Bottom line, firms can become more competitive with sustainable development (World Business Council for Sustainable Development, 2002), for a wide variety of reasons, including from a cost perspective. Bibliography

1. World Business Council for Sustainable Development. 2002. The Business Case for Sustainable Development. On the Internet at http://www.wbcsd.org/web/publications/business-case.pdf. Last retrieved on January 12, 2012

Student 3

One explanation for which sustainable development has become such a used notion in the last years is simple: relationship management (Adams, 2006). People in the 21st century have become more and more aware of the world they live in, and, especially, of the implications of not living correctly in this environment. People understood that such implications could impact not only the generations to come, but also future generations.

With that in mind, individuals, who are also consumers, have become more and more aware of the dangers of unsustainable development and, as such, have started to monitor more closely what companies are doing negatively and in which way their business could negatively impact the communities, the environment and the society in general.

This mean that companies simply needed to include sustainable development as part of their discourse, part of relationship management. It would not be enough, however, to just have a polished discourse and integrate this into their communication strategy. Companies now need to actually do things sustainably in order to be credible for their consumers and other shareholders. They have to come out with concrete projects, as well as with a concrete strategy of sustainable development.

Adams, W.M. 2006. The Future of Sustainability: Re-thinking Environment and Development in the Twenty-first Century. On the Internet at http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/iucn_future_of_sustanability.pdf. Last retrieved on January 12, 2012
Student 4

One reason why sustainable development has grown as a concept in the last couple of years is because companies have begun, more and more, to identify in this a new market or, at least, a new methodology of creating and opening up new markets (International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2012). There is today a large diversity of new products and services that cater exactly to customers and shareholders who believe in sustainable development. There are also different organizations that have streamlined their activities to abide my new, sustainable regulations.

The competition in the market where the business was traditionally active is usually very tough, which means that companies are more and more willing to open new sectors where early starters can ensure an important profitability. As people are more and more aware of the need to be sustainable and to understand that the resources are limited and that the actions taken in this lifetime will impact future generations, businesses discover that this is not even a sector where financial resources would need to be spent in order to grow it. They can save money from marketing and advertising and use it towards production capacities for a better business.

Bibliography

1. International Institute for Sustainable Development. 2012.Business and Sustainable Development. On the Internet at http://www.iisd.org/business/. Last retrieved on January 12, 2012