Sustainable business management (SBM) focuses on balancing three pillars: people, planet, and profit, as outlined by the triple bottom line. The global ethical trilemma addresses economic, social, and ecological challenges. Sustainability involves more than just economic growth—it includes creati...
Sustainable business & quality
Chapter 1 Introduction to Sustainable Business Development – introduction
Defi nition
• Definition is usually too ambitious or too narrow
• Our definition describes SBM as it is practised today, with a window of opportunity
for the future
The triple bottom line
Proposed by John Elkington in 1994: People, Planet, Profit
The global ethical trilemma
Three domains
Economical
Social
Ecological
1) Economical
Beginning of the 70’s: first awareness that
economical growth could not be unlimited (Club of Rome)
80’s – 90’s: technological revolution fueled the age of efficiency
More efficient production led to more products instead of less use of
resources (Jevons paradox)
Cheaper products meant replacing became cheaper than repairing
Mass-consumption became accessible for a lot more people
Smart marketing increased level of consumption even more
,21’st century
More awareness due to visible effects of climate change, microplastics, rising social
problems,…
Still a lot of work to do!
Economic growth stays global standard for success
2) Social
Social justice
Human Rights Declaration (UN): social justice should be achieved and maintained
globally
But: inequality is still rising!
5% of the global population has as much income as 80%
3) Environmental/ecological
Awareness has mostly grown in industrialised
countries
Kuznet’s curve:
Resources for ”green behaviour” are
only available when basic needs are
filled
In industrialised countries, we have
more service-oriented businesses
Green movement
Planetary boundaries are (close to
being) overstepped
At this rate, we will use “3 earths” per year by 2050 in terms of resources and
waste disposal
We use 1,7 earth a year today
Three approaches
Global Social-Democracy
Eco-efficient Capitalism
Red-Green Planetarism
1) Global social-democracy
Addresses both the economic and social
aspect of sustainability
“Create global economic order”
“Improving the global common
good”
Ecological aspect is not mentioned
, 2) Eco-efficient Capitalism
Addresses both the economic and ecological aspect of sustainability
“Buying cleaner cars”
“Creating a greener environment”
Social aspect is not taken into account
The LEZ creates inequal circumstances
for those who cannot afford to buy a cleaner car
3) Red-Green Planetarism
Addresses both the ecological and social aspect of sustainability
“Avoid depletion of resources”
“Ensure basic life quality for every
individual”
Economic aspect is not considered as
important
Economic growth is seen as counterproductive
Carroll’s Pyramid
First popular definition of Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) was created by Archie
Carroll in 1979 and is still used today: the CSR
Pyramid which gives 4 types of expectations
that society has of business:
1. Economic
2. Legal
3. Ethical
4. Discretionary/Philantropic
1) Economical responsibility
Basic responsibility of all businesses is to create goods and services that:
- That society wants
- That can be sold with a profit
Companies that are not profitable yet, will not prioritize sustainability
Most companies will make sure that they are profitable first and try to cover their
economic responsibilities:
creating an income
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