金投赏：利成于益——商业企业向社会企业转型路径和治理探索

This case is about the development of a Chinese business creativity award, the ROI Festival, and describes the reflections and practical explorations made by founder He Xinhao to evolve it from a purely commercial enterprise to a social enterprise. The case mainly introduces how, after 12 years of development, the ROI Festival became the most influential business creativity award in Asia, and how, as the award grew in importance both in terms of individual honor and value for the society, He began to realize the magnitude of social influence and considered a mechanism to ensure management and operation against possible impacts from personnel changes. Generally, founders establish governance mechanisms for their projects to retain or to forgo control over them, and He obviously belonged to the latter. He wanted to sustainably expand the festival’s social value, what kind of model is needed to perpetuate operation, the establishment of a neutral mechanism for corporate decision-making based on proper governance, as well as the attraction and retention of talents. He hoped to find a governance and operating model able to consider both business and social goals to ensure brand longevity. This case enables students to think about achieving organic balance between pursuing commercial returns and realizing social influence from the standpoint of social responsibility. It bears strong relevance for founders of commercial enterprises in their corporate governance planning and inheritance.