Despite these proposals in the 1987 Brundtland Report on what sustainability needs to entail, its definition and as such, the entire sustainability concept has shifted significantly over the years, thus shifting the overall focus of this concept. Arguably, whereas the Brundtland concept on sustainability entailed balancing between needs and resources, as well as between short term and long term, this has since shifted to three dimension approach to include social, economic and environmental aspects (Kuhlman & Farrington, 2010). Therefore, the new definition of sustainability promotes the notion that while development is a multidimensional endeavour to attain high quality of life for every person on earth, environmental protection, social development and economic development are mutually reinforcing and interdependent factors that constitute sustainable development (Kuhlman & Farrington, 2010). This definition of sustainability in the modern world by Kuhlman and Farrington (2010) is supported by Finkbeiner, Schau, Lehmann and Traverso (2010), who observe that sustainability goes beyond environmental protection to include social and economic development in the modern society. Importantly, the modern sustainability concept promotes the need for both governments and corporations to adopt a cooperation and proactive approach in managing different development issues and in protecting the environment.
尽管1987年布伦特兰报告中提出了关于可持续性需要包含哪些内容、其定义等方面的建议，但多年来，整个可持续性概念发生了重大变化，从而改变了这一概念的总体重点。可以说，尽管布伦特兰的可持续性概念需要平衡需求和资源，以及短期和长期之间的平衡，但这已经转变为包括社会、经济和环境方面的三维方法（Kuhlman&Farrington，2010）。因此，可持续性的新定义促进了这样一种观念，即虽然发展是一项多层面的努力，以实现地球上每个人的高质量生活，但环境保护，社会发展和经济发展是构成可持续发展的相辅相成、相互依存的因素（Kuhlman&Farrington，2010）。Kuhlman和Farrington（2010）对现代世界可持续性的定义得到了Finkbeiner、Schau、Lehmann和Traverso（2010）的支持，他们认为可持续性超越了环境保护，包括现代社会的社会和经济发展。重要的是，现代可持续性概念促进了政府和公司在管理不同的发展问题和保护环境方面采取合作和积极主动的做法的必要性。
Sustainable development and corporate expansion 可持续发展与企业扩张
The concept of sustainability and as such, sustainable development continues to gain a widespread attention from different stakeholders both in the private and the public sector. In reference to Giddings, Hopwood and O'Brien (2002), there is an extensive adoption of sustainable development concept among both large and small corporations across the globe, with regions such as the United States and Europe experience a 95 percent adoption rate among their corporations. The adoption of sustainable development policies among these corporations is motivated by the belief that sustainability is an important concept in the 21st century corporate environment. Furthermore, a significant number of these businesses have integrated sustainable development initiatives in their operations as a way to promote an image that they are responsible businesses as far as environment protection is concerned.
可持续性的概念以及可持续发展继续得到私营和公共部门不同利益攸关方的广泛关注。关于Giddings、Hopwood和O'Brien（2002），全球的大公司和小公司都广泛采用可持续发展概念，美国和欧洲等地区的公司采用率为95%。这些公司采用可持续发展政策的动机是相信可持续性是21世纪公司环境中的一个重要概念。此外，这些企业中有相当一部分在其经营活动中纳入了可持续发展举措，以树立他们在环境保护方面是负责任企业的形象。
Despite the wide acceptance of sustainable development initiatives among corporations, there are divisions on whether these initiatives contribute positively or negatively to corporate expansion. To begin with, the proponents of sustainable development argue that the rising demand for commodities that adhere to sustainability standards on the market have created an opportunity for businesses to enhance their innovativeness and as such, focus on developing products that have less impact on the environment (Stoner & Wankel, 2012). Speaking from this perspective, these scholars assert that corporations have an opportunity to enhance their profits through investment not only production processes that have little or no impact at all on the environment but also in products that are adapted to the natural environment.
尽管企业广泛接受可持续发展倡议，但对于这些倡议对企业扩张的贡献是积极的还是消极的，仍存在分歧。首先，可持续发展的支持者认为，市场上对符合可持续发展标准的商品的需求不断增长，这为企业创造了一个机会，以增强其创新能力，从而专注于开发对环境影响较小的产品（Stoner&Wankel，2012）。从这个角度讲，这些学者断言，企业有机会通过投资来提高利润，不仅投资于对环境几乎没有影响或根本没有影响的生产过程，而且投资于适应自然环境的产品。
Apart from opportunities the rising demand for sustainable products, there are also arguments that sustainable development promotes innovativeness and creativity among corporations. In reference to Groenewald and Powell (2016), the awareness of the environmental impact of their activities would motivate corporations to seek to improve efficiency, cut down costs and develop innovative production processes that have little impact on the environment. Through the adoption of such measures, these corporations would establish a culture that supports efficient use of resources, thus improving their financial performance. This therefore implies that they can easily open new outlets even with fewer resources. In addition to this, Groenewald and Powell (2016) argue that the adoption of sustainable development initiatives help corporation to enhance the value of their brand, thus increasing the chances of their stocks experiencing improved performance on the financial markets. Therefore, they have an opportunity to not only attract investors but also to use their increased cash flow to successful invest in different markets not only in their local countries but also on international markets.
除了对可持续产品不断增长的需求，还有人认为可持续发展促进了企业的创新和创造力。参考Groenewald和Powell（2016），对其活动的环境影响的认识将激励公司寻求提高效率、降低成本和开发对环境影响较小的创新生产工艺。通过采取这些措施，这些公司将建立一种支持有效利用资源的文化，从而改善其财务业绩。因此，这意味着即使资源更少，他们也可以轻松地开设新的门店。除此之外，Groenewald和Powell（2016）认为，采用可持续发展举措有助于公司提升品牌价值，从而增加其股票在金融市场表现改善的机会。因此，它们不仅有机会吸引投资者，而且有机会利用其增加的现金流，成功地投资于不同的市场，不仅投资于本国市场，也投资于国际市场。
Speaking from this point of view, the proponents of sustainable development initiatives as critical aspects of the modern-day corporate suggest that adopting these initiatives does not in any way affect corporate expansion. In this case, both Groenewald and Powell (2016) and Stoner and Wankel (2012) assert in their arguments that sustainable development initiatives does not impend the imperatives driving corporate expansion. On the contrary, corporations that respond positively to sustainable development initiatives have an opportunity to enhance their corporate expansion programs through lower operations and improve efficiency, as well as through engaging in product innovation, thus not only improving the nature of their current products but also developing new products for new markets. Furthermore, since the finances play an instrumental role in corporate expansion, corporations that adopt sustainable initiatives have an opportunity to build their brand value and attract investors, thus gaining financial muscles to allow them expand to other markets.
从这一角度讲，可持续发展倡议的支持者认为，采取这些倡议不会以任何方式影响企业的扩张，而可持续发展倡议是现代企业发展的重要方面。在这种情况下，Groenewald和Powell（2016年）以及Stoner和Wankel（2012年）在他们的论点中都断言，可持续发展倡议没有提出推动企业扩张的必要性。相反，积极响应可持续发展倡议的公司有机会通过降低运营成本、提高效率以及参与产品创新来加强公司扩张计划，这样不仅可以改善现有产品的性质，还可以为新市场开发新产品。此外，由于财务在企业扩张中起着重要作用，采取可持续发展举措的企业有机会建立其品牌价值并吸引投资者，从而获得财务实力，使其能够向其他市场扩张。