trading for good
Corporate America is on the brink of a new age, in which
the bottom line involves far more than just profit. The
B corporation is the mechanism that’ll make it happen.
By kerry rogers
IF THE GREAT RECESSION has taught
us anything it’s that greed carries
limitations. Success, we know, has to be
measured in more ways than one. In a
drive for companies to do business more
responsibly, the trend of triple-bottomline (people, planet, profits) reporting has
gained momentum. These principles have
been taken one step further in the design of
the B corporation, or Benefit corporation.
Kevin Maggiacomo (YPO New England)
is president and CEO of Sperry Van Ness
International, a top commercial real
estate advisory company in the US. He
is currently busy with the conversion of
his company into a B corp and is working
with certification organization B Lab to
develop standards for franchisors. As yet,
no precedent is in place for franchisors to
become B Lab certified, and Maggiacomo
hopes to become the first.
“There are challenges,” he says. “But
this is worth doing. B corporation’s help
consumers distinguish between good
companies and those who simply market
their ‘goodness’ well.”
What?
The aim of this new class of corporation
is to add public benefit to the deliverables
demanded of a for-profit organisation.
The reason is clear: the power o