Companies are subject to a variety of demands that influence their strategies (as Michael Porter said in his Competitive Position Model, for example). Today, stakeholders (who are more numerous) have expanded the scope of their demands, and companies are faced with increasing strategic concerns:

• Adapting to demands expressed by the markets: in making purchases, an ever-larger segment of consumers are sensitive to the environmental footprint of the products offered and to the corporate practices of the companies that produce them, and companies that are paying attention to their markets should follow suit.
• Anticipation of future regulatory constraints: firms can have a greater impact on the content and strictness of future government regulations; they would also be in a better position to adapt to new rules if they had contributed to developing them. It is to be hoped that adjustments made in anticipation would reduce the cost of adapting to a given level of limitation.
• Seeking marginal gains in competitiveness over competitors in a given market : companies make technology choices that reduce the cost of access to environmental resources and the cost of eliminating waste materials.
• The desire to protect their legitimacy with the public :unlike other assets they hold, companies are not the only ones who control their own legitimacy. Rather, it is formed by a consensus between the various components of society which are stakeholders in the companies, and which in today's world have resources that can be mobilized to weaken or even ruin those companies.

  Every business sector (construction, transportation, industry, services, etc.) are affected; particularly banks, with credit, investments, and financing for projects (under pressure from investors who are becoming increasingly socially responsible); insurance, which is gradually assimilating social and environmental criteria when calculating premiums and deciding which risks to cover; and local government, which have a unique interest in companies, relay new limitations, and are themselves subject to the same demands for development.

  The "decarbonation" of the economy, the inevitable rise in the cost of fossil fuels and energy, the increasing obligation to become environmentally neutral, the need to fully exercise social (and societal) responsibility… these are just some of the factors that lead companies to reconsider their strategies and integrate sustainable development into their business models. These developments make companies into committed stakeholders, with their own interest lying in the progress to be achieved: in terms of offerings, operations, dialogue with stakeholders, regulatory compliance, image and media exposure, and their legitimacy in the eyes of the public and of their own staff.

  Integrating sustainable development into your strategies is goal of EDAXIS.