ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the critical role of the political environment, consumers, and the value chain of business in sustainability journey. Sustainability is a journey and not a destination. When it comes to achieving sustainability, no firm is an island. For that matter, nor is a town, city, community, local or federal government, or a nongovernmental organization (NGO). No organization, whether it is a business or an NGO or a government agency, can hope to become completely sustainable in terms of having perfectly positive social and environmental footprints and achieving its core objectives. It is clear that a firm must first develop the motivation to act in order to effectively develop and deploy its capacity to compete in a world that is journeying toward a sustainable future. Building a sustainable organization is a patient long-term evolution and short-term fluctuations in policy do not deter companies that believe that within a sustainable future for the world lie competitive opportunities for business.
