Can you imagine a business that paid no attention to the requests of its customers, the ambitions of its staff or moves by its competitors? WBCSD President Bjorn Stigson asks this question in The Economist debate on sustainability and corporate responsibility.
To answer this question, Stigson says: "Not only is it impossible to imagine business without external pressure, it is increasingly difficult to make out a clear line between what is external and what is internal. It may be too early to say that the internet, open-source technologies, extended value chains and network marketing have turned the corporation inside out, but certainly it is becoming harder to find, with precision, the fence-line. "
World Business Council members "recognize that rising temperatures, damaged ecosystems and the exclusion of 3 billion people from prosperity are business issues. They know that they cannot solve these problems alone, but have to work with others to develop solutions, even when this means learning to listen to their critics and those who oppose their actions," he continues.
Stigson argues that meeting today's challenges is a primary goal of business "by providing continually improving goods and services for increasing numbers of people at prices that they can afford, and competing with each other to find ever more efficient ways to do this."
The WBCSD believes that effective sustainability actions will come through the right framework conditions and the right price on the goods that society values, transforming external pressure into internal business strategy.
Read more and join the debate on The Economist website.
