Reporting For a Sustainable World

Abstract

Background: Corporate social responsibility has become a more or less obligatory part on the corporations’ agenda. In order to lead by example, To be good example, the Swedish government decided in 2007 that all government-­‐owned companies have to report according to GRI, a international framework for sustainability reporting GRI. Research Questions: Ø In what way has the implementation of GRI influenced the organisation? Ø How could CSR be used as a management control system? Purpose: In a research done for the government in 2010, many of the companies experienced difficulties with GRI. Therefore we aim to research in what ways GRI has influenced the organisation and their current opinion. As the companies are more or less obligated to consider CSR we aim to research how CSR could be used as a management control system. Methodology: In order to accomplish the research, qualitative data has been collected through interviews with government-­‐ and municipally-­‐owned companies. Further the data has been connected to theories and earlier research. Conclusion: The conclusion of the thesis is that GRI at the beginning was received as a burden. Many of the companies experienced difficulties to apply the GRI indicators to their organisation. Although thanks to continuos work and development of the sustainability report GRI is now seen as something positive.