This is the subject of Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility, can you write around 200-500 words of reflection based on those theories from the article above, here are some written suggestions you can apply, thank you very much! The Triple Bottom Line: What Is It and How Does It Work? Timothy F. SLAPER, Ph.D.: Director of Economic Analysis, Indiana Business Research Center, Indiana University Kelley School of Business TANYA J. HALl: Economic Research Analyst, Indiana Business Research Center, Indiana University Kelley School of Business ustainability has been an performance: social, environmental putting a dollar value on wetlands often mentioned goal of and financial. This differs from or endangered species on strictly businesses, nonprofits and traditional reporting frameworks philosophical grounds. Others governments in the past decade, yet as it includes ecological (or question the method of finding measuring the degree to which an environmental) and social measures the right price for lost wetlands or organization is being sustainable or that can be difficult to assign endangered species. pursuing sustainable growth can be appropriate means of measurement. Another solution would be to difficult. The TBL dimensions are also calculate the TBL in terms of an John Elkington strove to measure commonly called the three Ps: people, index. In this way, one eliminates sustainability during the mid-1990s planet and profits. We will refer to the incompatible units issue and, by encompassing a new framework these as the 3Ps. as long as there is a universally to measure performance in Well before Elkington introduced accepted accounting method, allows corporate America. 1 This accounting the sustainability concept as "triple for comparisons between entities, framework, called the triple bottom line," environmentalists e.g., comparing performance betwee bottom line (TBL), went beyond the wrestled with measures of, and companies, cities, development traditional measures of profits, return frameworks for, sustainability. projects or some other benchmark. on investment, and shareholder Academic disciplines organized An example of an index that value to include environmental and around sustainability have multiplied compares a county versus the social dimensions. By focusing on over the last 30 years. People inside nation's performance for a variety of comprehensive investment results - and outside academia who have components is the Indiana Business that is, with respect to performance studied and practiced sustainability Research Center's Innovation Index. along the interrelated dimensions would agree with the general Themains some subjectivity of profits, people and the planet__ definition of Andrew Savitz for even when using an index however. triple bottom line reporting can TBL. The TBL "captures the essence For example, how are the index be an important tool to support of sustainability by measuring the components weighted? Would each .

1. This is the subject of Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility, can you write around
200-500 words of reflection based on those theories from the article above, here are some written
suggestions you can apply, thank you very much! The Triple Bottom Line: What Is It and How
Does It Work? Timothy F. SLAPER, Ph.D.: Director of Economic Analysis, Indiana Business
Research Center, Indiana University Kelley School of Business TANYA J. HALl: Economic
Research Analyst, Indiana Business Research Center, Indiana University Kelley School of
Business ustainability has been an performance: social, environmental putting a dollar value on
wetlands often mentioned goal of and financial. This differs from or endangered species on
strictly businesses, nonprofits and traditional reporting frameworks philosophical grounds.
Others governments in the past decade, yet as it includes ecological (or question the method of
finding measuring the degree to which an environmental) and social measures the right price for
lost wetlands or organization is being sustainable or that can be difficult to assign endangered
species. pursuing sustainable growth can be appropriate means of measurement. Another
solution would be to difficult. The TBL dimensions are also calculate the TBL in terms of an
John Elkington strove to measure commonly called the three Ps: people, index. In this way, one
eliminates sustainability during the mid-1990s planet and profits. We will refer to the
incompatible units issue and, by encompassing a new framework these as the 3Ps. as long as
there is a universally to measure performance in Well before Elkington introduced accepted
accounting method, allows corporate America. 1 This accounting the sustainability concept as
"triple for comparisons between entities, framework, called the triple bottom line,"
environmentalists e.g., comparing performance betwee bottom line (TBL), went beyond the
wrestled with measures of, and companies, cities, development traditional measures of profits,
return frameworks for, sustainability. projects or some other benchmark. on investment, and
shareholder Academic disciplines organized An example of an index that value to include
environmental and around sustainability have multiplied compares a county versus the social
dimensions. By focusing on over the last 30 years. People inside nation's performance for a
variety of comprehensive investment results - and outside academia who have components is the
Indiana Business that is, with respect to performance studied and practiced sustainability
Research Center's Innovation Index. along the interrelated dimensions would agree with the
general Themains some subjectivity of profits, people and the planet__ definition of Andrew
Savitz for even when using an index however. triple bottom line reporting can TBL. The TBL
"captures the essence For example, how are the index be an important tool to support of
sustainability by measuring the components weighted? Would each sustainability goals. impact
of an organization's activities " P " get equal weighting? What abou Interest in triple bottom line
on the world ... including both the sub-components within each " P " accounting has been

2. growing across its profitability and shareholder Do they each get equal weighting? Is for-profit,
nonprofit and government values and its social, human and the people category more important
for inclusion in a TBL calculation. Following that, we will discuss how businesses and other
entities have The level of the entity, type of project and applied the TBL framework. the
geographic scope will drioe many of the What Measures Go into the decisions about what
measures to include. Index? There is no universal standard method for calculating the TBL.
Neither is there a universally subject matter experts and the ability would help organizations
identify accepted standard for the measures to collect the necessary data. While the impacts a
project or policy would that comprise each of the three TBL there is significant literature on the
have on the area. Specific examples categories. This can be viewed as a appropriate measures to
use for include: strength because it allows a user to sustainability at the state or national Sulfur
dioxide concentration adapt the general framework to the levels, in the end, data availability -
oncentration of nitrogen needs of different entities (businesses will drive the TBL calculations.
oxides or nonprofits), different projects or Many of the traditional sustainability Selected priority
pollutants policies (infrastructure investment or measures, measures vetted through Excessive
nutrients educational programs), or different academic discourse, are presented Electricity
consumption geographic boundaries (a city, region below. Fossil fuel consumption or country).
Solid waste management Both a business and local Economic Measures - Hazardous waste
management government agency may gauge Economic variables ought to be Change in land
use/land cover environmental sustainability in variables that deal with the bottom the same
terms, say reducing the line and the flow of money. It could Social Mersures amount of solid
waste that goes into look at income or expenditures, Social variables refer to social landfills, but
a local mass transit taxes, business climate factors, of region might measure success in terms of
employment, and business diversity and could include measurements of passenger miles, while a
for-profit factors. Specific examples include: education, equity and access to social bus company
would measure success resonal income res, health and well-being, in terms of eamings per share.
- Cost of underemployment quality of life, and social capital. The The TBL can accommodate
these - Establishment chum examples listed below are a small differences. - Establishment sizes
snippet of potential variables: Additionally, the TBL is able Job growth Unemployment rate to
be case (or project) specific or - Employment distribution by Female labor force participation
allow a broad scope-measuring sector rate impacts across large geographic - Percentage of firms
in each Median household income boundaries - or a narrow geographic sector Relative poverty
scope like a small town. A case - Revenue by sector contributing Percentage of population with

3. (or project) specific TBL would to gross state product a post-secondary degree or measure the
effects of a particular certificate project in a specific location, such as Environmental Measures
Average commute time a community building a park. The Environmental variables should
Violent crimes per capita TBL can also apply to infrastructure represent measurements of natural
Health-adjusted life expectancy projects at the state level or energy resources and reflect
potential Data for many of these measures policy at the national level. influences to its viability.
It could are collected at the state and national The level of the entity, type of incorporate air and
water quality, levels, but are also available at the project and the geographic scope will energy
consumption, natural local or community level. Many are drive many of the decisions about
resources, solid and toxic waste, and appropriate for a community to use what measures to
include. That said, land use/land cover. Ideally, having when constructing a TBL. Hower, the set
of measures will ultimately long-range trends available for as the geographic scope and the be
determined by stakeholders and each of the environmental variables nature of the project
narrow, the set
of appropriate measures can change. The Genuine Progress Indicator companies do not have an
indexFor local or community-based (GPI), for example, consists of 25 based TBL, one can see
how they projects, the TBL measures of success variables that encompass economic, measure
sustainability using the are best determined locally. social and environmental factors. TBL
concept. Cascade Engineering, There are several similar Those variables are converted into for
example, a private firm that does approaches to secure stakeholder monetary units and summed
into a not need to file the detailed financial participation and input in designing single, dollar-
denominated measure. 6 paperwork of public companies, has the TBL framework: developing
Minnesota developed its own identified the following variables for a decision matrix to
incorporate progress indicator comprised of 42 their TBL scorecard: public preferences into
project variables that focused on the goals Economic planning and decision-making, 3 of a
healthy economy and gauged Amount of taxes paid using a "narrative format" to solicit progress
in achieving these goals." Social shareholder participation and There is a large body of literature
Average hours of training/ and having stakeholders rank and sustainability measures that grew
From welfare to career weigh components of a sustainability out of the disciplines that measure
rention framework according to community environmental impact. These are Charitable
contributions priorities. 5 For example, a community not constrained by strict economic
Environmental/Safety may consider an important measure theory for measuring changes in
Safety incident rate of success for an entrepreneurial o Lost/restricted workday rate development
program to be onvironmental policy argue that Sales dollars per kilowatt the number of woman-
owned the three categories-economic, hours comparies formed over a five-year social and

4. environmental-need Greenhouse gas emissions time period. Ultimately, it will be to be integrated
in order to see the Use of post-consumer and the organization's responsibility complete picture of
the consequences industrial recycled material to produce a final set of measures that a regulation,
policy or economic Water consumption applicable to the task at hand. development project may
have and to Amount of waste to landfill assess policy options and tradeoffs. Variations of the
Triple Bottom Line Measurement Who Uses the Triple Bottom Line? Many nomprofit
organizations have The application of the TBL Businesses, nonprofits and adopted the TBL and
some have by businesses, nonprofits and government entities alike can all use parthered with
private firms to governments are motivated the TBL. address broad sustainability issues by the
principles of economic, that affect mutual stakeholders. environmental and social Businesses
Companies recognize that aligning sustainability, but differ with regard The TBL and its core
value of with nonprofit organizations makes to the way they measure the three sustainability
have become good business sense, particularly categories of outcomes. Proponents compelling in
the business world due those nonprofits with goals of who have developed and applied to
accumulating anecdotal evidence economic prosperity, social sustainability assessment
frameworks of greater long-term profitability. well-being and environmental like the TBL
encountered many For example, reducing waste from protection. 11 challenges, chief among
them, packaging can also reduce costs. The Ford Foundation has funded how to make an index
that is both Among the firms that have been studies that used variations of comprehensive and
meaningful and exemplars of these approaches are the TBL to measure the effects of how to
identify suitable data for the General Electric, Unilever, Proctor programs to increase wealth in
variables that compose the index. and Gamble, 3M and Cascade dozens of rural regions across
the Engineering. 10 Although these United States. 12 Another example
is RSF Social Finance, 13 a nonprofit organization that uniquely focuses The concept of the
triple bottor line can be on how their investments improve all three categories of the TBL. While
used regionally by communities to encourage RSF takes an original approach to economic
developrent growth in a sustainable the TBL concept, one can see how the TBL can be tailored
to nearly any organization. Their approach includes the following: - Food and Agriculture
(economic): Explore new the baseline of "doing nothing" or sustainable economy in Cleveland
economic models that support against other policy options. 4 by focusing on a TBL-like concept.
sustainable food and agriculture Internationally, the European The city uses four key areas for
while raising public awareness Union uses integrated assessment measuring sustainability: the of
the value of organic and to identify the "likely positive and personal and social envirorment,
biodynamic farming. negative impacts of proposed policy the natural environment, the built -
Ecological Stewardship actions, enabling informed political environment (e.g., infrastructure

5. (environmental): Provide judgments to be made about the and urban growth patterns) and the
funding to organizations and proposal and identify trade-offs in business environment. Each key
area projects devoted to sustaining, achieving competing objectives. n15 has six goals. At this
point, specific regenerating and preserving the The EU guidelines have themselves measurement
indicators have not earth's ecosystems, especially been the subject of critique and been fully
developed; however, the integrated, systems-based and have undergone several rounds city is
looking to create a dashboard culturally relevant approaches. of improvement. 16 The process of
that could be combined to create an - Education and the Arts (social): refining the guidelines
shows both index for overall project success. This Fund education and arts the transparency of
the process and dashboard would allow for quick projects that are holistic and the EU
commitment to integrated year-to-year assessment in the SC2019 therapeutic. assessment.
progress. Govemoment Regional Economic Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the State, regional and
local governments Development Initiatives Surrounding Region are increasingly adopting the
The concept of the triple bottom In 2005, the Grand Rapids region TBL and analogous
sustainability line can be used regionally by created the nation's first "Community assessment
frameworks as decision- communities to encourage economic Sustainability Partnership" to
making and performance-monitoring development growth in a sustainable develop a roadmap to
lead Grand tools. Maryland, Minnesota, Vermont, manner. This requires an increased Rapids to
sustainability. The Utah, the San Francisco Bay Area and level of cooperation among region
employs 14 major indicators Northeast Ohio area have conducted businesses, nonprofit
organizations, related to the region's quality of analyses using the TBL or a similar goveruments
and citizens of the life and environmental factors to sustainability framework. region. The
following examples determine progress made towards Policy-makers use these throughout the
United States show sustainability. Rather than create an sustainability assessment frameworks
various ways the TBL concept can index, target goals were established to decide which actions
they should be used to grow a region's economic for each indicator. More detailed or should not
take to make society base in a sustainable manner. information of the metrics used more
sustainable. Policy-makers for each indicator can be found in want to know the cause and effect
Cleveland, Ohio their TBL report. 3 Below are brief relationship between actions - In 2009, the
mayor of Cleveland explainations of the variables used to projects or policies - and whether
convened the Sustainable Cleveland measure their TBL. the results move society toward or 2019
(SC2019) Summit to bring Environmental Quality away from sustainability. The State together
hundreds of people Waste: trends in recycling, of Maryland, for example, uses a interested in
applying the principles refuse and yard waste blended GPI-TBL framework to of sustainability to
the design of Energy: energy compare initiatives - for example, the local economy. 17 The
SC2019 consumption, natural gas investing in clean energy-against is a 10-year initiative to

6. create a
consumption and altemative the flexibility of the IBL allows TBL categories (economic, social
and fuel usage organizations to apply the concept - Water: water consumption in a manner
suitable to their specific environmental). - Air Quality: toxic release needs. Framework for
Clarifying the Meaning inventory and number of air There are challenges to putting the of Triple
Bottom-Line, Integrated, and Sustainability Assessment, "wvivownevinl pollution ozone action
days TBL into practice. These challenges Ispuct Assessmont Revizw 28(2008):7389 - Built
Environment: number include measuring each of the three and Wouter de Ridder et a Framework
of LEED registered and categories, finding applicable data Asessment for Sustainable
Development," - Economic Prosperity - Personal Income: personal Notes income per capita 1.
John Ellkington, "Towards the Sustairable 12. For example, see Nancy Stark and -
Unemployment: Corporation: Win-Win-Win Business Deborah Markley, "Rural
Entrepreneurship
umemploymentrateCalifonairMougemortReview36,no.2(1994):StrategiesforSustainableDevelop
ment,"TripleBottomLine,WealthCreationinRuralDevelopmentII:MearuringImpactonthe -
Redevelopment, 90-100. 2. Andrew Savitz, The Triple Bottom Line (San America" July 2006,
www.yellowwood.org/ Reinvestment and Jobs: 2. Andrew Savitz, The Triple Bottom Line (San
wealthcreationarpox.
resultsfrombrownfieldFr.PeterSoderbaum,"PoeitionalAnalyeisand13."FocusAreas,"RSFSocialFi
nance,http/ll redevelopment investment Public Decision Making" Jonmun of Econonsic 14
"Maryland's Gengune Progress Indicator: and job creation Isswes 16, no. 2 (June 19s2): 391-
400, 14 , An Index for Sustainable Prosperity," - Knowledge Competitiveness: 4 Terre
Satterfield, Paul Slovic and Robin Maryland: Smart, Green and Grown
www.greenmarylandgov/mdgpa/. U.S. regions Judgment Context," Ecologionl Econorics 34
"Comunumication from the Comumission on (2000): 315-331. - Social Capital and Equity 5.
Stephen R. J. Sheppard and Michael limpact Acsesement, May 6, 2002, http //6
trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2005/ - Safety and Security: crime Meitner, "Using Multi-Criteria
Analysis february/tradoc_121479.pdf. degree attainment levels 207 (2005): 171-187. Amother
example can hin "Trad/ec.europa.eu/governance/impact/ - Health and Wellness: infant be found
in Katrina Brown etal. Trade- index_enhtrin. lead levels trends (Jure 2001): 417-434. Engine to
Empower a Green City on a Blue - Quality of Life: home 6. See Herman E. Daly, John B. Cobb
and Lakine to Empower a Outober 2010, reduced price and free the Envioment, and a Stetainable
Futhure 18. City of Grand Rapids, Michigan,
lunchestrendsTalberth,CliffordCobbandNoahSlattery.(BostoriBeaconPress,1969)andJolunReport
,"September200s,www.grpartners."ComunumityTripleBottomLineIndicator - Community

7. Capital: 211 "The Gemuine Progress Indicator 2006: A org/pdfs/resources/TBLFinall.pdf. calls
for assistance, voter Tool for Sustainable Development," www. participation and population
environmentalexpert.com//Files/24200/ and ethunicity 7. Minnesota Plaruing Environmental
Quality Board, "Smart Signals: An Assessment of
Suggestions to approach the assignment to show your understanding of what you have read: -
200-500 words (give or take) is good enough -Do not just write a summary of what you have
read - Find an angle/a few angles for your discussion/reflection - Best to respond to the selected
angle(s) with something you have learnt in class -Great to include some counter examples to
substantiate your argument - Stay away from too personal point of views -Develop a conclusion
if possible Hope this helps. Look forward to read your work.