The purpose of this article is to analyse the repertoire of possible price models that organisations may deploy for their products and services. This is attained by developing the SBIFT model that suggests that organisations can differentiate by price along five dimensions. Previous research on pricing has been dispersed across different academic disciplines. This article offers a more integrated perspective, derived from earlier theory as well as discussions in a collaborative research project with the international telecom company Ericsson. The model can be used as a tool for price modelling in a descriptive and prescriptive sense. Altogether, this article uncovers implicit features of price models, and by doing so it illustrates how an organisation can differentiate and re-invent their offering based on price.

Background: A particular challenge in the work to realize the global goals for sustainable development is to find ways for organizations to identify and prioritize organizational activities that address these goals. There are also several sustainability initiatives, guidelines and tools to consider when planning, working with and reporting on sustainable development. Although progress has been made, little has been written about how organizations rise to and manage the challenge. The paper explores how organizations address sustainable development, which sustainability aspects they prioritize and whether previous research can improve the priority process by using materiality analysis approach. Methods: A case study approach was chosen. Data was collected by interactive workshops and documentation. The participating organizations were two Swedish municipalities; Results: The municipalities have introduced a number of sustainability aspects into their organizational governance, especially in terms of society, human rights and the environment. A materiality analysis was conducted to determine the relevance and significance of sustainability aspects. The result shows that climate action, biodiversity and freshwater use are aspects that should be prioritized; Conclusion: The materiality analysis methodology chosen for prioritizing of sustainability aspects was useful and easy to work with. However, the sustainability aspect matrix and the risk assessment have to be updated regularly in order to form an effective base for the materiality analysis.

An accessible way to monitor company sustainability, is to study sustainability reports. In spite of wide adherence to the extensive Global Reporting Initiative standards, sustainability reports still vary considerably regarding how well these are integrated and used. The purpose of this paper is to present and test a maturity grid for sustainability reports assessment that enables critical stakeholder needs analysis of sustainability reports. Based on a stakeholder needs perspective we argue that the right thing in a sustainability report means reporting in the entire value chain for main sustainability impacts. Doing this right means having externally set targets for main sustainability impacts, using relevant absolute and relative indicators, and having an easy to read report presenting main performance compared to targets for a period of at least seven years. Some 50 sustainability reports from Swedish companies in various industries were collected and assessed using the maturity grid. Results indicate that the maturity grid is usable, but that the sustainability report assessment still is difficult, and that variability of the assessments are high. Furthermore, the observed indicative levels of measurement maturity in organizations are low suggesting that most companies still are struggling with understanding what sustainability means to them.

No abstract

No abstract