OC&C Strategy Consultants becomes a certified B Corp
In what the consultancy describes as a natural progression of its values, OC&C Strategy Consultants has demonstrated its high levels of social and environmental impact to achieve B Corp certification.
Global strategy firm OC&C Strategy Consultants has become a certified B Corporation, entrenching a commitment toward placing purpose above profit.
Headquartered in the United Kingdom, OC&C has more than a dozen offices around the world – including bases in Sydney and Melbourne – making it one of the largest and most prominent international B Corp consulting entities among the 7,500 or so companies to have been certified to date.
Established in 2006, the non-profit B Lab organisation seeks to advance a cultural shift toward a more equitable economic model by redefining business success, with B-Corp status only granted to companies which have achieved a score of 80 or above following a thorough evaluation of their ESG standards. Applicants are also required to alter their governance structure, such that all stakeholders are taken into account during decision-making.
With a commitment to transparency another prerequisite, OC&C scored 86.5 in its assessment – well above the median score of 50.9 – and as such becomes one of only a small handful of accounting or management consulting firms of its size certified in Australia, alongside the likes of Baringa, Bluerock and Inventium.
OC&C Strategy Consultants says it now hopes to inspire its industry peers to follow suit in reshaping the consulting landscape as a clear force for good.
“We aspired to become a B Corp to put our values into practice,” stated global managing partner Will Hayllar. “As a global strategy consulting firm growing in size and influence, it’s critical to ensure these principles are intrinsic to both our core strategic work for clients and the way our business operates more widely. I hope this mark of assurance instils a sense of pride and motivates even greater engagement in our collective mission.”
Indeed, OC&C’s local team of 20 partners and consultants – including co-founders Jeremy Barker, Maurice Violani and Mark Blackwell, together with Australia ESG leader Oliver Jones – were delighted with the news, taking to LinkedIn to express their pride, with many of the congratulatory responses noting the difficulty in gaining certification. The branch will now work with B Lab Australia and Aotearoa NZ to drive continued improvements.
One of the local team commented: “The thing that stuck out to me particularly about B Corp certification was that we would start using the phrase ‘is this a B Corp sort of thing to do?’. It’s such a simple thing, and I hope that both pre- and post- B Corp we would do the right thing anyway, but it’s now in the foreground for us. We’ve made a commitment to keep moving in that right direction.”
Amid the celebration, OC&C, and global ESG lead Deidre Sorensen, who helped guide the firm through the rigorous process, were quick to note that achieving certification is not the end point of the undertaking but rather the beginning of a new chapter, one requiring an ongoing collective effort. The aim is to now demonstrate that “profitability and social responsibility are not mutually exclusive but integral components of a forward-thinking and impactful business model.”
