Abstract
The concept of sustainable development, which has existed for twenty-five years and has been promoted and facilitated by different management systems, is still not succeeding in bringing about a decisive change in terms of environmental management. In practice, current ideas about standardisation are already deeply rooted within the very definition of the concept, which came into being in response to what is perceived as an excessively radical ecological critique. This dynamic, which has favoured concepts in which controls are carried out by private operators, far from promoting the suggested changes, tends to reinforce well-established management practices. This makes it possible to understand and explain the various forms of entrepreneurial activity that are currently taking place in relation to sustainable development in business and to identify the three main aspects that define its mainstream. It is now therefore essential to shed light on ways in which economic, social and environmental aims are articulated since these are often presented in a merged form and are therefore difficult to manage within systems of sustainable development. In doing this, the ecological critique which focuses on the impacts of actions on ecosystems must constitute the normative factor.