Economic and business perspectives

Whether the institutional and business perspectives are all rational and productive - even in an economic sense - is questionable. While the focus on quantification and the use of models are a core part of engineering practices, studies of the demand for and use of models tend to show a different picture. As the study by Juhl demonstrates, models are often not directly related to or even productive for - in this case - the optimization of industrial production, but modelling runs as a parallel activity stream within the company s application enviromnent, supporting the vision of optimization and governance of technology and production. This perspective contrasts the linear view that science and theoretical models are the tools and preconditions for optimization and innovation. 

Sustainable development is a fuzzy concept. As a concept, however, it meets the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations (Morse, 1998). From a business perspective, sustainable development is often separated into three interdependent areas economic, environmental, and social. 

Fax 91-124-4013873 E-mail Address ceo ibef.org Web Address www.ibef.org India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) is a public-private partnership between the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, and the Confederation of Indian Industry. The Foundation s primary objective is to build positive economic perceptions of India globally. It aims to effectively present the India business perspective and leverage business partnerships in a globalizing market-place. 

The WBCSD is a coalition of international companies united by a shared commitment to the environment. It is based in Geneva and started off as the Business Council for Sustainable Development (BCSD) in 1990 to provide a business perspective on economic growth and sustainable development, prior to the Rio Summit in June 1992. In January 1995, BCSD was merged with the WICE (World Industry Council for the Environment) to form the WBCSD, which is now claimed to be the pre-eminent business voice on sustainable development issues. 

Other service description languages are appearing, such as the Unified Service Description Language (USDL) [43] that also represents the business perspective and its related items (service qualify, service level, economic and legal aspects). 

Fisher C, Lovell A (2006) Business ethics and values individual, corporate and international perspectives, 2nd edn. Pearson Education Limited, Harlow Flick U (2006) An introduction to qualitative research, 5th edn. Sage Publications, London Fombrun CJ (2005) Corporate reputations as economic assets. In Hitt MA, Freeman RE, Harrison JS (eds) Handbook of strategic management Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, pp 289-312 Freeman RE (1984) Strategic management a stakeholder approach. Pitman, Boston Freeman RE (1994) The politics of stakeholder theory some future directions . Bus Ethics Q 4 (4) 409 21... 

They also see an advantage of the interdisciplinary curricula in the faet that they are not so fixed and that there are more modules to choose from. Therefore, many students of the traditional case studies think that the students from the similar interdisciplinary study programmes are different because they are more interested in business economics and are less technically and IT-oriented. Some of these interviewees also think that students from the interdisciplinary degree eourses have better job perspectives in the field of management and business economics because, as one student says, companies want economically thinking employees (Media Informatics student) (Kafer 2010). 

In many industries or businesses, because of the wide range of complex factors and conditions, decision-makers at all levels are faced with difficult decisions. The process involves not only consideration of technical factors, but also political, social, economic, and many other factors. Further, the process is complicated by the variety and complexity of choices and the environment in which they are made, multiple and often conflicting objectives, different perspectives on risks, the uncertainty and the sensitivity of decisions. It is, therefore, important to provide decision makers with valid, reliable and sufficient information to ensure tMt they have taken decisions to their best knowledge. 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency describes sustainability from two perspectives [12] A public policy perspective would define sustainability as the satisfaction of basic economic, social, and security needs now and in the future without undermining the natural resource base and environmental quality on which life depends. Erom a business perspective, the goal of sustainability is to increase long-term shareholder and social value, while decreasing industry s use of materials and reducing negative impacts on the environment. 

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