Sustainability In Turbulent Business Environments: From Philosophy To Practice

Sustainability has emerged on the intellectual horizon first as a conception and then as a full concept in its own right, now challenged by the complexity and dynamism of a world shaped by transformations in technology, economic policies, industrial structures, economic theory, the knowledge needed to govern and lead, and economic issues. The concept and philosophy of sustainability has its origins in the environmental movement; long before the term was used in the context of human-nature interactions, environmentalists insisted on the imperative to understand more deeply the long-term consequences of intense human activity almost single-mindedly oriented towards the ideal of growth and development. The literature increasingly calls for a paradigm shift in terms of the multi-objective role that business organizations are embracing, with some of these objectives transcending the economic context. Over the last decades, various categories of organizations have become conscious and have increasingly accepted that they are also called upon to play a social role. In this context, sustainability is turning into one of the main business philosophies and practices in the 21st century.