As another commenter noted, Nespresso is a B Corp [1] and a subsidiary of Nestlé, which isn't traditionally thought of as a particularly "good" company, to put it gently [2].<p>My opinion of the B Corp designation, which has been heavily colored by founding + running a nonprofit full-time, is that it's mostly a marketing tool, and otherwise doesn't carry much weight. A common context I come across them in is offering services to nonprofits (ex [3] [4]), which they seem to do at approximately market rates in most cases.<p>In some ways (but certainly not all), I think the 501c3 process/designation puts stronger guardrails in place to make sure an organization isn't doing anything particularly terrible, by 1) limiting the financial upside to doing "bad" things, 2) removing the tax-exempt status if the org deviates too far from their stated mission (filed in a 1023 with the IRS) or receives too much money from the wrong places, and 3) forcing a bit of transparency by publishing 990s (the nonprofit yearly tax filing).<p>[1] <a href="https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/find-a-b-corp/company/nespresso-global/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/find-a-b-corp/company/nes...</a><p>[2] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestl%C3%A9#Controversies_and_criticisms" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestl%C3%A9#Controversies_and_...</a><p>[3] <a href="https://www.wholewhale.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.wholewhale.com/</a><p>[4] <a href="https://www.fatbeehive.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.fatbeehive.com/</a>
Many scholars note thay a B-corp is mostly a marketing strategy. There is little in B-corporate status that meaningfully differentiates from a traditional corporation, except to signal to customer and shareholders the intent of the firm to consider total stakeholder value.<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/b-corp-certification-wont-guarantee-companies-really-care-for-people-planet-and-profit-124459" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://theconversation.com/b-corp-certification-wont-guaran...</a>
This is the first I've become aware of B Corp and I like the idea.<p>I dug into what defines a B Corp. Notably the self-described "stringent" rules for becoming licensed. Pardon my ignorance, but it seems like a lot of regulatory checks to adhere to for keeping the company accountable? Seems.. like a lot of overhead.<p>I've been silently cheering on Teamshares.com over the past year hoping their idea catches on. I'm not sure if that's the same idea (emphasis being on employee ownership). But I'd be interested in hearing the account of others who have worked for a B Corp.
This site is a solid way of seeking work at a good company or being a responsible consumer.<p>When I was looking for work in environmental policy around 2016/18, I looked at this tool and it was sparsely populated. Now it feels like many companies have made attempts to conform to the standards, which is no simple feat, especially for multi-nationals.<p>It’s exciting to see alternate means of assessing value in a company. Such an evaluation is essential if we want to rethink classical economics and value companies who add value to their employees, the earth, or sustainable practices.
I've been trying to find a meaningful job at a BCorp or other socially/environmentally responsible company for a while.
Sadly, it doesn't seem like you get a lot of chances as a Software Engineer, since most of the corporations just offer services or physical products.
It's a nice idea and website, but the structure seems very…nonideal. Why should this be governed by a private entity that they have to pay to monitor and recertify them? What's to stop a company from being "for society and the environment" until they get big enough to not care? As far as I can see, nothing's legally binding. At any point, the shareholders can just amend the bylaws to give up their little badge and do whatever makes them more money.<p>I think something like a benefit corporation or L3C is far more meaningful. Having all the capital legally tied into having society and the environment as beneficiaries thereof is way better than having a private company give you a little badge to advertise with as long as you do what they want.
What always bothered me about "B corps" was that the name suggests something analogous to C corp or S corp, which in most states is not actually the case. I think my home state of Massachusetts does it well and labels them as "Public Benefit Corporations" instead of "B corps".
One of my favorite tech conferences, All Things Open, is actually a B Corp[1]. Pretty cool.<p>1. <a href="https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/find-a-b-corp/company/all-things-open/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/find-a-b-corp/company/all...</a>
I run two SMEs in Tourism, and as their size is small we opted years ago, to spend certification costs into CO2e offsetting. We use United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as a pillars for managing.
for those looking for b corp jobs, i'm not sure if this is actually maintained<p><a href="https://www.bwork.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.bwork.com/</a>