IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ibn/ijbmjn/v13y2021i11p142.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An Italian Business Model for Engaging Organisations to Social Wellness: A Focus on the for Benefit Companies

Author

Listed:
  • Maria Antonella Ferri
  • Maria Palazzo

Abstract

In 2015, a new kind of company was introduced by law in Italy- the forBenefit Company (fBComp). Such kind of firms is characterized by a relevant novelty- they are for-profit companies whose statute explicitly recognizes the impact of managerial decisions on the wellness of society as well as on shareholders. This study focuses on fBComps as organizations which bases their survival on social legitimacy. Such public recognition can be achieved through creating relationships with social and economic actors (Golinelli, 2010). The objective of the current paper is to open up to a scientific and methodological discussion about the contribution that the social behavior of a company can give to its sustainable survival in light of the logic of diffused value co-creation. The study analyzes the fBComp as a new “social” business model (SBM), which evolves and goes far beyond the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) phenomenon. This topic posits some main research questions- is that a new form and method for value-production and distribution? How does it affect existent corporate governance logics? Results illustrate how this business model operates in practice, or, in other words, the practical applications for the concept of business for-benefit (Rawhouser, Cummings, & Crane, 2015). By conducting a desk analysis, based on a content analysis, using the results of the first Italian Report on fBComp, the contribution draws a portrait of this business model’s main features and explains how or if it impacts management practices, shareholders and other kind of stakeholders.

Suggested Citation

  • Maria Antonella Ferri & Maria Palazzo, 2021. "An Italian Business Model for Engaging Organisations to Social Wellness: A Focus on the for Benefit Companies," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 13(11), pages 142-142, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:ibn:ijbmjn:v:13:y:2021:i:11:p:142
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ijbm/article/download/0/0/37136/37286
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ijbm/article/view/0/37136
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hayagreeva Rao, 1994. "The Social Construction of Reputation: Certification Contests, Legitimation, and the Survival of Organizations in the American Automobile Industry: 1895–1912," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(S1), pages 29-44, December.
    2. Janine Hiller, 2013. "The Benefit Corporation and Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(2), pages 287-301, December.
    3. David L. Deephouse & Suzanne M. Carter, 2005. "An Examination of Differences Between Organizational Legitimacy and Organizational Reputation," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 329-360, March.
    4. Michael T. Hannan & László Pólos & Glenn R. Carroll, 2007. "Language Matters, from Logics of Organization Theory: Audiences, Codes, and Ecologies," Introductory Chapters, in: Logics of Organization Theory: Audiences, Codes, and Ecologies, Princeton University Press.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Czinkota, Michael & Kaufmann, Hans Rüdiger & Basile, Gianpaolo & Ferri, Maria Antonella, 2020. "For-Benefit Company (fBComp): An innovative social-business model. The Italian case," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 377-387.
    2. Thams, Yannick & Alvarado-Vargas, Marcelo J. & Newburry, William, 2016. "Geographical diversification as a predictor of MNC reputations in their home nations," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 2882-2889.
    3. H. L. Zou & R. C. Zeng & S. X. Zeng & Jonathan J. Shi, 2015. "How Do Environmental Violation Events Harm Corporate Reputation?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(8), pages 836-854, December.
    4. Antoaneta P Petkova, 2016. "Standing Out or Blending In? The Formation of New Firms’ Legitimacy and Reputation under Different Levels of Market Uncertainty," Corporate Reputation Review, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(1), pages 22-34, February.
    5. Jerayr J. Haleblian & Michael D. Pfarrer & Jason T. Kiley, 2017. "High-Reputation Firms and Their Differential Acquisition Behaviors," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(11), pages 2237-2254, November.
    6. Florian Überbacher, 2014. "Legitimation of New Ventures: A Review and Research Programme," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(4), pages 667-698, June.
    7. Timothy Werner, 2015. "Gaining Access by Doing Good: The Effect of Sociopolitical Reputation on Firm Participation in Public Policy Making," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(8), pages 1989-2011, August.
    8. Giorgia Nigri & Laura Michelini & Cecilia Grieco, 2017. "Social Impact And Online Communication In B-Corps," Global Journal of Business Research, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 11(3), pages 87-104.
    9. Joep P. Cornelissen & Jean S. Clarke, 2010. "Imagining and rationalizing opportunities : Inductive reasoning and the creation and justification of new ventures," Post-Print hal-02276730, HAL.
    10. Aray, Yulia & Dikova, Desislava & Garanina, Tatiana & Veselova, Anna, 2021. "The hunt for international legitimacy: Examining the relationship between internationalization, state ownership, location and CSR reporting of Russian firms," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(5).
    11. Adelaide Martins & Delfina Gomes & Manuel Castelo Branco, 2020. "Managing Corporate Social and Environmental Disclosure: An Accountability vs. Impression Management Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-15, December.
    12. Cristina Del-Castillo-Feito & Alicia Blanco-González & Rafael Delgado-Alemany, 2020. "The Relationship between Image, Legitimacy, and Reputation as a Sustainable Strategy: Students’ Versus Professors’ Perceptions in the Higher Education Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-16, February.
    13. Wijnberg, Nachoem M., 2011. "Classification systems and selection systems: The risks of radical innovation and category spanning," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 297-306, September.
    14. Edward N. Gamble & Simon C. Parker & Peter W. Moroz, 2020. "Measuring the Integration of Social and Environmental Missions in Hybrid Organizations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(2), pages 271-284, November.
    15. Jang, Woan-Yuh & Lee, Jie-Haun & Hu, Hsueh-Chin, 2016. "Halo, horn, or dark horse biases: Corporate reputation and the earnings announcement puzzle," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(PA), pages 272-289.
    16. Annika Veh & Markus Göbel & Rick Vogel, 2019. "Corporate reputation in management research: a review of the literature and assessment of the concept," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 12(2), pages 315-353, December.
    17. Anita, Mendiratta & Shveta, Singh & Yadav Surendra, S. & Arvind, Mahajan, 2023. "When do ESG controversies reduce firm value in India?," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    18. Aerts, Walter & Cormier, Denis, 2009. "Media legitimacy and corporate environmental communication," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 1-27, January.
    19. Nina Granqvist & Stine Grodal & Jennifer L. Woolley, 2013. "Hedging Your Bets: Explaining Executives' Market Labeling Strategies in Nanotechnology," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(2), pages 395-413, April.
    20. Kevin Money & Anastasiya Saraeva & Irene Garnelo-Gomez & Stephen Pain & Carola Hillenbrand, 2017. "Corporate Reputation Past and Future: A Review and Integration of Existing Literature and a Framework for Future Research," Corporate Reputation Review, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 20(3), pages 193-211, November.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ibn:ijbmjn:v:13:y:2021:i:11:p:142. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Canadian Center of Science and Education (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cepflch.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.