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The creation of sustainable value has become a key driver of competitive advantage for many companies. The field of organization development and change can assist these companies because it provides the theories, research, models, and tools they need to embed sustainability into their core business practices. In this chapter, we provide a brief history of sustainable value, demonstrate how and why it is an important source of competitive advantage, and describe five core capabilities companies need to embed sustainability throughout their organizations. We use case examples to illustrate these ideas and conclude with implications for research and practice.

Sustainability issues such as energy security, air quality, climate change, and poverty are introducing greater levels of complexity into strategic decision-making and often have far-reaching implications for companies in today's competitive environment. Building on Appreciative Inquiry, this paper discusses a new model for sustainable value creation, based on the growing business opportunity to do well by doing good.

We provide seven steps to integrating sustainability into strategy and operations. The process is designed to enable business leaders to reframe sustainability as a source of value creation using a life cycle collaborative approach to innovation instead of piecemeal change led by small groups of experts. Furthermore, the approach builds on the strengths of whole business systems rather than attempting to fix the weaknesses of individual actors as is typical of many strategy execution efforts. The chapter begins with a survey of perceptions about the meaning of sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR). The survey shows both significant confusion about the concepts themselves, and an opportunity for first movers to differentiate themselves by adopting an approach to sustainability based on innovation and business value. The seven steps are then presented using a strength-based whole system approach to compress the time and resources required to achieve the desired results.

The first annual volume of Research in Organization Change and Development was published in 1987. Since then, ROCD has provided a special platform for scholars and practitioners to share new research-based insights.

The purpose of the paper is to present a conceptual framework and a set of conditions within which nations and business can strive to embed sustainability in corporate/national strategy. The objective is to motivate business and national leaders to do so with sustainability mindsets and strategic leadership. The pre‐conditions that will accelerate the “motivation” to do so are identified, as are interventions identified. The sphere of influence business and national leaders have to impact sustainable globalization is identified.

The approach is to focus on information in the public domain that outlines the “real” challenges faced by nations and business as they consider the need for sustainability and key issues such as “poverty and climate change”, which if not addressed could have detrimental strategic implications for the planet, business and nations. The changes that have taken place since 1982 when global leaders signed up to Agenda 21 and the relatively insignificant movement that has occurred to date is outlined to strengthen the case for quantum leaps in the short to medium term. The strategic framework recommended is one that combines the need for organizations to set a new gold standard for “corporate responsibility”, which is a “commitment to sustainable business” followed by a commitment to differentiating the business or nation on a sustainability paradigm. This is presented as means to embedding sustainability in strategy in the form of the concept of “strategic corporate sustainability”. The concept of strategic corporate sustainability is presented as a two‐step approach that initially requires both national and corporate leaders to commit to the need for sustainability by developing triple bottom line strategies. This is followed by the need to embed sustainability strategy as the corporate strategy that differentiates the nation and the business, strategically setting it apart from those that have not done so. This is presented as one of the ways to move forward to achieve the goal of sustainable globalization.

The key findings from information in the public domain of nations and business that have embedded a sustainability policy and are demonstrating that enlightened leaders who have sustainability mindsets as a primary requirement for the future are presented with the examples of General Electric and Unilever. The process of nations embedding sustainability policy, which in turn motivates business to strive for sustainable business, which finally leads to sustainable consumption, is presented in a sequential manner.

The originality of the paper is in the form of the concept of strategic corporate sustainability, which was first mooted in 2008 at Cambridge University and has since been accepted as a key subject and elective for MBA and AMP programs between 2008 and 2012 at many business schools, confirming both its validity and its originality.

In this volume of Advances in Appreciative Inquiry, leading scholars from the fields of management, organization development, information technology, and education come together to chart new directions in Appreciative Inquiry theory and research as well as new intervention practices and opportunities for design in organizations. While diverse in topic and discipline, each of the following original chapters treats the reader to a view of Appreciative Inquiry's revolutionary way of approaching familiar questions of management, organization design, and sustainability.