Background and problem: Global Reporting Initiative has come up with new guidelines for how companies should report sustainability. GRI is at the front regarding sustainability reports. The new G4 standard has meant that companies should only report what is considered essential to their business. The problem in the study is that it is criticized for GRI, as it is based on the triple bottom line, which is considered a misunderstood concept. Some research even shows problems with the indicators that GRI use. Furthermore, there is research showing that the automotive and construction industry is among the largest environmentalists in the world, while various scandals characterized the automotive industry. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to highlight what construction and vehicle companies consider to be important in their sustainability reports according to GRI's latest guideline G4. Method: This study has used a quantitative method. A content analysis has been the basis for the study where the sustainability reports have been in focus. Furthermore, the data collected has been transferred to a coding schedule and a coding manual. This has since been derived from an analysis of the collected data. Conclusion: The transition from G3 to G4 has led companies to take into account the essentiality requirement, which means that we see major differences between the different regulatory frameworks. Even though research shows that building and automotive industries pose a threat to the environment, our study shows that these companies still choose to take into account their stakeholders' views primarily. The stakeholders' demands via the materiality analyzes diverge any studies that criticize the construction and automotive industry regarding environmental aspects.

O objetivo de construir possíveis soluções para a crise ambiental mobilizou diferentes setores da sociedade e gerou demandas por atitudes sustentáveis e transparência no tratamento de informações por parte das organizações. Frente esse cenário, cresce a participação do empresariado no debate sobre o futuro do planeta. É nesse contexto que surge a Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), em 1997. Dada a importância assumida pelos relatórios de sustentabilidade, em especial pelo modelo GRI, revela-se fundamental compreendê-los como espaço em que as organizações se definem com relação aos seus públicos (BALDISSERA, 2008b). Nessa direção, a presente dissertação tem como objetivo geral problematizar os sentidos de diálogo atualizados pelo GRI-G4, em perspectiva da comunicação organizacional. Isto é, a intenção é evidenciar a potencialidade do diálogo para desdobramentos e implicações nesse contexto sociocultural. Dessa forma, adotamos, como referencial metodológico, a Hermenêutica de Profundidade (HP), proposta por Thompson (1995), que sugere a utilização de três dimensões de análise: análise sócio-histórica, análise formal ou discursiva e reinterpretação. A fim de compor a fase de análise sócio-histórica (THOMPSON, 1995), iniciamos nossas reflexões sobre diálogo a partir de Buber (2001; 2009) e Bakhtin (1992; 1999). Ao entrarmos no contexto organizacional, partimos dos estudos de Bohm (2005) para pensar as possibilidades do diálogo nas organizações Na sequência, discutimos a conformação da noção de sustentabilidade (LEFF, 2008) e a necessidade de mudança para a compreensão da sustentabilidade em sentido complexo (CAPRA, 2006). Utilizamos a técnica de Análise de Conteúdo (AC), proposta por Bardin (2011), para cumprir com a etapa de análise formal ou discursiva e analisar os relatórios publicados pela Alcoa, Fibria, Itaú e Natura, selecionados conforme critérios que serão apresentados no capítulo seis. Os resultados dessas diferentes dimensões de análise foram cruzados a fim de fazerem emergir novas percepções sobre os relatórios modelo GRI, atendendo à dimensão de reinterpretação (THOMPSON, 1995). Considerando os resultados encontrados, vimos que, de forma geral, há interesse das organizações em estabelecer relações com seus públicos, entretanto, as únicas formas possíveis de contato não permitem que sejam estabelecidas conversações e, muito menos, situações dialógicas. Além disso, atentamos para o fato de que, com base nos autores que acionamos em termos de comunicação organizacional, diálogo, e diálogo nas organizações, o diálogo – no sentido que adotamos nesta pesquisa – pouco se materializa no âmbito organizacional. / The objective of building possible solutions to the environmental crisis mobilized different sectors of society and generated demands for sustainable attitudes and transparency in the treatment of information by organizations. Facing this scenario, the participation of business people in the debate about the future of the planet grows. It is in this context that the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) arises in 1997. Given the importance of sustainability reports, especially the GRI model, it is fundamental to understand them as a space in which organizations are defined in relation to Its audiences (BALDISSERA, 2008b). In this direction, the present dissertation has as general objective to problematize the (s) the senses of dialogue updated by the GRI-G4, in perspective of the organizational communication. That is, the intention is to highlight the potential of the dialogue for unfolding and implications in this sociocultural context. As a methodological reference, we use the Hermeneutics of Depth (HP), proposed by Thompson (1995), which suggests the use of three dimensions of analysis: socio-historical analysis, formal or discursive analysis and reinterpretation. In order to compose the socio-historical analysis phase (THOMPSON, 1995), we began our reflections on dialogue from Buber (2001; 2009) and Bakhtin (1992; 1999) When we enter the organizational context, we start with Bohm's (2005) studies to think about the possibilities of dialogue in organizations. In the sequence, we discuss the conformation of the notion of sustainability (LEFF, 2008) and the need to change to the understanding of sustainability in a complex sense (CAPRA, 2006). We used the Content Analysis (CA) technique, proposed by Bardin (2011), to comply with the formal or discursive analysis stage and to analyze the reports published by Alcoa, Fibria, Itaú and Natura, selected according to criteria that will be presented in chapter six. The results of these different dimensions of analysis were cross-referenced in order to create new perceptions about the GRI model reports, given the reinterpretation dimension (THOMPSON, 1995). Considering the results found, we have seen that, in general, there is an interest of the organizations in establishing relations with their public, however, the only possible forms of contact do not allow to be established conversations, and still less, dialogical situations. In addition, we take into account the fact that, based on the authors that we operate in terms of organizational communication, dialogue, and dialogue in organizations, dialogue - in the sense we have adopted in this research - does not materialize at organizational level.

O objetivo de construir possíveis soluções para a crise ambiental mobilizou diferentes setores da sociedade e gerou demandas por atitudes sustentáveis e transparência no tratamento de informações por parte das organizações. Frente esse cenário, cresce a participação do empresariado no debate sobre o futuro do planeta. É nesse contexto que surge a Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), em 1997. Dada a importância assumida pelos relatórios de sustentabilidade, em especial pelo modelo GRI, revela-se fundamental compreendê-los como espaço em que as organizações se definem com relação aos seus públicos (BALDISSERA, 2008b). Nessa direção, a presente dissertação tem como objetivo geral problematizar os sentidos de diálogo atualizados pelo GRI-G4, em perspectiva da comunicação organizacional. Isto é, a intenção é evidenciar a potencialidade do diálogo para desdobramentos e implicações nesse contexto sociocultural. Dessa forma, adotamos, como referencial metodológico, a Hermenêutica de Profundidade (HP), proposta por Thompson (1995), que sugere a utilização de três dimensões de análise: análise sócio-histórica, análise formal ou discursiva e reinterpretação. A fim de compor a fase de análise sócio-histórica (THOMPSON, 1995), iniciamos nossas reflexões sobre diálogo a partir de Buber (2001; 2009) e Bakhtin (1992; 1999). Ao entrarmos no contexto organizacional, partimos dos estudos de Bohm (2005) para pensar as possibilidades do diálogo nas organizações Na sequência, discutimos a conformação da noção de sustentabilidade (LEFF, 2008) e a necessidade de mudança para a compreensão da sustentabilidade em sentido complexo (CAPRA, 2006). Utilizamos a técnica de Análise de Conteúdo (AC), proposta por Bardin (2011), para cumprir com a etapa de análise formal ou discursiva e analisar os relatórios publicados pela Alcoa, Fibria, Itaú e Natura, selecionados conforme critérios que serão apresentados no capítulo seis. Os resultados dessas diferentes dimensões de análise foram cruzados a fim de fazerem emergir novas percepções sobre os relatórios modelo GRI, atendendo à dimensão de reinterpretação (THOMPSON, 1995). Considerando os resultados encontrados, vimos que, de forma geral, há interesse das organizações em estabelecer relações com seus públicos, entretanto, as únicas formas possíveis de contato não permitem que sejam estabelecidas conversações e, muito menos, situações dialógicas. Além disso, atentamos para o fato de que, com base nos autores que acionamos em termos de comunicação organizacional, diálogo, e diálogo nas organizações, o diálogo – no sentido que adotamos nesta pesquisa – pouco se materializa no âmbito organizacional. / The objective of building possible solutions to the environmental crisis mobilized different sectors of society and generated demands for sustainable attitudes and transparency in the treatment of information by organizations. Facing this scenario, the participation of business people in the debate about the future of the planet grows. It is in this context that the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) arises in 1997. Given the importance of sustainability reports, especially the GRI model, it is fundamental to understand them as a space in which organizations are defined in relation to Its audiences (BALDISSERA, 2008b). In this direction, the present dissertation has as general objective to problematize the (s) the senses of dialogue updated by the GRI-G4, in perspective of the organizational communication. That is, the intention is to highlight the potential of the dialogue for unfolding and implications in this sociocultural context. As a methodological reference, we use the Hermeneutics of Depth (HP), proposed by Thompson (1995), which suggests the use of three dimensions of analysis: socio-historical analysis, formal or discursive analysis and reinterpretation. In order to compose the socio-historical analysis phase (THOMPSON, 1995), we began our reflections on dialogue from Buber (2001; 2009) and Bakhtin (1992; 1999) When we enter the organizational context, we start with Bohm's (2005) studies to think about the possibilities of dialogue in organizations. In the sequence, we discuss the conformation of the notion of sustainability (LEFF, 2008) and the need to change to the understanding of sustainability in a complex sense (CAPRA, 2006). We used the Content Analysis (CA) technique, proposed by Bardin (2011), to comply with the formal or discursive analysis stage and to analyze the reports published by Alcoa, Fibria, Itaú and Natura, selected according to criteria that will be presented in chapter six. The results of these different dimensions of analysis were cross-referenced in order to create new perceptions about the GRI model reports, given the reinterpretation dimension (THOMPSON, 1995). Considering the results found, we have seen that, in general, there is an interest of the organizations in establishing relations with their public, however, the only possible forms of contact do not allow to be established conversations, and still less, dialogical situations. In addition, we take into account the fact that, based on the authors that we operate in terms of organizational communication, dialogue, and dialogue in organizations, dialogue - in the sense we have adopted in this research - does not materialize at organizational level.

Titel: En kvantitativ studie som undersöker om det finns något samband mellan hållbarhetsarbete och hållbarhetsredovisning i svenska kommuner.   Nivå: C-uppsats inom ämnet företagsekonomi   Författare: Tobias Larsson och Emil Molin   Handledare: Fredrik Hartwig   Datum: 2018 – Mars   Syfte: Syftet är att undersöka om det finns ett samband mellan kommuners hållbarhetsarbete och dess hållbarhetsredovisning och om det skett någon förändring av hållbarhetsredovisningen över tid.   Metod: Studien utgår från den positivistiska forskningsfilosofin med en deduktiv ansats. Studien har använt sig av en kvantitativ metod med två frågeställningar som hjälp för att besvara studiens syfte. Populationen består av 40 kommuner från topp- och bottenskiktet sett till hur de presterat miljömässigt 2016. En innehållsanalys av årsredovisningar och hållbarhetsredovisningar har studerats för dessa kommuner år 2012 och 2016, vilket ger studien 80 observationer.   Resultat och slutsats: Studien visar att det finns ett positivt samband mellan kommunernas hållbarhetsarbete och hållbarhetsredovisning, bättre hållbarhetsarbete tenderar till en bättre hållbarhetsredovisning hos kommunerna. Studien visar även att det skett en positiv förändring i kommunernas sätt att hållbarhetsredovisa mellan åren 2012 och 2016.   Uppsatsens bidrag: Studiens bidrag är att den undersöker om det föreligger något samband mellan kommunernas hållbarhetsarbete och hållbarhetsredovisning samt att se om det skett någon förändring i kommunernas sätt att redovisa över tid. Då tidigare studier har behandlat främst företag i detta avseende var det därför intressant att studera svenska kommuner.   Förslag till vidare forskning: Framtida studier skulle kunna undersöka andra samband mellan kommuners hållbarhetsredovisning. Exempelvis vad som mer påverkar kommunerna att hållbarhetsredovisa utförligare och vidare studier skulle även kunna titta på alla kommuner i Sverige. / Title: A quantitative study that investigates if there is any link between sustainability work and sustainability reporting in Swedish municipalities.   Level: Final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business Administration   Authors: Tobias Larsson och Emil Molin   Supervisor: Fredrik Hartwig   Date: 2018 - March Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate if there is a link between municipal sustainability work and their sustainability report and if there has been any change in the sustainability reports over time.   Method: The study is based on the positivist research philosophy with a deductive approach. This study has used a quantitative method with two questions to help answer the the purpose of the study. The population in this study consists 40 municipalities from the top and bottom, view of how they performed in the environment 2016. A content analysis of annual reports and sustainability reports has been studied for these municipalities in 2012 and 2016, giving the study 80 observations.   Results and conclusion: The study shows that there is a positive correlation between municipal sustainability work and sustainability reporting, better sustainability efforts tend to improve the sustainability report of the of the municipalities. The study also shows that there has been a positive change in municipalities ways of sustainability reporting between 2012 and 2016.   Contributions of the thesis: The study’s contribution is that it investigates whether there is any correlation between municipal sustainability work and sustainability reporting and to see if there has been any change in the municipalities way of reporting over time. As previous studies have primarily addressed companies in this regard, it was therefore interesting to study Swedish municipalities.   Suggestions for further research: Future studies could investigate other links between municipal sustainability reporting. What other things than sustainability work tends to affect sustainability reporting in swedish municipalities and future studies could also look at all 290 municipalities in Sweden.

Syftet med studien är att utifrån ett helhetsperspektiv jämföra hållbarhetsredovisningens innehåll i statligt ägda svenska bolag genom att göra två tidsnedslag, 2016 och 2008. Studien var av kvalitativ karaktär, med en komparativ forskningsdesign. Studien baserades på litteratur och tidigare studier inom hållbarhetsrapportering, CSR och Triple Bottom Line. Som datainsamlingsmetod användes en innehållsanalys av åtta företags hållbarhetsrapporter från två separata år (2016 samt 2008). Studien visade på att en likhet mellan åren är att riktlinjerna för hållbarhetsredovisningar fortfarande inte är tillräckligt tydliga och enhetliga. En annan likhet mellan 2016 och 2008 är att intressenter är fortsatt viktiga för företagen. En skillnad som framkom är att företagen lättare kan identifiera och nå ut till sina intressenter 2016 än 2008. En annan skillnad som går att urskilja är att väsentlighetsanalyser framtagna av företagen ökar i antal från 2008 till 2016.

Hållbarhetsredovisningen har utvecklats allt mer de senaste åren. Allt fler företag hållbarhetsredovisar och många länder väljer att reglera hållbarhetsredovisningen genom lag. Den mest använda standarden ges ut av Global Reporting Initiative, GRI. Deras senaste standard, G4, kom 2013 och dess utveckling går mot att företagens intressenter ska bli allt mer involverade och att hållbarhetsrapporten bör granskas av tredje part. Allt för att öka trovärdigheten på rapporten samt för att minska grönmålningen, aktiviteter där företagen framställer sig som mer hållbara än vad de är. Teorin lyfter fram ökad reglering, ökad involvering av intressenter samt granskning av hållbarhetsrapporten som aktiviteter för att minska grönmålningen och öka trovärdigheten hos ens intressenter.   Vi har i denna studie försökt visa på skillnader i balansen på positiva och negativa nyheter utifrån vilken redovisningsstandard företagen använder, G3 eller G4 samt utifrån om hållbarhetsrapporten granskats eller ej. Genom en innehållsanalys har vi kodat nyheterna i hållbarhetsredovisningarna som positiva eller negativa, som text, tabell eller diagram samt som hård eller mjuk. Vi har sedan gjort t-tester på vårt material för att se om eventuella skillnader finns. De skillnader vi finner påvisar ökad grönmålning i rapporter uppställda enligt G4, samt i granskade rapporter, varför vi ifrågasätter deras förmåga att hindra företag från att grönmåla. Tidigare forskning kring hållbarhetsredovisning har visat att de rapporterande företagens storlek har stor inverkan på deras rapportering, varför vi också valde att testa denna aspekt. Resultatet vi fick av dessa tester tyder på att större företag i högre grad grönmålar sina hållbarhetsrapporter jämfört med mindre företag. / Corporate Social Responsibility reporting has developed further over the past years. More and more companies publish CSR reports and several countries have passed regulations enforcing CSR reporting. The most commonly used reporting standard is published by the Global Reporting Initative, GRI. Their latest standard, G4, was released in 2013 and it is more focused on the involvement of stakeholders in the reporting process. It also encourages external assurance of reports. This is to increase credibility for the reports and to counter greenwashing, activities that companies use to seem more sustainable than they really are. Previous research has put forward increased regulation, increased involvement of stakeholders, and external assurance of CSR reports as activities capable of mitigating greenwashing and increasing credibility.   In this study we have sought to proove differences in balance between positive and negative news based on the reporting standard companies are using, G3 or G4, as well as based on wheather the report has been externally assured or not. We have conducted a content analysis of CSR reports and coded their contents based on value, type, attribution, and wheather the information is hard or soft. We then ran t-tests on our material to discover differences. The differences we found point to an increase in greenwashing for reports made according to G4, as well as for reports that are externally assured, which makes us question their ability to counter greenwashing. Previous research have proved that the size of the reporting company has a big effect on their reporting behaviour, something we also tested. The results from these tests show that larger companies tend to greenwash their CSR reports more than smaller companies.

Sustainability Reporting amongst corporates has been growing in prominence with, amongst others, the Principles for Responsible Investment outlined in 2005, the King III Report published in 2010 and International Integrated Reporting framework published in late 2011. The need for analysing the business case for sustainability reporting underpins the motivation for this research which undertook to ascertain the link between certain organisational attributes, sustainability reporting and financial performance. The literature review identified conflicting results in similar studies, and given that this is a fast evolving field of study, this study was deemed necessary. A quantitative research method was used utilising financial and operational data for 200 South African organisations, in an attempt to study the correlation between key organisational attributes, sustainability reporting frameworks, and financial performance. This research adds to the ongoing and dynamic ‘business case for sustainability’ discussion, by studying the links and correlations between the quality of sustainability reporting, specific organisational attributes and key financial performance ratios. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Inledning: Efter ett EU-direktiv infördes under år 2017 en ny lag som innebär att företag som uppfyller vissa krav måste hållbarhetsredovisa. I EU-direktivet nämns transparens som en viktig faktor.  Syfte: Syftet med studien är att med hjälp av legitimitets- och intressentteorin skapa en förståelse för hur transparens inom hållbarhetsredovisning har utvecklats i samband med det nya lagkravet för fyra svenska företag. Syftet är även att se om det finns skillnader i utvecklingen mellan två branscher.  Metod: I studien har författarna med hjälp av en kvalitativ innehållsanalys studerat fyra olika företag från två olika branscher för att mäta hur transparensen i deras hållbarhetsredovisningar har förändrats i samband med införandet av lagkrav. Det har ävens gjorts en komparativ analys mellan de två branscherna för att se hur eventuella skillnader i utveckling mellan branscherna ser ut. Slutsats: Analysen visar att utvecklingen av transparens på flera sätt har utvecklats på ett positivt sätt. Tre av de fyra företagen i studien redovisar en ökning av transparens och båda branscherna visar i sin helhet på ökning av transparensen.

The purpose of this study was to create understanding for how comparable sustainability reports are. The study has focused on the environmental aspect within the Swedish industry of clothing, footwear and wholesale. A content analysis has been executed, with a selection of 73 companies. After a shortfall there remained 21 companies and the study has performed 59 unique observations. The authors have developed a model to systemize the information collected in the content analysis. The study’s model focuses on four factors that affects the comparability of the sustainability reports. The four factors are guidelines, environmental indicators, measurements and absolute and relative numbers. The study emanated from the stakeholder and legitimacy theory. The theories say that companies should treat their stakeholders equally and that they should sustain a social contract with the community that creates legitimacy.   The study showed that sustainability reports have a relatively high comparability within the companies. The Companies tend to report the same environmental indicators from year to year, which contributes to the comparability within the company. The comparability between companies is slightly lower, which is due to companies reporting information that is considered relevant for their own operations. This results in differences between companies in which environmental indicators are being reported as well as which measurements are used, this affects the comparability negatively.

The purpose of sustainability reports is to represent the progress of a company’s sustainability effort and status to stakeholders. There is a need for stakeholders to benchmark sustainability performance of companies. The objective of this research was to find evidence that the GRI Application Level used in the ranking GRI compliant sustainability reports, is an indicator of financial performance for companies trading on the JSE in South Africa.The results will show that there is no evidence to show that the GRI Applications Level is an indicator of financial performance. The consequence of this evidence is that the lack of adequate benchmark standards can de-motivate companies to strive for higher sustainability performance. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted