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Are you truly sustainable? An investigation of the main features of de-certified B-Corps

When: —
Venue: Online

No booking required

Join Birkbeck's Responsible Business Centre for a lunchtime seminar exploring B Corps and the growing tendency towards decertification or withdrawal from B Corp certification.

In response to the growing challenges of social and environmental issues, there has been an important shift that empowers companies to use “business as a force for good”. B Lab, a nonprofit organization has taken the lead in providing the necessary infrastructure for this shift. This global shift aims to drive societal changes and utilize the power of business to solve the biggest problems for the benefit of society.

However, it is striking to note that at least 930 B Corps were no longer certified as of April 2019 according to the B Lab database.

In this seminar, Dr Silvia Blasi, University of Verona and Prof. Silvia Rita Sedita, University of Padova, will share insights from their research exploring this phenomenon, notably:

  • In comparison with currently certified B Corps, what are the main features of companies that did not maintain their B Corp certification?
  • Is there a relationship between companies' decertification decision and their financial and/or sustainabiity performance?

All are welcome to join the discussion.

Please note: This session is free to attend but booking is essential to ensure you receive the joining link. Joining instructions will be sent by email at least 24 hours before the start of the event.

Biographies

Silvia Blasi is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Business Administration at the University of Verona since 1 December 2021. She defended her PhD. in Economics & Management at the University of Padova in 2018 with a thesis titled “Social issues applied to energy sector: from corporate social responsibility to collective switching “.
In 2012 she obtained a master's degree in Management at the “Università degli Studi Milano-Bicocca” in Milan. Silvia has been visiting fellow at Cardiff University in 2017 and at the Department of Economics and Management. She is interested in sustainable innovation, social entrepreneurship, circular economy, and corporate social responsibility. Her works have been accepted and published in journals such as Ecological Economics, Journal of Cleaner Production, Industry and Innovations, Business Strategy and the Environment.

Prof. Silvia Rita Sedita obtained a Ph.D. in Economics and Management of Small Firms and Local Development in 2004. Since 2022 she is a Full Professor in Economics and Management at the University of Padova, where she teaches Marketing and Advanced Marketing. She published articles and book chapters in national and international outlets in the field of inter-organizational networks for innovation in clusters and industrial districts, innovative entrepreneurship, and sustainability. Her research has been published in journals such as Research Policy, Journal of Cleaner Production, International Journal of Project Management, Industry and Innovation, European Planning Studies. 

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