Background: Today, It?s not uncommon that international companies and organizations have a higher turnover than the GDP of developing countries. Consequently, this may suggest that the choices companies make in the context of their business has a great potential to influence the world from an economic, but also from a social and environmental standpoint. From this the notion emerged that companies have a responsibility, referred to as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). A clear definition of the CSR concept is difficult to find, more than 37 different definitions has been identified.

This thesis examines why working time preferences differ between workers and nations, and explains the effect of working time regulation and working time flexibility on negotiating work-life balance. In five separate sections the following working time issues are examined: the number of hours worked by workers in Europe; factors affecting individual working time preferences; how working time preferences are negotiated in the national industrial relations systems of Sweden, France and the United Kingdom; how the institutions of the European Union have influenced working time negotiations through the Working Time Directive; and the benefits and practices available to organisations implementing working time flexibility. Broadly this paper views working time preferences as being a highly personal and influenced by factors such as wages, taxation, culture (national and workplace) and non-work responsibilities. It is argued that negotiating a preferred working time pattern is essential to achieving work-life balance and when such a balance is achieved, workers are more healthy, motivated and committed to their employer. Essentially this provides an incentive for businesses to voluntarily implement working time flexibility beyond the regulatory standards..

AbstractThe OMX Nordic Exchange Stockholm requires all large companies to apply the Swedish Code ofCorporate Governance. A revised code will be applied from July 2008. The purpose of this paper is toidentify the accessibility of information on corporate governance and in particular how the compliance,concerning the Swedish Code of Corporate Governance in the perspective of an internet active generalpublic.This paper is a complete census of the companies at the OMX Nordic Exchange Stockholm whocomplies with the code. Each company website has been visited and a comparison between the sectorsat the OMX Exchange Stockholm has been performed.Results: 96% of the companies present the members of the nomination committee. 94% presents thenomination committees proposal of the company board members, though only 33% of the companies inthe Energy sector.

This Bachelor's thesis in Environmental Science studies the quality of an index of performance measurement of Swedish municipalities' sustainability governance offered by the environmental magazine Miljöaktuellt. Executed for six consecutive years, this evaluation is arguably the most comprehensive and widely spread local sustainability assessment in Sweden. Contextualizing this quantitative measurement tool in the paradigm of New Public Management, the research questions posed are: 'to what extent does the index employed by Miljöaktuellt correspond to the requirements of a set of quality criteria for sustainability assessment?' and 'is the index appropriate as a measure of, or a goal for, Swedish municipalities' internal sustainability efforts?' Through the perspective of evaluation theory, Miljöaktuellt's index is seen as a performance evaluation, thus categorizing this study as a meta-evaluation. Through a qualitative thematic approach, the index is analyzed using the 8 BellagioSTAMP-principles that were developed as tools for assessing quality of sustainability assessments as themes for the analysis.

In recent decades, the concept of corporate culture has emerged as an increasingly important factor in the business world, as evidenced by a rise in research and efforts to direct it in various ways. The pandemic has led to significant changes in work processes and office environments as operations shifted to remote work. The purpose of this report is to investigate the impact of remote work on corporate culture and its potential advantages and disadvantages. Additionally, the report aims to analyze how corporate culture currently looks, considering the potential presence and adaptation to hybrid work. Based on a multi-case study, it includes interviews with ten individuals from five different organizations.

AbstractCorporate cultures have since the 80's, when the phenomenon was associated with a company's economic success, been a frequent research object. Corporate culture is then often described as something that can create efficiency, success and loyal employees. Often discussed about strong corporate cultures are that members in the organization have accepted the same norms, values and goals. Research also mention unique corporate cultures, where no organization is alike, depending their different stories, leaders, backgrounds or geographical locations.?? This study aims, through observations and interviews on an ethnographic basis, to describe the corporate culture in Stena Bulk.

Directive 2006/54/EG from the European Union concerns the equal rights between men and woman and the principle of equal rights. The purpose of the directive is that the member states provide the equal rights between men and woman. Affirmative action is one exception from the principle of equal rights which is settled in directive 2006/54/EG, article 3. The purpose for the affirmative action must be to encourage the equal rights between men and women.EU has specific criteria to use affirmative action, which is created by praxis of the Court of Justice of the European Union. These criteria are that the affirmative action must involve an objective assessment, there must be equal qualifications between the person which is affirmative action and the person who is not, the positive action cannot be automatically decisive and this special treatment should be proportionate to the purpose.

The world is facing huge challenges to overcome the climate crisis. A contributing actor to the environmental footprints are the textile industry and their production processes, which highlights the importance to act. The purpose of this study is therefore to investigate how a middle size company's purchase- and design department work to contribute to sustainable fashion and sustainable consumption. As well as to examine the challenges and possibilities that the fashion company faces in its sustainability work. The qualitative study has been prepared and is based on 15 interviews with employees in the purchase- and design department.

This study in Environmental Science examines the amendment of the EU-Directive on. Greenhouse gas emission allowance trading. The Directive is to be considered as a tool for fulfilling the obligations that the Union and its member countries have taken on through the 1997 Kyoto agreement together with the protocols proposed at that time. The flexible mechanisms of the protocol are intended as instruments for limiting the climatic changes arising from anthropogenic sources, emission allowance trading being one of these mechanisms. The results presented here consist primarily of an analysis of interviews with various experts in the field of emission control concerning the possibilities and problems attending the process of implementation.

AbstractThis essay is about what rights that a consumer has, after it?s been to a beauty-shop getting a treatment somewhere on her body. We were interested to see what kind of regulations that could be useful if a problem occurred after or during treatment. There are several risks with these treatments.The last decade these kinds of treatments have increased, due to people being vain and so aware about there looks. We started to investigate what type of rights the consumer generally has when it?s about a service.

Managing credit risk might be the single most important business area for any commercial bank. The assessment of "good" and "bad" corporate clients is a important task for a creditor. A bad debtor is a corporate client with hardships in meeting the continous claims (interest payments) that a creditor requires. One way of evaluating or separating a "bad" client from a "good" client is to assess the propensity for the client to file for bankruptcy. This thesis examines 226 firms in the Swedsh market in the quest of predicting corporate bankruptcy.

Background and problem: Corporate Governance is a well-known phenomenon which has been the focus of plenty of research where the board of directors and the CEO have been regarded as important actors. What's affecting decisions regarding these actors has been debated whereas media has been pointed out of having an impact. To decide whether or not media can affect Corporate Governance have shown to be problematic whereas it exists divergent views regarding this. At the same time this relationship is more explored in other contexts than the swedish one, although this one is considered suitable for this. Consequently there is a motive for examining medias impact on Corporate Governance in Sweden. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to explain if media has an impact on Corporate Governance at an overall level.

There are many views in the concept of corporate reputation and the massive research in the area tends to result in many new definitions. Research has shown that a good corporate reputation has a positive relation to Sustainable Competitive Advantage, financial performance and attraction to competent employees. The many views in the concept make it especially interesting to examine the view on corporate reputation in a perspective of big Swedish corporations. Another interesting area to examine is whether the companies manage their reputation or not. The empirical findings of this essay are based on qualitative interviews to get a deeper understanding in the area of reputation.

In theory, the logic behind partnerships is simple: All organisations have strengths, but no organisation has all the strength required to do everything. Triggered by global perspectives and challenged by sustainability objectives, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 pointed out needs for corporate responsibility. In this conference, Private-public partnership, PPP, was identified as a potential way to work towards sustainability, especially as a way to emphasize a corporate responsibility commitment. Nowadays, organizations exist to satisfy the needs and interests of all their stakeholders, such as customers, markets, shareholders, as well as secondary stakeholders such as media, NGOs, and society at large. Addressing all stakeholders and working towards a sustainable business development makes PPP a potential solution, but also a source of challenges.

Bakgrund och problem: H?llbarhet och milj? har de senaste ?ren kommit att bli en alltmer aktuell och central del av f?retagens strategi och aff?rsid?. Det har blivit mer relevant i takt med att f?rst?elsen kring hur konsumtion och produktion p?verkar milj?n har ?kat. Som en f?ljd av det har cirkul?r ekonomi kommit att bli en process som f?retag till?mpar f?r att f?rb?ttra sitt klimatavtryck.