Companies and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

This chapter explores the role that the private sector assumes in promoting sustainable development and fighting economic, social, and environmental international challenges by working on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. From a theoretical approach, the chapter provides a literature review on business strategies (i.e., corporate social responsibility and social entrepreneurship) that can align business goals with the SDGs. It also presents a discussion on the main benefits of working on the SDGs (i.e., social impact and business value) that serves as a rationale for companies to invest in social and environmental programs. The chapter concludes with an overview of recent literature that has explored the corporate-SDGs intersection, which assists the authors in identifying gaps in current literature and relevant areas of future research on the involvement of the private sector in the Agenda 2030.