The Ibero-American General Secretariat and the IE Center for the Governance of Change have released an interesting study “Business with purpose 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 purpose in seven Ibero-American countries.
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.
The study highlights the arrival of a new generation of consumers and entrepreneurs who have started to search for a purpose beyond revenue. And concludes 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.
To download the full report click here.
