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

Publicado en Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy, v. 12(1)
Autores

Arora, P., Peterson, N.D., Bert, F.E. and Podestá, G.P.

Año de publicación 2016
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/15487733.2016.11908154
Afiliaciones
  • Department of Management, Manhattan College, 4513 Manhattan College Parkway, Riverdale, NY 10471
  • Department of Anthropology, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 9201 University City Boulevard, Charlotte, NC 28223
  • La Asociación Argentina de Consorcios Regionales de Experimentación Agrícola (AACREA), Sarmiento 1236, Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science/MPO, University of Miami, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami
Programa

CRN3

Proyecto CRN3035
Keywords

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.