Ecological approaches to corporate sustainability and responsible business

The relationship and place of firms within their natural environment is a central element of corporate sustainability. In this chapter, we provide a brief history of corporate sustainability from an ecological perspective, examine major related trends and challenges, and explore the core principles that such a perspective on corporate sustainability adopts. Several lenses to understand firms within their natural environment have been proposed; we selectively present and contrast twelve key ones relevant to business and management. We conclude by not only advocating for systems thinking as one core principle of corporate sustainability, but also calling for systems action.