As we trend towards a new form of capitalism (are you listening BP?), here comes the B Corporation which are similar to the 'Partials' that we have discussed here - capitalists with a heart, or an eye on good business practice, depending on your take.

Although around for a while now, the B Corporation idea is starting to take hold. B Corporations are a new type of corporation which uses the power of business to solve social and environmental problems.  B Corporations are unlike traditional responsible businesses because they:

• Meet comprehensive and transparent social and environmental performance standards.
• Institutionalize stakeholder interests.
• Build collective voice through the power of a unifying brand.

There are two main reasons companies have become Certified B Corporations; some join the community in order to leverage the influence of their business beyond their industry or geography, and some do so because it just makes good business sense. They also have a B Impact system that allows a company to rate itself, assess a company's impact on each of its stakeholders and  improve a company's social and environmental performance using the Tools and Best Practices embedded in the Survey.

And States in the U.S. are taking notice. On April, 13, 2010  the state of Maryland signed the nation's first Benefit Corporation legislation, Vermont passed Benefit Corp legislation on May 19th, 2010. There are now over 200 companies in over 50 industries represented.