Electric Vehicles are a growing trend globally and are currently disrupting the conventional automotive industry, therefore firms in the sector need new business models around their new value propositions. The concept of business model innovation presents an interesting point of view towards the challenges those firms face and provide possible solutions for them. The literature on this relatively new topic is scarce and needs more cumulative empirical research. We engage in a multiple-case study and explore how entrepreneurial and incumbent electric vehicle companies in the Nordics use BMI to overcome their biggest challenges and advance the development of the sector. With our findings, we provide an insight of some of the newest advancements in the EV technology, investigate what are the key antecedents, moderators, and outcomes of the BMI process for the researched companies and build on the existing literature on the topic. Finally, practitioners can gain a better understanding of the concepts of BM and BMI process and their importance for surviving in the dynamic electric vehicle market.

Background and Purpose: The process of rebranding requires a lot of consideration and analysis in order to be successful. In 2020, a rebranding movement of stereotypical brands began in the USA, and the effects also transpired to the Nordics, leading to multiple brands in the food industry initiating a rapid rebranding process. However, due to its complex nature and the balancing act between different stakeholders, it raised the question whether rebranding was necessary from a business perspective. The purpose of this study is to investigate how consumers perceive the rebranding's of stereotypical brands, whether they regard it as a necessary move for the companies, and how it affected brand equity.   Method: In order to successfully achieve our purpose, a qualitative research design was implemented through an interpretivist and exploratory research design. Data collection was conducted through ten semi-structured interviews and analyzed through a thematic analysis enabling us to expand a presented framework.   Conclusion: Our research identified the rebranding of stereotypical brands as a highly complex process, where the consumers perceive rebranding in various ways and where brand equity is impacted in multiple ways. Rebranding affects brand awareness, brand associations and brand loyalty. In addition, we identified that on many occasions, the negative effects of rebranding on brand equity are stronger than the positive effects. We also observed that although acknowledging the potential issues with stereotypical brands, consumers might not care about it in the end. Overall, we argue that listening to one’s own consumers and extensively analyzing the pros and cons of rebranding is the optimal approach for companies to successfully rebrand.

The study examines the link between the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance of a company and its cost of debt, measured as credit spreads between corresponding corporate and risk-free government bonds, in Nordic countries between 2020 and 2022. No previous studies look at ESG effects on bond spreads in the Nordic markets, although their stakeholder-oriented nature could make them attentive to ESG issues. Additionally, public and regulatory attention to carbon dioxide suggest a value for companies in decreasing emissions. In line with previous studies on ESG top-level and individual pillar performance, Refinitiv ESG scores are used as proxies for ESG performance in the two initial regressions, and an additional regression is run where a measure of carbon intensity is substituted for environmental pillar performance. Although there is a risk of reverse causality inherent in this field, the findings in this study indicate that ESG top-level performance reduces cost of debt, while carbon intensity increases it. Notably, social pillar scores and carbon intensity, but not environmental pillar scores, have significant effects on spreads.

Background: During recent years, the growing attention to environmental, social, and governance factors (ESG) as a recognized sustainability performance measurement has led to that corporate participation in sustainable development as one of the main concerns among stakeholders. The Nordic countries have been outstanding leaders in terms of sustainability for years and consistently ranked excellent on ESG scores. The role of ESG and its effect on value creation has been widely discussed by academics and stakeholders, but the results differ. Purpose: This thesis aims to study the relationship between ESG scores and a firm’s performance in terms of ROE in Nordic countries between 2020 to 2022 and investigate whether investing in environmental innovation strengthens or weakens the correlation between the two variables. The study uses both stakeholder and shareholder theories to explain the results. Method: The linear regression models were conducted on data collected from Thomson Reuters Eikon’s database (2023) between 2020-2022 on 150 firm observations and 450 firm-year observations to fulfil the study's purpose. Conclusion: The findings show a significant positive relationship between ESG scores and ROE, but environmental innovation weakened this relationship. The conclusions were drawn that Nordic firms which take more value into sustainability practices, especially ESG scores, enhance their financial performance, which is supported by the stakeholder theory. But firms with higher ESG, which invest more in environmental innovation, wouldn't pay off through better financial performance in the short run. Furthermore, the results from statistical models for two dummy variables, year, and country, indicate that the relationship between ESG scores and financial performance is neither significantly affected by time nor significantly by Nordic countries.

As globalization and interconnection between countries increase, the need for efficient cross-border payments becomes more critical. The Nordics, consisting of Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, share many economic and technological advancement similarities. However, cross-border mobile payment is yet to be seen despite having the solutions to do the process locally. This study then aims to answer the current state, challenges, opportunities, and ways to move forward with the innovation of cross-border mobile payments in the Nordics. A literature review and interviews with experts in the industry were performed to gain more insights into the phenomenon. It is found that currently, the interoperability is none. However, despite the absence of interoperability, efforts are being made to place this agenda at the forefront. Furthermore, there are some challenges, including balancing cooperation and competition among actors in the mobile payment space, addressing pricing issues, establishing a solid business case, managing competition between local perspectives and global technology players, mitigating fraud risks, prioritizing national-scale initiatives, and ensuring standardization and information clarity. On the other hand, opportunities were identified in the availability of use cases, the collaborative culture in the Nordics, the gateway to the point-of-sale feature, the international push towards the feature, and the potential of technology bridges to enhance interoperability. Lastly, to move forward with the innovation, it is suggested to create the use-cases and critical mass, focus on the technological hub, put the cross-border payment on regulatory focus, and compare the use-cases and lessons learned from other regions that do similar work. / I takt med att globaliseringen och sammankopplingen mellan länder ökar, blir behovet av effektiva gränsöverskridande betalningar mer kritiskt. Norden, som består av Danmark, Finland, Norge och Sverige, delar många ekonomiska och tekniska framstegslikheter. Men gränsöverskridande mobilbetalning är ännu inte att se trots att man har lösningarna för att göra processen lokalt. Denna studie syftar sedan till att svara på det aktuella läget, utmaningar, möjligheter och sätt att gå vidare med innovationen av gränsöverskridande mobilbetalningar i Norden. En litteraturgenomgång och intervjuer med experter inom branschen gjordes för att få mer insikter om fenomenet. Det har visat sig att interoperabiliteten för närvarande inte är någon. Men trots avsaknaden av interoperabilitet görs ansträngningar för att placera denna agenda i framkant. Vidare finns det vissa utmaningar, inklusive att balansera samarbete och konkurrens mellan aktörer inom det mobila betalningsområdet, ta itu med prissättningsfrågor, etablera ett solidt affärscase, hantera konkurrensen mellan lokala perspektiv och globala teknikaktörer, mildra bedrägerierisker, prioritera initiativ i nationell skala, och säkerställa standardisering och informationstydlighet. Å andra sidan identifierades möjligheter i tillgängligheten av användningsfall, samarbetskulturen i Norden, porten till funktionen för försäljningsställen, den internationella pushen mot funktionen och potentialen hos teknikbryggor för att förbättra interoperabiliteten. Slutligen, för att gå vidare med innovationen, föreslås det att skapa användningsfall och kritisk massa, fokusera på det tekniska navet, sätta gränsöverskridande betalning på regleringsfokus och jämföra användningsfall och lärdomar från andra regioner som gör liknande arbete.

Place branding refers to the strategical act of attaching a positive reputation to a geographical place. This concept is argued important due to its ability to boost places with advantageous lead when globally competing over financial, cultural and human resources. In 2015, the Nordic Council of Ministers accordingly adopted an official strategy for how to internationally brand the Nordic Region. The strategy includes illustrations of the Region, along with detailed goals on how the Nordics – natively called ‘Norden’ – should be associated and perceived.  Nevertheless, when dissecting the elements of which place-brands are made up by, it is found that residents ‘sense of place’ form an essential component to the quality and success of the place-brand. At the same time, it is recognized that people belonging to different generational groups typically carry different social and cultural frames of references, eventually influencing their perception of the world and potentially even their experienced sense of place.  This study has therefore aimed to examine the convergence between the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Place Branding strategy and the ‘sense of place’ experienced by residents of the Region. Additionally, by comparing results between two generational groups; the ‘Gen-z’s’ and the ‘Boomers’. Practically by answering up to the following research questions: (1) How is Nordic residents experienced ‘sense of place’ differing between generational groups? And (2) How are the outcomes in RQ1 standing in relation to the Nordic place branding strategy?  The study has applied a qualitative methodology using surveys and gathering data from a total of 94 respondents, of which 49 have belonged to the Gen-z group and 45 to the Boomer group.   Concludingly, it has been found that residents’ sense of place in the Nordics in fact is differing between generational groups. In broad, the differences are reflected by a strong sense of Nordic belongingness among Boomers, however, in combination with a sense of the Nordics that is further away from what the strategy is intending to communicate. On the other hand, the Gen-z’s are found to have significantly lower sense of Nordic belongingness, although, together with a more positive sense of the Nordics, that also is more in line with strategy.

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With the increased relevance of sustainability in society these last years, initiatives have been made to create tools for reporting and measuring sustainability in companies. Recently the EU chose to favour the ESG system, which stands for Environmental, Social and Governance, to create more homogeneity in this sector. Being a relatively recent field, some aspects of the metrics, as well as its interaction with other economic metrics, has not been thoroughly studied. Therefore, this study investigates the relationship between R&D investment and ESG metrics, to see if there is some correlation between the two. In this study a linear regression model with data from listed companies from Sweden, Denmark and Norway, is conducted to analyse the relationship. The results were inconclusive, but seem to indicate that there might be a relationship between the E variables and R&D intensity. / Med den ökade relevansen av hållbarhet i samhället de senaste åren har fler initiativ tagits för att skapa metoder för att rapportera och mäta detta. EU har för att skapa enhetlighet inom frågan nyligen tagit initiativ att börja införandet av ett av dessa system, ESG, som står för Environmental, Social och Governance. Då det är ett relativt nytt ramverk är inte alla variabler och dess interaktioner med andra mer etablerade ekonomiska mätdata fullkomligt kartlagda. Denna studie fokuserar därför på att undersöka förhållandet mellan ESG faktorer och investeringar i forskning och utveckling. Studien gör detta genom att göra en linjär regressionsmodell av data från börsnoterade företag från Sverige, Norge och Danmark. Resultatet av studien kunde inte uppvisa ett signifikant samband, men om kunde delvis peka på en samband vissa E variabler och FoU intensitet.

With the increased relevance of sustainability in society these last years, initiatives have been made to create tools for reporting and measuring sustainability in companies. Recently the EU chose to favour the ESG system, which stands for Environmental, Social and Governance, to create more homogeneity in this sector. Being a relatively recent field, some aspects of the metrics, as well as its interaction with other economic metrics, has not been thoroughly studied. Therefore, this study investigates the relationship between R&D investment and ESG metrics, to see if there is some correlation between the two. In this study a linear regression model with data from listed companies from Sweden, Denmark and Norway, is conducted to analyse the relationship. The results were inconclusive, but seem to indicate that there might be ar elationship between the E variables and R&D intensity. / Med den ökade relevansen av hållbarhet i samhället de senaste åren har fler initiativ tagits för att skapa metoder för att rapportera och mäta detta. EU har för att skapa enhetlighet inom frågan nyligen tagit initiativ att börja införandet av ett av dessa system, ESG, som står för Environmental, Social och Governance. Då det är ett relativt nytt ramverk är inte alla variabler och dess interaktioner med andra mer etablerade ekonomiska mätdata fullkomligt kartlagda. Denna studie fokuserar därför på att undersöka förhållandet mellan ESG faktorer och investeringar i forskning och utveckling. Studien gör detta genom att göra en linjär regressionsmodell av data från börsnoterade företag från Sverige, Norge och Danmark. Resultatet av studien kunde inte uppvisa ett signifikant samband, men om kunde delvis peka på en samband vissa E variabler och FoU intensitet.

The potential of hydrogen as a clean energy carrier is hotly debated, but it promises to significantly contribute to a sustainable energy future. Hydrogen can replace fossil fuels in carbon-intensive industries, heavy transport and aviation, and support a renewable energysystem by acting as energy storage to balance intermittent supply. With increasing investment, high demand projections and the promise of hydrogen to reduce carbon emissions, it is becoming increasingly important to include hydrogen in energy models. While some studies include hydrogen in their energy models, they don’t comprehensively analyse the effects of uncertainty, which is significant in the hydrogen sector. This thesis addresses this gap by developing a Nordic energy model that includes hydrogen supply and storage using OSeMOSYS, based on the European OSeMBE model. In addition to a scenario analysis, a global sensitivity analysis is performed to identify the most influential uncertainties and key interactions between the hydrogen and electricity sectors. The study identifies hydrogen demand and carbon pricing as key uncertain drivers of change, affecting system costs and emissions levels. Uncertainty about the efficiency of carbon capture and the potential for biomass technology with carbon capture and storage also significantly impact emissions. While the share of renewables is projected to be robust, the technologies used for hydrogen production are susceptible to uncertainties. Steam reforming dominates in the absence of a strong carbon price. Electricity and hydrogen from biomass can provide negative emissions and have the potential to play an important role in decarbonisation. However, biomass availability is limited and policy support like carbon pricing is needed to make these technologies competitive in the market. A key link between the electricity and the hydrogen system is electrolysers. However, while cheaper electricity makes electrolysers more attractive, the cost and performance of hydrogen production technologies, such as steam reforming or biomass gasification, are more relevant in determining which hydrogen technologies will dominate. Hydrogen storage and fuel cells aren’t used in the study, except in small amounts for some of the runs in the sensitivity analysis. However, this may change with a specified time-dependent hydrogen demand or a finer time representation in the model. The thesis shows that uncertainties around hydrogen have a much larger impact on emissions than uncertainties around the electricity system. Hydrogen technologies are in close competition, with steam reforming difficult to displace. While in the Nordic countries, the advance of renewables in electricity generation seems unstoppable, the hydrogen sector needs public policy support to become an ally in decarbonisation rather than a burden. / Vätgasens potential som en ren energibärare är omdiskuterad, men den kan bidra avsevärt till en hållbar energiframtid. Vätgas kan ersätta fossila bränslen i koldioxidintensiva industrier, tunga transporter och luftfart, och stödja ett förnybart energisystem genom att fungera som energilagring för att balansera intermittenta leveranser. Med ökande investeringar, prognoser om hög efterfrågan och löftet om att vätgas kan minska koldioxidutsläppen blir det allt viktigare att inkludera vätgas i energimodeller. Vissa studier inkluderar vätgas i sina energimodeller, men de analyserar inte effekterna av osäkerhet på ett heltäckande sätt, vilket är betydande inom vätgassektorn. Den här avhandlingen adresserar detta gap genom att utveckla en nordisk energimodell som inkluderar vätgasförsörjning och lagring med hjälp av OSeMOSYS, baserat på den europeiska OSeMBE-modellen. Förutom en scenarioanalys utförs en global känslighetsanalys för att identifiera de mest inflytelserika osäkerheterna och viktiga interaktioner mellan vätgas- och elsektorerna. Studien identifierar efterfrågan på vätgas och prissättningen på koldioxid som viktiga osäkra drivkrafter för förändring, vilket påverkar systemkostnader och utsläppsnivåer. Osäkerheten kring koldioxidavskiljningens effektivitet och potentialen för biomassateknik med koldioxidavskiljning och lagring påverkar också utsläppen avsevärt. Även om andelen förnybara energikällor förväntas vara robust, är de tekniker som används för vätgasproduktion känsliga för osäkerheter. Ångreformering dominerar i avsaknad av ett starkt koldioxidpris. Elektricitet och vätgas från biomassa kan ge negativa utsläpp och har potential att spela enviktig roll i utfasningen av fossila bränslen. Tillgången på biomassa är dock begränsad och politiskt stöd i form av t.ex. koldioxidpriser behövs för att göra dessa tekniker konkurrenskraftiga på marknaden. En viktig länk mellan el- och vätgassystemet är elektrolysörer. Men även om billigare el gör elektrolysörer mer attraktiva, är kostnaden och prestandan för vätgasproduktionstekniker såsom ångreformering eller förgasning av biomassa mer relevanta för att avgöra vilka vätgastekniker som kommer att dominera. Vätgaslagring och bränsleceller används inte i studien, förutom i små mängder för några av körningarna i känslighetsanalysen. Detta kan dock förändras med en specificerad tidsberoende vätgasefterfrågan eller en finare tidsrepresentation i modellen. Avhandlingen visar att osäkerheter kring vätgas har en mycket större inverkan på utsläppen än osäkerheter kring elsystemet. Vätgasteknikerna konkurrerar nära varandra, men ångreformering är svår att ersätta. I de nordiska länderna verkar framstegen för förnybara energikällor inom elproduktion vara ostoppbara, men vätgassektorn behöver offentligt politiskt stöd för att bli en allierad i utfasningen av fossila bränslen snarare än en börda.