A configural framework of practice change for B corporations

Sharma, Garima; Beveridge, Alim J.; Haigh, Nardia

doi:10.1016/j.jbusvent.2017.12.008

Cited by 65 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…From this perspective, the concept of CSR could be obsolete and the tools available no longer adequate to achieve a sustainable for-profit and for-purpose model. CSR practices are seen by Benefit Corporations as a voluntary, nonbinding frame that is no longer able to support the prosocial identity [137] businesses that entrepreneurs want to achieve and with which stakeholders can identify.…”

Section: Results Of Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…What emerges from the data analyzed, taking into consideration B Lab Certified B Corps, is that the prosocial value [137] of B Corps functions as a driver and motivates the assessment of the common benefit produced by Benefit Corporations. BIA results are used to support internal decision-making by top management and employees, and BIA-guided indicators are integrated into the company planning and control systems.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sustainability Reporting and Performance Measurement Systems: How do Small- and Medium-Sized Benefit Corporations Manage Integration?

Nigri

Baldo

2018

Sustainability

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Benefit Corporations and B Corps represent alternative models of enterprise, often referred to as “hybrid companies” that bridge the for-profit and not-for-profit models. Italy is the first country outside the USA to pass Benefit Corporation legislation and introduce the Società Benefit. A large number of Italian Benefit Corporations are small- and medium-sized companies (SMEs), since SMEs are widespread within the entrepreneurial fabric and have great relevance in the Italian socio-economic context. A key issue in the emerging debate on small- and medium-sized Benefit Corporations concerns how these companies—with limited reach and considerable financial and human resource constraints—can effectively absorb their added social responsibility. In particular, such firms need to manage their dual mission, integrate social and environmental goals in their business model, and incorporate accountability mechanisms, all while scaling up and garnering the necessary resources to be economically competitive. Starting from these premises, this paper focuses on the performance measurement and reporting systems that are adopted by SMEs that are also Benefit Corporations, and investigates whether benefit impact assessment indicators integrate into an overall sustainability performance management system. To achieve this goal, an exploratory case-based analysis on seven small- and medium-sized Italian-certified Benefit Corporations is presented.

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Section: Results Of Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability Reporting and Performance Measurement Systems: How do Small- and Medium-Sized Benefit Corporations Manage Integration?

Nigri

Baldo

2018

Sustainability

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“…The steps with which the companies approached the movement were certification first and incorporation after (except for EXE). The B Corp organization proves to be very strong in transitioning companies into benefit corporations (Baudot et al, 2019;Sharma et al, 2018), but this may also be because the law has only recently passed in Italy. Today, companies can start off as benefit corporations without going through the certification process.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Governance and accountability models in Italian certified benefit corporations

Nigri

Baldo

Agulini

2020

Corp Soc Responsibility Env

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Benefit corporations institutionalize a new hybrid corporate form of business that allows for both profit and social objectives. Benefit corporations are traditional corporations with modified obligations; they commit to produce a benefit or purpose on top of their for‐profit motive, and they voluntarily bind to higher accountability and transparency standards. The aim of this paper is to shed new light on the governance and accountability procedures of certified benefit corporations (CBCs) in Italy since Italy was the first country after the United States to introduce the Società Benefit Law in 2016. Namely, this work explores how CBCs integrate benefit‐driven indicators into their structure, providing a renewed governance framework. To achieve this goal, a pilot case was conducted and 12 cross‐sector in‐depth interviews were performed with top management in seven Italian CBCs and triangulated with structured documents. What emerged from the findings is that there is a shift in the models of corporate governance where non‐profits are entering the for‐profit sector and that for‐profits are broadening their mission to include social and environmental goals. This extends the objectives of traditional forms of business to incorporate welfare objectives.

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“…However, research shows that the literature on practices in sustainable entrepreneurship is a heavy gap for future research, that measurement mechanisms are used in the practices and monitor the change over time, since companies operate in unfavorable environments by affectation of external agents as political and economic factors [62,63]. Challenging tasks by researchers would be to diagnose practices and research because of the complexity of quantifying and the perception of social and environmental impact differences [64].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Development of Sustainable Entrepreneurship Research Field

2018

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Sustainable entrepreneurship has received substantial recognition from academics and practitioners in the last decade, with a noticeable and rapidly increases of publications on the topic. Through bibliometric techniques and tools, this study allows mapping the main academic literature on sustainable entrepreneurship and analyzes the most substantial contributions to the advances of research in this field. The chronological analysis of literature from the Web of Science-Social Sciences Citation Index (WoS-SSCI) database-until January 2018-provides new insights not previously reviewed, such as the journals, authors and articles more influential so far. As a result, 282 articles were retrieved, which were published in 140 journals and written by 663 authors affiliated to 413 institutions, from 50 countries. The analysis allowed identifying publication evolution over time, and provides clues about the opportunities for future research.

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A configural framework of practice change for B corporations

Cited by 65 publications

References 35 publications

Sustainability Reporting and Performance Measurement Systems: How do Small- and Medium-Sized Benefit Corporations Manage Integration?

Sustainability Reporting and Performance Measurement Systems: How do Small- and Medium-Sized Benefit Corporations Manage Integration?

Governance and accountability models in Italian certified benefit corporations

The Development of Sustainable Entrepreneurship Research Field

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