Sustainability in Business

10 Key excerpts on "Sustainability in Business"

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  International Perspectives on Sustainability Reporting

  • Amina Mohamed Buallay(Author)
  • 2022(Publication Date)
  • Emerald Publishing Limited

    (Publisher)

  The most widespread definition is ‘meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (Brundtland et al., 1987, p. 8). However, several researchers have found this definition too broad to represent the precise topics often studied in the context of sustainability. Thus, the concept has also been defined in narrow ways to more precisely fit specific contexts. For example, Pfeffer (2010) defined sustainability as ‘efforts to conserve natural resources and avoid waste in company operations’. Similarly, Goldsmith and Goldsmith (2011) defined sustainability as ‘consumption choices that impact the environment and take into account the earth's finite resources’. These definitions limit sustainability to only its environmental dimension. Other sustainability definitions have concentrated only on the social dimension. For example, Biart (2002) defined sustainability as ‘efforts to identify the challenges that may hinder society's function and development in the long run’. As can be seen, these narrow definitions expound a limited view of sustainability, centring on a single dimension and missing the greater effects of sustainability. Sustainability should be defined broadly, although not so broadly as to lack specificity and become ambiguous. Eweje and Perry in their book defined firm sustainability as ‘meaning the incorporation of social, environmental and economic’ (Eweje & Perry, 2011, p. 125). This definition focuses on the economic dimension in addition to the social and environmental impacts. However, to ensure that those three sustainability dimensions (social, environmental and economic) are incorporated into corporate strategy, governance practices should be implemented (Corallo et al., 2018)

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  Towards Sustainable Innovation : A five step approach to sustainable change

  • Joachim H. Becker, Sven Pastoors, Ulrich Scholz(Authors)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Tectum

    (Publisher)

  4 describes the ability of a community, organisation or a company to operate in such a way that they also have the capacity to endure into the future. This does not only apply to every individual and every company, but also for humanity as a whole. In the long-term, the current global community cannot live at the expense of future generations. This also includes individual communities not being allowed to consume in such a way that they burden people in other regions of the world.

  Even though the first calls for the sustainable use of the natural resources were already made in antiquity, the efficient use of natural resources did not play a role for a long time (Rogall 2012, p. 29-31). The term “sustainability” itself derives initially from the forestry sector in the 18th century.5

  The discussion about sustainable development originates from the global economic crisis of the 1970s. This crisis made it clear that we are endangering our own livelihood through the exploitation of natural resources. Today, sustainability is an economic concept. Economic, ecological and social developments must not be separated from one another or played off against each other: no permanent economic and social progress without an intact environment – no intact environment without economic and social well-being.

  Sustainability is a cross-sectional task, because it affects all the areas of our lives. Its implementation is a global challenge. Due to globalisation, the social, economic and ecological consequences can be felt worldwide. Environmental and development problems cannot be solved by one country alone; hence they must be solved together in close collaboration. From this, the three dimensions of sustainability can be deduced:

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  Sustainability in Project Management

  • Gilbert Silvius, Ron Schipper, Julia Planko, Jasper van den Brink(Authors)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  CHAPTER 2   Sustainability in Business JULIA PLANKO AND GILBERT SILVIUS

  This chapter introduces the concepts of sustainability and their application in the business world. It gives a brief overview of key developments of frameworks and organizations, which can be of help to companies who decide to operate more sustainably. Based on these concepts, six principles of sustainability will be defined. These principles play a leading role in the integration of sustainability in projects and project management that will be discussed in later chapters.

  2.1 THE CONCEPTS OF SUSTAINABILITY

  The term ‘sustainability’ has been interpreted and used in different ways. It basically means to operate in a way that may be sustained indefinitely, that is, to generate something without thereby depleting or destroying the necessary (re)sources. A prominent example is overfishing. If too many fish are caught in a certain period of time, fish stocks cannot reproduce themselves fast enough in order to fulfil the fishing needs of the consecutive year. If continued, it leads to extinction of the whole fish population, and the fishing industry cannot be sustained. Another example is the depletion of oil reserves. If we continue using petrol products at current level, oil reserves will be exhausted, and future generations will not be able to produce oil products at all, which will bring many industries to a halt, and reduce the availability of many oil based products that currently bring comfort to our lives.

  The term can also be applied to people. If an employee works too hard over a long period of time, he or she may suffer from burn-out syndrome and may not be able to work again; he/she thus had an unsustainable working style.

  Sustainable development has been defined as ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (World Commission on Environment and Development 1987). This definition is widely used, and has often been interpreted as an appeal to only consume in such a way that we do not destroy too many resources, especially the environment, to allow future generations to have a good quality of life.

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  The Pursuit of Sustainability

  • David L. Rainey, Robert J. Araujo(Authors)
  • 2011(Publication Date)
  • Information Age Publishing

    (Publisher)

  It pertains to the rational search for better understanding of the truths, knowledge, realities, and possibilities. It involves the principles, values, guide- lines, and vision for determining the proper direction, ensuring good governance, achieving outstanding performance, and providing the safety, security, and success for people and the preservation of the natural environment. Sustainability necessitates ef- fectively engaging the organization and the whole extended enterprise and ensuring the full participation of all of the contributors and recipients of success. It requires in- novative strategic thinking, holistic perspectives, proactive decision making, and stra- tegic actions that are based on the present and future well-being of the company and its customers, stakeholders, employees, shareholders, and other constituents. From strategic and organizational perspectives, sustainability involves a paradigm shift, a grand objective, and an ethical commitment. It involves leading change to- 52  The Pursuit of Sustainability ward more ideal realities; creating value by enhancing outcomes; embracing proper behaviors; and ensuring sustainable success across the broad expanses of the business environment, the social world, and the natural environment. Sustainability as a busi- ness paradigm is all encompassing with an embedded structure that rises from the well-known and generally accepted management constructs like accounting, financial management, and statistical analysis to higher levels of sophistication based on imagi- nation, insightfulness, innovativeness, inclusiveness, and connectedness. Sustainability is a continuum that can be articulated based on the levels as discussed in Chapter 1. The levels are really management constructs that can be employed to provide guid- ance and an understanding of the prevailing situations as well as a barometer of what is expected on an ongoing basis.

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  Contemporary Issues in Business Ethics

  • Joseph R. DesJardins, John J. McCall(Authors)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Cengage Learning EMEA

    (Publisher)

  Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 366 PART V BUSINESS AND OTHER CONSTITUENCIES which anything goes? How do we know if, and when, a business is sustainable and adhering to the “best practices” of sustainability? As most commonly used today, the concept of sustainability is almost forty years old. It can be traced to a United Nations commission that studied questions of economic development, environmen-tal protection, and future generations in the 1980s. Named for its chairman, former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, the Brundtland Commission published its findings in 1987 in a book titled Our Common Future , which offered what has become the standard definition of sustainable development: “Sustainable development is devel-opment that meets the needs of the present with-out compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” This definition underlies the three pillars of sustainability mentioned previ-ously: economic activity must be economically suf-ficient to meet the needs of a growing worldwide population, it must be ethically responsible in meet-ing those needs, and it must do so in an ecologically responsible manner. In some ways, sustainability is an intuitively clear idea. A practice is sustainable if it can continue indefinitely. A simple example comes from finance. A sustainable budgeting practice would be to put money into savings and spend only the interest generated from those savings. Spending down the principal—spending the principal as well as the interest—is unsustainable. Income will decrease as the savings are spent and income will eventually run out. Aesop’s fable about the goose that laid the golden egg captures a similar insight. Limiting your consumption to the golden eggs is sustainable; eating the goose itself is not.

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  Introduction to the Sustainable Development Goals and Objectives

  • Sushila Sinha(Author)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • Society Publishing

    (Publisher)

  Furthermore, the integrity of the biosphere, which is life supporting sphere, is restored and sustained at a level which is required to make such goals possible. All of the four dimensions of sustainability should be addressed in order to achieve this vision.” Introduction To Sustainability: A Global Perspective 13 Sustainability is “a process that helps create a vibrant economy and a high quality of life, while respecting the need to sustain natural resources and protect the environment. It expresses the principle that future generations should live in a world that the present generation has enjoyed but not diminished.” --Clough, G. Wayne, Jean-Lou Chameau, and Carol Carmichael. “Sustainability and the University.” The Presidency, winter 2006. According to Wikipedia (Dated 30 June 2006), “Sustainability is said to be a systematic concept, which relates to the conti-nuity of economic, social, institutional and environmental aspects of human society. It is intended to be a means of configuring civilization and human activity and it is done so that the society, its members and its economies are able to meet their requirements and needs and furthermore, express their greatest potential in the present, while preserving the biodiversity as well as the natural ecosystems, and planning as well as acting for the ability in order to maintain these ideals on a very long term basis. Sustainability tends to affect each and every level of organization, be it the local neighborhood be it the entire planet.” Sustainability is achieved when all people on Earth can live well without compromising the quality of life for future generations. --Rolf Jucker, “A Vision for a Sustainable University ” As per the views of John B.

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  Sustainability as a Strategic Approach in Organizational Behavior

  • Elisa Gomez Gonzalez(Author)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Society Publishing

    (Publisher)

  Be that as it may, by the 1960s, the situation changed when organizations were made aware of their duties toward society past their legitimate commitments. Issues, for example, contamination and overpopulation were conveyed to the fore. Incorporate “profit, give altruism, secure the earth and shield one’s items.” However, the consequent decades saw a progression of corporate embarrassments. Thusly, specialists needed to move accentuation to advancing decent variety, securing specialists, counteracting kid work, cultivating general wellbeing, guaranteeing human rights, annihilating neediness, contradicting degenerate government administrations, giving innovation, policing supply chains, drawing in partners, estimating and revealing, and enhancing procedures and approaches by and large. Sustainability 3 The evolution of CSR practices in India can be traced through the following timeline in Figure 1.1. Figure 1.1: Evolution CSR practices in India. ( Source : Ernst & Young, 2017). 1.3. KEY CHALLENGES FOR IMPLEMENTING SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS PRACTICES Without a doubt, there is a big interest and investment in sustainability and socially concious companies. However, before they start their excursion, it is likewise imperative for businesses to comprehend the genuine significance of sustainability. A sustainable association is one that at the same time conveys on social, monetary and ecological components to guarantee long haul improvement for the general public and for businesses. Basically, a practical business can work along all mainstays of the tripple bottom line approach. 1.4. INDIVIDUALS ARE INTERRELATED They comprehend that individuals bring along certain requirements, circumstances or beliefs. Desires from various partners, for example, employees, investors, clients, sellers, government and groups need to be guaranteeing so that they: • Create a positive effect on nature. • Create a positive effect on society and neighborhood groups that they work in.

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  The Durable Corporation

  Strategies for Sustainable Development

  • Güler Aras, David Crowther(Authors)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Such concerns are pertinent at a macro level of society as a whole, or at the level of the nation state but are equally relevant at the micro level of the corporation, the aspect of sustainability with which we are concerned in this work. At this level, measures of sustainability would consider the rate at which resources are consumed by the organisation in relation to the rate at which resources can be regenerated. Unsustainable operations can be accommodated for either by developing sustainable operations or by planning for a future lacking in resources currently required. In practice, organisations mostly tend to aim towards less unsustainability by increasing efficiency in the way in which resources are utilised. An example would be an energy efficiency programme.

  Sustainability is a controversial topic because it means different things to different people. Nevertheless there is a growing awareness (or diminishing naivety) that one is, indeed, involved in a serious debate about what sustainability means and, crucially, the extent (if at all) it can be delivered by MNCs in the easy manner they promise (United Nations Commission on Environment and Development – Schmidheiny, 1992). The starting point must be taken as the Brundtland Report (WCED 1987) because there is explicit agreement with that Report and because the definition of sustainability in there is pertinent and widely accepted. Equally, the Brundtland Report is part of a policy landscape being explicitly fought over by the United Nations, Nation States and big business through the vehicles of the WBCSD and ICC, (see, for example, Beder 1997; Mayhew 1997; Gray and Bebbington 2001).

  There is a further confusion surrounding the concept of sustainability: for the purist sustainability implies nothing more than stasis – the ability to continue in an unchanged manner – but often it is taken to imply development in a sustainable manner (Marsden 2000; Hart and Milstein 2003) and the terms sustainability and sustainable development are for many viewed as synonymous. Ever since the Bruntland Report was produced by the World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987 there has been a continual debate concerning development (Chambers 1994; Pretty 1995) and this has added to the confusion between sustainability and sustainable development. For us we take the definition as being concerned with stasis; at the corporate level if development is possible without jeopardising that stasis then this is a bonus rather than a constituent part of that sustainability.

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  Business & Sustainability

  Concepts, Strategies and Changes

  • Gabriel Eweje, Martin Perry, Gabriel Eweje, Martin Perry(Authors)
  • 2011(Publication Date)
  • Emerald Group Publishing Limited

    (Publisher)

  We need our scientists to refuse grants that continue this process and instead to work actively with those companies that have proven track records of seeking to develop goods and services that conserve and renew the earth’s fertility and maintain an abundance of resources. We need to relinquish the myth of a ‘‘value-free science’’ and develop a science guided by strong sustainability values. What is needed is an active collaboration between academic researchers and managers and other organizational members and stakeholders to fuel the learning process as organizations seek to become truly sustainable. In this process, there are no experts who can unilaterally design the optimum pathway to any particular organization minimizing its footprint and maximizing its contribution to a healthy planet and society. In this process, we are all learners with different insights, different knowledge, and skill sets. The opportunities that lie ahead now will not be realized by aggressive competition but by a collaborative exploration of new options. Innovation will be the key to realizing the business opportunities as we move to creating a sustainable future. Conceptualizing Sustainability: The Business Opportunity 21 However, these new partnerships will only work when all those involved in creating momentum for sustainability develop increasing levels of ‘‘reflexivity.’’ Reflexivity is ‘‘the capacity to become aware of self in relation to others, and in relation to the organization’’ ( Jones et al., 2011, p. 78 ). To survive and thrive, modern organizations operating in rapidly changing and complex environments need people at all levels who have a realistic sense of who they are and of their impact on others, on the work relationships, and on the organization as a whole. This is particularly true for their leaders. Reflexivity involves not only realism about oneself but also a willingness to continually seek systematic feedback from others to fine tune awareness.

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  Ecology, Sustainable Development and Accounting

  • Seleshi Sisaye(Author)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  A study by White (2005) affirmed that 81 percent of senior executives at large U.S.-based businesses contended that sustainability practices are very important to their company’s strategic mission. Management indicated that social and environmental responsibilities have influenced their financial performance. White suggested that the continuous scrutiny of corporate practices by consumers, employees, investors and local communities, and government’s oversight of pollution and wastes from the mismanagement of resources, have increased corporations’ compliance with improved environmental resource management (pp36–43). Although the number of U.S. companies that reported sustainability practices was limited in the early 1990s, it increased by the mid-2000s and accounted for over two-thirds of the Fortune 500 companies (White, 2005). By late 2000, according to Dilling (2009 : 22), “about 70% of the studies reviewed showed a positive and statistically relevant relationship between CSR and financial performance.” As the number of corporations who voluntarily disclose social and environmental reports increases, the need for better disclosure on the effective utilization and management of environmental resources has become important in corporate sustainability reports (Sisaye et al., 2004). These reports most often contain economic, environmental and social performance data. They provide information on management’s commitment to responsibly manage environmental resources and future social and environmental strategies. Organizations can use CSR to document their adherence by publicizing the report on the declining or decreasing amounts of fines paid out to implement or continue their sustainable practices. Compliance and the reporting of CSR are expected to improve the financial performance of a company in the long term

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