The KONTREI AUDIT is something new out of Africa

The view of Stuart Hart (Hart, Stuart: Capitalism at the crossroads. Aligning business, earth and humanity. Wharton School Publishing. 2007.) is supported where the optimization of three economies apply for doing business, i.e.

• The Money Economy where all transactions are related to money. The money economy leaves a large ecological footprint defined as the amount of land and resources required to produce a typical consumer product.

• The Traditional (Village) Economy where bartering is applied in the rural areas of the developing economies. The spreading of the money economy by the introduction of cash and wage employment has changed the indigenous cultures irreversibly.

• The Nature's Economy where natural assets are valued as capital. This economy consists of the natural systems of resources that support the money and the traditional economies.

Applying the Money economy as the only economic mindset in terms of rugged individualism and market fundamentalism is a system seeking the interest of managers and shareholders to the detriment of others and depleting nature. These people and institutions cannot be trusted with our common sustainable future. The eventual eroding of trust, does not only break down the financial system but cannot contribute to a sustainable human society.

The optimization of the three economies within the environment embedded Economic mindset, are the fundamentals for sustainability as the purpose of our economic development (activity).

From this mindset the Kontrei Management Model was developed as a practical tool for managing for a sustainable business. The management model supports the business to move forward contributing to sustainability by using the dialectical method where moving to a goal (purpose) is possible in terms of opposites. According to the dialectical method, the Economy - Environment relationship supplies the opposites in terms of Economic Development and Environmental Conservation.

A Philosophic approach revealed 4 structural elements of the pro active and normative management model. (Please see What Does The Kontrei Audit^TM Certify?) Norms are required to accompany the mangement process but does not produce any effect. Criteria have to be given as performance indicators or strategic guidelines if something has to be measured. The management model supplies 20 criteria as the strategic tool for your management report.

The business executive opting for this management tool therefore chooses for an ethical (moral) commitment of doing business in the tourism sector of the economy. Moral responsibility cures the entrepreneur from excessive self interest, materialism and rugged individualism and opens possibilities of being rich in terms of "wealth" instead of simply income. Making a profit will still be a priority but environmental well-being in terms of nature and society becomes more of a reality while the entrepreneur also guides the customers to consume the tourism product more ethical.

The KONTREI AUDIT^TM certificate measures individual management performances based on taking moral responsibility. Measurements based on moral responsibility are uplifting experiences because the individual product owner takes responsibility for the good and the bad. The external auditors are professionals who issue the certificate on well being and not only on the success of numbers and prices.

The KONTREI AUDIT is Innovative

Let The Earth Speak...

The amazing diversity becomes evident when exploring the landscape and one Kontrei (geographical region) different from the previous one occurs in a transition rather than a sharp boundary by their names like Fairest Cape, Boland, Namaqualand, Richtersveld, Hantam, Camdeboo, Kalahari, Bushveld, Lowveld, Midlands, Maputoland...

In business (Economic development), when entrepreneurs operate business enterprises in places in various kontreis, the foundations are laid for sustainable business if they apply their responsibilities in the local "language" of doing business in your place in and through your Kontrei.

Kontrei and Place where:

Kontrei describes:
"My home with a name given for a limited geographical area with unique characteristics due to its natural and cultural integrity and dynamics."

And Place describes my home as
"An authentic chip of my Kontrei"

("KONTREI" identifies and describes a region which is coherent in terms of geography and/or demography)

I find the eco regional (Kontrei) approach to the understanding of our earth most useful but only if "eco" is understood not only as nature based but as in the eco - nomic sense as mangement of my "Household". I can now also apply what I have learned from psychologists and theologians in my business by my choice against conquering the earth but a choice FOR befriending and using our earth by managing FOR sustainability. By minimizing the impact on diversity, I opt for managing for harmony in diversity.

The KONTREI AUDIT is Holistic

A choice for the total Environment as a subset of the Economy is a choice for economic growth as the purpose of the economy. When the choice is for the Economy being embedded into the Environment, the choice is for sustainability as the purpose of the Economy (my business) in favour of a steady - state economy.