An Appraisal of the Triple Bottom Line Approach: Case Analysis of the Glastonbury Festival - Essay Example

?AN APPRAISAL OF THE TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE APPROACH: CASE ANALYSIS OF THE GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL Executive Summary For a business, an organization, an event or an activity to continue its existence, a variety of factors should be taken into consideration by the organizers or by the management. One of the prominent schemes that most companies and evaluating organizations employ is the Triple Bottom Line Approach or the TBL Approach. This approach utilizes three eminent aspects namely, the social, environmental and economic elements. The Triple Bottom Line or TBL Approach endeavors to achieve persistent sustainability of a business or an event. It entails the evaluating body to appraise an event or a business in view of the aforementioned spheres. Such analysis could help in upholding the long-term vision and objectives of a specific company or event. The Glastonbury Festival is no different from business empires. This festival has proven to maintain its existence through the years by addressing every concern that arises during the occurrence of the yearly events. The predicaments that confronted the organizers of this event did not dishearten them instead it aided in making the following event to be better than the previous one. The exploration of the performance of the Glastonbury Festival through the Triple Bottom Line or TBL Approach exhibited the reasons why this festival has continuously to be renowned not only in the United Kingdom but all throughout the world. Introduction A sustainable business should be able to determine, record and report a positive return of investment or ROI on all three bottom lines namely, economic, environmental and social aspects, as well as the advantages that stakeholders obtain along the same three dimensions (Savitz & Weber, 2006). While for many individuals, it may appear that the phrase Triple Bottom Line, has been in existence for years, in fact term was first employed by John Elkington in 1997 where he regarded this scheme to involve three prongs of business that should update all corporate strategies namely, social, environmental and financial or economic (Beeton, 2006). The Triple Bottom Line or TBL Approach denotes the quintessence of sustainability by evaluating the impact of an organization’s activities on the world (Savitz & Weber, 2006). For Beeton (2006), the Triple Bottom Line or TBL Approach is a strategic method to highlight the indicators of success. Conversely, Henriques and Richardson (2004) described the Triple Bottom Line or TBL Approach as a brilliant and far-reaching metaphor that has stimulated much corporate activity and has generated tools that can yield quantified expressions of triple bottom line performance. A positive Triple Bottom Line according to Savitz and Weber (2006) reflects an increase in the company’s value, encompassing both its profitability and shareholder value and its social, human and environmental capital. Moreover, the Triple Bottom Line approach exists presently as a type of balanced scorecard that captures in numbers and words the extent to which any company is or is not creating value for its shareholders and for society (Savitz & Weber, 2006). Likewise, as cited by Beeton (2006), the Triple Bottom Line or TBL Approach is directly associated with the principle and objective of sustainable development and is strengthened by the conviction that a long-term vision of any business, destination or community is essential to a lucrative result. Beeton (2006) further added that the employment of the use of a Triple Bottom Line or TBL Approach scheme imparts information to enable other individuals to measure the level of sustainability of the performance and operations of an organization or a community. Elkington’s formulation of the Triple Bottom Line or TBL Approach is crucial to comprehending sustainability as stressed also by Savitz and Weber (2006). Savitz and Weber (2006) also highlighted that whereas the application of sustainability is still an art, the measurement of sustainability is becoming a science which encompasses particular objectives and parameters by which a business or an event can determine and appraise their own progress. At present, thousands of companies around the world have been assessing and conveying their accomplishments in the environmental, economic and social domains (Savitz & Weber, 2006). Likewise, it is evident that increasing numbers of institutional and individual investors, consumers and workers are starting to evaluate companies and events according to the Triple Bottom Line or TBL Approach according to Savitz and Weber (2006). Furthermore, according to Ihlen et al. (2011), a number of ethical, social and environmental investment funds also screen media companies for their triple bottom line commitments and performance. With this kind of perspective in mind, the author of this paper deemed to tackle the concepts associated with the Triple Bottom Line or TBL Approach and to analyze the Glastonbury Festival in lieu of the aforementioned approach. Brief Overview of the Triple Bottom Line Approach The sustainability foundation created by the Rio Conference and the development assistance community were reinterpreted and applied to the economic and social roles of business in the 1990s (Galea, 2004). Perhaps the excellent application is Elkington’s Triple Bottom Line definition of sustainability, which includes environmental, economic and social components (Galea, 2004). Moreover, Galea (2004) mentioned that the Triple Bottom Line or TBL Approach moves beyond traditional financial accounting and the dominance of financial value in business decisions to the creation of environmental, economic and social value by business. The Triple Bottom Line or TBL Approach is usually divided into three aspects namely, economic or profit, environmental or planet and social or people components which consists of measures necessary in evaluating an event or business (Savitz & Weber, 2006; Larsen & Schary, 2007). The economic aspect in the Triple Bottom Line or TBL Approach refers to the long-term financial performance of the business or the event (Galea, 2004). According to Galea (2004) this aspect gives emphasis on the obvious proposition that there is no sustainability without enduring financial viability. Likewise, such component goes deeper by moving beyond simple short-term financial outcomes into developing longer-term value (Galea, 2004). The economic component commonly involves the typical measures such as sales, profit, and return of investment, paid taxes, monetary flows and jobs created (Savitz & Weber, 2006). Conversely, the environmental dimension has had in the past the largest impact to sustainable development, as an eco-system represents the ultimate profit line (Larsen & Schary, 2007). An ecologically sustainable company as a company that utilizes natural resources that are consumed at a rate below natural reproduction or at a rate below the developments of other options (Larsen & Schary, 2007). Moreover, this component aims to avoid emissions that harm the environment and limit the use of any type of resource as is necessary and minimize any waste as much as possible as stressed by Larsen and Schary (2007). The environmental component of the Triple Bottom Line or TBL Approach includes the usual measures such as air quality, water quality, energy usage and waste produced (Savitz & Weber, 2006). Tassiopoulos (2008) cited that paying attention to this element of the Triple Bottom Line or TBL Approach can produce potential financial rewards such as cost savings from efficient utilization of resources, marketing benefits obtained from enhanced brand image, identification of environmental hazards before they result into financial liabilities, better access to capital from investors and banks with environmental accreditation requirements, more motivated and productive employees and the opportunity to acquire the confidence statutory regulators and the local community. Of the entire three components, social sustainability is the least familiar and therefore, the most poorly defined and least consistently adopted by business (Galea, 2004). Galea (2004) reasoned out that this is due to the fact that it is generally not envisioned as conflict prevention or even poverty reduction, hence, the development assistance literature and practices provide minimal guidance. This third component or the social component of the Triple Bottom Line or TBL Approach encompasses conventional measures such as labor practices, community impacts, human rights and product responsibility (Savitz & Weber, 2006). Other examples enumerated by Galea (2004) involve enlightened human resource policy, health and safety practice consistent with the requirements of the Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series or OHSAS, adherence to standards from the International Organization for Standardization or ISO, meeting the needs of customers for quality goods and services, transparency to shareholders and commitment to philanthropy can all be regarded as social sustainability schemes. Brief Overview of the 2002 Event in the Glastonbury Festival In contemporary times, events are central to one’s culture as perhaps like never before; increases in leisure time and discretionary spending have resulted to a proliferation of public events, celebrations and entertainment (Bowdin, 2011). Furthermore, governments now support and promote events as part of their strategies for economic development, nation building and destination marketing (Bowdin, 2011). Likewise, Bowdin (2011) cited that corporations and businesses have also embraced events as key elements in their marketing strategies and image promotion. In addition to this, the eagerness and passion of community groups and individuals for their own interests and fervors brings about the awe-inspiring selections of events on almost any subject and theme conceivable (Bowdin, 2011). A number of popular musical festivals have appeared in the United Kingdom and one of which is the Glastonbury Festival (Berry & Dixon, 2008). The said festival is described by Else and Davenport (2009) as often a mud-soaked musical extravaganza which has been held nearly for more than thirty years. Glastonbury is best known for its music festival which takes place most years over three days at the end of June outside the nearby village of Pilton (Andrews, 2004). The said festival started during the 1970s and has become one of the biggest and best organized in the country, without detaching too much of its alternative feel (Andrews, 2004). Bands range from huge acts such as Coldplay and Moby to up-and-coming Indie groups and such old hands as David Bowie and the ticket prices usually amount up to around 105 pounds (Andrews, 2004). This paper will discuss the event that transpired during the year 2002. The most long-awaited and carefully prepared Glastonbury Festival took place in wonderful weather; the ring of steel fence repelled all non-ticket holders and one hundred forty thousand (140,000) legitimate festival goers reveled in the space and security created by the widely praised new operational management structure (Glastonbury Festivals, 2002). The tickets which was sold at a price of ninety seven (97) British pounds which includes the program were put on sale in February and were sold out in weeks; the music acts included Stereophonics, Coldplay, Manu Chao, Rolf Harris, Kosheen, Mis-teeq, Fat Boy Slim, Roger Walters and Rod Stewart, White Stripes, Orbital and Isaac Hyes (Glastonbury Festivals, 2002). For most of the individuals that went to the festival, the place to be was Lost Vagueness in the Green Fields which bizarrely provided a silver service restaurant and ballroom dancing (Glastonbury Festivals, 2002). The Role of the Triple Bottom Line or TBL Approach in the 2002 Glastonbury Festival Event The Triple Bottom Line or TBL Concept states that companies and organizers should simultaneously be held accountable for their social, environmental and financial performances (Morschett et al., 2010). The Glastonbury Festival is the largest and most prestigious rock and popular music festival in the United Kingdom today (Ivakhiv, 2001). During the event which was held in the year 2000, there were a lot of gatecrashers amounting to one hundred fifty thousand (150,000) people; hence, it greatly affected the financial aspect of the festival specifically the ticket sales which only sold one hundred thousand (100,000) tickets (Glastonbury Festivals, 2002). Moreover, the social aspect particularly public safety concerns were at stake during the said year (Glastonbury Festivals, 2002). As a result, in the event held during the year 2002, a super fence was installed by the management to reduce the number of gatecrashers during the previous years; likewise, the number of crimes was also reduced during this year, though outside the fence, crimes were still rampant (Glastonbury Festivals, 2002; Shone & Parry, 2004). With regards to the Environmental Aspect, noise pollution was not a dilemma during this event. This event was then described as the gentlest mass singing ever heard (Glastonbury Festivals, 2002). Furthermore, the Glastonbury Festival effectively reduced their impact on the environment through an effective waste management and recycling strategy, using hundreds of volunteers as part of their dedicated Recycling Crew (Bowdin, 2011). The Triple Bottom Line Approach had proven to be beneficial in indicating the points of success of the Glastonbury Festival. The identification of the problems in the previous year led to the determination of the solutions in the year 2002 as a response to previous dilemmas. While the organizers had worked to overcome the negative reactions by individuals that cover the event, a number of critics still remained (Bowdin, 2011). Hence, the organizers must pursue to facilitate and improvise strategies to answer such criticisms which will help in improving the festival more. The organizers should also continue to monitor the safety of the public during the said festivals and employ means that could help in reducing crimes also outside the super fence that they had utilized in the year 2002 for the reason that this will pose a negative impact on the festival. Moreover, addressing the negative criticisms and promoting the festival more efficiently and effectively can attract more festival-goers that could aid in boosting ticket sales. In addition, if ever more individuals would go to the event, the management should continuously focus on waste management to avoid hazards to the environment. Conclusion It was revealed that the Triple Bottom Line or TBL Approach was applicable not only to large corporations but also for the sustenance of music festivals such as the Glastonbury Festival. The utilization of the TBL Approach unleashed why such festival continues to be prominent and renowned throughout the world. Addressing the determined problems resulted to the success of the succeeding events. References Andrews, R. (2004) Rough Guide to England. United Kingdom: Rough Guides, p. 424. Beeton, S. (2006) Community Development through Tourism. Australia: Landlinks Press, p. 63-66. Berry, O. and Dixon, B. (2008) Devon, Cornwall and Southwest England. United Kingdom: Lonely Planet, p. 284. Bowdin, G. (2011) Events Management, 3rd edition. Great Britain: Elsevier Ltd., p. 1-774. Else, D. and Davenport, F. (2009) Great Britain. United Kingdom: Lonely Planet, p. 343. Galea, C. (2004) Teaching Business Sustainability: From Theory to Practice. United Kingdom: Greenleaf Publishing Limited, p. 1-336. Glastonbury Festivals. (2002) Glastonbury Festival of 2002. United Kingdom: Glastonbury Festival of the Performing Arts. Accessed: 14 December 2011. Available from: . 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