Större möjlighet till jämförbarhet inom företag än företag emellan : En kvalitativ studie med 59 unika observationer av svenska företags hållbarhetsrapporter, ur en miljöaspekt

The purpose of this study was to create understanding for how comparable sustainability reports are. The study has focused on the environmental aspect within the Swedish industry of clothing, footwear and wholesale. A content analysis has been executed, with a selection of 73 companies. After a shortfall there remained 21 companies and the study has performed 59 unique observations. The authors have developed a model to systemize the information collected in the content analysis. The study’s model focuses on four factors that affects the comparability of the sustainability reports. The four factors are guidelines, environmental indicators, measurements and absolute and relative numbers. The study emanated from the stakeholder and legitimacy theory. The theories say that companies should treat their stakeholders equally and that they should sustain a social contract with the community that creates legitimacy. The study showed that sustainability reports have a relatively high comparability within the companies. The Companies tend to report the same environmental indicators from year to year, which contributes to the comparability within the company. The comparability between companies is slightly lower, which is due to companies reporting information that is considered relevant for their own operations. This results in differences between companies in which environmental indicators are being reported as well as which measurements are used, this affects the comparability negatively.