Whether you are interested in becoming a B Corp certified company or not, every company needs to understand how it can make a positive impact on society and the planet.
Creating a positive social and environmental impact beyond your companies' operational impact is what B Lab calls an impact business model ("IBM"). An IBM is the way in which a business is designed to create a specific positive benefit/outcome for one of its stakeholders. It may be based on its product, a particular process or activity, or the structure of the business.
A true IBM adheres to seven underlying principles or requirements. An IBM needs to be:
Specific: benefit a specific stakeholder group with a specific outcome
Material: the benefit needs to be significant
Verifiable: the IBM is documentable and can be verified
Lasting: built into the nature of the business itself
Extraordinary: something traditional businesses do not have
Learn how you can further solidify or start building your IBM today! For more on IBMs, click here.