The Ibero-American General Secretariat and the IE Center for the Governance of Change have released an interesting study “Business with\u00a0purpose and the rise of the fourth sector in Ibero-America” which analyzes the rise of the fourth sector and the current state of business with\u00a0purpose in seven Ibero-American countries.<\/p>\n
It takes down the myth that businesses cannot have any other purpose than to maximize profit and shareholder value. According to the study, businesses with a purpose come in a wide variety of forms (from cooperatives to B-corps) and fall within various sectors (social entrepreneurship, circular economy, human-centered business, fair trade, banking with values, and many others). However, all of them share the same goal: to use a market-driven approach to become self-sustaining and deliver a positive social and environmental impact at scale.<\/p>\n
The study highlights the arrival of a new generation of consumers and entrepreneurs who have started to search for a purpose beyond revenue. And\u00a0concludes by offering suggestions ranging from creating new regulatory frameworks, to standardizing metrics and assessment methods to measuring social and environmental impact in empirical, efficient ways.<\/p>\n