Certified B Corporations and Benefit Corporations

by

Joel Gehman, Urusha Thapa, Ke Cao

• LAST REVIEWED: 29 October 2024
• LAST MODIFIED: 21 June 2024
• DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199846740-0203

Introduction

Since the mid-2010s, Certified B Corporations and Benefit Corporations, both commonly referred to as B Corps, have emerged as a global phenomenon. These organizational forms are adopted by for-profit businesses. Whereas Certified B Corporations have been accredited for their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices, Benefit Corporations are a new legal form, currently available in forty states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico in the United States as well as in British Columbia (Canada), Colombia, Ecuador, France, Italy, and Peru. These innovations were promulgated by B Lab, a US-based nonprofit organization. Founded in 2006 in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, B Lab has sought to institutionalize business as a force for good. To date, certification is available to any business worldwide, and approximately eight thousand companies in ninety-three countries were certified as of January 2024. Prominent Certified B Corporations include Ben & Jerry’s, Coursera, Danone North America, Patagonia, and TOMS. Examples of Benefit Corporations include Allbirds, data.world, Kickstarter, and Plum Organics. Overall, the B Corp movement’s radical aspiration to redefine business has garnered substantial attention from policymakers, media, businesses, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and academics. This article provides an overview of burgeoning scholarly work—ranging from general references and cutting-edge theoretical work to empirical research evidence and key pedagogical resources. A core focus is on enumerating the variety of theoretical perspectives and central research themes in extant work, including interdisciplinary publications. We close by discussing exemplary teaching materials and introducing other resources, such as the B Academics research community, a chronology of key thematic research events, and data sets available to researchers. Overall, the bibliography, first published in 2021, serves as a living repository of B Corp scholarship, past and emerging, for a broad range of veteran and nascent B Corp academics across multiple disciplines.

General Overview

Cao, et al. 2018 provides a comprehensive review of B Lab’s initial founding, multifaceted strategy, and organizational progress, from its launch on 5 July 2006 through December 2016. Key milestones include the September 2006 release of the first version of the B Impact Assessment and the June 2007 introduction of the first cohort of nineteen Certified B Corporations. In April 2010, Maryland became the first jurisdiction to enact Benefit Corporation legislation, and in 2015, Italy became the first country to do so. In September 2011, B Lab launched its impact investing platform at the Clinton Global Initiative. The first B Corp outside the United States was certified in February 2009. Drawing on interviews and case studies, Honeyman 2014 provides information about a broad mix of Certified B Corporations, including their self-reported motives for pursuing certification and insights on the certification process. A second edition of this work, Honeyman and Jana 2019, provides expanded coverage of the B Corp movement and examines B Lab’s efforts to build a more inclusive economy through initiatives such as the “Inclusive Economy Challenge,” a program aimed at fostering greater justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) within the business sector. Marquis 2020a explores the rapid growth of companies choosing to certify as B Corps, both in the United States and internationally, and argues that B Corps will play an increasingly vital role in society. Gehman, et al. 2019 catalogues 226 scholarly articles and book chapters related to B Corps from the first publication in 2009 through the end of 2018. Initially focused on legal aspects of Benefit Corporation legislation, work in this area continues to be vibrant. Research from a general business and management perspective began in 2012 and has grown every year, becoming the second-largest stream of research in this area. A few scholars also have approached the topic of B Corps from an ethics perspective, but work in this area appears to have peaked in 2016.

• Cao, Ke, Joel Gehman, and Matthew G. Grimes. “Standing Out and Fitting In: Charting the Emergence of Certified B Corporations by Industry and Region.” In Hybrid Ventures. Edited by Andrew C. Corbett and Jerome A. Katz, 1–38. Advances in Entrepreneurship, Firm Emergence and Growth 19. Bingley, UK: Emerald, 2018.

  DOI: 10.1108/S1074-754020170000019001

  Provides an overview of B Lab and its “business as a source for good” movement from 2006 to 2016. Analyzes the emergence of the B Corporation certification. Outlines a research agenda on hybrid ventures and highlights promising future research directions.

• Gehman, Joel, Matthew G. Grimes, and Ke Cao. “Why We Care about Certified B Corporations: From Valuing Growth to Certifying Values Practices.” Academy of Management Discoveries 5.1 (2019): 97–101.

  DOI: 10.5465/amd.2018.0074

  An incisive review of scholarly research on Certified B Corporations and Benefit Corporations published from 2009 to 2018.

• Honeyman, Ryan. The B Corp Handbook: How You Can Use Business as a Force for Good. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2014.

  The first edition of a popular handbook aimed primarily at practitioners looking to attain the B Corporation certification.

• Honeyman, Ryan, and Tiffany Jana. The B Corp Handbook: How You Can Use Business as a Force for Good. 2d ed. Oakland, CA: Berrett-Koehler, 2019.

  The second edition of a popular handbook updated with new interviews and case studies and an additional focus on how B Corporations engaged with B Lab’s “Inclusive Economy Challenge” regarding EDI practices.

• Marquis, Christopher. Better Business: How the B Corp Movement Is Remaking Capitalism. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2020a.

  DOI: 10.2307/j.ctv15pjxg6

  Provides an accessible look at the rapid growth of companies choosing to certify as B Corps in the United States and beyond. Argues that B Corps will play an increasingly vital role in society.