The first part of the book is outlined to consist of two chapters.
Chapter 2 - The Sustainability Challenge
The first chapter - key descriptor "the Sustainability Challenge" - introduces the wider context which is related to the sustainability agenda at large, where some short history and notes of the concept of sustainability and sustainable development is made. An illustration of the institutions that is there to solve sustainability-related problems will be made, and some personal encounters and general reasons on why they mostly fall short to tackle the issues at hand. The characteristics of sustainability problems are described, and what makes it hard and complex to solve them is given.
Chapter 3 - The Sustainability of Business
The second chapter - key descriptor "the Sustainability of Business" - Enters business and economics in this context related, giving a short overview on how the "business case of sustainability" has been grasped and described. Emerging from an early identification of business activity to be a main part of the problem, a development of ideas on how business can respond to the sustainability agenda - showing signs over time to move towards more and more proactivity.
The core theme of the book thus gets introduced following this logical order and chronological idea development - how can business, entrepreneurship and innovation be the premier key towards sustainability? This provides a background to the next Part, where the concept of sustainopreneurship gets introduced, with a history of ideas presented of entrepreneurship and innovation.
Sourcing
Departure for these two chapters will be section one and two in the first chapter of the Master Thesis published 2007. This text will be developed and extended alongside primarily two dimensions. One is aiming at enriching the picture and reflection on why and how the established institutions seems to fall short repeatedly in tackling the root causes of sustainability-related problems, where the illustration above serves as a departure for a more systematic discussion related to "systemic failure" - an issue that has been moving beyond relevancy the last six months in the current global economical downturn - see e. g. the World Bank report "Swimming Against the Tide: How Developing Countries are Coping with the Global Crisis" presented before and as input towards the G20 meeting of financial ministers later this week in London, to which I will blog separately about.
The other is to deepen the business response to sustainability, and to enrich the history of ideas related to business vs. sustainability, giving a timeline including the central and most dominant concepts in this discussion and line of action applied. A case and challenge on how the "big trade-off myth" can be permanently debunked and busted will be made, collecting and reviewing some key sources where this position is strengthened - in the end claiming that business activity maybe is the key to create a sustainable world. In this greater conceptual body the concept of sustainopreneurship gets introduced to strengthen this strand of dialogue and passionate action.
A lot of references beyond the Master Thesis was written in spring 2007 has showed up in both areas covered related to the main themes of these two chapters, so this will be updated and covered as well.
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