Perceptions of Socially Responsible Businesses: Benefit Corporations
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Authors
Cahill, Elena
Wingate, Nikki
Issue Date
2015-03-27
Type
Presentation
Language
en_US
Keywords
Business , Benefit corporation
Alternative Title
Abstract
A benefit corporation was created to allow for-profit corporate entity to overcome the gap of biased approach towards the benefit of shareholders. When filing a certification of incorporation that voluntarily meets higher standards of corporate purpose accountability, and transparency. Benefit corporations: 1. have a corporate purpose to create a material positive impact on society and the environment. 2. are required to consider the impact of their decisions not only on shareholders but also on workers, community, and the environment. 3. are required to make available to the public an annual benefit report that assesses their overall performance against a third party standard. Becoming a benefit corporation provides entrepreneurs an additional choice when determining which corporate entity is most suitable to achieve their objectives and provides existing corporations a mechanism to change their legal entity election. In this exploratory research, we aim to investigate perceptions of the new election by consumers and entrepreneurs, and compare the differences in those perceptions.