ABSTRACT
The triple bottom line (TBL) is a brilliant and far-reaching metaphor. It has stimulated much corporate activity and has generated tools that can yield quantified expressions of triple bottom line performance. But does this cover the full ground of sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR)? This chapter addresses this question through analysis of the following issues:
Do the three dimensions covered by the triple bottom line (the environmental, social and economic) exhaust the field of sustainability? In particular, how does the central element of CSR, a concern with stakeholders, fit with the model?
The economic dimension of the triple bottom line is only partly understood. It has often been identified simply with financial performance and at other times with something broader. What is the most helpful interpretation?
The triple bottom line metaphor suggests that sustainability can be analysed through consideration of the periodic impacts in the three dimensions. How can this be squared with the long-term implications within the very word ‘sustainability’?
As has been argued elsewhere in this book, sustainability is a whole-system property. This raises questions of how an individual organization relates to the system as a whole – such as what is the proper corporate boundary of responsibility, and what mechanisms should exist for responsibly managing sustainability at national and international levels? Other chapters in this book deal with aspects of these problems. However, the book also raises 27the question about how whole-system characteristics are best addressed at the level of corporations. This issue, which is beyond the metaphor of the triple bottom line, is explored through an analysis of the concept of ‘diversity’ and the business logic in pursuing it.
