Managing the triple bottom line for sustainability: a case study of Argentine agribusinesses

Abstract

Using surveys and interviews with Argentine agribusiness owners and managers, we examine the relative importance of economic, environmental, and social goals in their planning processes. While in one survey, respondents  rate  these three  objectives  as equally  important,  they  also  prioritize  economic  goals  over environmental and  social targets  when assigning points  based on the  importance of  decisions made for various sub-categories. Discussions of specific scenarios illuminate goal importance, but also demonstrate that perceived losses can be valuable for understanding how managers think about sustainability in terms of comparative economic gains, social relationships, and different social and economic outcomes. Subsequent analyses suggest that the three categories of the &ldquotriple bottom line&rdquo are overly rigid and cannot capture the integration among environmental, economic, and social aspects of sustainability. Given these findings, we suggest future directions for research on losses, time scales, and sustainability.