Can organizations truly be sustainable in a capitalist system?
Filed under: Goddard College, New Media, Social Marketing, social media, socially responsible marketing, sustainable marketing | Tags: capitalism, Goddard College, green marketing, socially responsible marketing, sustainability, sustainable marketing, will boyd |
Question: Can organizations truly be sustainable in a free-market capitalist system?
Thought: As I read through many of the conversations about sustainability happening in blogs and articles, I see a lot of discussion about how companies can be sustainable while also fulfilling their obligations to their shareholders to be as profitable as possible. This is a valid concern if you consider the current economic system as an unchangeable given. However, to truly delve into the topic of sustainability, I feel you must move past the discussion of the topic on an organization-by-organization basis. To truly discuss the topic, shouldn’t you examine the sustainability of the economic system as a whole? How can we create sustainable organizations within a system that worships at the altar of infinite growth? I think the deeper, more difficult question we as a society must answer is, not “how sustainable are our organizations,” but “how sustainable is our way of life?”
