Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben and Jerry’s, resigned in September due to parent company Unilever exercising control over the ice cream manufacturer’s social and political activism, according to The Associated Press.

Greenfield, who has been with the brand for 47 years, said he could not “in good conscience” remain with the company.

Katie Quigley Mellor, program director of social entrepreneurship at Innovate@BU, an innovation and entrepreneurship initiative at Boston University, said the moment illustrates how the public has started to see businesses as agents of social change. 

“People really do trust businesses,” Mellor said. “They trust business leaders, and they’re calling upon those leaders to take stands and help move the needle on social issues.”

A 2022 study by the Edelman Trust Institute and Harvard University’s Institute for the Study of Business and Global Society found more than 65% of respondents believe CEOs should engage in policy conversations about climate change, job automation and racial inequality.

“[The younger] generation is showing it with how they are spending their money,” Mellor said. “[People] are starting to be more cognizant of how they want to spend their money [and] what they’re choosing to invest in as a way to signal where they would like their support to be.”

Mellor said the way people view social entrepreneurship has shifted. 

“A decade ago, people would have heard ‘social entrepreneurship,’ and people would have thought ‘nonprofits,’” she said. “What we’ve learned is that in order to have long-term, lasting impact, businesses, both nonprofits and for-profits, need to have strong business models.”

Mellor said entrepreneurs should be clear about what their non-negotiable values are, especially if they hope to be acquired by a larger company some day. 

“What do you want baked into your agreement if you get acquired? What parts of the company do you not want dismantled?” she said. 

Andrew King, professor of strategy and innovation at BU’s Questrom School of Business, said Greenfield’s decision reflects the decline of social entrepreneurship. 

“My sense is that corporate activism for social purpose is dead, and that corporate activism for profit and for ingratiation with the federal government is alive and well,” King said.

Still, King said social entrepreneurship has not disappeared, but rather shifted toward executive advocacy. 

“Many [social entrepreneurs] are trying to figure out ways to change the rules of the game that benefit both society and business,” he said. “[This could be] some kind of industry self regulation that reduces some kind of market failure … or a service that’s been missed that people need that they can provide.” 

However, King said these companies are not entirely focused on social advocacy.

“What doesn’t work is wishful thinking that we’re somehow going to get the company to forget the profit motive in terms of benefitting society,” he said. “Firms are motivated by profit.”

David Epstein, executive director of the Susilo Institute for Ethics in a Global Economy and a professor of the practice at Questrom, offered a more optimistic perspective. 

He said this generation of entrepreneurs is highly motivated to build businesses that do social good while performing well financially. 

“Social entrepreneurship is alive and well,” Epstein said. “Many founders and entrepreneurs are highly interested in doing things that are good for the world as well as for business.”

He said pursuing social initiatives as a business can ultimately be beneficial.

“Doing things that are socially good gives you better results in the long term,” Epstein said. “You might have to sacrifice a little bit of profits earlier on, but it comes back to you later on in higher sales, better longevity … and giving a good name to the company itself.”

Epstein said Greenfield’s resignation was an instance of a corporate leader living their values. 

“If you live your values, then you have to be strong enough to stand up and say, ‘I’m not going to continue doing this the way that the corporation is doing it, and I’m not going to do this the way that our board is saying we have to,’” he said.