Corporate sustainability is defined in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes as “a business

approach that creates long term shareholder value by embracing opportunities and
managing risks deriving from economic, environmental and social developments.
Corporate sustainability leaders achieve long term shareholders value by gearing their
strategies and managements to harness the market’s potential for sustainable products and
services while at the same time successfully reducing and avoiding costs and risks”.
Economic benefits, social responsibility and environmental protection belong together as
an interdependent system. Social sustainability depends on economic sustainability and
vice versa. Social and economic sustainability depend on environmental one. Of the
three, environmental sustainability is the society’s top priority and has a lot of coverage
from both academics as well as corporate executives.
Environmental sustainability is a major global trend for the 21st century. It refers to the
ability to maintain or improve the total quality of life, both now and in the future, and to
reach a long-term stable situation in spite of short-term changes (Nijkamp and Soeteman,
1988). Another defines environmental sustainability as maintaining the rates of use of
renewable resources so that it is sufficient for the next generation (Caldwell, 1998).
Economic sustainability refers to a system of production that generate just enough for
present consumption levels without negatively affect future needs, given the
environmental constraints and costs (Basiago, 1998; Khan 1995). In Thwink website,
economic sustainability is defined as “the ability of an economy to support a defined
level of economic production indefinitely”.
The concept of social sustainability embraces more diverse views than the other two
types of sustainability.
The most popular view of all is people-oriented. It strives to take future generation into
consideration, and to live with the awareness that present actions make an impact on
others (Pugh, 1996). It takes a larger worldview into consideration and its emphases are
social integrity, stability and improvement in the quality of life. This interpretation of
social sustainability is in line with the principles of sustainable development defined by
the World Commission for Environment and Development (WECD) that “development
that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations
to meet their own needs”Corporate sustainability is an ongoing journey. Challenges and
opportunities continue to emerge. One of the core challenges facing executives and
managers is whether companies could sustainably enhance shareholders’ values if they
ignore the legitimate interests and needs of their key stakeholders. Even though
sustainability is seen by many leading executives as a positive approach, not all of them
have supported the program. Some act as leaders but others are indifferent. Sustainability
policies within some corporations is treated as an act of compliance, of conforming to
rules and regulations and doing what the law only requires them to do. However, this
short-term view is no longer sustainable if companies are only focusing on financial gains
while at the same time alienating the community on whom they depended for their
businesses. It became clear that restoring community’s confidence and trust is
increasingly fundamental to longer-term success of a business.
Another issue corporations may face is whether by adopting sustainable policies,
processes and practices would enhance their products or services opportunities or simply
just a cost addition exercise. Implementing sustainability can just be that companies are
responding to external pressures such as non-government organisations, activists and
simply not see benefits in how it can help their bottom-line. Costs and benefits are not
always easy to quantify. In some cases, by being ethical and responsible companies
where people want to work, where customers want to do businesses with, companies can
have the opportunities to maximise shareholders’ returns. A committed and productive
workforce is important for any businesses. By introducing better balance work and
personal life in corporate workplace cultures such as paid maternity, paternity leave,
greater diversity in workforce, childcare facilities, accommodation arrangements, these
will lead to an increased commitment from employees to companies. Increased
productivity, increased service satisfaction, more quality products and costs savings will
benefit the bottom line of corporations. This certainly is a value adding process.
There are an increasing number of examples that companies which take a more
sustainable approach enjoy positive profits. The nature of these rewards varies for
different firms and depends on their particular industrial fields and business strategies.
Bob Willard in his report The Sustainability Advantage: Seven Business Case Benefits of
a Triple-Bottom Line has summarised seven business case benefits of sustainable
development1)Reduced recruiting costs2)Reduced attrition costs3)Increased employee
productivity4)Reduced expenses in manufacturing5)Reduced water, energy and
consumables expenses at commercial sites6)Increased revenue and market
share7)Reduced risk / easier financingLet us examine some cases where companies
operate in different industries can apply and implement sustainable policies in order to
achieve their three bottom-line.
Origin Energy Limited is a major Australian integrated energy company, specialised on
oil and gas exploration and production, energy retail and power generation. Origin
recognised production and use of energy has environmental impacts, especially from
greenhouse gas emissions. Origin has committed to reduce greenhouse gas for its
production by introducing an innovative technology such as Yellowbank project which
uses an advanced flaring technology to eliminate the venting of waste methane gas into
the atmosphere. In addition, Origin also invests great amount of funds into solar panel
technology which can be used to generate electricity and feed them into their grid,
reducing the energy used produced from oil and gas. By implementing good sustainable
framework into their operation, Origin has been endorsed by environmental NGOs as a
key provider of renewable energy and a market leader provider of green energy.
Westpac Banking Corporation, with global assets of some $300 billion and its operations
comprise five key areas of business, including business and consumer banking, wealth
management and institutional banking, and serve around 7 million customers. Westpac’s
sustainability strategy is focused on unlocking new market opportunities, differentiating
itself from competitors, developing new products and becoming an employer of choice.
Its governance and sustainability performance was benchmarked in 2007 through a range
of external assessments and it has recently been named the most sustainable bank in the
world for the fifth consecutive year by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. Most
importantly, Westpac’s strategy is to build a trustworthy ethical and responsible business
where customers want to do business. This will lead to customer attraction, increased
customer retention and increased market share in domestic banking industry. This process
in turn will translate to financial value for shareholders and stakeholders.
Investa Property Group is one of a major listed property groups in Australia. Its board of
management through Sustainability Report 2006 believed that by distinguishing itself as
a market leader in sustainability, it is better positioned to attract and retain key tenants
and minimise potential income leakage arising from vacancies. Therefore, Investa has
developed initiatives throughout the organisation. For example, Investa requires its asset
managers to treat environmental proposals in the same way they would treat any other
business proposals, hence, considering all the potential costs and benefits. It also
introduces initiatives in managing energy usage across its commercial properties such as
installing multi-stage low-load chiller, installing new lighting controls, reducing number
of hours per day that airconditioning system operates, initiate discussions with other
corporate tenants to undertake retro-fitting projects on a shared cost basis. All of these
practices have made Investa a commercial landlord of choice, increased ability to attract
and retain quality tenants, and energy efficiencies leading to significant costs savings.
BHP Billiton, one of the world’s biggest miners, factors environmental protection aspects
into new products and manufacturing processes, even in the planning stage. Their
approach to sustainability includes industrial environmental protection, safe
transportation of dangerous goods, chemical safety in handling hazardous material,
management of emergency response as well as product-related issues. In addition,
motivating and training employees in environmental issues is of equal importance.
Finally, the essence of sustainability is to bring together various sectors in the society in a
partnership that will help to map out the long-term goals for the common good of this and
future generations. Corporates studied in this report have diverse operating environment
with many different challenges but their successes have due to their consistencies in
taking corporate sustainability into their decision making process. Sustainability in the
corporate world should be seen as an integration of social, economic as well as ecological
objectives into the daily businesses. This holistic approach to sustainability should not be
limited to legal regulations and official requirements, but also need to address
improvements to economic as well as social areas. Corporate performance should not be
seen as simply a matter of reducing costs and increasing efficiencies but also as adding
value and maximizing productivity, flexibility, ethics and responsibility. Managers and
executives try to position the organization as a leader in sustainable business practices
with advanced human resource strategies that help make the organization an 'employer of
choice', with 'corporate citizenship' initiatives that build stakeholder support and with
innovative, quality products that are environmentally safe and healthy.