Triple Bottom Line - From a different angle

Now a days, we often come across the terms Triple Bottom Line or PPP (People, Planet, Profit) which are actually synonymous to the terms equitable balance among the economic, environmental and societal fundamentals.

The concept is very novel but the problem with them is they have become some fancy terms, on which everybody believes but no body or very few practice them. The issue with the concept is that the three factors are considered in the same level or they are given same priority. Now corporations or individuals are so engaged with the economic aspect that they often find it amusing to have the economic aspect in the same level of priority with environment and society. Thus the seriousness towards the concept diminishes and it becomes a theoretical concept which is just used in classrooms.

So, in order to eliminate the above issue, the concept needs to be modified a bit. Using a building construction as an analogy, the following model is developed. The economic value or factor is to be taken as a roof which protects you from all the external factors. The pillars supporting this roof are the environmental and societal value or factors. Now the more economic value you need, i.e. thicker the roof, thicker the pillars you require i.e. more environmental or societal value are required.

Ø EcV> (EnV = SV)

· The priority of economic value is higher than the two

· There is indifference of priorities between the remaining two or priorities will be set as per the situation

Ø EnV and SV are two pillars which support EcV

Ø The arrow represents that on Increasing EcV means the pillars need to be made stronger and thicker i.e. others need to be increased

The benefit of the model is that Economic value is made as the key driver i.e. it will determine the kind of investment and focus you require on the other two factors and not the vice versa making the model more realistic and practical.

Jargon Power

It’s actually a good thing that Prahalad came out a phrase or rather popularised the phrase "Bottom of Pyramid". The current economic condition says that the fortune lies at the bottom of pyramid. Company executives knew this before also but they had never been able to form strategies for this segment as this was not a well defined market segment. Till that time only available term was BPL (Below Poverty Line), but no company’s strategies used to be made for that segment as BPL people are not able to meet the basic requirements, how come will they buy their products? So there was no focus on the poor. But this term ("Bottom of Pyramid") and its much popularity gave the company executives an opportunity to form strategies around a defined target segment.

Dejavu in India

How was Al-Qaida formed? Its roots can be traced back to the Soviet invasion of Afganistan. At that time US-Soviet tussle was going on for their expansion. US was desperate to thwart any attempt of Soviet invasion in Afganistan. Thus it supported the native Afghan Mujahideen in the war with arms and funds. Soviet left and ideologies changed for these Mujahideen and they went on to become the deadliest terrorist organisation in the History.

Now why suddenly I went to the past and traced the roots of this organisation. Its because that a similar situation might be possible in our own country, India. Right now, India’s biggest internal threat is from the Naxalites. Unable to counter the Naxalites, Governments promoted the formation of Salwa Judum, an anti-Naxalite movement in Chhattisgarh. The members of this organisation are getting trained from security personnel, access to funds and arms. They seemed to be effective in counter Naxalite operations.

But what will happen, which might not be very soon, when the naxalites will be removed? Will Salwa Judum disappear? I doubt that. The fear is that same situation will follow which happened in Afganistan. This will be even worse than the current Naxal threat.

As per two PILs filed in Supreme Court, a list of 548 killings, 99 rapes and more than 3,000 burnt houses by the Salwa Judum in last three years.

[Source:- http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/jun/19guest.htm].

This might be just the quoted figures. Actual figures may be even greater.