Managing the triple bottom line

Part III: Myth and reality

January, 2004

Part I of this series introduced the concept of triple bottom line management - a way of evaluating corporate performance on social, environmental, and economic factors. Part II outlined the challenges and opportunities in assembling and publishing this type of information.

In this segment, we move from theory to reality with a survey of Web reporting on a single TBL issue - global warming - from four stakeholder perspectives. The most successful Web sites focus on readers, not content, and use such Knowledge Base Publishing features as quality writing, documentation of sources, and user-friendly navigation schemes.

Example: Global warming
Global warming is an issue of concern to a wide range of stakeholders. For business managers and their shareholders, it presents both risks and opportunities. For environmentalists, it poses a threat to biological ecologies and individual species. For consumers, it can affect property insurance premiums, health risks, and transportation options. See "Our hemisphere's Achilles' heel" (Fortune, Feb. 9, 2004).

Perhaps more than any other sector, environmental issues in the transportation industry pose a complex challenge to management. The issue has the potential to significantly impact profitability and stock market returns for auto makers and their supply chains. If you're a potential investor who wants to get a good return and do something positive about global warming, how do you decide which auto stocks to buy? If you're a consumer, how do you decide which car offers the best combination of price, features, and low environmental impact? If you're a concerned citizen, how do you decide which organizations to support and which candidates to vote for?

Global warming & General Motors
To find out, we looked at the triple bottom line reports available on the General Motors Web site. We selected GM for two reasons:

1. GM was one of the sponsors of Mobility 2001, a 188-page report commissioned by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and prepared by M.I.T. along with consulting firm Charles River Associates.

2. GM ranked number 29 in Sustainability's 2002 list of the top 50 triple bottom line reports.

For any stakeholder group - investor, consumer, or citizen - the Mobility 2001 provides a good context around the issue of global warming. It's well written and covers a broad range of issues in both the developed and the underdeveloped world, e.g.:

• patterns of mobility demand, technology, and energy use;
• personal mobility in the urbanized developed world;
• trends in intercity travel;
• freight mobility;
• worldwide mobility and the challenge to its sustainability.

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