From TBLA to QBLA: Interpreting and Redesigning Business Sustainability Education Through the Business Sustainability Cycle

Assisting students to interpret the meaning and practice of sustainability is a significant challenge in current business education. In recent years, interpreting the purposes of sustainable businesses has become a vital aspect; when purpose is added to the mix, businesses can look at the full spectrum of their sustainability activities and operations, in a cycle from People, through Purpose, and Planetary to Profitability dimensions, or quadruple bottom-line accounting (QBLA). Consequently, business education for sustainability can be redesigned to reflect this fourfold approach and cyclical model. The chapter considers the development of the Business Sustainability Cycle (BSC), which assists students in understanding how enterprises can develop their overall sustainability. It considers the significance of adopting a ‘full-spectrum’ or ‘integral’ sustainability approach, in both undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and research, and considers some cases as applied by undergraduate and postgraduate students.