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Who Benefits From Benefit Corporations?
In Becoming a Public Benefit Corporation, Michael B. Dorff contributes a well-balanced examination of the pros and cons of the benefit corporation.
As a scholar in the social enterprise field, I should place my cards on the table: The benefit corporation is frustrating. Like the Roman deity Janus, it has two faces. The first face is encouraging, in that the benefit corporation—at least on paper—rejects shareholder wealth maximization. It enables market participants to focus more intentionally on the social consequences of corporate activity. The second face, however, is more sinister, in large part because the statutory architecture…