Corporate Sustainability and Information Management: the Case of Tropico Brazil

This paper focuses on the role of information management models and information and communication technology (ICT) applications in facilitating implementation of social responsibility and sustainable practices in contemporary organizations. On the one hand, the fields of corporate social responsibility and sustainability have grown exponentially in the last decade. Both include three dimensions in their definitions – social, environmental and economical – and are often applied as synonymous. Issues typically included in a socially responsible or sustainable agenda relate to business ethics, community investment, environment, human rights and the workplace, among others. An increasing number of managers and companies worldwide have been engaging in serious efforts to integrate sustainability into their business practices (Jones, 2003). This emergence should be evaluated in the complex context of globalization, deregulation and privatization, where inequalities in terms of social, environmental and economic conditions continue to grow (UNIDO, 2004). Despite the explosion of interest in and concern with social responsibility and sustainability, their effective implementation faces serious obstacles.