ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 focuses on the crucial role of local communities, social networks and bottom-up innovation in achieving sustainable development of our societies. If a hospitality company wants to have a maximum positive impact on putting wider society on a more sustainable course, it needs to establish a sustainable relationship with its immediate surroundings, both the (local) natural and social environment. Ultimately, achieving sustainable development of our societies will likely require us to create and experiment with sustainable alternatives to our current socio-economic system. This is not a challenge an individual hospitality company should take on in isolation without the support and involvement of relevant stakeholders. In fact, this chapter explains why tapping into so-called grassroots movements, and local (sustainable) developments that already focus on such experiments, is a must for any hospitality company, both from a sustainable development and a traditional business economic perspective.
