Perhaps the first time you saw the B Corp logo it was posted in the window of that new restaurant down the road, spotted while browsing the Patagonia website or seen on the packaging of your morning snack. Perhaps you have never even seen it at all. Whether you are a seasoned sustainability crusader, or just learning about them for the first time, B Corps have become increasingly common – with a directory of over 3500 companies in 74 countries, they can now be found in just about every corner of personal and corporate life.
Meeting the highest standards of environmental and social responsibility, public transparency and legal accountability, B Corps work to balance profit and purpose. And while some have argued that the whole operation is simply a marketing ploy, further research reveals that the “Certified B Corporation” logo affixed to that morning snack can actually reveal a lot about a company’s ethos.
As part of our social impact issue, WDO explored this rising movement to better understand what it takes to become a certified B Corp and the role of designers and design thinkers in shaping a new “B Economy”.
The B Corp movement started in 2006, with the founding of B Lab, the non-profit that oversees the B Corp certification. In order to become certified, companies undergo a self-completed B Impact Assessment (BIA), which measures how their corporate practices impact workers, community, environment and customers. Given this information, Standard Analysts at B Lab afford them an overall B Impact Score. Certification requires companies to achieve a minimum of an 80-point score, and the BIA is completed every three years in order to assure certification standards are continually met.
As an increasing number of high profile companies look to become certified, B Lab continues to accelerate the establishment of a “B Economy” – a new economic model where businesses compete not for profit or market share, but instead to be the “best for the world, the people living in it, and the natural environment on which our quality of life depends.” As noted by Colin Mayer, Professor of Management Studies at the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford, “we’ve got the wrong model of business. The purpose of business is not solely to produce profits. The purpose of business is to produce profitable solutions to the problems of people and planet.” And while there are a number of design firms, studios and companies that form part of the B Corp directory, the design sector as a whole remains deeply entrenched in linear practices and for-profit innovation. Design can no longer afford to sidestep social and environmental considerations to meet an endless cycle of productivity and consumption.
The B Corp movement offers to reshape the business of design. For designers and design thinkers, who bear an irrefutable stake in building a more inclusive, sustainable society, being part of the B Economy requires redefining our collective understanding of successful and impactful design. For both current and future design sector B Corps, and all those in between, what matters most now is giving thoughtful consideration to both people and place so that through product, practice and profit, design can benefit all.
As an increasing number of high profile companies look to become certified, B Lab continues to accelerate the establishment of a “B Economy” – a new economic model where businesses compete not for profit or market share, but instead to be the “best for the world, the people living in it, and the natural environment on which our quality of life depends.” As noted by Colin Mayer, Professor of Management Studies at the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford, “we’ve got the wrong model of business. The purpose of business is not solely to produce profits. The purpose of business is to produce profitable solutions to the problems of people and planet.” And while there are a number of design firms, studios and companies that form part of the B Corp directory, the design sector as a whole remains deeply entrenched in linear practices and for-profit innovation. Design can no longer afford to sidestep social and environmental considerations to meet an endless cycle of productivity and consumption.
The B Corp movement offers to reshape the business of design. For designers and design thinkers, who bear an irrefutable stake in building a more inclusive, sustainable society, being part of the B Economy requires redefining our collective understanding of successful and impactful design. For both current and future design sector B Corps, and all those in between, what matters most now is giving thoughtful consideration to both people and place so that through product, practice and profit, design can benefit all.
