24 July, 2026

When it comes to sustainability, consumers often default to a simple equation: big companies are bad, small companies are good.

There are many reasons to support smaller businesses. They can bring fresh ideas, strong local connections and a clear sense of purpose. Spending with them can strengthen communities, boost local economies, support entrepreneurs and help emerging solutions grow.

But size alone tells us very little about a company’s impact.

At our recent 30th anniversary event, we were delighted to be joined by Richard Reed, co-founder of Innocent Drinks and JamJar Investments. Richard reflected candidly on Innocent’s journey from start-up to scale-up through its acquisition by The Coca-Cola Company in 2013 after an initial investment in 2009, and he argued that impact depends on three things: intention, effort and scale.

Good intentions matter. But meaningful impact also relies on the energy committed to delivering them and the scale at which the results can be felt.

Innocent provides an interesting example. It began as a small company with a strong sense of purpose and a desire to do business differently. The business grew fast, and retained the intention to do good things with good people. For many years it turned down external investment, preferring to go it alone. But after 15 years of operation, when it was looking to scale up exponentially, a new offer of investment from Coca-Cola made sense.

From an impact perspective, it gave Innocent two things. First, the opportunity to grow its own brand. And second, the chance to influence conversations within Coca-Cola itself about topics such as sustainable sourcing which are close to Innocent’s heart.

Whatever your opinion of Coca-Cola, shifting the dial even slightly within a company of that size has enormous potential. A relatively small improvement can affect vast supply chains, millions of customers and entire industries.

While small businesses can experiment quickly, challenge established thinking and demonstrate new ways of being, large businesses can bring resources, reach and influence, taking promising ideas further. So perhaps the question should not be whether a business is big or small, but what it chooses to do with its size.

Good Business runs on the idea that if you want to change the world, do it through business. And if you want to change business, change the world.

We believe some of the greatest opportunities for change lie in influencing the companies with the largest footprints. When businesses that are commonly seen as the “baddies” invest genuine intention and effort into changing their practices, the positive effects can be felt globally.

Big companies aren’t automatically bad. Small companies aren’t automatically good. Both can learn from one another, and demonising scale risks overlooking its potential to amplify positive change.

By Emma Lindsay