Aiming To Do Well By Doing Good In the wake of corporate scandals, more businesses tout their conscience.(MANAGING FOR SUCCESS)

Byline: NICK TURNER

When Ben & Jerry's posted its first loss in 1994, some saw it as a test of the firm's socially minded attitude.

The Vermont ice cream maker had long touted its social mission: to improve quality of life locally, nationally and internationally. That meant everything from supporting family dairy farms to bringing jobs to inner cities.

Those goals served Ben & Jerry's well in the early years, as it played David to the corporate Goliath of Haagen-Dazs. Customers loved the company's pluck and were happy to see their money go to worthy causes.

But as growth and profit flagged, critics wondered if Ben & Jerry's needed to focus less on saving rain forests and more on the bottom line.

In 1995, the company hired a chief executive from the McKinsey consulting firm, but he couldn't fully turn things around. He stepped down the following year.

Ultimately Ben & Jerry's was acquired by Dutch-British food giant Unilever in 2000. Fans of the company's social mission took the news hard, seeing it as a sellout.