed by a project group in the library of Chalmers University of Technology. The librarians of Chalmers were sent a survey and four of them were interviewed about their involvement in the work with Research. The study has had an abductive approach with stakeholder analysis as a theoretical framework. The result from the survey and interviews was analysed using qualitative analysis of content with the categories from stakeholder analysis. The findings were that librarians can make good use of the power to manage a CRIS and that it was a good use of their competence. They could see both what was of use for the organisation and the user as well as trying to further develop the administration of the system. The result also showed that there was a difference in the librarians' relation to the system dependent on their work tasks. Those administrating the system have more power and legitimacy relating to Chalmers Research, but all librarians might have reason to use the system in their work.