Title: Connecting levels: a systems view on stakeholder dialogue for sustainability

Authors: Frank Boons

Addresses: Erasmus Centre for Sustainability, Erasmus University Rotterdam, P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Abstract: This paper argues that the sustainable development of production and consumption systems requires the adoption of a systems view by firms and their stakeholders. This perspective enables them to develop and implement through dialogue a vision that takes systemic change as a focus. At the level of individual firms, employing such a systems view requires a number of capabilities that are discussed. Acquiring such capabilities takes place in the process of dialogue, which can be seen as a form of network learning. These capabilities are important to consider in relation to the perspective of material and energy flow methodologies on industrial symbiosis networks.

Keywords: sustainable development; stakeholder dialogue; sustainability capabilities; systems perspective; material flow; energy flow; industrial ecology.

DOI: 10.1504/PIE.2004.005842

Progress in Industrial Ecology, An International Journal, 2004 Vol.1 No.4, pp.385 - 396

Published online: 15 Dec 2004 *

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