Problem – Companies are increasingly focusing on sustainability issues in response to internal and external pressure. Research on sustainable performance of focal companies is vast; however there is a lack of guidelines for managing sustainability in extended supply chains. Scholars claim a need for additional research on intra- and inter-organizational diffusion of best sustainable practices. Besides, the outcomes of sustainable sourcing practices are still uncertain. The gap between potential benefits of sustainable sourcing and actual performance is attributed to lack of capabilities, instruments, and efficient processes. Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore existing sustainable sourcing practices which are used by leading multinational companies. Based on the obtained knowledge we aim to develop a framework that will suite as a guideline for enforcing sustainable sourcing practices. Method – The research has been conducted through the method of grounded theory, enabling the researchers to constructively interpret data from documentary primary data and semi-structured interviews. This approach was utilized in order to explore what are the most common practices of managing sustainable sourcing applied by the companies awarded as Industry leaders by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. Conclusion We found that a commonly accepted approach towards managing and enforcing sustainable sourcing is absent both in theoretical discourse and practice. However, the most frequently mentioned tools and approaches were defined. They include the adoption of suppliers’ code of conduct, establishment of dedicated sustainability departments, procurement personnel training, suppliers’ capability building, risk assessment and categorization of suppliers, IT platforms for information sharing, supplier self-assessment, audit, joint projects with suppliers, meetings and conferences, and suppliers’ scorecards. Finally, we developed a Sustainable Sourcing Enforcement framework which could serve as a guideline to enforce supplier’s commitment to act sustainably. The framework consists of five chronologically connected pillars: Objectives alignment, Commitment creation, Supplier selection, Ongoing development and Work with stakeholders.

Alternative fuel types and technologies are increasingly being advocated for transportation needs to ameliorate concerns around energy security, climate change, and fuel cost. Each fuel type has unique advantages and disadvantages for cost structure and emissions. Meanwhile, corporate fleet customers are often making more sustainable choices of vehicle type due to public perception and other influencing factors. The sustainability of these vehicles can be viewed from a triple bottom line perspective of financial, environmental, and societal implications. However, there is currently a lack of organized knowledge that would allow a decision-maker to elect the appropriate vehicle type beyond lifecycle cost and carbon emissions. The simplification of the impact of fuel type choice disregards issues that are emerging in prominence around water consumption and public health. Water consumption is of particular importance to investigate as fuel types that have reduced carbon emissions are often more water intensive. This thesis develops a tool that examines these issues through modeling to provide a more holistic lifecycle view of a prospective fleet's impact. The choice of vehicle type then can be optimized by utility theory preference elicitation of the different customer desires. Various scenarios of corporate preference and fleet specifications are explored to provide case studies that exemplify the complexity of the decision process. Each potential scenario has its own characteristics that cannot be optimally fulfilled by an overarching fuel type but rather should be thoroughly examined individually to understand the true consequences.

Syfte: Denna studie syftar till att kartlägga i vilken utsträckning företag på en svensk marknad arbetar med CSR och även att identifiera ett eventuellt samband mellan hållbarhetsarbetets utsträckning och lönsamhet i form av EPS och DuPont. Dessa lönsamhetsmått representerar dels ett investeringsperspektiv, dels ett internt företagsperspektiv. Metod: En kvantitativ studie har gjorts på Stockholmsbörsens Large Cap med en indelning av företagen på en hållbarhetsskala. Datan har analyseratstillsammans med lönsamhetsmåtten EPS och DuPont genomkorstabulering samt en statistisk analys. Slutsats: Denna studie finner att det finns ett engagemang för CSR inom LargeCap och det finns ett negativt samband mellan CSR-arbete och EPS.Studien finner inget samband mellan CSR-arbete och DuPont. Det finns en obalans i prioriteringen av TBL där det ekonomiska perspektivet är det främsta.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD (School of Business and Finance) / As organizations face stiff pressure from various stakeholders, management has had to move beyond the idea of shareholder wealth maximization and incorporate the environmental and social concerns from the various stakeholders. The study identifies how Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) practices enable the firm to manage the social, environmental and economic Triple Bottom Line (TBL) for four key stakeholder groups - customers, suppliers, regulators and the community. The study adopted a case study design, focused on Safaricom, arguably Africa's most innovative cellular firm which has championed the M-pesa money transfer platform. The objectives were, first, to establish key attributes namely; power, legitimacy and urgency of selected stakeholders of Safaricom and the key determinants of their salience, second, to determine stakeholder expectations and how they hold Safaricom accountable; third, to identify the extent of Safaricom's influence and control over the selected stakeholders; and finally, to establish how and to what extent the firm manages stakeholder exposure through their SSCM practices and TBL measures. Data from semi-structured interviews with Safaricom management and the four key selected stakeholder groups, together with company and public documents, were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Stakeholder groups were selected to represent examples of low, moderate or high levels of salience and exposure. While all are considered important, the case reveals how Safaricom management prioritizes and addresses stakeholder needs according to their attributes. As each stakeholder group is heterogeneous, the case reveals how the firm manages each distinctively and adopts diverse SSCM practices, which are aligned with the firm's TBL measures. Moreover, stakeholder exposure has a moderating effect on the relationship between the firm's SSCM practices and the TBL measures.

This diploma thesis deals with the topic of social business in the South Bohemian and Pilsen Region, its development and possibilities for further development. The aim of the thesis is to evaluate the state of social business in both regions and to recommend possible steps that would lead to a greater development of social business in the Czech Republic. The theoretical part deals with the history of the social economy and its subjects. Attention is also devoted to social entrepreneurship, its development and the principles that social enterprises must follow. Further, there is described the development of social entrepreneurship in the Czech Republic, legislation and support possibilities for social enterprises. In this section, there are also examples of countries where social enterprises is working successfully. These are Great Britain, Italy and Poland. The practical part deals with the evaluation of the questionnaire survey, which took place among managers of social enterprises in both regions. Questions in the questionnaire were very broad. There were questions about the size of the enterprises , the cooperation, the problems that enterprises face or the benefits of doing business for the company. Based on the results of this survey, research questions were answered. Further, recommendations are described in this part, which could help to further develop social entrepreneurship in the Czech Republic. This is rather a nationwide recommendation. In this case, the empirical investigation is rather supplementary.

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No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação - José Saraiva.pdf: 22991420 bytes, checksum: e836f2abfe79e26c39e991417f888d60 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-12-04 / Não informada / Data of institutions linked to the government, indicate that Brazil loses about R$ 8 billion per year to fail to recycle their solid waste, in this context, this work goes on to add with the willing objectives, by creating a business model for managing an industry of Contract Manufacturer for TFT-LCD Displays and exploring Services Remanufacturing and repair of LCD-TFT displays. All these products are intended for intermediate goods industry and services with the prospect of Adding Value to Sustainable productive chain, supply chain, providing Income and Employment generation to groups and associations on separate collection of consumer electronics, revitalizing , in a strategic way the trade balance of semiconductors components, today unfavorable, in the Brazilian and Latin American market. The methodology used aims to provide a holistic approach of the product chain, with the aim of having a better understanding of all gains, risks, advantages and disadvantages, with the purpose of showing the viability and sustainability of the proposed business model. Was examined initially, legal, environmental, social and economic aspects of electronic waste; then is presented a business plan for a company Spin-off, which proposes to build a remanufacture and repair industry, from products collected at the end of the life cycle. Glass with the deposition of the active matrix - TFT (ITO), is an essential raw material for business, will be availed from LCD Displays collected. Operations and strategies of the Spin-off Company are discussed starting from a sustainable value model, where the sustainable value generation is the efficiency of business processes, automation, acquisition of machinery and equipment, the production process design, in good management practices, knowledge management and technological innovation through the construction and improvement of new machines inherent Remanufacturing and Repair process, thus ensuring a high level of reuse of this raw material/waste, providing reintegration as intermediate good in the product life cycle, bringing financial benefits for cooperatives, professionalization of the cooperative members, maximizing the number of product collected with low loss of raw materials / process waste salvageable besides development actions related to the social aspects of sustainable development in the context of the Triple Bottom Line. / Dados de instituições ligadas ao governo, indicam que o Brasil perde cerca de R$ 8 bilhões por ano ao deixar de reciclar seus resíduos sólidos(IPEA), neste contexto, este trabalho passa a ganhar força de acordo com os objetivos dispostos, que são respectivamente, o de criar um modelo de negócios que opere uma empresa no formato Contract Manufacturer em Dispositivos de telas de LCD de matriz ativa e a exploração de Serviços de Remanufatura e Reparo de Displays de LCD-TFT. Todos esses produtos, destinam-se a indústria de bens intermediários e assistências técnicas, com a perspectiva de Agregar Valor Sustentável a cadeia produtiva, cadeia de suprimentos, proporcionando a Geração de Emprego e Renda aos grupos e associações de coleta seletiva de produtos eletroeletrônicos, revitalizando, de forma estratégica, a balança comercial de componentes semicondutores, hoje desfavorável, no mercado brasileiro e latino americano. A metodologia empregada, busca proporcionar uma visão holística da cadeia do produto, com o propósito de haver um melhor entendimento de todos os ganhos, riscos, vantagens e desvantagens, mostrando a viabilidade e a sustentabilidade do modelo de negócios proposto. Examinam-se inicialmente, os aspectos legais, ambientais, econômicos e sociais dos resíduos eletroeletrônicos; depois, apresenta-se um plano de negócios de uma empresa Spin-off, que se propõe a construir uma indústria de remanufatura e reparo, a partir de produtos coletados em final do ciclo de vida. O estado da arte, toma como base o Vidro com deposição da matriz ativa – TFT, que é o insumo essencial para o negócio, aproveitado a partir das telas de LCD coletadas. As operações e estratégias da empresa Spin-off, são discutidas à luz de um modelo de valor sustentável, trazendo ganhos financeiros para as cooperativas, profissionalização dos cooperados, maximização da quantidade de produtos coletados, proporcionando baixa perda de insumos/resíduos aproveitáveis ao processo, além de desenvolver ações ligadas aos aspectos sociais do desenvolvimento sustentável, no contexto do Triple Bottom Line.

The aim of this bachelor thesis is to investige how Swedish companies in the pulp- and paper industry are affected by the CO2 tax and how their perceived effects differs from the actual effects. The work includes interviews with employer representatives from six different companies. The respondents have been chosen based on their position in the company. Furthermore a pilot study was conducted with two interviews leading the study to the right direction. One of them was a tax expert at Skatteverket and the other one was an Energy Director at Skogsindustrierna. The questions asked were for example: “How do you work with sustainability issues”, “are your business affected by any special environmental taxes” and “what do you think about existing environmental regulations”. One of the conclusions turned out to be, that all of the companies are well informed about the sustainability issues. Most of the companies are also working with these issues on a high strategic level. Only one company thought that the Swedish taxation law affected their competitiveness. Another conclusion is that there is almost no complaints about different taxes and especially not the CO2 tax. One company complained however about the tax on NOx. Most of the investments have already been implemented or the technology is not sufficiently developed. / År 1995 trädde lagen om skatt på energi i kraft och kom då att samla alla fem tidigare lagar kring energi och koldioxid under ett och samma paraply. Sett ur en internationell synvinkel har Sverige en väldigt hög koldioxidskatt och vissa intresseorganisationer menar att den höga koldioxidskatten drabbar småföretag. Andra framstående miljövetare menar att Sverige är ett föregångsland och en förebild då vi lyckats kombinera en ekonomisk tillväxt samtidigt som vi haft minskade utsläpp. Enligt en studie är det fem huvudsakliga industrier som drabbats hårdast av koldioxidskatten, däribland skogsindustrin, vilket bidragit till att den utgjort det empiriska bidraget till denna rapport. I och med att åsikterna kring skatternas reella påverkan på klimatet i förhållande till skattens storlek går isär, så är det intressant att studera hur företagen i verkligheten agerar på de skatter som införs, dvs om deras agerande stämmer överens med deras åsikter och ståndpunkter. Det svenska näringslivet har varit en viktig aktör i arbetet med att minska miljöpåverkan från samhällets olika institutioner. Att arbeta med hållbarhet innebär att minska miljöpåverkan både ur ett miljömässigt och socialt perspektiv och samtidigt kunna visa på lönsamhet. De organisationer som fokuserar p h llbarhet har ett högre börsvärde och bättre ekonomisk avkastning. Existerande regleringar och miljöskatter är dock ifrågasatta av många företag och de säger sig uppleva dessa som inkonsistenta, ineffektiva och oklara. Klimatrelaterade styrmedel påverkar industrin till investeringar och nya styrmedel uppfattas ofta som hot gällande industrins konkurrenskraft men inte alltid då de också öppnar upp för innovativa ideér. Denna rapport syftar till att studera svenska företag inom sågverks-, massa- och pappersindustrin, och hur de berörs av olika energiskatter. En förstudie genomfördes med en person på Skatteverket och en person inom skogsindustrins branschorganisation - Skogsindustrierna. I studien gjordes ett urval bestående av totalt sex företag. Vidare användes en abduktiv kvalitativ ansats i studien. Resultaten visar att företagen mestadels är överens om frågor kopplade till miljö. Den övervägande åsikten är att företagen är positivt inställda till de olika skatterna med undantag från ett företag som tycker de är för höga. Alla företag var väl informerade om de olika regleringarna och arbetet med dessa frågor bedrivs på strategisk nivå. Alla deltagande företag hade också ett aktivt hållbarhetsarbete där de flesta ligger i framkant och har väl utarbetade strategier för hur de ska vara så miljövänliga som möjligt. De miljöaspekter som företagen måste ta hänsyn till varierar men rent generellt är transporter genomgående en betydande miljöaspekt för samtliga företag. Andra betydande miljöaspekter är CO2, NOx och el. Företagen har insett att ett proaktivt miljöarbete i många fall är bra för ekonomin men att det också ökar de positiva uppfattningarna om företaget vilken i sin tur påverkar förutsättningarna för fler affärer. De flesta av företagen har således kommit väldigt långt i sitt hållbarhetsarbete och många av de investeringar som idag är möjliga att göra är redan gjorda eller så är tekniken inte tillräckligt utvecklad.

Food waste has implications for the people, the planet, and profits. It presents a global problem which normally requires a local solution. Around 6% of the global food loss occurs in Latin America. However, the region lacks a clear strategy to address the issue, which is also true at the national level for countries such as Guatemala. Furthermore, the perception of different actors in the country towards food waste and its management remains unknown. The aim of this research is to explore on the attitudes towards food waste that might exist in the country by focusing on the restaurant sector with the objective of producing a holistic understanding of the issue. Concentration on the restaurant sector provides additional information of the matter, on a sector that shows limited research on it. To fulfill this objective, a case study was conducted, one that involved the participation of three actors directly related to restaurants as either managers or owners and an actor involved in the Municipality of Guatemala City. The research utilized semi-structured interviews and a review of the literature available on the subject as means of data gathering. The analysis was supported using the Triple Bottom Line Framework, a Positional Analysis ideology, the Sustainable Development Goals and the EU Waste Framework Directive. The results showed varied perceptions from the actors on the categorization of food waste, although impacts on an economic, environmental, and social dimension derived from food waste were acknowledged by all of them; being the latter the most prominent. For the actors, the generation of food waste was significant at the customer level, but was also influenced by the type of service provided by the restaurants. Additionally, the approaches selected by them to either directly or indirectly manage food waste covered a vast range of actions. Finally, the actors understood as key for addressing the food waste issue, the raising of awareness on the subject.

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the barriers for and their impact cooperation and coopetition for sustainable distribution of Municipality goods in three selected cities. Design/Methodology/Approach: This thesis is based on a qualitative approach using a multiple case study as data collection strategy. The population building up three cases consists of ten Swedish mid-sized cities with an urban consolidation center. Of these are the three cities Växjö, Kalmar and Borlänge sampled and both the municipality and two locally active freight forwarders (one RFP-winner and one non-RFP-winner) per city are interviewed. These interviews aimed at identifying barriers to cooperation between municipalities and freight forwarders and barriers to coopetition between private freight forwarders for a sustainable distribution of municipality goods. The secondary data is based upon three literature streams: Sustainability, Distribution in Urban Environments and, Cooperation and Coopetition. Findings: The results indicate that the main barriers to cooperation from a freight forwarder perspective are incorrect or missing data in the RFP, price for municipality goods distribution and prohibition of goods consolidation. The main barrier to cooperation, fossil fuel free trucks, is a potential future barrier. The main barriers to coopetition are higher costs, lack of trust and price. These barriers have mainly an impact on the economical sustainability but can, and in some cases, will have effects on the other TBL-aspects. Research Limitations/Implications: The findings of this thesis provide the municipality with knowledge about barriers from the perspective of the freight forwarders which can aid construction of future RFPs. It also provides both municipality and freight forwarders with knowledge of the potential future barriers which could affect ongoing cooperation. Lastly it provides involved actors with knowledge of barriers hindering a coopetition approach in distribution, enabling the next step of solving the barriers. The value of this thesis is the knowledge of the implications as well as the combination of the three chosen literature streams which have not been researched in this context previously

The Master's thesis deals with corporate social responsibility. The first part is dedicated to the definition of the term Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and to historical development of the whole strategy. It also includes explanation of the main theoretical concepts related to the topic (Tripple Bottom Line, Carroll's Pyramid, Stakeholder Theory, etc.) Following part deals with the implementation of CSR into practice and with advantages and disadvantages of the whole concept. Next chapter is focused on national and international organizations, initiatives and certificates that help companies to put the strategy of CSR in place. The practical part of the thesis deals with corporate social responsibility of Pilsner Urquell, one of the world's best known Czech breweries. Emphasis is put on the matter of CSR seen as philantrophic activity in comparison with CSR seen as a part of marketing and PR strategy.