Background – Circular economy (CE) is gaining more and more importance in research, based on the great desire to change the linear fashion economy to a circular. A Product Service System (PSS) can contribute to the achievement of CE, as PSSs, such as take-back or repair services, bring back the garments to the fashion retail company into the CE. Regarding, closed-loop goals have been created from which the third goal needs to be recently achieved by the fashion industry. Closed-Loop Goal 3 deals with the cascading flow of garments, which sends a garment into multiple usage loops. To accomplish the cascading garment flow, this method connects several PSSs to close the loop, and fewer garments end in landfill. To achieve that, the involvement of customers and business partners is essential as they are purchasing and repatriating garments and materials into the cascading loops. Purpose – The research purpose is to offer new knowledge regarding how fashion retailers can implement cascading loop systems in the textile Closed-Loop Supply Chain (CLSC) and narrow the research gap of cascading loop creations. The study aims to investigate how to involve customers and business partners in PSSs through the digitalisation of cascading garment flow. By doing so, the cascading garment flow intends to achieve improved sustainable performance by allowing used garments to enter a cascading garment flow system.  Methodology – This thesis is a single case study that has been conducted through an abductive approach. The research is built on different customer and business partner involvement theories and the triple bottom line theory. Semi-structured interviews have been conducted as primary data collection. Additionally, the data has been supplemented by secondary data in the form of company documents such as sustainability reports. Afterwards, the data has been analysed qualitatively by thematic analysis and by the SDG assessment tool.  Findings – The results have shown that a mixture of smart service tools, stakeholder and customer communication can achieve customers and business partners' involvement in creating a cascading garment flow. Additionally, the findings offer an insight into the potential contribution of the SDG goal achievement, which is showing that the digitalised PSSs involving customers and business partners in the cascading flow can potentially obtain sustainable performance.  Practical implications & Research limitations – The cascading garment flow as the Closed Loop Goal 3 in CE is still a relatively unexplored area. However, the implementation is essential for sustainable performance and development. Therefore, it is suggested that other issues within the cascading garment flow should be investigated. Additionally, this research was mainly districted by the smaller selection of literature of former research, which did not offer much support.

Aim – The aim of this study is to explore how Management accountants (MAs) participate in strategic management processes nowadays and to explain reasons for potential differences in involvement of MAs in strategic management processes between different organizations.Method - The study is based on a multi-case study approach conducted among three independent companies in Sweden. The information from semi-structural interviews with MAs and archival data in form of job announcements for Senior MAs positions is used to analyze and cross-check the relationship. The time-horizon is cross-sectional.Findings - The study shows that involvement of MAs in strategic management processes varies a lot within organizations being influenced by the following factors: personal traits, business knowledge, relationship with management and established role. Some major variations on cross-company level are identified between subsidiary and HQ, and between representatives of different capital ownership forms.Conclusions - The study suggests that power imbalance in organizations hinders applying critical thinking and expressing objective opinion by MAs, that makes it difficult to claim a fully explicit business-partner role. Process of MAs’ involvement in the strategic management decision making presents a product of interrelation between two strategies for legitimizing of truth claims proposed by Heizmann and Olsson (2015): executing power of authority and executing power of expertise.

Business partners have developed from the controller profession in recent times. The role is divided into the use of financial information and guidance and is expected to contribute in strategic decision-making. The study intends to contribute to the research gap, business partners within small companies. The research question of the study was "What parts and to what extent of the strategic decision-making process in small companies can the business partners influence and why?". The purpose of the study is to create understanding, which means answering how- and why questions which is achieved when answering the research question. The representative of the business partner in small companies was the CFO and not the controller as in larger companies. Interviews were conducted with four companies where a decision-maker and a CFO were interviewed. The questions were asked according to a semi-structured questionnaire. The questions were about the pillars of the study, which are the expectations of business partners from both interviewees, the use of financial information, guidance, and recommendations. Finally, questions were asked regarding the companies' strategic decisions and the involvement of business partners in the form of contributing financial information and guidance to discussions and documents. After collecting data, these were compiled and analyzed in themes similar to the questionnaire. The study's contribution provides indications for future researchers and the conclusions of the study showed that business partners in small companies had an influential part in strategic decisions where guidance and financial information are the role's biggest tools. The business partner has personalized roles with added responsibilities in these small businesses. The business partner's involvement is noticeably influenced by the characteristics of small businesses, but not as high as the study's original expectation. The characteristics, on the other hand, showed tendencies for even smaller companies to have a higher demonstrated degree of these characteristics. The proposed analysis model can be considered a representative model, it shows the context and how all parts are connected. / Business partners har utvecklats från controlleryrket på senare tid. Rollen är uppdelad i användning av finansiell information och rådgivning och förväntas bidra till strategiska beslut. Studien avser att bidra till forskningsgapet business partners inom småföretag. Forskningsfrågan studien besvarade var “Vilka delar och i vilken omfattning av den strategiska beslutsprocessen i småföretag kan business partners influera och varför?”. Syftet med studien är att skapa förståelse vilket innebär besvarande av hur- och varför frågor vilket uppnås vid svar av forskningsfråga. Representant för business partnern i småföretag var CFO och inte controller som i större företag. Intervjuer gjordes med fyra företag där en beslutsfattare och en CFO intervjuades. Frågorna ställdes enligt ett semistrukturerade frågeformulär. Frågorna handlade om studiens grundpelare vilket är förväntningarna på business partners från båda intervjuade, användningen av finansiell information, rådgivning och rekommendationer. Slutligen ställdes frågor hur företagens strategiska beslut såg ut samt business partners involvering i form av bidragande av finansiell information och rådgivning till diskussioner och underlag. Efter insamlat underlag sammanställdes och analyserades dessa i teman likt frågeformuläret. Studiens bidrag ger indikationer till framtida forskare och slutsatserna av studien påvisade att business partner i småföretag hade en påverkande del vid strategiska beslut där rådgivning och finansiell information är rollens största verktyg. Business partners arbete och åsikter är högt värderade, de arbetar i skräddarsydda roller med ytterligare ansvarsområden i småföretagen. Business partnerns involvering är märkbart påverkad av småföretagens karaktärsdrag men inte lika hög som studiens ursprungliga förväntan. Karaktärsdragen visade däremot tendenser till att mindre småföretag hade en högre påvisad grad av dessa karaktärsdrag. Den föreslagna analysmodellen kan anses vara en representativ modell, den visar sammanhanget och hur alla delar hänger ihop.

Cette thèse s’inscrit dans les champs du management public et du contrôle de gestion. Elle a pour objectif d’apporter un éclairage sur la fonction contrôle de gestion dans les collectivités territoriales en construisant, d’une part, une typologie des contrôleurs de gestion, et en identifiant, d’autre part, certains facteurs organisationnels expliquant les différents types de contrôleurs de gestion territoriaux mis en exergue. Dans cette perspective, une analyse du rôle du contrôleur de gestion territorial s’appuyant sur la littérature académique et sur des recherches antérieures est présentée. Puis, une étude empirique combinant méthodologie qualitative et quantitative, et portant sur le contrôle de gestion dans les grandes intercommunalités, identifie quatre types de contrôleurs de gestion territoriaux : à savoir le contrôleur de gestion respectivement stratège, conseiller, partenaire et analyste. Le rôle de chaque type de contrôleur de gestion territorial est ensuite précisé, ce rôle apparaissant lié notamment à l’étendue des compétences et aux nombres de partenaires de l’intercommunalité considérée. / This thesis is in the fields of public management and management control. It aims to shed light on the management control function in local authorities by building, a typology of management controllers on one hand, and on other hand identifying certain organizational factors explaining the different types territorial management controllers highlighted. With this in mind, an analysis of the role of territorial management controller based on academic literature and previous research is presented. Then an empirical study combining qualitative and quantitative methodology, and about the management control in local council communities, identifies four types of territorial management controllers: namely respectively strategist, councillor, partner and analyst. The role of each type of territorial management controller is then qualified, that role seems to be particularly linked to the extent of powers and the numbers of partners in the latter local council community.

Submitted by Alexandre Alcântara Schmidt (alexandre.schmidt@uol.com.br) on 2016-12-13T00:03:46Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Alexandre Alcantara Schmidt completo.pdf: 1381692 bytes, checksum: 62309e1aae5045226683d71d5dd1b429 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by ÁUREA CORRÊA DA FONSECA CORRÊA DA FONSECA (aurea.fonseca@fgv.br) on 2016-12-16T14:15:45Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Alexandre Alcantara Schmidt completo.pdf: 1381692 bytes, checksum: 62309e1aae5045226683d71d5dd1b429 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-22T17:55:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Alexandre Alcantara Schmidt completo.pdf: 1381692 bytes, checksum: 62309e1aae5045226683d71d5dd1b429 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-11-28 / This work aimed to raise the main challenges in the adoption of strategic planning in the management of human resources of public enterprises. Therefore, semi-structured interviews were conducted with human resource managers of federal enterprises located in Rio de Janeiro. The challenges and difficulties that the companies found were faced with the challenges identified in the literature and the conclusion was that companies are still in the traditional HR stage, while literature indicates that HR must be a strategic business partner. Finally, we recommended actions that human resources should take to overcome the challenges in order to become a strategic partner. It is expected that this research contribute to advance the debate on strategic planning in human resource management in the public sector. In addition, it is expected to contribute to the practice of companies, serving as a possible reference for public companies that are still in the early stages of adopting strategic planning in HR. / Esta dissertação teve por objetivo levantar os principais desafios na adoção do planejamento estratégico na gestão de recursos humanos das empresas públicas. Para tanto, foram realizadas entrevistas semiestruturadas com gestores de recursos humanos de empresas estatais federais localizadas no Rio de Janeiro. Os desafios e dificuldades encontrados pelas empresas foram confrontados com os desafios apontados na literatura e chegou-se à conclusão que as empresas ainda estão no estágio de RH tradicional, enquanto a literatura aponta que o RH deve ser um parceiro estratégico do negócio. Por fim, foram recomendadas ações que a área de recursos humanos deve tomar para superar os desafios para se tornar um parceiro estratégico. Espera-se com esta pesquisa contribuir para o avanço no debate sobre planejamento estratégico na gestão de recursos humanos na área pública. Além disso, espera-se contribuir para a prática das empresas, servindo como uma possível referência para as empresas públicas que ainda estão em estágio inicial de adoção do planejamento estratégico no RH.

In den letzten Jahren geriet die sogenannte fehlende Zahlungsmoral von Unternehmen und deren negative Auswirkungen immer wieder in die Schlagzeilen der Tagespresse. Obwohl derartige Klagen immer wieder laut werden, existieren bisher kaum systematische Untersuchungen, die sich mit den Ursachen fehlender Zahlungsmoral und den Vermeidungsmöglichkeiten beschäftigen. Vor diesem Hintergrund soll mit der vorliegenden Studie das Problem der 'Zahlungsmoral' für das Handwerk im Raum Leipzig näher untersucht werden. Die Ziele der Studie können insbesondere durch die folgenden drei Fragestellungen umrissen werden: Welchen Umfang haben Unregelmässigkeiten tatsächlich? Wie sehen die betroffenen Handwerksbetriebe die Situation? Welche Faktoren führen zu einem unregelmäßigen Zahlungsverhalten von Kunden?:Ziel der Studie; Untersuchungsdesign; Umfang und Bedeutung von Zahlungsunregelmäßigkeiten; Bestimmung von Zahlungsunregelmäßigkeiten; Fazit

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal. / New economic realities are putting pressure on HR to widen its focus from the administrative role it has traditionally played, to a broader strategic role as a business partner. This transition has been difficult for many HR functions because in order to play a more strategic role, they have to measure their effectiveness. To date very few have met this challenge. There are many schools of thought on measuring the effectiveness of the HR function. Sorne authors propose a quantitative or a qualitative approach, while others propose a global approach. However, they all have limitations. An alternative approach is the Balanced Scorecard concept, which enables organizations to translate their strategy into a balanced set of metrics, combining qualitative and quantitative, and financial and non­financial metrics, helping the organization assess current and predict future performance. Therefore, the objective of this research has been to design a balanced scorecard for the Human Resources function as a potential approach to evaluating its effectiveness. Based on the literature, the research methodology focused on the design of a scorecard for a large international organization. First, the HR strategy for this organization was clarified and articulated into a series of cause and effect relationships, presented as tangible goals. To assess the performance of these strategic goals, measures were then selected and defined for each one, resulting in a feasible scorecard composed of 3 8 metrics. The scorecard is ready to implement as a strategic measurement system, enabling the Function' s effectiveness to be assessed over time. Due to the exploratory nature of this research, this application study will hopefully provide insight on the use of the balanced scorecard as an approach to evaluating the effectiveness of the HR function. In the current context facing HR functions, it is key that they find a way to evaluate their effectiveness that will support their evolution as business partners. / Les réalités économiques étant ce qu'elles sont, une forte pression est exercée sur la fonction ressources humaines (RH) afin d'élargir son horizon du rôle administratif traditionnel, à un rôle stratégique accru en tant que partenaire d'affaires. Cette transition a été difficile pour les fonctions RH car, afin d'assumer un rôle plus stratégique, elles se doivent de mesurer leur efficacité. À ce jour, très peu d'entre elles ont relevé ce défi. Il y a plusieurs écoles de pensées sur le sujet de la mesure de l'efficacité du rôle des RH. Certaines proposent une approche quantitative ou qualitative, alors que d'autres suggèrent une approche globale. Cependant, toutes ces approches accusent certaines limites. Le concept du Tableau de Bord Équilibré est une approche qui permet aux organisations de mettre sur pied leurs stratégies sous forme de mesures équilibrées, combinant mesures qualitatives et quantitatives, financières et non-financières, permettant ainsi à ces organisations d'évaluer les performances actuelles et d'anticiper les performances futures. En résumé, l'objectif de ce travail a été de concevoir un tableau de bord équilibré comme une approche susceptible de mesurer l'efficacité de la Fonction des Ressources Humaines. Basée sur la documentation existante, la méthodologie de recherche se concentre sur la création type d'un tableau de bord pour une organisation de taille internationale. D'abord, la stratégie des RH pour cette organisation a été exprimée et conçue en séries de relations de cause à effet, présentées sous forme d'objectifs tangibles. Pour évaluer la performance de ces objectifs stratégiques, des mesures précises furent sélectionnées et définies donnant comme résultat un tableau de bord réalisable composé de 38 mesures. Le tableau de bord est donc prêt à être mis en œuvre en tant que système de mesure stratégique, permettant ainsi d'évaluer l'efficacité de la Fonction au fil du temps. Ce travail étant de nature exploratoire, il est à prévoir que cette étude d'application fournira un modèle quand à l'utilisation du tableau de bord en tant que méthode d'évaluation de l'efficacité de la fonction RH. Face au contexte actuel, il est essentiel que les fonctions RH trouvent un moyen d'évaluer leur efficacité afin de supporter leur évolution en tant que partenaire d'affaires.

Examensarbete, civilekonomprogrammet inriktning Controller, Ekonomihögskolan vid Linnéuniversitetet, Växjö.  Kurskod 4FE18E, 30hp, VT2019   Författare: Mikael Bergström och Louise Samuelsson Handledare: Elin Funck   Titel: Controllerns roll - från generalisering till nyansering   Bakgrund: I takt med att företagen och dess ekonomistyrning utvecklats sägs controllerrollen gått från att vara en beancounter till en affärsinriktad business partner. Det finns dock en oenighet i hur, och hur långt, utvecklingen skett och argument har förts fram att det fullständiga skiftet inte materialiserats utan att det istället är en hybridiserad roll som syns. Trots att det öppnats upp för att det är en heterogen roll har det linjära tänket kring rollens utveckling lett till generaliseringar och otydligheter i hur rollen beskrivs.   Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att identifiera olika faktorer som påverkar rollen för controllers samt förklara hur dessa faktorer påverkar controllers i olika riktningar och mot olika roller. Ambitionen och det övergripande syftet är därmed att generera en djupgående kunskap och förståelse samt att nyansera bilden av controllerrollen.   Metod: Studien centrerar kring en kvalitativ intervjustudie av studieobjektet controllers. Semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med controllers på tre stora företag inom den tillverkande sektorn för att ge en relevant bredd till det empiriska materialet.   Slutsatser: Ett bidrag ges till teorin dels genom resultatet som visar att det är en hybridiserad roll som återfinns men också genom att olika faktorer som påverkar rollen har identifierats samt diskuterats och använts för att nyansera och urskilja olika inriktningar av rollen utifrån vilken nivå eller position controllern jobbar på. Förväntningar och uppfattningar ses påverka genom att möjliggöra och öppna upp för en bred och inkluderande roll och erfarenhet ses påverka arbets- och förhållningssättet till att bli mer aktivt och med ett förändrat analytiskt tillvägagångssätt. I och med att mönster har kunnat urskiljas vad gäller arbetsuppgifter och handlingar samt vad som är viktig kunskap, kompetens och egenskaper i förhållande till den organisatoriska positionen ses dessa i kombination påverka rollen i olika riktningar. Alla positioner och nivåer ses innehålla drag av rollbeskrivningen analytiker. Ledningsnivån samt positionen finance ses också påverkas åt coach, positionerna RnD, logistik och produktion påverkar åt pedagog och positionen redovisning åt kamrer. Sist ses arbete på den operativa nivån påverka rollen åt såväl pedagog som kamrer. / Degree Project in Controlling, The Business Administration and Economics Programme. School of Business and Economics at Linnaeus university, Växjö. Course code 4FE18E, 30 credits. Spring semester 2019   Authors: Mikael Bergström and Louise Samuelsson Supervisor: Elin Funck   Title: The controller role - from generalization to nuance   Background: As the companies and their management accounting has developed, the controller role is said to have gone from that of a beancounter towards a business oriented business partner. However, there is a disagreement in how, and how far, the development has gone and arguments has been made that the complete transition has not materialized, and that the role can rather be seen as a hybrid. Despite the fact that the theoretical framework has opened up for a heterogenous role, the linear thinking in regards to the development of the role has led to generalisations and ambiguity in how the role is described.   Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify different factors that affect the roles for controllers, as well as explaining how these factors affect controllers in various directions and towards various roles. The ambition along with the general purpose is therefore to generate a deeper knowledge and understanding as well as painting a more nuanced picture of controllers and their different roles in a company.   Method: The thesis is centered around a qualitative interview study of controllers as a professional group. Semi-structured interviews have been performed with controllers from three large manufacturing companies in order to provide a relevant depth and width for the empirical material.      Conclusions: A contribution is made to the theoretical framework, in part through the result of the thesis that conclude a hybridization of the role. The second contribution is that various factors that affect the role have been identified as well as discussed and utilized in order to distinguish different directions of the role pending on what level or in which position the controller is active. Expectations and opinions are seen to affect and open up for a broad and including role, while experience affect how controllers work as well as their analytical approach in different assignments. Patterns have emerged in regard to assignments, actions, important attributes and competencies that, combined with the organizational aspect, is seen to push the role in different directions. In accordance with this, all positions and levels include the role of analyst to some degree. Additionally, the managerial level as well as the position of finance show signs that point to a coach-role, the positions of RnD, logistics and production include an educator-perspective, and the position of accounting connect to the role of a chamberlain. Lastly, the operational level show signs of pushing the role towards that of both an educator and a chamberlain.

Ofta hämtas forskning inom Human Resource (HR) och Human Resource Management (HRM) från företagsekonomiska institutioner. Begreppsbildningen präglas av management och organisationsteori med fokus hur funktionen skapar det bästa värdet för organisationen. Här finns som jag ser det en lucka att fylla. Det här är en uppsats i den praktiska kunskapens teori. Med utgångspunkt i främst hermeneutiken samt Dreyfus och Dreyfus inlärningssteg undersöker jag HR-partnerns yrkeskunnande och jag problematiserar handlingsutrymmets betydelse för detta yrkeskunnande. Jag har genomfört fyra djupintervjuer med två HR-partners, en HR-chef och en chef som är kund hos HR-avdelningen. Uppsatsen visar att i den kommun jag undersökt och givit det fingerade namnet Ärlanda, inte främst är de formella strukturerna som avgör hur HR-partnern handlar. Ju bättre förvaltningens förväntningar stämmer överens med HR-funktionens uppdrag och den enskilda HR-medarbetarens samlade kunskap och erfarenhet, desto större blir handlingsutrymmet. Det leder till att HR partnern kan handla och arbeta förebyggande och långsiktigt. Risken som jag ser är att HR-funktionen i sin strävan att utgöra ett professionellt HR-stöd med standardiserade rutiner som underlättar för organisationens chefer även låser fast sin egen yrkesutövning vid enklare rutinartade arbetsuppgifter. På sikt riskeras att förmågan att handla klokt i den enskilda situationen gå förlorad. / It is common, that research in the area of Human Resource (HR) and Human Resource Management (HRM),  is placed at schools of business and administration. The conceptualization is characterized by management and organization theory, focusing on how the function creates the best value for the organization. Here, as I see it, is a gap to fill. This essay, built on the theory of practical knowledge, is primarily based on hermeneutics and Dreyfus and Dreyfus's learning theory.  I investigate the professional skills of the HR-partner and I problematize about the importance of the latitude of the HR partner's professional skills. I have conducted four deep interviewers with; two HR-partners, one HR-manager, and one manager who is the customer of the services of the HR-department. The essay shows that in the municipality I have investigated, which I have given the fictive name Ärlanda, it is not primarily the formal structures that determine how the HR-partner is acting. The latitude for the HR-partner to act and use all his or her work skills is dependent upon a consistency between the expectations of the business, the mission of the HR-department and the individual HR employee's experiences. This will give a space to act in prevention and work with issues at the long range term. Otherwise, as I see it, there is a risk in the endeavor of the HR-department to provide professional HR support with standardized procedures that ease the work of the managers in the organization. This risk is that the professional skills of the HR-partner get occupied by the routine assignments. In the long run, this will be at the expense of the ability to act wisely in the specific situation.