Student Thesis Level: Master’s Thesis in Business Administration Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) networking : A case study on why members join CSR network and why are they sharing their knowledge

Purpose – This research focuses on finding the reasons, why members from different sectors join a cross-sector/multi-stakeholder CSR network and what motivates them to share (or not to share) their knowledge of CSR and their best practices. Design/methodology/approach – Semi-structured interviews were conducted with members of the largest cross-sector CSR network in Sweden. The sample base of 15 people was chosen to be able to represent a wider variety of members from each participating sectors. As well as the CEO of the intermediary organization was interviewed. The interviews were conducted via email and telephone. Findings – The findings include several reasons linked to the business case of CSR such as stakeholder pressure, competitive advantage, legitimacy and reputation as well as new reasons like the importance of CSR, and the access of further knowledge in the field. Further reasons are in line with members wanting to join a network, such as access to contact or having personal contacts. As to why members are sharing their CSR knowledge, the findings indicate to inspire others, to show CSR commitment, to be visible, it leads to business opportunity and the access of others knowledge, and because it was requested. Reasons for not sharing their knowledge would be the lack of opportunity, lack of time and the lack of experience to do so. Originality/value – The research contributes to existing studies, which focused on Corporate Social Responsibility and cross-sector networking as well as to inter-organizational knowledge sharing in the field of CSR.

Corporate Social Responsibility och lönsamhet : Finns det ett samband mellan företags rapporterade CSR-arbete och dess lönsamhet?

Bakgrund: Vilken roll har företag i vårt samhälle? Vilken funktion ska de fylla? Är företagens funktion att vara vinstmaximerande och enbart se till sitt eget bästa, eller har de ett större ansvar och skyldigheter mot samhället? Dessa frågor har diskuterats under lång tid och bilden av företag och företagande förändras kontinuerligt i takt med att samhället förändras. Tankarna om att företag har ett socialt ansvar, vid sidan av det ekonomiska, har spridit sig över världen och frågor som har dykt upp är om det finns någon motsättning mellan socialt ansvar och företagens vinstintresse. Eller kan det vara så att socialt ansvarstagande kan leda till ökad lönsamhet? Syfte: Att genom en empirisk undersökning ge en förklaring om svenska noterade bolags rapporterade arbete med CSR har en positiv inverkan på dess lönsamhet. Metod: För att uppnå syftet valdes en deduktiv kvantitativ metod för att kunna göra en statistisk generalisering. Det rapporterade CSR-arbetet operationaliseras med hjälp av Folksams rapport "Index för ansvarsfullt företagande" och lönsamhet mäts via avkastning på totalt kapital (ROA) samt vinstmarginal. Analysen genomförs med hjälp av multipla regressionsanalyser. Slutsats: Studiens resultat visar att företags rapporterade CSR-arbete har en positiv inverkan på svenska noterade företags lönsamhet, både mätt i avkastning på totalt kapital (ROA) och vinstmarginal.

The Development of Swedish Tourism Public Policy 1930-2010

In this article, the development and changes in Swedish public policy relating to tourism from the 1930s to 2010 is described and interpreted from a political economy perspective. A case study, compiled from mainly secondary sources, is analyzed from a theoretical framework based on regulation theory. The purpose with this study is to increase the understanding of how the macro political economy context has influenced the policy-making in tourism in Sweden, but also to make a contribution to an area which seems to be quite neglected when it comes to research. The changes are analyzed according to the three periods denoted as pre-Fordism (mid-19th century-1930s), Fordism (1930s-1970s) and post-Fordism (1970s to present). It is observed how the general changes between these periods regarding aspects such as regulation and deregulation, and the degree of state involvement, have affected tourism policy making. The tourism policy making has changed from being insignificant, to a high degree of state involvement including planning, control and supervision, to a situation where the market rather than government regulation is considered as state of the art. 

The Quest for CSR in Closedowns

This paper focuses on analysis of and suggestions for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) orienta- tion during the closedown process.The article addresses CSR considerations that adjust business strategies, which in turn change the Human Resource Management (HRM) focus. Our study fo- cuses on four best practice cases in Sweden, which are compared with three reported cases in the literature.All four best practice cases had a long notice period and socially responsible coordination of management and employees, which created adjusted corporate strategies.Three cases had the CSR orientation in the earliest stage, while the fourth case had this coordination during a later stage of the closedown process. We develop a model where we show that the scope for action increases if the CSR orientation and coordination of actions come early in the closedown process, due to the increased ability to adjust the business strategy and create a plan for outreach HRM activities and local community activities.