Advancement of highly environmentally sustainable business management concepts with contexts embedded in construction markets

Abstract

Sustainable is defined to be capable of, relating to, or designating forms of human economic activity and culture that do not lead to environmental degradation, especially avoiding the long-term depletion of natural resources. Herein, the aim is to advance the design of business management (BM) concepts with contexts embedded in construction markets along the environmental sustainability dimension. The paper is part of the on-going reviewing of research on construction-related BM. The reviewing has resulted in the identification of 79 construction-related BM concepts published between 1990 and 2017. Thereof, only 16 (20%) authors have designed their concepts along the environmental sustainability dimension. There are 3 (4%) high-sustainability BM concepts including sustainable business goals, offerings, advantages, synergies, competitiveness, processes, organizations, and/or project portfolios, followed by 1 (1%) medium-sustainability and 12 (15%) low-sustainability BM concepts. In the future, the design of high-sustainability BM concepts could be advanced by (i) creating and distributing value in sustainability for all stakeholders, (ii) re-designing strategies and leveraging knowledge about and competences in sustainability through value chains, (iii) making sustainability a priority for decision makers, (iv) empowering middle managers, experts, and employee teams, and (v) redefining businesses and public services as well as collaborating inside and across borders.