Three stages of Corporate Sustainability

This phase describes companies that oppose or ignore sustainability

Companies reject their responsibilities or are non-responsive

Ignore their impact on the environment

“Business as usual“

Recent example:

• Volkswagen diesel scandal: Implementation of a cheating software in ca. 11M cars

• Volkswage ignored their environemtal impact of their products and opposed the emission regulation

Companies in this phase destroy value (for short-term profit)

Real-life example:

• IKEA employs risk and comliance officers, employees responsible for secure work environment and emissions

• Increasing the amount of recycable materials and reducing waste

The sustaining corporation = transforms economies and societies

Example: Patagonia

• Founded to produce outdoor clothing without harming the environment

• Went nearly bankrupt two times because they refused to sell products with toxic materials

• Managers follow holistic perspective to business, they promote ecological and societal values

• View Patagonia as part of the socienty

Depicts phases as linear and sequential - comapnies shift back and forth between phases

Ignores that companies deal with multiple sustainability issues - advanced in one topic but lacking behing in another one

Suggests that all companies have the same opportunities to become sustainable

To assess how sustainable specific activities of a company are

To understand what motivates companies to become more sustainable

To develop ideas of how companies may become more sustainable