This thesis investigates the impact of digitalisation on sustainability performance within manufacturing firms in Northern Europe from 2010 to 2023 at the age of Industry 4.0. It explores how digital technologies like IoT, cyber-physical systems, and big data have transformed production processes, enhancing sustainability across environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria. The research employs a quantitative approach, utilising regression analyses of data sourced from the Refinitiv database to assess the influence of digitalisation on ESG performance in manufacturing firms across Northern Europe.  The theoretical underpinnings of this study are grounded in an integration of shareholder and stakeholder theories, which offer a detailed examination of how digital transformations are reshaping corporate governance dynamics. It also encompasses a discussion on agency theory and legitimacy theory, highlighting how differences in corporate governance outlooks impact sustainability initiatives. Moreover, the research evaluates the potential benefits and challenges associated with digitalisation through the lens of the resource-based view and the dynamic capabilities framework. This analysis elucidates how digitalisation provides a competitive advantage, for example, by promoting efficiency and decreasing energy consumption while acknowledging the possibility of increased resource use, a phenomenon referred to as the Jevon Paradox.  Findings indicate that digitalisation facilitates improved sustainability outcomes to enhance financial performance by optimising resource utilisation, reducing waste, and improving operational efficiencies. However, variations exist depending on the type and intensity of digitalisation. The results highlight that while digital technologies drive significant improvements in environmental management and operational efficiency, the benefits are not uniformly experienced across all firms, suggesting a differentiated impact based on company size and digital maturity.  This research significantly contributes to the academic literature by providing empirical evidence of digitalisation’s role in enhancing sustainability within the manufacturing sector. Importantly, it offers practical insights for policymakers and business leaders, equipping them with the knowledge to leverage digital transformation to meet sustainability goals effectively. Future research must delve deeper into the long-term effects of digital technologies on sustainability, investigate the impacts across different industrial contexts, and examine the role of regulatory frameworks in shaping digital transformation strategies. This thesis underscores the urgent need for manufacturing firms to harness digital innovations responsibly to foster sustainable development in the digital age.

Submitted by Silvana Teresinha Dornelles Studzinski (sstudzinski) on 2016-08-23T12:46:38Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Camila Luconi Viana_.pdf: 2375028 bytes, checksum: d9e27184648a58a06768fde3b31d8e50 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-23T12:46:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Camila Luconi Viana_.pdf: 2375028 bytes, checksum: d9e27184648a58a06768fde3b31d8e50 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-05-31 / Nenhuma / Hoje em dia, embora muitas empresas gerenciem o tema sustentabilidade nas suas organizações, elas ainda enfrentam dificuldades em aplicar os seus conceitos considerando os aspectos materiais de cada negócio e usando-os como ferramenta para a perenidade e para a criação de valor compartilhado. O sistema cooperativo de crédito estudado neste trabalho também tem este desafio. Assim, o objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar o desempenho em sustentabilidade das cooperativas de um sistema cooperativo de crédito por meio de um framework que considere atributos específicos de cooperativas de crédito. O estudo de nível exploratório adotou uma abordagem qualitativa e quantitativa. Foram realizadas entrevistas com três especialistas de bancos sociais/baseados em valores para analisar o papel e a relação da sustentabilidade nestas instituições e em cooperativas de crédito. Já para propor um framework para análise do desempenho em sustentabilidade que considerasse especificidades do cooperativismo foi feita uma análise documental nas diretrizes de sustentabilidade GRI, SASB, GIIRS e GABV e entrevistas com cooperativas do Sistema. O framework foi convertido em instrumento, validado e aplicado através de uma survey às 95 cooperativas de crédito do Sistema. Como resultados identificou-se que, ao contrário do que a literatura defende, o cooperativismo é apenas uma forma jurídica se os seus valores não forem praticados. Há uma forte aderência das cooperativas de crédito aos princípios dos bancos sociais/baseados em valores, mas é necessário maior foco no uso dos recursos para estimular atividades de impacto socioambiental positivo. Na proposição do framework foram sugeridos - além dos constructos, modelo de negócios, governança, desempenho econômico, produtos e serviços, ambiental e social - subconstructos especificamente ligados ao cooperativismo como a gestão democrática, o desenvolvimento local, a capacitação de associados e a articulação regional/intercooperação. Por fim, o desempenho médio das 34 cooperativas foi de 2,64 e mediana de 2,69, o que mostra que as cooperativas, têm ações esporádicas em relação ao tema sustentabilidade, mas é necessária a adoção de indicadores e processos de gerenciamento formais. Os processos mais recentes ligados ao desenvolvimento sustentável foram os que apresentaram maior oportunidade de melhoria. Os constructos de maior desempenho foram os de governança e desempenho econômico e, em seguida, o constructo social, que são os pilares básicos de uma cooperativa. As implicações deste resultado para o Sistema é que é necessário traçar uma ambição em sustentabilidade e uma estratégia para melhorar os resultados que passa, principalmente, por definir indicadores, mensurá-los e estabelecer processos para melhorá-los. / Today, although many companies have their own sustainability programs, they still face difficulties in applying its concepts considering their material issues and using sustainability as a driver for perpetuity and shared value creation. The system of credit unions studied in this research, even having a great potential on the theme, also faces this challenge. The goal of this study was to analyze the credit unions’ sustainability performance of a system of credit unions in Brazil through a framework that considers specific attributes on coops. The exploratory study embrace a qualitative and quantitative approach. The social banking/values based banking were set as benchmarks for the improvement of sustainability performance on the credit unions, so the interviews were conducted with three experts to compare them with credit unions. A literature and sustainability guideline review was used to propose a framework for analyzing sustainability performance. Also, to consider credit unions specificities a set of interviews with credit union leaders of the System were used to establish internal benchmarks and to feed the framework proposal. The framework was converted into a questionnaire instrument and applied on a survey to the 95 credit unions of the System. As a result, it was found that, contrary to what the literature argues, credit union is just a legal form if their values are not practiced. There is a strong adherence of credit unions to the principles of social banks/values based banks, but requires focus on the use of financial resources to stimulate activities that promotes positive social and environmental impact. In the framework were suggested the following constructs: business model, governance and economic performance, products and services, environmental and social. Also, specifically linked subconstructs to the credit unions was suggested: democratic management, local development, members training and regional coordination/intercooperation. Finally, the average performance of the 34 cooperatives was 2.64 and a median of 2.69, which shows that credit unions have random actions in relation to sustainability and that it is necessary to adopt indicators and formal management processes. The latest processes related to sustainable development presented the greatest opportunity for improvement. The highest performance constructs were governance and economic and social construct, which are the basic pillars of a credit union. The implications of this results for the System is that it is necessary to set an ambition for sustainability strategy to improve the results, mainly by defining indicators, measuring and establishing processes to improve them.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:53:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 RESINA_Rodrigo_2013.pdf: 1378733 bytes, checksum: 22706495e4206944b062ab63a28ac3f4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-12-13 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / The quest for sustainable development is becoming more widespread among government, private organizations and members of civil society, motivated primarily by environmental imbalance and social problems. So the companies conceptualize measure and work toward sustainability and it has become the goal of many of these organizations. This research aimed to analyze how large retail supermarkets companies, that have operation in Brazil, measure their practices aimed at sustainable development. It was carried out during the research, a review of theory and the multiple case studies exploratory; it realized the data collection through public documents (Sustainability reports). First, it s analyzed 32 reports of 3 retail businesses for several years. It was analyzed as indicators of sustainability are reported by companies in the sector, it was also assessed developments in the application of sustainability reporting in retail and sustainability dimension is prioritized in the reporting of organizational management. It observed a non- regular reporting on sustainability in the periods analyzed, companies report a higher number of indicators related social issues and despite the use of the GRI indicators, the companies had different interpretations about the same indicators. Thus, it identified that companies need to improve their reports and using the external validation (audit) to ensure the transparency and quality of sustainable reporting, enabling the retail supermarket companies to act towards a sustainable management / A busca pelo desenvolvimento sustentável se torna cada vez mais difundida entre os agentes governamentais, organizações privadas e membros da sociedade civil. Esses grupos são motivados, principalmente, pelo desequilíbrio ambiental e pelos problemas sociais. Desse modo, conceituar, mensurar e atuar rumo à sustentabilidade tem se tornado o objetivo de muitas dessas organizações. Essa pesquisa visou analisar como as empresas de varejo supermercadistas de grande porte, que operam no Brasil, reportam e mensuram suas práticas voltadas ao desenvolvimento sustentável. Foi realizado, durante a pesquisa, a revisão da teoria e uma análise documental descritiva, com a coleta de dados através documentos públicos (relatórios de Sustentabilidade). A pesquisa avaliou 32 relatórios de 3 empresas publicados nos últimos anos. Foram analisados como os indicadores de sustentabilidade são reportados pelas empresas do setor, também foi avaliado a evolução na aplicação dos relatórios de sustentabilidade no varejo e a dimensão da sustentabilidade, que é priorizada no reporte da gestão organizacional. Observou-se, uma não regularidade no reporte da sustentabilidade nos períodos analisados, as empresas reportam um volume maior de indicadores relacionados às questões sociais e apesar do uso do modelo da Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) haviam interpretações diferentes dos indicadores por parte das empresas. Assim, identificou-se a necessidade das empresas aprimorarem seus relatórios e utilizarem a validação externa (auditoria) para garantirem a transparência e a qualidade das informações reportadas, possibilitando que as empresas do varejo supermercadista atuem rumo a uma gestão sustentável efetiva e eficiente.

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Titel: Institutionella investerares preferenser för ES-kriterier Nivå: Examensarbete på Grundnivå (kandidatexamen) i ämnet företagsekonomi Författare: Melisa Tatarevic och Alexandra Berg Nordström Handledare: Jan Svanberg Datum: 2022 - Januari Syfte: Intressenternas ökade behov av insyn i miljö-, sociala- och styrningsfrågor har givit stor vikttill hållbarhetsrapportering världen över. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka huruvidainstitutionellt ägande beror av ES-kriterier och ger nytt ljus åt forskningen med fokus på bådepositiva och negativa aspekter av ES-kriterier. Ökar/minskar det institutionella ägandet beroende pånärvaron av policyer hos företag? Existerar det ett samband mellan ESG-betyget och policyer? Metod: Med sekundärdata från databasen Refinitiv Eikon har denna kvantitativa studie medtvärsnittsdesign analyserat 2653 publika företag i IBM: s statistikprogram SPSS. Studien presenterarbeskrivande statistik, en korrelationsmatris, kontroll av felkällor samt multipla regressionsanalyser. Resultat & slutsats: Studien ger bevis för att det institutionella ägandet huvudsakligen ökar vidnärvaron av specifika policyer. Emellertid minskar institutionellt ägande vid närvaron av en specifikpolicy. Studien finner även stöd för ett existerande samband mellan ESG-betyget och policyer. Examensarbetets bidrag: Studien bidrar med ny information till forskningen inom ESG-betygetoch för institutionella investerare genom ett unikt tillvägagångssätt att studera institutionellainvesterares preferenser för olika ES-kriterier med fokus på både styrkor och svagheter. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Kvantitativ forskning kan svara på huruvida liknande resultat hadeuppnåtts vid val av andra indikatorer. Kvalitativ forskning kan från institutionella investeraresperspektiv, förklara hur de faktiskt beaktar ES-kriterier och dess indikatorer vid investeringsbeslut. Nyckelord: Hållbarhetsprestanda; ESG-betyg; Företagens sociala ansvar (CSR); Socialt ansvarsfullainvesteringar (SRI); Institutionella investerare; Miljö- och social prestanda / Title: Institutional investors preferences on ES-criteria Level: Student thesis, final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business Administration Author: Melisa Tatarevic and Alexandra Berg Nordström Supervisor: Jan Svanberg Date: 2022 - January Aim: Stakeholders' increased need for transparency in environmental, social and governance issueshas given great importance to sustainability reporting worldwide. This study aims to investigatewheather institutional ownership depends on ES criteria and sheds new light on research by focusingon both positive and negative aspects of ES criteria. Does institutional ownership increase/decreasedue to the presence of policies in companies? Is there a link between the ESG rating and policies? Method: With secondary data from the Refinitiv Eikon database, this quantitative study with crosssectional design analyzed 2653 public companies in the IBM: s statistics program SPSS. The studypresents descriptive statistics, a correlation matrix, control of error sources and regression analyzes. Result & Conclusions: The study provides evidence that institutional ownership mainly increases inthe presence of specific policies. However, institutional ownership decreases in the presence of aspecific policy. The study also finds support for an existing link between ESG ratings and policies. Contribution of the thesis: The study contributes new information to the research within the ESGrating and for institutional investors through a unique approach to studying institutional investors'preferences for different ES criteria with a focus on both strengths and weaknesses. Suggestions for future research: Quantitative research can answer whether similar results had beenachieved by choosing other indicators. Qualitative research can explain how they actually considerES criteria and its indicators when making investment decisions. Key words: Sustainability performance; ESG Score; Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR); SocialResponsibility Investments (SRI); Institutional investors; Environmental and social performance

The financial crisis of 2007-2008 highlighted the societal impacts of bank risk-taking. A strong focus on maximizing profits for shareholders combined with a disregard for, and  underestimation of risks led to the downfall of large banks such as Lehman Brothers and multiple other banks getting bailed out by several governments and other banks. The financial crisis spread and impacted all major financial markets across the globe, which highlights the importance of investigating the banking sector from a global perspective. In addition, the influences of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on financial performance and risk have been a growing topic in research as well as in practice. Most banks today invest large amounts of money in CSR activities. The question of how bank spending in CSR activities impacts market risk is important. There are two contradicting views on CSR activities and market risk. The risk mitigation view suggests that banks that focus on stakeholder satisfaction have lower risk due to increased moral capital with stakeholders. The overinvestment view suggests that managers waste scarce resources by overinvesting in CSR activities to further selfish goals and therefore increase risk. This study examines the relationship between sustainability performance (ESG Combined score) and market risk (VaR/CVaR) using a deductive approach. The authors sample 159 banks from 39 countries and all 7 economic regions from 2011-2022. Data is used for testing hypotheses. Results find high ESG Combined Scores are associated with lower VaR/CVaR and results are robust to modifications in VaR/CVaR calculation assumptions. Disaggregation of ESG pillars shows that social pillar scores decrease VaR/CVaR in banks while environmental and governance pillars are insignificant. Results primarily lend support to the risk mitigation view and stakeholder theory stating that firms should focus more on stakeholder satisfaction than maximizing shareholder value. Complementing theories such as legitimacy theory and resources-based view are also considered important theories for explaining the results.