Nozomi Torii: Hope for the B Corp Movement

2021/07/20

Have you ever heard the term "B Corporation" (hereafter referred to as "B Corp")? The "B" stands for Benefit. B Corp is a global standard and movement that certifies for-profit companies that fulfill their social responsibilities.

In this article, I will introduce what B Corp specifically is, describe its current status in Japan, and discuss the path forward as I envision it. I was born and raised in Nagano Prefecture, and after graduating from university, I worked for Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities Co., Ltd. for 15 years. Since July 2015, I have been working at VALUE BOOKS Co., Ltd., a company in Nagano Prefecture that buys and sells used books. After being involved in donation projects using books for about two years, I am now a member of the management team responsible for finance, while also working toward obtaining B Corp certification, which will serve as a guideline for the company.

VALUE BOOKS was founded in July 2007 and is a company soon to celebrate its 14th anniversary. It began when founder Taiki Nakamura sold a single book online. Today, the company has an inventory of 1.2 million items at its base in Ueda City, Nagano Prefecture, with approximately 330 employees, focusing on book purchasing and online sales. We receive about 20,000 books every day from all over the country through two main procurement methods. In addition to regular purchasing, we run a donation program called "Charibon," where the purchase price of books sent to us is donated to NPOs, universities, and local governments. "Charibon" started in 2010, and to date, more than 220,000 people have sent over 25 million books, with cumulative donations exceeding 500 million yen.

Recently, we have been exploring various ways to deliver books, such as starting sales on our own website, opening physical stores in Ueda City, and operating a mobile bookstore called the "Book Bus."

While the 20,000 books arriving daily from across the country support us, we can only actually put a price on and purchase about half of them. To address this issue, we developed a digital tool called "Bookshelf Scan" to facilitate smoother purchasing. We also work on the "Book Gift Project," which donates books we couldn't purchase to nursery schools, elementary schools, nursing homes, and hospitals, so they can reach the next reader.

Although it is still a small-scale activity, we have also partnered with publishers that have high reuse rates for an initiative called the "VALUE BOOKS Ecosystem," which returns a portion of sales to specific publishers.

"To create an environment where people in Japan and around the world can freely read, learn, and enjoy books." This is our company's mission as we trial and error for a better circulation of books.

B Corp is a certification system for for-profit companies operated by the non-profit organization "B Lab." It recognizes companies that consider society and the environment, aiming to solve problems through business while minimizing the creation of new ones. With companies like Patagonia, Danone, Ben & Jerry's, and the Guardian Media Group, there are currently 4,000 certified companies across 153 industries in 77 countries, becoming an international movement (as of June 14, 2021).

B Lab began its activities in Pennsylvania, USA, in 2006 and created this certification system with the goal of "redefining success in business." This redefinition means prioritizing the benefits of all stakeholders (society and environment), not just shareholders, and committing to results. It is also a system to ensure a company's mission continues even if shareholders or management change.

To receive certification, a company first conducts a "B Impact Assessment," which evaluates social and environmental performance based on high standards. Once certain criteria are met, the company applies for certification and undergoes an audit by B Lab. Following the audit, which includes data and documents supporting the assessment, the company amends its articles of incorporation (depending on the country's legal system) to include responsibility to all stakeholders—such as the social and environmental mission, employees, supply chains, local communities, and customers—and signs The B Corp Declaration of Interdependence. Even after being certified, companies must conduct the "B Impact Assessment" every three years and publish the results to renew their certification.

The evaluation items of the B Impact Assessment consist of the following five pillars: (1) Governance, (2) Workers, (3) Community, (4) Environment, and (5) Customers.

For example, under Governance, there are questions regarding the mission statement, asking how specifically the commitment to society and the environment is codified. Regarding the Environment, questions ask whether the business model and operations protect or regenerate nature.

The combination of questions in the B Impact Assessment is determined by the country, industry, and size of the company. As the assessment progresses, subsequent questions change slightly based on previous answers. There are approximately 200 questions. The minimum score required for certification is 80 out of 200 points. While this may seem like a surprisingly low score, I interpret it as creating a state where companies commit to continuously producing a better impact on society and the environment, even if they are not yet perfect.

Our company first encountered B Corp in 2015. In 2016, we had the opportunity to visit Patagonia, Better World Books, and the B Lab San Francisco office in the US, deepening our understanding of B Corp. Later that year, we conducted our first B Impact Assessment, and in early 2020, we resumed the assessment toward obtaining certification. For this assessment, interested employees gathered to divide the work of drafting answers and conducting research. After a process where all participants reviewed each other's results, we are currently in the final review stage.

"Why is VALUE BOOKS trying to get B Corp certification?" This is a question I am often asked. The reason I believe B Corp certification is necessary is that "it fits our values, and we want an indicator that allows us to view our various initiatives comprehensively and objectively." You could also say it is to do business properly. I am often asked, "Are you not seeking practical benefits?" but I believe that doing business with this indicator as a guidepost will lead to the ultimate benefits (economic, social, and environmental) in the long run.

"The B Corp Handbook" is a book that can be called an introductory guide to obtaining certification and understanding the concept of B Corp.

First published in 2014, with an expanded edition released in 2019 that covers diversity, equity, and inclusion more thoroughly, this handbook provides detailed information on the B Corp concept, the B Impact Assessment, and the certification process.

As of June 2021, there are only six B Corp certified companies in Japan. That is six out of 4,000 worldwide. This number has not increased in the last few years, and believing that the language barrier is one of the reasons, we decided to publish the Japanese version of the handbook's second edition as our company's first publishing project. While our company is still in the process of obtaining certification, we made this decision because we want to increase our number of allies while moving forward ourselves. Redefining success in business is something one company cannot possibly do alone.

The Japanese publication project is being carried out jointly with the content label Kurotorisha. It is titled "The New School for Companies: B Corp Handbook Translation Seminar."

Initially, we thought about asking a single person to do the translation. However, while developing the concept over several months with Kei Wakabayashi (Content Director at Kurotorisha), Shinya Yashiro (Editor), and our team members, the conversation naturally converged on an "open form of translation." We felt that the translation process itself was an important step in defining what B Corp means in Japan, and that incorporating various perspectives was the most fitting approach. From there, we broadly recruited people interested in B Corp certification and translation. Ultimately, a team of about 30 members has been proceeding with the translation since January of this year, centered around monthly seminars (six in total). The team is diverse, including industries such as manufacturing, lumber, retail, finance, media, and PR, and roles such as business owners, artisans, lawyers, sales staff, and researchers, from large corporations to SMEs and startups.

In the seminars, we bring together the assigned translated drafts and study the background of the questions asked by B Corp—learning about the history, society, and culture of the US where it originated—to translate them into a Japanese context. We also hold discussions by sharing our own experiences from our work.

In addition to the monthly seminars, as of June, the group is gradually becoming a community, with members organizing their own sessions to focus on individual stories or review the translation. Although the seminars themselves will end in June, the past six months have served as a foundation for the future, and this community is likely to continue at whatever frequency or intensity each person wishes to be involved. Some may accelerate their efforts toward certification for their own companies or clients. Of course, our company is one of them.

It may be a little further off, but I hope to make the community we have nurtured together through this seminar even more open. I want it to be a community where it is easy to take action and cooperate when people want to deepen their understanding of B Corp or move toward certification. I believe the B Corp movement will grow naturally as the power of companies and the individuals working there is unleashed and their respective missions are achieved.

The expression "Use Business as a Force for Good," which conveys the B Corp concept, feels like it perfectly connects the power of business I felt while working at a securities firm—which I vaguely wanted to utilize from a different angle in my next job—with the reason I am working on B Corp now.

"B Corp" is something everyone creates together

https://atarashi-kaisha.medium.com/interview-nozomi-torii-5a2ce276c3e0

[VALUE BOOKS Publishing Notes] Why is VALUE BOOKS starting to publish?

https://www.valuebooks.jp/endpaper/7752/