Becoming a benefit company in Italy: a firm-level investigation

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates the correlates of transformation of firms into a Benefit Company (BC) which is a hybrid form of business, introduced in Italy in 2016. We exploit a firm-level analysis based on a dataset of 748 firms, of which 185 have been transformed in BC between 2009 and 2019. The empirical analysis highlights that the probability of converting an existing firm into a BC is associated with prior performance. In particular, it is: (i) positively associated with profitability; (ii) negatively associated with indebtedness. In addition, it appears to be (iii) positively associated with longevity of the firm and (iv) positively associated with the size of the firm.

KEYWORDS:

• Benefit company
• dual purpose
• common good
• stakeholder economy

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• D21
• L21
• K32

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ 89 in the 2016, 43 in the 2017, 25 in the 2018, and 28 in the 2019.