Sustainability in Management

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SUSTAINABILLITY IN MANAGEMENT
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Introduction

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According to Benn, Edwards, and Williams (2014), sustainability requires the current generation
to exploit resources in a way that will not interfere with the way the future generation will as
well exploit the resources they require. Besides, sustainability has three basic concerns,
environmental protection, economic growth, and needs of the posterity (Clayton & Radcliffe,
2018). Furthermore, it requires that investments’ direction, changes in the institution, resource
utilization, and advancement in technology should be in harmony. Wesselink, Blok, van Leur,
Lans, and Dentoni (2015), define sustainable management an intersection between sustainability
and business. Businesses of today have become challenging and competitive that managers are
puzzled daily on the best practices they should put into practice in order for their firms to be
economically and environmentally sustainable so that the firm will boast of sustainable
competitive advantage (Clayton & Radcliffe, 2018). As a result, the paper does a comprehensive
informative and persuasive discussion on sustainable management paying attention to key issues
such as its impacts, examples of sustainable firms of today, trends, principles, factors that led to
sustainability awareness, regulatory bodies and organizations among other issues.
Origin of Sustainability in management
Although industrial revolution is responsible for the current state of the global development, it
also led to devastating effects on the environment in the form of toxins and carbon emissions
subsequently resulting in changes in the climate and global warming. Researchers, scholars, and
scientists realized that the state of the environment had reached a level whereby if no initiatives
were taken, then the lives of living things was at risk. As a result, the need for environmental
conservation dawned on people facilitating the origin of global bodies such as United Nations
Environmental Programme. Other regional and international organizations for managing the
environment include World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Environmental Defence Fund (EDF),

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Global Environment Centre (GEC), and Friends of the Earth International (United Nations
Environmental Programme, 2018). Together, these bodies have been at the fore front in
protecting the environment from excessive pollution by ensuring that companies do not exceed
the optimum limit.
Recent trends and future directions
Organizations are increasingly becoming interested in managing sustainability and corporate
social responsibility in their operations not only due to prevailing conditions but also to gain
competitive advantage over their rivals. As such, their strategies must be in line with the
sustainability demands. The response is brought about by environmental concerns, workers’
well-being, climate change as well as other social demands. Furthermore, sustainability in
management entails design of products in a manner that it conforms to the social as well
environmental standards, logistics, supply chain management, and lean operations (Walker,
Seuring, Sarkis & Klassen, 2014). Debates about sustainability initiatives increases with the
world wide concern for humanitarian well-being. Besides, the understanding of sustainability is
expected to further increase with the regulatory bodies becoming sterner on the need for
adequate utilization of resources. Also, global awareness among consumers compels
manufacturers to produce only those goods that are sustainable.
Principles of sustainability management