Purpose:   The purpose of this thesis is to describe and to understand how a company within Swedish fashion industry, namely Frank Dandy, enters foreign mar-kets. Background:   The Swedish fashion industry, defined as SMEs who have produced world-wide recognized brands created by designers and visionaries, has got a lot of coverage in media recently for its success abroad. Theories concerning in-ternationalization have previously not been applied to examine the latest development in the Swedish fashion industry or companies within it, such as Frank Dandy. A gap exists because previous studies have generalized re-tailers, textile industry, fashion houses, distributors and so on as fashion in-dustry. When in reality there is a big difference between these units, and what media refer to as the Swedish fashion industry. Method:   For this study, a qualitative method has been chosen and the abductive ap-proach of systematic combing has been applied when creating a case study concerning Frank Dandy’s internationalization process. The abductive ap-proach enables the authors to successively modify their framework as new empirical findings arise and thus match it with the best theory suited to give insight to how Frank Dandy enters foreign markets. Conclusion:   The purpose of this study has been fulfilled and the authors can conclude that Frank Dandy enters foreign markets through agents and distributors, as predicted by the Uppsala model. However, distributors are preferred over agents since they put less strain on the organization and finally that distribu-tors and agents are handpicked from an extensive international network.

<p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p></p><p><p><strong><strong><p>Purpose:</p></strong><p> </p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to describe and to understand how a company within Swedish fashion industry, namely Frank Dandy, enters foreign mar-kets.</p><strong><strong><p>Background:</p></strong><p> </p><p>The Swedish fashion industry, defined as SMEs who have produced world-wide recognized brands created by designers and visionaries, has got a lot of coverage in media recently for its success abroad. Theories concerning in-ternationalization have previously not been applied to examine the latest development in the Swedish fashion industry or companies within it, such as Frank Dandy. A gap exists because previous studies have generalized re-tailers, textile industry, fashion houses, distributors and so on as fashion in-dustry. When in reality there is a big difference between these units, and what media refer to as the Swedish fashion industry.</p><strong><strong><p>Method:</p></strong><p> </p><p>For this study, a qualitative method has been chosen and the abductive ap-proach of systematic combing has been applied when creating a case study concerning Frank Dandy’s internationalization process. The abductive ap-proach enables the authors to successively modify their framework as new empirical findings arise and thus match it with the best theory suited to give insight to how Frank Dandy enters foreign markets.</p><strong><strong><p>Conclusion:</p></strong><p> </p><p>The purpose of this study has been fulfilled and the authors can conclude that Frank Dandy enters foreign markets through agents and distributors, as predicted by the Uppsala model. However, distributors are preferred over agents since they put less strain on the organization and finally that distribu-tors and agents are handpicked from an extensive international network.</p></strong></strong></strong></strong></p></p>

In recent years the fashion industry has experienced a high frequency of famous Creative Directors departing the companies for unknown reasons. The same problem does not seem to occur in the Scandinavian fashion industry. This study’s purpose is to explore why Scandinavia does not experience the same problem, contribute a deeper understanding of the leader-designer relationship in the Swedish fashion industry, and to examine how the Scandinavian Cooperative Advantage is applicable in the Swedish fashion industry. Three case studies were conducted at the Swedish fashion companies TRIWA, Baron and Weriseg where both leaders and designers were interviewed. The findings showed that the leaders view their designers as an essential part of the organisation but how they are prioritised depend on the situation. Further more, this study indicates that all of the studied companies have a stakeholder approach, uses a value creating strategy based on cooperation with their stakeholders, are aligned with a typical Swedish organizational culture, and has a Swedish Management Style. Thus this study indicates that the notion of Scandinavian Cooperative Advantage is applicable at the Swedish fashion industry and that this might be a factor for their success.

Digitalisation is one of the greatest transformations in modern times and has impacted organisations, industry structures and the society as a whole. It provides new opportunities for fashion firms to interact with different stakeholders and has altered the way firms operate in foreign markets. Based on in-depth interviews with managers of Swedish high-end fashion firms, the aim of the study was to explore what impact digitalisation has on managers’ perceived psychic distance in their international operations. In particular, how managers use digital technologies to obtain and interpret information about supply and demand conditions in foreign markets was examined. The empirical findings indicate that digital technologies are essential for firms today, as they have increased information availability, enhanced information usage and improved interactive communication. This, in turn, leads to a reduction of managers’ perceived psychic distance.

I Sverige köps det idag 13,1 kg kläder per person och år, av dessa slängs 8 kg kläder per person och år. Cirka 60 procent av det som slängs skulle dessutom kunna användas igen. Detta är en inte en hållbar resurshantering och för att ta tillvara på kläderna behövs en omställning där kläderna ses som en resurs. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka varför svenska klädföretag arbetar med cirkulär ekonomi, hur de arbetar och vilka svårigheter som kan uppstå med arbetet. Studien genomfördes med hjälp av åtta stycken semistrukturerade intervjuer inom ett brett spektra av svenska klädföretag. De klädföretag som har intervjuats är H&amp;M, Filippa K, Björn Borg, Myrorna, Swedish Stockings, Odd Molly, Fjällräven och Houdini. Erfarenheterna från respondenterna redovisas i fyra olika teman – kläder som resurs, beteendeförändringar, ansvar och överlevnad och förändrad marknadssyn. Det empiriska materialet ställs mot varandra och jämförs med tidigare forskning. Resultatet av studien visar att klädföretagen ser cirkulär ekonomi som deras framtida överlevnad. Det är viktigt att börja se kläderna som en resurs efter användning och det krävs mer arbete i designfasen för att verkligen göra skillnad. Det har även visat sig att det krävs beteendeförändringar för att kunna ställa om till en cirkulär ekonomi. / In Sweden people purchase 13.1 kg garments per person per year, of these garments 8 kg per person per year gets discarded. Approximately 60 percent of the discarded garments could be used again. This is not a sustainable resource management and to take advantage of the garments a transition is needed because the garments have to be seen as a resource. This study aims to investigate why Swedish clothing companies work with circular economy, how they are working with this and what difficulties may arise during the process. The study was conducted with the help of eight semi-structured interviews in a wide range of Swedish fashion companies to share their views and experiences. The clothing companies that have been interviewed are H&amp;M, Filippa K, Björn Borg, Myrorna, Swedish Stockings, Odd Molly, Fjällräven and Houdini. The experience of the respondents are presented in four different themes - clothes as a resource, behavioural changes, responsibility and survival and change in market view. The empirical data are compared against each other and also compared with previous research. The results of the study show that the clothing companies are seeing circular economy as their future survival strategy. It shows that it is important to begin to see the clothes as a resource and further work is required in the design phase in order to really make a difference. It has also been shown that it requires behavioural changes in order to adjust to a circular economy.

Begreppet hållbarhet har på senare tid fått en allt större spridning i samhället, något som även avspeglas inom företagsvärlden där redovisning av hållbarhetsarbete blivit allt viktigare för att möta växande lagkrav och samhällsförväntningar. Efter införandet år 2015 blev FN:s globala mål för hållbar utveckling, Agenda 2030, snabbt en vanligt förekommande aspekt inom hållbarhetsredovisningar. Detta grundar sig till stor del på den legitimitet ett internationellt organ som FN besitter. Agenda 2030 var och fortsätter vara kritiserad för sin ambiguitet och svårigheten gällande den praktiska implementationen av målen. Viljan hos företag att applicera Agenda 2030 var redan från början stor men forskning på området påvisar risken att införandet stannar vid en endast symbolisk efterlevnad av målen. För att kunna avgöra om Agenda 2030 har haft en verklig inverkan på hållbarhetsredovisningar syftar denna studie till att beskriva hur hållbarhetsredovisning inom svenska modeföretag har förändrats sedan införandet av FN:s globala mål för hållbar utveckling. Detta görs genom att studera hur de globala målen har införts och utvecklats i hållbarhetsredovisningen året innan (2014), året efter (2016) samt halvvägs (2021) in i Agenda 2030. Studien är utformad som en innehållsanalys i form av en modifikation av CONI-modellen där originalmodellen är skapad av Beck et al. (2010). CONI-modellen är speciellt konstruerad för kodning samt jämförande av hållbarhetsredovisningar och består av både frekvensmätning och värdering. Kombinationen ger en djupare förståelse för hur förändringar skett mellan de valda åren och mellan de olika företagen. Att endast använda en frekvensmätning omöjliggör en kvalitativ mätning men är ändå relevant att inkludera då det ger en bild av hållbarhetsredovisningens prioriterade mål. Studien visar att samtliga företag benämner Agenda 2030 på något vis i sin hållbarhetsredovisning och fyra av fem studerade modeföretag betonar direkt sin efterlevnad av målen. Detta är att förvänta på grund av de många likheter de valda företagen innehar, något som även stöds av institutionell teori. Vidare kan institutionell teori även förklara varför det största företaget, H&amp;M, redan från första året låg i framkant och resterande företag följer den trend som H&amp;M stakat ut. Sammantaget visar dock årsjämförelserna att de olika företagens hållbarhetsarbete inte förändras nämnvärt efter införandet av Agenda 2030. Istället appliceras existerande hållbarhetsarbete på de Agenda 2030-mål som passar. Vissa specifika mål har förändrats avsevärt mellan olika år i värdering eller frekvens men som helhet påvisar den insamlade empirin att Agenda 2030 troligen främst införs i hållbarhetsredovisningarna av legitimerande skäl. Således stödjer denna studie den tidigare forskning som kritiserar företags användande av Agenda 2030 som en legitimerande strategi, något som gör att bidraget till måluppfyllnaden är ytterst undermålig. / The concept of sustainability has recently become increasingly widespread in society, which is also reflected in the business world where sustainability reporting has become increasingly important to meet growing legal requirements and societal expectations. After its introduction in the year 2015, the UN's global sustainable development goals, Agenda 2030, quickly became a common aspect of sustainability reporting. This is largely based on the legitimacy of an international body like the UN. Agenda 2030 was and continues to be criticized for its ambiguity and the difficulty of its practical implementation. The willingness of companies to apply Agenda 2030 was great from the beginning, but research in the field shows the risk that the implementation stops at a merely symbolic compliance with the goals. In order to determine whether Agenda 2030 has had a real impact on sustainability reporting, this study aims to study how sustainability reporting in Swedish fashion companies has changed since the introduction of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This is done by studying how the SDGs have been introduced and developed in the sustainability report in the year before (2014), the year after (2016) and halfway (2021) into Agenda 2030. The study is designed as a content analysis in the form of a modification of the CONI model where the original model is created by Beck et al. (2010). The CONI model is specially designed for coding and comparing sustainability reports and consists of both frequency measurement and valuation. The combination provides a deeper understanding of how changes have occurred between the selected years and between the different companies. Using only a frequency measurement makes a qualitative measurement impossible but is still relevant to include as it provides a picture of the sustainability report's prioritized goals. The study shows that all companies refer to the Agenda 2030 in some way in their sustainability report and four out of five fashion companies studied directly emphasize their compliance with the goals. This is to be expected due to the many similarities between the selected companies, which is also supported by institutional theory. Furthermore, institutional theory can also explain why the largest company, H&amp;M, was at the forefront from the first year and the remaining companies follow the trend set by H&amp;M. Overall, however, the annual comparisons show that the different companies' sustainability work did not change significantly after the introduction of the Agenda 2030. Instead, existing sustainability work is applied to the appropriate Agenda 2030 goals. Some specific goals have changed significantly between years in terms of valuation or frequency, but as a whole, the collected empirical data shows that Agenda 2030 is probably mainly introduced in the sustainability reports for legitimizing reasons. Thus, this study supports the previous research that criticizes companies' use of Agenda 2030 as a legitimizing strategy, which makes the contribution to goal achievement extremely suboptimal.

Miljömässig hållbarhet inom modeindustrin är en viktig strategi för att hantera de miljöutmaningar som är förknippade med modeproduktionens storskaliga användning av naturresurser. Det är viktigt att modeföretag tar hänsyn till miljömässig hållbarhet genom att integrera hållbarhet tidigt i design- och tillverkningsprocessen. Utmaningarna när det kommer till svenska små till medelstora företag (SME) och implementering av hållbarhetsstrategier i design- och tillverkningsprocessen är omstridda. Tidigare studier menar att det handlar om att SMEs har brist på resurser och kunskap, medan annan forskning menar att modeföretag inte prioriterar hållbarhet. Därav är det intressant att undersöka de utmaningar som SMEs inom den svenska modeindustrin står inför eftersom Sverige är känt för sin modeindustri, och historiskt sett haft internationell framgång inom branschen. Studien undersöker hur leverantörer och brist på resurser internt och externt kan utgöra en utmaning vid implementering av hållbarhetsstrategier i utvecklingsfasen, hos svenska SMEs inom modeindustrin med fokus på miljömässig hållbarhet. Den teoretiska ramen är baserad på Industrial Network Approach (INA). Studien använder sig av en kvalitativ metod, empirin har samlats in genom fem semistrukturerade intervjuer hos tre företag, samt observation av webbplats med fokus på miljömässig hållbarhet och utmaningar. En tematisk analys användes för att identifiera viktiga teman. Genom att tillämpa analysmodellen ARA utforskade studien hur affärsnätverket kan påverka modeföretagens hållbarhet i utvecklingsfasen. I resultatet visar studien att det är både interna och externa faktorer som påverkar implementering av miljömässig hållbarhet. Bland annat spelar ledningen hos SMEs en avgörande roll gällande om hållbarhet ska implementeras och att det är svårt att balansera ekonomiska mål med den generella hållbarhetssträvan. Dessutom påverkar externa faktorer såsom kundernas villighet att betala mer och vad leverantörerna kan erbjuda i form av resurser och kunskap, vilket kan skilja sig åt. Studien bidrar med kunskap till området implementering av hållbarhetsstrategier genom att ge en djupare förståelse för de specifika utmaningar som SMEs inom den svenska modeindustrin kan möta när de ska gå mot att bli mer miljömässigt hållbara. För att kunna implementera hållbarhetsstrategier i utvecklingsfasen kräver det att ledningen sätter upp mål som produktionsansvariga kan förhålla sig till. Produktionsansvariga har en delaktighet och påverkar i stor utsträckning hur hållbara produkterna blir. Studiens resultat visar slutligen att det finns skillnader inom SMEs i den svenska modeindustrin, särskilt när det gäller tillgången på resurser mellan små och medelstora företag. En betydande skillnad är den utmaning som leverantörer utgör för dessa företag vilket är kopplat till produktionskvantiteter. Studiens begränsningar inkluderar urvalet av tre modeföretag, varav ett av dem var medelstort, vilket begränsade möjligheten att skapa en tydlig förståelse för deras unika utmaningarna. Framtida forskning föreslås omfatta ett bredare urval för att ge en mer djup förståelse av SMEs inom den svenska modeindustrin. / Environmental sustainability within the fashion industry is a crucial strategy for addressing the environmental challenges associated with large-scale use of natural resources in fashion production. It is important for fashion companies to consider environmental sustainability by integrating it early in the design and manufacturing process. The challenges faced by Swedish small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in implementing sustainability strategies in the design and manufacturing process are debated. Previous studies suggest that SMEs lack resources and knowledge, while other research indicates that fashion companies do not prioritize sustainability. Therefore, it is interesting to investigate the challenges faced by SMEs in the Swedish fashion industry since Sweden is known for its fashion industry and has historically had international success in the field. This study examines how suppliers, and the lack of internal and external resources can pose challenges in the implementation of sustainability strategies during the development phase for Swedish SMEs in the fashion industry, with a focus on environmental sustainability. The theoretical framework is based on the Industrial Network Approach (INA). The study uses a qualitative method, with empirical data collected through five semi-structured interviews at three companies, as well as observations of websites focusing on environmental sustainability and challenges. A thematic analysis was used to identify key themes. By applying the ARA analysis model, the study explored how the business network can impact the sustainability of fashion companies during the development phase. The results show that both internal and external factors influence the implementation of environmental sustainability. Among other things, management at SMEs plays a crucial role in determining whether sustainability will be implemented, and it is difficult to balance economic goals with the general pursuit of sustainability. Additionally, external factors such as customers' willingness to pay more and what suppliers can offer in terms of resources and knowledge, which can vary, also have an impact. The study contributes to the field of implementing sustainability strategies by providing a deeper understanding of the specific challenges that SMEs in the Swedish fashion industry may face when striving to become more environmentally sustainable. To implement sustainability strategies in the development phase, it requires management to set goals that production managers can adhere to. Production managers are involved and significantly influence how sustainable the products become. The study's results finally show that there are differences within SMEs in the Swedish fashion industry, particularly regarding access to resources between small and medium-sized enterprises. A significant difference is the challenge that suppliers pose for these companies, which is linked to production quantities. The study's limitations include the selection of three fashion companies, one of which was medium-sized, which limited the ability to gain a clear understanding of their unique challenges. Future research is suggested to include a broader selection to provide a more in-depth understanding of SMEs in the Swedish fashion industry. This essay is written in Swedish.