Guest editorial

摘要

The first conference on sustainability was organised by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), and it resulted in a report titled "Our Common Future", which was published in 1987 (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987). It is also known as the Brundtland Report in recognition of the former Prime Minister of Norway, Gro Harlem Brundtland who was the Chair of the WCED. This report defined sustainable development as "the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This was a move away from previous understanding of the term. Previously from a business perspective, it was considered in purely economic terms. A sustainable business was one which could sustain long-term success. For example, Leonard L. Berry looked at 14 service companies in the world and came up with nine drivers of sustainable success. The keys to the success of the companies in their respective industries were their core values and beliefs (Berry, 1999).