B Corps and Stakeholder Capitalism: Building Business as a Force for Good
As a member of the Design Economics Coalition, Nathan Stuck brings award-winning leadership from the B Corp movement. As Founder of Profitable Purpose Consulting and Executive Director of BLD Southeast, Stuck helps businesses become certified B Corps and builds community through education and advocacy. Nathan is recognized as both a Business Leader and Thought Leader within the coalition.
As a Business Leader
How do you explain the real-world impact of what your business does?
We help businesses become B Corps, which are companies that use business as a force for good. This means they balance profit with purpose, considering their impact on workers, customers, community, and the environment. We also help build the B Corp community through events, education, and advocacy.
What metrics beyond profit do you use to evaluate your business’s success?
We use the B Impact Assessment to measure our own social and environmental performance. We also track things like how many companies we’ve helped become B Corps, the geographic and industry diversity of our clients, and qualitative feedback about the transformation our clients experience.
What creative business models or practices have you implemented?
We’ve created a revenue-sharing model with some clients where we take a percentage of the savings they achieve through B Corp certification (like reduced employee turnover costs). We also offer sliding scale pricing for smaller businesses and nonprofits. And we’ve developed virtual cohort programs to serve clients nationally.
How have the changing needs of your stakeholders shaped your business decisions?
Early on, most of our clients were already mission-driven companies wanting to formalize their impact. Now we’re seeing more traditional businesses looking to transform their operations. This has led us to develop different service packages – some for companies just starting their purpose journey, others for those ready for B Corp certification.
What changes has your company made to keep up with today’s economic challenges?
We’ve had to become more agile and offer more virtual services due to the pandemic. We’ve also seen increased demand as companies realize they need to be more resilient and purpose-driven to attract talent and customers. We’ve expanded our team and developed new online resources to meet this demand.
As a Thought Leader
Which tenet of design economics most resonates with your work and why?
All three tenets resonate with our work, but if I had to choose, I’d say embracing creativity. The B Corp movement is fundamentally about reimagining how business can be done – creating new legal structures, new metrics for success, and new ways of thinking about stakeholder relationships. It requires creativity to help traditional businesses see beyond the shareholder primacy model.
What evidence have you seen that economic paradigms are shifting?
The growth of the B Corp movement itself is evidence – we’ve gone from 82 companies in 2007 to over 6,000 today. But beyond that, I see major corporations adopting stakeholder capitalism principles, young people increasingly choosing purpose-driven employers, and consumers making purchasing decisions based on company values. The Business Roundtable’s 2019 statement redefining corporate purpose was a huge signal.
Which economic orthodoxies do you believe most need challenging?
The biggest orthodoxy that needs challenging is shareholder primacy – the idea that companies exist solely to maximize shareholder returns. This has led to short-term thinking, income inequality, and environmental degradation. We need to move toward stakeholder capitalism that considers all stakeholders, not just shareholders.
What common misconceptions about economics do you most frequently address?
The biggest misconception is that you have to choose between doing good and doing well financially. B Corps prove this is a false choice – many of our certified companies outperform their peers financially while creating positive impact. People also think becoming more sustainable or socially responsible will hurt their bottom line, when often it reduces costs and drives innovation.
How do you engage audiences who may be resistant to new economic thinking?
I focus on the business case first – showing how purpose-driven companies attract better talent, have higher employee engagement, build stronger customer loyalty, and often achieve better financial performance. I use data and case studies rather than ideological arguments. I also try to meet people where they are and use language that resonates with their values.
About This Interview
Design Economics Coalition members complete a self-interview exploring how their work connects to the three tenets of design economics: acknowledging change, embracing creativity, and cultivating literacy. These responses help connect professionals across sectors who are working to evolve economic systems.
Interested in joining the coalition? Contact us to learn more about membership.