Managing Sustainable Development

In a world where environmental problems spill across political, administrative and disciplinary boundaries, there is a pressing need for a clear understanding of the kinds of organizations, management structures and policy-making approaches required to bring about socially equitable and ecologically sustainable development. In this second edition, the authors incorporate lessons from a decade of work on the conditions of sustainability in both developed and developing countries. They prescribe action networks - partnerships of flexible, achievement-oriented actors - and present new case studies demonstrating the success of organizations that have applied this approach. They also introduce case studies on action networks that work simultaneously on international, national and local levels.

Today, increasingly more, the word sustainability is present in all kinds of discussions: at home, at work, at school, in all society. Conscious of the environment where we live everybody looks to find the best solutions to solve problems that result from Human Being evolution. Management for a sustainable development appears as a process from which organizations try to use all its resources, as well as improve its organizational and technological development, in order to answer not only to the present but also to future human and social needs. Only in this way is it possible to improve the quality of life. Seen in this way, sustainable development is understood to be people centred. We have a special concern with cultural, social and economic dimensions, where individuals can develop, together as a society, whilst at the same time individual and organizational activities can be implemented without destroying the present diversity and complexity of the ecological system where we live.Taking into account these concerns, this book looks to cover issues related to the management for sustainable development in a context where organizations are continually facing high challenges for what concerns the items related to, amongst others, the re-use, recycling, waste reduction, add value, low costs and time of production, sustainable behaviour, not only in an environmental perspective but also in an organizational perspective. Today’s organizations can no longer develop their practices based in the existent paradigms. On the contrary, it is necessary to completely break from these paradigms, creating a total change of mentality in the way we manage the organizational activities. Taking into account this reality, managing for a sustainable development appears as a management philosophy focused in productivity improvement considering different kinds of goals, such as biological, economic and social systems goals. Conscious of this reality, this book contributes to the exchange of experiences and perspectives about the state of research related to the management for a sustainable development, as well as the future direction of this research field. It looks to provide a support to academics and researchers, as well as those operating in the management field and who need to deal with policies and strategies related to sustainable development issues.

This book offers 32 texts and case studies from across a wide range of business sectors around a managerial framework for Sustainable Business. The case studies are developed for and tested in executive education programmes at leading business schools. The book is based on the premise that the key for managing the sustainable business is finding the right balance over time between managing competitiveness and profitability AND managing the context of the business with its political, social and ecological risks and opportunities. In that way, a sustainable business is highly responsive to the demands and challenges from both markets and societies and managers embrace the complexity, ambivalence and uncertainty that goes along with this approach. The book presents a framework that facilitates the adoption of best business practice. This framework leads executives through a systematic approach of strategic analysis and business planning in risk management, issues management, stakeholder management, sustainable business development and strategic differentiation, business model innovation and developing dynamic capabilities. The approach helps broaden the understanding of what sustainable performance means, by protecting business value against sustainability risks and creating business value from sustainability opportunities.

First Published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Sustainable Public Management explores key issues in public sector sustainable management that span from Nation/State to local government. It highlights state-of-the art articulations of public-private partnerships, public engagement, inter-organizational networks, sustainability policy, strategy, standard setting, and reporting. Sustainable management is an important topic across organizational forms in the private, not-for-profit, and public sectors because of the its practice is tied to some of the most pressing environmental and social problems that exist in the world. The public sector is especially important due to its scale and scope across the globe, the tangible impacts that public service delivery can make in resource efficiency and effectiveness, and in directly tackling critical sustainable development goals. This book will be of great value to scholars, students, and policymakers interested in Public Administration and Management, Sustainable Management and Development. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Public Management Review.

This innovative and engaging book discusses the contribution of business to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015. It critically analyses selected impact measurement and management tools to highlight their respective benefits and limitations, and also provides guidance on critical management decisions to support high-quality impact measurement and management. The analyses underlying this book are the result of a three year research project conducted by an international consortium in the EU-funded research project GLOBAL VALUE – Managing Business Impact on Development. The research is complemented by examples from corporate practice and expert interviews to demonstrate and measure the contribution of business to sustainable development in the context of the SDGs.

Future Challenges in Sustainable Development within the Built Environment stimulates and reinterprets the demands of Responsible and Sustainable Development in the Built Environment for future action and development. It examines the methods of evaluation, the use of technology, the creation of new models and the role of human factors for examining and developing the subject over the next twenty years.