An Organizational Roadmap of Business Sustainability

Abstract

The Business Sustainability Typology provides an answer to the difficult question of what business sustainability actually means and how to differentiate between beginning, intermediate and advanced levels in business practice. It offers a practical approach to evaluate different levels of integrating sustainability in business (Dyllick & Muff, 2013). While the Typology highlights three different shifts to move from business-as-usual to Business Sustainability 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0, this article looks at organizational challenges and consequences. The article offers concrete strategic support for companies in their sustainability journey. Section 1 summarized the Business Sustainability Typology (Dyllick & Muff, 2013). Section 2 identifies the organizational development domains to be studied. Section 3 provides an in-depth analysis of existing studies in the relevant domains of business sustainability. Section 4 offers a comparative overview of attributes of organizations for each type of business sustainability, and concludes with open questions as well as suggested further research.