Lecture 10: Systems perspective of sustainability Flashcards
What is the Bruntland definition of sustainability?
Development that meet the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs
What are the normative principles?
- Inter generational equity
- Environment
- Participation
- Intra-generational equity
What are the “different shades of green”?
- Technocentrism: very weak
- Ecocentrism: very strong
What are the three forms of capital?
- Environmental
- natural resources
- ecological services - Social
- personal
- societal - Economic
- manufactured
- financial
What are the three conditions of sustainability?
- Integrating economic, environmental and social aspects
- Integrating short and long term aspects
- Consuming the income and not the capital
What is making to destructive locusts?
The way that business has both destroyed social and environmental capital, but also undermined the capacity for future economic growth
What is the triple bottom line
A triangle with the three sides of:
- environment
- profit
- community
What is the definition of sustainability (Dyllick and Hockerts)?
Meeting the needs of a firms direct and indirect stakeholders, without compromising its ability to meet the needs of future stakeholders as well
What are the 8 millennium development goals?
- eradicate poverty
- universal primary education
- promote gender equality
- reduce child mortality
- improve maternal health
- combat hiv aids
- ensure environment sustainability
- global partnership for development
What is the current wealth inequality in the world?
The 62 richest people in the world are worth more than the poorest 50%
Why is there a failure of management studies for sustainability?
- Underlying research is still diverse and highly debated
- Research has failed to effectively inform management
- Overly focused on business case rather than implementing practices
Why is there a failure of corporate practices?
- Not clear that the intertwined view addresses most difficult challenges facing society
- Shortfalls of voluntary action and managerial capture
What is the intertwined view?
Systems are conceived as relatively equal spheres, the intertwined view does not convey either a natural or logical ordering to the business, societal and natural value domains
What is the embedded view (systems perspective)?
Gray: Sustainability is a systems based concept and only begins to make sense at the level of ecosystems
Williams: From a systems perspective, sustainability is the ability of the systems to persist, adapt, transform or transition in face of new conditions
What is carrying capacity?
The maximal population size of a given species that an are can support without reducing its ability to support it
