Rescuing the Baby from the Triple-Bottom-Line Bathwater: A Reply to Pava

by Chris MacDonald and Wayne Norman

(forthcoming in Business Ethics Quarterly, January 2007 )

Here we respond to Moses Pava’s defence of the “Triple Bottom Line” (3BL) concept against our own criticisms. We note that, pace Pava, the multiplicity of measures (and units of measure) that go into evaluating ethical performance cannot reasonably be compared to the handful of financial measures that go into evaluating financial performance. We also note the absence of evidence to sustain Pava’s claim that usage of the term “3BL” is somehow intended to be ironical or subversive.

More about the Triple Bottom Line...

criticism of triple bottom line, critique of triple bottom line


This page is administered by Chris MacDonald (chrismac@ethicsweb.ca)