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Le società Benefit in Italia: un'analisi sulla diffusione e sulle prassi di rendicontazione
... A significant stream of research about BCs is about accountability processes and the characteristics of sustainability reporting that constitutes a tool for evaluating and judging the results of the organization itself (Mion, 2020;Nigri et al., 2017;Nigri and Del Baldo, 2018). Although the centrality of sustainability reporting in BCs experience, several studies underlined the substantial inadequacy of these accountability tools (Mion, 2020;Mion and Loza Adaui, 2020), also confirmed by descriptive analyses carried out on the contents of the reports (Cantele et al., 2021;Mari and Picciaia, 2022). Some scholars (Cantele et al., 2021) evaluated these criticalities within the risk of coherence among values, processes, and performances. ...
... Although the centrality of sustainability reporting in BCs experience, several studies underlined the substantial inadequacy of these accountability tools (Mion, 2020;Mion and Loza Adaui, 2020), also confirmed by descriptive analyses carried out on the contents of the reports (Cantele et al., 2021;Mari and Picciaia, 2022). Some scholars (Cantele et al., 2021) evaluated these criticalities within the risk of coherence among values, processes, and performances. It must be noted, however, that this phenomenon is at its early stage, and this could influence the awareness of the organizations on these issues and so the quality of sustainability outputs. ...
... In line with previous studies on Italian BCs and their reporting tools, there confirmed a substantial inadequacy (Mion, 2020; Mion and Loza Adaui, 2020) and a general criticality on coherence European journal of volunteering and community-based projects Vol.1, No 3;2024ISSN: 2724-0592 E-ISSN: 2724-1947 Published by Odv Casa Arcobaleno 46 among value, processes, and performance (Cantele et al., 2021;Mari and Picciaia, 2022), in other words a difference between BC essence and BC representation. ...
... With reference to firm-specific characteristics, descriptive empirical analysis on B Corps refer to them as being mainly small (Cantele et al., 2021;Cao et al., 2017;Parker et al., 2019), recently incorporated (Cantele et al., 2021;Romi et al., 2018), and operating in the service sector (Cantele et al., 2021;Cao et al., 2017;Gazzola et al., 2019;Sharma et al., 2018). They are also characterized by a low level of female representation on the board (Ardito et al., 2021;Cantele et al., 2021) or rarely women-owned (Grimes et al., 2018;Harjoto et al., 2019;Sharma et al., 2018). ...
... With reference to firm-specific characteristics, descriptive empirical analysis on B Corps refer to them as being mainly small (Cantele et al., 2021;Cao et al., 2017;Parker et al., 2019), recently incorporated (Cantele et al., 2021;Romi et al., 2018), and operating in the service sector (Cantele et al., 2021;Cao et al., 2017;Gazzola et al., 2019;Sharma et al., 2018). They are also characterized by a low level of female representation on the board (Ardito et al., 2021;Cantele et al., 2021) or rarely women-owned (Grimes et al., 2018;Harjoto et al., 2019;Sharma et al., 2018). ...
... With reference to firm-specific characteristics, descriptive empirical analysis on B Corps refer to them as being mainly small (Cantele et al., 2021;Cao et al., 2017;Parker et al., 2019), recently incorporated (Cantele et al., 2021;Romi et al., 2018), and operating in the service sector (Cantele et al., 2021;Cao et al., 2017;Gazzola et al., 2019;Sharma et al., 2018). They are also characterized by a low level of female representation on the board (Ardito et al., 2021;Cantele et al., 2021) or rarely women-owned (Grimes et al., 2018;Harjoto et al., 2019;Sharma et al., 2018). ...
Certified B Corps (B Corps) are firms characterized by a hybrid purpose and a sustainable business model that combines profit with social impact. Prior quantitative studies on B Corps have mainly analyzed the impact of certification on firm performance, while only a few have tried to analyze the antecedents of certification or high sustainability performance. Regression models have been used in most cases, often with inconsistent results and some research limitations. The aim of this study is to test the presence of different possible combinations of firm‐level antecedents leading to a high sustainability performance in B Corps. It applies a configurational approach and a qualitative comparative analysis methodology to search for different combinations of organizational factors (size, age, profitability, certification experience, women on board and the “Born B” factor) that lead to a high sustainability outcome, measured by a B Impact Assessment (BIA). Results indicate the existence of four configurations leading to a high BIA, representing as many kinds of impactful B Corps: Born B, small young ventures, small and medium enterprises, and large firms. These results contribute to the literature by showing that a high sustainability performance in B Corps can be reached through different paths (equifinality) entailing both high and low values of each factor (asymmetry) and depends on how factors are combined (conjunction) rather than on their single effect.
... Concentrating on the disclosure practices of Italian BCs, only three notable contributions exist, with Cantele et al. (2021) being the sole study delving into BIRs disclosure aspects. Sciarelli et al. (2020) undertook a qualitative exploratory study utilizing multiple case studies to explore the disclosure of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues by select Italian BCs. ...
... As per the findings of Cantele et al. (2021), their examination of BIRs indicates a general non-compliance of Italian BCs with requisite reporting standards. The reports submitted by Italian BCs are concise and lack explicit strategies for implementing communal advantages. ...
In the pursuit of global sustainability, firms play an increasingly pivotal role. In this scenario, Benefit Corporations aim to seamlessly integrate profit‐making endeavors with sustainable practices. This corporate model has spread around the world and in Italy; it was adopted through Law No. 208/2015 introducing Italian Benefit Corporations (BCs). Italian BCs must produce a Benefit Impact Report (BIR) alongside their financial statements, as a strategic communication tool for demonstrating the company's commitment to advancing common societal benefits to stakeholders. Leveraging stakeholder theory, this study adopts a mixed methodological approach that incorporates manual content analysis of BIRs from 132 Italian BCs, combined with a regression model exploring the impact of firm characteristics on the quality of BIRs. Findings highlight a positive relationship between firm size, financial leverage, and profitability on the quality of BIRs. This study is the first to explore the quality of BIRs and their determinants, providing academic and practical implications.
... SBs gain a strong reputation in the eyes of consumers and other companies that are inspired to work in the same direction, thus creating a movement of new economic realities that face the market world with an innovative spirit, sharing the same values and vision for the future (Cantele et al. 2021). However, some companies choose SB as an opportunity only to give a "different and positive" image and to get an image return (Crivellaro et al. 2012). ...
In today’s society, there is a growing awareness of sustainability at the corporate level, where more and more companies are investing to meet social and ethical expectations. Companies are being asked to communicate the social impact of their operations and are key stakeholders in achieving sustainability goals, especially in developed countries. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, together with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors, have become critical to a company’s investors and represent important information for stakeholders seeking to be perceived as more trustworthy. To highlight the intangible value that resides in the logic of sustainability, Benefit Corporations, a new paradigm of for-profit companies that also pursue common benefit objectives, are increasingly emerging. An emblematic example of an alliance between business and community in pursuit of the common good is the Italian Società Benefit (SB), which formally guarantees a commitment to social and environmental audits through a synthesis of the best practices of ethical responsibility. Given these assumptions, and through the lens of signaling theory, this paper highlights the relationship between firms labeled as sustainability-oriented and their creditworthiness. The credibility of these firms is based on the recognition by funding providers of their role in sustainable development, which enhances their perceived creditworthiness and increases their funding options.
... Each organization can choose any standard, such as the Global Reporting Initiative, Green-Seal, Underwriters Laboratories, IS0-26000, and Green-America (Hiller, 2013). In Italy, the more used standard by BCs is B Impact Assessment (Cantele et al., 2021). Some BCs do not employ any standard, and others have used international standards such as GRI, ISO26000, or Sustainable Development Goals. ...
Benefit Corporations (BCs) and B-Corps have introduced a new business model, in which organizations can balance altruistic and lucrative purposes and this denotes their characteristic of being hybrid organizations. The Benefit Corporation model in Italy is an evolving phenomenon concerning companies of every size, age, sector, and geographic location. This corporation model is spreading fast in Italy and the world. Italian Benefit Corporations are principally micro and small firms that operate in the service sectors, less in the wholesale and retail, and manufacturing ones, located in the North and Centre of Italy, and they are very young. From the analysis of 236 purposes displayed in the bylaws by Italian Benefit Corporations, some topics emerge as more relevant: attention to the environmental impacts, employees, territory, community, civil society, promoting innovation, and sustainable practices, processes, and technologies, and collaboration and partnership. The common benefit has mostly between two and five declinations for every business.
This study aims to analyze the level of disclosure of impact reports that Italian benefit companies are required to prepare annually, as well as to investigate the impact of some antecedents related to the board characteristics such as size, gender diversity, age, and independence on it.
Through content analysis of impact reports and testing on a sample of 100 Italian benefit companies, four hypotheses based on Signalling theory were examined using cross-sectional OLS regression.
The findings show a generally moderate level of disclosure in impact reports and a positive impact of board size, gender diversity, and independence. This study enriches both the literature related to Italian benefit companies and sustainability disclosure. The practical implications suggest that companies aiming to enhance disclosure may benefit from larger administrative structures with increased representation of women and independent members.
This article offers some reflections and insights to interpret the economic impact of the current pandemic crisis, and similar crises that could arise in the future, and the conditions for recreating sustainable development. Firstly, to move from evaluating crisis to generating economic value and sustainability requires a new corporate governance approach for interacting with the social and environmental context, integrating risk management and performance man-agement (Marchi, 2019; Greco, D'Onza, 2020). Sustainability can be reinforced by adopting a new theory of value created for all stakeholders, included suppliers, customers, employees, the territory and the social community, but also for the en-vironment and for the company itself, ensuring adequate remunerations of the re-sources and conditions of lasting economic equilibrium of companies (Giannessi, 1960). To guarantee a long-term economic balance together with social, environmental and corporate sustainability, the role of measurement and control systems is fun-damental. In this regard, the following aspects can be highlighted (Marchi, Paolini, 2020): 1) integrated accounting and budgeting systems must be developed with an in-come perspective; 2) excessive emphasis on specific performance indicators, espe-cially financial ones, must be avoided, in order to pass to a "systemic reading" of the set of indicators at an economic-social level; 3) a circular choice and an ade-quate remuneration of the production factors in the supply network must be guar-anteed in order to increase the value created internally in the network, with the contribution of strategic suppliers who must be partners of the company; 4) finally, a "culture of sustainability" must be implemented in the personnel planning, control and incentive systems (integrating financial indicators with sustainability indicators) and not only in the reporting systems for the outside.
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.
Today, to integrate sustainable development goals into business, an overall integrated sustainable performance management system — to implement and measure these global goals — is needed. In a short timeframe, the benefit impact assessment (BIA) — elaborated by B Lab, utilized by benefit corporations (a new and emerging hybrid type of prosocial business) and adopted by the United Nations — became the most comprehensive indicator to evaluate company practices against SDGs. Italy was the first sovereign country to insert the benefit corporation legislation after the US and analyze the effectiveness of the BIA. This prompted us to address our attention to the integration of benefit-driven indicators, adopted by Italian B Corps into their performance management systems, and to analyze if these indicators are used by managers to support internal decision-making. To achieve this goal, cross-sector semi-structured interviews were conducted in seven Italian certified benefit corporations. Relevant to both researchers and practitioners, our review provides a useful snapshot of how the BIA is developing as an assessment and how value-based organizations are moving toward an integrated sustainable performance management system.
This article provides new insights into sustainable innovation through the lens of business model innovation for sustainability. The article presents a case study of a new and underexplored business model for sustainability, the BCorp model. BCorps are profit‐orientated businesses certified to meet rigorous standards in relation to environmental and social performance, accountability, and transparency. This article examines the strategy, structure, and practices of an Australian BCorp and the tensions in reconciling economic, social, and environmental imperatives. The study found that the BCorp focuses on the social and economic aspects, with environmental performance only just recently being addressed in response to its poor performance on the environmental categories in the BCorp certification process. The social and economic aspects are strongly integrated in some practices (e.g., recruitment and marketing), but trying to balance these two has created tensions and conflict in other areas (e.g., ownership structure, performance measurement, sales, and product design). The study contributes to understanding the structures, strategies, and practices that facilitate sustainable innovation initiatives, the tensions that arise, and how they are managed.
A Benefit Corporation is one possible alternative to traditional business models and a new way of managing business and sustainability. Emphasis on B‐Corporations in Italy dates back 2006, and 1 year later, B LAB certified the first Benefit Corporation Industry using the first version of the Benefit Impact Assessment process. Since then, the number of B‐Corporations has been growing, showing the success of the initiative of this category of firm that have voluntarily decided to pursue, like the profit, a further purpose: to obtain in the exercise of economic activity a positive impact on society and on the planet. After a presentation of the Benefit Corporation features, the main aim of this paper is to explore the relations that exists between the five different impact areas considered in certification awarded to Certified Benefit Corporation and the net profit value, using ordinary least squares regression model based on the entire sample of the Italian Certified enterprises.
"Value creation" is an expression that assumes a strong symbolic meaning with reference to the whole process generating value, i.e. the process which starts with value management, and ends with the measurement and communication of value created. But the question is: which "value" has to be considered? Moreover, in which perspective such a “value” has to be managed, measured, and communicated?
The questions are relevant and, in our opinion, they are also interrelate: a different perspective in which value is considered determines a different concept of value and, consequently, determines a modification of the whole process of manage-ment, measurement and communication of value.
Our strong conviction, that comes from the observation of the changes in the eco-nomic scenarios, is that value creation is moving from a financial perspective to an economic-social perspective. Therefore, we believe that the concept of value is al-so changing and that current theories are no longer adequate. On the other hand, we need to clarify what is the link between value creation, corporate governance (of all companies: profit and non-profit, public and private) and economic devel-opment.
Starting from the historical framework, and considering its current evolution, some considerations and reflections are carried out with reference to: 1) the economic and legal context that has determined the widespread concept of value in the finan-cial perspective; 2) the crisis of the financial market that has recently deter-mined the transition from the financial perspective to the economic-social perspective; 3) the opportunity to refer to this different concept of value by interpreting the sustainable economic development.
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.
This article is a commentary on "The Impact of B Lab Certification on Firm Growth" by Simon Parker, Edward Gamble, Peter Moroz, and Oana Branzei. Academy of Management Discoveries. doi:10.5465/amd.2017.0068.
Despite widespread and growing public interest in sustainability certifications, many social entrepreneurs have opted not to obtain such certification. Drawing on recent studies highlighting the salience of both gender and context in shaping differences among social enterprises, we develop an identity-based framework for explaining heterogeneity in the adoption of sustainability certification. We test our ideas using a sample of 1,251 U.S. firms obtained from B Lab, the organization responsible for assessing Certified B Corporations. Our results show that woman-owned businesses are twice as likely to qualify for certification and more than three times as likely to certify. Moreover, this propensity to certify is amplified in contexts where sustainability norms are weak, mimetic pressure to obtain sustainability certification is low, and woman-owned businesses are less prevalent. These findings support our central theoretical argument that certification differences are due to actors' efforts to engage in identity work, strengthening their sense of self-coherence and distinctiveness by way of this authentication process. We conclude by highlighting our contributions to existing scholarship on social entrepreneurship, identity work, and certification adoption, as well as strategic implications for B Lab.
To fulfill their economic and social missions, it is imperative yet challenging for hybrid ventures to demonstrate legitimacy (fitting in) while simultaneously projecting distinctiveness (standing out). One important means for doing so is by adopting and promoting the recent B Corporation certification. Drawing on a comprehensive analysis of the emergence of this certification, we argue that when it comes to promoting their businesses, hybrid ventures should not adopt a one size fits all approach. Rather, their promotion strategies need to be adapted to their specific contexts. We theorize and develop a typology of certification promotion strategies for hybrid ventures based on the relative prevalence of other hybrid ventures in the same regions and industries. We close by articulating why the B Corp movement is a rich and underexplored context for scholarship on hybrid ventures, and highlight several promising future research directions.
In 2015 the legislation regulating the legal status of Benefit Corporations, already widespread in the United States, was introduced in Italy. These companies aim to maximize shareholder income and pursue at the same time a social or environmental mission. Furthermore, in recent years, multiple tools for social impact measurement are spreading and consolidating (Grieco et al., 2015). This includes the B-impact assessment, a widely adopted tool developed by BLab , which issues the B Corp certification. B Corps represent future potential Benefit Corporations, especially in contexts and environments where there is no specific regulation (as in the case of Europe). In this scenario, scholars highlighted the importance for these company to measure their social impact and communicate their performance to stakeholders (Nigri and Michelini, 2016). Starting from these premises the aim of the study is to evaluate how European B-corps communicate their social impact online. In particular, it pinpoints the relationship between the level of social impact and the level of communication. To reach this goal a total of 110 B Corp websites were analysed using a mix of variables. Finally, the data was organized using a 2x2 matrix where four main areas where identified. Each area corresponds to a specific behaviour: best practices, overexposed, newbies and undervalued. What emerged was the need for B Corps to improve their communication activities (which had a low performance score) in order to ensure maximum dissemination and visibility of their social commitment.
Why would an organization pursue membership in an organizational category, yet forego opportunities to subsequently promote that membership? Drawing on prior research, we develop a theoretical model that distinguishes between basic and subordinate categories and highlights how organizations may differ in their promotion of the same subordinate category. We hypothesize that a subordinate category’s contextual distinctiveness within different basic categories increases promotion, and that these effects are amplified in relatively larger subordinate category peer groups. To test our hypotheses, we developed a proprietary web-based software toolset and gathered data regarding B Corporations’ web-based promotion of their certification. We supplemented our statistical analysis with interviews of Certified B Corporation entrepreneurs and executives. Our findings challenge prior assumptions about the causes of promotional forbearance, while extending our understanding of category distinctiveness within contexts as well as sources of intra-category variation.
The object of this work is the study of a new model of company introduced in Italy with Law No. 208/2015, the Benefit Corporation, a form of undertaking with joint lucrative and altruistic purposes. The Italian legislator was inspired by the North American Benefit Corporation, which was introduced in many states beginning in 2010, but the Italian regulation is fairly generic and incomplete. Our preliminary task is to seek a systematic framework for this model of company, identifying its rightful place among the ‘for-profit’ and ‘non-profit’ business sector, while highlighting their similarities or differences with regard to the wider issue of corporate social responsibility. Next we must attempt to try to fill in, through interpretation, the many gaps and dysfunctions we find in the regulatory body that, if unresolved, would make the new company model unappealing. This reconstruction must be carried out with reference to the traditional concepts of Italian corporate law, depending on the type of corporation chosen and insofar as they are compatible with the new model. The work thus provides a rough comparison of the new Italian corporation model and some of the North American states’ legal regulations on Benefit Corporations.
The legislative formation of the benefit corporation (BC) institutionalizes a new hybrid corporate form in the United States (US) that allows for both a profit objective and a public welfare objective. This corporate form provides entities endeavoring to act in the public interest access to markets and investment capital alongside compatible governance processes. Since the initial state adoption of this form in 2010, 34 states have enacted BC legislation. Our empirical investigation demonstrates and assesses the emergence and evolution of this hybrid corporate form by articulating the discursive framings of a constellation of actors in and around these legislative enactments. The discursive framing is dynamic and contested over time, evolving from a focus on enabling for-profit firms to broaden out their objectives to include social goals beyond profit maximization to a focus on exposing activities traditionally carried out by government or not-for-profit entities to market discipline. One interpretation of the findings is that BCs are a manifestation and means by which the responsibility for public services and public welfare is transferred to the private sector along with the associated public resources. We consider the implications of a shifting landscape of corporate governance and accountability regimes for public welfare objectives.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine whether B corps’ (for-profit entities whose owners voluntarily commit to conduct business in a socially responsible manner, beyond traditional CSR, that generates profits, but not at the expense of stakeholders) commitment to social issues influences two aspects of financial performance: employee productivity and sales growth.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is an exploratory analysis of B corps. This paper examines B corps with B Lab’s B Impact Assessment reports and PrivCo financial data, for descriptive information. This paper also analyzes the financial impact of obtaining and reporting on excellence in both employee and consumer focus, as well as the differences in financial growth between B corps and non-hybrid peers.
Findings
Overall, results suggest that, among B corps whose treatment of employees (consumers) is recognized as an “area of excellence,” employee productivity (sales growth) is significantly higher. Additionally, sales growth is significantly higher for B corps relative to their peer, non-hybrid, matched firms.
Practical implications
Results from this study inform states considering the adoption of the B corp legal status – this legal status does not hinder firm profitability, but instead enhances long-term firm value while allowing firms to beneficially affect their communities, consumers, employees and the environment.
Social implications
Results from this study provide important insights regarding the current paradigm shift from the traditional business focus on profit maximization to a fruitful coexistence of profits with social interests and initiatives, within a structure of dissolving national boundaries and increasingly divergent logics.
Originality/value
This paper provides an initial empirical examination of B corp performance.
There is increasing scholarly attention toward understanding how enterprises seeking prosocial impact organize their practices. However, this research has primarily explained changes in isolated practices and has not fully explored the mechanisms for such changes. This omission is relevant for social entrepreneurship scholars who seek to better understand how practices operate not simply internally but can effect a positive impact. We address this omission by drawing from a unique longitudinal dataset – assessment scores of enterprises seeking to be certified and recertified as B Corporations (B Corps). We also conducted 24 interviews with B Corp leaders, B Lab staff, and venture fund managers. We found that B Corps shifted their practice configurations as they underwent assessment and reassessment for certification. We also found that exogenous factors such as size and sector, and endogenous factors such as the nature of practices explained shifts in practice configurations. Our contribution is twofold. First, we test deductive claims that social enterprises re-organize for impact. We show that enterprises update their practice configurations over time. Second, we propose an inductively derived theoretical framework with three building blocks: affordability, interpretability, and social referents to explain the shifts in practice configurations.
Executive summary
We challenge and complement the prevailing assumption that social enterprises incrementally and/or independently improve their practices to achieve their initially intended impact. To do so, we empirically derive a configural framework of how prosocial impact practices evolve over time.
In addition, we know from existing research that cues and peers available in prosocial categories, such as B Corporations, provide enterprises with different choices for organizing for impact. However, the existing research only offers a limited understanding of the specific mechanisms that facilitate change in organizational practices.
We conducted four studies to better understand how cues, peers, and other mechanisms lead to changes in practice configurations. We used B Impact Assessment (or BIA) data from 346 enterprises assessed between 2008 and 2011 (Wave 1) and 723 enterprises assessed between 2011 and 2013 (Wave 2), all based in the U.S. In addition, we used longitudinal data for a subset of 159 enterprises present in both waves. We also conducted 24 interviews with leaders from certified B Corps, venture capital fund managers, and a B Lab staff member.
We found that B Corps change their practices over time, and this change is seen in shifts in practice configurations as the enterprises undergo assessment and re-assessment for certification. We also found that exogenous factors such as size and sector, and endogenous factors such as the nature of practices and their interaction with the enterprise's unique context explain shifts in practice configurations.
Our contribution is twofold. First, we test deductive claims that social enterprises re-organize for impact by updating their configuration of practices over time. Second, we propose an inductively derived theoretical framework with three building blocks: affordability, interpretability, and social referents to explain the shifts in practice configurations.
The main aim of the present study is to empirically analyze the relationship between the level of social impact and the level of its online communication in B Corps. To reach this aim, the following indices were developed: the SIA index (based on the overall score of the Benefit Impact Assessment) and the SIA online communication index (based on a mix of variables selected from the literature). Then an analysis of 400 B-Corp websites was carried out to highlight companies’ behaviors and point out differences between the US and the EU. The research provides a matrix in which four main typologies of B Corps are identified: newbies, overexposed, undervalued and best practice. The research highlights that a high number of companies, especially in the European context, have not yet fully understood the potential of being a B Corp and that there is room for improvement. Companies can adopt the matrix as a benchmarking tool for a self-evaluation of their position, and identify the required actions to improve their performance.
This paper examines the relationship between purpose and purposeful organizing and how such relationship influences the entrepreneurial journey as sustainable ventures move from idea to markets. We leverage an iterative multi-stage process-tracing design to understand the mechanisms whereby 14 different B Corp certified organizations embed purpose before, during and after the certification process. Our analyses reveal three types of venture paths for purpose-driven entrepreneurs, which are shaped by distinct imprinting sequences with three critical sensitive windows playing a pivotal role: the definition of scope of purpose, timing of purpose formalization through B Corp Certification and shifts in the source of feedback. Different imprinters happening within the critical sensitive windows shape particular imprinting sequences triggering situations of both productive and counterproductive path development. Our results challenge the assumed linear relationship between purpose and purposeful organizing and more specifically the belief that seeking (purposeful) B Corp certification at firm foundation is necessarily productive for society and for the ventures themselves regardless of when the certification is achieved.
Sustainable entrepreneurship contributes to solving social and environmental problems through the means of successful for-profit businesses. This paper contributes to understanding how sustainable entrepreneurship is implemented by exploring an emerging new form of business, ‘B Corps’, that employs market tactics to address social and environmental issues. Through interviewing 14 B Corps, the exploratory research study found that B Corps treat profit as a means to achieve positive societal ends, they regard the B Corp model as a tool for change, the B Corp model provides a common collective identity for internal and external validation, they are focused on societal impact rather than maximizing profits and they attempt to legitimate this form of sustainable entrepreneurship by influencing the business community and government officials. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment
B-Corps are a growing group of social enterprises with a high level of commitment to maintaining a balance between profit motive and corporate social responsibility (CSR). This study has two purposes. First, it reviews the 6-year history of the rapid development of B-Corps (which currently number more than 800). Second, the study investigates the growth rate of total revenue and of employee productivity of B-Corps during a recent period and compares it with that of approximately 1,206 public companies and 3,600 non–B-Corps private firms. These measurements add to the discussion about whether socially and environmentally responsible firms generate revenue and productivity at levels similar to their competitors. The study also examines differences in the financial and productivity performance among B-Corps based on their scores on qualitative CSR performance factors. These measurements add to the discussion as to whether or not stronger CSR performance is associated with stronger financial performance and whether productivity increases in this type of firm. One finding is that B-Corps had a statistically significant revenue growth rate that outpaced the average revenue growth of the public companies that operate in the same 4-digit Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code as B-Corps. In comparison with non–B-Corps small-to-medium size private firms, we found no significant difference in revenue growth. In those comparisons, B-Corps did not outperform both their public and private competitors with regard to employee productivity growth rate. There was no significant correlation within the sample of B-Corps with regard to revenue and productivity increases and B-Corps’ performance on qualitative CSR factors.
Hybrid organizations that combine multiple organizational forms deviate from socially legitimate templates for organizing, and thus experience unique organizing challenges. In this paper, we introduce and develop the concept of hybrid organizing, which we define as the activities, structures, processes and meanings by which organizations make sense of and combine multiple organizational forms. We propose that social enterprises that combine the organizational forms of both business and charity at their cores are an ideal type of hybrid organization, making social enterprise an attractive setting to study hybrid organizing. Based on a literature review of organizational research on social enterprise and on our own research in this domain, we develop five dimensions of hybrid organizing and related opportunities for future research. We conclude by discussing how insights from the study of hybrid organizing in social enterprises may contribute to organization theory.
Rapporto sulla corporate governance delle società quotate
- Consob
Consob (2019), Rapporto sulla corporate governance delle società quotate. http://www.consob.it/documents/46180/46181/rcg2019.pdf/941e4e4e-60db-4f89-afb3-32bddb8488e0
La società benefit: spunti di riflessione sulle nuove prospettive del settore non profit
- B Bertarini
Bertarini B. (2016), La società benefit: spunti di riflessione sulle nuove prospettive del settore
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Le Società Benefit. La nuova prospettiva di una Corporate Social Responsibility con Commitment, Fondazione Nazionale dei Commercialisti
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Castellani G., De Rossi D., Rampa A. (2016), Le Società Benefit. La nuova prospettiva di una
Corporate Social Responsibility con Commitment, Fondazione Nazionale dei Commercialisti, Roma. https://www.fondazionenazionalecommercialisti.it/node/1006.
Una ricerca Assonime sulle società benefit. Dati empirici, prassi statutaria e prospettive, Analisi giuridica dell'economia
- M Bianchini
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Bianchini M., Sertoli C. (2018), Una ricerca Assonime sulle società benefit. Dati empirici,
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