Sanford Lewis, the attorney for Harrington Investments behind the recent Intel decision to include sustainability as a required consideration of a committee of its Board of Directors, posted this interesting piece on CRSWire. It is about different approaches to corporations adopting the Precautionary Principle to corporation risk management and governance. It is a great read, so check it out.
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Discussion: 3 Comments
I agree with Mr. Lewis’ sentiment, but see an error in his message that could prove quite harmful to B Lab and the community of B Corps if unaddressed.
That is, the Maryland Law does not allow companies to incorporate as “B Corporations;” rather, it allows for the incorporation of “benefit corporations”. B CORPORATION is a is a brand; whereas benefit corporations are the type of entity that is recognized by the State of Maryland.
It is important for B Lab or it legal representatives to politely correct misstatements like this, otherwise it risks genercide — losing all rights of exclusivity — over the B CORPORATION brand.
Just think, aspirin, escalator, cellophane, baby oil, shredded wheat, yo-yo– these all started off as brands!
I don’t mean to be a downer or to discount Mr. Lewis’ important message in any way. I support B Lab wholeheartedly and would hate to see the B CORPORATION brand dissolve due to uncorrected misuse by the public and/or media.
That’s correct Lara. Benefit Corporation legislation creates a new class of corporation; B Corporation certification recognizes those at the head of the class.
The distinction is about performance.
Certified B Corporations meet high standards of social and environmental performance in addition to the accountability and transparency standards required to incorporate as a Benefit Corporation.
The communiity of more than 300 Certified B Corporations is an important business constituency for passage of Benefit Corp legislation across all 50 states. Benefit Corp legislation creates legal recognition and legitamacy for the 300 ‘one-off’ legal innovations of the community of Certified B Corps, each of which have expanded their corporate responsibilites to include consideration of the impact of their decisions on their employees, community, and the environment, as well as there shareholders.
I stand corrected, and am working with the editor rectify this in the blog post.
Sanford Lewis, Esq.