Sustainability

Sustainability is often associated with corporate social responsibility. The term sustainability refers to meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Many people who hear of sustainability for the first time think of green products or “going green”—recycling, global warming, and saving rainforests. This is certainly part of it. However, it is more than this. True sustainability involves thinking not only about environmental resources but also about employees, customers, community, and the company’s reputation. Three concepts may be helpful as managers consider sustainability decisions: a systems view, the commons, and the triple bottom line.

Get Operations Management: Sustainability and Supply Chain Management, Twelfth Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.