Sustainability Overview

Principles

Definition

Sustainability is an interdisciplinary academic concept and research field concerned with the long-term viability and resilience of systems, investigating the complex interactions between environmental, social, and economic dimensions. It is characterized by its focus on meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs and is significant for informing strategies to address global challenges and ensure equitable well-being across time.

Ontological type

Measurement Indicators

Theoretical Frameworks

Policy and Governance

Key developments

Key Figures

Strategic Sustainability Integration era

Kai Hockerts [1] is a leading thinker in the Strategic Sustainability Integration era (1980-2009), with affiliations at INSEAD [3] and Copenhagen Business School [4] during this period. His key contributions in this era emerge from Beyond the business case for corporate sustainability [7], which reframes sustainability as a driver of business value and demonstrates how economic, social, and environmental dimensions can strengthen strategic competitive advantage. Thomas Dyllick [2] figures prominently in this era, with core affiliations at the University of St.Gallen [5] and the University of Applied Sciences St. Gallen [6]. The same 2002 paper Beyond the business case for corporate sustainability [7] presents a framework that links triple-bottom-line performance to strategic decision-making, helping to institutionalize sustainability as a strategic priority in this era.

Systems-Level Sustainability era

Nancy Bocken [1] is a leading figure in the Systems-Level Sustainability era (2010-2015), with affiliations at the University of Cambridge [3] and Lund University [4]. Her key contribution in this era is the development of sustainable business model archetypes through a comprehensive literature and practice review published as 'A literature and practice review to develop sustainable business model archetypes' [5], which provided a structured lens for linking sustainability strategies to business model design and performance. Samuel W. Short [2] is a Cambridge-associated scholar active in this era, with the University of Cambridge [3] as a principal institutional context. Short's contributions, as reflected in the same literature review on sustainable business model archetypes [5], helped anchor system-level planning in governance and corporate strategy by framing archetypes as catalysts for sustainability-driven performance.

Digital Circular Transformation era

Nancy Bocken [1] is a prominent scholar in the Digital Circular Transformation era, with ties to the University of Cambridge [3] and Maastricht University [4]. Bocken [1] has been influential in this era, with The Circular Economy – A new sustainability paradigm? [7] illustrating her framing of circularity as a mainstream sustainability paradigm and guiding resource-efficient design and policy discourse. Måns Nilsson [2] is a key contributor in this era, with ties to University of Gothenburg [5] and Stockholm University [6]. Nilsson [2] has advanced policy-oriented thinking in this era, notably through Policy: Map the interactions between Sustainable Development Goals [8], which shows how SDG interdependencies can inform governance and accelerate green digital transformation.