Benefit corporations in the valley of temples

Benefit corporations have been introduced for the first time by the US State of Maryland, in 2010. Taking inspiration from it, other US States have regulated benefit corporations, as well as a number of foreign jurisdictions: among others, Italy in 2015. In brief, this is an opt-in model that a corporation may voluntarily choose, if it intends – alongside the pursuit of profits – to benefit also society and the environment. The primary aim of the work is to frame the benefit model and investigate whether (if so, to which extent) the balance among multiple competing interests may function. The focus is on Italy, but with a constantly looking at three other legal systems: the US (and its internal ramification), France and Canada. In addition, the work has a background aim: which contribution can the benefit model, framed as per above, give to the wider current debate on corporate purpose? Meaning the debate on the corporation as such, not just on voluntary models like the benefit one. To these ends, the work is divided into five chapters. Finally, the epilogue resumes the conclusions and explains the mythological metaphor employed in the title of the work (“in the valley of temples”).