Key Aspects of Implementing a Corporate Sustainability Strategy in a Decentralized Organization : A Case Study

Abstract: Companies are considered as central actors towards a more sustainable society. Implementing a sustainability strategy is seen as an effective way for corporations to take responsibility andmeet the society’s expectations. Different factors have been identified to affect the implementation of a sustainability strategy. The purpose of this thesis is therefore to add to the concept of strategy implementation and how organizational structure, organizational culture and internal communication affect the implementation process. A qualitative case study has been chosen to answer the research question where we conducted semi-structured interviews with employees at various positions in the case company. Our result revealed that a company’ssustainability strategy can be implemented even if the internal communication is weak. However, we suggest that an organizational culture that is promoting the employees to feel committed to the strategy will have a positive impact on the implementation process. Finally,we also advocate that the organizational structure has affected the case company’simplementation of their sustainability strategy positively by enabling strategies to emerge from practice.