Vancity's Triple Bottom Line

Compared to other financial institutions, Vancity has strategically positioned themselves in a way that has developed sustainable competitive advantages against other credit unions and banks. The most significant advantage is Vancity’s focus on maintaining a healthy corporate culture focused on employee wellbeing, work engagement, and flexibility, which as mentioned in the case is unique among similar financial institutions. This internal approach is reflected in generous benefits programs (i.e., ‘care days’), a relaxed corporate culture (unlike traditional command-and-control firms), and increased accommodations to leaves of absence. In addition to its commitment to employees, Vancity’s ‘triple bottom line’ emphasizes environmental and community commitments such as supporting initiatives that combat climate change.

Firstly, in terms of recruitment, Vancity will attract higher quality knowledge workers away from competing institutions with the incentives of stronger benefits, a higher quality work environment, and the social gratification of working for a socially-responsible company. This will give Vancity an advantage in cumulative intellectual capital, improving its overall productivity, and resulting in higher quality output (i.e., customer service) for the same amount of training and other forms of employee investment. Secondly, a more engaged and motivated workforce will allow Vancity adapt more effective to changes in the competitive environment; for instance, a rapid change in technology. Employees will be more eager to learn and incorporate changes in the competitive environment into their workplace due to their higher levels of engagement or commitment with their work. Overall, Vancity’s commitment to its employees is its main competitive advantage and is sustainable so long as the firm maintains its current initiatives builds on it to face inevitable benchmarking by