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<p>There is a shift of values in the Western society of today from material to immaterial values Löhman and Steinholtz (2003). This changes together with the interest among people in Sweden and in the rest of the Western world to travel and experience new cultures the developing world has come closer. This has raised the awareness of the role of companies re-garding social responsibility since most companies have suppliers, producers or some other kind of involvement in developing countries. Today several companies are engaged in corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues. However, the topic of CSR has to a large extent divided a large part of the Swedish business world due to the strong opinions regarding this topic.</p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how the concept of CSR is perceived by Swedish corporations and what implications it yields. This will be done by comparing the views of three different groups: managers in Swedish small and medium sized enterprises (SME’s) and managers of Swedish large sized enterprises (LSE’s), responsible for CSR implementation, supplemented with the view of independent thinkers.</p><p>To perform the study a qualitative method has been used. Eleven interviews have been conducted with company representatives as well as independent thinkers that are involved in or have a great knowledge in the field of CSR. The respondents have been divided into three groups: ethically driven SME’s, LSE’s working with CSR and independent thinkers.</p><p>The concept of corporate social responsibility is perceived very differently in between the three groups. The views are split regarding their fundamental understanding of CSR, which is reflected in their relation to stakeholders as well as their thoughts about the future development of CSR. The motives, ideological and commercial, for working with CSR also dif-fers and some external thinkers believe that there are no motives for engage in CSR at all. The ethically driven SME’s have built their core business on social responsibility and is therefore the backbone of the companies. The LSE’s core business is not built on social responsibility, but rather on demands from the customers, who they regard as a critical stakeholder group. Some of the independent thinkers instead adhere to the shareholder approach and reject the concept of CSR. Nevertheless, all of the respondents agree on why CSR has developed, which is due to globalisation.</p>

With America’s recent needs for creating jobs, mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, and becoming "energy independent" from foreign nations, the large-scale deployment of solar energy projects has been proclaimed a solution for rapidly generating "clean" energy. Federal agencies have been mandated by law to expedite the siting of utility-scale solar energy projects (USSEPs) on public lands. In particular, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has focused on USSEP development by creating a national solar energy program as well as state-specific programs for encouraging USSEP development, and has thus far approved two USSEPs in Arizona. Although operational USSEPs do not emit greenhouse gases, they are not completely benign to the environment. USSEPs incur negative impacts on soils, vegetation, air quality, and other natural and cultural resources. Because USSEPs have the potential to mitigate climate change, yet incur other negative environmental impacts, the reaction of citizen stakeholders such as environmental advocates to public lands USSEP development has been mixed. Environmental advocate groups have both encouraged BLM to build USSEPs, and filed lawsuits discouraging project development. In light of the ability of environmental advocates to influence USSEP development, this study explored the complex opinions of members of environmental organizations, conservation groups, watershed initiatives, and solar industry professionals regarding USSEP development on Arizona public lands. Through a review of relevant literature, a content analysis of BLM environmental review documents, and the distribution and statistical analysis of an opinion survey, the study provides insight into the implications of the current BLM Arizona siting process and specific, up-to-date stakeholder perspectives. The results indicate that while BLM Arizona siting policies do attempt to address environmental concerns, significant concerns about the current USSEP siting process remain, and that environmental advocates' support for public lands USSEPs is lower than their support for renewable energy development in general. Stakeholders reported having low levels of three items: knowledge of current solar technologies, understanding of the current federal USSEP siting process, and confidence that the government will appropriately site solar energy projects. Addressing those items may alleviate tensions between stakeholders and public lands decision-makers, resulting in faster and more environmentally responsible USSEP siting.

It is recognized that the World Heritage Site (WHS) status is a strong brand with exceptional quality and excellent reputation that attracts tourists to visit. This study applies and adapts the brand knowledge model to examine local stakeholders’ understanding of the WHS status as a brand. A case study approach was applied and a WHS in China was selected as the case. In total, 13 interviewees from local government, private business owners and residents participated in the study. The study showed that the three local stakeholders were familiar with the WHS status and shared the importance of the WHS status as intended by the WHS program to tourists. However, local stakeholders over emphasized the economic importance of the WHS status, and conservation became a tool to fulfill economic benefits. The results challenged the standpoint of the WHS program and showed that the WHS status was not a strong brand.

The purpose of this research was to explore how a medium-sized, not-for-profit social services organization could strategically engage culturally diverse women in Canada between the ages of 30-50 in activities that would help to achieve the organization's strategic objectives. Research was related to determining the current state of engaging this population and the actions SOS could take to enhance engagement. Action research involved staff, volunteers, donors and representatives of other organizations. Research findings revealed a connection between engaging stakeholders and growing the organization, in particular engagement through dialogue on issues associated with orphaned and abandoned children using methods that address the diverse preferences of this population. Recommendations included targeting corporate marketing and communication efforts to create meaningful interactions, creating messages centred on issues, and developing organizational capacity to strategically plan and manage this kind of stakeholder engagement. This study was of minimal risk and adhered to RRU Ethical Guidelines.

It is recognized that the World Heritage Site (WHS) status is a strong brand with exceptional quality and excellent reputation that attracts tourists to visit. This study applies and adapts the brand knowledge model to examine local stakeholders’ understanding of the WHS status as a brand. A case study approach was applied and a WHS in China was selected as the case. In total, 13 interviewees from local government, private business owners and residents participated in the study. The study showed that the three local stakeholders were familiar with the WHS status and shared the importance of the WHS status as intended by the WHS program to tourists. However, local stakeholders over emphasized the economic importance of the WHS status, and conservation became a tool to fulfill economic benefits. The results challenged the standpoint of the WHS program and showed that the WHS status was not a strong brand.

The aim of this research is to propose a sociotechnical framework to identify stakeholders involved in information systems and the benefit and barriers to the adoption of such systems. The proposed framework (BEBAF) would help to acknowledge the potential problematic areas for the implementation and adoption of information systems for each actor or social group and to be able to offer solutions based on the potential benefits for each of them. Precursors of BEBAF are social construction of technology (SCOT) and stakeholder identification process. Two case studies in the healthcare contexts, one in the UK and one in Spain, have been conducted in this dissertation using a qualitative approach to provide a rich picture of the influences on e-Health, and the users and organisational response to those influences. Both case studies aimed to support chronically ill patients at home or in nursing homes. BEBAF was then applied to both case studies. Among the most important implications are that those systems hold the promise for improving the quality of life of patients with chronic conditions, providing a better control over the disease. However, their impact on the organisational structures, the lack of funding and the difficulties of alignment of all the actors involved are relevant constraints to their adoption into the mainstream healthcare services. The main contributions of this thesis are: first, the definition and evaluation of a socio-technical framework to investigate IS adoption. Apart from the two closure mechanisms proposed by SCOT, BEBAF proposes a new closure mechanism by reinterpretation of benefits. In turn, the application of the framework has led to identify an extensive list of barriers and benefits for the adoption of e-Health systems with some suggested solutions. Another outcome is a comprehensive list of stakeholders involved in the adoption of such systems.

The purpose of this study was to examine how selected senior college leaders perceive the salience of particular external stakeholders, as represented by individuals, companies, associations, sectors or groups. The study also explored leader perceptions of the factors and values that influenced the salience of these stakeholders. The stakeholder salience model (Mitchell, Agle, & Wood, 1997) was applied to investigate which groups and individuals were viewed by college and institute senior leaders as external stakeholders and to determine the salience of these stakeholders as perceived by senior college leaders. This qualitative case study drew on principles of naturalistic inquiry and was situated within an interpretive paradigm. Purposive sampling resulted in ten participants chosen based on their leadership positions within Canadian colleges. Data collection was through semi-structured interviews. A conceptual framework based upon Freeman’s (1984) stakeholder theory and the theory of stakeholder salience (Mitchell et al., 1997) guided the study. The stakeholder salience model (Mitchell et al.), which proposes that the attributes of power, legitimacy and urgency determine stakeholder salience, was applied to the data provided by senior college leaders. The study also examined the values and beliefs of the senior college leaders as they relate to the mission, mandate and priorities of their college. It was found that the Mitchell et al. framework did not fit well to the Canadian public college sector as the leaders did not view salience in a way that is consistent with the elements of the framework. Attempting to limit the study to external stakeholders was problematic as respondents were unable to separate students from their thoughts, answers and examples. Also, the leaders did not describe the elements of stakeholder salience in a way that was congruent with the Mitchell et al. (1997) theory. Most of the participants identified government as the only stakeholder that was truly powerful and yet they believed that many other groups, including students, should have some power. Paradoxically, many of the respondents seemed to feel that government lacked legitimacy due to the political nature of decisions. The findings highlighted the importance of the values held by the senior college leaders as a major factor in stakeholder salience and as an influence in determining institutional priorities. Though this study is based on a limited number of participants, it does raise questions regarding the actions of provincial governments which are generally viewed as problematic for the Canadian college sector. Also, students and industry are central to the college but their power largely depends on voice. The contribution of this research to leadership and educational administration is a greater understanding of the nature and role of stakeholder relationships at the senior college leadership level, as well as greater insight into how senior college leaders think about external stakeholders or, in other words, who and what really counts. Findings of this study may be valuable to senior college leaders who deal and interact with influential external stakeholders. The study also contributed to the higher education field by documenting how senior college leaders perceive the salience of external stakeholders.

Serious academic enquiry for the tourism sector may appear inconsequential, but the business of tourism is complex and fragmented. Tourism is a multi-disciplinary phenomenon facilitating research from a number of different angles and providing many services requiring partnership between public and private collaboration towards delivering an effective tourism sector. Waterloo Regional Council declared its aspiration for Waterloo Region to be a destination of choice. However, there has been no research conducted to understand the viability of this aspiration. Thus, this research understands from a stakeholder perspective how tourism development is being undertaken in the Region. This will provide a preliminary understanding on tourism development in the context of economic, social and environmental dimensions of development. The joint use of two theoretical frameworks helped to identify and manage divergent perspectives of sixteen stakeholders who provided the primary data for this research. The data revealed three major themes through a changing lens that first considers the role of tourism as an effective vehicle of development. This meets with change due to limitations and uncertainties due to constraints that lead to conflicts between stakeholders responsible for its development. Findings reveal that stakeholders confront numerous fundamental challenges, which provide constraints and bottlenecks for tourism development in the Region. This research understands the need for leadership, strategy and effective collaboration between all stakeholders as vital for tourism development.

This paper will from a managerial perspective investigate the function of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) as a strategic tool for companies operating in Indonesia.Another aspect this paper will discuss is different views on CSR and what positive aswell as negative aspects CSR brings. The country was first in the world to state a lawregarding CSR performance in 2007, which makes CSR mandatory for all companiesusing natural resources in some way. This issue complicates CSR matters in Indonesiasince the law is vague regarding what is considered as a natural resource. Furthermore,this paper will display how companies using CSR relate themselves totheir stakeholders and in what way they operate in order to fulfil and satisfy differentstakeholders’ needs and demands. It will also discuss which stakeholder is consideredto be the most important and influential regarding a company’s CSR activities.Findings in this thesis show that CSR among companies is used as a strategy in orderto gain legitimacy from the society to be able to do business and operate in theseareas. Further, using CSR will create competitive advantages towards non-users anda company will increase its reputation as well as image.