Responsible production is a subject of increasing importance for companies toadopt and communicate to their environment and many companies choose to implementenvironmental – and ethic considerations into their brand strategy. There is, however, adividing line between companies according to what extent they choose to implementresponsible production into their brand strategy and to which extent they choose tocommunicate it to their stakeholders and surroundings. It is the hypothesis about a dividingline that is the foundation for this essay and something we believed could be interesting forfurther analysis.The purpose of our essay is to find out how the brand strategy of a company is affected by theresponsible production and in what extent they communicate it to their environment. Byanswering those questions we hope to find out why some companies communicateresponsible production more actively than others.We have conducted in-depth interviews with the Swedish clothing companies; MariaWesterlind, Zion and Dem Collective and we have through our analysis reached interestingconclusions. It is evident that the more distinct the company positions itself regarding theenvironment, the more important the responsible production seems to be to the brand strategy.This affects in what way and to what extent the company chooses to communicate with thecustomers. In other words, the bigger environmental exposure and the bigger environmentalmarket possibilities the more important and more active the communication gets.Those companies that have responsible production as a primary brand value also tend tocommunicate this in greater extent than other companies although there is not always aconnection. The greater control the company has over the supply chain, the more distinct thecommunication becomes. The majority of the companies use external certifications as a formof sponsorship to get certain benefits. We also have noticed that the more distinct thecompany communicate their responsible production, the more important the extent of theinformation to the customer gets. / <p>Program: Textilekonomutbildningen</p><p>Uppsatsnivå: C</p>

Agriculture is facing many challenges, such as decreased biodiversity, soil erosion, water scarcity, and social inequality, because of industrial farming and its focus on high yields at the expense of sustainability. This also includes Thailand and the province of Ratchaburi. There are, however, some farmers that have pursued sustainable agriculture in the region. The purpose of the study is therefore to investigate how these sustainable farming practices can contribute to increased prosperity, self-sufficiency, and an improved environment in Ratchaburi. Specifically, the study examines the strengths and weaknesses of sustainable agriculture in the region, as well as the opportunities and threats they face. Qualitative interviews were completed with farmers from three sustainable farms in the region. The results were analyzed with the help of PESTLE to describe the macro-factors that influence the agricultural environment .Thereafter a SWOT analysis was performed to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of each farm as well as relate these to the opportunities and threats identified in the PESTLE analysis. The study found that the key strengths were multi-crop cultivation, product development, self-sufficiency and broad knowledge combined with collaboration. Several weaknesses arose from small-scale operations, which also made it challenging to make use of the opportunity of niche markets. A major challenge is the relatively low demand for sustainable products. Future studies could further examine how organic certifications can impact the demand for sustainable products, as well as how small sustainable farms can effectively reach niche markets. / Jordbruk står inför många utmaningar, så som minskad biologisk mångfald, erodering, vattenbrist och social ojämlikhet, till följd av det industriella jordbruket och dess fokus på stora skördar på bekostnad av hållbarhet. Detta innefattar även Thailand och provinsen Ratchaburi. Däremot finns det en del bönder som trotsat de konventionella metoderna och bedriver hållbara jordbruk, främst genom diversifierade grödor och skapandet av naturliga ekosystem. Syftet med studien är därför att undersöka hur dessa hållbara jordbruk kan bidra till ökat välstånd, självförsörjning och förbättrad miljö i Ratchaburi. Mer specifikt undersöker studien vilka styrkor och svagheter hållbara jordbruk i regionen har, samt vilka möjligheter och hot de ställs inför. Metoden som användes var kvalitativa intervjuer med bönder från tre hållbara jordbruk i regionen för att sedan skapa en gemensam PESTEL-analys för gårdarna samt en SWOT analys för respektive gård. PESTEL-analysen beskriver och analyserar vilka makro-faktorer som påverkar deras omgivning, medan SWOT analysen lyfter fram styrkorna och svagheterna för gårdarna och analyserar deras möjligheter och hot, dels utifrån deras svar, dels utifrån PESTEL-analysen. Studien fann att de viktigaste styrkorna var bred kunskap, självförsörjning, samverkan, produktframtagning och en mångfald av grödor och produkter. De övergripande svagheterna var dålig tillgång till marknader samt småskalighet. Möjligheterna var att nå nya marknader, i samband med en ökad medvetenhet och efterfrågan på hållbara produkter, samt utnyttjande av subventioner och ökad användning av e-handel. De främsta hoten var konkurrens med andra jordbruk och stora industrier, kapital- och teknologiska begränsningar. Framtida studier kan vidare undersöka hur ekologiska certifieringar kan påverka efterfrågan på hållbara produkter, samt hur hållbara jordbruk kan nå till nischade marknader för deras produkter på bästa sätt.