Practicing Business Sustainability: A Generic Framework and Resource Guide

How does a business start its sustainability journey? Are there existing frameworks that can guide businesses on their journey? What are the various tools that can aid businesses in their quest? The questions are many. Indeed, one of the bottlenecks for businesses not embracing sustainability is lack of information, the other being perception of high cost associated with sustainable practices. The aim of this paper is to provide information to business practitioners, entrepreneurs, academicians and researchers alike on the topic of sustainable business practices. The paper consists of three parts. The first part provides a broad methodology to embrace sustainable practices. It is a composite of methodologies prescribed by different experts. The second part of the paper provides a brief overview of the five of the most prominent sustainability frameworks and delivers context in what way these frameworks contribute to sustainable practices. The final part of the paper presents more than 30 other frameworks, methodologies and tools, and evaluates them using 3 questions.