[pt] O aumento dos custos sociais, ambientais, e humanos gerados pela atividade econômica vem suscitando um debate na sociedade com um todo, e na academia em particular, acerca da necessidade de uma ação integrada das corporações e dos demais constituintes da sociedade, na restauração dos danos ocorridos e, sobretudo, na prevenção dos potenciais danos futuros. A temática da racionalidade, imperiosa e inerente ao debate suscitado, não vem ocupando uma posição de destaque sendo, em muitos casos, ignorada, sobretudo aquela de natureza substantiva. No âmbito da Ética de Negócios vem ganhando reconhecimento, sobretudo a partir da década de 90, a Teoria dos Stakeholders, cujo ponto central reside na revisão e ampliação das obrigações corporativas, opondo-se à visão neoclássica, baseada no conceito de agência, que sustenta ser a única responsabilidade social dos gestores da companhia a maximização da riqueza dos acionistas. Destacam-se, no âmbito desta teoria, duas vertentes principais: instrumental e normativa. Ao passo que esta defende a revisão das obrigações corporativas incondicionalmente, aquela a sujeita à busca de uma performance superior. A potencial associação da vertente normativa com a racionalidade de natureza substantiva e da instrumental com a racionalidade homônima é um fator fundamental na estruturação desta pesquisa, a qual objetivou descrever, através de um estudo de caso, como se dá a co-existência das duas racionalidades acima em uma empresa cujos objetivos, missão e visão, revestem-se de valores manifestamente substantivos. / [en] The increase in social, environmental and human costs generated by economic activity has brought along a discussion within society as a whole, in the academic environment most particularly, regarding the urge for an integrated action coming from corporations and other society members in the direction of restoration of existing damage and, above all, in the prevention of potential future ones. The Rationality subject, predominant in and inherent to the proposed debate, has not been playing an important role, being in many cases simply ignored - mostly the one of Substantive nature. In the field of Business Ethics, mainly from the 90´s on, the Stakeholder Theory - which core lays on the revision and broadening of corporate obligations, as opposed to the neoclassical vision based on the Agency Theory, defending the maximization of stakeholders´ wealth as the only social responsibility of management - has been gaining acknowledgement. In the heart of this theory, two mainstreams can be highlighted: the Instrumental and the Normative. While the later stands for the unconditional revision of corporate obligations, the former subjects them to the search of a superior performance. The potential association of the Normative stream with the Substantive Rationality and of the Instrumental stream with the Rationality that goes under the same name is the fundamental basis for the structuring of this research, which intends to describe, based on a case study, how the two above mentioned Rationalities coexist in a company which mission and vision are based on typically Substantive values.

Cross-sector social partnerships have become a widely used instrument to work towards sustainable development and especially to deal with social issues. However, research on this phenomenon commonly addresses possible solutions directly, without a deeper analysis of the underlying obstacles and possibilities. The purpose of this study is to fill this gap by exploring the obstacles and possibilities for cross-sector social partnerships in achieving sustainable development. To do so, an empirical case study of a multinational mining corporation and its partners is conducted. Data is gathered from seven semi-structured interviews. The study shows that cross-sector social partnerships (CSSPs) are used by the interviewees to address social issues. Interviews are conducted with actors in different sectors who have relationships with the multinational corporations, this allows a diverse data collection. The study provides analytical results by identifying the obstacles and possibilities that are significant to the collaborations among partners, that is to say the CSSPs. Thus, three main obstacles are found: ​power imbalance, diverging focus and lack of trust among partners​. Whereas, three main possibilities are identified: ​optimism towards future development, broader involvement and more frequent & constructive dialogue​. The study also provides insights on partners at different influential levels and thereby makes a contribution to existing literature. From a practical perspective, understanding the underlying obstacles and possibilities could help to make the partnerships more effective.

The current study examined the impact of a recently restarted football program and a new on-campus stadium on the alumni and students of a Division I FCS commuter school. Results showed that alumni felt more connected to the university because of the new football program, they were more satisfied with their overall game-day experience, and the new football stadium was more likely to increase their game attendance when compared to students. Supplementary analysis highlights key differences in how each group rated individual elements of the game-day experience and the mediums used by each group for obtaining team-related information.

Företag låter publicera ofta helt frivillig information kring sitt hållbarhetsarbete till sina intressenter och det samhälle de verkar inom. Denna information innehåller ofta en stor mängd visuellt material och detta material kan innehålla en hel del information som företaget vill förmedla. Därmed är det av stor vikt att förstå hur och varför detta visuella material används. Då byggbranschen skapar stora belastningar på både miljön och människa har vi valt att studera svenska byggföretags hållbarhetsredovisning.   Syftet med denna uppsats är att identifiera och granska de bilder byggföretagen använder i sin hållbarhetsrapportering som ett kommunikationsverktyg genom deras webbplatser och årsrapport. Därmed bidra till tidigare forskning med ytterligare insikt i hur företag förmedlar budskap i syfte att vinna legitimitet.   Vi har valt att analysera det visuella materialets lingvistiska, denotativa och konnotativa delar för att försöka tolka bilden som helhet och därmed förstå dess budskap. Genom detta har vi funnit att dessa byggföretag gärna använder ett positivt perspektiv på de motiv som ofta associeras med hållbarhet. Vår slutsats blev därmed att dessa byggföretag använder det visuella materialet framförallt genom fyra identifierbara strategier. Dessa är att påverka samhällets uppfattningar om företaget, att på ett självberömmande vis betona det samhälleliga ansvar det tagit, att omdirigera uppmärksamheten från ett problem till andra ämnen eller att informera om ändringar företaget gjort. Även om vi inte kan bevisa det så är det troligt att strategierna används som ett sätt att proaktivt möta de förväntningar företagets olika intressentgrupper har på miljöinitiativ.   Företagen ligger bakom en stor del av den miljöförstöring vi har idag och som samhälle samt intressent finns det en förväntan på dessa företag att ta sitt ansvar. Därmed ger vår studie en aspekt i hur intressenter och det samhälle företaget verkar inom kan tolka den frivilliga informationen detta företag ger ut, i syftet att avgöra om de ska stödja eller motarbeta företagets mål. / Organizations often publish completely voluntary information about their sustainability work to stakeholders and to society. This information often contains a large amount of visual material and may contain a lot of information that the company wants to convey. Therefore, it is of great importance to understand how and why the visual material is used. Since the construction industry creates a lot of tension on both the environment and humans, we have chosen to study sustainability reporting from Swedish construction companies.   The purpose of this paper is to identify and review the images that construction companies use in their sustainability reporting as a communication tool through their websites and annual report. This contributes to previous research with further insight into how companies convey messages in order to gain legitimacy.     We have chosen to analyze the linguistic, denotative and connotative parts of the visual material to try to interpret the picture and thereby understand the underlying message. Through this, we have found that the construction companies in this paper like to use a positive perspective on the themes that are often associated with sustainability. Our conclusion was that these construction companies use the visual material mainly through four strategies. These are to influence society's perceptions of the company, to emphasize in a self-praising manner the social responsibility it has taken, to redirect attention from one problem to other subjects or to inform about changes the company has made. Even though we cannot prove it, it seems very likely that the strategies are used to proactively meet the expectations of various stakeholder groups on environmental initiatives.     The companies are behind a large part of the environmental degradation we have today, and society and stakeholder have an expectation for these companies to take responsibility for this. Thus, our study provides an aspect in how stakeholders and society can interpret the voluntary information this company issues, in order to determine whether they should support or counteract the company's goals.

The rapid and continuous deterioration of the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria in the last four decades has been a major source of concern for the government and practitioners. Hence, the region has been the subject of continuous conflicts and violence between the host communities and the oil producing companies. Despite the effort of the government and practitioners, none have looked at the relationship elements and/or the quality of relationship between these two key stakeholders within the context of the Nigeria oil and gas industry. This research study makes a new contribution to the field of relationship marketing in the area of relationship quality by providing a detailed understanding of relationship elements, and determinants and dimensions of relationship quality. The research study focuses on the oil producing company to host community relationship in the Niger delta region of Nigeria, which was investigated in detail. A qualitative approach was adopted as it is considered appropriate for the research focus, which was to investigate and assess the understanding of different community actors in respect to the quality of relationship between the oil producing companies and host communities in the Niger delta region of Nigeria. In addition, explore how these actors described both the relationship elements and relationship quality constructs, and related this to their understanding of the relationship between the oil producing company and host community. Semi-structured interviews, as the primary method of data collection were conducted with different community actors. The literature review, as the secondary method of data collection were primarily used as a tool to double check and validate the interview findings. Sixteen community actors provided their views and opinions of the relationship between the oil producing companies with the host communities in the region. This research study extended the application of relationship quality frameworks that were conducted in a developed economic environment such as the United Kingdom and United States of America to a developing economic environment such as Nigeria through the replication of these frameworks and re-testing their constructs and propositions in order to develop a detailed and comprehensive framework of relationship quality in the context of a business-to-community (B2Com) relationship in a unique commercial context. In addition, this research study uncovered the importance of mutual goal and culture of the community people in addition to pre-identified constructs (i.e. mutual benefit, communication, control mutuality) as the key determinants of relationship quality for the oil producing company when engaging the host community in the relationship building process. This research study also explored the research on dimensions of relationship quality subjecting its main constructs (i.e. trust, satisfaction and commitment) to a rigorous qualitative test. Doing this, the finding further emphasised some consensus between these dimensions of relationship quality. In addition, the developed framework highlighted the importance of including the relationship elements (i.e. actor bonds, resource ties and activity links) when assessing the quality of the relationship between business and its community. In conclusion, this research document recommendations (such as, the local community forming a complete and harmonious whole when relating with external bodies, the need for international oil and gas companies in Nigeria to gain adequate and appropriate insight and understanding into the role(s) played by each of the actors within the Niger Delta community, and the importance of oil and gas practitioners developing and maintaining a mutually beneficial relationship in the region) for various stakeholders within the NOGI.

Submitted by JOSIANE SANTOS DE OLIVEIRA (josianeso) on 2017-06-08T12:38:53Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Luis Carlos Schneider_.pdf: 1612888 bytes, checksum: 1a77a044f228277a4b67b65a6ece194c (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-08T12:38:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Luis Carlos Schneider_.pdf: 1612888 bytes, checksum: 1a77a044f228277a4b67b65a6ece194c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-30 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / A pecuária está na pauta das discussões no Brasil e no mundo por causa da emissão de carbono, e tem chamado a atenção de pesquisadores, ativistas e outros stakeholders. A cadeia de valor da carne bovina no Brasil está passando por mudanças em sua estrutura de governança, influenciada pelo ambiente institucional e por stakeholders relacionados direta e indiretamente com essa cadeia. Há um movimento em direção aos padrões privados e governança privada nas cadeias de valor globais, nas quais a configuração dos sistemas de produção é determinada pela forma de atuação das empresas líderes. Os estudos sobre governança em cadeias de valor globais estão mais relacionados a padrões privados, sob o ponto de vista das relações diádicas entre organizações, e as abordagens atuais sobre governança das cadeias de valor globais deixa uma lacuna, quando se trata de compreender a influência de stakeholders, como organizações da sociedade civil, ONGs e outros atores de não mercado nas estruturas de governança das cadeias. Poucos trabalhos têm destacado a importância das iniciativas multi-stakeholder como uma forma alternativa para criar soluções para questões complexas relacionadas à governança privada nas cadeias de valor globais. Sob a perspectiva de cadeias de valor globais, a análise da governança na cadeia de valor da carne bovina no Brasil permite evidenciar suas características, seus fatores influenciadores e suas formas de inter-relação entre stakeholders. Por meio de uma investigação de caráter indutivo-dedutivo com abordagem qualitativa, foi possível analisar a cadeia de valor da carne bovina, o ambiente institucional e as relações entre os stakeholders para caracterizar a estrutura de governança que emerge nessa cadeia. Como considerações finais, evidencia-se que a governança dessa cadeia é dinâmica e fortemente influenciada pelo ambiente institucional, caracterizando-se mais pelas relações horizontais do que pelas relações verticais, e que as iniciativas multi-stakeholder identificadas em dois níveis neste estudo exercem um papel importante na estrutura de governança desta cadeia de valor. / Livestock industry is a subject under discussion in Brazil and in the world due to carbon emission, drawing the attention of researchers, activists and other stakeholders. Beef value chain in Brazil is undergoing changes in its governance structure, influenced by institutional environment and stakeholders directly and indirectly related to this chain. There is a move towards private standards and private governance in the global value chains, in which production systems configuration is determined by the leading companies’ performance. Studies about global value chains governance are more related to private standards, from the perspective of the dyadic relations between organizations, and the current approach about global value chains governance leaves a gap when it comes to understanding the influence of stakeholders, such as civil society organizations, NGOs and other nonmarket actors, in value chain governance structures. Few works have highlighted the importance of multi-stakeholder initiatives as an alternative form of creating solutions for complex issues related to private governance in global value chains. Under the perspective of global value chains, the analysis of governance in the beef value chain in Brazil enables highlighting its characteristics, influential factors and forms of interrelation between stakeholders. Through an inductive-deductive investigation, with a qualitative approach, it was possible to analyze the beef value chain, the institutional environment and the relations between stakeholders in order to characterize the governance structure that emerges in this chain. As a result, it can be said that the governance of this chain is dynamic and strongly influenced by the institutional environment, more characterized by the horizontal relations than the vertical ones, and that multi-stakeholder initiatives, identified in two levels in this study, play an important role in this value chain governance structure.

Un courant dominant dans la théorie institutionnelle suggère que lorsqu’un changement institutionnel apparaît, la logique institutionnelle dominante se transforme. Les implications et les conséquences de ces changements sur l’ensemble des relations entretenues entre les acteurs ne sont toutefois pas claires. Cette thèse vise ainsi à comprendre la dynamique des relations entre les entreprises et leurs parties prenantes dans un champ qui vit un processus de changement institutionnel particulièrement fort. Afin de saisir et de caractériser l’évolution de ces relations, dans le contexte spécifique d’un pays émergent, le cadre de la saillance des parties prenantes développé par Mitchell et al. (1997) a été utilisé comme fondement théorique. Cette recherche propose de revisiter et de renforcer ce cadre théorique et d’illustrer de manière empirique le processus à l’œuvre. En utilisant des données recueillies à partir d’entretiens semi-structurés et de documents d'archives, cette thèse suggère une forte relation entre la logique institutionnelle dominante et la saillance des parties prenantes. Enfin, cette recherche propose plusieurs implications, tant pour les gestionnaires que pour les chercheurs, en matière de direction et d’orientation stratégiques des entreprises. / An established stream of literature in institutional tradition suggests that as institutional change process unfolds in the field, dominant institutional logic shifts. The implications of such shifts in institutional logic for the broader network of relationships of various constituents are still not clear. This thesis, therefore, aims to uncover the dynamics of firm-stakeholders relationships in a field undergoing a robust institutional change process. In order to understand these evolving relationships in emerging country’s context, Mitchell et al.’s (1997) framework of stakeholder salience has been employed as an underlying theoretical framework. This thesis also makes several conceptual and empirical contributions to this framework and strengthens its theoretical underpinnings. Overall, using data collected through semi-structured interviews and archival material, this dissertation suggests strong dominant institutional logic-stakeholder salience relationship. Moreover, this thesis provides several lessons for managers and researchers that may help to better set firms’ strategic direction.

A partir dos anos 1950, o conceito de marketing e a orientação para mercado destacaram a importância do consumidor para as empresas. Nas últimas décadas surgiu uma nova visão que propõe que as demandas de outros públicos também são relevantes, como colocam a orientação para stakeholders e a de marketing holístico, entre outras. Em alguns contextos, porém, consumidor e outros públicos têm demandas divergentes, como na indústria de alimentos brasileira atualmente. Se, por um lado, aumenta o consumo de industrializados, identifica-se que, por outro, o governo tenta mudar a composição desses alimentos para reduzir o teor de ingredientes considerados prejudiciais à saúde se consumidos em excesso e, assim como ONGs, tenta desestimular seu consumo. O presente estudo busca, por meio de uma pesquisa empírica, com amostra não-probabilística, analisar como é feita a gestão de marketing nesse contexto. Foram realizadas entrevistas semiestruturadas com sete gestores de marcas de alimentos industrializados que atuam em categorias onde o governo identifica necessidade de mudanças. O elemento de partida, por tangibilizar as decisões de gestão da marca e facilitar a abordagem do assunto, foi uma campanha de comunicação de marketing recente. As respostas foram analisadas pelo método de análise de conteúdo e os resultados indicam que, na gestão de marketing, as demandas do consumidor são as de maior relevância, até porque, sem colocá-las em evidência, há risco para o sucesso do negócio. Há algumas ações descritas pelos gestores que foram motivadas por pressões de outros públicos, como a mudança de público-alvo e de mensagem em campanhas de comunicação e a reformulação de produtos - neste último exemplo, porém, não houve adesão do mercado em dois casos narrados. Isso não significa, entretanto, que o consumidor não incorpore as discussões em torno da saudabilidade proposta por outros públicos e que, atualmente, evidenciam as demandas divergentes entre stakeholders. Um nicho, caracterizado principalmente pelo poder aquisitivo mais alto, tem interesses que vão ao encontro do que propõem o governo e as ONGs. O grande mercado consumidor, porém, ainda valoriza mais o acesso a novas categorias que se tornou possível com o recente aumento de renda no Brasil. O caminho para que as mudanças ocorram de maneira mais ampla e rápido, de acordo com os gestores, passa pela informação, de maneira a diminuir a divergência entre as demandas dos stakeholders envolvidos na questão. / In the 1950s, the marketing concept and the market orientation emphasized the importance of the consumer to companies. In the last decades, new concepts emerged, which highlight that the demand of other publics are also priorities, as state the stakeholder and the holistic marketing orientations, for example. In some contexts, however, consumers and other publics might have divergent demands, as in the Brazilian food industry nowadays. On one hand, the consumption of industrialized items increases and, on the other, government tries to change the formulation of those products to reduce the quantity of ingredients that are considered unhealthy if eaten in high levels and tries to discourage its consumption. Some NGOs are also dedicated to the subject and support the government\'s point of view. This study analyses the marketing management of brands in that context through an empirical research with a non-probability sample. In-depth interviews were conducted with seven marketing professionals of the food industry whose categories are involved in the discussions started by the Brazilian government. A recent marketing communication campaign was chosen as the starting point of the interview since it is a public expression of the brand and it could facilitate the conversation and analysis of the subject. The analytical procedure used was content analysis. The results show that consumers\' demands are the most relevant for marketing management because if the market is not satisfied, the business might be on risk. Some actions presented by the managers were motivated by pressure imposed by other publics, such as the change of the communication target for two brands and the implementation of new formulas for some products of other two brands. In these cases, however, the market did not accept the healthier options. Nevertheless, consumers are more aware of healthy habits. A niche of high-income people has demands that are closer to those presented by the government. But the average consumer, due to the recent income increase in Brazil, still places more value on having access to new categories than on making choices. In order for changes to happen faster and widely, bringing the consumers and government\'s demands closer, managers point out the need of information.

Bakgrund och Problem: Hållbarhetsarbete blir allt viktigare för organisationer att ta hänsyn till för att möta intressenters krav och för att få legitimitet i samhället. Då hållbarhetsarbetet påverkar många delar av organisationen är det viktigt att arbetet integrerar alla dess delar. Idag är många organisationer aktiva med att implementera hållbarhetsarbete i verksamheten vilket ofta leder till att arbetssätten i organisationens olika enheter förändras. Syfte: Denna studie syftar till att få en djupare förståelse för hur hållbarhetsarbetet i butikerna förhåller sig till den koncerngemensamma hållbarhetsstrategin. Teoretisk referensram: Studien utgår från intressentteorin, legitimitetsteorin, möjlighet och risker samt informella och formella styrverktyg. Metod: En fallstudie har gjorts på tre dotterbolag tillhörande Axfoodkoncernen. Studien är utformad enligt en kvalitativ undersökningsmetod och har en abduktiv forskningsansats. Det empiriska materialet har samlats in via fem semistrukturerade intervjuer samt Axfoods hållbarhetsstrategi “Mat 2030” som är koncernens vision för de nästkommande åren. Slutsats: På operativ nivå är det dagliga arbetet påverkat av hållbarhetsarbetet. Ute på enheterna arbetar man med att lyfta fram hållbara produkter, källsortera, informerar kunder och minska matsvinn. Arbetet på operativ nivå i de olika butikskedjorna skiljer sig åt på grund av att de riktar sig till olika kundgrupper. Axfood skapar dock genom utbildningar en enighet kring värderingar vad gäller hållbart arbete genom koncernens enheter. Detta bidrar till en företagskultur som lägger stor vikt i hållbarhetsarbete med grund i samhälleligt ansvar och legitimitet snarare än ekonomisk vinning. Nyckelord: Hållbarhetsarbete, Operativ nivå, Styrverktyg, Intressentteorin, Legitimitetsteorin. / Background and Problem: Sustainability work is becoming increasingly important for organizations to consider meeting stakeholder demands and to gain legitimacy in society. As the sustainability work affects many parts of the organization, it is important that the work is integrated in all its parts. Today, many organizations are active in implementing sustainability work in the business, which often lead to changes in the way the organization's various units work. Purpose: This study aims to gain a deeper understanding of how the sustainability work in the stores relates to the Group-wide sustainability strategy. Theoretical reference frame: The study is based on stakeholder theory, legitimacy theory, opportunity and risks and management tools. Method: A case study has been conducted on three subsidiaries belonging to the Axfood Group. The study is designed according to a qualitative research method and have a deductive research approach. The empirical material has been collected via five semi-structured interviews and Axfood's sustainability strategy “Mat 2030” which is the Group's vision for the next few years. Conclusion: At operational level, the daily work is affected by the sustainability work. Out on the units, work is being done to highlight sustainable products, source sort, inform customers and reduce food waste. Work at the operational level in the various retail chains is different because they target different customer groups. Through training, however, Axfood creates an agreement on values regardingsustainable work through the Group's units. This contributes to a corporate culture that places great emphasis on sustainability work against social responsibility and legitimacy rather than financial gain. Key words: Sustainability work, Operational level, Management tools, Stakeholder theory, Legitimacy theory.

. / An established stream of literature in institutional tradition suggests that as institutional change process unfolds in the field, dominant institutional logic shifts. The implications of such shifts in institutional logic for the broader network of relationships of various constituents are still not clear. This thesis, therefore, aims to uncover the dynamics of firm-stakeholders relationships in a field undergoing a robust institutional change process. In order to understand these evolving relationships in emerging country’s context, Mitchell et al.’s (1997) framework of stakeholder salience has been employed as an underlying theoretical framework. This thesis also makes several conceptual and empirical contributions to this framework and strengthens its theoretical underpinnings. Overall, using data collected through semi-structured interviews and archival material, this dissertation suggests strong dominant institutional logic-stakeholder salience relationship. Moreover, this thesis provides several lessons for managers and researchers that may help to better set firms’ strategic direction.