Background: Sustainability is a growing trend which companies should acknowledge and incorporate. The role HR can be a direct contributor in the integration of sustainability. SMEs’ characteristics can facilitate the implementation of sustainability, which can be a source of competitive advantage.   Purpose: To examine the integration of sustainability through HR practices in SMEs, in the Jönköping region.   Method: An exploratory and an abductive approach were used to fulfill the purpose of the thesis. The explanation building strategy was used to analyze the data. Theories from the literature were compared with the empirical findings to identify patterns, based on the categories within the HR practices. The empirical data followed a qualitative method and was based on a multiple-case study, consisting of ten interviews with SMEs.   Main findings: SMEs in the Jönköping region had a high level of understanding in terms of sustainability. The HR practices were utilized for a better integration of sustainability. Incorporating sustainability in the firm’s values was the most effective way. This was achieved through integrating sustainability in the different HR practices; by communicating its value to employees, emphasizing it during the recruitment to assure value alignment, as well as explaining it during training activities.   Managerial implications: The findings showed that managers could benefit from considering the suggested HR practices for the integration of sustainability. As a result, other regions in Sweden can take advantage and learn from the case of the Jönköping region.

The purpose of this study was to explore users' and preparers' perception of sustainability reporting, especially for accountants and financial analysts who are involved with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Guidelines and GRI based sustainability or CSR reports in the United States. With the increasing trends to sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR), it is important to understand what level users and preparers currently hold towards the sustainability reporting. This study used samples from the following resources: all companies included in the GRI report list as a report preparer group and financial analysts as report users, whose companies' core business focused on social and environmental investing. This study examined four hypotheses concerning general corporate sustainability & reporting and sustainability performance indicators in environmental, economic and social aspects suggested by the GRI Guidelines. This paper contributes to corporate social responsibility and sustainability reporting. This paper studied users' perception of sustainability reporting and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Prior research mainly focused on preparers' perception or attitudes toward sustainability reports (Guthrie & Parker, 1990; Kolk, 2004; Lindgreen et al., 2009; White, 2005). Also, this paper adds to the literature on Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and its guidelines that have not been extensively studied in prior research. The results revealed that users and preparers agreed on the important issues asked for the general corporate sustainability and reporting, and both groups held similar attitudes towards the environmental, economic and social performance indicators and felt most of them as important to be included in a sustainability report. In addition, both groups indicated the GRI as the preferred standard setting body for sustainability reporting and gave support to GRI for its effort to establish and promote the standards for sustainability reporting. Finally, a considerable number of users and preparers agreed that the GRI report can fairly measure a company's environmental, economic and social performance.

Syfte Denna uppsats syftar till att kartlägga begreppet CSR och redogöra för dess innebörd. Uppsatsen syftar även till att förklara varför företag arbetar med CSR samt hur kunder förhåller sig till detta. Metod Vi har gjort en multipel fallstudie på företagen Electrolux AB, Swedbank AB och Swedish Match AB. Vi har genomfört telefonintervjuer med respektive företag samt gjort en kundundersökning för att se vad kunderna anser om företagens samhällsansvar. Uppsatsen bygger på en abduktiv forskningsansats och en kvalitativ undersökningsdesign. Teoretisk referensram I den teoretiska referensramen har vi kartlagt vad begreppet CSR betyder och vilka ansvarsområden som omfattas av begreppet. Vidare har vi lyft fram olika åsikter om CSR och beskrivit redovisningen av CSR samt redogjort för kopplingen mellan CSR och ekonomisk lönsamhet. Vi har även beskrivit två relevanta teorier som påverkar företagens CSR-arbete, nämligen intressentteorin och legitimitetsteorin. Resultat och slutsats CSR är ett begrepp som används för att beskriva företagens samhällsansvar. Begreppet omfattar ekonomiska, sociala, miljömässiga, etiska och legala aspekter, vilka samtliga måste samverka med varandra för att uppnå hållbarhet. CSR uppfattas positivt av kunderna och kan därmed ge företagen konkurrensfördelar samt bidra till en god ekonomisk lönsamhet. / Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the term CSR and analyze the meaning of the term. This paper also aims to explain why companies work with CSR and how customers’ in general are affected by CSR. Methodology We have done a multiple-case study at Electrolux AB, Swedbank AB, and Swedish Match AB. We performed a telephone interview with one CSR responsible person at each company. We also did a customer survey in order to find out what the customers think about the companies social responsibilities. The paper is based on an abductive reasoning and a qualitative research design. Theoretical perspectives The theoretical framework describes the term CSR, different aspects and opinions about CSR, sustainability reporting, and the correlation between CSR and economic viability. We have also described two relevant theories, the stakeholder theory and the legitimacy theory, which both affect the companies’ work with CSR. Conclusions CSR is a term which describes companies’ responsibility towards the society. The term CSR includes economic, social, environmental, ethical, and legal aspects. All of these aspects must be considered and interact with each other to reach the ultimate goal, sustainability. CSR is essential to customers and may therefore give responsible companies’ a competitive advantage and contribute to long-term economic viability.

Background: Emerging technologies enables manufacturing companies the opportunity to stay competitive and at the same time focus on increasing their sustainability impact. One such technology is additive manufacturing which has the potential to change the way manufacturing is performed and impact entire supply chains of manufacturing companies. Multiple studies have been done in the twenty-first century regarding additive manufacturing’s sustainability impact on logistics, although there is little research that focus on impact of additive manufacturing on transportation from a sustainable perspective. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the impact additive manufacturing has on the sustainability of inbound transportation. Method: A qualitative research strategy was used to explore the field of study through a multiple case study method. Through two cases, raw material providers and manufacturers within the additive manufacturing industry, data was gathered using semi-structed interviews. Conclusion: Findings from this study shows that additive manufacturing may have a sustainable impact on inbound transportation from an environmental, societal, and economic perspective. Additive manufacturing is more environmentally sustainable than conventional manufacturing for the inbound transportation leg from the raw material supplier to the manufacturing company since the technology requires lower volume of raw material to be transported, it leads to a higher transport efficiency, less frequent transportation need, and requires no return transportation. In economic impact it leads to fuel savings, less frequent transportation with less material, and a reduced inventory holding. Access to remote areas together with easier and safer material handling is the societal impact from using additive manufacturing instead of conventional manufacturing.

Background: ​The concept of CSR has become a more discussed topic in relation to employer attractiveness in recent years. Recent research pointed in the direction of CSR to be a vital tool to be utilised in order for employers to enhance their employer attractiveness. By implementing CSR within an organisations agenda, will initially increase the number of job applicants. However, employer attractiveness in relation to CSR was still treated as a generic term, and not divided into specific values. Therefore, the authors divided​ ​the values within employer attractiveness (Interest, Social, Economic, Development and Application Value) and investigated which of the five values within employer attractiveness that were positively impacted by CSR. Purpose: ​The purpose of this paper was to explain how CSR impact employer attractiveness. Methodology: ​This thesis had a quantitative research method based on previous studies, hence, a deductive approach. The purpose was of an explanatory nature and the authors utilized a cross-sectional research design. The authors created an online survey that gathered 280 responses through the use of non-probability sampling in the form of a convenience sample. Findings: ​In this study, four out of the five hypotheses were accepted meaning that CSR positively impacts employer attractiveness. Furthermore, the authors cross-checked the independent and dependent variables together with control questions such as gender, age and occupation. Resulting in gender, age and occupation not having a significant impact on the result. Conclusion: ​The authors conclude that CSR positively impacts employer attractiveness through the measured values of Interest, Social, Development and Application Value. The authors could not conclude that CSR had a positive impact on Economic Value meaning that the hypothesis (H3) was rejected.

Background: Business schools are one of society’s most influential institutions as they contribute to transforming and influencing the way the business world works. Hence, business schools bear responsibility for the creation of future, socially aware, graduates. Accordingly, the business industry expects business schools to educate future managers enhancing sustainability and ethical standards. Although it is argued that graduates in business schools get taught many professional skills and abilities to gain economic success, ethical and sustainable practices are often neglected. The schools are getting criticism for providing education distant and irrelevant to industry demands. Purpose: This study aims to create a deeper understanding of the phenomenon of responsible management education (RME) in business schools. The research can hopefully provide valuable insights, both practically and academically, for both the investigated school and other business schools while also providing a richer and more holistic view of the subject.   Method: This single-case study uses an exploratory and abductive research approach. Empirical data have been collected through semi-structured interviews with participants from Jönköping International Business School. Data has also been collected through document analysis. To understand and analyze the findings, thematic analysis has been used.   Findings: The findings show that RME has been implemented in various ways, both because the school itself believes it is highly important, but also because of the pressures stemming from various stakeholders and other institutional forces. Progress is found to have been made, yet the effects of that progress were not acknowledged significantly by either students or document analysis which might be due to a lack of a common definition of both RME and sustainability amongst staff and faculty. For the school to remain attractive, it is found important to continue its work towards RME and put equal emphasis on teaching financial, social, and environmental responsibilities.

This research leads to investigate the response of French companies through their corporate sustainability policies as a result of the different types of pressure that stakeholders can bring. The influence of stakeholders is increasingly significant towards ethical and environmental issues. Stakeholders do not hesitate to set up actions to make themselves heard. Social and environmental concerns facing this polluting industry make food companies exposed to more and more pressures that they must manage.  The academic literature necessary for the understanding of this study was carefully selected from online academic libraries. The literature review defined the objective of balancing Profit, People and Planet in corporate sustainability policies and its implementation through the Triple Bottom Line model. Also, the pressure groups are defined according to the academic literature and associated with Freeman's theory on stakeholders. This literature was coupled with collected primary data. Interviews were conducted with three French companies of different sizes to guarantee a realistic representation of the market. The interest of the inductive method used is to be able to apply the observations made on a larger scale.   The results obtained are grouped under five themes to facilitate their identification: Quality, Ethics, Environment, Consumer's power, and Well-Being. Under each of these themes, one or more stakeholders exert pressures to achieve the same objective. The strategies adopted by companies vary according to the type of pressure they face. Each company adapts its corporate sustainability policies to the pressures according to its size. Large companies will be better resourced than small ones. All corporate actions have two objectives: the satisfaction of their stakeholders and the improvement of the company in terms of sustainability.   This thesis contributes to the Stakeholder's theory and Triple Bottom Line model. The combination of these two theories is essential to explain the two converging phenomena of this thesis: pressures and sustainable responses.

The procurement of ores and metals necessitates consideration of the sustainability of both the productand of the producer. Current trends in procurement practices move toward assuring the lowestenvironmental, social and economic impacts feasible. In order to ensure a high level of sustainability inthe raw materials acquired, the practices and methods of the producers must be evaluated. To this enddifferent assessment models may be used. This report aims to, through an investigation ofcontemporary assessment models; develop an assessment model which facilitates the sustainableprocurement of ores and metals with a reduced need for compliance from the assessed parties. Theevaluation is carried out based on the triple bottom line (TBL) definition of sustainability and considersthe practices and needs of the ores and metals industry. A number of desirable traits were found in themodels evaluated. A design for a novel assessment model is proposed for scoring ore and metalproducers. The proposed model features recommendations for weighing methods and specifications forimpact indicators, measurement methods, and grading methods. / Malm- och metallindustri arbetar allt mer med hållbar utveckling. Detta kräver metoder för attsäkerställa att potentiella underleverantörer använder sig av procedurer och strategier som anses sundaur ett hållbarhetsperspektiv. För att undersöka detta finns etablerade bedömningsmodeller. Syftet meddenna rapport är att utvärdera dessa modeller för få en grund på vilken en ny modell, anpassad förmalm- och metallindustrin, kan utformas. Denna nya modell utformas för att minska krav av storaeftergifter från de aktörer som undersöks. Utvärderingen baseras på ”triple bottom line” -definitionenav hållbar utveckling och tar hänsyn till behoven som finns i industrin, och de metoder som redananvänds. Arbetet resulterade i att ett antal egenskaper som är önskvärda för en bedömningsmodellidentifierades. Med dessa egenskaper i beaktande utformades en ny bedömningsmodell medrekommendationer för viktning av betyg och specifikationer för mätpunkter, mätmetoder, ochbetygsmodeller.

Title: The inclusion of sustainability in construction projects and its relation to project success: a qualitative study of the relationship between sustainability and projects. Level: Student thesis, final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business Administration  Author: Elin Eriksson and Josefine Jähle Supervisor: Emilia Kvarnström Date: 2021 - June  Aim: Previous research draws attention to the negative connection between integrating sustainability into projects with a focus on long-term sustainability goals as opposed to short-term traditional project goals. Therefore, researchers suggest that more empirical studies should be conducted in the subject. The purpose of the study is to create an increased understanding of the relationship between sustainability and projects through the research questions “How is sustainability included in projects?” and “What is the perceived relationship between sustainability and project success?”.  Method: To achieve the purpose of the study, a qualitative method has been used in the form of six semi-structured interviews with project managers and people with different sustainability positions within Swedish construction companies. The collected data has been transcribed and coded into recurring themes which were analyzed through a content analysis.  Result & Conclusions: The study shows that the customer for the projects can act as an opening or barrier for how sustainability is included within projects. The results also show that the entire supply chain can influence the inclusion of sustainability. According to this study, the relationship between sustainability work and project success is difficult to determine, which is explained by the fact that sustainability is actually a part of project success. Thus, the study has resulted in the model “The Sustainable Iron Triangle”.  Contribution of the thesis: This study has contributed to an increased theoretical understanding of the relationship between sustainability and projects, but also provides an empirical basis on whether sustainability is included in projects and its relation to project success. This study has developed the model The Iron Triangle into The Sustainable Iron Triangle which better reflects today's assessment of project success.  Suggestions for future research: Future studies are recommended to carry out similar surveys regarding construction companies outside Sweden or to examine the customer's perceptions regarding the inclusion of sustainability in projects. What also would be interesting is to test The Sustainable Iron Triangle in an industry other than the construction industry to examine the relevance of the model in another context.  Key words: Project, Sustainability, Project Management, Triple Bottom Line, Project Success, The Iron Triangle.

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