Triple Bottom Line as an Ethical Framework

Executive Summary: Triple Bottom Line as an Ethical Framework
Student Name
University
Course
Professor’s Name
Date
Identify the Advantages and Disadvantages of Adopting the TBL Model
The Triple Bottom Line (TBL) model can add business value by outlining the frameworks that support long-term sustainable development goals. By considering social, financial, and environmental pillars, business owners can gain a deeper understanding of the complex and dynamic ways these pillars interact. In this regard, business operators can make informed decisions in solving issues within their firm and society. This can eventually result in additional innovation and long-term business value, such as benchmarking to enhance business sustainability and development. In addition, TBL promotes environmental sustainability by placing equal value on benefits and the environment as the critical step in running a successful business (West, 2018). The TBL model recognizes that business activities could potentially deplete existing resources, thus making it challenging to achieve sustainable growth. Through recognizing the environmental value, TBL encourages firms to minimize industrial energy consumption to decrease environmental pollution for more effective business practices.
On the flip side, TBL can lead to investment dilemmas, particularly when beginning a business. A firm implementing the TBL model finds it increasingly difficult to decide which dimension warrants investment as it could potentially result in loss. In this context, balancing social, economic, and environmental pillars becomes challenging as the three pillars potentiate competing interests and diverse impacts on the firm’s overall performance. For example, an apparel company leveraging the TBL model might shift from selling cheaper cotton clothes to more affluent ones. The change could satisfy the environmental aspect of the model. Still, at the same time, it may lead to deterioration in economic benefits in the short run as the company adjusts to the new market segment (West, 2018). Accordingly, the company is vulnerable to greenwashing in implementing TBL to increase business value. In this context, if the business firm recognizes itself as a green firm in the market and does not adhere to all sustainability requirements within its internal operations and supply chains, it might be suspected of greenwashing. In addition, the TBL model incorporates the complexity challenge. It is a complex model since the conditions for sustainability magnitud...