Beyond the Triple Bottom Line received a Bronze Medal in the 2018 Axiom Business Books Awards in the Philanthropy/Nonprofit/Sustainability category.
The book by IMD Adjunct Professor Francisco Szekely was based on research by the IMD Global Centre for Sustainability Leadership.
The book makes the case for businesses to become more sustainable, drawing on the experiences of such companies as Tesla Motors, Patagonia, TOMs, and Panera.
It argues that businesses need to go beyond the usual short-term focus on minimizing harm while maximizing profit. Instead, firms should focus on addressing a societal need and view profitability not as an end but as a means to sustainable business growth.
It offers a pragmatic new business model for sustainability based on eight steps a company can take to becoming sustainable, from exploring a vision and establishing a strategy to implementing the strategy and promotion innovation.
According to Francisco Szekely, the book was recognized because because: “It proposes a totally new approach to sustainability which includes a focus on creating value for organizations, customers and society. This means focusing on the top and not on the bottom.”
The Axiom Awards were launched in 2007 by Jenkins Group, a Michigan-based book publishing and marketing services company that has operated the popular Independent Publisher Book Awards contest since 1996.
MIT Press awards coordinator Heather Gross said: “These awards are intended to bring increased recognition to exemplary business books and their creators, with the understanding that business people are an information-hungry segment of the population, eager to learn about great new books that will inspire them and help them improve their careers and businesses.”
Francisco Szekely is IMD Professor of Global Leadership and Sustainability.
Zahir Dossa, CEO of Function of Beauty, co-authored the book.
