Ah, but Not All Corporations Are Built Alike

Hi Paul -

There are some great companies on this B-Corp list, and they are indeed doing many things differently. But they are still corporations, and it is the legal structure governing the corporate form which is the problem. No matter how well intended the corporation, in particular if it is publicly owned it has an inflexible fiduciary duty to its shareholders. Therefore it may be challenged if it fails to generate revenue in deference to "social responsibility"; and if it is profitable, it is subject to transfer to far less "responsible" management. The most well-intentioned corporate founders run into these problems: Ben & Jerry's hostile takeover by Unilever, for example, or Odwalla's acquisition by Coca Cola. Will McDonald's buy the White Dog Caf? Unlikely, but if it were publicly owned (I don't know that it is) it's possible. It is a danger that any of these B-Corps face if they do too well, not to mention other dangers of the marketplace such as imitation, targeted cutthroat competition, sneaky PR blitzes, etc. Along with constitutional rights (illegitimate though they may be for a legal fiction), corporations have limited liability and existence in theoretical perpetuity. This package of privilege allows them to run roughshod over the public welfare. Corporations are designed to aggregate wealth while remaining immune to the needs of planet and people, externalizing harms and internalizing profits. It's in the corporate DNA, no matter how good the people who run it are at any given moment (remember, everybody's replaceable in a corporation, and the corporation maintains its identify and assets nonetheless - that's a primary purpose). What I think we need is a transformation of the economic model, and a redefinition of the players and rules, where the seventh generation is the primary driving force. This can only start at the local level, as far as I can tell.

Cheers,
Adam