On sustainability and Triple Bottom Line, with Flavio Hourneaux Junior, Marcelo Gabriel, Dolores Gallardo-Vázquez, at PMA 2014 Conference

Written by Adelina Chelniciuc on June 30, 2014. Posted in News, Organisational performance

The presentation “Triple Bottom Line and Firm’s Sustainable Performance Measurement” was held, on the second day of the PMA 2014 Conference, by Lecturer Flavio Hourneaux Junior, Professor Marcelo Gabriel, from Nove de Julho University, and Dolores Gallardo-Vázquez, Universidad de Extremadura.

Their research comprises two main focus points:

• The way sustainability has been taken into account when it comes to performance measurement;
• The increasing importance of Triple Bottom Line (TBL) in firms’ performance.

TBL represents an approach that could lead an organization to achieve economic prosperity, environmental quality and social justice, all simultaneously.

Hourneaux, Gabriel and Gallardo-Vázquez emphasized the importance of measuring performance indicators in order to achieve managerial control in any type of business, either sustainability – oriented or not. The means they propose for each of the above mentioned dimensions are:

• Economic indicators: the Balanced Scorecard approach;
• Social and Environmental indicators: Global Reporting Initiative.

Their research established the degrees of use for TBL indicators in 149 industrial companies, associated to the Centre of Industries of São Paulo State.

The key findings of their research study are:

• There is a positive association between the degree of use of Environmental and Social indicators;
• There is an association between the degree of use of Environmental and Social indicators and the usage of Economic ones;
• Economic, Environmental and Social indicators are used to a different extent in the assessed companies.

Tags: PMA 2014 Conference, Sustainability performance