Beyond the Triple Bottom Line
Many recent books make the case for businesses to become more sustainable, but few explain the specifics. In this book, Francisco Szekely and Zahir Dossa offer a pragmatic new business model for sustainability that extends beyond the traditional framework of the triple bottom line, describing eight steps that range from exploring a vision and establishing a strategy to implementing the strategy and promoting innovation.
Szekely and Dossa argue that businesses and organizations need to move away from the business case for sustainability toward a sustainable business model. That is, businesses should go beyond the usual short-term focus on minimizing harm while maximizing profits. Instead, businesses on the path to sustainability should, from the start, focus on addressing a societal need and view profitability not as an end but as a means to support the sustainable organization.
Szekely and Dossa explore key problems organizations face when pursuing a sustainability agenda. Each chapter presents one of the eight steps, describes a business dilemma for sustainability, provides a theoretically grounded strategic framework, offers case studies that illustrate the dilemma, and summarizes key findings; the case studies draw on the experiences of such companies as Tesla Motors, Patagonia, TOMs, and Panera. The book emphasizes leadership, arguing that leaders who question the status quo, inspire others, and take risks are essential for achieving sustainable business practices.
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
Category: Sustainability
Bronze medal
You can also buy the book on Barnes & Nobles, Book Depository, Orell Füssli and Routledge.
Confrontation between China and the West at this weekend’s G7 summit will slow climate change mitigation and impoverish everyone, warns IMD’s Julia...
This practical book will help you transform your business from a linear ‘take-make-waste’ approach into one that is sustainable, circular, but also...
The current economic system is not fit for purpose. It is time for an “apocalyptic” approach with leaders moving from a fixed mindset to a growth m...
Fatbergs and grease waste from industrial kitchens are hardly the most enticing topics for a business school case study. Yet ZhanaSolutions, the st...
Many factors dictate the non-financial value of family firms. Why would two similar firms with the same extent of family involvement choose differe...
Family businesses face unique challenges in adopting green practices, yet they hold significant potential for environmental leadership. This articl...
Atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases are at all-time highs. We have lost two-thirds of species in the past 60 years of industrialization. On Worl...
Business and nature conservation often appear to be at odds with each other. What if nature — and nature conservation — were the basis of a sound b...
CEOs face unprecedented pressure to address environmental concerns "now". Knut Haanaes, Julia Binder, and Bryony Jansen-van Tuyll explain why compa...
in Hitotsubashi Business Review Summer 2024, vol. 72, no. 1
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
in I by IMD 22 May 2024
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
in I by IMD 20 May 2024
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications
Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications