Alternative Types of Organising for Corporate Sustainability

Along with traditional organisational forms, such as SMEs and MNCs, a variety of alternative types of organising exist in the business world. As hybrid organisations between traditional for-profit businesses and non-profit organisations, alternative types of organising often integrate social and environmental concerns deeply into their business models. Hence, these organisations aim at combining economic goals with the pursuit to proactively create a positive social and environmental impact.

In this chapter, we will take a deeper look into alternative types of organising for corporate sustainability as a promising pathway to integrate sustainability into the business sector and discuss the challenges they face as well as the social and environmental impact they create. Specifically, we will discuss four examples of these organisations: foundation-owned companies, which are companies that are fully or partially owned by an industrial foundation instead of shareholders; cooperatives, which are community-based organisations that are owned by their members (i.e., individuals who voluntarily join their forces and collaborate); social businesses, defined as organisations that pursue a social or environmental mission while engaging in commercial business activities; and B Corps as a specific form of social businesses, meaning those that have applied for and passed a certain certification process.