This week we change the perspective of our discussion to financial and reporting aspects of Sustainable Business Development (SBD). During the past weeks we studied the corporate social responsibility and environmental aspects of the “Triple Bottom Line”, all of our readings related the SBD strategies to a financial impact – either positive or negative.
To what extent should the financial impacts and performance results of SBD be reported to stakeholders? Is it just good P.R. (i.e., the billions we invested in “green”) or does reporting in detail generate a vulnerability to competitor intelligence gathering? Do the “tree huggers” or the governmental watchdogs really care about the numbers? What are the interests of current and potential investors?