9^thGlobal Entrepreneurship & Business Management Summit

Sustainability in Business

Sustainability is integral to global economic development and to firms’ international business engagement (i.e., operations, behavior and interaction with stakeholders). International firms are key societal actors and called on to consider and contribute to the sustainable development challenge in their decisions and actions. Thus, sustainable grand challenges such as climate change, biodiversity depletion, poverty or inequality are crucial “Global Disruptions” affecting international business. Multinational enterprises have taken up the challenge, though progress has been slow. This may be partly due to the managerial difficulties of balancing shareholder interests and stakeholder needs, limited commitment to sustainability, and limited resources to address the promise-performance gap.