Introduction - Artikel: Vermeulen & Witjes (2015)On addressing the dual and embedded nature of business and the route towards corporate sustainability

7 important questions on Introduction - Artikel: Vermeulen & Witjes (2015)On addressing the dual and embedded nature of business and the route towards corporate sustainability

In the article about dual and embedded nature and need towards corporate sustainability, Vermeulen and Witjes refer to factors that cause the need for more inclusive challenges in business routines. What are the three main reasons?

1. The western lifestyle
2. Growing middle class in emerging economies
3. Pressure of MNC's to improve social and environmental performance.

What is the dual element Vermeulen & Witjes refer to?

Vermeulen & Witjes argue that single organizations can only exist because they're part of a larger production and consumption system. In economic terms this is called the value chain, in environmental terms this is called the product life cycle.

The dual element refers to simultaneously being related to the production and the social dynamics.

In the paper of Vermeulen & Witjes, the key questions to implement corporate sustainability are discussed. How do they define corporate sustainability?

They define corporate sustainability as individual companies implementing strategies to achieve sustainable development.
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Which question corresponds with the support making sense phase?

How should a long-term ambition for corporate sustainability be set in a widely acceptable way?

What are the three issue dimensions (3P)? And which two can be added?

* Planet - ecological threats
* People - direct threats of developments and opportunities for individuals linked to the parts of the full production system
* Prosperity - development on the society level related to sustainable development as a well-functioning societal system


* Time; we should provide change for the next generation. Therefore, radical change and short-term implementation is needed.
* Place; this reflects the links of production and consumption activity via the value chain.

The 3P's, time and place are interconnected. With sustainable challenges the structural changes are needed in how our production and consumption system functions.

Which question is linked to the current dual and embedded nature?

How should we describe companies as an element of a production and consumption system?

When reviewing corporate sustainability, we must view the physical and social dynamics inside and outside the company. With immersive sustainable challenges ahead, self-reflection is important. Why?

Because self-reflection of an organization's dual and embedded nature links how they function in their social dynamics with what they achieve in their physical dynamics in the full production and consumption system.

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

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