Evolution of the sustainable development concept: establishment background and importance at the present stage

Abstract

Importance: today, the concept of sustainable development is becoming increasingly important and relevant. It is necessary to study the stages of sustainable development formation for a deeper understanding of the subject, features and background of the concept. The formation and development of the sustainable development concept takes place over a long period of time as the population of the planet osmoses the significance of economic, social and environmental problems that can have a significant impact on the quality of life. Purpose: research and systematization of the domestic and foreign authors approaches to the evolution of the sustainable development concept issue, compilation of the author’s periodization, revealing the concept significance for designing a sustainable development strategy of enterprises. Research design: literature review of domestic and foreign authors on the establishment of the sustainable development concept was made via the Google Scholar and «elibrary» scientific search engines. The following methods of analysis, such as, comparison, information consolidation, data pooling and classification were used during the work on the study. Results: the author’s interpretation of the «sustainable development» definition is formulated and the background for the formation of the concept are described, considering the results of the literature review and systematization approaches of the different authors. Author proposed the version of the sustainable development concept periodization and an evaluation of the concept significance for the purposes of designing the organization’s corporate strategy at the present stage.