Very much for. AND for adding “sustainable” to the common central VABE of most businesses to “maximize profits.” By “sustainable” I mean to protect not abuse the Commons—the air, water, soil, flora, fauna and underprivileged that we ALL share responsibility for. Every citizen in every country, IMO has a responsibility to protect the Commons. Don’t litter or foul the Commons.
So, the “financial measure” of maximizing profits leads to and HAS led to gross Commons abuse over the centuries. While we’ve made progress on air and water abuse, there is still much to do. Oceanic fish are appearing with micro-plastics in their bodies. Air abuse is contributing to climate change and global warming. Capitalists left to their own judgment have felt free to abuse the Commons until unions and governments imposed constraints and regulations.
Kaplan & Norton argue for a balanced concern for broad stakeholder--including customer and employee satisfaction-- and measures of efficiency. In a broader sense, IMO every citizen and organization should be held responsible for their impact on the Commons.
I had a student from Uganda who claimed his country was becoming the “junk yard of the world.” Japan has, he explained, a ban on autos over ten years old. Good for Japanese automakers. BUT, those 100k cars are loaded onto ships and sold in central Africa where they are admired for their dependability but when they finally die, the cars are just left on the roadside, junk, and no one has the capital to recycle them. In a sustainable world, the auto makers—and any company— would be responsible for collecting and recycling their products at the end of their use.
So, K&N is a start yet IMO the core issue is the commonly (still) taught VABE in business schools that the goal of a company is to maximize profits. That is a defunct and immoral VABE. Rather, we should be teaching and practicing “maximizing sustainable profits” that don’t abuse but rather protect those things we all share, the Commons.
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