Corporate sustainability is a key concern for firms today. Dow Jones Sustainability Index defines corporate sustainability as “a business approach that creates long-term shareholder value by embracing opportunities and managing risks deriving from economic, environmental and social developments”. The concept of corporate sustainability is based on John Elkington’s triple bottom line (TBL) concept which requires firms to look beyond just the financial bottom line (profit/loss), to environmental and social bottom line as well. This effectively means that, while making a decision, managers in these firms have to consider not only the financial dimension, but also the environmental and social dimension of their action. Under the TBL concept, people, planet and profit are considered the three pillars of sustainability.

Many well-known companies have made significant advances in corporate sustainability over the past decades. But achieving the ideals of corporate sustainability has proved to be anything but easy for even the largest of multinational corporations. The case studies in this collection are carefully selected to help readers explore the issue of corporate sustainability, understand the key issues faced by firms on the sustainability front, learn from the best practices of pioneering firms, and also have a firm grasp of the challenges, dilemma and trade-offs faced by these firms in carrying forward their sustainability agenda.

This book contains 11 internationally-benchmarked cases (including six prize winning cases) highlighting sustainability issues, challenges and best practices. The companies covered include BP, GE, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Nestlé, MCX, Novo Nordisk, Starbucks, PepsiCo, Tata Group, The Body Shop and The Coca-Cola Company. These cases highlight issues and challenges faced by companies operating in the Beverages, Cosmetics, Energy, Fast Moving Consumer Goods, Pharmaceuticals, as well as online commodity exchanges and highly diversified companies.