ABSTRACT
However, an increasingly dynamic environment is not the only development organizations face. In the last ten to 15 years, the concept of sustainability has also grown in recognition and importance. For example, the pressure on companies to broaden their reporting and accountability from economic performance for shareholders, to sustainability performance for all stakeholders has increased (Visser 2002). The 2009-2010 world crises may even imply that a strategy focused solely on shareholder value is no longer viable (Kennedy 2000). Also following the success of Al Gore’s ‘inconvenient truth’, awareness seems to be growing that a change of mindset is needed, both in consumer behaviour as in corporate policies. How can we develop prosperity without compromising the life of future generations? Proactively or reactively, companies are looking for ways to integrate ideas of sustainability in their marketing, corporate communications, annual reports and in their actions (Hedstrom et al. 1998; Holliday 2001). Sustainability, in this context, can be defined as: ‘Adopting business strategies and activities that meet
the needs of the enterprise and its stakeholders today while protecting, sustaining and enhancing the human and natural resources that will be needed in the future’ (International Institute for Sustainable Development and Deloitte & Touche 1992).
