The triple bottom line (TBL) refers to an accounting framework that incorporates three dimensions of performance: financial, social and environmental. It measures organizational success beyond just financial measures, considering how activities affect people and the planet. The TBL consists of three bottom lines: profit (economic value), people (social value), and planet (environmental value). While it aims to benefit stakeholders rather than just shareholders, the TBL faces criticism such as being difficult to apply in monetary terms and potentially diverting business attention away from core competencies.
Unit 1: Business and Business EnvironmentMaruf Bappy
The business environment is the combination of ‘Business’ and ‘Environment’. Business Environment is the surroundings of business where the business operations are operated and affected. The success of Business highly depends on proper use of the environment. Many factors affect the business operations and the product line. The assignment has been prepared with scrutinization of the business environment of the top retailing business Asda. The analysis of the macro factors for Asda has been shown in the assignment. As a leading retailer, Asda devotes its effort to retain their current position in the industry where it operates and in this regard, it is essential to understand overall business environment which affects company’s operation. Throughout this work, a brief overview of the business and business environment of Asda is illustrated.
This is a presentation of The Triple Bottom Line by Alexis Dogwe, Camille Eusebio, Maurice Gonzales, Leslee May Tandoc and Al Marie Tating as part of the requirements in the subject: Marketing and Commercialization of High Technology Products.
University of the Philippines, Technology Management Center
CSR is an increasingly important topic for business students. This revision presentation explains the basic theory behind CSR and outlines the main arguments for and against implementing CSR. Various case studies are also provided together with links to further research.
Unit 1: Business and Business EnvironmentMaruf Bappy
The business environment is the combination of ‘Business’ and ‘Environment’. Business Environment is the surroundings of business where the business operations are operated and affected. The success of Business highly depends on proper use of the environment. Many factors affect the business operations and the product line. The assignment has been prepared with scrutinization of the business environment of the top retailing business Asda. The analysis of the macro factors for Asda has been shown in the assignment. As a leading retailer, Asda devotes its effort to retain their current position in the industry where it operates and in this regard, it is essential to understand overall business environment which affects company’s operation. Throughout this work, a brief overview of the business and business environment of Asda is illustrated.
This is a presentation of The Triple Bottom Line by Alexis Dogwe, Camille Eusebio, Maurice Gonzales, Leslee May Tandoc and Al Marie Tating as part of the requirements in the subject: Marketing and Commercialization of High Technology Products.
University of the Philippines, Technology Management Center
CSR is an increasingly important topic for business students. This revision presentation explains the basic theory behind CSR and outlines the main arguments for and against implementing CSR. Various case studies are also provided together with links to further research.
The Concept
A stable strategy arises out of a basic perception by the management that the firm should concentrate on using its present resources for developing its competitive strength in particular market areas.
In simple words, stability strategy refers to the company’s policy of continuing the same business and with the same objectives
A firm pursues stability strategy when
1. It continues to serve the public in the same product or service, market, and function sectors as defined in its business definition.
2. Its main strategic decisions focus on incremental improvement of functional performance.
2. Corporate Restructuring is the process of redesigning one or more aspects of a company.
3. The process of reorganizing a company may be implemented due to a number of different factors, such as positioning the company to be more competitive, surviving a currently adverse economic climate, or acting on the self confidence of the corporation to move in an entirely new direction.
Economic Environment - International Business - Manu Melwin Joymanumelwin
Economic conditions, economic policies and the economic system are the important external factors that constitute the economic environment of a business. The economic conditions of a country-for example, the nature of the economy, the stage of development of the economy, economic resources, and the level of income, the distribution of income and assets, etc- are among the very important determinants of business strategies.
This slide deck by Ace Cloud Hosting explorers how green accounting or environmental accounting incorporates the environmental sources & assets into corporate accounts.
Corporate Social Responsability (english version)BPI group
Currently, there is an abundance of information about CSR and its importance along the corporate landscape. Although it definitely is a critical matter for organizations today, we have entirely lost its true meaning in translation. Considering that corporate social responsibility is largely perceived to be a linear, big-picture business practice, our dossier has attempted to ground the topic by renewing the lens through which we understand what it truly means to be a socially and ethically responsible company today and tomorrow. This dossier on CSR provides different perspectives about the mutli-faceted expectations of the modern day enterprise. We encourage you to share your feedback and play a part in initiating an active dialogue about innovation, leadership and social advancement.
Les informations concernant la RSE et son importance dans les entreprises sont aujourd’hui abondantes. Malgré le fait qu’il s'agisse d’une démarche cruciale pour les organisations, cet afflux d’information nous en a fait perdre le sens.
Considérant que la RSE est largement aujourd’hui perçue comme un dispositif global, éloigné du quotidien des entreprises, notre dossier tente de revenir à ses fondements et de renouveler la lunette à travers laquelle nous envisageons ce qu’est et sera une entreprise socialement et éthiquement responsable.
Ce dossier sur la RSE offre des points de vue et visions divers de ce que doit être l’entreprise d’aujourd’hui dans une telle perspective, et des attentes qui reposent sur elle.
N’hésitez pas à partager ici vos réactions, points de vue critiques ou complémentaires, pour faire vivre et progresser le débat au service de l’innovation et du progrès social !
Assignment Sample of Unit 9 Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management
If you want to make your own customize assignment please visit: https://topnotchresearch.org/services/
International economics deals with the economic relations among nations. The resulting interdependence is very important to the economic well-being of most nations of the world and is on the increase. The economic relations among nations differ from the economic relations among the various part of a nation. This gives rise to different problems, requiring somewhat different tools of analysis, and justifies International Economics as a distinct and separate branch of “Applied” Economics.
International economics deals with
1) The Pure Theory of Trade. This examines the basis for trade and the gains from trade.
2) The Theory of Commercial Policy. This studies the reasons for and the results of obstructions to the free flow of trade.
3) The Balance of Payments. This examines a nation’s total payments to and total receipts from the rest of the world. These involve the exchange of one currency with others.
4) Adjustment in the Balance of Payments. This deals with the mechanism of adjustment to balance of payments disequilibria under different international monetary systems.
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY - Background & Implications In IndiaSatyaki Chowdhury
This Presentation on CSR will give you the very core idea of what is CSR, how it evolved, what are it's applications, its effect on the aspect of Business & Some examples of CSR's Involvement in India!!!!
The Slide No. 25 contains a Youtube Video. The link is given below :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0Ur-JqQmvQ
Hope you will get a basic idea of CSR from the presentation.
Thank You.
The Concept
A stable strategy arises out of a basic perception by the management that the firm should concentrate on using its present resources for developing its competitive strength in particular market areas.
In simple words, stability strategy refers to the company’s policy of continuing the same business and with the same objectives
A firm pursues stability strategy when
1. It continues to serve the public in the same product or service, market, and function sectors as defined in its business definition.
2. Its main strategic decisions focus on incremental improvement of functional performance.
2. Corporate Restructuring is the process of redesigning one or more aspects of a company.
3. The process of reorganizing a company may be implemented due to a number of different factors, such as positioning the company to be more competitive, surviving a currently adverse economic climate, or acting on the self confidence of the corporation to move in an entirely new direction.
Economic Environment - International Business - Manu Melwin Joymanumelwin
Economic conditions, economic policies and the economic system are the important external factors that constitute the economic environment of a business. The economic conditions of a country-for example, the nature of the economy, the stage of development of the economy, economic resources, and the level of income, the distribution of income and assets, etc- are among the very important determinants of business strategies.
This slide deck by Ace Cloud Hosting explorers how green accounting or environmental accounting incorporates the environmental sources & assets into corporate accounts.
Corporate Social Responsability (english version)BPI group
Currently, there is an abundance of information about CSR and its importance along the corporate landscape. Although it definitely is a critical matter for organizations today, we have entirely lost its true meaning in translation. Considering that corporate social responsibility is largely perceived to be a linear, big-picture business practice, our dossier has attempted to ground the topic by renewing the lens through which we understand what it truly means to be a socially and ethically responsible company today and tomorrow. This dossier on CSR provides different perspectives about the mutli-faceted expectations of the modern day enterprise. We encourage you to share your feedback and play a part in initiating an active dialogue about innovation, leadership and social advancement.
Les informations concernant la RSE et son importance dans les entreprises sont aujourd’hui abondantes. Malgré le fait qu’il s'agisse d’une démarche cruciale pour les organisations, cet afflux d’information nous en a fait perdre le sens.
Considérant que la RSE est largement aujourd’hui perçue comme un dispositif global, éloigné du quotidien des entreprises, notre dossier tente de revenir à ses fondements et de renouveler la lunette à travers laquelle nous envisageons ce qu’est et sera une entreprise socialement et éthiquement responsable.
Ce dossier sur la RSE offre des points de vue et visions divers de ce que doit être l’entreprise d’aujourd’hui dans une telle perspective, et des attentes qui reposent sur elle.
N’hésitez pas à partager ici vos réactions, points de vue critiques ou complémentaires, pour faire vivre et progresser le débat au service de l’innovation et du progrès social !
Assignment Sample of Unit 9 Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management
If you want to make your own customize assignment please visit: https://topnotchresearch.org/services/
International economics deals with the economic relations among nations. The resulting interdependence is very important to the economic well-being of most nations of the world and is on the increase. The economic relations among nations differ from the economic relations among the various part of a nation. This gives rise to different problems, requiring somewhat different tools of analysis, and justifies International Economics as a distinct and separate branch of “Applied” Economics.
International economics deals with
1) The Pure Theory of Trade. This examines the basis for trade and the gains from trade.
2) The Theory of Commercial Policy. This studies the reasons for and the results of obstructions to the free flow of trade.
3) The Balance of Payments. This examines a nation’s total payments to and total receipts from the rest of the world. These involve the exchange of one currency with others.
4) Adjustment in the Balance of Payments. This deals with the mechanism of adjustment to balance of payments disequilibria under different international monetary systems.
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY - Background & Implications In IndiaSatyaki Chowdhury
This Presentation on CSR will give you the very core idea of what is CSR, how it evolved, what are it's applications, its effect on the aspect of Business & Some examples of CSR's Involvement in India!!!!
The Slide No. 25 contains a Youtube Video. The link is given below :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0Ur-JqQmvQ
Hope you will get a basic idea of CSR from the presentation.
Thank You.
presentation on the triple bottom line performance of AirtelHarsh Shah
This is a presentation made as a part of our Corporate Social Responsibility project. We have analyzed the triple bottom line performance of AirTel on the basis of their sustainability reports of 2011-12 and 2012-13.
Triple Bottom Line Reporting workshop slides, Laura Musikanski, July 2010Sustainable Seattle
Slides from Laura Musikanski's Triple Bottom Line Reporting workshop in Seattle, July 2010. See http://sustainableseattle.org/Programs/emergingppi/STARs/classes/20100715_TBL/ for background information and http://www.slideshare.net/sustainableseattle/getting-to-tbl-metrics for Burr Stewart's guest lecture at the same class.
Understanding Triple Accounting - The tool to measure Intangible AssetsMichel de Kemmeter
Triple Accounting from UHDR UniverseCity enables the activation of Intangible Assets in your company, measuring financially the value of Knowledge and Emotional capital of the business.
http://www.tripleaccounting.wordpress.com
Triple Bottom Line TBL accounting and reporting increases business success and government transparency. No longer is profit enough to be a sustainable success, a company must report on its environmental and social impacts as well. The same is true for governments.
Steelcase is a global, public company that offers three core elements of office environments: interior architecture, furniture and technology. The following presentation provides our findings of how Steelcase incorporates Triple Bottom Line elements to its product offerings.
This project report has been prepared as per the requirement of the syllabus of
MBA course structure under which the students are the required to undertake
project.
It was a first hand experience for us as that we were exposed to the professional
set-up and were facing the market, which was really a great experience.
During project period, I had very touching experiences. When business is involved,
experiences counts a lot, as we know, experience are an instrument, which leads
towards success.
Corporate social reporting discloses social and environmental information relating to an organisation’s interaction with its community, shareholders, physical and social environment to outsiders through corporate annual reports. Triple Bottom Line Reporting (subsequently refer to as TBLR) goes beyond the traditional way of reporting mechanism and encourages businesses to give closer attention to the whole impact of their commercial activities, over and above their financial performance. The Corporate Triple Bottom Line Reporting is based on three pillars - (i) environmental, (ii) social, (iii) economic causes. In this study, Corporate Triple Bottom Line (CTBL) disclosure items are handpicked from the annual reports/corporate social responsibility reports/sustainability reports of the sample units after a thorough examination of the contents of annual reports/corporate social responsibility reports/sustainability reports. The level of Triple Bottom Line reporting in India is in its infancy and still evolving. The three dimensions for TBL Reporting in India are people, planet and profit, which lead to sustainable development. We have considered listed companies of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) comprising BSE 500 index as our population. Considering time and resource constraints, it was decided to restrict the survey only power generating companies (15 units) among those 500 units. Accordingly, annual reports/corporate social responsibility reports/sustainability reports for these 15 numbers of listed power companies were planned to be reviewed. For measuring the extent of corporate triple bottom line reporting in annual reports/corporate social responsibility reports/sustainability reports of the companies, we have constructed a weighted disclosure index based on the previous empirical studies. The study evaluated the combined corporate triple bottom line disclosure score value of the sa
OECD Workshop: Measuring Business Impacts on People’s Well-being, Pierre PoretStatsCommunications
OECD Workshop: Measuring Business Impacts on People’s Well-being, 23-24 February 2017, Paris, France, More information at: http://www.oecd.org/statistics/oecd-workshop-on-measuring-business-impacts-on-peoples-well-being.htm
FOR CS PROFESSIONAL, CA, CMA
Sustainable Development
• Role of Business in Sustainable Development
• Sustainability Terminologies
• Corporate Sustainability
• Corporate Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility
• KYOSEI & TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE (TBL)
• One of the fundamental characteristics of a corporate is perpetuity. In the eyes of law, it is treated as a separate legal entity which can hold assets and bear liabilities, can sue and be sued.
• The word sustainable is derived from sustain or sustained. The synonyms of the word sustained as per the Collins Thesaurus include perpetual, prolonged, steady.
• Sustainable development is a broad, concept that balances the need for economic growth with environmental protection and social equity.
• WCED recognized that the achievement of sustainable development could not be simply left to government regulators and policy makers. It recognized that industry has a significant role to play.
• Four fundamental Principle of Sustainable Development- Principle of Intergenerational equity; Principle of sustainable use; Principle of equitable use or intergenerational equity; Principle of integration.
• Corporate Sustainability is a business approach that creates long-term shareholder value by embracing opportunities and managing risks deriving from economic, environmental and social developments. corporate sustainability describes business practices built around social and environmental considerations • Key drivers need to be garnered to ensure sustainability - Internal Capacity Building strength; Social impact assessment; Repositioning capability; Corporate sustainability.
• Kyosei philosophy reflects a confluence of social, environmental, technological and political solutions. It works in five stages-- First is economic survival of the company. Second is cooperating with labour. Third is cooperating outside the company. Fourth is global activism, and fifth is making the government/s a Kyosei partner
• In 1999 Elkington developed the concept of the Triple Bottom Line which proposed that business goals were inseparable from the societies and environments within which they operate.
• The emergence of corporate responsibility, from being a niche interest of environmentalist and pressure groups to one public. Concern, has in part, stemmed from the realization that corporate governance and social and environmental performance are important elements of sustained financial profitability.
Today stakeholders becomes more and more aware of the ecological and social footprints adopted by multinational companies (MNCs) worldwide, accountability, transparency and governance issues are considered to be main stream agenda in the corporate boardroom discussion. Sustainability reporting evaluates the performance of company’s based on three distinct parameters such as economic, environmental and societal. Triple Bottom Line Reporting (subsequently refer to as TBLR) goes beyond the traditional way of reporting mechanism and encourages businesses to give closer attention to the whole impact of their commercial activities, over &above their financial performance. John Elkington strove to measure sustainability during the mid-1990s by encompassing a new framework to measure performance in corporate America. This accounting framework, called the triple bottom line (TBL), went beyond the traditional measures of profits, return on investment, and shareholder value to include environmental and social dimensions. The Corporate Triple Bottom Line (subsequently refer to as CTBL) Reporting is based on three pillars-(i) environmental, (ii) social, (iii) social causes. Corporate Triple Bottom Line (CTBL) disclosure items are handpicked from the annual reports/corporate social responsibility reports of the sample units after a thorough examination of the contents of annual reports/corporate social responsibility reports.
The level of Triple Bottom Line reporting in India is in its infancy and still evolving. The three dimensions for TBL Reporting in India are people, planet and profit, which lead to sustainable development. Present study highlights the CTBL Reporting indicators, CTBL Reporting indictors in India and the limitations of CTBL Reporting.
Global governance and the interface withbusiness new instit.docxbudbarber38650
Global governance and the interface with
business: new institutions, processes and
partnerships
Partnered governance: aligning corporate
responsibility and public policy in the global
economy
Atle Midttun
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to note the remarkable expansion of corporate social
responsibility (CSR) throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s. Taking this as point of departure, it aims
to discuss the potential for aligning CSR-oriented industrial self-regulation with public governance to fill
some of the governance gap in the global economy.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides a conceptual discussion, empirically
underpinned by three case studies.
Findings – The paper finds that it is plausible, and empirically supported by the case studies, to
conceive of a considerable role for CSR based self-regulation in the global economy. A central
precondition is the ability of civil society organizations to establish ‘‘moral rights’’ as credible voices for
‘‘just causes’’ in a media-driven communicative society, and thereby put pressure on brand sensitive
industry. The paper finds that corporate self-regulation may fill a larger part of the governance gap if
public policy is oriented to engage with industry in a partnered mode.
Research limitations/implications – The paper establishes a conceptual base for exploring the
governance implications of CSR, casuistically underpinned by three case studies. Further studies are
needed, however, to explore the scale and scope of partnered governance in the global economy.
Practical implications – The paper provides insights into an approach to increase governability of the
global economy.
Originality/value – The originality of the paper lies in exploring the implications of CSR for governance,
and for highlighting how the governance potential may be enhanced by reorientation of public policy.
Keywords Governance, Corporate social responsibility, Globalization, Regulation
Paper type Conceptual paper
Introduction
The late twentieth and the early twenty-first centuries have seen increasing economic
globalization in the form of both globally extended capital markets and extended
outsourcing of production in global supply systems across the world. After three decades of
predominant liberalist orientation, the international economy remains strongly
pro-commercially biased.
International governance of social and environmental concerns has been relatively much
weaker, reflecting the lack of resourceful engagement by committed powerful actors and
PAGE 406 j CORPORATE GOVERNANCE j VOL. 8 NO. 4 2008, pp. 406-418, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1472-0701 DOI 10.1108/14720700810899158
Atle Midttun is based at the
Norwegian School of
Management, Oslo,
Norway.
The author is grateful to the
Research Council of Norway for
support to this article under the
projects ‘‘C(S)R in Global Value
Chains’’ and ‘‘Sustainability for
the 21st Century: Overcomi.
1. Triple bottom line
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This article appears to contain a large number of buzzwords. Specific concerns can be
found on the talk page. Please help improve this article if you can. (February 2012)
The triple bottom line (abbreviated as TBL or 3BL, and also known as people, planet, profit or
the three pillars[1]) captures an expanded spectrum[further explanation needed] of values and
criteria for measuring organizational (and societal) success: economic, ecological, and social.
With the ratification of the United Nations and ICLEI TBL standard for urban and community
accounting in early 2007,[2] this became the dominant approach to public sector full cost
accounting. Similar UN standards apply to natural capital and human capital measurement to
assist in measurements required by TBL, e.g. the EcoBudget standard for reporting ecological
footprint.
In the private sector, a commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR) implies a
commitment to some form of TBL reporting. This is distinct from the more limited changes
required to deal only with ecological issues.
Contents
1 Definition
2 Bottom lines
3 Supporting arguments
4 Criticism
5 Legislation
6 See also
7 Notes
8 Further reading
9 External links
2. Definition
For reporting their efforts companies may demonstrate their commitment to CSR through the
following:
Top-level involvement (CEO, Board of Directors)
Policy Investments
Programs
Staffing resources
Signatories to voluntary standards
Principles (UN Global Compact-Ceres Principles)
Reporting (Global Reporting Initiative)
Triple bottom line (TBL) accounting expands the traditional reporting framework to take into
account social and environmental performance in addition to financial performance. In 1981
Freer Spreckley first articulated the triple bottom line in a publication called 'Social Audit - A
Management Tool for Co-operative Working'.[3] In this work, he argued that enterprises should
measure and report on social, environmental and financial performance.
The phrase was coined by John Elkington in his 1997 book Cannibals with Forks: the Triple
Bottom Line of 21st Century Business.[4][5] Sustainability, itself, was first defined by the
Brundtland Commission of the United Nations in 1987.
1988 also marked the foundation of the Triple Bottom Line Investing group by Robert J.
Rubinstein, a group advocating and publicizing these principles.
The concept of TBL demands that a company's responsibility lies with stakeholders rather than
shareholders. In this case, "stakeholders" refers to anyone who is influenced, either directly or
3. indirectly, by the actions of the firm. According to the stakeholder theory, the business entity
should be used as a vehicle for coordinating stakeholder interests, instead of maximizing
shareholder (owner) profit.
Bottom lines
Question book-new.svg This section does not cite any references or sources. (June 2009)
The triple bottom line is made up of "social, economic and environmental" factors.
Graphic describing the bottom lines
"People, planet and profit" succinctly describes the triple bottom lines and the goal of
sustainability. The phrase, "people, planet, profit", was coined by John Elkington in 1995 while
at SustainAbility, and was later adopted as the title of the Anglo-Dutch oil company Shell's first
sustainability report in 1997. As a result, one country in which the 3P concept took deep root was
The Netherlands.
"People" pertains to fair and beneficial business practices toward labour and the community and
region in which a corporation conducts its business. A TBL company conceives a reciprocal
social structure in which the well-being of corporate, labour and other stakeholder interests are
interdependent.
A triple bottom line enterprise seeks to benefit many constituencies, not exploit or endanger any
group of them. The "upstreaming" of a portion of profit from the marketing of finished goods
back to the original producer of raw materials, for example, a farmer in fair trade agricultural
practice, is a common feature. In concrete terms, a TBL business would not use child labour and
monitor all contracted companies for child labour exploitation, would pay fair salaries to its
workers, would maintain a safe work environment and tolerable working hours, and would not
otherwise exploit a community or its labour force. A TBL business also typically seeks to "give
back" by contributing to the strength and growth of its community with such things as health
care and education. Quantifying this bottom line is relatively new, problematic and often
subjective. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has developed guidelines to enable
corporations and NGOs alike to comparably report on the social impact of a business.
4. "Planet" (natural capital) refers to sustainable environmental practices. A TBL company
endeavors to benefit the natural order as much as possible or at the least do no harm and
minimise environmental impact. A TBL endeavour reduces its ecological footprint by, among
other things, carefully managing its consumption of energy and non-renewables and reducing
manufacturing waste as well as rendering waste less toxic before disposing of it in a safe and
legal manner. "Cradle to grave" is uppermost in the thoughts of TBL manufacturing businesses,
which typically conduct a life cycle assessment of products to determine what the true
environmental cost is from the growth and harvesting of raw materials to manufacture to
distribution to eventual disposal by the end user. A triple bottom line company does not produce
harmful or destructive products such as weapons, toxic chemicals or batteries containing
dangerous heavy metals, for example.
Currently, the cost of disposing of non-degradable or toxic products is borne financially by
governments and environmentally by the residents near the disposal site and elsewhere. In TBL
thinking, an enterprise which produces and markets a product which will create a waste problem
should not be given a free ride by society. It would be more equitable for the business which
manufactures and sells a problematic product to bear part of the cost of its ultimate disposal.
Ecologically destructive practices, such as overfishing or other endangering depletions of
resources are avoided by TBL companies. Often environmental sustainability is the more
profitable course for a business in the long run. Arguments that it costs more to be
environmentally sound are often specious when the course of the business is analyzed over a
period of time. Generally, sustainability reporting metrics are better quantified and standardized
for environmental issues than for social ones. A number of respected reporting institutes and
registries exist including the Global Reporting Initiative, CERES, Institute 4 Sustainability and
others.
The eco bottom line is akin to the concept of Eco-capitalism.[6]
"Profit" is the economic value created by the organization after deducting the cost of all inputs,
including the cost of the capital tied up. It therefore differs from traditional accounting
definitions of profit. In the original concept, within a sustainability framework, the "profit"
aspect needs to be seen as the real economic benefit enjoyed by the host society. It is the real
economic impact the organization has on its economic environment. This is often confused to be
limited to the internal profit made by a company or organization (which nevertheless remains an
5. essential starting point for the computation). Therefore, an original TBL approach cannot be
interpreted as simply traditional corporate accounting profit plus social and environmental
impacts unless the "profits" of other entities are included as a social benefit.
Supporting arguments
This section needs additional citations for verification. (June 2009)
The following business-based arguments support the concept of TBL:
Reaching untapped market potential: TBL companies can find financially profitable niches
which were missed when money alone was the driving factor. Examples include:
Adding ecotourism or geotourism to an already rich tourism market such as the Dominican
Republic
Developing profitable methods to assist existing NGOs with their missions such as
fundraising, reaching clients, or creating networking opportunities with multiple NGOs
Providing products or services which benefit underserved populations and/or the environment
which are also financially profitable.
Adapting to new business sectors: Since many business opportunities are developing in the
realm of social entrepreneurialism,[7] businesses hoping to reach this expanding market must
design themselves to be financially profitable, socially beneficial and ecologically sustainable or
fail to compete with those companies who do design themselves as such. For example, Fair
Trade and Ethical Trade companies require ethical and sustainable practices from all of their
suppliers and service providers. A business which is planning to work with Fair Trade or Ethical
Trade companies must design their business model to be TBL.
Fiscal policy of governments usually claims to be concerned with identifying social and natural
deficits on a less formal basis. However, such choices may be guided more by ideology than by
economics. The primary benefit of embedding one approach to measurement of these deficits
would be first to direct monetary policy to reduce them, and eventually achieve a global
monetary reform by which they could be systematically and globally reduced in some uniform
way.
6. The argument is that the Earth's carrying capacity is itself at risk, and that in order to avoid
catastrophic breakdown of climate or ecosystem, there is a need for a comprehensive reform in
global financial institutions similar in scale to that undertaken at Bretton Woods in 1944.
Marilyn Waring has been a major proponent of this reform.
With the emergence of an externally consistent green economics and agreement on definitions of
potentially contentious terms such as full-cost accounting, natural capital and social capital, the
prospect of formal metrics for ecological and social loss or risk has grown less remote through
the 1990s.
In the United Kingdom in particular, the London Health Observatory has undertaken a formal
programme to address social deficits via a fuller understanding of what "social capital" is, how it
functions in a real community (that being the City of London), and how losses of it tend to
require both financial capital and significant political and social attention from volunteers and
professionals to help resolve. The data they rely on is extensive, building on decades of statistics
of the Greater London Council since World War II. Similar studies have been undertaken in
North America.
Studies of the value of Earth have tried to determine what might constitute an ecological or
natural life deficit. The Kyoto Protocol relies on some measures of this sort, and actually relies
on some value of life calculations that, among other things, are explicit about the ratio of the
price of a human life between developed and developing nations (about 15 to 1). While the
motive of this number was to simply assign responsibility for a cleanup, such stark honesty
opens not just an economic but political door to some kind of negotiation — presumably to
reduce that ratio in time to something seen as more equitable. As it is, people in developed
nations can be said to benefit 15 times more from ecological devastation than in developing
nations, in pure financial terms. According to the IPCC, they are thus obliged to pay 15 times
more per life to avoid a loss of each such life to climate change — the Kyoto Protocol seeks to
implement exactly this formula, and is therefore sometimes cited as a first step towards getting
nations to accept formal liability for damage inflicted on ecosystems shared globally.
Advocacy for triple bottom line reforms is common in Green Parties. Some of the measures
undertaken in the European Union towards the Euro currency integration standardize the
7. reporting of ecological and social losses in such a way as to seem to endorse in principle the
notion of unified accounts, or unit of account, for these deficits.
Criticism
Question book-new.svg This section does not cite any references or sources. (June 2009)
While many people agree with the importance of good social conditions and preservation of the
environment, there are also many who disagree with the triple bottom line as the way to enhance
these conditions. The main arguments against it are summarised below.
Reductive method: In the triple bottom line, a corporate-oriented approach, the social—that is,
the way in which humans live and relate to each other and the environment—is secondary. The
economic as a domain is given an independent status which is ideologically assumed rather than
analytically argued. In the most problematic versions, the economic is elevated to the master
category and defined in terms that assume the dominance of a singular, historically specific,
economic configuration—modern globalizing capitalism. Concurrently the environment comes
to be treated as an externality or background feature, an externality that tends not to have the
human dimension build into its definition. Thus, in many writings, even in those critical of the
triple-bottom-line approach, the social becomes a congeries of miscellaneous considerations left
other from the other two prime categories. Alternative approaches that treat the economic as a
social domain, alongside and in relation to the ecological, the political and the cultural are now
being considered as more appropriate for understanding institutions, cities and regions.[8]
Division of labour is characteristic of rich societies and a major contributor to their wealth.
This leads to the view that organisations contribute most to the welfare of society in all respects
when they focus on what they do best: the baker exchanges his loaves with the shoemaker rather
than making his own shoes - to the benefit of both and by extension the whole of society. In the
case of business the expertise is in satisfying the needs of society and generating a value added
surplus. Thus the triple bottom line is thought to be harmful by diverting business attention away
from its core competency. Just as charitable organizations like the Red Cross would not be
expected to attend to environmental issues or pay a cash dividend, and Greenpeace would not be
expected to make a profit or succor the homeless, business should not be expected to take on
concerns outside its core expertise, provided the business doesn't do obvious harm to people or
the planet.
8. Effectiveness: It is observed that concern for social and environmental matters is rare in poor
societies (a hungry person would rather eat the whale than photograph it). As a society becomes
richer its citizens develop an increasing desire for a clean environment and protected wildlife,
and both the willingness and financial ability to contribute to this and to a compassionate society.
Support for the concept of the triple bottom line itself is said to be an example of the choices
available to the citizens of a society made wealthy by businesses attending to business. Thus by
unencumbered attention to business alone, Adam Smith's Invisible Hand will ensure that
business contributes most effectively to the improvement of all areas of society, social and
environmental as well as economic.
Nationalism: Some countries adopt the view that they must look after their own citizens first.
This view is not confined to one sector of society, having support from elements of business,
labour unions, and politicians.
Libertarian: As it is possible for a socially responsible person to sincerely believe that the
triple bottom line is harmful to society, the libertarian view is that it would be arrogant to force
them to support a mechanism for the improvement of society that may, or may not, be the best
available. That is, those who would not force Greenpeace and the Salvation Army to generate a
profit should not force businesses to take responsibilities outside their area of expertise. At least
in areas where a business doesn't do obvious harm to people or the planet.
Inertia: The difficulty of achieving global agreement on simultaneous policy may render such
measures at best advisory, and thus unenforceable. For example, people may be unwilling to
undergo a depression or even sustained recession to replenish lost ecosystems.
Application: According to Fred Robins' The Challenge of TBL: A Responsibility to Whom?
one of the major weaknesses of the TBL framework is its ability to be applied in a monetary-
based economic system. Because there is no single way in monetary terms to measure the
benefits to the society and environment as there is with profit, it does not allow for businesses to
sum across all three bottom lines. In this regard, it makes it difficult for businesses to recognize
the benefits of using TBL for the company, itself.
9. Criticism from the Left: TBL is viewed as an attempt by otherwise exploitative corporations to
avoid legislation and taxation and generate a fictitious people-friendly & eco-friendly image for
PR purposes.
Legislation
Legislation permitting corporations to adopt a triple bottom line is under consideration in some
jurisdictions, including Minnesota and Oregon.[9]
Some businesses have voluntarily adopted a triple bottom line as part of their articles of
incorporation or bylaws, and some have advocated for state laws creating a "Sustainable
Corporation" that would grant triple bottom line businesses benefits such as tax breaks.[10]
The triple bottom line was adopted as a part of the State Sustainability Strategy,[11] and
accepted by the Government of Western Australia but its status was increasingly marginalised by
subsequent premiers Alan Carpenter and Colin Barnett and is in doubt.