BENEFIT CORPORATIONS AND COVID-19 PANDEMIC

BACKGROUND AND GENERAL OBJECTIVE

As part of the research in partnership with Assobenefit, the YSBC conducted a first empirical research on both short- and long-term strategies adopted by benefit corporation in order to face the Covid 19 crisis. Among hybrid organizations  there are differences in the way and extent to which they address social-business tensions. If this is true in normal situations, such a difference may also be more pronounced when hybrids are asked to manage their tensions under conditions of external turbulence. This is a relevant issue as it allows to study the management of tension in hybrid organizations under a dynamic, instead of a static, perspective. We argue and show that, rather than dealing with mission drift as a potential consequence of external events, hybrids develop different orientations in managing critical events that incorporate different ways to interpret tensions.

WHAT WE DID

Through document analysis and focus group, the YSBC conducted a qualitative research on the behavior of the benefit corporations during the Covid 19 crisis and on what have been done for the stakeholder.

First results show that the crisis has strengthened the will of being a Benefit corporation and the attention towards internal and external stakeholders. Continuous monitoring of the phenomenon and further analyzes are necessary.

The results have been presented at the annual ASSOBENEFIT Conference held on December 11th 2020.

PUBLICATIONS

  • Bandini, F., Boni, L., Fia, M. & Toschi, L.  (2023) Exploring Tension in Hybrid Organizations in Times of Covid-19 Crisis. The Italian Benefit Corporations’ experience, Journal of Social Entrepreneurship. https://doi.org/10.1080/19420676.2022.2162107 OPEN ACCESS