On addressing the dual and embedded nature of business and the route towards corporate sustainability

Abstract

Abstract This article argues for greater attention to be paid to the dual and embedded nature of business. We propose that a more inclusive systemic perspective is needed for the challenge of speeding up the application of ‘inclusive’ corporate sustainability. The key question is how an on-going upward dynamic of transformative learning cycles can be achieved in practice. The current practice of implementing sustainability management systems, identifying key performance indicators, reporting on sustainability policies and outcomes has a strong focus on the physical dynamics in companies and (in the good cases) in their value chain. In many cases the three dimensions of issues, time and place are only addressed partially. We argue that the academic community needs to pay greater retro- and prospective attention to the social intervention dynamics, introducing checks on the assumed effects of social interventions. In order to achieve a more balanced and inclusive corporate sustainability we need to link levels of the achievement of corporate sustainability goals more strongly with (self-) assessment of the social dynamics in firms and their societal system.