Sustainability is a concept used to describe a system that meets the needs of the present

without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs. From

business perspective, sustainability means a business approach that creates long term shareholder

value. It also means meeting the needs of a organization’s direct and indirect stakeholders

without compromising its ability to meet the needs of future stakeholders as well. Sustainability

concept has three major pillars, namely: Economic – corporate and global, Environmental

/Natural, and Social sustainability– internal and external. In order to achieve corporate

sustainability, organizations have to maintain and grow their economic, social and environmental

capital base while actively contributing to sustainability in the political domain.

Economically sustainable organizations guarantee at any time cash flow sufficient to

ensure liquidity and maintain a persistent return to their shareholders. It has the economic capital

to manage equity and debt, to purchase machinery, land, and materials and take care of

Intangible items such as reputation, intellectual resources and inventions and routines. Also,

ecologically sustainable organizations consume natural resources at a rate below natural

reproduction or the development of substitutes and they do not allow emissions to accumulate at

a rate beyond the capacity of the natural system to absorb and assimilate. They do not engage in

activity that degrades ecosystem. They support ecosystem ideologies such climate stabilization,

water purification etc. Finally, socially sustainable organizations add value to the communities

where they operate by increasing the societal capital of these communities. They manage social

capital so that stakeholders can agree with the organization value system. A sustainable

organization, therefore, is one that contributes to sustainable development by delivering

simultaneously economic, social, and environmental benefits.