The organization

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But the motivations of DOMI are very different from traditional companies. Indeed, their motivations are a mix between traditional companies’ motivations and Social Business’

motivations.

The most important goal of DOMI is to change people’s behaviour towards the environment and to make them responsible of protecting their environment. For that, they decided to focus on making people take action to save energy, as humans are wasting a huge amount of energy.

So their main goal is environmentally and socially oriented, and not number oriented. These motivations are totally different from traditional companies.

These motivations could make us feel that DOMI is not so different from social businesses, as their motivations look like the ones of social businesses. But, DOMI’s motivations are not only about the protection of the environment and the respect of the society. At the same time, DOMI wants to expand its business abroad and make more benefits, like traditional companies. The company understands and believes that to be sustainable, they need to earn enough revenues.

So, the motivations of DOMI are a mix between the motivations of traditional corporations and of Social Businesses.

5.1.3. The organization

5.1.3.1. Engagement in the B Corp movement – An interesting relationship with other companies

As we explained earlier, DOMI is the most engaged and committed B Corp in Taiwan into the B Corp movement. Being so engaged in the B Corp movement allows DOMI to network a lot

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with the other B Corps and to be part of a community. Because of this commitment to B Corp, DOMI shares a friendly relationship with the other companies evolving in the B Corp industry.

Indeed, in traditional corporations, companies who operate in the same sector or share similar values, products, targeted customers, will often consider each others as competitors. In very rare cases, the companies will help each other through coopetition. Until only very recently, some industries started to try using coopetition, a mix of cooperation and competition. But most often, these traditional corporations will try to compete with each other to attract the most customers and have the biggest part of the market.

At the contrary, DOMI sees other B Corps as a family, and as examples from which they can learn best practices. They don’t see them as competitors, when they could.

Why could DOMI see the other B Corporations as competitors? Because even if B Corporations operate in many different industries, they are still in the same economy, the new economy of the B Corporations. Indeed, DOMI for example is in the energy-saving industry, when Come True Coffee is operating in the Coffee Industry. But both of them are B Corps, they operate in the B Corp economy, meaning they will attract similar customers and employees, B people, meaning customers and employees interested by B Corp’s values. We can qualify the B Corporations as indirect competitors. This is why, if these corporations were traditional corporations, they would certainly have a competitive approach to each other.

But what is interesting here is that DOMI seems to be operating in a friendly environment with the other B Corps. The B Corps entertain good relationships with each other, they try to learn from each other and to make the B Corp movement grow. And it is even more accurate for DOMI, as DOMI is the most involved B Corp in Taiwan into the B Corp movement.

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The relationship DOMI entertains with other B Corporations is quite different from other companies. Instead of seeing them as indirect competitors that they should be worried about, like traditional organizations would do, DOMI sees them as peers that they can partner with and learn from, and also as leaders of a movement that they believe in all together. This way of thinking allows the B Corporations to operate in a friendlier environment, which is good for the corporations, because they can evolve in a positive atmosphere.

5.1.3.2. Broader perspective

DOMI has a broad perspective.

Firstly, what we mean here is that DOMI is not only focused on its customers, the company also cares about its employees, suppliers, its partners and even the families of its employees.

Secondly, the aim of DOMI is to have a positive impact on all these individuals: DOMI wants to make them realize that we need to be socially and environmentally responsible, and that every individual needs to take action.

Usually, traditional corporations will mainly focus on their customers, and on attracting more customers to earn more revenue. So the main focus of these organizations will be their customers. Then will usually come the suppliers and employees.

Moreover, the relationship with customers is principally about attracting more customers, satisfying them and retaining them. The relationship with suppliers will be to build trust and get the best prices possible.

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Finally, the relationship with the employees will depend on the organization, some organizations will care about the happiness of their employees, when other organizations will only care about making numbers.

Now, we can compare this with DOMI.

Firstly, DOMI, places a quite equal importance in its employees, customers and suppliers. Each of them is considered as very valuable.

Secondly, the relationship with the three of them is very different from the traditional relationship that traditional corporations entertain with them. Indeed, about the customers, DOMI is not only looking for attracting, satisfying and retaining them. DOMI also wants to positively impact them. What do we mean here? As explained earlier in this paper, the aim of DOMI is to influence people to become more socially and environmentally responsible and to take action to respect and protect our planet and our environment. So, the company’s purpose with its customers is to influence them to take action for our planet. It is the same about the suppliers. DOMI tries to influence its suppliers in the same way that they try to influence their customers. Finally, about the employees: at DOMI, the employees are called « Gardeners », and this already shows the relationship that the company entertains with its employees. They see them as leaders of the movement and Tammy and Corey really care about having employees committed to their purpose and to the B Corp values. Going even further, DOMI aspire to having their employees influence their own families about social and environmental issues, in order that they apply at home the same values and actions than at work, and with their families.

We can really see in this the broad perspective that the company has.

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To sum-up, the perspective of DOMI is different in the way that it is broader than in traditional corporations. This perspective is broad because of two main reasons:

- The importance given to each interlocutor: each interlocutor is considered as equally important.

- The relationship with each interlocutor: the purpose of DOMI is to positively influence each interlocutor to take action to be environmentally responsible. This relationship is possible because the company has a broader perspective.

5.1.3.3. Branding

Because DOMI is very involved as a B Corp, the Branding of DOMI is quite different, as the company uses the B Corp’s values to promote itself.

Indeed, in traditional corporations, the focus of the marketing, branding and advertisement is often about the characteristics of the product or service, meaning the quality, the price and the difference of this specific product or service compared to competitors. The values of the company will less be used to advertise the products or services of the company.

The difference is that DOMI will mainly advertise about the values of the company. Their marketing will be based on promoting that they are B Corp certified and that their values are socially and environmentally friendly. Then they will advertise about the products and services.

This is because the company’s values and their belonging to the B Corp Movement is very important for DOMI.

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To summarize, the marketing and advertising of DOMI is focused on promoting the values of the company and their B Corp certification more than promoting their product and services like other companies.