Titel: Hållbarhetsredovisning i Allmännyttan. Hur redovisas social hållbarhet? Nivå: Examensarbete på grundnivå (kandidatexamen) i ämnet företagsekonomi. Författare: Anders Persson Handledare: Alice Schmuck Datum: 2023 - juni Syfte: Syftet med studien är att jämföra och försöka förstå bakgrunden till hur den sociala aspekten av hållbarhet redovisas av de största kommunala bostadsföretagen inom Sveriges Allmännytta. Studien ska på ett övergripande sätt jämföra och analysera hållbarhetsredovisningarna utifrån den sociala dimensionen och dessutom undersöka hur de sociala nyckeltalen rekommenderade av Sveriges Allmännytta (2019) används. Metod: Den metod som använts i studien är en kvalitativ textanalys, där texterna som analyserats är tio utvalda kommunala bostadsbolags hållbarhetsredovisningar. Resultat och slutsats: Studien visar att det behövs fastare riktlinjer för hur social hållbarhet ska redovisas av de kommunala bostadsbolagen i Sveriges Allmännytta. En enhetlig struktur och gemensamma nyckeltal skulle öka transparensen och klargöra hur bolagen fullföljer sitt uppdrag med att skapa en hållbar boendemiljö. Studien har visat att nuvarande rekommenderade sociala nyckeltal inte används i någon större omfattning. Examensarbetets bidrag: Den rekommendation som Sveriges Allmännytta ger angående social hållbarhetsredovisning skulle behöva omformuleras till ett krav på medlemsföretagen. Ett krav att den sociala hållbarhetsredovisningen ska följa en viss struktur och redovisa specifika sociala nyckeltal för att öka transparens och jämförbarhet. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Att studera resultat av sociala satsningar samt att formulera en miniminivå gällande krav på social redovisning i Allmännyttan.

Globaliseringen är något som påverkat världen på många sätt, bland annat genom en ökad levnadsstandard. Tyvärr har detta skett på bekostnad av miljömässiga och sociala förhållanden. För att motverka att fortsatt utveckling sker på bekostnad av miljömässiga och sociala förhållanden har allt fler företag inkluderat hållbarhet i sin verksamhet. Samtidigt är en sådan implementering kostsam, vilket skapar ett problematiskt ställningstagande för företag i och med att ett företags huvudsyfte är lönsamhet och konkurrenskraft. Samtidigt finns det positiva följder av hållbarhet såsom en förbättrad relation, ökad tillit och förtroende mellan företaget och dess kunder. För att skapa incitament till att fler företag ska bli hållbara krävs en förståelse för hur företag kan vara både hållbara och konkurrenskraftiga, något som denna studie syftar till. Detta görs inom kontexten för palmolja. Studien är genomförd i formatet av en fallstudie där fyra världsledande multinationella palmoljeproducenter studerades. Datainsamlingen bestod av sex semistrukturerade intervjuer. För att analysera fallföretagens hållbarhet används modellen triple bottom line. Resultaten visar att det är av stor vikt att ta i beaktning alla delar av värdekedjan samt att fokusera på både miljömässiga, sociala och ekonomiska aspekter av hållbarhet. Detta kan bland annat innebära avståndstagande mot skövling av regnskog samt att arbetsförhållandena på plantagen är acceptabla. För att uppnå detta krävs samarbete inom sektorn. Genom att agera hållbart är det möjligt att differentiera sig mot konkurrenter och på så sätt uppnå konkurrenskraft på sikt.

One of the most critical issues of our time is sustainability. Simultaneously, techno optimism is prevailing in public discourse suggesting that technology will create a sustainable future without requiring drastic changes. Despite the connection that is often drawn between technology and sustainability and the presence of technologies in organisations, research combining the two concepts remains limited and does not account for the interplay of social values and technological artefacts. To overcome this incomplete picture of technology, this thesis employs sociomateriality to investigate how sustainability and technology are understood in relation to each other by young sustainability practitioners in for-profit organisations. Following the social constructivist philosophy, nine semi-structured interviews were conducted which show that practitioners recognise the environmental and social limits to development and use the triple bottom line (TBL), consisting of economic, environmental and social dimensions to translate sustainability into organisations. However, TBL implementation varies between organisations showing the difficulty of unifying organisational sustainability in one concept. Furthermore, young sustainability practitioners understand technology as sociomaterial, describing the interplay between an artefact’s affordances and restraints, and the practitioner’s configuration work that co-create outcomes. Moreover, the interviewees are optimists not because they rely on technology, but they believe in human’s ability to change which differs from techno optimism. It can be concluded that practitioners are critical about relying on technology for sustainability and believe that sustainability is created through an interplay of humans with technology, transferring responsibility to humans. When it comes to creating a sustainable future, they first struggled to envision an alternative future beyond technological developments but started imagining when given space to reflect. One outcome of the research is that young sustainability practitioners must be given room to reflect on their understanding of sustainability, technology and their relationship as the first step to taking actions to create the future.

The steel industry is in a critical situation where the industry contributes to global warming through its emissions, resulting from the burning of fossil fuels. There are higher demands from various stakeholders and laws and regulations are becoming increasingly strict. The steel industry has been forced to change its processes and production in whole or in part to meet these demands. The production of steel must become more sustainable and therefore innovative solutions are required to promote sustainable steel production. The purpose of this study is to investigate how possible requirements for sustainability have affected the innovative work in the Swedish steel industry. The survey is based on the work of two Swedish steel companies. These are being compared regarding innovation and sustainability strategies to see if there are similarities and/or differences in their work. The purpose of the study is fulfilled through literature studies and interviews with two case companies in the Swedish steel industry. The collected empirical data in the study shows that both companies work actively with their innovation and sustainability work. Both companies have a vision to reduce their use of fossil sources and instead move towards a more fossil-free steel production. The case companies also have a strong focus on circularity and the use of scrap. What differentiates the two companies is their production techniques where they have applied different innovation strategies. Even their sustainability requirements differ in some ways due to the size of the company. Research on the connection between stakeholders' sustainability requirements and the innovation work in the Swedish steel industry was something that was missing. The study has therefore identified the research gap and tried to contribute information to this area. The study has contributed information about which stakeholders' sustainability requirements promote innovative solutions with the aim of reducing the steel industry's emissions. Further research can study whether the stakeholders can set higher demands and see what change this would have led to.

Humanity as for now is living in the future and sustainability issues are the daily challenges for the planet, and not a future problem any longer. The trend for sustainable development is pointing in the wrong direction and the pressure on natural resources is increasing. Research suggests stakeholders demand and reward responsibility from companies. The work for sustainable development requires extensive cooperation between companies, and people. Adopting a stakeholder perspective and meeting demands of various stakeholder groups means that companies today have even more relationships that they engage in than before. Companies rely on each other to be able to make an impact. An individual alone cannot make any changes but rather the society needs to act united to deal with these sustainable issues our world faces. Earlier studies emphasize that relationship marketing has the potential to assist sustainable efforts positively. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to understand the role of relationship marketing in the sustainable development context, focusing on customers’ and the network’s view on sustainability. The theoretical framework is based on relationship marketing, co-creation and the key mediating variables of relationship marketing model and was inspired by both the empirical data and previous research. Further, to explain sustainable development, concepts such as stakeholder perspective and triple bottom line were used. To achieve the study’s purpose, empirical data was collected through conducting an inductive qualitative case study using non-probability sampling in the outdoor furniture industry. Data collected consists of field observations and semi-structured interviews. Data was processed and analyzed through transcription and coding. Findings imply strong relationships and cooperation are essential for effective sustainable efforts. The concept of sustainable development is diffuse and difficult to grasp. It was also implied that there is a disconnect in shared core values regarding sustainability between the business network and the market in this case study. However, theory suggests the role of relationship marketing is to push the narrative of sustainability, even if demand is low. Practical implications and recommendations suggest adopting co-creation processes to increase mutual learning and understanding of complex concepts such as sustainable development.

Problem: Idag påverkas företagen av tryck utifrån av sina intressenter vilket gör att de måste ta ett större ansvar för att legitimera sig. Olika branscher har varit med om olika skandaler och blivit uppmärksammade på olika sätt. Kan detta leda till att branscher utvecklas olika i sitt ansvarstagande för hållbarhet?Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka om olika branscher i Sveriges näringsliv har utvecklats olika emot ett hållbart samhälle och därmed att beskriva hur långt deras ansvarsområden sträcker sig i årsredovisningar och hållbarhetsredovisningar. Mer specifikt undersöka branschernas ansvar inom ekonomi, miljö och socialt.Forskningsfråga: Vilka skillnader finns det mellan branschernas ansvarstagande inom hållbarhet idag?Forskningsdesign: För att besvara vår forskningsfråga använde vi oss av en kvalitativ innehållsanalys av företagens hållbarhetsrapporter och årsredovisningar. Vi utför en tvärsnittsstudie av tre branscher med tre företag i varje bransch. Branscherna är Textil-, livsmedel- och finansbranschen.Slutsatser: Sammanfattningsvis kan man se att det finns skillnader mellan branscherna. Textilbranschen visade på störst ansvar när man jämförde alla kategorier. Medan livsmedelsbranschen och finansbranschen visade på ett mindre ansvar i förhållande till textilbranschen. När vi sedan ser till varje kategori kan man urskilja var skillnaderna ligger. I den ekonomiska kategorin fanns en stor likhet och inga skillnader kunde identifieras. Inom kategorin för miljö visade textilbranschen ett betydligt större ansvar i förhållande till de övriga branscherna. Kategorin för det sociala ansvaret var betydligt mer omfattande och de olika branscherna utmärkte sig olika mycket i de olika underkategorierna. Inom alla underkategorier visade det sig att Livsmedelsbranschen tog ett mer jämnt ansvar. I anställningsförhållanden och arbetsvillkor utmärkte sig finansbranschen och vidare visade textilbranschen på ett stort ansvar inom mänskliga rättigheter. / Problem: Today’s businesses are affected by the pressure from the outside, by their stakeholders. This allows them to take greater responsibility for legitimacy. Different industries have been involved in various scandals and have received attention different ways. Could this lead to industries developing differently in their social responsibilities for sustainability?Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate whether various industries of the Swedish economy has developed differently to a sustainable society and thus to describe how far their responsibilities extend in annual reports and sustainability reports. More specifically investigate various industries responsibilities in regards to economic, environmental and social aspects.Research question: What differences exist between the industries' responsibility in sustainability today?Research Design: To answer our research question, we used a qualitative content analysis of corporate sustainability reports and annual reports. We carry out a cross-sectional study of three industries with three companies in each industry. The industries are textile, food and the finance industry.Conclusions: In summary, one can see that there are differences between industries in the whole. The textile industry showed the greatest responsibility when comparing all the categories. While the food industry and the financial industry showed a minor responsibility in relation to the textile industry. When you look at each category we can distinguish where the differences lie. In the economic category, there was a great similarity and no differences could be identified. Within the category of environment the textile industry showed a much greater responsibility in relation to the other industries. The category of social responsibility was much more extensive and the various industries stood out very different in the different subcategories. In all subcategories, it turned out that the food industry took a more evenly responsibility. In terms of employment and working conditions distinguished the financial industry and the textile industry showed great responsibility in human rights.

In today’s society it is more common for industries to automate their businesses and more people are in need of electricity. Therefore, a stable and reliable supply of electricity is needed. When more people need electricity, it affects the liability of the powerlines which leads to more losses. Producers can be a part of the solution by producing closer to the consumers. When doing so they have the right to compensation from the electrical companies for the utility they bring. However, the compensation lacks clear guidelines of how it should be calculated. To develop a common ground for the electrical companies they can use when calculating the compensation is therefore needed. The purpose of this thesis is to contribute with an understanding of which factors that are necessary for the compensation and how they can help develop a business model for the compensation which supports both the environment and the energy policy to 100% renewable energy in electricity generation by 2040. The study originates from a qualitative method where systematic combining was used. A case study with semi-structured interviews and analysis of documents was conducted at E.ON Energy Networks. Since the compensation has not been studied as deeply before and many lack knowledge of what it means, this study created a foundation for the electricity companies to stand on when it comes to the compensation. The study resulted in several factors that consist of both tangible and intangible values. Through these factors, the foundation of a business model for the compensation could be created via a Business Model Canvas. The views of various stakeholders were considered in the development of the business model. The most important factors for the compensation were that it should be fair, transparent, clear and easy to understand. It also proved to be essential to involve a sustainable thinking, which led to two additional factors being constructed, one environmental factor and one factor for lack of capacity. / I dagens samhälle krävs en stabil och pålitlig elförsörjning då allt fler vill ha tillgång till el och industrier vill automatisera sina verksamheter. Detta påverkar elnätets belastning vilket leder till mer förluster i nätet. Producenter kan vara med och influera detta genom att producera energi närmare konsumenterna. För detta fås en ersättning från elnätsbolagen för den nyttan som producenterna bidrar med. Ersättningen saknar dock tydliga riktlinjer på hur den ska beräknas och betalas ut. Det finns därför ett behov av att utveckla en gemensam grund som elnätsbolagen kan använda sig av vid framtagning av ersättningen. Syftet med denna studie är att bidra till att ta fram vilka faktorer som är relevanta för ersättningen och hur dessa kan hjälpa till i utvecklandet av en affärsmodell för ersättningen som både gynnar en hållbar utveckling och energiomställningen. Studien utgår från en kvalitativ metod där undersökningsprocessen var systematic combining. En fallstudie genomfördes på E.ON Energidistribution genom semi-strukturerade intervjuer och analys av dokument. Eftersom ersättningen inte har studerats lika djupt tidigare och många saknar kunskap om vad den innebär, skapade denna studie en grund att stå på för elnätsbolagen när det gäller ersättningen. Studien resulterade i ett antal faktorer som består av både mjuka och hårda värden. Genom dessa faktorer kunde grunden till en affärsmodell för ersättningen skapas via en Business Model Canvas. Olika intressenters åsikter togs i beaktning vid utvecklingen av affärsmodellen. De viktigaste faktorerna för ersättningen var att den ska vara rättvis, transparent, tydlig och enkel att förstå. De visade sig även vara betydelsefullt att involvera ett hållbarhetstänk, vilket har lett till att två tillägg har konstruerats, ett miljötillägg och ett kapacitetsbristtillägg.

Reporting of sustainability has gained an increasing importance over the past years and companies have begun to take greater responsibility for society. One major reason why sustainability has been recognized is because of the increased climate change in the world. The airline industry, which is seen as an important part of today's tourism, have had a major impact on the social, economic and natural surroundings, which is an contributing factor to today's climate change and air pollution. Airlines can be divided into two categories, low-cost airlines and traditional airlines. These two airlines separates each other by their business ideas and strategies, where low-cost airlines target price-sensitive travelers while traditional airlines are known to have a larger price advantage over the low-cost airlines. Different strategies can lead to separation of the sustainability reports, as companies work in different ways, which has consequences for how they report their sustainability. This is a problem as companies take different social responsibilities. The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze how sustainability reporting differs between airlines that use different business strategies, by comparing two low-cost airlines with two traditional airlines. The authors first examined already existing theory that has been collected and compared to the companies' sustainability reports. The conclusions of this study have shown big differences between low-cost airlines and traditional airlines reporting of sustainability. An important reason for this is based on the airlines' strategies, where the low-cost airlines apply a low-cost strategy and try to gain competitive advantages by having the industry's lowest costs, while the traditional airlines have a strategy to make the flight as comfortable as possible for the travelers, where high quality and service is important priorities for creating customer satisfaction. The different strategies between the airlines mean that they prioritize different things, which are reflected in their sustainability reports. All airlines have shown clear initiatives to achieve a more sustainable world, but in this study, the traditional airlines have always done a little extra in all the three perspectives.

To decrease the ecological footprint, humans either have to adjust their lifestyles, or the large scale industries must take corporate social responsibility. This study is based on the well-developed field of energy efficiency in industries by applying technology and organizational-focused proposals. The proposals are based on three different aspects, the economic, the environmental, and the social. These three aspects combined are called the triple bottom line perspective. An original case of the study objects energy balance was determined to develop the conclusions, with the simulation program IDA ICE. The study object was GKN ePowertrain, located in Köping. Energy efficiency cases were simulated in IDA ICE to observe the change in the energy balance. The cases and interviews of the employees were the foundation of the discussion where the improvements were critically reviewed from the triple bottom line perspective. The result shown that the temperature was too high for working conditions, the ventilation system consumes a large quantity of energy, and the internal flow of information is insufficient. In conclusion, GKN ePowertrain would increase their overall value by investing in a cooling system and more efficient heat exchangers for their ventilation system. These investments would notably increase their short term value of environmental sustainability and the social aspect. Furthermore, their economic value would increase in the long term. The cooling system would improve the working environment, and a new ventilation system would increase the heat recovery and decrease the energy consumed, even more than the consumption of the cooling system. Finally, GKN should also be more distinct in their information to the employees in the building regarding energy aims and their working environment, to have a positive gain of value in all the fields.

O termo sustentabilidade corporativa refere-se à capacidade de uma organização de sobreviver no longo prazo, mantendo-se (minimamente) lucrativa para que possa exercer suas atividades com cada vez menos impactos negativos ambientais e mais benefícios sociais. Considerando a lógica de que a empresa é aquilo que ela é capaz de mensurar, organizações sustentáveis demandam sistemas gerenciais de mensuração de desempenho que estejam alinhadas ao desenvolvimento sustentável. Assim, o presente estudo se propõe a discutir a seguinte pergunta de pesquisa: Como é inserida a sustentabilidade nos sistemas de mensuração de desempenho corporativos? Para isso, são propostos dois objetivos de pesquisa: (i) levantar os sistemas de mensuração de desempenho de sustentabilidade e explorar seus principais desafios; e (ii) explorar a importância relativa dada pelas empresas em relação aos indicadores de sustentabilidade. Para isso, a pesquisa conta com uma revisão sistemática da literatura e estudos de casos multissetoriais (um piloto e quatro exploratórios). A pesquisa traz evidências de que a temática de indicadores de sustentabilidade é ainda incipiente e pouco estruturada, com potencial de melhorar o aproveitamento da literatura já consolidada de sistemas de mensuração de desempenho. O estudo bibliométrico conta com (i) estatística descritiva, (ii) análise de redes de relacionamento (co-citação e palavras-chave) e (iii) análise de conteúdo a partir de uma amostra de artigos extraídos da base de dados ISI Web of Knowledge (Web of Science). Verifica-se que a literatura de indicadores de sustentabilidade aborda temáticas diversas, tais como vantagem competitiva, gestão de stakeholders e avaliação do ciclo de vida. Já os estudos de casos baseados em entrevistas semi-estruturadas permitiram o levantamento dos seguintes sistemas de mensuração de desempenho com incorporação de indicadores de sustentabilidade: sistema de avaliação de desempenho das áreas, sistema de avaliação de desempenho individual, indicadores para elaboração de relatórios internos e externos e sistema de avaliação inicial de projetos. Além disso, foram identificados fatores que interferem na prioridade dos indicadores de sustentabilidade: estratégia corporativa, pré-requisito; maturidade da questão e urgência. Dentre os desafios apontados pelas empresas, encontram-se a definição de indicadores para avaliar os benefícios sociais decorrentes das atividades da organização, a quantificação monetária de retorno de iniciativas ambientais e sociais e o engajamento dos colaboradores na sustentabilidade corporativa, independente da natureza das suas atividades. A pesquisa mostra que há benefícios na incorporação da sustentabilidade no sistema de mensuração de desempenho corporativo e que isso ainda tem potencial para ser abordado de forma mais sistemática, sem depender exclusivamente da iniciativa de determinados líderes. O papel desses atores para implantação de práticas sustentáveis na organização é fundamental e necessário, mas não suficiente, já que a sustentabilidade corporativa depende do engajamento de diversos stakeholders (internos e externos à organização), que podem ser influenciados pela cultura e pelos processos de negócios alinhados à lógica do desenvolvimento sustentável. / The term corporate sustainability refers to the ability of an organization to survive in the long term, keeping itself (minimally) profitable in order to conduct their activities with less negative environmental impacts and more social benefits. Whereas the logic that the company is what it is capable of measuring, sustainable organizations require performance management systems that are aligned to sustainable development. Thus, this study aims to discuss the following research question: \"How sustainability is embedded in corporate performance measurement systems?\" For this, it proposes two research objectives: (i) identify the sustainability performance measurement systems and explore their major challenges, and (ii) explore the relative importance given by companies in relation to sustainability indicators. So, the research has a systematic literature review and multisectoral exploratory case studies (one pilot and four exploratory). The research provides evidence that the theme of sustainability indicators is still incipient and unstructured, with the potential to improve the use of literature already consolidated on performance measurement systems. The bibliometric study is based on (i) descriptive statistics, (ii) analysis of extracted networks of relationships (co-citation and keywords) and (iii) content analysis of a given sample of articles extracted from ISI Web of Knowledge (Web of Science). It is found that the literature of sustainability indicators covers different topics such as competitive advantage, stakeholder management and life cycle assessment (LCA). The cases studies based on semi-structured interviews allowed the identification of the following performance measurement systems that incorporate sustainability indicators: performance evaluation of the areas; individual performance evaluation system; indicators for internal and external reports; and initial project evaluation system. In addition, factors influencing the priority of sustainability indicators have been identified: maturity of the issue, requirement, corporate strategy and urgency. Among the challenges faced by companies, there are the definition of indicators to assess the social benefits of the organization activities, the quantification of the monetary return of environmental and social initiatives and employee engagement in corporate sustainability, independently of the nature of their activities. Research shows that there are benefits in incorporating sustainability in corporate performance measurement system and it still has the potential to be addressed more systematically, without relying solely on the initiative of certain leaders. The role of these actors for implementing sustainable practices in the organization is essential and necessary, but not sufficient, since the corporate sustainability depends on the engagement of various stakeholders (internal and external to the organization), which may be influenced by the culture and the business processes aligned to the logic of sustainable development.