<p> </p><p><strong>Purpose:</strong> The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how SMEs in the Småland region define and communicate their CSR activities towards their stakeholders.</p><p><strong>Background:</strong> Corporate social responsbility is a topic that is widely discussed today. In many cases the CSR agenda has been adopted by many large corporations. However there is a demand from governmental bodies to spread this agenda further to include and engage small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs). The main reason for this approach is due to SMEs being the most frequent type of business in Europe and is often influential in the local communities (Castka, Balzarova, Bamber, Sharp, 2004).</p><p>There is also a demand from stakeholders to receive information about CSR. Research within the field of CSR Communication has mostly been focused on large corporations. Recently, the focus has shifted towards SMEs and  it is still an emerging field.  The research  concerning CSR and CSR communication within the SME context is limited and therefore it is an important area that needs to be addressed.</p><p><strong>Method:</strong> The purpose of this thesis was achieved by using the case study approach. Two companies; Smålandsbygg and Sköna Hem AB were investigated. Four respondents from each company were interviewed and the outcome of the interviews was analyzed together with the frame of reference.</p><p><strong>Conclusions:</strong> According to the findings it is difficult to provide one common definition of CSR that can be applied for the two companies in the study. In general it might be difficult to provide a common definition of CSR in SMEs. According to previous research the way SMEs conduct their business is dependent on the owner and the personalities of the management. Consequently, there can be a variety of ways that SMEs are engaging in CSR or percieve CSR to be.</p><p>There are three different communication strategies when communicating CSR towards the stakeholders. It could be interpreted that both companies applied different communication strategies depending on which stakeholder they were communicating with.</p> / <p> </p><p><strong>Syfte:</strong> Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att undersöka hur små och medelstora företag definierar och kommunicerar deras CSR aktiviteter gentemot sina intressenter.</p><p><strong>Bakgrund:</strong> Företagets sociala ansvarstagande, även kallat CSR, är ett omdiskuterat ämne idag. I många fall har CSR agendan integrerats i de flesta stora företag. Emellertid finns det ett krav från statliga organ att sprida denna agenda vidare och engagera små och medelstora företag. Den främsta anledningen för denna ansats beror på att små och medelstora företag är den mest vanligt förekommande verksamheten i Europa och tenderar att vara inflytelserika i lokalsamhället. (Castka, Balzarova, Bamber, Sharp, 2004).</p><p>Det finns också efterfrågan från olika intressenter att få information om CSR. Forskning inom området CSR kommunikation har mest varit riktad mot större företag. Nyligen, har fokus skiftat till små och medelstora företag och är fortfarande ett område på frammarsch. Forskning inom CSR och CSR kommunikation i små och medelstora företag är begränsat och är ett viktigt område som måste uppmärksammas.</p><p><strong>Metod:</strong> Syftet med den här uppsatsen uppnåddes genom att använda en fallstudie. Två företag; Smålandsbygg och Sköna Hem AB undersöktes. Fyra personer från varje företag blev intervjuade och resultatet från dessa intervjuer analyserades tillsammans med referensramen.</p><p><strong>Slutsats:</strong> Enligt resultaten från studien är det svårt att tillhandahålla en allmän definition när det gäller CSR som kan appliceras i de två företag som var med i studien. Generellt sett kan det vara svårt att ge en allmän definition om CSR i små och medelstora företag överhuvudtaget. Tidigare forskning visar att sättet som små och medelstora företag drivs på, påverkas av ägarna och ledningens personlighet. Följaktligen kan det finnas flera olika variationer om hur små och medelstora företag är engagerade i CSR eller hur de uppfattar CSR konceptet.</p><p>Det finns tre olika kommunikationsstrategier när man vill kommunicera CSR till olika intressenter. De två företagen i studien applicerade olika kommunikationsstrategier beroende på vilken intressent de kommunicerade med.</p>

Purpose - The purpose of this thesis is to describe and explain how Swedish gazelle firms, as representatives of high growth SMEs, respond to challenges in their economic and social contexts in sustaining growth. Furthermore, the purpose is to provide relevant and valuable recommendations to managers of rapidly growing companies. Finally, this thesis aims at providing suggestions for further research. Method - This research was conducted following a multiple case study research design, constituting four companies. Data derives particularly from semi-structured interviews, held with the owners/CEOs of the four case companies. Findings – Taking a combined resource-based and institution-based view, the study shows that even though the importance of commitment to social issues for SMEs increases through periods of rapid growth, the importance is still somewhat limited for the overall success of the firm. Hence, mainly focusing on the economic context is essential for the firm‘s success, albeit the social context becomes an increasingly important factor to bear in mind for runners of SMEs, particularly when it comes to future expansion. Practical implications - For owners and managers of rapidly growing SMEs, it is vital to form a profound understanding of the challenges that can emerge after a period of rapid growth as well as how to how to most adequately respond to those challenges. For this, it greatly helps if a long-term vision on how and how much to grow is developed before the firm enters its period of rapid growth. Moreover, firm owners need to have or develop significant leadership capabilities in order to deal with the increasing amount of and diversity regarding employees. Keywords - Rapid growth firms, Gazelles, Strategic management, CSR, Growth, SMEs

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are widely recognized as an important part of the economy, particularly important in countries like Mexico, where SMEs make up almost 90% of the industry. However these SMEs do not consider their impact on the environment and surrounding communities to be a priority, and lack the proper information with regards to how to reduce it. The research presented in this thesis sets out to explore the implementation of Sustainable Design in Mexican SMEs, through the use of a guidebook in the form of a web based tool. This tool, tailored to the specific needs of the Mexican SMEs' aims to deliver·· clear and concise information, raise awareness and improve their environmental and social performance. Through a series of studies it was possible to identify that the socio-cultural and political context of the Mexican SMEs have an impact on the implementation of Sustainable Design. As well, these studies analyze if the proposed prototype tool is capable of working without external support. The findings from the studies were used to develop a theoretical framework for the future development of Sustainable Design information tools aimed at Mexican SMEs.

The globalization become a current tendency, and China as one of the biggest parts in the international market, plays the important role. Considering the SMEs in China occupy the main amount, Chinese SMEs are the key factors in Chinese economy. At the same time, they are also faced with fierce competition from global company that compared with other developed countries’ SMEs, Chinese SMEs are not competitive enough. One of the reasons is that their brands are lack of competitiveness. It is known to all, brand is a key strategic asset to long-term performance and it should be managed. Therefore this study is focused on how Chinese SMEs perceive brand as crucial factor for establishing competitiveness. This study is based on qualitative research, and case study research design is chosen. The semi-structured interview is conducted in the Chinese SME called CSC, and two managers and three employees were interviewed. In conclusion, it can be found that the CSC pays attention to the brand, but their brand still need to be improved to be more powerful, unique and positiveness then to reach the loyalty of consumers, and the media channels should be paid more attention

The Social dimension of Sustainability and SCM (supply chain management) are two concepts that have been discussed over the last decade. Nowadays, the increasing integration of social sustainability into SCM becomes an evolving area. The main purpose of this master thesis is to gain better understanding of what are the drivers and barriers for implementing social sustainability inthesupply chainin the context of SMEs. In order to get a deep understanding of how these practices are implemented, we proposed asecondresearch questionto understand the efforts that companieshave made on implementing social sustainability and how far are their implementations of different social sustainability practices.The study involves four different organizations with operations in three different countries, respectively: Romania, Sudan and Namibia. As for the choice of theories for this thesis, we have chosen relevant concepts, such as Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM), Social Sustainability, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and thestakeholder theory.After systematically review of current literature in social sustainabilitysupply chain management, we discoveredthat there is a gap in research sincethere are limited studies concerning thedrivers and barriers for the adoption of social dimension inSSCM,and also how social sustainability managerial practices are actually implemented in SMEs.In order to fulfil the purpose of the thesis, a qualitative method study has been conducted. By using a qualitative research method, we aim to get comprehensive information related to the perceptions of different organizational employees, such as CEO(chief executive officer), supply chain managers, legal advisers, or executive directors. Through the semi-structured interviews, we gained a deeper understanding of the drivers and barriers that organizations face when trying to implement social sustainability in the supply chain. Our interview guide was divided into four major themes, respectively: Social Sustainability in Supply Chain Management, Stakeholders, Drivers and Barriers, and Implementation.The findings of the study revealed that there are numerous motivators for and barriers to social SSCM implementation. Stakeholders such as customers, community and NGOs were reported by respondents as driving forces for the integration of social sustainabilitypractices in their companies. We also found that government influence is a strong driver for improving socialsustainable practices for companies. The government can also use tools such as market incentives (e.g. grants and incentives) or direct regulations to strengthen SSCM adoption. However, the lack of regulation may reduce the pace of social SSCM adoption. We believe that building health and sustainable relations with all kinds of internal and external stakeholders is important when implementing social sustainable in supply chainin SMEs.

La relation entre l'entreprise auditée et l'auditeur est un sujet qui suscitait l'intérêt des chercheurs en audit ces dernières années, la relation a une influence sur la qualité, le résultat et le processus de l'audit. Cette thèse ne prétend pas créer une théorie expliquant la relation auditeur audité, mais elle se limite à comprendre les déterminants de cette relation ainsi que les conditions de sa stabilité. / The relationship between the auditee and the auditor is a topic that aroused the interest of researchers in auditing in recent years, the relationship has an influence on the quality of the result and the audit process. This thesis does not purport to create a theory explaining the relationship auditor audited, but it is limited to understanding the determinants of this relationship and the conditions of its stability.

This thesis examines the Competitive Intelligence behaviour and attitude antecedents of SME decision-makers in a funded environment in France. As a leader in CI national policy programmes, France draws attention to the imbalance between European nations on the tangible support afforded to SME communities. This two stage sequential mixed method study within the pragmatic paradigm evaluates Competitive Intelligence as a public policy to enhance SME sustainable competitiveness. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with the directors of 15 Competitive Intelligence programmes at French Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Guided by the structure and Theory of Planned Behaviour, the findings from this qualitative phase were then used to develop a research instrument to test research questions that relate to behaviours, attitudes, background factors, choice of CI advisor, terminology, and perceived constraints. In this second stage data was obtained via questionnaire from 176 SME decision makers in the Rhône-Alpes and Ile de France regions, for the two sectors of Automobile and Telecoms. The findings show that tangible results have been achieved despite resistance from small businesses in regard to their Competitive Intelligence practices. The thesis uncovers innovative practices to change SME awareness, attitude, and practices of Competitive Intelligence. Evidence of significant relationships between terminology usage, advisor choice, and SME decision-maker attitudes towards CI practices provides insight for future behaviour intervention programmes and future research. The contribution of this study of SME Competitive Intelligence practices is a five stage Competitive Intelligence typology overlaid by corresponding CI manifestations. The findings will be of interest to future initiatives by public/private partnerships in both CI programme design and implementation. The originality of this study is the investigation of SME CI behaviour and attitude antecedents in a funded environment. The findings from this study will be of interest to SME managers, current and future government CI support programmes, and the academic community.

En el contexto actual del país, donde entorno tecnológico crece de manera importante, especialmente para el comercio electrónico, surge la pregunta si las PYMEs del subsector moda están listos para integrarse de manera efectiva y rentable. El presente trabajo de investigación tiene como objetivo evaluar la viabilidad de la implementación de un marketplace que, potenciada con tecnología de machine learning, ofrezca tanto a PYMEs como clientes una propuesta de valor única que resuelva las barreras de entrada a este canal, ofreciendo ventajas sobre el canal físico. Además, la propuesta se basa en desarrollar una plataforma web y móvil, bajo el concepto de customer centricity, que brinde una experiencia de compra superior y atractiva tanto para las pequeñas marcas de moda y para los compradores de los segmentos socioeconómicos A, B y C entre los 18 y 55 años, especialmente la generación llamadas “Millennials”. De acuerdo con los supuestos planteados para el modelo de negocios, el resultado de la evaluación financiera a 5 años arroja que el proyecto es viable, el análisis de sensibilidad para diversos escenarios demuestra que existe un grado de importante de riesgo que no justificarían la inversión, especialmente por la falta de capacidad técnica para la gestión de los pequeños empresarios y la informalidad del rubro. Finalmente, se recomienda enfocar los emprendimientos tecnológicos para las PYMEs desde un punto de vista social y con participación estatal. / For current context of country, where technological environment grows significantly, especially for e-commerce, question arises whether SMEs in the fashion subsector are ready to integrate effectively and profitably. The purpose of this research work is to evaluate viability for implementation of a marketplace that, powered by machine learning technology, offers both SMEs and customers a unique value proposition that resolves barriers to entry to this channel, offering advantages over the physical channel. In addition, the proposal is based on developing a web and mobile platform, under concept of customer centricity, which provides a superior shopping experience and attractive to both small fashion brands and customers of socioeconomic segments A, B and C between 18 and 55 years, especially the generation called "Millennials". According to the assumptions made for business model, the result of 5-year financial evaluation shows that project is viable, sensitivity analyzes for several scenarios demonstrates that there is a significant degree of risk that would not justify the investment, especially due to lack of technical capacity for the management of small entrepreneurs and informality. Finally, it is recommended to focus on technological enterprises for SMEs from a social point of view and with state participation. / Trabajo de investigación

Background: Due to a series of financial crisis and political turbulence, a share of international economic activities has been decreased which results in the emergence of deglobalization trend. For those emerging Asian market SMEs, they are more likely to be influenced by this context because of the left impact of bureaucracy in Asian markets and lack of sufficient resources to overcome the challenges compared with MNCs. Purpose: The purpose of this research is investigating the specific challenges appearing in the deglobalization trend and importance and impacts of networks in the internationalization process of emerging Asian market SMEs under this specific trend. Method: This research follows the philosophy of interpretivism, correspondingly, the inductive research approach is appropriate for this paper to apply to refine existing theory. Qualitative research strategy approach is adapted to understand the meaning and impact of network for SMEs under deglobalization trend through multiple case study. Conclusion: The following four impacts networks have on Asian SMEs become more prominent and pivotal to assist SMEs overcome deglobalization challenges: 1) information communication, 2) access to new customer, 3) cost reduction and 4) reliable support.

Business enterprise produces goods and services through the orchestration of factors of production defined in essence by human consumption behaviour. The production and consumption of goods and services are also associated with environmental problems. These socially constructed problems, regardless of the implied incontrovertibility of their dangers, have drawn attention to the importance of sustainable development models as a means of minimising ecological risk. As a consequence of the ecological aspects of business enterprise and its interrelations between the social and physical environment the firm and corporate management have become focus points of attempts to ameliorate environmental change. The ecological orientation of companies can be defined through their internal, social and economic characteristics as well as psychological factors, which are germane to corporate objectives. The development of corporate ecological orientations is on one hand dependent upon actual or anticipated external changes acting upon the operating frameworks of a firm and on the other hand the existence of relevant management values and intentions expressed through their strategic planning process. In this research key features of the notion of environmental consciousness are identified and employed to investigate the corporate environmental consciousness of small and medium-sized enterprises in the United Kingdom and Germany. Environmental consciousness comprises cognitive, affective and conative aspects. Accordingly, the research involves an empirical examination of corporate values, attitudes towards environmental commitments and environmental action within firms. The examination is contextualised by socio-economic factors in which business enterprise is conducted in selected industry sectors within the United Kingdom and Germany. The study concludes with a synthesis of the research findings on environmental management practice and experiences of SMEs in each country.