Browsing by Author "Hagelberg, Emmi"

The purpose of my study was to review and analyze the contents of sustainability reports. In more detail, my study looked at four Finnish design companies and the UN sustainable development goals (SDG) that appear in their reports. Previous studies have shown that corporate responsibility is a growing trend in the world due to increased pressure from society, which is why sustainability reporting has also become more common among different companies. Although there are guidelines for how companies and organizations should prepare reports, they are very variable in terms of content due to their free form. Since the reports are very informal, they may contain greenwashing, which is why it is interesting to study how companies of the same type publicize their sustainability goals in their operations. In addition, the SDGs have generated a lot of conflicting opinions among different researchers, especially because of their superficiality, so examining them from a critical perspective is interesting. Although a lot of research has been done in the field of corporate responsibility and SDGs, there is not much research especially on the sustainability of Finnish design brands. The purpose of my study was therefore to tackle this shortcoming and find out which SDGs Finnish design companies follow in their operations and whether it can be assumed based on this that a certain company type follows certain SDGs. Corporate responsibility and especially sustainable development are often divided into three areas: environmental, social and economic responsibility. In my study, all areas were examined as part of the contents of the sustainability reports. In terms of method, my study was conducted with qualitative methods, utilizing qualitative content analysis. The collection of research material was carried out by analyzing the company’s public sustainability reports and their contents. The target group of my study consisted of four companies that are known for Finnish design: Finlayson, Fiskars, Marimekko and Pentik. My research was a case study, and the methodological orientation of the research was interpretive policy analysis. The research results showed that the target companies' reporting was influenced by the UN's SDGs. The responsibility activities of the companies were guided by sustainability commitments and the SDGs support their implementation. The reference frameworks used by the companies had no significant effect on the monitored goals. Recurring topics were environmental responsibility, social responsibility and financial responsibility. These were especially visible in the most followed goals: 8 (decent work and economic growth), 12 (responsible consumption and production), and 13 (climate action), which are well connected to different areas of corporate responsibility. The goals can be seen to be connected to the type of company, but there are also noticeable exceptions in the goals followed.