Nachhaltigkeit im unternehmerischen Diskurs

How did companies interpret the concept of sustainability? How did they implement it in practice? Karen Froitzheim examines the diverse sustainability practices established by four companies in the retail, consumer goods, chemical, and pharmaceutical sectors in Germany and the UK (Merck, AstraZeneca, Otto, and Marks & Spencer) between 1987 and 2010. Drawing on a wide range of sources, she highlights the interactions between politics, society, and the economy and analyzes the origins and challenges of corporate sustainability. She demonstrates that the corporations had to first create the "green consumer" within the tension of politics and competition, and increasingly communicated sustainability as a business case, taking into account economic, ecological, and social aspects.