Bomullstextilier är en av de mest återkommande råvarorna i textilierproduktion, trots att medvetenheten om dess miljöpåfrestande framställning ökat är den fortfarande en av de viktigaste globala handelsvarorna. I och med den globala handeln har företagens agerande utvecklats från att ha en lokal produktion och försäljning till att handla med olika leverantörer och underleverantörer över hela världen. Det långa ledet leverantörer som krävs för att framställa bomullstextilier kan tillsammans med andra faktorer, som kulturella och etiska skillnader, leda till komplikationer när det kommer till uppföljningen av företagens krav på leverantörerna. Studien har en kvalitativ utgångspunkt där huvudfokus är att undersöka svenska företags möjligheter att påverka och förhindra dessa komplikationer för att uppnå en miljömässigt hållbar produktion. Insamlingen av primärdata har till stor del bestått av 5 genomförda intervjuer med nyckelpersoner inom området. Det teoretiska ramverket utgår från företagens Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) vilket behandlar både dess ansvar samt dess skyldigheter. Studien har identifierat olika verktyg och implementeringsproblem som företagen möter men visar samtidigt företagens möjligheter att på egen hand påverka produktionens utkomst.

M.A. (Politics). / This is a study in political philosophy. It defends the following thesis: where there is poverty there is a lack of power and thus a lack of freedom. It does not follow from this that a life of wealth is a life of freedom and a life of poverty is a life of complete unfreedom. This is because full freedom also involves other components such as political freedom, economic freedom and so on. The thesis defended here is simply the negative one that humans remain unfree as long as they live in conditions of poverty. Thus poverty should be construed as lack of freedom in the sense of constraints or fetters it casts upon people collectively. For example, the harsh effects of segregation in the United States and apartheid in South Africa are that people continue to live in separate communities somewhat along the colour line. The worse effect of this is that those who live in poorly resourced communities are Black. They in this manner remain without freedom here construed as power to tum their situation around. This thesis criticises the liberal account of Berlin and others of similar persuasions and offer a distinct account of freedom that locates it in an individual's capacity to carry out desired actions. It will then argue that poverty constrains freedom in this sense. Thus if you are poor, you are unfree and without power to generate the requisite necessaries of life. This thesis also aims to show how the two concepts of liberty or the liberal perspective of freedom as such do not take into account the important social problems confronting us in the world today, for example poverty which in this project is taken as an exemplar of lack of freedom. Poverty is characterized best as being without the necessities to meet basic human needs such as shelter, food and recreation. More importantly, any alternative to address poverty must take into account the fundamental significance of participation in politics.

Small businesses located in the most sparsely populated and peripheral parts of Europe are frequently believed to be marginalised with respect to the processes of economic globalisation. This thesis proposes to explore an alternative perspective for understanding how small businesses that are located at the geographical margins engage with the globalised economy. Distance is no longer a purely physical phenomenon. Meanwhile, networks are considered to be the primary means for small firms to mobilise external resources and stay competitive. Acknowledging these conceptual shifts, this thesis explores how peripheral small businesses develop network configurations with multiple actors across multiple geographical scales to engage in the global economy. This thesis consists of four papers and a cover essay. The four papers share the theme of the network interaction of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in peripheral regions and discuss this theme from various perspectives with different research questions. The papers use combinations of quantitative and qualitative analytical methods to empirically investigate the configuration of small firm networks in the case study of Upper Norrland in Sweden. The cover essay introduces the overarching conceptual framework that is grounded in ideas from the seminal work of Granovetter on the social embeddedness of economic interactions and the ‘strength of weak ties’, and this essay contributes to the debate in geography on multi-scalar proximity dynamics. The empirical findings of the papers describe the collaborative and transactional forms of firm relations in peripheral regions and discuss the role of key actors—such as international customers or regional intermediary organisations—in bridging the local and extra-local dimensions of small firm networks. The conceptual contribution of this thesis corroborates the understanding that small firm development requires a balance between regional and international networks. This thesis also contributes to the debate on development policies for peripheral regions by offering insights into the manner in which institutional support for the design and implementation of open, flexible network arrangements may provide a leverage effect for small firm development. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 3: Submitted. Paper 4: Submitted.</p>

Social media is fast becoming an ever-increasingly significant part of the world of business and a phenomenon which cannot be evaded. The advent of social media in the workplace compels organisations to acclimatise to the transformation emanating from employees‟ adoption of these technologies (Hanaki & Casella, 2008). Approximately seventy percent of organisations do not have a social media governance framework in place (Fink et al., 2011). Social media governance in organisations is very disjointed; companies have varying stances as to social media strategy, the risks, benefits and business use of social media (Thompson et al., 2011). The growth of social media and its use in the business environment will see a more standardised approach to social media governance (Thompson et al., 2011). Being at the forefront of technology development in Africa, and in certain areas, globally (Government of the Republic of South Africa, 2012), places added emphasis on IT organisations in South Africa to set the standard as it relates to social media governance. The diversity and depth of the human and technology resources within these organisations, creates an environment conducive to establishing and pioneering sound social media governance structures. The treatise consists of a study on the governance of social media and the successive development of two frameworks; an integrated framework for the governance of social media in the workplace, as well as integrated framework for a social media policy within an IT organisation. These frameworks are empirically evaluated amongst employees, within the context of Information Technology (IT) organisations, in South Africa. Several recommendations are proposed by the author in relation to the adoption of the proposed frameworks.

Social media is playing an increasingly important role in people’s lives and is becoming a part of most organisations’ business models. Businesses cannot ignore this phenomenon due to the increasing influx of Generation Y employees in their businesses and the Generation Y consumers who are going to buy their products and services in the future. Social media is changing the way that marketing is being conducted, in a positive way. It is changing from businesses focusing on selling products or services to customers, to businesses building relationships with customers and adding value to their lives through their products and services. This phenomenon was the base for this study. The research problem was identified as follows: SMME business owners do not understand the importance and impact of social media on their businesses. Sub-problems were identified as: defining social media and networking, describing the importance of this, which strategies are currently being used in business, how it compares to traditional networking, how this is used in recruitment strategies and what are the disadvantages of social media and networking. The research problem and sub-problems were addressed in a literature study and an empirical study. The literature study included information on SMME businesses, their importance in our economy and how social media can help them. The empirical study was done using SMME’s registered with the George Business Chamber. A questionnaire was designed and distributed to the owners of the businesses by email. The answers were analysed and collated on a spreadsheet which were presented in graph and diagram format. Social media and networking are becoming an integral part of businesses especially small businesses. They specifically have an important role to play in creating economic wealth and creating employment. SMME’s are faced with a lot of challenges which make it difficult for them to become successful and sustainable. Social media can play a role in overcoming a lot of these challenges by helping SMME’s with marketing, customer engagement, relationship building, recruitment, and finding valuable information, experience and partners. Social media also has disadvantages which include: virus attacks, risk of confidential information leaking and so forth, but these can easily be managed by social media polices and rules. A bigger risk lies in the fact that if a business owner ignores the existence of social media, this can lead to conversations by consumers about this business being ignored and not responded to. Another big risk for SMME’s is the fact they are at a competitive disadvantage by ignoring this new technology. This was clear from the empirical results in this study which stated that 53 percent of the businesses surveyed, were aware their competitors are using social media. The empirical results indicated a very low use of social media activities among the SMME’s surveyed but showed potential as the SMME’s understood the importance of social media and were eager to implement strategies in their businesses. The reasons offered for not using social media included the fact that it was difficult to measure its worth in time and money, advice is needed from experts and so forth. Social media and networking are not quick or cheap methods for businesses to advertise and sell their products or services. They are tools to be used over time, in order to engage with customers and build relationships. Consumers and customers expect value for their money and if they find this from a business, they will gladly share it with others. On the other hand, if they do not find value for money it could have a negative impact on the business. SMME’s must not try to replace their current marketing strategy with social networking activities. They should integrate it slowly into their current business models and search for unique ways in which it could improve the relationship with their current customers and find new customers. It should help them to either showcase their existing value added products or services, or improve it if it is not worth selling. Small businesses now have the platform to compete.

Restaurateurs often assume that customers' online reviews of their dining experiences are a reflection of their dining preferences. This study finds this assumption not to be true. Online written reviews do not explain diners’ preferred dining experiences. In this study post-experience reactions captured in reviews are shown to be contextually different to established dining preferences. Results show online reviews to be most important in facilitating customer dining expectations, but not influencing customers’ preferences in dining experiences. Evidence gathered during the secondary research shows that in general, social media has become the great marketing equaliser in commerce. In the dining industry, restaurants cannot solely rely on traditional media in the initial attraction and retention of dining customers. Continuous interaction between the business and customers is increasingly necessary for restaurateurs to remain competitive and in-touch with customers’ needs. This study concentrates its research area on the post-experience evaluation phase as found on review websites, like TripAdvisor. TripAdvisor has especially become a popular means to perpetuate word-of-mouth opinions of dining experiences among prospective customers. Research shows clear evidence of the importance of other's online opinions in the consumer decision-making process. The main variables of the study, namely customer experiences, restaurant dining and social media, are theoretically explored within the disciplines of service management and customer behaviour. These theories have laid a sound foundation for the subsequent research methods followed. The main purpose of the study was using social media reviews from TripAdvisor to investigate dining experiences in the restaurant industry. The outcomes desired were: firstly to advise the restaurant industry about superior customer practices, secondly emphasising the importance for industry of social media use in the dining experience, and thirdly rendering clarification on the experience perceptions of customers about factors that might lead to ‘delight’ and ‘frustration’. This research centralises the constructs of delight and frustration factors, which are typically extremely emotional dining experiences for the customer, that have the common element of surprise. Methodologically, the research required two phases: firstly, the qualitative analysis of online user-generated content by content analysis. The global sample consisted of seven international cities, which included the best, worst and average-rated TripAdvisor restaurant reviews. The content analysis produced the theoretical base for the dining perception variables used in the empirical survey. In the second phase of the study, the global surveys administered resulted in measuring the general public’s perceptions of the delight and frustration factors of dining experiences. Subsequently, the research process required various quantitative data analyses to reach substantial results with inferences. The results and interpreted findings achieved were twofold: Firstly, from the content analysis: customers regard service quality as relatively unimportant in relation to the holistic dining experience. Customers regarded food and beverage quality as crucial in the dining experience. Value for money increasingly becomes an issue as customers become more frustrated, more so than when the dining was generally experienced as pleasant. Secondly, from the empirical data: mood and aesthetics are essential, especially when diners chose between their favourite restaurants. Further results show managing the service basics for restaurants is essential; this included welcoming, professional, attentive and friendly service. Service consistency has also proven to be imperative in customers’ perceptions. Results further show that different nationalities could perceive food quality and service reliability differently. In addition, men and women could perceive food quality, mood and aesthetics, and value for money differently. This study recommends various findings to the restaurant industry: most importantly that the post-experience reviews are contextually different to customers’ dining preferences. The factor determining the reputation of a restaurant is food quality and not so much service quality. Value for money should be associated with a specific service or product feature for it to be of meaningful consequence to the restaurateur.

Contemporary urban planning for the past decades has concentrated on sustainable development, for instance through the promotion of dense development (Echenique et al., 2012). Important components for sustainable urban development concerns increasing residential and building density, as means of counteracting the consequences of urban sprawl (Jenks and Jones, 2008). Because it is argued that high-residential density is more economically, environmentally and socially sustainable than low-density since a higher concentration of people contributes to for instance shorter transportation distances as well as makes services and amenities more economically viable  (Frey, 1999; Haughton and Hunter, 2004). However, whether the densification of cities has desirable or undesirable social, economic and ecological impacts is highly contested. The purpose of this study is to analyze the socioeconomic outcomes of the urban densification process in the Lundby District, Gothenburg, over time. Through a mixed method approach, statistical information for Lundby District, for the years 2008 to 2015 have been processed and two semi-structured interviews with employees in the City Planning Authority and Lundby District Administration were conducted. The densification in Lundby presents certain strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. As more than 6300 new housing units has been constructed during this time-period, and more is to come in the near future, Lundby experienced a repopulation as the housing construction has facilitate a population increase of more than 11 000 new inhabitants. However, as the favored tenure developed during this time-period been condominiums certain weaknesses exist. Nonetheless, densification and the rapid increase in population has contributed to the number of vehicle per 100 inhabitants decreasing, which presents opportunities for being more environmentally friendly. On the other hand the claim that through densification could diversity and social mixing be achieved is flawed, as seen in Lundby the densification process has brought changes in population structure and socioeconomic characteristics, which suggest some form of gentrification is occurring.

Studien undersöker arbetsmarknadens förändrade förutsättning utifrån en riskgrupp vilket i studiens kontext är ungdomar (med eller utan utbildning), lågutbildade, arbetslösa samt nyexaminerade. Syftet är att undersöka riskgruppens förutsättning att med hjälp av en utbildningsinvestering uppnå en etablering på arbetsmarknaden. Arbetsmarknaden upplever en inkomstojämnlikhet samt inkomstosäkerhet vilket har orsakat ett ökat behöv för anställningsbarhet bland riskgruppen. Denna studie avgränsar sig endast till utbildning på tertiär nivå. Således studeras övergången mellan studier och arbetsmarknad utifrån utbildningsformerna: folkhögskolan, vuxenutbildning, kompletterande utbildning, yrkeshögskolan och folkhögskolan. Övergången studeras främst i relation till riskgruppens förutsättning. Metoden som använts är en trianguleringsmetod där både kvalitativ och kvantitativ metod trianguleras för att nå fram till ett resultat. I den kvalitativa metoden används en narrativ litteraturgenomgång och i den kvantitativa metoden används en systematisk litteraturgenomgång genom en metaanalys. Det sistnämnda använder sig av en etableringsmått efter avslutad studier från tertiär utbildningsnivå.

There is no sustainability without responsibility. This research considers the connection between collaboration and responsibility. Responsible tourism has been discussed together with sustainable tourism, but who is responsible for increasing sustainability have not been researched widely. The research focus is on the nature tourism network. The tourism network consists of multiple public and private stakeholders with different agreements. All the stakeholders have their agendas, but sustainability can be seen as a common goal for each stakeholder in the nature tourism network. The question is how to implement more sustainability within tourism stakeholders and how much public-private partnerships affect the responsibility of sustainability. The qualitative research was done by mixed methods. The survey for SMEs and semi-structured interviews for SMEs and DMOs. The research area in coastal Finland includes multiple nature destinations which are owned by the state. In the previous research, it was stated that a sustainable tourism destination needs collaboration. In this research was found that SMEs cannot work without cooperation, especially in nature-based tourism destinations. The purpose of this paper was to see how the quality of collaboration between the stakeholders influences taking responsibility for sustainability actions. The lack of communication and cooperation between the public-private sector may lead to misunderstandings in sustainable tourism cooperation. Miscommunication of the delegation for the responsibilities affects the success of the sustainability implementations. This research highlights the importance of efficient stakeholder management and future research on sharing responsibility for achieving sustainability in the tourism sector.

I denna studie undersöks unga män i åldern från 18 - 30 år och deras uppfattningar kring Ålidhemsområdets brottsutveckling. Nyckelord vi har använt oss utav är ungdomskriminalitet, utsatta områden och segregation. Denna studie har en kvalitativa ansats av data som samlades in från sex olika respondenter. En av dessa arbetade på BRÅ och de fem resterande var män i åldern mellan 18-30 år gamla. Resultaten i studien visar en mängd olika skäl till att man dras in i kriminalitet på Ålidhem och hur det står i förhållande till de förebyggande insatserna på området. De främsta faktorerna till att man dras in i kriminaliteten är bekräftelse, brist på förebilder och utanförskap. Utifrån intervjuerna framkom det att respondenterna upplever brister i det förebyggande arbetet och de har nämnt olika tillvägagångssätt till ett bättre förebyggande arbete, som hur man ser på polisen och vad som kan ersätta deras höga närvaro i området.