Sustainability in Business: The Triple Bottom Line and Six Forms of Capital

Running head: Sustainable world 1
Sustainable world
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Sustainable world
Sustainability is one of the key business approaches in dealing with the organizational
environment. It is evident that the world is ever-changing hence the need to integrate a new
system of governance within the internal and external business operations. The business world
has experienced a growth of business participation in the sustainability strategy. In this case, the
business strategy focuses on its effect to the environment and also the society. The aim of
sustainability is to experience positive organizational impact to the environment and society.
Arguably, sustainability is correlated to business responsibility. This is therefore important to the
organization, the business industry and the people. Unsustainability in business has adverse
effects such as inequality, social injustice and environmental dilapidation. This paper tends to
focus on sustainability in business due to its dynamic nature. In this case, this paper will discuss
Sustainability, the Triple Bottom Line and Business. It will also identify the six forms of capital
used by the businesses. This document will also comprehensively examine the six phases of the
business approach to sustainability. I will also highlight successful businesses that have adopted
sustainable business as their strategy.
Sustainability, the Triple Bottom Line and Business
Sustainability is crucial to businesses and their environment. It is also hard to measure the
extent and degree of sustainable business. In this case, the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) is a
measure to determine the extent of sustainable growth in a business. It is also evident that the
traditional measure of sustainability lacks credibility since they relied on the business return on
investment, profits and their shareholders value (Slaper & Hall, 2011). In this respect, the
modern strategy integrates environmental and social outcomes. John Elkington developed TBL

Sustainable world 3
in order to evaluate the business inventories through examining the relationship between the
companies’ profits, the society and the world (Slaper & Hall, 2011).
TBL approach in measuring sustainable business is tricky since it does not have a
universal unit standard. TBL is however measures through the inclusion of social welfare and
environmental damage (Slaper & Hall, 2011). TBL can also be evaluated through a universally
and accepted index. In this case, TBL approach will compare organizations in terms of
performance between companies, development projects and also cities. An example of such an
index is comparing Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola’s performance.
The TBL index comprises Economic measures, Environmental measures and Social
measure. Economic measure is done through assessment of the TBL and monetary elements
(Slaper & Hall, 2011). The elements include income, expenditure, employment, business climate
and tax. Environmental measures consider factors such as natural resources and its potential
influence. The elements considered are this viability energy consumption, land use, water
quality, toxic waste and air (Slaper & Hall, 2011). Social measure basically gauges the social
dynamics of the business. This measure engages issues such as availability to social resources,
quality of life, equality, and social investment and employment rates (Slaper & Hall, 2011). The
Economic, Environmental and Social measures are also dependent on the level of the entity. The
other factors considered in these measures are the geographic scope and the type of projects
(Slaper & Hall, 2011). In this case, data is collect on the probable outcome of the operation. This
data is then passed to the stakeholders and experts.
The Six Forms of Capital used by Business
Businesses need capital to run their operation and they strive to make profits from their
inventories. People often consider capital as the monitory side of business however this is not