New Definition of Sustainable Enterprise

Abstract

The interest in the concept of sustainable development is a form of a scientific response to the challenges of transforming economies, growing expectations of local communities and societies and environmental degradation. Despite numerous definitions of sustainable development, the literature lacks a widely recognised definition of an entity that operates in a sustainable way – a sustainable enterprise. The literature review identified two definition gaps: 1) the lack of defined boundaries within which a company must operate in order to be called sustainable, and 2) the lack of a definition of the relationship between the areas in which sustainability is assessed. The authors of the article propose a new definition of a sustainable enterprise. Moreover, they give examples of organisations that, although in a selected area they carry out sustainable activities, they cannot be called sustainable.

Sustainable Survival: Resource Management Strategy in Micro and Small Enterprises in the Rubber Products Market in Poland during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…In this context, it is important to focus on the need to redefine, or rather clarify, the concept of sustainable management. It is proposed that the perspective of balancing the interests of stakeholders [19,26,[29][30][31][32][33][34]36,37] be disseminated while maintaining a narrow ecological focus [26][27][28].…”

“…Due to the holistic nature of the objectives formulated in the guidelines specified in the UN document entitled "Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development" [25], it can be concluded that sustainable management is a complex concept and cannot be reduced, for example, to the ecological aspect [26,27], which is often the case in the literature on the subject [28]. Instead, it is prudent to adopt a perspective in which sustainably addresses the interests of stakeholders [26,[29][30][31][32][33][34].…”

“…Due to the holistic nature of the objectives formulated in the guidelines specified in the UN document entitled "Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development" [25], it can be concluded that sustainable management is a complex concept and cannot be reduced, for example, to the ecological aspect [26,27], which is often the case in the literature on the subject [28]. Instead, it is prudent to adopt a perspective in which sustainably addresses the interests of stakeholders [26,[29][30][31][32][33][34]. The presented view is dominated by the following approaches: systemic (organization as a system functioning in, for, and due to the environment), strategic (multi-faceted planning and focused on achiev-ing results over a longer period of time, taking into account the interests of stakeholders), and resource-focused (rationalizing the acquisition and use of resources).…”