This research argues that a precise understanding of “the local”, increasingly invoked in the Sustainable Development Goals and sustainability standards, is essential for businesses designing sustainability processes. Yet the local is often treated as culturally specific to a particular group or society.
The paper uses a theoretical, interpretive and comparative approach, drawing on anthropological studies of pre-industrial societies and two historical cases from Iran.
“The local” should not be equated with cultural uniqueness. Personal trust, mutual assistance, informal authority and exchange may recur across societies under comparable social, economic and institutional conditions, while their meanings, legitimacy and normative expectations remain culturally specific. Distinguishing shared structural dimensions from culturally specific ones can broaden sustainability knowledge and improve context-sensitive business practices.
The paper reframes the local as a source of comparative insight and sustainability knowledge, rather than merely a setting for implementing global frameworks.
