Society - Written Monday, November 16, 2009 by Gautam Lamba - 0 Comments

Incorporating Social Benefit

With the proliferation of corporate scandal in the past decade or so, today’s enterprise finds itself facing consumers who demand that it be more transparent, accountable and be considerate of the environment in which it operates. These demands have traditionally been made of governments and corporations have the added responsibility to continue to generate a profit and provide positive return for its shareholders. All in all, it is a trying time and companies are struggling to find the balance between what is profitable and what is socially acceptable.

However, the silver lining is that the new demand broadens the scope of competitive factors as any corporation that can convey its commitment to social good in a measurable form holds a serious advantage over its competitors. And the B Corporation initiative seeks to provide just such an option. An idea formulated and crafted by B Labs, the B Corporation initiative allows companied to be certified as a ‘B Corp’ – a social benefit corporation. Why might this help enterprises in building trust with consumers you ask? Well, for starters, an entity that seeks to be certified in this manner needs to adopt the charter of a B Corp, which includes an extended shareholders model, and adopt a holistic measure of organizational success. The extended model and novel scorecard that takes the environmental, leadership community impacts of the business are all an effort at distinguishing a ‘good company’ from ‘good marketing’. Continue…