Economic, Social and Environmental Performance

Management principles enable us in better understanding the factors that influence crucial organisational outcomes such as a company’s financial performance. Economic performance is critical to a company’s stakeholders, notably its investors and owners, because it provides them with a return on their investment. Other stakeholders, such as the firm’s employees and society at large, are said to profit indirectly from such performance. However, it is becoming increasingly evident that noneconomic achievements, such as reducing waste and pollution, are also important markers of performance. This is why the triple bottom line concept is getting so much traction in the business world. The triple bottom line refers to the measurement of a company’s performance on social, environmental, and economic levels.

Purpose

• Investors seeking not only economic profit, but also social benefit are increasingly concerned about corporate sustainability.

• Environmental, social, and economic are the three pillars of sustainable investing.

• Companies can increase their environmental sustainability by lowering their carbon footprint and wasteful practices.

• The social responsibility pillar includes practices that benefit the company’s employees, customers, and the community at large.

• The economic, refers to the practice of sustaining open and truthful accounting practises as well as regulatory compliance.

What is Business Sustainability

• ESG, or environment, social, and governance (economic) practices, are commonly used to describe corporate sustainability practices. 

• Corporations use ESG to lessen their environmental impact or to achieve other societal goals. Most commonly, sustainability is described as meeting current demands without jeopardizing future generations’ ability to meet their own. 

• In general, a corporation adopts sustainable practices by lowering its usage of finite resources or discovering alternative resources with less environmental impact.

• The three fundamental components of sustainability are economic, environmental, and social. These three pillars are traditionally known as people, planet, and profits.

Economic Sustainability

• The term “economic sustainability” refers to a manufacturing system that meets current consumption levels without jeopardizing future needs. 

• The ‘sustainability’ sought by ‘economic sustainability’ is the ‘sustainability’ of the economic system as a whole.

• When you describe this form of economic sustainability in a business context, most people assume you’re referring to profit. 

• Traditionally, a business’s economic performance is a result of its effectiveness in providing advantages for its owners in particular, achieved through innovative products and the effective utilization of resources to generate some type of profit.

• Economic profit is defined as the difference between revenue and the opportunity cost of the resources needed to generate the things sold. As costs, this definition includes implicit returns.

• It is crucial to acknowledge that customers play an essential part in economic profits. Profits accrue to businesses when customers are willing to pay a certain price for a product or service over a competitor’s product or service at a higher or lower price.

Economic sustainability in planning practice

• A practical way to put the notion of ‘economic sustainability’ into practice is to create a system of urban planning that serves the demands of the general public, particularly the urban poor, while also improving the naturalness of the urban environment. 

• Economic sustainability in planning practice is found in Lerner’s work for the Brazilian city of Curitiba.

Social Sustainability

• In its most basic form, the term “social sustainability” refers to a system of social structure that helps to reduce poverty. 

• Employees, stakeholders, and the community in which a business works should all support and approve of it in order for it to be sustainable.

• The methods for obtaining and sustaining this support vary, but it always boils down to treating staff fairly and being a great neighbor and concerned citizen, both globally and locally.

• According to the principle of ‘social sustainability,’ economic expansion should be restricted by the needs of social equality.

Environmental Sustainability

• ‘Environmental sustainability’ necessitates the protection of natural capital as a source of economic inputs as well as a sink for economic outputs.

• Many businesses are working to reduce their carbon footprints, packaging waste, water usage, and other environmental impacts.

• Reduced usage of packaging materials, for example, implies cheaper expenditure, and greater fuel efficiency also helps with the company’s budget.

• The theory of ‘environmental sustainability’ proposes a planning strategy that permits human society to ‘exist within the limitations of the biophysical environment.’

Benefit of Business Sustainability

1. Being a sustainable company might help your brand’s reputation. This is due to the fact that today’s consumers are more conscious of environmental issues. They are more inclined to purchase from a company that is recognized for promoting sustainability. It also helps you achieve a competitive edge in this manner.

2. Employees prefer to work for companies that support and manage corporate environmental projects. They do not like being identified with corporations that have been implicated in environmental disasters and community welfare issues.

3. Many investment and financial professionals have discovered that companies promoting sustainability are more likely to draw investors than those who do not.

4. One of the key benefits of sustainable business is that it will eventually reach a stage where revenues flow effortlessly.

5. When a company focuses on long-term sustainability and revenue, it is easier to implement certain of the government’s legal criteria for the industry.

6. Businesses that engage in sustainable production processes lower their possibilities of wasting resources. Recycling is one of the safest practices to implement as a business to make sure that all resources are utilised effectively.

Conclusion

Economic, environmental, and social sustainability are the three main components of sustainability. Economic sustainability refers to a production system that meets current consumption levels while not endangering future needs. It is critical to recognize that customers play an essential part in economic profits. Economic expansion should be limited by the needs of social equality, according to the notion of’social sustainability.’ Many companies are attempting to decrease their carbon footprints, packaging waste, water consumption, and other environmental implications.

Being a sustainable firm may benefit the reputation of your brand. It also aids you in gaining a competitive advantage in this method.