Swedish Luxury Leading the Way Toward Sustainable Change : An explorative study investigating sustainable change in the Swedish luxury goods industry

Background: Luxury is growing in market size and a wider group of consumers are setting new demands in the industry. The increasing awareness of the environment has put the industry in a direction towards sustainable change. For organisations to implement sustainable strategies successfully, the initiatives must be coherent with the organisation’s cultural values and purpose thus must consider internal and external factors. Purpose: The purpose was to gain an understanding of what driving forces impact organisations in the Swedish luxury goods industry, to work with sustainability. Furthermore, the aim was then to understand how organisations in the said industry are addressing changes toward sustainability. Method: The research conducted followed a qualitative design, an inductive approach and an explorative nature, all under an interpretive philosophy. The data consisted of existing literature and collected empirics in the form of semi-structured in-depth interviews. The collected data were analysed with thematic analysis and interpreted through the theory of organisational change management. Conclusion: The indicated drivers from the research consisted of the pressures from the external environment, e.g. politics and economic incentives, and the need to evolve in coherence with industry transformation, based on changing customer demands. The industry is addressing it through taking greater responsibility and counteracting mass consumption for instance by adopting a holistic view of sustainability. In conclusion, sustainability is considered a natural attribute of Swedish luxury goods. The result was summarised in the framework Sustainable Change Management – a Framework for the Swedish Luxury Goods Industry (see figure.1).