Sustainable Management for Managers and Engineers

4Essentials of Sustainability: A Roadmap for Businesses

This chapter deals with essentials of sustainability from a business management perspective. In this context, sustainability entrepreneurship, sustainable business and sustainability management tools are explained and then sustainability leadership, culture and innovation topics are addressed.

4.1. Introduction

Sustainability is a common problem for everyone in the world and unless necessary actions are taken today, there will not be a world in the future where our next generations are able to live. For this reason, all players should take the necessary responsibility for sustainable development. Businesses are also among these players and understanding sustainability from a business management perspective is important. Therefore, in the following sections, sustainability-related issues within an organization will be explained.

4.2. Definition of sustainability

Sustainability is a term which is used with different meanings in the literature. These different meanings sometimes result in confusion and misuse of the term. For this reason, it is important to clarify the concept first. Basically, the term “sustainable” means “enduring” or “continuing” and generally it is used to depict things which are “long-lasting”. For example, in strategic management literature, “sustainable competitive advantage” is used to refer to the long-lasting competitiveness of the firm. Similarly, in management literature, the term “sustainable ...