Sustainable development of economic agents: essence and impact factors (European focus)

The article defines the concept of sustainable development on the basis of implementing the Triple Bottom Line that integrates economic, social and environmental components. The factors that significantly affect the activities of the company and hamper its sustainable development were defined. In the result of sociological research methods was revealed a misconception - some Ukrainian enterprises managers believe that only the presence of a strong industrial and technological base and active innovation is an essential basis for sustainable development of machine-building enterprises, but the issue of safety and environmental responsibility - the task of government policy. The classification of factors that influence the sustainable development of the company on macro-, mesic- and micro-environment was defined.