Being a Sustainable Firm: Takeaways for a Sustainability-Oriented Management

Being a Sustainable Firm: Takeaways for a Sustainability-Oriented Management addresses the key strategic issues that firms encounter when entering the complex world of sustainability. Faced with a proliferation of approaches, regulations and procedures, the text outlines the contours of the meaning of being a sustainable firm and provides a theoretical framework within which to place the environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategic decisions. The volume critically retraces the way in which companies approach sustainability starting from the EU SDG goals content and the set of indicators for sustainable business. It pays particular attention to SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, and SDG 12: Ensure Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns for their interrelationships and implications on the firm competitiveness and the development of cities of the future. In addition, it unfolds across the broad spectrum of international standards and sustainability reporting guidelines, as relevant voluntary socio-environmental reporting systems recognized at international level. Understanding the logic of sustainability reporting and applying sustainable reporting models to specific business areas offers critical insights and application tools for organizations committed to integrating sustainability into their business and creating new sources of value starting from a common vision of sustainable development and social responsibility. The book highlights these aspects by linking them to the firm challenges and sustainability models in sectors particularly interested in sustainable development, including fashion, tourism, and public-private partnerships for sustainable local communities. The book provides useful support for students and scholars of managerial disciplines, interested in the topics of innovation management, sustainability-based strategies, sustainable entrepreneurship, socio-environmental reporting systems and performance evaluation. The delineation of the regulatory framework and sustainability reporting standards within which strategic decisions are placed constitutes a valuable guide for consultants and entrepreneurs interested to deepen the state of the art of the tools connected to corporate sustainability management and provides takeaways for managers and practitioners on sustainable practices implementation and reporting of activities.

• Uses case studies, guidelines and sustainability reporting tools to compare different sustainability areas and understand critical issues, approaches and performance evaluation systems within the circular economy framework
• Devotes specific chapters to SDG goals 9, 11 and 12 and the related sets of indicators to outline the coordinates within which firms manage sustainability in specific business areas.
• Provides useful insights on ESG parameters and corporate sustainability to entrepreneurs, managers, practitioners, and stakeholders in the cutting-edge sectors of sustainability management