Why is it so hard to implement sustainability strategies into an organization? A case study of KappAhl’s sustainability strategy implementation

Background and Problem: The whole value chain, from production to consumption and recycling, is\npart of the sustainability challenges in the textile industry. The concept of sustainability is complex and\nintegrating it into the internal process of the organization is vital to reach success within sustainability\nand accomplish the SDGs by 2030. However, the gap between strategy and implementation is generally\nhigh in organizations, and even if much literature is dedicated to why sustainability is essential, less\nattention is focused on how it should be implemented and especially within sustainability strategies.\nTherefore, this report will examine the Swedish fashion company KappAhl to better understand the\nbarriers causing the gap.\nPurpose and Research question: This report aims to expand the knowledge about the implementation\nof sustainability strategies within companies to further understand the internal process of turning\nstrategies into reality. The research question is: What main factors cause the gap between sustainability\nstrategy formulation and implementation in the fashion company KappAhl?\nMethod: The report is conducted through a qualitative case study of one company. A literature\noverview of the subject and semi-structured interviews with the case-company will be the foundation\nfor the data collection. Further, an analytical framework of eight affecting factors was created based on\nprevious literature within the subject and will be used to analyze the empirical data.\nResult and Conclusion: The result showed that the factors (1) Resources and (2) Management Control\nSystem were the most significant barriers for implementation, followed by (3) Information system and\nCommunication. Moreover, (4) Organizational Structure, (5) Culture, (6) Power, Politics and\nLeadership and (7) Qualification and Learning, all had some deficient aspects that contributed to the\ngap and is therefore barriers in the implementation process, but not to the same extent as the ones above.\nThe only factor that was not perceived as a cause of the gap at KappAhl was (8) Motivation.\nFurther research: It would be interesting to study other similar companies to examine eventual\ndissimilarities. Also, to study the causes of highly motivated employees despite low incentives. Lastly,\nto examine how size affects the sustainability implementation in different companies.