The Quintuple Bottom Line: A Framework for Place-Based Sustainable Enterprise in the Craft Industry

Abstract

This study proposes to extend the sustainable business framework of the Quadruple Bottom Line into the Quintuple Bottom Line. The five Ps of the Quintuple Bottom Line support purpose-driven businesses to consider economic profitability alongside social responsibility and environmental sustainability, rooted in place (purpose, profit, people, planet and place), and are based on reflections from the craft industry. Case studies from material-based creative businesses as found in the traditional handicraft and design-innovation communities in Nepal, and a designer-making community in Scotland, both explored circular-economy principles. The importance of localised supply chains and regenerative design enabled the development of the five-Ps framework so as to be more reflective of circular-economy models as operated by craft businesses. This qualitative research project took a case-studies approach, supported by primary research through workshops and interviews, and using the expansion of the Craft Toolkit of Applied Arts Scotland to embed the five Ps. The craft sector, with creative practices rooted in traditional manufacturing, material knowledge and yet a contemporary approach to design, can thus provide a useful model for other creative businesses that support purposeful, holistic sustainability and that engage with financial, environmental, and social sustainability that is rooted in place.