AJ Lucas Group Limited Annual Review & Sustainability Report 2010
AJ Lucas Group Limited Annual Review & Sustainability Report 2010
AJ Lucas Group Limited Annual Review & Sustainability Report 2010
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11<br />
<strong>AJ</strong> LUCAS GROUP LIMITED ANNUAL REVIEW & SUSTAINABILITY REPORT <strong>2010</strong><br />
We have an<br />
obligation<br />
to make a<br />
difference.<br />
Until recently, the notion of sustainability for business was<br />
absurd. Companies had only to mobilise capital, add labour<br />
and distribution systems and wealth was generated.<br />
19th and 20th century riches came from freely available<br />
minerals, agriculture, manufacturing, or plundering,<br />
opportunistic empires. We had not heard of ‘peak oil’ and the word<br />
‘sustainability’ was not in the business lexicon.<br />
Yet, the best business enterprises of quieter times had some of the<br />
qualities described today as ‘sustainable’. They looked after people<br />
and took an active role in the community – putting back as well as<br />
taking out. There were company towns, from BHP’s Broken Hill to<br />
John Cadbury’s Bournville (“the town that chocolate built”). Builtto-last<br />
companies provided housing, markets, libraries, churches and<br />
entertainment. Banks acted as enabling enterprises to facilitate and<br />
factor global trade. »
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