European B Corps: the relationship between financial performance and social performance.

Abstract

The concept of “corporate social responsibility” has evolved during the recent years. If in the past it was only conceived as something additional it now plays a significant role when it comes to the development of the business strategy. The recognition of social and environmental domains as strategically relevant implicitly entails considering a broader group of stakeholders when taking decisions. There are several ways thorough which a company can integrate these two domains into its value chain and show its commitment; one is becoming a certified B Corp. B Corps are hybrid companies that seek to overcome the economic-social trade-off by combining their “for-profit” mission with a social mission, which have to be pursued with the same effort. After the B Corp model and the certification process are presented, this research will move the focus on investigating whether the social performance outcome is influenced by the financial performance of the company. This study is based on a sample of selected European B Corps, whose social and financial performances are analysed in a time span of 10 years.