Today's textile industry is developing and all the more companies are starting to focus on sustainability issues, as demands from society rapidly increases. The aim of this study is therefore to identify what pressures are put on companies within the textile sector in Indonesia from both internal and external stakeholders. Through this, an identification of drivers and barriers that are met while working with sustainable development is defined. Research on sustainability within Indonesia's textile sector is today very limited. Because of this, a qualitative design with semi-structured interviews with brand manufacturers active within the Indonesian market has been conducted. The chosen method was found to be best suited to obtain a deep understanding of the actual situation in a short period of time. The study is based on three companies, all located in Bali where the interviews also took place. Results indicate that brand manufacturers in Indonesia do not experience any pressures from stakeholders. However, when working with sustainable development there are drivers and barriers that has an impact of these initiatives. The respondents all shared a personal interest and devotion in sustainability matters but experience great difficulties working effectively to develop in these areas, given the state of the Indonesian textile industry today.

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Today's organizations face a global talent shortage, where they struggle to find and develop the talents needed to gain a competitive advantage in the global labor market. The war for talent has shifted from a national to a global scale, affecting organizations Human Resource Management strategies. As a result, scholars argue that the implementation of Global Talent Management (GTM) in the organization's business strategy can facilitate the work by gaining a competitive advantage. Due to globalization, organizations face rapidly changing global environments, affecting the strategies of GTM. The specific contribution from this study is to examine the relevance of the internal drivers affecting GTM, identified by Tarique and Schuler in 2010 as regiocentrism, international strategic alliances, and required competencies, for future research and practical implementations. The findings declare that although the framework from 2010 still is relevant in some aspects, globalization has led to new internal drivers being presented in current literature. New aspects as defining a talent philosophy, adopting an alternative employment arrangement and developing an attractive employer branding have been identified as important internal drivers within GTM. These drivers are described and presented in a conceptual model, developed from the framework by Tarique and Schuler (2010).

The purpose of this study is to increase understanding about critical factors Swedish manufacturing companies need to consider when offshoring. The study is based on two research questions. The first question is to investigate and understand why Swedish manufacturing companies offshore their facilities. The second research question aims to understand the critical factors companies need to consider when moving abroad. Case study and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. These case studies took place in seven different Swedish manufacturing companies which have offshored their facilities outside of Sweden. A cross-case analysis is done in order compare all seven companies with factors they considered when moving abroad.  Then, this cross-case analysis is compared with the literature review. Comparing theoretical and empirical data results in finding the gap. The findings imply that most of the Swedish manufacturing companies moved abroad because of cost reasons. The most reasonable choice for companies in order to be more competitive was to move abroad. According to the literature is cost saving the biggest driver why companies decide to offshore their facilities. Furthermore, in order to have a successful offshoring it is important to consider several factors. Factors that have been considered by seven Swedish manufacturing companies differ but the main factors all seven companies considered before moving abroad are work competence, cost of production and lead time. Finally, the study provided valuable insight on real elements considered by Swedish companies when offshoring and which contributed with findings that compare and understand the relation between theoretical and empirical factors. The study results could be used as base for further investigations, especially in the gaps in theoretical review.

Previous studies focused on the main factors of volunteer’s satisfaction and how the organizations can influence it. This paper set out what drives volunteer’s satisfaction and in which ways can individuals benefit from it. The authors implemented the ground theory to approach this problem. They conducted qualitative research and collected data from thirty-two (32) volunteers through a survey. Then, ten selected respondents passed systematic interviews. The survey was designed in French and English to reach the maximum of volunteers. The Volunteer’s Satisfaction index inspired the design of the survey, which aim to measure the outcomes of volunteering experiences. The interviews lasted forty-five (45) minutes on average and designed to support and elaborate on the survey’s responses. Results showed that diverse elements affect the volunteer’s satisfaction. The study ranged these statements into four main categories: Support and Guidelines provided by the organization; Social integration and colleagues support; Sense of achievement and skills learned, and Rewards and Attention received. These are the four primary sources of volunteer’s satisfaction highlighted by our respondents. Volunteers can benefit from it by embracing the guidelines and ask for definite objectives in their missions. Seek social interactions and bond with other volunteers, reach their objectives and take every opportunity to exploit or learn skills and share their experiences and accept the recognition. Thus, the findings identified volunteer’s satisfaction drivers and the control of these elements by volunteers. At the end of the paper, contributions for future volunteers, limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

Background: The resource demanding textile industry has long been linked to the linear economy, an economy contributing to negative effects on the environment. However, there is an alternative to the linear economy, namely the circular economy. In a circular economy, a closed-loop design is promoted in order to eliminate the negative effects of the linear economy. However, in the context of the Swedish textile industry, there is a lack of case studies on the topic and especially regarding experienced barriers to a circular business model as well as drivers and enablers needed to overcome these barriers. Purpose: The purpose of this research is to support the development of the Sustainable Development Goal 12: sustainable production and consumption. This is done through exploring the experienced barriers to circular business models among companies in the Swedish textile industry at a macro and micro level, but also drivers and enablers in order to overcome these barriers. Method: This research follows an interpretivist view and an inductive approach based on a cross-case analysis of five companies. The research is qualitative and semi-structured interviews were conducted with open questions. The identified themes were analysed and interpreted with a careful awareness of the trustworthiness and ethical considerations. Conclusion: The result showed five barriers which appeared to be the most common across the companies. Namely, technological un-readiness, circularity costs, market unacceptance, financial shortage and knowledge gap. For these barriers, possible solutions in the form of drivers and enablers were identified. According to the findings, the identified drivers and enablers which have the greatest potential of positive impact on the barriers were as follows: knowledge sharing, collaboration, regulatory changes, more research and refocus of efforts

While conventional approaches of managing organizations have been considered to be outdated, Organizational Agility has been acclaimed for its prowess to cope with today's increasingly volatile and dynamic environment. Yet the predominant focus has been directed towards how agility is achieved, while its retention as organizations grow has to a great extent been unexplored. Through a qualitative case study of a renowned organization for its unorthodox approach, this study aims to contribute with an extension to the current scope of organizational agility by stretching beyond the focus on mere transformations in an attempt to understand in what ways organizational agility is retained as they grow. The findings of this study challenge the common conceptions found within literature suggesting that changes in the external environment are what drives organization’s to be agile in order to sustain its competitiveness. Organizational agility has thus primarily been considered to be constituted by dynamic adaptations in accordance to forces of the external environment. In contrast, this study finds that the retention of organizational agility during growth is an evolutionary process that is internally driven by placing indispensable value on the employees and by focusing on the organization itself, its desire and community. Retaining organizational agility is thus something that grows “from the inside and out”.

Background: The authors have observed that Olympic athletes of Team USA supplement their income, or finance themselves entirely, through entrepreneurial opportunities. This study focuses on Olympic Athletes from the United States - with a limitation to members of the US Olympic Rowing Team that competed at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.  Unbeknownst to many, athletes from Team USA, and Olympians globally, do not receive compensation from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to compete at the Olympic Games. Instead, US Olympians receive a monthly stipend from the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) ranging between $1000 to $2000 US Dollars. Provided this information, the authors were interested in identifying whether their financial situation, or any other drivers, made them more likely to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities. Purpose: The aim of this thesis is to identify and understand the drivers which led US Olympic athletes to improve their financial situation while on the US Olympic team.  Method: This thesis focuses primarily on qualitative data gathered from interviews with eight members of the United States Olympic Rowing Team who competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. To fulfill our purpose, the authors elected to utilize the explorative study framework, with a purposive sampling and following an inductive reasoning approach. Moreover, the primary data from our interview is collected through semi-structured interviews, which were conducted through (Zoom) virtual video conferencing calls. Findings: From our interviews with members of the US Olympic Rowing Team who competed at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, we have identified six (6) common factors shared amongst our interviewees – leading them to pursue one or more entrepreneurial opportunity/ies. Those common factors were: (1) The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee’s Stipend for athletes does not fully finance their monthly expenditure; (2) the athletes’ recognition of their rising brand value; (3) the unpredictability of their training and competition schedules; (4) the pressure on athletes for professional work experience; (5) an interest in Entrepreneurship; and (6) their requirements for flexible employment. Conclusion: After weighing our findings, the authors would agree that the most compelling driver to pursue entrepreneurship was the need for an additional income to supplement their USOPC Stipend. However, the authors must also add that these drivers cannot be individually held responsible for the pursuance of an entrepreneurial opportunity – to the contrary, the authors would propose that the most reasonable interpretation is that US Olympians are pursuing entrepreneurship as a result of a combination of the aforementioned drivers influencing their lives – as shown by all of our interviewees being affected by three or more of the identified drivers.

Tanzania from the villagers' perspective. It was conducted in cooperation with the Swedish NGO Vi Agroforestry, who supported the field visits. Preparations were made in Sweden during Jan-March 2014, and the field study in Kyerwa, Kagera region was executed in April-May 2014. The study was mainly qualitative and the central data was received from 30 semi-structured interviews with villagers in Kyerwa district. For the design and analysis of the study, the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach and a socio- technical perspective were used. The main drivers for SHSs were found to be improved economy, increased study opportunities for children and improved indoor environment from cutting out kerosene use. On the other hand, the main barrier for further spreading was the up-front cost of the SHS. Furthermore, though awareness of SHS is high, the lack of marketing of SHSs acts as another barrier. Most SHSs in the area show good technical performance, but lack of user maintenance might jeopardize this in the future. Lastly, villagers requested SHSs sold on a payment plan, as this would enable the investment for many.

Network Convergence or Divergence, what is it, and which are the most likely developments? Today, a much talked about area of telecommunications is the move toward the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), and with it the introduction of IP-based communication in both Public Land Mobile Networks and Public Switched Telephony Networks. This thesis attempts to show whether these two networks will converge with each other and with the Internet in the future - based upon the existence of a few important prerequisites in terms of standards and protocols, whilst divergence in the networks could result if technical and economical obstacles are difficult to circumvent or to exclude from future networks. The major drivers for convergence include the existence of standards for packet-based transmission over a wide variety of underlying networks, the existence of services that make use of these underlying networking protocols, and ultimately also the existence of devices that can use the new features of a converged network architecture. The focus is on the impact convergence services or offerings may have on handsets; specifically which protocols need to be supported, as well as those hardware and software requirements that need to be catered for to enable convergence in the handset sector. The thesis concludes with a summary of the most important factors for convergence in future mobile handsets. / Nätkonvergens eller divergens, vad är det egentligen, och var är utvecklingen på väg? Idag talas det mycket om inom telekommunikationsbranchen om steget till IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem), och i med det övergången till uteslutande IP-baserad kommunikation i både Public Land Mobile Networks och Public Switched Telephony Networks. Jag ämnar i den här framställningen visa att konvergens mellan dessa två nät samt ett tredje; Internet är avhängigt av ett par viktiga grundförutsättningar, som existensen av protokoll och standarder som främjar konvergens, medan en divergerande utveckling är resultatet av tekniska och ekonomiska förutsättningar som är svåra att kringgå i framtida nät. De stora drivkrafterna för konvergens är existensen av standarder och protokoll för paketbaserad överföring av data över skiftande nätarkitekturer, existensen av tjänster som stödjer dessa protokoll, och slutligen användarterminaler som förmår utnyttja dessa tjänster utvecklade för en konvergerande nättopologi. Fokus för min rapport är på det stöd som behövs i terminalerna för att en sådan här utveckling ska kunna äga rum. Kapaciteten i form av protokoll som dessa terminaler måste stödja, samt vilka hård- och mjukvarukrav som måste uppfyllas kommer också att behandlas. Slutligen kommer jag att framställa en sammanfattning av vad jag anser vara de viktigaste faktorerna i framtida terminaler för att driva den här utvecklingen.