Managing Toward Sustainability: An Environmental Management Framework

摘要

Sustainability (also known as sustainable development) is a public-policy construct aimed at more effectively balancing the economic, environmental, and social factors of society and doing so with a more explicit consideration on the long term consequences of specific decisions. Business, as a key driving force affecting the development of society in all three of these areas, has an important role to play in helping it move toward sustainability. However, the rather abstract nature of "sustainability" can make it difficult for business managers to determine what they should do differently as a result of considering its implications. How the construct of sustainability can fit into the daily management processes of a company is demonstrated. The specific approach was developed within the context of the consumer goods company, Procter & Gamble, but early indications suggest that it finds echoes and has value in other business organizations, and elsewhere (1,2).