ACTA TECHNICA CORVINIENSIS - Bulletin of Engineering

1. CARMEN HĂRĂUTHE ECONOMIC CRISIS ANDTHE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENTAbstract:One of the constituents of the sustainable development is economic sustainability, along with thesocial, environmental and institutional dimensions.In business, there are only companies which manage their economic sustainability as no amount ofexcellent social and environmental performance will prolong the life of a company that iseconomically unsustainable.It is only obvious that economies and communities are to a high degree affected by business failureand economic instability having a disastrous effect on people. However, businesses that only measuresuccess against financial indicators, such as turnover and profit, increasingly risk failure. A broaderperspective on sustainability is now emerging, based around reputation, full cost accounting, abilityto add value and the management of knowledge.Summarizing specific challenges, it is critically important that the European Union has resident(citizen) capacity to carry out strategic planning on a continuing basis. While this capacity will in theshort-term necessarily have to depend on externally supplied expertise, more institutionalstrengthening will be required to ensure the development and institutionalization of planning andpolicymaking capacity at both national and state levels.Keywords:Sustainable development, economic crisis, strategic planningGENERAL CONCEPTS REGARDING THESUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENTThe term of „sustainable development”appeared in earlier decades due to a highnumber of environmental movements. It wasfirst defined by World Commission onEnvironment and Development (WCED) as thedevelopment that “meets the needs of thepresent without compromising the ability offuture generations to meet their own needs.” [1]This definition is clear enough, not requiring anyfurther explanations. But there are two morequestions worth thinking about: Why should wethink about the future generations and how canwe implement a sustainable development?Referring to the first problem, taking intoconsideration the sustainable development notonly helps our children, grand-children, grandgrand-childrenand so on, but also helps us. Ithelps us live a better life in a better worldreducing pollution, uncontrolled wastedumping, controlling the resources which, in theend, reflects in the increase of our lifeexpectancy. Moreover, from the economicalpoint of view, we will be able to better fulfill our© copyright FACULTY of ENGINEERING – HUNEDOARA, ROMANIA 37