business ethics

Dunkin brands vs salt spring coffee The idea of business and evolution of capitalism has shown that there is a much greater purpose than solely making profits through B-Corporations. According to Michael R. Deskins, “A B Corp is one in which corporations can create benefit for both society at large and corporate stakeholders” (Deskins, 1) B Lab founder, Jay Cohen, and co-founder, Andrew Kassoy, both cover a very similar presentation discussing what B Corporations are for the future of business, thus differentiating their Benefit Corporation from a standard for-profit corporation. In the Youtube links, both Cohen and Kassoy both discuss the evolution of capitalism. This transformation shows how 20th century capitalism wanted to max shareholder value, and today in the 21st century corporations strive to max shared value. Milton Friedman (1997) is quoted saying that, “There is one and only one social responsibility of business- to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits “(Friedman 1997:1). While Theodore Levitt (1997) says, “Profit maximization is morally shallow and says profits are required for business just as eating is required for living, profit is not the purpose of business anymore than eating is the purpose of life”(Levitt,1997:4-5). Kassoy says, “Milton Friedman would be totally baffled by the transformation in the economy that’s taking place right in front of our eyes, To see some many businesses who believe they have a purpose beyond simply making profit.”

Being given two companies in class(Dunkin’ Brands and Salt Spring Coffee), it is easily identifiable which corporation is a benefit corporation and which company is a standard for-profit corporation. These two firms operate in similar industries; however, the goal I am trying to obtain is how Benefit Corporations differ from the standard. First off, I want to give a brief summary of the corporations. Dunkin Brands has more than 17,000 points of distribution