Disasters can occur anywhere in the world and when they do, human lives as well as infrastructure are affected in diverse ways. The impact of disasters usually warrant an immediate response from aid agencies because human lives are at stake and that is where humanitarian logistics comes into play. Humanitarian organizations involved in relief efforts have an enormous task of responding to emergencies in a very swift manner and are constantly seeking for new and innovative ways to reach their beneficiaries with utmost satisfaction. One way of doing this is through collaboration and engaging in partnerships with private sector companies. Given the fact that humanitarian organizations and private sector companies operate in different sectors, such partnerships could be challenging yet beneficial in diverse ways. The purpose of this thesis was to analyze the cross-sector partnership between humanitarian organizations and the private sector. In order to achieve this aim, a frame of reference was developed with an operational partnership model and theory whislt examining and contrasting both humanitarian and business supply chains. Our methodology involved both primary and secondary data collection with empirical data collected from two private companies and one humanitarian organization. Data collected for the study were then analyzed in relation to the literature and models outlined in the frame of reference. The results of the study showed that the partnerships between the firms of the two sectors studied were philanthropic, long-term and mutually beneficial in diverse ways. Whilst the private companies benefit through improvements in Corporate Social Responsibility, creating public awareness of their corporate image, and brand among other benefits by engaging in the partnership, humanitarian organizations on the other hand, partner with companies which fit their expressed needs and gain benefits in both monetary and non-monetary terms. Moreover, knowledge transfer through the sharing of skills, experiences, resources and expertise are also very important elements which add to the benefits gained by both partners. In addition, the findings obtained from the respondents of the study demonstrated that trust, personal connection, regular communication and working together are very important elements which can be considered as critical success factors which sustain partnerships.

Syftet med denna studie är att beskriva och förklara vad börsnoterade företag redovisar som socialt ansvar. Fokus i denna uppsats är att granska vad företag själva lägger störst vikt vid i sitt frivilliga arbete i upprättandet av en hållbarhetsredovisning och vilket socialt ansvar de anser sig ta.

In the past few years many businesses has suffered some serious setbacks and some banks have even undergone bankruptcy. That’s why Corporate Governance (CG) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) have increasingly become very important in the recent years. This thesis investigates the role played by CG and CSR in business expansion. Further it examines what is CG and CSR and how it can bring about growth in a business. For better understanding of the theories we used a case study approach and chose Grameen Bank (GB) a Bangladeshi bank because of its tremendous success and growth over the years even in the middle of the turbulent financial crisis. We wish to find out the role CG and CSR played in this success critically. The expected contributions of this work will be to see the visibility of CG CSR in a bank like GB which has deviated from conventional banking models and how this has influenced its growth.

Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka, beskriva och analysera förändring av arbete med CSR i ett stort svenskt globalt klädföretag för åren 2000 till 2010. Vidare ämnar vi undersöka vilka motiv som kan ha kommit att påverka detta. Frågeställningar: - Hur har arbetet med socialt och miljömässigt ansvar förändrats inom H&M mellan år 2000 och 2010? - Hur kan ovanstående förändring och motiven till H&M:s arbete med CSR förklaras utifrån legitimitetsteori, intressentteori samt ur strategi- och lönsamhetsperspektiv? Teori: I denna uppsats används legitimitetsteori, intressentteori samt teori om CSR ur strategi- och lönsamhetsperspektiv för att söka vilka motiv som påverkar H&M:s CSR-arbete. Empiri: Empirin i denna uppsats är hämtad ur H&M:s års- och hållbarhetsredovisningar för åren 2000 till 2010. Den presenteras i form av en empirisk analys med en tematisk indelning utifrån den teoretiska referensramen. Slutsatser: H&M:s CSR-arbete har förändrats under undersökningsperioden och har kommit att bli mer centralt i företagets verksamhet. Den största förändringen har skett sett ur ett strategi- och lönsamhetsperspektiv där CSR har blivit en allt viktigare del. Motiv utifrån legitimitets- och intressentteori har funnits under hela undersökningsperioden men har inte förändrats i samma utsträckning.

Introduction – People and society are more concerned about Corporate Social Responsibility as well as the demand of outsourcing logistics services. When buyer companies select TPL providers, the selection criteria are focused on cost and on time delivery, while issues like CSR are often placed in a low priority. Purpose – The purpose of this master thesis is to analyze how Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) impacts as selection criteria when buying services from Third Party Logistics (TPL) providers. Design/Methodology – The research approach of this thesis is qualitative. Both primary data and secondary data collection were used; semi-structured interviews, emails, field observation and documentation. There are seven respondents from three different companies. Findings – From buyer companies’ perspective, CSR was taken into account when buying services from TPL providers. However, it had impact on a low priority since the buyer company chose leading TPL providers that have a good reputation and image. The buyer company believes that those selected TPL providers have already implemented CSR practice. Moreover, the results show that the main driving force behind the application of CSR was the customer requirement Research limitations – This master thesis has studied in a specific Swedish company when selecting TPL providers. Moreover, this research has been studied from the buyer companies’ perspective.

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Corporate social responsibility is a concept widely discussed by businesses and has come to describe the relationship between business and society. For some it means the idea o legal responsibility, an ethical behaviour and some equate it with charitable contribution. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (Hopkins, 2007: 25) defines CSR as follows:   "Corporate Social Responsibility is the continuing commitment by business to contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the community and society at large."   The relationship is increasingly striving to counteract a variety of problems that are associated with the contemporary globalization, such as violation of human and labour rights along with environmental challenges and is well-mentioned both by academics and businessmen. Within the Indian carpet industry, child labour has become a hot topic due to major scandals on the issues in the 1990s. Though, the meaning of corporate social responsibility is less common. The purpose of this study is to examine the Indian carpet industry’s awareness and use of the international agenda of corporate social responsibility, hence how the carpet export houses approach the responsibility. Also, the purpose is to examine how the carpet weavers are affected by the policies and actions of the export houses.   A field study with an ethnographical approach has been conducted through the use of interviews and observations in the district of Bhadohi, state of Uttar Pradesh in India. The interviewees consisted of workers working with the finishing processes of carpets at two export houses’ factories as well as carpet weavers at the looms in the villages. The findings from the interviews were analyzed through the use of parts of the Sustainable Livelihood Framework and with this approach the weavers’ access to assets is analyzed in relation to the export houses’ applying of the international agenda of CSR, more precise in this study, the UN Global Compact’s principles of CSR. The main findings from this study show that the CSR principles of the UN Global Compact were followed to different extents by the export houses since they are prioritizing some principles before others. The distribution of responsibilities differs depending on the management of the export house, mainly because of how the demands from the buyers and consumers look like. Also, the prioritizing of the export houses has become to affect the weavers’ socio-economic situation and for some the access to assets has increased. Furthermore, the study reveal that corporate social responsibility to a large extent is directed and influenced by the buyers’ and consumers’ (mainly stationed abroad in Western countries) demand. Thereby, through the complex system of sub-contracting, carpet weavers are affected differently since CSR is interpreted and used in various ways that are considered as most “suitable” to the export house.

Bakgrund: Enligt en undersökning gjord av Livsmedelsverket beräknas tjugo procent av Sveriges barn i dagsläget vara överviktiga eller lida av fetma. Orsaker till detta sägs vara bland annat ändrade levnadsvanor som exempelvis mindre fysisk aktivitet och mindre hälsosam mat. Övervikt ses i normala fall av samhället som ett problem och på senare tid har allt fler samhällsaktörer börjat uppmärksamma frågan. Kravet från samhället ökar på att bland annat företagen skall ta sitt sociala ansvar och hörsamma samt agera för en samhällsförbättring med syfte att komma tillrätta med överviktsproblemet. Något som dock inte har fått lika mycket utrymme i debatten om socialt ansvar i samband med övervikt är hur den offentliga sektorn agerar i denna situation. Syfte: Utgör statens, kommunens, landstingets och skolans nuvarande agerande var för sig ett socialt ansvartagande med syfte att skapa de bästa förutsättningarna för en grundskolelev att komma tillrätta med sin övervikt? Skapar dessutom de fyra parternas gemensamma sociala ansvarstagande tillräckligt med förutsättningar för att grundskoleleven skall komma tillrätta med sin övervikt? Tillvägagångssätt: Resultatet baseras på en intervjuundersökning med representanter för landsting, kommuner och skolor i Östergötlands län, närmare bestämt i kommunerna Linköping och Mjölby. Ytterligare har statens offentliga handlingar studerats och utvärderats. Resultat: Resultatet av undersökningen visar att det fyra olika aktörerna uppmärksammar problemet om barns-, och i detta specifika fall grundskolelevers övervikt. De fyra aktörerna staten, kommunen, landstinget och skolan tar var och en ett socialt ansvar genom både kort och långsiktiga projekt. På frågan om de fyra parternas gemensamma ansvarstagande utgör tillräckliga förutsättningar för att ett barn själv skall komma tillrätta med sin övervikt är svaret nej. Exempelvis erkänner alla inblandande parter själva att de skulle kunna göra mer för att förbättra den rådande situationen. Aktörerna menar att det som saknas är ett helhetstänkande, att exempelvis hälsokunskap skulle behöva integreras i hela skolverksamheten och inte bara i samband med ämnet idrott och hälsa eller i olika temaveckor. Det som ytterligare skulle behövas för att lösa situationen är ett bättre samarbete mellan, de i denna undersökning, fyra olika aktörerna.

Vietnam is a developing country in South-East Asia with borders toward China, Laos and Cambodia. As other countries in the same area are far more developed, Vietnam can gain a lot from international trade. It is an important factor for a country to build prosperity and gain economic growth and thereby reach a higher standard of living. But for a company to succeed in the international market is a demanding task. Both internal and external factors that influence a company’s competence need to be taken into consideration. The awareness of Corporate Social Responsibility is increasing every day and it is becoming a more and more important factor for the end-customer as well as the buyers and suppliers. This Master Thesis deals with the relationship between Vietnamese suppliers and their international buyers and how Corporate Social Responsibility affects that relation. The result of the study shows that there are advantages for both the Vietnamese supplier and the international buyer. Companies that work together and care for each other will end up with a strong and long-term relation. Both the quality and the productivity increased and that the staff turn-over decreased when introducing CSR. One also has to understand that the international customers are in command and that the suppliers are merely following the customer’s demands. Furthermore, quality, price and delivery time are the most important factors when choosing a supplier but by working with CSR these factors will also be affected positively. It was also, apart from the main focus of this thesis, interesting to discover how corruption and cultural differences affected the supplier-buyer relation and also the discussion about whose responsibility it actually is to work with these issues; the buying rich customer or the relatively poor supplier?