One interpretation of the concept of organizational legitimacy is that it stems from the cultural values of society, and suggests that businesses operate under a mandate that may be withdrawn if organizations are seen not to be doing the 'right' things. This suggests there is something in the nature of a principal-agent relationship in existence, and that some form of accountability is then owed by the agent (the organization) to the principal (society). This paper seeks to investigate the nature of this accountability, distinguishing between the accountability which exists towards those elements of society with which an organization has a contractual relationship, and those where it does not. Adopting a pluralist stance, stakeholder theory is then used to illustrate the possible nature of both the form of legitimacy relationship extant, and of the accountability that the principal might expect of the agent.

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This research explores the need to establish new sustainable business models in China and uses multiple objectives to examine in a sample of Chinese companies the reality of the level of sustainable development, environmental awareness and performance, community responsibility, performance barriers and drivers and other sustainability issues. A mixed methodology was adopted, using a questionnaire survey and interviews with 20 manufacturing companies in Guangzhou and Shenzen. Evidence from the small sample of companies demonstrates the lack of signifi cant sustainable development practices in China, although small and medium sized companies appeared to show interest in this area and would like to further contribute to for example triple bottom line objectives. Increasing concerns are found from the company level regarding the need to use renewable energy, source alternative sustainable materials, close the loop of the supply chain, improve the quality of products produced rather than reducing cost, export to Europe and treat employees as an asset. The lack of skills, fi nance and knowledge are found to be prohibiting the effective embedment of sustainable development within companies and hence cause an under-performance in this regard. The study concludes that the establishing of a new business model for sustainable development in China is needed urgently, and this should be a joint effort with the Chinese government. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. Received 13 July 2006; revised 18 November 2006; accepted 30 November 2006Keywords: sustainable development; business models; environmental issues; China The Need for New Sustainable Business ModelsA N ARGUMENT MAY BE CONSTRUCTED THAT CURRENT BUSINESS MODELS DO NOT NEED TO CHANGE. AFTER ALL MANY societies are enjoying unprecedented wealth, so -the argument goes -why change something that is working so well? Nonetheless, such models are indeed changing and the cause of this change is the need for sustainable development. The authors note that the need for sustainable development did not arise within the business world or neoclassical economic theory. The roots of sustainable development may be traced to those who subscribed to other sources of knowledge such as 'A blue print for survival ' (Goldsmith et al., 1972) and the Club of Rome's Limits to Growth (Meadows and Meadows, 1972 ' (WCED, 1987). In 'needs and aspirations' there are great business issues to be faced: for example, society will need some idea of material suffi ciency as a developmental goal and this, we argue, is not something that existing business models can accommodate. It is very likely that new sustainable business models will have to address issues that appear at the moment to be counter to business best interest. Travis Engen understands that businesses do now need to respond to social issues: '. . . the corporate world can be placed on a continuum that ranges between Milton Friedman's view that "the business of business is business" and Ebenezer Scrooge's reve...

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The business model in use by many large companies has changed significantly from that of a decade ago and has incorporated environmental and social aspects of performance. However, given these achievements, are there unavoidable inhibitions in the contemporary business model that mean that even exemplar corporations cannot become sustainable?A key issue is consumption without limits, but can businesses do anything about this? The UK Government's Sustainable Development Commission identifies this as an issue. There is a need for an open-minded consideration of business fundamentals to consider this issue as part of an identification of criteria for a sustainable business model. This is an account of an exploratory study undertaken to identify a new business model for sustainable development. The theory of constraints was adapted to provide the project's methodology that made use of semi-structured interviews and secondary material. The cloverleaf account of sustainable development was used to structure and analyse sustainable development information. The organizations studied are all located in Nordic countries, since these countries are globally recognized for sustainable development achievements. Conclusions of the study acknowledge that, whilst specific new management tools and approaches of Nordic organizations do help sustainable development, it is the social context in which these organizations function that is a critical factor.