Purpose

This paper examines how different configurations of societal impact are pursued by purpose-driven organizations (PDOs) and how these configurations align with the application of varying supply chain design (SCD) practices.

Design/methodology/approach

This multi-method study uses quantitative data from 1588 B Corps and qualitative data from 316 B Corps to examine how PDOs align SCD with the pursuit of diverse types of societal impact. The authors first conduct a cluster analysis to group organizations based on the impact they create. Second, qualitative content analysis connects impact with enabling SCD elements.

Findings

The analysis of the five identified clusters provides detailed empirical insights on influencers, design decisions and building blocks adopted by PDOs to drive a range of societal impacts. Specifically, the nature of the impact pursued affects (1) whether a PDO will be more influenced by a need in the political environment or an opportunity in the industry environment, (2) the relative importance of the design of social flows versus material flows and (3) the need to develop new relational resources with beneficiaries versus leveraging existing capabilities to manage inter-firm processes.

Originality/value

This study responds to calls to disaggregate different dimensions of societal impact and examines the relationship between SCD and a breadth of sustainability impacts for different stakeholders. In doing so, the authors identify four SCD pathways organizations can follow to achieve specific societal impacts. This study is also the first to employ a supply chain perspective in the study of certified B Corps.

中文翻译：

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通过供应链设计传递社会影响：来自 B Corps 的见解

目的

本文研究了目标驱动组织 (PDO) 如何追求不同的社会影响配置，以及这些配置如何与不同供应链设计 (SCD) 实践的应用保持一致。

设计/方法/途径

这项多方法研究使用来自 1588 B Corps 的定量数据和来自 316 B Corps 的定性数据来检查 PDO 如何使 SCD 与追求不同类型的社会影响相一致。作者首先根据组织产生的影响对组织进行聚类分析。其次，定性内容分析将影响与支持 SCD 元素联系起来。

发现

对五个确定的集群的分析提供了关于影响者、设计决策和 PDO 为推动一系列社会影响而采用的构建模块的详细实证见解。具体而言，所追求影响的性质会影响 (1) PDO 是否会更多地受到政治环境中的需求或行业环境中的机会的影响，(2) 社会流动与物质流动设计的相对重要性，以及(3) 需要与受益人一起开发新的关系资源，而不是利用现有能力来管理公司间流程。

原创性/价值

本研究响应要求分解社会影响的不同维度的呼吁，并研究 SCD 与不同利益相关者的广泛可持续性影响之间的关系。为此，作者确定了组织可以遵循的四种 SCD 途径，以实现特定的社会影响。本研究也是首次从供应链角度对经认证的共益企业进行研究。