Introducing a new kind of business organisation - the benefit corporation

A huge, dramatic swoosh of a hat tip to Jill Mcaloon at St Mary’s College Wallasey for sending the Business Studies blog a terrific audio link which is just perfect for AQA BUSS4 and any other teacher/student wanting to know a little more about business organisation and social enterprise.

Here is the link to the recommended radio clip

The clip is 7 minutes long and comes from a recent edition of BBC Worldwide’s Business Daily programme. The programme intro gives you a flavour of the content:

Making profits is what business is all about isn’t it? Well perhaps not. In one US state they’ve just brought in a new law which protects companies who put social responsibility before making money. It allows them to become ‘Benefit Corporations’ which means that shareholders can’t complain if the company takes decisions to, for example, protect the environment or buy locally, even if that hurts the bottom line. Now other US states are planning to follow suit as our reporter Jane O’Brien reports from Washington

The programme features a business called Big Bad Woof - a retailer of eco-friendly pet products: this was the first business ever to register as a benefit corporation. More background information on this innovation here and there is a link to their website here.

Terrific material - and its good to ask students to listen to a resource rather than just watch it (sometimes) - several colleagues have suggested to me that it helps students think and concentrate better.