A truly sustainable company

Sustainability has become somewhat of a buzzword. When talking about sustainable companies we often look at reducing a carbon footprint. Becoming carbon neutral. Maybe just not put a charger in the box. But is the system in which we are building these companies really sustainable? Is taking investment money in order to grow, and needing to eventually return a profit on that investment money, meaning you will have to grow unconditionally, really sustainable?

What about companies that do not grow, because they do not need to? All they need to do in order to keep existing is to make a profit. Pay the employees. Reinvest a little to evolve the product. Would that stagnate collective progress? Would it prevent crucial inventions? Or would a system that would allow for this (1) make progress happen sustainably? Potentially causing slower collective, but truly sustainable progress? Shifting the incentive from optimising profit to truly empowering consumers with a product that adds new value would not invalidate a need for invention, but it does a need for the stimulation of needless consumerism.

I don’t think it’s ever been this clear that if growth is unconditional, ultimately there will be no growth at all, because there will be nothing left to grow.

(1) This obviously wouldn’t work in our current system as the capitalist environment in which companies operate would dictate that a company developing a similar product that does take investment money and thus grows at a quicker rate outcompetes the company growing slower or not at all. This is the essence of the problem.