The promotion of sustainable enterprises

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• Promotion of sustainable enterprise

  This report for the 2007 session of the International Labour Conference is a contribution to the broad and wide-ranging international debate on the promotion of enterprise. The central role of the private sector, in all its forms, is increasingly recognized as key to development challenges including employment creation. The report takes stock of the developments and experiences from a decent work perspective, with particular emphasis on how to strengthen the contribution of enterprises to productive and equitable economic and employment growth. The report will inform the general discussion, the intended outcomes of which are: 1) a stocktaking of the international debate on the role of the private sector and sustainable enterprise in overall social and economic development; 2) an assessment of the relevance and implications of recent trends for the implementation of the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda; 3) an ILO contribution, centred on the Decent Work Agenda, to the global debate on the role of the private sector in overall social and economic development; 4) recommendations for ILO work to enhance coherent policies and strategies that promote decent work through sustainable enterprise development. 1

  The concept of a sustainable enterpriseThe promotion of sustainable enterprises is a broad and wide-ranging subject, not least because enterprises take many forms, not just in terms of size, sector and spatial dimensions but also in terms of how an enterprise is managed and governed and its legal status and operational objectives. All enterprises are part of society; they shape and are shaped by the communities in which they operate. Promoting sustainable enterprises is about strengthening the institutions and governance systems which nurture enterprises – strong and efficient markets need strong and effective institutions – and ensuring that human, financial and natural resources are combined equitably and efficiently in order to bring about innovation and enhanced productivity. This calls for new forms of cooperation between government, business and society to ensure that the quality of present and future life (and employment) is optimized whilst safeguarding the sustainability of the planet. The importance of enterprise as the principal source of growth and employment cannot be overstated. Economic growth is fuelled, first and foremost, by the creativity.