An investigation into the manner of implementing sustainability in business

Abstract

A fundamental shift in businesses markets in recent times has seen stricter regulation in place, enforcing the need for companies to adopt sustainability strategies. This impacts how companies operate, what they measure and how they report. Businesses need to develop a sustainability strategy that covers a range of key issues and implement it effectively, which in itself can pose challenges. The aim of the research is to investigate how companies in South Africa have successfully implemented or incorporated their sustainability strategy into their core business activities. Sustainability incorporates three key considerations namely social, economic and environmental. Using qualitative research methods, data was gathered to understand companies strategy and their process of successful implementation. Key outcomes of the research was a company view of the drivers of sustainability in companies, the identification of tools and methods crucial to implementation and finally the identification of key enablers and constraints to consider when implementing. The findings led to, two developments. One being the development of a three phased implementation map, that identifies specific tools applicable at each phase based on change theory. Second is a framework that summarizes the key enablers to successfully incorporate sustainability in an oragnisation.