Double bottom line
Encyclopedia
Double bottom line is a business term used in socially responsible
Social responsibility
Social responsibility is an ethical ideology or theory that an entity, be it an organization or individual, has an obligation to act to benefit society at large. Social responsibility is a duty every individual or organization has to perform so as to maintain a balance between the economy and the...

 enterprise and investment
Socially responsible investing
Socially responsible investing , also known as sustainable, socially conscious, or ethical investing, describes an investment strategy which seeks to consider both financial return and social good....

.

While all businesses have a conventional bottom line
Bottom Line
The Bottom Line was a music venue at 15 West Fourth Street between Mercer Street and Greene Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City...

 to measure their fiscal performance—financial profit
Profit (accounting)
In accounting, profit can be considered to be the difference between the purchase price and the costs of bringing to market whatever it is that is accounted as an enterprise in terms of the component costs of delivered goods and/or services and any operating or other expenses.-Definition:There are...

 or loss—enterprises which seek a second bottom line look to measure their performance in terms of positive social impact. The double bottom line approach can be applied to both public and private sector organizations. An excellent application of this is seen in Bernardez (2009) (Bernardez, M. (2009). Minding the Business of Business: Tools and Models to Design and Measure Wealth Creation. Performance Improvement Quarterly. 22(2) Pp. 17-72)and his other work that includes Kaufman's Mega level strategic planning ( Kaufman, R. (2006). Change, Choices, and Consequences: A Guide to Mega Thinking and Planning. Amherst, MA. HRD Press Inc. to Refinor in Argentna, the Sonora Institute of Technology, and lately for the strategic planning of a transformation of the City of Colon in Panama.Bernardez, M. (2005). Achieving Business Success by Developing Clients and Community: Lessons from Leading Companies, Emerging Economies and a Nine Year Case Study. Performance Improvement Quarterly, Vol. 18, Number 3. Pp. 37-55.)

Increasingly companies big and small are incorporating a "cause marketing
Cause marketing
Cause marketing or cause-related marketing refers to a type of marketing involving the cooperative efforts of a "for profit" business and a non-profit organization for mutual benefit. The term is sometimes used more broadly and generally to refer to any type of marketing effort for social and...

" strategy as a means of differentiating themselves from their competition. The increased usage of social media is allowing these "company helping a cause" promotions to expand rapidly as people who support the cause easily "share" the information with their friends.

Examples of big Double Bottom Line campaigns include the Pepsi Refresh campaign [refresheverything.com] and the Clorox Promoting a Bright Future Contest [facebook.com/clorox] where each company is giving away money to causes that are submitted by and voted upon by normal everyday citizens who are trying to make the world a better place.

By doing things that are socially responsible, they are also benefitting in a way that significantly increases their ROI. This also allows them to build a more loyal customer base, what some are calling a "strong tribe" - internally and externally. According to marketing strategist Gina Carr, "This is THE differentiating strategy for 21st century businesses."

Another formulation is Blended Value
Blended value
Blended value refers to a business model that combines a revenue-generating business with a component which generates social-value. The term is usually attributed to Jed Emerson, and sometimes used interchangeably with triple bottom line and social enterprise...

 Promulgated by Jed Emerson one of the leaders in Social Return on Investment
Social Return on Investment
Social Return on Investment is a principles-based method for measuring extra-financial value relative to resources invested...

 or SROI.http://www.Blendedvalue.org It attempts to get out of the binary thinking of double bottom line.

See also

  • Triple bottom line
    Triple bottom line
    The triple bottom line captures an expanded spectrum of values and criteria for measuring organizational success: economic, ecological, and social...

    , a UN standardized term
  • Integrated bottom line, an attempt to combine the parameters from the triple bottom line as a single parameter

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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