Nozomi Torii: Hope for the B Corp Movement

Have you ever heard the term "B Corporation (hereafter B Corp)"? The B stands for Benefit. B Corp is a global standard system and movement that certifies for-profit companies that fulfill their social responsibilities.

In this article, I will introduce specifically what B Corp is, its current status in Japan, and the path forward as I envision it. I was born and raised in Nagano Prefecture, and after graduating from university, I worked for Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities Co., Ltd. for 15 years. Since July 2015, I have been working at VALUE BOOKS Co., Ltd., which buys and sells used books in Nagano Prefecture. After being involved in donation projects using books for about two years, I am currently one of the management team members in charge of finance, while also working toward obtaining B Corp certification, which will serve as a guideline for the company.

VALUE BOOKS was founded in July 2007 and is a company that will soon celebrate its 14th anniversary. It started when founder Taiki Nakamura sold a single book online. Currently, we have an inventory of 1.2 million items at our base in Ueda City, Nagano Prefecture, and about 330 employees are engaged in business centered on book purchasing and online sales. We receive about 20,000 books every day from all over the country, and there are two methods of procurement. Along with regular purchasing, we run a donation program called "Charibon," where the purchase price is donated to NPOs, universities, and local governments as a donation from the person who sent the books. "Charibon" began in 2010, and to date, more than 220,000 people have sent over 25 million books, with the cumulative donation amount exceeding 500 million yen.

Recently, we have been exploring various ways to deliver books, such as starting sales on our own website, setting up physical stores in Ueda City, and running a mobile bookstore called the "Book Bus."

We are supported by the approximately 20,000 books that arrive every day from all over the country, but we can only actually put a price on and buy about half of them. To resolve this issue, we have developed a digital tool called "Bookshelf Scan" that leads to the smoothest possible purchase. We are also working on the "Book Gift Project," which donates books that could not be purchased to nursery schools, elementary schools, nursing homes, hospitals, and other facilities so that they can reach the next reader whenever possible.

Although it is still a small activity, we have also entered into partnerships with publishers with high reuse rates to implement an initiative called the "VALUE BOOKS Ecosystem," which returns a portion of sales to specific publishers.

"To create an environment where people in Japan and around the world can freely read, learn, and enjoy books." This is our company's mission as we trial and error for a better circulation of books.

B Corp is a certification system for for-profit companies operated by the non-profit organization "B Lab." It certifies companies that are socially and environmentally conscious, and that use business to solve problems while minimizing their creation. Currently, there are 4,000 certified companies across 153 industries, including Patagonia, Danone, Ben & Jerry's, and the Guardian Media Group, and it is becoming an international movement spreading to 77 countries (as of June 14, 2021).

B Lab began its activities in Pennsylvania, USA, in 2006 and created this certification system with the aim of "redefining success in business." It emphasizes the benefits of all stakeholders (society and environment), not just shareholders, and commits to results. That is what the redefinition means. It is also a system for maintaining the company's mission and continuing business even if shareholders or management change.

To receive certification, a company first conducts its own "B Impact Assessment," which evaluates social and environmental performance based on high standards. Once certain criteria are met, the company applies for certification and undergoes an audit by B Lab. After an audit involving data and materials that serve as the basis for the assessment, the company revises its articles of incorporation (depending on the country's legal system) based on conditions such as the social and environmental mission defined by B Lab and responsibility to all stakeholders, including employees, the supply chain, local communities, and customers, and signs The B Corp Declaration of Interdependence. Even after being certified once, in order to renew the certification, the "B Impact Assessment" must be conducted every three years and the results must be made public.

The evaluation items of the B Impact Assessment consist of the following five pillars: (1) Governance, (2) Workers, (3) Community, (4) Environment, and (5) Customers.

For example, within Governance, there are questions regarding the mission statement, asking how specifically the commitment to society and the environment is documented. Regarding the Environment, questions are asked about whether the business model and operations protect or regenerate nature.

The combination of questions for the B Impact Assessment is determined according to the country, industry, and size of the company. As the assessment progresses, subsequent questions change slightly depending on the answers. There are approximately 200 questions. The minimum score required to obtain certification is 80 points out of 200. This may seem like a surprisingly low score, but I interpret it as creating a state of commitment to continuously producing a better impact on society and the environment by certifying companies as B Corps even if they are not in a perfect state.

Our company encountered B Corp in 2015, and in 2016, we were blessed with the opportunity to visit Patagonia, Better World Books, and the B Lab San Francisco office in the US, deepening our understanding of B Corp. Subsequently, we conducted our first B Impact Assessment in the same year and resumed the assessment toward obtaining certification at the beginning of 2020. For this assessment, people interested within the company gathered, divided the work to create a set of answers and conduct the necessary research, and went through a process where all participants reviewed each other's results. We are currently conducting the final review.

"Why is VALUE BOOKS trying to obtain B Corp certification?" This is a question I am often asked, and the reason I think B Corp certification is necessary is that "it fits our values and we want an indicator that allows us to look at our various initiatives comprehensively and objectively." You could also say it is to do business properly. I am often asked, "Are you not seeking practical profit?" but I believe that doing business with this indicator as a guidepost will lead to the ultimate benefits (economic, social, and environmental) in the long run.

"The B Corp Handbook" is a book that can be called an introductory guide to obtaining certification and understanding the concept of B Corp.

The first edition was published in 2014, and an expanded edition that covers diversity, equity, and inclusion more carefully was released in 2019. This handbook describes the concept of B Corp, the B Impact Assessment, and the certification process in detail.

As of June 2021, there are only six B Corp certified companies in Japan. That is six out of 4,000 companies worldwide. The number has not increased in the last few years, and thinking that one of the reasons is the language barrier, we decided to publish the Japanese version of the second edition of the handbook as our company's first publishing project. Our company is still in the process of working toward certification, but we made this decision because we want to increase our number of peers while moving forward. Redefining success in business is something that one company cannot possibly do alone.

The Japanese version publishing project is being carried out jointly with the content label Kurotorisha. It is titled "New School for Companies: B Corp Handbook Translation Seminar."

Initially, we were thinking of asking one person to do the translation. While developing the concept over several months with Kei Wakabayashi, content director of Kurotorisha, editor Shinya Yashiro, and members of our company, the conversation naturally converged on "translation in an open format." We felt that this translation itself is an important process in creating the meaning of B Corp in Japan, and that incorporating various perspectives was the most fitting approach. From there, we widely recruited people who were interested in obtaining B Corp certification and wanted to be involved in the translation. Ultimately, a team of about 30 members has been proceeding with the translation, centered on a monthly seminar (six sessions in total) since January of this year. The team is diverse, with industries including manufacturing, lumber, retail, finance, media, and PR, and occupations including business owners, artisans, lawyers, sales staff, and researchers, from large corporations to small and medium-sized enterprises and startups.

In the seminar, we bring together the assigned translation drafts and decipher the background of what is being asked in B Corp while studying the history, society, and culture centered on the US where it was born. We then translate it into the Japanese context and hold discussions by sharing our experiences as members working in the field.

In addition to the monthly seminar, as of June, the situation is that it is gradually becoming a community, with members' independent projects to focus on and listen to individuals, and meetings to review translations being held continuously. The seminar itself will end in June, but the past six months have been a foundation for the future, and this community seems likely to continue at the frequency and intensity that each person wants to be involved. Some people may accelerate their movements toward obtaining certification for their own companies or clients. Of course, our company is one of them.

It may be a little further off, but through this seminar, I want to make the community we have nurtured together even more open. It will be a community where it is easy to take action and cooperate when you want to deepen your understanding of B Corp or move toward obtaining certification. I believe that the B Corp movement will grow naturally as the power of companies and the individuals working there is unleashed and their respective missions are achieved.

"Use Business as a Force for Good," which conveys the concept of B Corp. I feel that this expression successfully connects the power of business I felt when I was working at a securities company—which I had vaguely thought about utilizing from a slightly different angle in my next job—with the reason why I am working on B Corp now.

<Reference Materials>

"B Corp" is something everyone creates together

https://atarashi-kaisha.medium.com/interview-nozomi-torii-5a2ce276c3e0

[VALUE BOOKS Publishing Notes] Why is VALUE BOOKS starting to publish?

https://www.valuebooks.jp/endpaper/7752/