No Jean they only care about profit. The only reason that
sustainability and triple bottom line are in the mainstream is that
there is a cost assocated with not including those current buzzwords in
corporate communications. In most cases it is all quite vapid. This is
driven by short term performance indicators that reward CEOs and cascade
throughout the organisation.
My PhD research concludes (although I did not frame it in these terms),
"CEOs do not deal with sustainability or triple bottom line until they
have been caught not dealing with it and then they deal with it a lot."
At one stage I interviewed a petrochemical CEO (not BP), who told me
about cases that the organisation had been caught not dealing with
sustainability or triple bottom line. I asked him (and other CEOs)
about cases not being reported in the public press and he would not even
discuss these in confidence.
See my phd thesis:
http://intergon.net/phd online (appendix A would
interest you -- a 1999 email from the then CEO of Ford discussiing a
meeting between he, John Elkington and the then CEO of BP -- they say
they care about this stuff).
Some increadible things happen in all sorts of business that mostly do
not get reported on, because people do not get caught.
I first wrote about this in 1991:
http://intergon.net/phd/BoxerTQMEnv1991.html
Lionel Boxer CD PhD MBA BTech(IndEng) - 0411267256
Associate of RMIT University -
lionel.boxer@rmit.edu.au
Graduate School of Business
my "Assessment of Quality Systems with Positioning Theory"
now in a googe book - see link at
http://intergon.net
>>> "Stead, Jean Garner" <
STEADJ@MAIL.ETSU.EDU> 06/06/10 2:45 AM >>>
...
The Gulf coast disaster can be easily examined within the framework of
the triple-bottom line.
...
Doesn’t caring for future generations have a larger spiritual dimension
that transcends the basic dimensions of the triple bottom-line? I am
experiencing a spiritual disaster which is not captured within the
traditional dimensions of sustainability. The tears flow freely and my
heart hurts as I see the images of the oil-soaked wildlife, the
oil-polluted wetlands, and the frustrated local business people on the
Gulf coast as they watch their way of life disappear. Spirituality must
be the transcendent dimension for moving mankind toward a more
sustainable world…this disaster is more than just unsustainable.
Would like to hear your thoughts…Jean
Jean Garner Stead, Ph.D.
Professor of Strategic Management
College of Business and Technology
East Tennessee State University
Website:
www.steadandstead.com
Email:
steadj@etsu.edu