Apple, Amazon Should Shift Purpose From Profit To Planet, US Companies Challenge

Apple and Amazon received a challenge from the U.S. companies to shift their purpose from acquiring profit to seeking the welfare of the planet.

B Corporation, a group of 30 American business leaders such as Danone’s U.S. Business, Unilever,s Ben and Jerry, Natura’s The Body Shop, Patagonia and more released a full-page ad on Sunday addressed to Tim Cook, Apple’s Tim Cook and Jeff Bezos.

The ad talks about the BRT, Business Roundtable’s change of their definition of purpose. The BRT which consist of 181 biggest companies including Apple and Amazon shifted their definition of the purpose of corporation staff and environment care from their usual aim to increase their profit.

The B Corporation, a global movement of people using business as a force for good initiated the ad publishing to challenge the Business Roundtable members namely Apple and Amazon to go beyond their motto. They encouraged the giants to take the necessary actions that correspond to the content of their statement.

Andrew Kassoy, the co-founder of B Lab overseeing the B Corporation, expressed his delight in the BRT’s shift of definition of purpose. He even described the implementation of the said shift as a moment to celebrate. He further added that it is a significant cultural shift.

The advertisement described the B Corporation members as the ones walking the stakeholder capitalism part of the community of certified B-Corporations. The ad further added that B-Corp operates with a better model of corporate governance.

Challenging the Apple and Amazon, the B-Corp declared that they are operating at a better model of corporate governance. They introduced themselves as the ones meeting the highest standards of verified positive impact for their workers, customers, suppliers, communities and the environment.

The BRT’s decision to bring radical change to the definition of purpose is a breakthrough from the 1970’s philosophy that has been going on for decades. The philosophy from Milton Friedman states that “the social responsibility of business is to increase its profits."

As of the moment, there are 3000 companies across the globe desiring to be part of the B Corps. They are working on the entire process to complete the certification.