Benefit Corporations

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-247
Author(s):  
Kathleen Wilburn ◽  
Ralph Wilburn ◽  
Keyword(s):  
District Of Columbia ◽  
Fortune 500 ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Social Purpose ◽  
Benefit Corporation ◽  
Fortune 500 Companies ◽  
Benefit Corporations ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
Assessment Format ◽  
Third Party Assessment

More than half of the S&P 500 and the Fortune 500 companies publish corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports. CSR is at the heart of a new form of corporation, the benefit corporation, which requires the pursuit of a social purpose as well as pursuit of profit. Thirty-four states, plus the District of Columbia, have enacted benefit corporation legislation. Most laws require that benefit corporations publish reports on their social purpose performance using a third-party assessment format. The purpose of this paper is to analyze 1,530 benefit corporations identified by B Lab and the state of Minnesota for proof of social purpose performance, as demonstrated in reports on their websites. The study found some companies with excellent reports, but those had had a CSR focus prior to becoming benefit corporations or had been Certified B Corporations. However, most benefit corporations in the study had no published reports; many have no websites.

Social purpose in a social media world

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen Wilburn ◽  
Ralph Wilburn
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Web Sites ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Fortune 500 ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Csr Reporting ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
A Company ◽  
Third Party Assessment

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the effects of social media on a company when stakeholders decide select companies are not living up to their corporate social responsibility (CSR) goals. As the number of CSR and sustainability reports on company Web sites increases, the more stakeholders, not just stockholders, know about a company’s commitment to CSR, and the more they can use social media to comment on those goals. It will describe three strategies for CSR initiatives that move beyond self-reporting of goals and progress: third party assessment, specialized certifications and partnerships to provide trustworthy data to stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach – The experiences of Nestlé, Unilever, PepsiCo/Frito Lay and P & G are described. Key third-party assessors and their processes are described, as well as organizations who certify in specific areas. The importance of third-party assessment for CSR achievement is reinforced by examining the results of two reports on CSR reporting trends and capital markets’ response, one of Fortune 500® companies and the other of S & P 500® companies by the Governance & Accountability Institute, Inc. Findings – All three strategies used to verify the data for CSR accomplishment help companies communicate their goals through social media. Originality/value – All three strategies used to verify the data for CSR accomplishment are shown to help companies communicate and validate their CSR goals through social media.

Multivariate Sustainability Profile of Global Fortune 500 Companies Using GRI-G4 Database

2021 ◽  
pp. 55-84
Author(s):  
Mónica Jiménez-Hernández ◽  
Purificación Vicente-Galindo ◽  
Nathalia Tejedor-Flores ◽  
Adelaide Freitas ◽  
Purificación Galindo
Keyword(s):  
Logistic Regression Model ◽  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Fortune 500 ◽  
Global Reporting Initiative ◽  
Multivariate Statistical ◽  
Principal Coordinates Analysis ◽  
Fortune 500 Companies ◽  
Principal Coordinates ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
Social Components

The main objective of this research is to find the sustainability gradients of Global Fortune 500 companies and sort them as a function of economic, environmental, and social components using multivariate statistical methods to establish the foundations for better knowledge of the trends and sustainability reporting habits. A combined approach, comprising principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) and logistic regression model (LRM), is proposed to build an external logistics biplot (ELB). Moreover, HJ-Biplot and parallel coordinates are applied. This chapter helps to understand why many companies view their corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports as a way to guarantee the credibility of the published information. In particular, based on the Global Reporting Initiative, the sustainability gradients of the Global Fortune 500 companies are obtained and statistically exploited to analyze how the companies can make improvements in terms of sustainability.

Longitudinal Analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility on Company Websites

2017 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Taken Smith
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Supply Chain ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Fortune 500 ◽  
Dominant Focus ◽  
Fortune 500 Companies ◽  
Business Practitioners ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
Website Content

As social issues increase, so does the scope of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Companies are expanding their CSR activities and making the terminology used to describe them more specific. This study compares website content of Fortune 500 companies in 2015 with content collected in 2011. Traditionally, two CSR issues have been the dominant focus on company websites: community and environment. Findings reveal that these terms have decreased in usage and new terms have emerged, such as supply chain and volunteer involvement. A shift has occurred that business practitioners will find helpful in communicating CSR initiatives.

scholarly journals Like It or Not: When Corporate Social Responsibility Does Not Attract Potential Applicants

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Alexandra Jakob ◽  
Holger Steinmetz ◽  
Marius Claus Wehner ◽  
Christina Engelhardt ◽  
Rüdiger Kabst
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Signaling Theory ◽  
Fortune 500 ◽  
Organizational Attractiveness ◽  
Csr Communication ◽  
Stakeholder Groups ◽  
Fortune 500 Companies ◽  
External Stakeholders ◽  
Corporate Social

AbstractCompanies increasingly recognize the importance of communicating corporate social responsibility (CSR) including their engagement toward employees, the community, the environment and other stakeholder groups to attract applicants. The positive findings on the effect of CSR on applicants’ reactions are commonly based on the assumption that companies send a clear signal about their commitment to CSR. However, communication is always contextualized and has become more ambiguous through the increased availability of information online. External stakeholders including actual and potential applicants are confronted with inconsistencies between the way companies communicate CSR activities and their overall CSR performance. Drawing on signaling theory, this article raises the question of how the interaction between strong CSR communication and low CSR performance influences organizational attractiveness. We propose that low CSR performance dampens the effect of CSR communication on organizational attractiveness. Hence, the inconsistency between CSR communication and CSR performance decreases organizational attractiveness. To test our hypotheses, we scraped 67,189 posts published on corporate Facebook career pages by 58 Fortune 500 companies from the time they began their respective career page until June 2018. Surprisingly, our results show that a low CSR performance strengthens the effect of CSR communication on organizational attractiveness. Thus, inconsistencies between CSR communication and CSR performance seem to lead to positive evaluations among applicants.

scholarly journals Taking Stock of the Benefit Corporation

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-124
Author(s):  
Ronald J. Colombo
Keyword(s):  
Final Section ◽  
Corporate Law ◽  
American Business ◽  
Minimal Impact ◽  
New Era ◽  
Benefit Corporation ◽  
Benefit Corporations ◽  
History Of ◽  
Standards Of Conduct ◽  
Corporate Social

Almost a decade ago, the “benefit corporation” first appeared on American soil. Its supporters proclaimed that this would usher in a new era of corporate social responsibility. Its detractors complained that the benefit corporation would facilitate managerial abuses that corporate law had worked so hard to curb. After nearly ten years of experience with the benefit corporation, who was the more accurate prognosticator? Moreover, has the benefit corporation given rise to developments, whether beneficial or negative, that were not expected or foreseen? This Article traces the history of the benefit corporation, with a focus on the promise that its early supporters identified with it. It also examines the criticisms that this new form of business organization provoked. The Article concludes that, contrary to the predictions of both camps, the benefit corporation has not, apparently, resulted in much change at all. In its final Section, the Article explores the reasons why the benefit corporation has had, thus far at least, such minimal impact on the course of American business and corporate law. The conclusion reached is that, for good or for ill, benefit corporation statutes do not materially change the rules of corporate governance. Rather, they simply explicitly permit benefit corporations to conduct themselves according to standards of conduct that traditional corporate law statutes already implicitly permit. Although the promoters of benefit corporation legislation have argued that even this minor change would have an impact on businesses by effecting a normative shift in corporate decision-making, contemporary market forces appear to have had the same result on a far broader scale. Lastly, this Article considers some of the unexpected repercussions of the benefit corporation, whether manifested or growing in potential.

scholarly journals Better Benefits for Better Business: Certified Benefit Corporations Connected Through Internal Communications

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carly Adair ◽  
Holly Overton
Keyword(s):  
Decision Makers ◽  
Bottom Line ◽  
Social Good ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Benefit Corporation ◽  
Benefit Corporations ◽  
Social And Environmental Performance ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
Internal Communications ◽  
Qualitative Characteristics

Despite the broad body of research examining Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) communications, there remains a lack of literature discussing the expansion of Certified Benefit Corporations (B Corps), which are businesses that meet a verified social and environmental performance to advance social good. Existing research analyzes the connection of internal communications and CSR. The following research reviews this relationship and suggests that more for profit companies qualify to be an effective B Corp due to shared qualitative characteristics of internal communications. The characteristics reviewed are corporate storytelling, triple bottom line values, and the importance of key decision makers. The literature review connects CSR and internal communications to form the foundation of 21 interview questions. The interview questions were used to identify qualitative characteristics of B Corps through an in-depth interview process. Top key decision makers in B Corps were selected to interview to gather qualitative information on their internal communications. The interview questions led to an open dialogue about the influence B Corps has had on each company. Each interview was transcribed accordingly and discussed in the research below. Three themes were discovered after reviewing the primary research. The overall consensus suggests that a sense of strong internal communications in a company can be represented in a Certified Benefit Corporation.

Communicating bad news in corporate social responsibility reporting: A genre-based analysis of Chinese companies

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-43
Author(s):  
Yuting Lin
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Fortune 500 ◽  
Bad News ◽  
Self Disclosure ◽  
Csr Reporting ◽  
Fortune 500 Companies ◽  
Chinese Companies ◽  
Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting ◽  
Corporate Social

In corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting, companies are expected to fully disclose the negative social and environmental impacts of their activities. This study investigates how Chinese companies respond to this challenge by analyzing the representations of occupational fatalities and injuries in 92 CSR reports from 37 Chinese Fortune 500 companies. A move-step analysis was performed on one part of the CSR report, which is the section providing information on occupational incidents. It was found that the negative information was typically disclosed via four rhetorical moves, which are ‘preparing the reader’, ‘delivering the bad news’, ‘mitigating the bad news’ and ‘reassuring the reader’. Communicating bad news through the four moves helps manage the reader’s perception of the reporting company and its CSR performance. The study calls for greater attention to the impression-managing aspects of companies’ self-disclosure of organizational bad news.

scholarly journals Board Gender Diversity, Social Performance, and CEO Compensation

1970 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
K. Gilley ◽  
Kelly Weeks ◽  
Joseph Coombs ◽  
Myrtle Bell ◽  
Donald Kluemper
Keyword(s):  
Executive Compensation ◽  
Ceo Compensation ◽  
Corporate Social Performance ◽  
Social Performance ◽  
Gender Diversity ◽  
Fortune 500 ◽  
Fortune 500 Companies ◽  
Ceo Pay ◽  
Board Gender Diversity ◽  
Corporate Social

This study examines the extent to which board gender diversity and corporatesocial performance influence CEO compensation. The sample includes 1,829observations from 262 Fortune 500 companies over multiple years. Findings indicatethat board gender diversity and corporate social performance interact to predict CEOcompensation. The data show that boards comprised of a higher percentage of womenplace increasing emphasis on certain kinds of corporate social performance whensetting CEO pay, and decreasing emphasis on other types of social performance. Ourfindings highlight the complex interrelationships between executive compensation,board composition, and corporate social performance.

The Business Excellence Model for CSR Implementation?

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Neergaard ◽  
Esben Rahbek Pedersen
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Quality Management ◽  
Fortune 500 ◽  
Improve Performance ◽  
Fortune 500 Companies ◽  
Award Winning ◽  
Business Excellence ◽  
European Foundation ◽  
European Business ◽  
Corporate Social

Abstract Most of the Fortune 500 companies address Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on their websites. However, CSR remains a fluffy concept difficult to implement in organization. The European Business Excellence Model has since the introduction in 1992 served as a powerful tool for integrating quality in organizations. CSR was first introduced in the model in 2002. From 2004 the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) has been eager to promote the model as an effective tool for implementing CSR.. The article discusses the potentials of the model for this end and illustrates how a 2006 European Award winning company has used the model to integrate CSR. The company adapted the Business Excellence model to improve performance, stimulate innovation and consensus.

Embedded Corporate Social Responsibility: Can't We Do Better Than GE, Intel, and IBM? How About a Benefit Corporation?

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 354-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yolanda Sarason ◽  
Grace Hanley
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Core Competencies ◽  
Benefit Corporation ◽  
Benefit Corporations ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
Systematic Identification ◽  
Better Than

We agree with Aguinis and Glavas's (2013) conceptualization of embedded versus peripheral corporate social responsibility (CSR). Our concern is whether GE, Intel, and IBM are the best examples of companies with embedded CSR. We propose a more systematic identification of companies with embedded company-wide CSR. A source of exemplars may be aided in drawing upon companies that meet the criteria of “B Corps” or organize as “Benefit Corporations.” Patagonia and New Belgium Brewing Company are provided as examples of “B Corp” companies that utilize core competencies to create company-wide embedded CSR.

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