Presented at the 2017 Global B Corp Academic Community Roundtable on October 4, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at the University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management. The presentation provides a brief overview of published research on B Corps and/or Benefit Corporations.

1. B Academics:
Status of Research on B Corps
and Benefit Corporations
Joel Gehman & Ke Cao
2017 Global B Corp Academic Community Roundtable
Rotman School of Management

2. Agenda
1. Academic literature to date
2. The emergence of an academic
community interested in B Corps and
Benefit Corporations
3. Future research opportunities

3. 2
7
11
21
30
33
46
39
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
2009 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Number of Peer Reviewed Journal Articles

4. 0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
2009 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Number of Peer Reviewed Journal Articles by Year and Area
Law
Ethics
Business

5. But, just 5 papers on FT 50
business journals
• 2 Journal of Business Ethics:
Smith & Rönnegard 2016; André 2012
• 1 Journal of Management Studies:
McMullen & Warnick 2016
• 1 Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice:
Friar & Vittori 2017
• 1 Academy of Management Journal:
Gehman & Grimes 2017

6. 5 more articles expected

7. CASE i3 2010-2015

8. A unique research setting
• Measurement and sampling accuracy
• Voluntary certifications
• New legal forms
• Impact investing
• Global and cross-industry contexts

9. Key research questions
• How would social missions impact financial
performance?
• Do the different configurations of social missions
matter?
• What factors might impact the adoption patterns
of B Corps?
• Do certification and legislation complement or
substitute for one another?
• What might impact the attrition of B Corps?

10. Strengthening the
B Corp data
• Identifiers (e.g., DUNS)
• Data on customers, ops,
biz models
• Longitudinal data,
including funding
• Conventional
management outcomes
• Commensuration
between BIA and ESG
(e.g., GRI, MSCI ESG)