Från profit till ansvar, ett företags anpassning till verkligheten : en studie av användandet av ekologisk bomull inom H&M

In the last years people has become more aware of issues regarding corporate social responsibility. This has led to a more thorough control of big multinational companies, which are often held account of violating social, ethical and environmental values. The term most often used for this is corporate social responsibility (CSR). H&M is a Swedish multinational company and the concept of H&M is fashion to a low price. The material most often used in producing clothes is cotton. Cotton is the most sprayed crop and a great amount of water, pesticides and inorganic fertilizers are used in order to get better and bigger harvests leading to a negative impact on both environment and people working in the production chain. Organic cotton is a great alternative and a growing number of consumers are asking for clothes made out of organic cotton. The purpose of the thesis is to investigate whether H&M is taking responsibility for the social, ethical and environmental parts of CSR and how H&M uses organic cotton in their clothes. The thesis also accounts for the role of the consumer and other stakeholders regarding demand of organic cotton. Methods used are literature studies and interviews conducted by phone and e-mail. The results show that the overall impression is that H&M as a company is taking several actions in order to take responsibility. By using organic cotton in collections on all departments and by supporting a number of non governmental organizations (NGO) H&M has had a positive development and is now seen as one of the most successful companies regarding CSR. H&M has integrated a stakeholder perspective in their activities which shows that the company is putting focus not only at the consumers but also at other important stakeholders. H&M should however focus more on local sustainability, in order to help sustain a positive development in developing countries multinational companies such as H&M need to take a bigger responsibility and attend so that a bigger profit remains in the sub contractor countries