"If a clear relationship between responsible corporate behavior and financial performance could be proven, even the devils would get on board" (Kolp and Rea, pg 160).
This assumes, of course, that financial performance is the goal of a business. It's not. It's one of several measurement tools that can be used to evaluate a business's performance, but it is not the goal of a business itself. The goal of a business is to perpetuate itself. The way it does this is
by giving its stakeholders what they want.
Kolp and Rea focus on three main stakeholders in a corporation: the shareholders, the employees and the consumers. The shareholders' goal is to make a return on their investment into the corporation. They are giving the corporation their own money (through the purchase of shares) with the expectation of receiving more in return. The employees' goal is based in the exchange of their time for the support of income and benefits. The consumers' goal is to receive the product or service on the most fair terms possible. Each stakeholder's relationship with the corporation is based in an exchange of value given and value received. In order for the corporation to perpetuate itself, it must continue to meet expectations and provide value. If it does not, any one of the stakeholders may pull out of the exchange and put the corporation in jeopardy.
The goal then for the business is not necessarily to make money, but to perpetuate itself by meeting - or exceeding - expectations.
As Kolp and Rea discussed the triple bottom line, and how values are reshaping business, there was a lament in the tone of the discussion that being a "good citizen" in business could not be tied to the bottom line, and therefore, there would always be those who do not get on board when it comes to sustainable practices. However, I disagree.
The changing needs and values of consumers and employees will continue to have a greater and greater impact on the ability of a corporation to perpetuate itself. Consumers are paying more attention to where their products and services are coming from, and what type of neighbor that business is within its community. Many are choosing to purchase from more sustainable organizations. Employees are also reshaping the corporate landscape. As individuals search for more meaningful employment, corporations are loosing high quality people to their competitors when the values don't match. The cost of NOT acknowledging the triple bottom line is the loss of market share as well as valuable assets in the form of quality employees.
Shareholders will still expect a return, and so the financial benchmarks of profit and loss remain intact as measurement tools. However, as consumer and employee values shift, so to must the level of quality of the corporation itself shift in order to continue to meet its own goal of staying alive and perpetuating itself into the future.
