B Academics

Last year, Shahnaz Ibrahim and I teamed up to help UIC students learn about using business as a force for good. Together, we created UIC's first B Impact Clinic. I'm honored to share that B Academics has recognized this work with the B Impact Team of the Year award. The 70+ students in Shahnaz's course, "Business and the External Environment," had the chance to work with 8 companies throughout the semester. Grateful to our partners at B Local Illinois, the B Corps that participated, UIC Innovation, and University of Illinois Chicago-College of Business Administration that made it all happen. Thanks, Carlos Sadovi for sharing the story and Jenny Fontaine for the pictures!

Congratulations to Michael Conger, Director of Center for Social Entrepreneurship at Miami University. This morning at the B Academics annual members meeting, Michael was awarded B Academics' 2024 Instructor of the Year award for his work on social entrepreneurship in the classroom, his research, in communities, with ecosystem partners, and in the academy.

Breaking News ‼️ Congratulations to our 2024 B Academics Award Winners: 🌍 B Impact Team of the Year University of Illinois Chicago B Impact Clinic ( Shahnaz Ibrahim & Avi Mayerhoff) 🤝 B Local of the Year Florida For Good 📚 Course of the Year - Tie! BUS 103: Business for Social Good – Summer Brown & Morgan Herron, DePaul University Launch Florida: Strategic Impact Consulting for Entrepreneurs & Changemakers – Kristin Joys, Ph.D., University of Florida - Warrington College of Business 📝 Publication of the Year Do prosocial‐certified companies walk the talk? An analysis of B Corps’ contributions to Sustainable Development Goals (Leonardo Boni, Veronica Chiodo, Francesco Gerli, Laura Toschi) 👩🏫 Instructor of the Year Michael Conger, Miami University 🎓 Student of the Year Ng Yi Ming, PhD student at Northwestern University Alyssa Menz, PhD student at Yale University 💼 Committee Member of the Year Leonardo Boni, Research Committee 🛡️ Board Member of the Year - Tie! Martina Pasquini, Chair of Events Veronica Devenin, Chair of Global Congratulations to our nominees AND our winners this year! Your work is inspiring and your contributions are having a huge impact on our community! #Members #Awards #Academics #BCorps #Community #2025

The B Corp Clinic is kicking off another impactful semester, and we’re thrilled to introduce the incredible companies and wonderful coaches guiding our student teams. 🏆 Meet the Companies & Their Leaders: 🌐 Carimus – A digital-first, human-centered company offering app development and technical consulting to organizations making a difference. 🔹 Tony Pease, Founder and CEO 🔹 Mor Aframian, Director of Product Experience 🎓 Coach: Larissa Harari ♻️ Circ® – A 2023 The Earthshot Prize Finalist working to improve the recyclability of fashion. 🔹 Taylor Greene, Brand and Communications Manager 🔹 Beth Vosper, Senior Impact and Sustainability Manager 🎓 Coach: Alejandra Pena 🧼 Fillaree – The first closed-loop soap company in the U.S. working to create refillable and sustainable soaps and cleaners. 🔹 Alyssa Cherry, Founder and CEO 🔹 Cristina Rojas Bozovich, Marketing Officer 🎓 Coach: Malhar Shah ✈️ Southbound Travel – A boutique travel company specializing in personalized Latin American adventures. 🔹 Jen Velarde-Menary, Founder 🎓 Coach: Mickey Fanney 🔹 Big Spoon Roasters – A food manufacturer dedicated to crafting nutritious nut butters and snack bars using ethically sourced, high-quality ingredients. 🔹 Megan Lynam Overbay, Co-founder and COO 🔹 Mark Overbay, Co-founder and President 🎓 Coach: Kate Wiggins 💡 These businesses are leading the way in sustainability, innovation, and social impact. Our student teams will work alongside them to create lasting change for their businesses and communities! 🚀 Let’s celebrate this semester’s collaborations! Tagging our amazing partners—drop a comment below or share to spread the word! 🎉 #BCorpClinic #NCState #Sustainability #Innovation #BusinessAsAForceForGood

glad to share our latest publication in Business Strategy and the Environment - How B Corps Are Hybrid? Unpacking Hybridity in Social Enterprises. Together with Laura Toschi and Riccardo Fini, we investigated the heterogeneous features of the hybrid condition in organizations. We all know that businesses with #sustainability objectives define social and economic objectives differently. However, the extent and nature of these differences remain unclear. Thus, we developed a #measurement #scale that assesses the processes of hybridity rather than just its states. We conceptualized, designed, and tested this scale on 101 B Corps in Italy, providing a replicable tool for assessing hybridity in different organizational settings. This approach moves beyond the binary classification of hybrid vs. non-hybrid organizations, offering a more nuanced understanding of how business hybrids navigate and integrate multiple logics. A special thanks to Francesco Rullani for its friendly support along the development of the paper! Here is the link to access the paper: https://lnkd.in/dPNbacia TIRESIA Polimi POLIMI Graduate School of Management Dipartimento di Ingegneria Gestionale - Politecnico di Milano Politecnico di Milano Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna Bologna Business School - Università di Bologna

🌿 Great discussions don’t have to stay inside! After a PACKed Saturday session, our B Corp Clinic team took the conversation outdoors. 🌿 Inspired by the NC State Jenkins MBA hybrid model, these sessions created: 🔹 Engaging discussions on business impact & sustainability 🌍 🔹 Stronger connections with peers & mentors 🤝 🔹 Real-world learning beyond the classroom 🎓 A big thank you to Jessica Yinka Thomas and Rachel Haynes, MBA for leading the conversations! 🔗 Curious about PACKed Saturdays? learn more at https://lnkd.in/gQx3uYjd #BCorpClinic #BusinessSustainability #PACKedSaturday #JenkinsMBA #Networking

🎉 Announcing the 2024 B Academics Award Nominees! 🎉 We’re thrilled to recognize the outstanding contributions of individuals and institutions driving impactful change through business education, research, and collaboration in the B Corp movement. 🌍 B Impact Team of the Year Case Western Business for World Benefit Clinic University of Illinois Chicago B Impact Clinic University of Georgia B Collaborative 🤝 B Local of the Year B Local Boston Florida For Good B Local Illinois 📚 Course of the Year BUS 103: Business for Social Good – Summer Brown & Morgan Herron, DePaul University Launch Florida: Strategic Impact Consulting for Entrepreneurs & Changemakers – Kristin Joys, Ph.D., University of Florida - Warrington College of Business 📝 Publication of the Year How certified benefit corporations contribute to corporate social responsibility disclosure: Empirical evidence from Italy Leveraging corporate social innovation by hybrid organizations: A strategic perspective from B Corps in Latin America Pathways to Scaling International Impact: Exploring Capabilities in B Corps Do prosocial‐certified companies walk the talk? An analysis of B Corps’ contributions to Sustainable Development Goals 👩🏫 Instructor of the Year Nathan A. Stuck, MBA, The University of Georgia Joel Gehman, The George Washington University University Michael Conger, Miami University 🎓 Student of the Year Ng Yi Ming, PhD student at Northwestern University Alyssa Menz, PhD student at Yale University Amy Kostelansky-Rafinski, recent graduate, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Amelia Knopp, undergraduate at The University of Kansas 💼 Committee Member of the Year Leonardo Boni, Research Committee Jen Jones, Teaching Committee Nima Farshchi Farschi, Teaching Committee 🛡️ Board Member of the Year Jake Mosley, Vice Chair of Student Engagement Saheli N., Vice Chair of Teaching Martina Pasquini, Chair of Events Veronica Devenin, Chair of Global Thank you to all nominees for your inspiring work and dedication to shaping the future of business as a force for good! Winners will be announced at our All Members Meeting on February 20th! Register here: https://lnkd.in/eRNuK82C #BAcademics #BAwards2024 #BusinessForGood #BCorp #Sustainability #Impact

🚀 Neues Fachbuch zur Kreislaufwirtschaft in nachhaltigen Lieferketten! 🌍🔄 Zirkuläre Geschäftsmodelle ermöglichen nachhaltige Lieferketten, indem sie Ressourcen im Kreislauf halten – durch Wiederverwendung, Reparatur und Recycling. Doch wie gelingt die Umsetzung in der Praxis? Ein neues Buch gibt Antworten! 📖✨ "Circular Economy in Sustainable Supply Chains – A Global Perspective on Challenges, Concepts and Cases", herausgegeben von Prof. Dr. Cristian R. Loza Adaui (THI Business School) gemeinsam mit Elisabeth Fröhlich, Kristina Steinbiß und Maud H. Schmiedeknecht, ist im Springer Verlag erschienen. 📌 Warum ist dieses Buch wichtig? ✔️ Es analysiert zentrale Herausforderungen und Chancen zirkulärer Geschäftsmodelle. ✔️ Es zeigt praxisnahe Fallstudien und innovative Lösungen führender Unternehmen. ✔️ Es beleuchtet erweiterte R-Prinzipien wie Respect, Responsibility, Restore, Regenerate, Rethink und mehr. „Ich freue mich, dass wir mit diesem Buch wertvolle Impulse für wissenschaftliches Personal, Unternehmen und Organisationen setzen können, die nachhaltige Lieferketten aktiv gestalten möchten“, so Prof. Loza Adaui. 📚 Mehr erfahren & Buchzugang: 🔗 https://lnkd.in/dg9X8tWy - English- 🚀 New specialist book on the circular economy in sustainable supply chains! 🌍🔄 Circular business models enable sustainable supply chains by keeping resources in the cycle - through reuse, repair and recycling. But how can they be implemented in practice? A new book provides answers! 📖✨ “Circular Economy in Sustainable Supply Chains - A Global Perspective on Challenges, Concepts and Cases”, edited by Prof. Dr. Cristian R. Loza Adaui (THI Business School) together with Elisabeth Fröhlich, Kristina Steinbiß and Maud H. Schmiedeknecht, has been published by Springer Verlag. 📌 Why is this book important? ✔️ It analyzes the central challenges and opportunities of circular business models. ✔️ It presents practical case studies and innovative solutions from leading companies. ✔️ It highlights advanced R principles such as Respect, Responsibility, Restore, Regenerate, Rethink and more. “I am pleased that with this book we can provide valuable impulses for scientists, companies and organizations that want to actively shape sustainable supply chains,” says Prof. Loza Adaui. 📚 Learn more & access the book: 🔗 https://lnkd.in/dg9X8tWy #CircularEconomy #Sustainability #SupplyChainManagement #BusinessInnovation #SustainableBusiness #THIngolstadt #THI #THIBusinessSchool #Leadership

🎉 Celebrating 2025 #WorldCaseTeachingDay before heading to bed on this side of the world 🌴 ! I’ve had the privilege of publishing numerous #teachingcases —but if you ask me to pick a #casefavourite, that’s like asking a parent to choose their favorite child! 🚸 Each case represents a unique story, a rich learning experience, and countless hours of research, writing, and reviewers (oh, yeah, those #CRJ reviews!). That said, the cases I’ve co-authored with California State University Channel Islands students hold a special place in my heart. One of the most rewarding parts of this journey is seeing students engage deeply with #socent real challenges, contribute their insights, and ultimately see their work published in #peerreviewed journals. More cases written with students are on the way—stay tuned! Happy #WorldCaseTeachingDay to all the educators, case writers, and students who bring case studies to life in classrooms around the world! Thank you to my global #casemethod community The Case Centre - It is truly an honor to serve on your board! North American Case Research Association Case Research Foundation & Paul R. Lawrence Fellows Sage Ivey Publishing Harvard Business Publishing #OATCJ #ALAC ...and to all my beloved coauthors and organizations that we have worked with and continue to be working with. Your doubts and indecision create extraordinary learning opportunities for all. #CaseMethod #ExperientialLearning #CaseWriting #CaseTeaching PS: #casefavourite The General Shoe Company case isn't bad either 😜 World Case Teaching Day

✨ Highlighting another B Academics Member Feature, Jen Jones ✨ Jen Jones is a Professor in the School of Business and Technology at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. As the developer for the MBA course Leading Change with Organizational Ethics and the undergraduate courses in Corporate Ethics and Social Responsibility and Organizational Leadership, she elevates the study of responsible business, B Corps, and fair trade. She is an active member of B Academics, serving on the Teaching and Curriculum Innovation Committee, moderating a panel at the 2024 B Academic Teaching Roundtable Event, and was nominated for the Instructor of the Year Award. Her research focuses on organizational and leadership ethics from a humanities approach, primarily existential phenomenology, illuminating insights from key philosophical figures to rethink organizational and leadership theory and practice. She is a reviewer for multiple journals, including the Journal of Business Ethics, Business Ethics Quarterly, and Leadership. She serves on Seton Hill’s President’s Taskforce for Sustainability. Thank you, Jen, for being a valued member of our community and for championing the #BusinessAsAForceForGood movement through higher education! Your support is instrumental in driving positive change 🍃 🌐 #Member #Teaching #Academia #BCorps #ResponsibleBusiness #BusinessEthics