Abstract:

Currently a common concern, both nationally and internationally, is sustainable development. For a long time, sustainability was an important but specialized issue. Sustainability is one of the latest “buzzwords” among businesses. The sustainability of an enterprise is always defined by future events, and the future is always uncertain. Sustainability Management integrates management concept in a sustainable setting. It is difficult to define a reference model for sustainable management of the enterprise. Therefore a holistic approach to enterprise sustainability management becomes emergent. Enterprise Sustainability Management (EMS) integrates the necessary components of sustainable development in business processes. Enterprise Sustainability Management touches every area of the value chain: including product development, purchasing, sales, customer service, and others. EMS ensures sustainable enterprise development that meets not only their business needs, but also highlights the life and durability of the system in which it works. The paradigm of sustainable development requires rethinking of the way business works and of the management, leadership. Thus, the sustainability management will change the competitive landscape of the enterprise in the manner in which firms develop and use resources, capabilities and competencies. It becomes imperative for the enterprise that the corporate success is directly proportional to the sustainable development. For some organizations, sustainability is all about reducing energy for others to design eco-friendly products. In such a scenario, each organization defines its own system with its own leadership and its sustainable development model. Therefore, developing a model of enterprise sustainability becomes emergent. This model incorporates three basic pillars: knowledge management, risk management and leadership. This paper explores an emerging model for sustainable enterprise development, current approaches of sustainability, directions and keys drivers. European Union directions are moving towards creating a balanced environment in which the enterprise to work and in which the future companies are able to develop their own activity. Managing and balancing business activity, in a fair way, becomes mandatory for every company. The presentation and analysis of these directions represents the support of this research, and also the validation of the proposed model for enterprise sustainability management.