The aim of this study is to find out if there is any difference between how a state-owned company and a publicly listed private company communicate its sustainability performance in its sustainability report. It also aims to find out if the communication regarding sustainability has changed over time. The poll was conducted in two Swedish companies, Sveaskog AB and AB SCA, operating in the forestry industry and through a quantitative content analysis, the companies' Sustainability reports from 2005 and 2010 were examined. To get a result, the reports has been examined by the GRI framework (Global Reporting Initiative) and an assessment of the communication was made based on a scale of 0-3. The results has been evaluated based on stakeholder theory, legitimacy theory and the growing interest in CSR. The analyses found evidence that there is a link between the form of ownership of the company and how it communicates regarding sustainability.

This study examines differences between private and state-owned companies' Sustainability reports for the year 2010. Three state-owned companies and three private companies in three different industries have been examined. An effort has been put to explaining if differences are related to the owner or to the industry. The basis for this is that the state owned companies are required to present a sustainability report according to shareholder demands, while the private owned aren?t obligated to present their sustainability efforts.The study has a qualitative basis, and empirical data have been collected by the authors.

The purpose of this study are to investigate and describe if companies? Sustainability reports differ in substance and quantity between public and Large Cap companies? and if there are any differences between industries. This study will also analyze if companies? size, stakeholder group or profitability have some impact on the companies? sustainability report. The study includes all Swedish public companies and the Large Cap companies.To investigate in line of the purpose this study will measure both the substance and quantity.

As consumers we want to know from whom we buy, what we buy and the impact the company has on our planet. In recent years there been an increasing number of scandals concerning child labour, dangerous chemicals and falsely labelled meat. A good way for companies to communicate their environmental efforts is to establish a sustainability report, where they describe their work and their impact on our environment. By concentrating on H&M?s sustainability report, as well as conducting a rhetorical analysis, we have been able to focus on the following research questions:  ? Why do companies establish CSR reports? ? How do companies gain legitimacy through their rhetorical choices? ? How do companies try to influence recipients? attitudes to the company? We begin by studying the context, which is of importance when using a rhetorical method and thereby attempt to understand in what situation the text is created.

Problem formulation: The awareness and importance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is growing within both corporations and society at large. The corporate progress in sustainable development can be both profitable and essential for the potential to compete globally. The value of sustainability reporting may differ between industries and companies of different sizes. The demands for Sustainability reports are expected to increase. By 2010, no previous survey on sustainability reporting practices had been conducted within Swedish corporations. Purpose: The aim of the current study was to examine Sustainability reports within Swedish corporations during 2010 and to compare the findings with preceding surveys to determine differences over time and between corporations.

As the media attention society on the world climate change, interest in the environment and social impact has increased. This has in turn made even more companies choose to maintain a sustainability report that contains the three aspects of economic, environment and social impact. The demand for Sustainability reports has increased among stakeholders. It has made the companies that establish this form of reports experienced economic benefits. The sustainability report than became a useful way to compete among businesses.

Companies today face more and more demands from society and stakeholders. It is no longer about just satisfying shareholders, sales and making a profit. Consumers are becoming more aware of products effects and the consequences it has on humans, our environment and the generation ahead of us. NGO:s and society request that companies take responsibility and actions toward a more sustainable business. Many investors analyze companies? sustainability regarding social and environmental issues when it comes to choosing a company to invest in.

The history of environmental reporting began in the early 1990?s when some companies included the environmental issue in their annual report. The increased interest of ethical and sustainable investments and demands from different stakeholders conjure a change of the report design. To develop the environmental reports and create design guidance for Sustainability reports an organisation called Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) was born. The GRI is environmental reporting taken to another level, a level that is according to sustainable development.

To establish Sustainability reports is an increasing trend for more and more companies. This has led to a spread of the international framework Global reporting initiative, GRI, guidelines to make a Sustainability reports. This trend has got a lot of critics from various stakeholders who believe that companies in these reports communicate the information in a way of window dressing. Both negative and positive information has to be represented according to GRI: s principle of balance.  Window dressing is created by adding a greater emphasis on the positive information. The researchers review the context of the negative information to study the extent to which it is reported and whether there are patterns and variations in the reported information.

Background: Following an increased awareness concerning social and environmental aspectsin society, more enterprises establish Sustainability reports in order to inform theirstakeholders about the company?s sustainability duties. A previous study indicates that themetal sector is enjoying relatively limited increases in business opportunities and/or financialvalue of corporate responsibility. Another study suggests that there is a gap in expectationsbetween producers and users of Sustainability reports due to an uncertainty regarding whatinformation such reports should contain and what audience such reports should target. Thequestion is whether or not a gap in expectations concerning sustainability reporting is acontributing factor to the limited increases in financial value in the metal sector?Purpose: The purpose of the study was to examine how a sustainability report should becarried out by a company in the steel industry given what information the company and thestakeholders consider as essential in a sustainability report.Methodology: To accomplish the purpose of the study, a deductive approach was used due tothe availability of suitable theories.

This project was conducted on behalf of the organization SABO (Swedish Association of Public Housing Companies). The aim of this project was to investigate which relevant environmental aspects and indicators there are for housing companies to present in their sustainability report. The project consists of three main goals: to decide if there is a need for common guidelines when conducting a sustainability report, determine appropriate environmental indicators and to create a simple model of how the companies can present them. This was done by a literature study, analysis of 13 Sustainability reports and interviews with seven housing companies. The result of the project suggests that there is a need for common guidelines to, among other things, make it easier to make a comparison with other companies.

AbstractTitle:Sustainability reporting- For whom and what? What is the opinion of analysts, consultants and fund managers on sustainability reporting?Level:Bachelor thesis in business administration, 15 university creditsAuthors:Nils Johansson and Hannes ThomasfolkSupervisor:Sarah PhilipsonDate:20140108Keywords:Sustainability reporting, value relevance, stakeholder theory, signaling theory.Purpose:The purpose of this paper is to study how different professional groups in the Swedish financial market in 2013 use sustainability reporting and explore how professional groups look at the future development of sustainability reporting.Limitations:The study focuses only on organizations that are members of SWESIF.Method:In this study we chose a multiple case study design, inspired by well grounded theory. The study's empirical data was obtained through ten semi-structured interviews with analysts, consultants and fund managers.Results and conclusions:It was revealed by the study that companies producing a sustainability report demonstrates transparency and are perceived as a company that is aware of risk, both economic risks as well as external risks. The study also shows that among the study's respondents, there is a strong belief that sustainable business in the long term is a good investment. The study also indicates that this is no concrete evidence of an association between the use of sustainability reporting and either increased or decreased profitability.

Title: Global Reporting Initiative - A comparative study on compliance with the initiative's guidelines between Ericsson and Vattenfall.Authors: Peter Leidhammar, Mattias ThorénSupervisor: Bo EnquistExaminer: Margareta BjurkloSeminar Date: 2009-01-14Background and problem formulation: The interest and the requirements that stakeholders have for companies sustainability issues are becoming increasingly important. Thus more companies are increasing their work on their Sustainability reports. As there are no laws governing how these are to be designed, standards have been created by various organizations that companies voluntarily can follow. Now, after the Swedish government gave them the directive to follow the GRI's guidelines the Swedish public companies have started to follow this trend. The question then stand how much the private companies' Sustainability reports differ from state companies and whether this can be traced to the differences in the companies' ownership and their stakeholders picture.Objective: The purpose of the paper is:· analyze how the GRI's guidelines are followed by the two organizations· highlight differences between them from a theoretical perspectiveLimitations: This paper is limited to two companies, one company owned by the government and one privately-owned company.

This study deals with sustainability reporting in three governmental and three non-governmental Swedish companies in different industries. With increasing demands from the society regarding company?s CSR - Corporate social responsibility, the perspective of accounting gets broader and covers even non-financial information to meet not only the owners? demands but also others stakeholders' requirements. Sustainability has become an important tool for creating company?s business value and a positive sustainable external image.

Sustainability reporting in Sweden is a voluntary disclosure action for non-governmental companies. Since 2009 all state-owned companies must however publish a sustainability report according to GRI guidelines and with independent assurance statement. Three different sustainability reporting methods are primarily used: (1) Separate Sustainability Report, (2) Sustainability Report included in the Directors? Report, and (3) Sustainability Report forming part of the Printed Annual Report. The aim of this paper is to explore why some companies choose to publish a sustainability report and identify the motivational factors behind this decision, as well as attain an understanding for companies? choice of reporting method.