How do Ecologic Sustainability and Business Feasibility Fit Together? – A Pragmatic Constructivist Study

Although sustainability is appearing increasingly in the core values of many businesses, a considerable variation remains in the extent to which these businesses are committed to ecologic and social dimensions of sustainability, with some still focusing solely on financial performance. This paper unveils and discusses the realities of businesses, where ecologic sustainability and financial feasibility are intertwined, offering insights into the challenges and opportunities encountered by the businesses in navigating these dual imperatives. With the help of pragmatic constructivism (PC), we examine the realities of relevant empirical papers in terms of the facts, possibilities, values and communication present in those realities. Essentially, the realities have been selected under examination from operations, management accounting, and marketing domains, to provide sufficient versatility for our analyses. The value of the paper lies in providing a pragmatic constructivist view on the different realities that deal with the interface of profitability and sustainability management. As a result, the paper encourages further studies on unveiling the underlying values and current realities and practices that have an influence on the sustainability outcomes of the businesses and the society.