Sustainability is one of the key issues in today's society, as confirmed by the increasing attention of governments, media, academia and the industry. In the context of sustainable development, businesses that are often referred to as part of the problem can become part of the solution.

This book presents the state of the art of sustainability in corporations from a number of perspectives, which include: economy, finance, measurement and reporting, organizing for sustainability, green products, green buildings and IT. The individual chapters provide valuable insights for pursuing future research and define a proper research agenda for the years to come. Further, the relevance of the topics addressed makes the book essential reading for academics, practitioners, consultants and more generally, for all those interested in business evolution and sustainability. The book was written by prominent researchers from Italy, India, the USA and the UK.

Autorentext

Vito Albino is Professor in Innovation and Project Management at the Politecnico di Bari in Italy, where he is now Vice Rector for technology transfer. After the laurea degree in mechanical engineering, Vito has been visiting Scholar at the University of Cincinnati and visiting Professor at University of South Florida (Tampa). He gave lectures and seminars in many universities in USA and in Europe. He chaired the Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica e Gestionale at the Politecnico di Bari and from 2007 to 2009 he was the President of the Board of the Italian Association of Business Engineering (AiIG). In 2003 he co-founded the European Sustainability Group, a group of organizations, researchers and consultants in Europe who are actively working to create a sustainable world. His research fields are related to innovation processes in production chains and industrial clusters with specific interest to environmental aspects.

Paolo Carbone is a full professor at the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Perugia in Italy, where he teaches classes on Quality Management and Measurements. His research interests are in the application of statistical signal processing to real-world problems and in techniques to measure and improve management practices. He published more than 140 papers in international journals and in proceedings of international congresses and he is currently the head of the Department of Electronic and Information Engineering at his University. He is the Director of the Bradford-Perugia MBA in Italy and an associated lecturer at the University of Bradford, UK.

Paolo Taticchi is a Senior Lecturer in Management at the Royal Docks Business School of the University of East London. Before joining UEL, he covered the position of Assistant Professor in Business & Management Engineering at the University of Perugia, and the position of Associated Lecturer at Bradford School of Management in UK, where he alsoserved as Director of Studies of the Bradford-Perugia MBA in Italy. He also has the position of Adjunct Professor at NYU Poly in New York, US. Paolo performs scientific research in performance measurement and management, business networks and sustainability. These research activities have been documented in many books, chapters, journal and conference papers. He is the Editor and Co-Author of the book Business Performance Measurement and Management: new contexts, themes and challenges published by Springer internationally. He teaches management courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level, and he's a regular speaker in international MBA and E-MBA programs in Italy, China, India, Taiwan, Malaysia and US. Paolo is the Founder and Co-Director of the International Summer School program based in New York and is the Co-Founder and Co-Organizer of the Taiwan-Italy International Internship Program. Furthermore, he has significant consultancy experience in the fields of Strategy, Operations and Internationalization with both small and large firms; and entreprenuerial experience. In fact, he started up two engineering firms in Italy.

Inhalt
Green Economy.- Industrial Sustainability.- Carbon Emissions Management and the Financial Implications of Sustainability.- Sustainability and Business at a Crossroads: The Idea of Positive Investments in Creating Shared Value.- Integrating Sustainability in Capital Budgeting Decisions.- A Study of Consumer Attitudes and Behaviour Towards Sustainability in Bradford, UK: An Economical and Environmentally Sustainable Opportunity.- Setting and Managing Sustainability Goals.- Environmental Management Systems: Enabling Tools Towards Sustainability?.- The Green Option Matrix to Characterize Green Products and Practices: Applications to the Upholstered Furniture and the Footwear Industries.- Sustainability Measurement and Reporting: Impacts on Finance, Stakeholders Communication and Internal Measurement Practices.- Sustainable Use of IT.- The Green Building Revolution: Advancing Sustainability at Exponential Speed.- Existing Buildings' Energy Upgrade: An Economical and Environmentally Sustainable Opportunity.