The Triple Bottom Line

• Can profit maximising organisations create social, environmental and economic value? This question is discussed and explored in the paper. For Marie Thulesius the start of this query was her decade in an American pharmaceutical company listed on the New York Stock Exchange with a very strong quarterly focus. This shortsightedness was hard to deal with both on a private and a professional level. Long term strategies were pushed aside when a new quarterly report would show divergence from quarterly measures. For companies that have been strong in combining social, environmental and economic value there seem to be a strong relationship between being private owned (not dependent on stock market movements) and having a strong, visible leader that understands that combining social, environmental and economic objectives are competitive advantages. These companies tend to put Corporate Social Responsibility and sustainable environmental development in the core of their business and work with them in a pro-active manner.

Auteur

Marie Thulesius is a civil engineer and an artist but have worked in the pharmaceutical business with sales and marketing for 14 years, visit her website www.mth2010.seThis paper was written as part of a Masters of Business and Administration (MBA) at Blekinge Institute of TechnologySchool of Management.