<p>Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to interview four legal jurists in order to explore how they conduct CSR activities within their service corpora-tion, with primary focus on SME law firms.</p><p>Background: A current issue to address concerning the conduct of business these days is CSR activities. Although, the previous research concerning CSR activities and the service sector is limited.</p><p>Theoretical Framework: The theoretical framework is divided into four parts; a general part concerning the concept of CSR activities, a review of earlier studies of CSR activities, the stakeholder theory and finally the theory about the triple bottom line.</p><p>Method: A qualitative case study was employed in order to answer the purpose. The most suitable research approach was a combination of a deductive and partially an inductive approach. The primary data consisted of semi-structured interviews. The secondary data were used in order make a comparison in relation to manufacturing corporations.</p><p>Empirical findings & Analysis: As for all corporations an integration of voluntary social and environmental concerns in their business operations are considered as CSR activities. A significant concern is CSR activities that the inter-viewed service corporations experienced was the lack of human and economic resources to deal with CSR activities. Furthermore, the lack of stakeholder pressure does not facilitate the matter of implementing more CSR strategies into the corporations‟ business conduct. As a result of the lack of stakeholder pressure the interviewed corporations tend to only take part in CSR activities that create goodwill value for the corporation. According to the interviewed service corporations CSR activities is a new phenomenon that is likely to become a bigger part of their business conduct in the future.</p><p>Conclusion: The interviewed corporations tend to focus their CSR activities to-wards the social activities since this is the kind of activities that is closely connected to the core business.</p>

<p>Bakgrund och problem: Det pågår en diskussion om införandet av värdering av förvaltningsfastigheter till verkligt värde. Diskussionen grundar sig främst i att fastighetsbolagens resultat påverkas av orealiserade värdeförändringar genom att dessa inkluderas i rörelseresultatet. Då svenska börsnoterade bolag idag kan välja att värdera enligt denna typ av värdering så är det intressant att få deras uppfattning om värdering till verkligt värde.</p><p>Syfte: Syftet med studien är att visa på skillnader i företagens uppfattning vid värdering av förvaltningsfastigheter till verkligt värde och undersöka om det finns en relation mellan dessa åsikter och hur stor del av fastighetsbolagets rörelseresultat som består av orealiserade värdeförändringar.</p><p>Avgränsning: På grund av begränsade resurser så har inte hela fastighetsmarknadens åsikter kunnat undersökas. Istället har tre företag valts ut med förhoppning om att ge intressant material. Genom ett mindre urval av respondenter så kan inga generaliseringar för branschen i stort göras.</p><p>Metod: Studien är kvalitativ och abduktiv. Empiriinsamlingen har skett genom intervjuer med respektive företag samt granskning av företagens årsredovisningar för 2006. Intervjuer har skett genom kontakt via telefon och mail med en representant från varje företag som anses ha stor kunskap inom studiens område.</p><p>Teori: Det teoretiska ramverket består av syfte med finansiella rapporter, redovisningsprinciper, marknadsvärde, intressentteorin, legitimitetsteorin, institutionella teorin och agentteorin. Avslutningsvis presenteras konflikten mellan ledning och ägare.</p><p>Empiri: Två empiriska undersökningar har gjorts. Den första bestod av att granska årsredovisningar och posten orealiserade värdeförändringar i förhållande till företagens rörelseresultat för 2006. Den andra undersökningen bestod utav intervjuer med respektive företag för att få deras uppfattning om värdering till verkligt värde.</p><p>Resultat: Ingen relation mellan företagens uppfattningar och dess andel orealiserade värdeförändringar har kunnat utvisas. Dock har Atrium Ljungberg och Balder, vars resultat till större del består av orealiserade värdeförändringar, uttryckt en större osäkerhet och oro mot att inkludera värdeförändringar i resultaträkningen.</p> / <p>Background and problem: There is a consistent discussion about the implementation of fair value accounting on real estates. The discussion is developed through the fact that the profit of companies is being affected by unrealised value changes on the investment properties since these are included in the operating profit. Since Swedish companies, listed on the stock exchange, today can choose to use fair value accounting model, it is interesting to examine their opinion of the fair value model.</p><p>Purpose: The study’s purpose is to examine differences in companies’ perceptions regarding fair value accounting on investment properties and to examine if there is a connection between these opinions and how big a part of the real estate group’s operating profit that consists of unrealised value changes.</p><p>Demarcation: Because of limited resources, the whole investment property market’s opinions have not been investigated. Instead, three companies have been chosen with expectation of providing interesting material. Through a smaller selection of respondents, no generalisations for the branch as a whole can be made.</p><p>Method: The study is qualitative and abductive. The collection of empirics has been made by an examination of the companies’ financial reports and through interviews. Interviews have been made by telephone and through email with person with grand knowledge within the area investigated.</p><p>Theory: The theory chapter presents following: purpose of financial reports, accounting principles, market value, the agent theory, stakeholder theory, legitimacy theory, institutional theory. Finally presents the conflict between the agent and principal.</p><p>Empiric: Two empirical studies have been made. The first study consisted of an examination of the companies’ financial reports. The second study consisted of interviews with each company to find out their opinion regarding valuing investments properties to fair value.</p><p>Result: No relation between the companies’ perceptions and their amount of unrealised value changes has been revealed. However, Atrium Ljungberg and Balder, which presented results to a larger part consisted of unrealised value changes, have expressed a greater insecurity towards including the value changes in the consolidated statement of income.</p>

Engineering education reform has been a topic of discussion for the last twenty years. The concern has only intensified in recent years as stakeholders strive to improve quality in engineering education. Today, stakeholders are recognizing that one of the keys to successful engineering education reform is in taking a systems view of higher education. Academic departments within the higher education system are organized around academic disciplines for the purpose of creating, transferring, and applying knowledge in three principal areas: teaching, research and service. This study addresses the need for quality improvement in the engineering higher education system by first completing a literature review in order to identify recurring themes on the issue. A proposed systems view is presented. The thesis builds a case for viewing students as the primary stakeholder based on stakeholder theory concepts. The application of a systems view is then used to identify the impacts of the recurring issues on the identified stakeholders of the system. Recommendations are made to address the system’s issues.

Syfte: Syftet i denna studie uppkom ur vårt intresse för nyckeltalsanvändning inom ett relativt nytt område som hållbarhet. Vi läste på om hållbarhetsnyckeltal och ur denna tidigare forskning inom ämnet så blev vårt syfte att skapa en ökad förståelse kring den praktiska användningen samt nyttan med hållbarhetsnyckeltal, med avseende på TBL-modellen. Metod: Studien bygger på en kvalitativ forsningsmetod inom vilken personliga intervjuer har utförts på fem fallföretag. Intervjuerna spelades in och sedan jämfördes samt analyserades resultatet av dessa med det teoretiska ramverket inom studien.           Resultat &amp; slutsats: Studien har visat på vilken praktisk användning samt nytta hållbarhetsnyckeltal har eller skulle kunna ha för företag eller organisationer. Studien har därutöver också visat på att företag och organisationer aktivt talar om hållbarhet samt att hållbarhetsfrågor är integrerade i den dagliga verksamheten.

Frivilligt företagsansvar för samhälls- och miljöfrågor, är en trend som vuxit sig stark de senaste tio åren. Samstämmigheten, om att dagens sätt att leva är långsiktigt ohållbart, växer och det har blivit näst intill en självklarhet att företag, ska ta större ansvar än enbart vinstmaximering. Vad hållbar utveckling praktiskt innebär är inte lika självklart som att utvecklingen idag är ohållbar. Förenklat kan perspektiven delas upp i dikotomin svag hållbarhet, stark hållbarhet. Skillnaden mellan synsätten är konsekvenserna av att erkänna problemen. Den starka hållbarheten drar mer långtgående slutsatser än den svaga, när det gäller vilka nödvändiga förändringar som måste till, för att grunden till all mänsklig verksamhet ska kunna säkras. Undersökningens ansats för att undersöka hur mening skapas till hållbar utveckling i företagskontexten är diskursanalys. En diskurs kan förklaras som en gemensam berättelse om verkligheten. Det är språket som möjliggör förståelse men det sätter också gränserna för hur omvärlden uppfattas. När det inte finns ord för ett fenomen ser människor det heller inte. Språkets meningsskapande är det som möjliggör handling men samtidigt innebär det att alternativa synsätt och handlingsmöjligheter utesluts från berättelsen. I de flesta fall samexisterar flera diskurser parallellt med varandra i det som kallas för det diskursiva fältet, där de kämpar om att nå hegemoni. Uppnår en diskurs en sådan ledande ställning omfattar den allt och alla och innehar problemformuleringsföreträdet i ämnet. Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka hur och på vilket sätt, den avgränsade del av diskursen, som formas i företagskontexten, begränsar förståelsen av hållbar utveckling. Hur går det då till när mening skapas till begreppet hållbar utveckling i företagskontexten? Vad utestängs och omfattas av diskursen och vilka konsekvenser får det? Diskursen om hållbar utveckling centreras kring värdeskapande. Ekonomisk, ekologiskt och socialt värde ska skapas av aktiviteten för att den ska anses hållbar. Företagen vill betrakta hållbar utveckling som en vinna-vinna situation men erkänner att kompromisser ibland är nödvändiga. Synen på hållbar utveckling liknar mest den svaga hållbarheten. Fokus för insatser ligger på effektivisering och optimering av nuvarande verksamhet. När kompromisser blir nödvändiga finns en tydlig hackordning där värdeskapande för ekonomi är viktigast och det balanseras då mot social- eller ekologisk skada. Ekonomiskt värdeskapande är en stark värdering, som effektivt utesluter många för samhället och miljön hållbara aktiviteter. Ett problem är att företagens hållbarhetsarbete i stor utsträckning liknar varandras, därför blir aldrig arbete med hållbarhetsfrågor en uthållig konkurrensfördel. Förslaget för att stärka både hållbarheten och konkurrenskraften är att utgå från cykelhjulsmodellen, som är en reviderad version av intressentmodellen och skapa en strategi som passar företaget, genom att aktivt kompromissa mellan intressen och aktiviteter. Frågan är bara om kunderna efterfrågar stark hållbarhet och i vilken utsträckning företagsledningen sitter fast i det nät av mening de själva spunnit. / Voluntarily responsibility for sustainable issues is a growing concern on corporate business agenda. Thirty years ago the business of business was business and sustainability a question for governments and society. The new trend is mainly driven by a public notion that corporations ought to be held accountable for their operations. To meet the public sense and expectations, corporations use CSR-strategy, Corporate Social Responsibility, and produce annual reports on performance, regarding social, environmental and economical issues of importance. But what is actually said in these reports, and how do they influence the discourse on sustainable development that gives the concept meaning into the business context? What is and what isn’t sustainable is judged by how convincing the argument is that the activity is linked to value creation for people, planet and profit. Profit effectively excludes actions that threatens to question the web of meaning that enable certain actions on expense of others, that might be beneficiary for society and environment. If stakeholders really would accept trade-offs which gives no man-made capital in return is however an empirical question. Moreover it is unclear to what extent the self-spun web of significance, suspends senior management from stepping outside the box.

The purpose of this study is to examine the accounting standard-setting process in relation to emissions rights and related liabilities in the Korean context in order to provide a better understanding of accounting issues under an emissions trading scheme (ETS). Using an interpretive inductive approach, this study comprises semi-structured, face-to-face interviews and analysis of relevant documents. Interviews were carried out with a wide range of key players, including accounting standard setters (Korean Accounting Standards Board, International Accounting Standards Board, and Autorité des Normes Comptables), accounting experts, industry and government. This study identifies how problematic accounting issues on emissions rights and related liabilities have been addressed by accounting standard setters. The key accounting issues under ETS are linked mainly with free allowances. It is found that accounting standard setters attempt to establish the most appropriate accounting standard under the given circumstances reflecting a variety of considerations, and that the most common elements affecting the development of accounting standards for ETS are the legal and economic context, the existing accounting framework, and preceding models and practices. Nevertheless, these factors affect the development of accounting standards for ETS in different ways. Accordingly, the primary accounting issues on which each standard setter concentrates vary depending on different circumstances and considerations. This study investigates the accounting standard-setting process for emissions rights by Korean accounting standard setters, from the agenda-setting stage to the final publication of the standard. The findings reinforce the importance of political factors in the standard-setting process, including stakeholders’ participation in the process, prominent stakeholders, and the motivation, methods and timing of lobbying activities. In particular, the findings have important implications for the effectiveness of lobbying. Overall, the findings confirm that accounting standards are likely to be the political outcome of interactions between the accounting standard setter and stakeholders. The findings highlight desirable factors for accounting models of emissions rights. Desirability or appropriateness of standard is judged by the extent to which stakeholders in institutional environments consider the promulgation to be legitimate or authoritative. Therefore, accounting standard setters must make greater efforts to encourage stakeholders to participate in the standard-setting process in order to ensure institutional legitimacy. The originality of this study lies in its empirical research on accounting issues for ETS from a practical point of view. In particular, in its timely and detailed investigation of Korean accounting standard setters, this study provides a broader understanding of the accounting standard-setting process in the Korean context. The study also advances legitimacy theory by offering a framework particularly applicable to accounting standard setting process, which also incorporates stakeholder theory research. The study finds support from the framework and further contributes to the related literature by reviewing legitimacy conflicts. From an accounting policy point of view, the findings have implications for both national and international standard setters and provide guidance on how to achieve high-quality accounting standards with a high degree of compliance.

At a time when biodiversity is declining, there needs to be a shift in how development projects take responsibility for lost natural values. Such a change is provided by biodiversity offsetting which give project owners an opportunity to compensate for declines in natural quality. However, offsetting for biodiversity costs money and therefore a clear business case is needed. Like all types of Corporate Sustainable Responsibility (CSR) work the expected competitive advantages are dependent on the stakeholders’ knowledge of the CSR measures. The aim of this study was therefore to explain how ecological compensation is communicated to stakeholders and why communication is carried out from the perspective of the project owner in a Swedish context. Through interviews and building on theories of CSR, stakeholders, and communication, the results from the five cases herein shows that communication is regarded as very important to most biodiversity offsetting projects. How, when and to whom the communication was directed seemed to depend on the goal which was most important to the project owner. Four goals highlighted in the results were: To gain a social licence to operate; gain new knowledge and to further the indirect increase in natural values inherent in all biodiversity offsetting projects. Also, claiming legal permits for development was a goal for most of the responding organizations. The goals influenced which stakeholders became the most important to communicate with, and different communication strategies were used for the different stakeholders. Some stakeholders could clearly be grouped into general categories, e.g. legal authorities and non-governmental organizations, but this study concluded that the heterogenous character of many of the stakeholders mentioned by the participating organizations made it difficult to categorize these into specific groups.

Background: This paper focuses on nature and role of relationships in small hospitality firm in the Southern Italian context. Based on previous literature relationships in small firms are highly related to trust, common understanding and mutual benefits.     Purpose: Aim of the paper is to explore how the role and nature of external stakeholders’ relationships creates perceived value with small family business by the theoretical framework developed by the authors. Methodology: To answer the research question an empirical research was conducted and data was collected through semi-structured interviews using guidelines inspired by previous studiesThrough a content analysis of data collected and reports from the local government. Participants in the sample consisted of native Italians, living in the Metropolitan city of Naples. Participants were grouped in five categories along with the family firm itself, external stakeholder groups as business partners, competitors, residents and local government representative members. Total of 14 interviews were conducted. The Data was coded using the software Nvivo. Results: The study suggest that relationships in the specific context of Hospitality in Southern Italy is based on personal level and have trust, respect and understanding as the fundamentals. The result also revealed that small family run B&amp;B prefers family over non-family members. Tension and conflicts are then solved through understanding and trust. Conclusion: In brief this research contributes to the family businesses and stakeholder literature in the specific context of Italian hospitality industry. The theoretical framework has been updated by the emerging findings from the qualitative analysis.

abstract: Universities and community organizations (e.g., nonprofit organizations, schools, government, and local residents) often form partnerships to address critical social issues, such as improving service delivery, enhancing education and educational access, reducing poverty, improving sustainability, sharing of resources, research, and program evaluation. The efficacy and success of such collaborations depends on the quality of the partnerships. This dissertation examined university-community partnership (UCP) relationships employing stakeholder theory to assess partnership attributes and identification. Four case studies that consisted of diverse UCPs, oriented toward research partnerships that were located at Arizona State University, were investigated for this study. Individual interviews were conducted with university agents and community partners to examine partnership history, partnership relationships, and partnership attributes. The results revealed several aspects of stakeholder relationships that drive partnership success. First, university and community partners are partnering for the greater social good, above all other reasons. Second, although each entity is partnering for the same reasons, partnership quality is different. University partners found their community counterparts more important than their community partners found them to be. Third, several themes such as credibility, institutional support, partner goodwill, quality interpersonal relationships have emerged and add descriptive elements to the stakeholder attributes. This study identifies aspects of UCPs that will be contextualized with literature on the subject and offer significant contributions to research on UCPs and their relational dynamics. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Community Resources and Development 2015

SMEs make up a large part of the global economy. Only in Sweden, for example, SMEs account for 61,3% of value added and employment (European Commision, 2016, p. 2). With such impressive presence, these firms exert a large impact on society and the environment. In an increasingly demanding and competitive landscape, organizations do not only have an economic responsibility to shareholders’ wealth, but also bear responsibilities towards society and the environment. With this shift, corporate social responsibility has become of significant importance and reshaped the way firms act and should act. Parallel to that, the evolving CSR paradigm has highlighted the need of stakeholder engagement in strategic decisions, as the growing importance of stakeholders is said to be the single most important element in the age of sustainability. Stakeholders affect and are affected by organizations and corporate decisions should thus take into consideration their needs and expectations. Opposing the “business of business is doing business” line of thought that dominated the business logic in the past decades, firms are now recognizing the significant importance of establishing and maintaining good relationships with stakeholders. With that, stakeholder engagement is argued to be one of the key aspects for an improved decision-making since it allows firms to integrate knowledge, generate mutual collaboration and mitigate risks, which in turn can lead to CSR strategies that are more aligned with stakeholders’ expectations and wishes and support responsible growth. Although CSR and stakeholder theory are two vastly studied academic fields, few studies have explored the reality of CSR among SMEs and stakeholder engagement on an individual group of stakeholders such as employees. While vital for any company’s survival, employees exert an even more unique role in SMEs. Given the identified research gaps, the purpose of this study is to shed light on both CSR and stakeholder engagement focused on employees among SMEs. In order to gain a better understanding of the realities of both topics, we formulated the research question: How do Swedish SMEs engage employees in the CSR strategy-making from a management perspective? With an inductive approach, a qualitative exploratory research study was chosen. From a mix of purposive and snowball sampling, eight semi-structured interviews were conducted among SMEs’ managers and CEO’s from firms in Umeå, Sweden. Our findings indicate that SMEs often have the willingness to engage employees in CSR decisions, but sometimes lack the knowledge and/or resources to promote this engagement. The most widely adopted means to foster employee engagement with CSR strategy-making is through informal discussions and talks during coffee breaks. Some companies also use more developed methods, such as town hall meetings, instant feedback mechanisms, anonymous notes and weekly employee surveys for this purpose. Our study contributes to the growing literature on CSR among smaller firms and broadens the understanding of stakeholder engagement focused on one particular stakeholder group. This research also presents managerial implications into how SMEs’ can promote a more inclusive governance around strategy. We also expect to have contributed by promoting a further debate and reflection around CSR.