High-Growth Benefit Corporations: Leveraging on Intangibles—Insights from Italy

Abstract

This study investigates the link between high growth, benefit corporations, and intellectual capital. The last is particularly relevant in high-growth companies called “gazelles.” Moreover, it is assumed to play a pivotal role in benefit corporations whose purpose-driven mission is to pursue and integrate economic, social-environmental, and ethical benefits. Drawing from this theoretical background, we identified four benefit corporations among 2183 Italian gazelles founded in 2014 with a minimum employee number equal to 10 in 2015 and 2016 and with a growth of sales and employees of 20% in 2018 and 2019. A qualitative-based methodology, a multiple case study relative to Italian benefit corporations that showed an interesting increasing dynamic in the last two years, 2020–2021, has been carried out to deeply investigate salient traits of the virtuous circle that a benefit corporation triggers. Findings point out that the high-growth benefit corporations balance public purposes and economic goals through a sustainable business model, taking advantage of the intangible resources made available by the group’s companies and sharing them with stakeholders, enriching the context in which they operate through direct actions to support the community and the area.