To Keep Sustainability Moving Forward, Business Must Transform the Market, Ross Professor Says

Corporations have made substantial progress integrating sustainable business practices — but that’s not enough, Michigan Ross Professor Andy Hoffman says in a new paper. Writing in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, he argues that “The Next Phase of Business Sustainability” must be fundamental change in the market itself.

“Sustainable business is reaching the limits of what it can accomplish in its present form,” Hoffman explains in a summary of the paper published on the Corporate Eco Forum’s EcoInnovator Blog. “Instead of tinkering around the edges of the market with new products and services, business must now transform it.”

A major shift is required, with corporations making systemic changes in the business environment. Hoffman sees potential for progress on two fronts: systemic corporate strategies and new ways of doing business.

Hoffman is Holcim (U.S.) Professor at the University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross School of Business and the School of Environment and Sustainability. He is a faculty affiliate and past director of the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise.

Read the summary blog post

Read the full paper

Media Contact: michiganrosspr@umich.edu