<p>As one of Europe’s largest-producing actors in the energy sector with a wide energy mix, Vattenfall has a great responsibility to contribute to sustainable development of society. To do so, economical, environmental and social aspects need to be balanced in a responsible way. This is done through acting social responsible or in other terms, addressing corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the company’s business activities. Electricity and heat constitute one of the prerequisites for a modern society. However, it has always been a highly debated industry due to its inevitable impact on the environment and society. This makes it crucial for Vattenfall and its operations to act as responsible as possible and listen to the stakeholders and take their expectations into account in the business decisions process. Vattenfall has a long history of being criticised for its activities by NGOs and media. However, Vattenfall´s main task is to deliver electricity and heat to the society, which means that Vattenfall must continue to deliver secure energy supply to its markets, but with as little negative impact on the environment and society as possible.</p><p> </p><p>Vattenfall is through its operations, its value chain, its use of technology and the markets on which it operates, exposed to risks associated with the areas human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. These “CSR risks” can harm the reputation, brand and image if they are not managed in a proactive and effective way. In order to manage CSR risks and emerging CSR issues, the company needs to catch and respond quickly to new trends and expectations raised by opinion formers, which often are expressed through the media and the Internet. The aim of this study is to provide Vattenfall with a tool to do so. Through identifying the main CSR risks related to its operations, awareness about Vattenfall’s vulnerability areas are created. The result shows that the largest CSR risks for Vattenfall are technology related, i.e., connected to the fuels used in Vattenfall’s power plants and their value chain. This knowledge can be used when addressing CSR in the organization.</p><p>Still, a direct solution to manage CSR risks and emerging CSR issue is needed. The second purpose of this study is to propose a process for a CSR issues management at Vattenfall. The aim of such an issues management is to provide the company with a tool to identify, analyse and manage emerging issues. A CSR issues management will provide Vattenfall with a tool to respond to emerging issues before they become public knowledge. It should scan and collect external and internal information, identify relevant information for Vattenfall, monitor ongoing and emerging CSR issues/concerns/debates and report to relevant functions in the Vattenfall organization.</p>

As one of Europe’s largest-producing actors in the energy sector with a wide energy mix, Vattenfall has a great responsibility to contribute to sustainable development of society. To do so, economical, environmental and social aspects need to be balanced in a responsible way. This is done through acting social responsible or in other terms, addressing corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the company’s business activities. Electricity and heat constitute one of the prerequisites for a modern society. However, it has always been a highly debated industry due to its inevitable impact on the environment and society. This makes it crucial for Vattenfall and its operations to act as responsible as possible and listen to the stakeholders and take their expectations into account in the business decisions process. Vattenfall has a long history of being criticised for its activities by NGOs and media. However, Vattenfall´s main task is to deliver electricity and heat to the society, which means that Vattenfall must continue to deliver secure energy supply to its markets, but with as little negative impact on the environment and society as possible.   Vattenfall is through its operations, its value chain, its use of technology and the markets on which it operates, exposed to risks associated with the areas human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. These “CSR risks” can harm the reputation, brand and image if they are not managed in a proactive and effective way. In order to manage CSR risks and emerging CSR issues, the company needs to catch and respond quickly to new trends and expectations raised by opinion formers, which often are expressed through the media and the Internet. The aim of this study is to provide Vattenfall with a tool to do so. Through identifying the main CSR risks related to its operations, awareness about Vattenfall’s vulnerability areas are created. The result shows that the largest CSR risks for Vattenfall are technology related, i.e., connected to the fuels used in Vattenfall’s power plants and their value chain. This knowledge can be used when addressing CSR in the organization. Still, a direct solution to manage CSR risks and emerging CSR issue is needed. The second purpose of this study is to propose a process for a CSR issues management at Vattenfall. The aim of such an issues management is to provide the company with a tool to identify, analyse and manage emerging issues. A CSR issues management will provide Vattenfall with a tool to respond to emerging issues before they become public knowledge. It should scan and collect external and internal information, identify relevant information for Vattenfall, monitor ongoing and emerging CSR issues/concerns/debates and report to relevant functions in the Vattenfall organization.

The study identifies how different stakeholders perceive service quality improvement initiatives in public higher education institutions in Ethiopia. For this purpose, a mixed research methodology was employed. Furthermore, secondary data were collected from a variety of literature and primary data were collected from academic staff and final year students at public higher education institutions using the SERVQUAL scale and through focus group interviews. The collected data were analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The research findings indicated that all dimensions of the service quality improvement initiatives were perceived by academic staff and studentsto be verypoor. The reasons for these poor or low perceptions were: the high expectationsof the stakeholders, the government’s intention to expand, lack of adequate knowledge regarding the implementation of the BPR process, the lack of motivation by service providers, poor management and the lack of good governance by the universities, inexperienced workers, non-empowered and task specific frontline employees, the low quality of the infrastructure, non-value adding hierarchical structures and approval systems, ethical problems with some service providers, the high staff turnoverand the lack of experienced staff. In addition, at all new universities, construction is underway and as a result,there are problems such as the poor state of the dormitories, classes,bathrooms, recreation areas, lounges, TV rooms, sport fields and internet connectivity, while the libraries are not well stocked with books and periodicals either. This study has recommended that the institutions should have standardised instruments that can be used to measure the status of service quality improvement and deliveryperiodically and to identify the areas that have the highest perceived performance gap scores in order to redeploy some of the resources. It also needs to be pointed out that the service providers lack sufficient knowledge and skillsconcerning the implementation of BPR, thus training is recommended in this regard.It is further recommended that for effective implementation of the BPR process, the importance of the provision of different guiding documents, continuous monitoring of activities and top management support should be kept in mind. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Educational Management)

The study identifies how different stakeholders perceive service quality improvement initiatives in public higher education institutions in Ethiopia. For this purpose, a mixed research methodology was employed. Furthermore, secondary data were collected from a variety of literature and primary data were collected from academic staff and final year students at public higher education institutions using the SERVQUAL scale and through focus group interviews. The collected data were analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The research findings indicated that all dimensions of the service quality improvement initiatives were perceived by academic staff and studentsto be verypoor. The reasons for these poor or low perceptions were: the high expectationsof the stakeholders, the government’s intention to expand, lack of adequate knowledge regarding the implementation of the BPR process, the lack of motivation by service providers, poor management and the lack of good governance by the universities, inexperienced workers, non-empowered and task specific frontline employees, the low quality of the infrastructure, non-value adding hierarchical structures and approval systems, ethical problems with some service providers, the high staff turnoverand the lack of experienced staff. In addition, at all new universities, construction is underway and as a result,there are problems such as the poor state of the dormitories, classes,bathrooms, recreation areas, lounges, TV rooms, sport fields and internet connectivity, while the libraries are not well stocked with books and periodicals either. This study has recommended that the institutions should have standardised instruments that can be used to measure the status of service quality improvement and deliveryperiodically and to identify the areas that have the highest perceived performance gap scores in order to redeploy some of the resources. It also needs to be pointed out that the service providers lack sufficient knowledge and skillsconcerning the implementation of BPR, thus training is recommended in this regard.It is further recommended that for effective implementation of the BPR process, the importance of the provision of different guiding documents, continuous monitoring of activities and top management support should be kept in mind. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Educational Management)

The importance of sustainable development within the construction industry and its environmental and social impacts as well as economic significance has become more apparent over recent years. A key factor perceived as contributing to an organization’s business success is the integration of environmental, social, and economic issues into decision-making processes. The pressure from stakeholders regarding their expectations on sustainability has risen, and the importance of understanding the stakeholders’ opinions and perspectives in a construction project while simultaneously maintaining sustainable project management increases. The aim of this thesis is to analyze how stakeholder sustainability expectations can be promoted and achieved during a construction project life cycle and related building process stages by supporting the project manager using a specifically designed visual tool. This will be investigated by answering three research questions proposed in the Introduction chapter (page 5). The visual tool is created with the focus on defining and establishing sustainability parameters based on stakeholder expectations. The tool should be applicable to a broad variety of construction projects with different focus on stakeholder expectations. Furthermore, a theoretical framework has been developed as part of the analysis based on existing theories; the Business Model Canvas (Osterwalder &amp; Pigneur, 2010), Global Performance Framework (International Civil Aviation Organization, 2009) and Stakeholder Theory. The proposed framework and its visual tool component are a means to support a project manager with stakeholder communication, collaboration and informed decision-making. The visual tool is adapted to include a common language and structure to enhance the communication and collaboration amongst key stakeholders and support a project manager with ensuring that the construction project is focused on achieving sustainability results expected by the stakeholders. / Betydelsen av hållbar utveckling inom byggbranschen och dess miljö- och sociala påverkan samt den ekonomiska betydelsen har blivit tydligare de senaste åren. En nyckelfaktor som uppfattas som bidragande till en organisations finansiella framgångar är integreringen av miljömässiga, sociala och ekonomiska frågor i beslutfattningsprocessen. Trycket från intressenter gällande deras förväntningar på hållbarhet har ökat, och betydelsen av att uppfatta intressenternas åsikter och perspektiv inom ett byggnadsprojekt – och samtidigt upprätthålla hållbar projektledning – har ökat. Syftet med denna studie är att analysera hur intressenters hållbarhets förväntningar kan främjas och uppnås under ett byggnadsprojekts livscykel och relaterat till byggnadsprocess steg genom att stödja projektledaren med användning av ett specifikt designat visuellt verktyg. Detta kommer att undersökas genom att svara på tre forskningsfrågor föreslagna i introduktionskapitlet (sida 5). Det visuella verktyget är skapat med fokuset på att definiera och etablera hållbarhets parametrar baserat på intressenters förväntningar. Verktyget ska kunna tillämpas på en mängd olika byggnadsprojekt med olika fokus på intressenters förväntningar. Ett teoretiskt ramverk har utvecklats som del av analysen baserat på redan existerande teorier; Business Model Canvas (Osterwalder &amp; Pigneur, 2010), Global Performance Framework (International Civil Aviation Organization, 2009) och Intressentmodellen. Det föreslagna ramverket och dess visuella verktyg som utgör en av dess komponenter, är ett sätt att stödja en projektledare med intressentkommunikation, samverkan och informerat beslutsfattande. Det visuella verktyget har anpassats till att inkludera ett gemensamt språk och struktur för att förbättra kommunikation och samarbetet bland nyckelintressenter och stödja en projektledare med att säkerställa att ett byggprojekt har som fokus att uppnå förväntade hållbarhetsresultat.