Aplicação do princípio da função social da empresa frente ao desenvolvimento sustentável.

Abstract

It has long been thought that natural resources were unlimited and that the private sector, especially the company could use them infinitely without worrying about their disappearance. However, researches showed that natural resources were limited and that their unplanned use, causes severe damage to the environment, consequently affecting socio-economic development. Before these findings, the state began to intervene in economic activity in order to assign it a public function of attendance of social needs and respect the environment. In this sense, this paper examines the application of the principle of social function of the company in relation to sustainable development, aiming to study the principle under the Article 170 of the Constitution of 1988 in order to prove that it is one of the factors to promote sustainable development. As well, it presents the concepts of social function of business, social responsibility and sustainable development, with their multiple dimensions, to demonstrate that the compliance with the active social role that the company will effect sustainable development, turning to environmental, economic and social concerns, without forgetting its main goal, the profit. To do so, it is used the deductive method, with the aim of applying general principles to particular cases, presenting for both a problem and a hypothesis. It is adopted as a method of procedure, the indirect documentation, drawing up the articles published in specialized magazines, as well as books, laws and jurisprudence. As a research technique it is make the use of quantitative-descriptive in order to describe facts and features related to the function of the company, as well as the issue of achieving sustainable development. So that it finds as a result, that sustainable development is an actual trend that besides the social function imposes on firms the obligation to become involved in thematic related to economic, social and environmental issues, considering that the social function is one of the ways to accomplish sustainable development.