NABET, NABET 2017 Conference

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Corporate Social Responsibility: Support from Three Relatively New Corporate Types
Douglas L. Nay

Last modified: 2017-09-29

Abstract



Corporate Social Responsibility has been endlessly debated since Milton Friedman's 1970 proclamation that maximizing social responsibility by business is a matter of making profits and providing jobs, rather mimicking Adam Smith's trickle down theory. The world has changed with globalization, technological innovation and investor pressure for maximum quarterly profits. Sustainability strategies are on the increase and productivity increases are inching forward with a new working style and seeming social concern from Millennials. Three new corporate forms are giving new options to social entrepreneurs for pursuing social good. These three relatively new types of corporations are the B Certified Corporations, Benefit Corporations and Low Profit Limited Liability (3LC)corporations. The Certified B Corporations and Benefit Corporations are both brain childs' of three Stanford friends, two of whom had a previous successful  venture in  AND1 athletic shoes with a profit and social purpose. The B Lab non-profit they formed has been the main catalyst behind thirty six states passing legislation (with seven more in progress) to allow the Benefit Corporation as a legitimate  enterprise either as a new venture or as a conversion from another corporate type. Over 2500 companies are now Benefit Corporations. A benefit Corporation has a social purpose and a for profit purpose. The social purpose is declared at the start and may be changed. Control of incorporation rules rests with the states and in most states an annual or biannual report on progress toward the social purpose. Certified B Corporations are more closely monitored and supported by B Lab, pre examined , reexamined annually and reported on publicly. The dual purpose, hybrid nature of Benefit Corporations and Certified B Corporations protects corporate officers and governance for investing in social problem-solving from investor suits for not pursuing maximum wealth for the company.Fewer states have adopted the Less Profit Limited Liability 3LC legislation with about 1600 companies in eight states and two native American Indian Nations offering this option. These corporate types are the first new types since 1977 and provide support and impetus to social entrepreneurship.

Keywords


ethics;social entrepreneurship;corporate govenance