This book aims to shed light on the sustainable enterprise concept, addressing questions such as what a sustainable enterprise is, what its main characteristics are, and how it differs from the traditional enterprise model. It explores these issues with reference to the eighteen market sector leaders of the Dow Jones Sustainability World Indexes (DJSI). As part of its analysis, the book describes the underlying values a firm must embed in order to advance towards sustainability.

The core value of the sustainable enterprise is an awareness of the system it forms part of and a sense of belonging to it. Instead of being a net predator of the physical and social environment, the sustainable enterprise obtains resources from the system with the purpose of contributing to the net creation of wealth.

The book also explores how these companies are embedding sustainability in their governance, strategy formulation and other management systems, and how their openness to the social and physical environment has helped them develop an honest, fluid dialogue with stakeholder groups.