The Purpose of Business. Where Value meets Strategic Sustainable Development PDF Download

Author: Sophia von Petersdorff
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3668771006
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 100

View

Book Description
Master's Thesis from the year 2018 in the subject Business economics - General, grade: 1,6, Blekinge Institute of Technology (Strategic Sustainability), language: English, abstract: The current global economic paradigm, centred on growth, is a significant barrier in the transition towards a sustainable society. Business-as-Usual companies operating within this paradigm are perceived to prosper at the expense of society and environment which is not viable on a finite planet. The need to rethink the purpose of business is inevitable as maximising shareholder value, has been deemed insufficient to create a sustainable society. This study aimed to explore: how business models can be used to create value that supports Strategic Sustainable Development. Previous research proposed that the concept of Business Models for Sustainability helps business place sustainability at the core of all consideration. A qualitative research was chosen for which we employed the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development and combined a literature review with an investigation of three expert groups to answer our research question. Our findings showed that, compared to other value forms, system value is the most appropriate concept for businesses striving towards sustainable development. Based on our findings, six themes emerged that businesses need to address to accelerate the speed of change towards sustainability. To make a relevant contribution to the intended audience, a prototype has been developed based on our findings.

Author: Guler Aras
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
ISBN: 1780527365
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 263

View

Book Description
There are many aspects of sustainability which might be considered to reflect Brundtland's three pillars of economic, environmental and social sustainability. Others of course have different definitions which include such things as governance or supply chain management. This title addresses this debate.

Author: David L. Rainey
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1623968798
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 323

View

Book Description
The Pursuit of Sustainability: Creating Business Value through Strategic Leadership, Holistic Perspectives, and Exceptional Performance focuses on the hierarchical levels of sustainability, strategic leadership, holistic perspectives, strategic and financial performance. It also focuses on management constructs for developing and implementing cutting-edge solutions to the exciting opportunities and daunting challenges facing strategic leaders. It discusses the requisite strategic thinking, methods, techniques, and practices for examining, understanding, and managing in today’s complex and turbulent business world. Sustainability and sustainable development are critical for creating positive outcomes and achieving success given the dynamics of the global economy and the ongoing shifts in customer expectations, emerging markets, and the intensity of competition. The aim of the book is to articulate concepts, constructs, and methodologies pertaining to how global corporations and small and medium size enterprises can develop and deploy enhanced solutions and more integrated systems that facilitate leading change in a more interconnected and dynamic business world. The basic perspective is that insightful strategic leaders and astute professionals and their companies can enhance performance, create extraordinary value, and sustain success through sophisticated leadership, cutting-edge management constructs, and state-of-the-art systems that reach across space and time. This includes establishing metrics on how companies can measure their progress in relation to global opportunities and challenges and the needs and expectations of people and society. The book is intended to provide strategic leaders, professionals, and practitioners with the insights, guidance, and methods for developing and implementing sustainable solutions and holistic management systems without prescribing a generalized model that supposedly would fit every situation. The strategic logic is really the opposite of the prevailing mindset of the last century in which generic concepts were developed by leading theorists (academics and business leaders) who believed that they could articulate “one-fits-all” business methods and models. In today’s more complicated business world, businesses and their strategic leaders and senior professionals have to develop unique management constructs and business models for achieving the desired outcomes and sustaining success. The book describes and articulates how strategic leaders and professionals can take advantage of opportunities and challenges by addressing sustainability, sustainable development, and the pursuit of sustainability and how they can develop and deploy exciting solutions and effective systems in the quest for excellence. Excellence provides the mantra for positive change and sustainable success. The book consists of two parts. Part I examines the hierarchy of sustainability, external context, and sustainable solutions. It includes defining and examining overarching concepts and constructs pertaining to sustainability and sustainable development, highlighting the importance of the pursuit of sustainability, examining the social world and the natural environment, and discussing holistic perspectives and management constructs used to achieve sustainable success. Part II explores sustainable strategic leadership, creating business value, and management constructs pertaining to performance, vulnerabilities and sustainable success. Most importantly, Part II presents a strategic sustainability performance model that allows strategic leaders and professionals to discern where they fit in the hierarchy of sustainability.

Author: Chris Laszlo
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351278312
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 288

View

Book Description
Companies know how to meet the demands of shareholder value: years of managerial excellence testify to this achievement. Many also know how to create stakeholder value – through traditional approaches such as CSR and philanthropy which predictably lead to trade-offs and added costs. What remains elusive is discovering is how to meet both shareholder and stakeholder requirements in the core business – without mediocrity and without compromise – creating value for the company that cannot be disentangled from the value it creates for society and the environment. What if sustainability was embedded into the DNA of your organization? How can you incorporate environmental, health and social value into its very core? Many companies, despite their best intentions, "bolt on" sustainability as an afterthought to their core strategies. They trumpet green initiatives and social philanthropy which lie at the margins of the business, with symbolic wins that inadvertently highlight the unsustainability of the rest of their activities. Today's ecological and social pressures require a different business response – one that existing strategy frameworks fail adequately to address. In Embedded Sustainability, authors Chris Laszlo and Nadya Zhexembayeva explain and predict how companies can better leverage global challenges for enduring profit and sustained growth. They introduce the marquis concept of embedded sustainability: the incorporation of environmental, health, and social value into the heartbeat of the product life-cycle with no trade-off in price or quality – no social or green premium. This book helps readers to comprehend and implement the notion of embedded sustainability. At its best, embedded sustainability is invisible, similar to quality. In addition to delivering socially and environmentally conscious products for consumers, it is capable of considerably motivating employees. Most of all, it enables smart companies to create even more value for both their shareholders and stakeholders.

Author: Nada R. Sanders
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119577551
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 352

View

Book Description
The second edition of Sustainable Business prepares future business leaders to tackle the most crucial social and environmental issues of our time. This engaging textbook provides students with a comprehensive, balanced introduction to integrating sustainable business policies into all core business functions and processes. The text employs a qualitative-based learning process to help students understand how leadership, finance, accounting, risk management, marketing, supply chain management, and operations can be adapted to meet the sustainability goals of the 21st century. Looking at sustainable business from the managerial viewpoint, the fully-updated new edition explains how and why business is evolving due to increased consumer and regulatory pressure for sustainable performance. Business topics are first introduced in the same manner as traditional MBA programs, and then examined through the lens of sustainably. The text incorporates real-life examples of social and environmental leadership to demonstrate the efficacy of good sustainable business decisions, and illustrates the negative ramifications of outdated, purely economic-driven managerial decision-making. Influential concepts based on interdisciplinary research in sustainability are discussed in detail, and practical insights address how to turn policy into practice in the workplace.

Author: DIANE Publishing Company
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 0788110489
Category : Business
Languages : en
Pages : 147

View

Book Description
Determines the role of bus. in SD and the market and profit opportunities it presents; defines the strategic choices available to bus. enterprises in relation to SD and the environment, the internat'l. usage of each strategy, and the determinants involved; assesses how managing for SD will require revisions to current mgmt. systems; explores in detail the stakeholder relations and corp. reporting aspects of the mgmt. system; and recommends action by gov't. , bus., and other parties that would encourage bus. enterprises to contribute more actively to global SD.

Author: Pramodita Sharma
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1789904420
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 384

View

Book Description
This book describes the sustainable development journey of 15 business families committed to using their enterprises as a force of societal good. In turn, each family reaps benefits of high economic returns, while contributing to society and environment. The youngest family firm is in its 20s, while there are others over 100 years of age. Size, industry, locations vary. But all these business families share a deep shared commitment towards sustainable development, control over strategic decision-making in their firms and trans-generational continuity intentions. Family values embed their enterprises with a strong sense of purpose to achieve their chosen sustainable development goals. Professionalized systems and processes foster the development of capabilities, and partnerships with a variety of stakeholders ensure the simultaneous achievement of social, environmental and profitability goals.

Author: David L. Rainey
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 113945711X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 674

View

Book Description
In a turbulent business environment, leaders must begin to think more broadly about what a corporation is and how it can create a richer future. With the globalisation of the world's economies, the intensification of competition, and quantum leaps in technological development, the insular and static strategic thinking of many global corporations has become inadequate for understanding the business environment and determining strategic direction. This 2006 book provides comprehensive and practical analysis of what sustainable business development (SBD) is and how companies can use it to make a significant difference. Case studies of companies in the US, Europe, the Pacific Rim and South America demonstrate that achieving innovation and integration depends on a comprehensive understanding of all of the forces which drive change and responding to them with fresh ways of strategic thinking. It is compulsory reading for MBA students and executives as well as professional readers.

Author: Christos Pitelis
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136805982
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 169

View

Book Description
Today greenness is goodness; non-greenness is not an option. It is therefore critical to advance thinking on why and how business, consumers and policy makers can contribute to the goal of sustainable global wealth creation. This volume analyzes the strategic sustainability issues confronting contemporary business, and explores the transformation in values, strategies, and practices needed by modern businesses to attain sustainable business. It is is developed from a Global Business Symposium organized by the Centre for International Business and Management (CIBAM) at Cambridge University in February 2009, which brought together leading academics, scientists and engineers, government leaders, and business executives to consider the transformation in business values and strategies implicit in sustainability. Green Business, Green Values and Sustainability offers a concise and definitive book on the green transformation of business in major sectors including government, finance, energy, and retail. Different solutions to sustainability are explored including ethical approaches, alternative environmental strategies, corporate responsibility, and carbon reductions.

Author: Mike Rosenberg
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137501758
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 209

View

Book Description
Business and environmental sustainability are not natural bedfellows. Business is about making money; sustainability is about protecting the planet. Business is measured in months and quarters; sustainability often requires significant short term costs to secure a sometimes uncertain long-term benefit. To some activists, all executives are exploitative, selfish “1 percenters”. To some executives, all activists are irresponsible, unyielding extremists. And yet engaging with the issue isn’t optional – all businesses must have a strategy to deal with sustainability and, like any strategy, this involves making choices. Strategy and Sustainability encourages its readers to filter out the noise and make those choices in a hard-nosed and clear-eyed way. Rosenberg’s nuanced and fact-based point of view recognizes the complexity of the issues at hand and the strategic choices businesses must make. He blends the work of some of the leading academic thinkers in the field with practical examples from a variety of business sectors and geographies and offers a framework with which Senior Management might engage with the topic, not (just) to save the planet but to fulfil their short, medium, and long-term responsibilities to shareholders and other stakeholders.“/p>