How do stakeholders perceive corporate sustainability initiatives? A case study on SONAE MC
: A case study on SONAE MC

  • Sruti Gordhandas (Student)

Student thesis: Master's Thesis

Abstract

Considering the power and the responsibility of the companies, end costumers as well as government are driving organizations’ strategies for developing more sustainable activities, products and services.To respond to external pressures and demands, companies started publishing their strategic plans for corporate social responsibility as well as their progress over the years.The rationale of this thesis is to understand whether stakeholders are aware of sustainability initiatives led by Sonae MC, a retail company acting in Portugal, as well as to identify the most interesting subjects for each group of stakeholder. A second aim of this study is to account to which extent is this company publishing Economic, Environmental and Social Indicators, according to the Global Reporting Initiative Guidelines. On the same context, it is part of the objectives of this thesis to promote the application of sustainability measurement frameworks, so that organizations can track their performance as well as communicate it according to a universal sustainability standard reporting guideline. The data for this analysis was provided by Sustentare Consulting.For the stakeholders analyzed it is possible to conclude that they are generally aware of Sonae MC’s engagement in CSR and that they have different interests of sustainable initiatives. Concerning the Reporting framework, the company published only 13% of the Indicators in its 2009 Sustainability Report. Although this is a complex tool to master, Sonae has been progressively using it in its Reports in recent years, but there is still an opportunity to fill in further information gaps.
Date of Award2011
Original languageEnglish
Awarding Institution
  • Universidade Católica Portuguesa
SupervisorSusana Frazão Ferreira Fernandes Pinheiro (Supervisor)

Designation

  • Mestrado em Gestão

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