March 30, 2021
What is the Sustainability Triangle?
As a professor and researcher of business living in Atlanta, I understand that there must be a balance between corporations’ economy, the environment, and social responsibility to the society in order for the community and nation to be efficiently sustained, which is also referred to as the Sustainability Triangle. Many corporations have since launched various green initiatives to sustain the environment from both global warming and climate change in exchange for brand awareness, tax breaks, favorable media coverage, and customer loyalty. In return, their fans and customers have responded favorably to their advertisements by spending their hard earned money to support their sports, products, and services.
Where do corporations fail in the Sustainability Triangle?
While the environment is gradually benefiting from corporations’ green initiatives and green practices that are also supported by their fans and customers; the corporations have made huge profits from these same fans and customers through customer loyalty; but the corporations have failed to maintain their end of the Sustainability Triangle towards sustaining the community and nation. Many corporations in Atlanta, Georgia, such as Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines, Home Depot, United Parcel Service, Atlanta Braves, Atlanta Hawks, and Atlanta Falcons, have failed to be socially responsible to their fans and customers, especially in the area of voter suppression. One of the ways to be free in a modern society is to have the freedom to choose leaders that will help to make policies that will ensure the safety and access to resources for the voters and their descendants conveniently.
What are some corporate social irresponsibility in Georgia?
This week, the state of Georgia has made it legally impossible for many fans and customers to have the access to choose leaders that can effectively represent both their communities and descendants efficiently. Many of these voters have to stand in long lines for up to 8 hours because their communities are intentionally targeted to have few or malfunctioned voting machines and many of their voting centers are strategically closed weeks to voting day to discourage those without adequate transport or need to work hourly and low paying jobs from voting. Georgia has now made it easy to suspend unfavorable local elections; made it a crime to give refreshments and chairs to those waiting in long lines; made citizens without official driver’s license or state ID unable to vote; and made it illegal for drop boxes used for early votes to be placed in convenient locations for those without adequate transportation.
Do Corporations need to stand against voter suppression?
Corporations need to speak out and take a stand against voter suppression because it is a cycle of violence against many of their fans and customers, which keeps the Sustainability Triangle unbalanced for both business and environmental sustainability as well. Allowing your fans and customers to be denied the convenience to vote adequately is not just denying the society the opportunity to optimize the quality of leadership in the community, but it is also preventing corporations from optimizing their profits and the environment from optimized sustainability due to compromised leadership. Voter suppression of fans and customers most likely leads to undesirable leadership; undesired leaders usually allow police brutality and unjust legal system to increase criminal records of potential voters; criminal records leads to loss of driver’s license & unemployment; unemployment & low pay leads to poverty; poverty ultimately leads to poor health and make voting a luxury. This is the intentional and strategic cycle of violence created by voter suppression.
The environment and voters are waiting for corporations to fulfill their social responsibility towards balancing the Sustainability Triangle. Social responsibility is not just green initiatives for the environment and maximizing profits, but rather, it is ensuring that their fans and customers have the freedom and access to optimize the quality of leadership at all levels in order to guarantee their access to resources and optimized standard of living for all. It is the optimized quality of leadership through convenient access to vote efficiently that allows the entire society to optimize profits for corporations and optimize sustainability for the environment.