Search Results (8)

This study evaluates the effectiveness of the B Impact Assessment (BIA) as a catalyst for integrating sustainability into industrial firms through a qualitative case study of LC Paper, the first B Corp-certified tissue manufacturer globally and a pioneer in applying BIA in the pulp and paper sector. Based on semi-structured interviews, organizational documents, and direct observation, this study examines how BIA influences corporate governance, environmental practices, and stakeholder engagement. The findings show that BIA fosters structured goal setting and the implementation of measurable actions aligned with environmental stewardship, social responsibility, and economic resilience. Tangible outcomes include improved stakeholder trust, internal transparency, and employee development, while implementation challenges such as resource allocation and procedural complexity are also reported. Although the single-case design limits generalizability, this study identifies mechanisms transferable to other firms, particularly those in environmentally intensive sectors. The case studied also illustrates how leadership commitment, participatory governance, and data-driven tools facilitate the operationalization of sustainability. By integrating stakeholder and institutional theory, this study contributes conceptually to understanding certification frameworks as tools for embedding sustainability. This research offers both theoretical and practical insights into how firms can align strategy and impact, expanding the application of BIA beyond early adopters and into traditional industrial contexts. Full article

This study aims at examining how B Corporations advance Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in their practices by analyzing the socioenvironmental problems they address and the solutions they provide to those problems. All Argentinian B Corporations, certified by early 2023 (135 companies), were investigated using a mixed approach, combining social network analysis with textual data analysis. The results showed that the environmental practices are primarily linked to waste, water, energy and chemical management, as well as product innovation. In turn, the social practices address the training, education, and well-being of employees and other stakeholders, diversity, equity and inclusion management, and the creation of an inclusive and fair environment, integrating local communities. Thus, in the flow of their sustainability practices, Argentinian B Corporations contribute to SDGs 8, 12, 13, 9, 6, 7, 5, 10, 11, 4, and 17, in line with the SDGs declared by these companies. Our findings contribute to the theoretical knowledge on the B Corp movement and have practical implications by providing input to improve the management of B Corporations and to guide public policies encouraging these companies to advance sustainable development dimensions lacking attention. Full article

Crowdfunding is an emerging practice that plays a central role in funding innovative ideas that support social sustainability. B-Corps are sustainable companies that are increasingly pursuing innovative financial strategies to fund their corporate sustainability goals. To date, the use of crowdfunding as a social financing innovation by B-Corp organisations has received scant attention. This paper contributes to closing this gap by addressing three research questions. The first investigates the relationship between B-Corps certification and the use of crowdfunding. The second explores whether there is a relationship between crowdfunding and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The third investigates B-Corps’ level of information transparency in relation to this innovation and SDGs. Our investigation involved a cross-analysis of B Labs and the main crowdfunding platforms. In total, 28 B-Corps were identified as using crowdfunding platforms. Of these, 22 were selected for analysis. Our findings reveal that the pandemic period increased the use of crowdfunding among B-Corps. Crowdfunding financing was not found to be linked to the SDGs as not all investors purse these goals. We further found that investors prefer to base their decisions on the information communicated via crowdfunding platforms. Few companies declared the use of this innovative form of financing on their websites, especially on the homepage, and less than half of the companies analyzed included this form of financing in their sustainability reports. Our findings suggest that managers should provide specific information on the objectives of the campaign to be funded on the crowdfunding platforms and in the “other sustainability documents”. This way the campaigns would be more effective and could raise a greater amount of money. Full article

Currently, certification is an essential tool for a company’s sustainability and a seal of trust for the stakeholders. The B Corporation (B Corp) certification system is in line with the leading indicators of sustainable development and social responsibility published by the general assembly of the United Nations, namely: environment, community, workers, customers, and governance. Nevertheless, it is essential that academic research should empirically assess the B Corp model’s reliability for its validation and legitimization. In this study, we address the results of the B Impact Assessment of 2262 companies certified by B Corp from the beginning of 2017 to March 2021. The main objective is to analyze the B Impact Assessment, verifying the robustness and consistency of the model to measure and improve the economic, social, and environmental impact of companies. We analyzed the construct’s validity through a confirmatory factorial analysis using AMOS statistical software. The results allowed us to identify some weaknesses and limitations of the B Impact Assessment. This certification system reflects an unadjusted model where the main assessment indicators have problems with regard to the measurement scale. The governance and customer indicators are the most vulnerable. The findings also allow us to state that there are apparently no minimum values established for each of the parameters evaluated, which may cause imbalances in the sustainable development process of B Corp companies. This research contributes to enhancing B Impact Assessment as a sustainability tool, highlighting areas for improvement concerning the indicators’ measurement scales and the assessment process, including the monitoring of evaluators. Full article

With Our Common Future and the United Nation’s global call to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2030, public policies increasingly emphasise the need for various actors to contribute to a global transformation and a more sustainable future. Despite growing research on hybrid organisations and their contributions to sustainable development, their impact on accelerating this transition might be faulty. Looking at a type of hybrid organisation, Certified B Corporations (B Corps), this article draws on a multiple case study of nine B Corps in a developing country in Latin America, Colombia. The study builds on the Structuration Theory to examine to what extent and how B Corps impact sustainable development. The article empirically shows that B Corps focus on four categories of sustainable development: considering future generations; enhancing human development; encouraging new mindsets, behaviours, and lifestyles; and promoting socio-political engagement. The findings suggest that B Corps develop communicative and narrative discourses and symbolic schemas as means of signification and follow norms and moral rules to exert legitimation and utilise authoritative resources to exercise power. The article contributes to research on hybrid organisations, sustainability transitions, and business models. Full article

The urgent need that the private sector generate positive social and environmental impacts in order to cope with the grand challenges faced by humanity and contribute to sustainable development, has ignited the need to understand the country conditions that could promote such an endeavor, especially for small firms who may have more difficulties and, among them, those that try to generate positive impacts for multiple stakeholders, such as Certified B Corporations (CBCs). To contribute to such understanding, we use fsQCA to identify the combinations of presence/absence of four entrepreneurial framework conditions (EFCs)—financing for entrepreneurs, taxes and bureaucracy, R&D transfer, and commercial and legal infrastructure—that are sufficient for the presence/absence of a high average impact score of small-size CBCs in the country. The analysis reveals that two combinations of the presence/absence of the considered EFCs are sufficient for the presence and another two are sufficient for the absence of that outcome. General patterns, specific combinations and the implications for policymakers, CBCs managers and future research are discussed. Full article

The objective of this study is to explore empirically the dimensions that generate high impact in the finance industry to better understand its contribution from a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) perspective. We analyze data concerning impacts of finance sector firms certified by B Corp in order to identify the combinations that are necessary and/or sufficient to obtain a recognition of their high impact generation. The methodology followed to identify the impact dimensions is fsQCA, (fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis), a qualitative comparative analysis method applied to a sample of finance firms (n-181). The results indicate that financial sector firms exhibited four combinations focusing on different impact dimensions. Specifically, the first route indicates that a high degree of focus on customers and communities is sufficient to obtain a high impact score. The second path signals that the combination of the impacts on customers and corporate governance could lead to the same result, while in the third pathway the focus would be on the employees. Finally, the fourth route indicates that some financial firms focus strongly on their communities, corporate governance and their employees, but very weakly on the environmental dimension. Consequently, diverse combinations of CSR dimensions characterize financial sector contributions to impact generation and sustainable development. Full article

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. Full article