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page 119 chapter II
All market players are called upon in this context: poli-
ticians, industry and the banks, and also consumers.
By deciding what to buy, consumers pass the verdict
on which products are accepted by the market and
which are not.
And it is here that there are initial signs of changing
awareness: for instance, more and more investors are
going not only for returns, but also for sustainability.
Surveys by the Sustainable Business Institute (SBI)
show that there has been a substantial increase in the
number of funds that pay attention to sustainability
when investing. While 137 funds with a volume of
18.2 billion euros were being offered in the Germanspeaking
countries at the end of 2006, the figure had
risen to a total of 274 sustainable funds with a volume
of more than 21 billion euros by the end of 2008.
However, responsible action in an environment of
free competition also means that business enterprises
and banks endeavour, and must endeavour, to achieve
reasonable returns – for their customers, their shareholders
and their creditors. This means that banks – and
also business enterprises – have to prove themselves
on the market time and again. To do so, they have to
identify and satisfy their customers’ needs. But customers’
hopes and expectations change in the course
of time. And a business enterprise can only be successful
if it perceives the corresponding signals in good
time. Offers and services geared to expectations are
also a sign of respect for the customer.