The increased globalization has brought increased interdependency between countries as well as markets.  The  2007  financial  crisis  impacted  companies  on  a  global  scale  and  the  need  for companies  to  be  socially  responsible  has  increased.  Corporate  social  responsibility  (CSR)  can build reputation and lead to societal and competitive advantage, which can be especially useful for  small  and  medium  sized  enterprises  (SME)  with  limited  resources.  CSR  has  traditionally been  the  domain  of  multinational  corporations  and  little  is  known  about CSR in  SMEs. Recent research  shows  mixed results  of  how  the  financial  crisis  has  affected  CSR  strategies.  The purpose of this study is to explore how stakeholders‟ issues and CSR strategies change during times  of  market  turbulence  and  SMEs  conform  to  the  changes  of  the  internal  and  external environment. This was studied through a qualitative case study of three Swedish exporting SMEs and  their  key  stakeholders.  Interviews  with  managing  directors  of  the  companies  and  key stakeholders  together  with  secondary  data  constitute  the  gathered  empirical  data.  Key stakeholders,  key  issues,  legitimacy  with  stakeholders,  company  matching  with  the  external environment and the CSR strategy,  as well as changes during crisis were analyzed based on the empirical data. We found an increased need for CSR activities during times of turbulence. Two companies  increased  their  CSR  activities  while  one  decreased the  activities.  The results  of  the study  indicate that  the  external  environment  changes  during  times  of  market  turbulence  and companies  need  to  adapt  to  the  newly shaped  environment.  CSR  activities  became  more important  for  some  stakeholders  during  market  turbulence.  Companies  which  adapted  to  the changes  of  the  external  environment  improved  legitimacy  with  their  stakeholders  and  moved toward enhancing their competitive advantage as well as improved their performance. The study contributes  to  the  knowledge  of  how  SME  form  CSR  strategy  as  well  as  how  this  strategy  is changed  during  times  of  turbulence.  We  found  CSR  strategies  of  the  studied  SMEs  to  be emergent  and  intuitive,  and  that  CSR  strategy  changed  in  a  mixed  direction  during  the  crisis. Finally,  a  recommendation  is  made  based  on  the  results.  SMEs  can  strategically  use  CSR activities  in  order  to  develop  a  competitive  advantage through  differentiation by  a  creating societal advantage.

The premise of this thesis is the need for research regarding the relation between social and natural values and the competitive advantage of a firm. The overall purpose of this thesis is to identify, describe and analyze how a firm can achieve competitive advantage from a transformation of social and natural values. In order to reach the purpose of this thesis a case study of Cascades Djupafors has been carried out which entailed personal interviews with a selection of the firm’s customers.  The theoretical framework involves a description of the creation of a sustainable business, process for creating societal advantage, the transformation of societal advantage to competitive advantage as well as an elaboration of the transformation process. The empirical study deals with the sustainable approach of Cascades Djupafors, their quest for a sustained business, their process from sustainability to competitiveness and an elaboration of Cascades Djupafors’ innovation developments. In the analysis the theoretical framework is related to the results of the empirical study. It is discussed and analysed how Cascades Djupafors can create social and natural values as well as economic values which is continued by a discussion regarding the creation of a sustainable business. In addition, the organizational learning process at Cascades Djupafors is elaborated with focus on capability development. It is concluded that a firm can transform social and natural values to competitive advantage by developing green capabilities to perform CSR activities that the customers value and thereby gain legitimacy. This can lead to a positive reputation which is linked to competitive advantage through the source of competitive advantage, i.e. green innovations. The competitive advantage allows a firm to set a premium price or increase its amount of sales which offers a possibility for increased financial outcome. At last, recommendations for further research within this field are presented together with specific managerial implications for Cascades Djupafors.

The field of study on coopetition has been given a growing emphasis in the recent years by researchers and business practice. Coopetition is a term integrating the notions of cooperation and competition happening as an intensive simultaneous process where actors seek to leverage the value created by other companies in their business network. These complex and paradoxical interactions are acknowledged as needing further research about the effects of coopetition and the different types of coopetitive interactions involved when firms coopete. The business network highlighted in the current study concerned the Swedish Cleantech industry. It offers an interesting ground as Sweden has been investing substantial amounts in environmental protection technologies. Moreover, SMEs in Sweden play an increasingly significant role in the national economy by their rapid technological development. Nonetheless, these SMEs battle to sustain opportunities and are facing many challenges such as lack of key resources, a limited market presence, and liabilities of newness. Thereby, collaboration is essential among Cleantech SMEs in order to overcome these challenges and sustain competitive advantages. This study sets out to fill this gap through the following objectives: by describing the cooperative and competitive activities happening of SMEs inside the Swedish Cleantech industry, by understanding how SMEs select their cooperative relationship with their competitors inside their business network, and by analyzing how coopetition can be implemented by SMEs as a strategy to develop sustainable competitive advantage. This research was conducted through a qualitative case study and semi-structured interviews of seven Swedish SMEs operating in the Cleantech industry. The findings underline that coopetition can be used as a matching strategy between the internal and the external environment of the firm. Further, before coopetition can lead to sustained competitive advantages, companies first need to develop societal advantages in the form of economic value, social value, and natural value.