sustainable business are we heading in the right direction可持续的商业我们朝着正确的方向前进.pdfVIP

Sustainability 2012, 4, 586-603; doi:10.3390/su4040586 OPEN ACCESS sustainability ISSN 2071-1050 /journal/sustainability Article Sustainable Business: Are We Heading in the Right Direction? Don Clifton International Graduate School of Business, University of South Australia, City West Campus, North Terrace, Adelaide 5000, South Australia; E-Mail: doncmail@.au; Tel.: +61-8-8302-0027; Fax: +61-8-8302-0709 Received: 21 February 2012; in revised form: 19 March 2012 / Accepted: 27 March 2012 / Published: 11 April 2012 Abstract: This paper questions why, despite the sustainable development concept having been prominent at an international level for well over 20 years, there is little to show by way of a transition to a sustainable world. Instead, in many ways, the situation is deteriorating. The paper critiques the mainstream sustainable development approach as advocated by business, and as is prominent in the political sphere, to consider if this is itself a key problem. The paper concludes that it is. Rather than helping society achieve needed change, this approach can create a false sense of progress that acts as a barrier to the more decisive action that is necessary to address the underlying drivers of humanitys unsustainable behaviours. Further, the paper proposes that the very act of pursuing mainstream sustainable development makes a sustainable world harder to achieve. A way forward for the business sector is propo