A History of Research on Business and the Natural Environment: Conversations from the Field

Abstract

Every field of inquiry goes through a life cycle; a new idea emerges, it develops into a growing body of literature and either continues to grow or enters a decline. A sure sign of the successful growth of a field is an effort to institutionalize its history, categorize its accomplishments and project its future directions. The field of Business and the Natural Environment (B&NE) has now reached that stage. After expanding in the early 1990s as a distinct field of empirical inquiry, it has grown to include contributions from the full gamut of business disciplines. This introductory chapter is an analytical synopsis of that work, and an introductory chapter to a Routledge Handbook that collects the major works of the field.