Tools for sustainable business management

In this paper challenges for the economy due to environmental problems and the raising intensity of competition will be discussed. Sustainable Development is shown to be a suitable vision for corporations. Integrated (Generic) Management Systems are introduced as a useable way for implementation of Sustainable Development in order to meet ecological and economical goals. These systems are administrative tools for managing environmental, quality and risk work in business. Four principles of Sustainable Development are presented and linked with business strategy. In order to meet the requirements of sustainability specific tools are necessary. The sustainability balanced scorecard is the central tool for the development and implementation of sustainable business strategies. A tool to identify the position of an enterprise in relation to sustainable development is the sustainability cube, where the social, economical and ecological dimension of sustainable development of an enterprise can be measured. A tool within the process of designing a new product or service, where the needs of the market and customers can be combined with the principles of sustainable development, is the sustainable orientated quality function deployment.