Sustaining the Corporation

Abstract

We have deliberately not used the terms ‘the Sustainable Corporation’ and ‘sustainable organizations’, despite our description in Chapter 3 of sustainable development as the new societal and managerial paradigm. Although it reflects a general consensus and will influence the process of continuous change in our societies and economies, it is still too vague, and different groups attach exceedingly divergent meanings to it. Environmentalists regard sustainable development as a necessary, fundamental change in our way of life, while industrialists perceive it as improved ‘eco-efficiency’ or — borrowing from the context of the chemical industry — the implementation of ‘Responsible Care’. So it is hard to exactly say what this will mean in practice for current and future executives and corporate planners, the main target-audience of this book.