Two new books provide some fascinating detail about how big international companies work and how those on the inside can help bring about real sustainable change.

More than 30 years ago, as a young and inexperienced social entrepreneur (not that I knew or used such a term then), I was just trying to do something practical to improve economic and social conditions in the north-east of England where I was based. Initially, for myself and fellow social entrepreneurs it felt very lonely. Before long however, we started to connect with kindred spirits around the country. We came from different political backgrounds, different ages and different sectors.

"The Sustainability movement will fail unless it creates a compelling future vision," Jo Confino argued in a recent piece. Collectively, he said, we have failed "to articulate a vision of a future that is both prosperous while remaining within planetary boundaries. Until it is able to showcase a plausible paradigm shift, then no one is going to feel safe letting go of the current system that is driving us towards the edge of an environmental and social abyss."

It’s time to reassess the best direction for the journey towards sustainable business. I vividly recall listening in early 2005 to a BBC Radio 4 play, Playing for Time – 3 days in May 1940(i), in which Winston Churchill’s long-serving personal detective, WH Thompson, described travelling in the car with Churchill, down the Mall from Buckingham Palace, after Churchill had been appointed as prime minister.

A unique sustainability culture is developing in China, guided by state control, independent domestic organisations and international partnerships. At some stage in the next decade and a half, China is expected to overtake the US to become the world’s largest economy.

Caring for friends or relatives is part of daily life for many, and employers as well as their employees have much to gain if the needs of carers become part of corporate responsibility. Many of us are caring for an elderly parent, a disabled or seriously ill loved one, or a neighbour.

Most large companies now have some board oversight of their commitment to corporate responsibility and sustainability.