Abstract   Purpose: The purpose of the study is to identify why the Tanzanian market for cement blocks have not adapted hollow blocks instead of solid ditto and, if possible, present recommendations for market activities.   Design/methodology/approach: Implemented by action research methodology, this minor field study financed by Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency targets issues regarding the relatively poor housing standard in Tanzania through a business development perspective. Furthermore, the study covers what obstacles for new, more sustainable and price-efficient products are to identify in the Tanzanian market.   Findings: An implementation of hollow blocks in the concrete block market surrounding Dar es Salaam would be beneficial from several aspects (e.g. economical, environmental, societal), but there are also factors that hinder such an implementation. The market’s consumers tend to not get the information about new techniques and innovations; hence to this lack of knowledge and awareness of alternatives, they stick to more traditional ways that they know more of. The consumers that do know of the new materials often disbeliefs the producers’ ability to make the quantity or quality demanded. Unawareness and distrust results in that few ask for new alternatives. The producers who put their main focus on supplying what the customers specifically asks for will therefore not start to produce the new alternatives, in this case hollow blocks. Thus, new innovations and the knowledge of the production of it do not spread easily. To implement new innovations some actor(s) to bare the risk is needed - pioneers that either commence producing the material themselves or, at least, encourage/provide incitements for producers and consumers to gain knowledge of them. The ones who have the possibility to carry risks in the concrete market surrounding Dar es Salaam are the large cement producers and the governmental institutions. They are also stakeholders who will benefit the most from taking the pioneer approach.   Originality/value: The study offers insights into the Tanzanian market for cement blocks for building construction by focusing on adaption of a block innovation that can reduce the Co2 emissions due to less raw material use per block.   Keywords: Sustainable Business Development, Innovation, Housing standard, Tanzania.   Type of study: Bachelor Thesis in Enterprising and Business Development, Linnaeus University, Sweden. / Minor Field Study

abstract: Restaurants have a cumulative impact on the environment, economy, and society. The majority of restaurants are small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs). Review of sustainability and industry literature revealed that considering restaurants as businesses with sustainable development options is the most appropriate way to evaluate their sustainable practices or lack thereof. Sustainable development is the means by which a company progresses towards achieving an identified set of sustainability goals and harnesses competitive advantage. The purpose of this thesis is to identify barriers to implementing sustainable practices in restaurants, and explore ways that restaurateurs can incorporate sustainable business practices. Energy consumption, water use, waste production, and food throughput are the four sustainability indicators addressed in this thesis. Interviews were conducted with five Tempe, Arizona restaurants, two of which consider their operations to be sustainable, and three of which are traditional restaurants. Results show that for traditional restaurants, the primary barriers to implementing sustainable business practices are cost, lack of awareness, and space. For sustainability-marketed restaurants, the barriers included a lack of knowledge or legal concerns. The sustainability-marketed restaurants have energy-efficient equipment and locally source a majority of their food purchases. There is a marked difference between the two types of restaurants in perception of barriers to sustainable business practices. I created a matrix to identify whether each indicator metric was applicable and present at a particular restaurant, and the potential barriers to implementing sustainable practices in each of the four indicator areas. Restaurants can use the assessment matrix to compare their current practices with sustainable practices and find ways to implement new or enhance existing sustainable practices. Identifying the barriers from within restaurants increases our understanding of the reasons why sustainable practices are not automatically adopted by SMEs. The assessment matrix can help restaurants overcome barriers to achieving sustainability by highlighting how to incorporate sustainable business practices. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Sustainability 2011

Förutom ekonomiska aspekter är hänsyntagandet av miljömässiga och sociala aspekter står nu i fokus i många organisationers affärsverksamhet. Mer och mer företag inför strategier som använder olika metoder och verktyg för att åstadkomma hållbarhet. En serie av internationella miljöstandarder, den s.k. ISO 14000-familjen har utvecklats sedan 1996 för att stödja arbetet av komplexa miljöfrågor för olika typ och storlek av organisationer. Syftet med denna uppsats, under ramen av en fallstudie, är att beskriva och analysera hur aspekterna av miljömässigt hållbar utveckling är integrerade i Riksbyggens organisation samt hur de kan utvecklas med hjälp av miljöledningssystem-standarden ISO 14001. Litteraturgenomgång består av teori om kooperativa organisationer, strategi, hållbar affärsutveckling med fokus pp mijömässiga aspekter, och roll av standarder med fokus på miljöledningssystemstandarden ISO 14001. För att stödja analys om företaget utfördes två intervjuer på Riksbyggen; en med Miljö- och kvalitetchefen, samt en med en Specialist på Miljö och kvalitet med syfte på att ta fram kvalitativ data om företagets miljö- och hållbarhetsarbete, samt att utreda ledningssystemet. Sedan relevanta intärna företagsdokument analyserades med vägledning av Miljö- och kvalitetchef. Resultatet av studien visade att ISO 14001 ärett nyttigt ledningsverktyg för att kunna integrera hållbarhetsprinciper i organisationen, eftersom det hjälper till att harmonisera de olika dokumenten beträffande företagets miljöarbete med ledningssystemet. Genom att följa standardens struktur påpekades brist i Riksbyggens hållbarhetsarbete samt det visade tydligt vilka delar behövs kompletteras och utvecklas i framtiden. Dessutom belyste studien följande förbättringsområde inom själva Hållbathetsplanen: integrering avmiljöaspekter i Hållbarhetsplanen genom att koppla ihop dem med aktiviteterna; sätta upp en prioritering bland aktiviteterna med en tidsplan och nämna ut ansvarige. Dessutom föreslås införandet av mättal i Hållbarhetsplanen, eftersom det är ett nödvändigt element för uppföljningen. Däremot genomförandet av hållbarhetsaspekter i praktiken tillhör inte ISO 14001:s befattning. Därför skulle en analys av implementeringen av Riksbyggens hållbarhetsmål vara rekommendarad för framtiden för att se dess effektivitet och måluppfyllnad i verkligheten.

This bachelor thesis in business economics raises the topic about Corporate Responsibility (CR), this topic is currently being discussed in a variety of channels and today an increasing number of companies are involved in corporate responsibility. How do Skanska work with sustainability and why are they doing this? It is also important to see the results of the work with sustainability will lead to. We will go into more depth in one of Skanska's projects, project M25, to investigate the CR strategies they use and see how they actually work with sustainability. The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze how and why Skanska is working to implement CR policies in their operations and more specifically from the M25 project in order to achieve sustainable business development. Our main questions is; how and why does Skanska implement sustainability in their business and in the project M25 and what can the outcome of this sustainability lead to? The study is based on a qualitative method, we performed both an unstructured personal interview and a semi-structured interview. This is to get a deeper understanding of how and why the company Skanska is working on sustainability. We have done a literature study and we selected different theories and also used various documents from Skanska. Our conclusion is that Skanska uses several different strategies to achieve sustainable business development, for example, they have developed their own voluntary rules, follow different directives and standards and they have developed various techniques and tools. The conclusions we have drawn is that Skanska is working actively to identify its stakeholders and also takes account of stakeholders who do not have a direct link to the business. They work in a proactive manner through education, investigation and monitoring to achieve a sustainable business. Skanska has agreed that they are part of a larger context in which they affect individuals and agents. Skanska and the society will receive various benefits depending on which CR strategies Skanska uses.

This thesis investigates how Jönköping Science Park frames and supports sustainable entrepreneurship in the region. More specifically, it discusses how this Science Park implements sustainability in collaboration with entrepreneurs and start-ups. In addition, the study evaluates how the Jönköping Science Park offering meets entrepreneurs' needs and expectations. In light of the gaps identified, recommendations are made for improving Science Park's sustainability support services in the future. The study applies Klaus Fichter and Karsten Hurrelmann’s conceptual framework for analyzing and designing sustainability orientation in incubators and science parks. This paper also uses the Client-Oriented Model of Evaluation by Evert Vedung to analyze how current Science Park sustainability support meets entrepreneurs' needs. A qualitative research approach was used in this study, with content analysis of open sources and internal documents, three interviews with Science Park officials, and corresponding email correspondence. The data was also gained through ten interviews with entrepreneurs and start-ups. The results show that Science Park implements sustainability in their collaboration with entrepreneurs and start-ups on the strategic level (vision, mission, strategy, and communication) and operational level (programs, activities, methods, and tools). The study's findings revealed that Science Park exhibits a clear strategic commitment to sustainability and acknowledges the responsibility to provide fully sustainable business development support to entrepreneurs and startups. On the operational level, sustainability implementation is fragmented and can be characterized by the “learning-by-doing” approach. Overall, Science Park places more emphasis on promoting sustainability and fostering a sustainability mindset than on providing extensive sustainability education. It is attributed to the fact that Science Park does not specialize in sustainability consultancy or services. Moreover, their focus primarily on early-stage entrepreneurship presents challenges when implementing sustainability support for entrepreneurs and start-ups.  Based on the identified gaps and provided recommendations, Science Park can strengthen its sustainability support offering in a practical perspective and contribute to tackling entrepreneurs' misunderstandings of the sustainability concept which is crucial for creating sustainability-oriented enterprises.