A prize-winning book introducing the concept of « Entreprise à mission »: an innovative conceptualization of the movement of Profit-with-Purpose Corporations, with far-reaching impact on current legal reforms.
Vuibert Editions
Facing our contemporary economic, social and environmental challenges, numerous companies invent new ways to engage in the development of responsible initiatives, which are yet often criticized given their limited effects compared to the urging issues. For a few years however, several countries have adopted legal innovations to renew the approaches of corporate governance in regard to social responsibility, with the introduction of new corporate forms called « Profit-with-Purpose corporations ». These corporate forms require to write a social or environmental purpose in their articles of incorporation, which comes in addition to the usual profit-making motive. In doing so, this legal innovation questions the traditional models of corporate governance and reopen the debate over the corporate purpose. The aim of this book is to unravel and explain the emergence of profit-with-purpose companies, describe their motivations, and characterize the alternative model of governance they propose. Based on a collection of historical and contemporary cases, it shows that this model holds interesting properties to combine innovation capabilities with social responsibility.
This book was awarded the prize of the best research book in management science 2018 from the French FNEGE association as well as from the Consult’in France network. It also contributed to the legislative debate in France on the adoption of a profit-with-purpose corporate form in French corporate law for 2019.
