Firms Doing Good : How Do We Know? Measurement of Social and Environmental Results
Social impact investors, philanthropists, or corporations pursuing social responsibility try to demonstrate that they are indeed "doing good." This essay classifies the various types of measures that currently exist to capture social and...
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2014
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/02/18926100/firms-doing-good-know-firms-doing-good-know-measurement-social-environmental-results http://hdl.handle.net/10986/18357 |
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okr-10986-18357 |
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oai_dc |
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Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
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World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English en_US |
| topic |
ABATEMENT ACCOUNTING ACCOUNTING STANDARDS AGRICULTURE ASSET CLASS BANK POLICY BENCHMARKING BENCHMARKS BENEFICIARIES BENEFICIARY BENEFIT ANALYSIS BEST PRACTICE BEST PRACTICES BUSINESSES BUYERS CARBON CARBON EMISSIONS CENTRAL PLANNING COMPETITIVE MARKETS CONSUMERS CONTINGENT VALUATION CORPORATE CULTURE CORPORATE FINANCE CORPORATE GOVERNANCE COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS COST EFFECTIVENESS CREDIBILITY CUSTOMER DEMAND CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP DEVELOPMENT BANK DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DEVELOPMENT FINANCE DEVELOPMENT POLICY DURABLE DURABLE GOODS ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE ECONOMICS ECONOMISTS ELECTRICITY EMISSIONS EMPLOYMENT ENERGY EFFICIENCY ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENTAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP EXPECTED RETURN EXPECTED RETURNS EXTERNALITIES FAIR TRADE FINANCIAL HEALTH FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE FINANCIAL SERVICES FLEXIBLE LABOR MARKETS FRAUD GLOBAL ECONOMY GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS GROWTH RATE HUMAN RESOURCE IMPACT ASSESSMENT INCOME INCOME TAX INNOVATION INTERNATIONAL BANK INTERNATIONAL FINANCE INVESTING JOB CREATION LABOR LAWS LABOR MARKETS LOAN MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS MARKET ECONOMIES MARKET PRICE MARKET PRICES MARKET RETURNS MARKET WAGES MARKETING MEDIUM ENTERPRISES MICRO FINANCE MICRO-FINANCE MICROFINANCE MOBILE PHONES MOTIVATION OIL OPEN ACCESS OUTPUTS OVERHEAD COSTS PERFORMANCE INDICATOR PERFORMANCE INDICATORS PERSONAL COMMUNICATION POLITICAL ECONOMY POLLUTION PORTFOLIO PORTFOLIO INVESTMENTS PRIVATE SECTOR PRODUCTIVITY PROTOCOLS PUBLIC GOODS PUBLIC SAVINGS PURCHASING POWER RESOURCE ALLOCATION RESULT RESULTS SAFETY SALES REPRESENTATIVE SHADOW PRICES SOCIAL BENEFITS SOCIAL COSTS SOCIAL NETWORKS SUPPLIERS SUPPLY CHAINS TAX TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TOTAL COSTS TRANSPARENCY UNEMPLOYED USES WAGES WELFARE SYSTEM |
| spellingShingle |
ABATEMENT ACCOUNTING ACCOUNTING STANDARDS AGRICULTURE ASSET CLASS BANK POLICY BENCHMARKING BENCHMARKS BENEFICIARIES BENEFICIARY BENEFIT ANALYSIS BEST PRACTICE BEST PRACTICES BUSINESSES BUYERS CARBON CARBON EMISSIONS CENTRAL PLANNING COMPETITIVE MARKETS CONSUMERS CONTINGENT VALUATION CORPORATE CULTURE CORPORATE FINANCE CORPORATE GOVERNANCE COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS COST EFFECTIVENESS CREDIBILITY CUSTOMER DEMAND CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP DEVELOPMENT BANK DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DEVELOPMENT FINANCE DEVELOPMENT POLICY DURABLE DURABLE GOODS ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE ECONOMICS ECONOMISTS ELECTRICITY EMISSIONS EMPLOYMENT ENERGY EFFICIENCY ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENTAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP EXPECTED RETURN EXPECTED RETURNS EXTERNALITIES FAIR TRADE FINANCIAL HEALTH FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE FINANCIAL SERVICES FLEXIBLE LABOR MARKETS FRAUD GLOBAL ECONOMY GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS GROWTH RATE HUMAN RESOURCE IMPACT ASSESSMENT INCOME INCOME TAX INNOVATION INTERNATIONAL BANK INTERNATIONAL FINANCE INVESTING JOB CREATION LABOR LAWS LABOR MARKETS LOAN MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS MARKET ECONOMIES MARKET PRICE MARKET PRICES MARKET RETURNS MARKET WAGES MARKETING MEDIUM ENTERPRISES MICRO FINANCE MICRO-FINANCE MICROFINANCE MOBILE PHONES MOTIVATION OIL OPEN ACCESS OUTPUTS OVERHEAD COSTS PERFORMANCE INDICATOR PERFORMANCE INDICATORS PERSONAL COMMUNICATION POLITICAL ECONOMY POLLUTION PORTFOLIO PORTFOLIO INVESTMENTS PRIVATE SECTOR PRODUCTIVITY PROTOCOLS PUBLIC GOODS PUBLIC SAVINGS PURCHASING POWER RESOURCE ALLOCATION RESULT RESULTS SAFETY SALES REPRESENTATIVE SHADOW PRICES SOCIAL BENEFITS SOCIAL COSTS SOCIAL NETWORKS SUPPLIERS SUPPLY CHAINS TAX TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TOTAL COSTS TRANSPARENCY UNEMPLOYED USES WAGES WELFARE SYSTEM Klein, Michael Kaur, Sumeet Firms Doing Good : How Do We Know? Measurement of Social and Environmental Results |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper;No. 6773 |
| description |
Social impact investors,
philanthropists, or corporations pursuing social
responsibility try to demonstrate that they are indeed
"doing good." This essay classifies the various
types of measures that currently exist to capture social and
environmental impact in a simple scheme. It argues that
there is a basic "staircase of results
measurement." A first level of measures captures some
aspect of "organizational readiness." The next
level describes some form of "result" that may or
may not be attributable to the organization trying to do
good. The third level gets at "impact" that can be
attributed to an intervention. Beyond this, there are
measures that assess the costs and benefits of
interventions, allow aggregation of results from different
interventions and comparison among them or across time.
Finally, the essay discusses how measures are tied to
incentives. It argues that the various approaches can
produce more or less helpful measures but cannot be expected
to yield anything approaching a true "double" or
"triple" bottom line. A true "bottom
line" involves aggregation and comparability of costs
and benefits and provides incentives to perform. The
multitude of social and environmental measurement schemes
will by necessity remain a patchwork that can be thought of
as describing the "product characteristics" of a
company's output. Accounting profit remains the only
measure that effectively aggregates costs and benefits and
provides incentives. Profit itself is not just a necessity
for organizational survival. It measures whether
organizations meet client needs. It is thus an important
measure of social impact in its own right. This may be
unsurprising, but it sets expectations straight compared
with currently widespread unrealistic hopes for the
measurement of social and environmental impact and redirects
attention to paying attention to profitability as part of
impact measurement. |
| format |
Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper |
| author |
Klein, Michael Kaur, Sumeet |
| author_facet |
Klein, Michael Kaur, Sumeet |
| author_sort |
Klein, Michael |
| title |
Firms Doing Good : How Do We Know? Measurement of Social and Environmental Results |
| title_short |
Firms Doing Good : How Do We Know? Measurement of Social and Environmental Results |
| title_full |
Firms Doing Good : How Do We Know? Measurement of Social and Environmental Results |
| title_fullStr |
Firms Doing Good : How Do We Know? Measurement of Social and Environmental Results |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Firms Doing Good : How Do We Know? Measurement of Social and Environmental Results |
| title_sort |
firms doing good : how do we know? measurement of social and environmental results |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2014 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/02/18926100/firms-doing-good-know-firms-doing-good-know-measurement-social-environmental-results http://hdl.handle.net/10986/18357 |
| _version_ |
1764441550191853568 |
| spelling |
okr-10986-183572021-04-23T14:03:46Z Firms Doing Good : How Do We Know? Measurement of Social and Environmental Results Klein, Michael Kaur, Sumeet ABATEMENT ACCOUNTING ACCOUNTING STANDARDS AGRICULTURE ASSET CLASS BANK POLICY BENCHMARKING BENCHMARKS BENEFICIARIES BENEFICIARY BENEFIT ANALYSIS BEST PRACTICE BEST PRACTICES BUSINESSES BUYERS CARBON CARBON EMISSIONS CENTRAL PLANNING COMPETITIVE MARKETS CONSUMERS CONTINGENT VALUATION CORPORATE CULTURE CORPORATE FINANCE CORPORATE GOVERNANCE COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS COST EFFECTIVENESS CREDIBILITY CUSTOMER DEMAND CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP DEVELOPMENT BANK DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DEVELOPMENT FINANCE DEVELOPMENT POLICY DURABLE DURABLE GOODS ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE ECONOMICS ECONOMISTS ELECTRICITY EMISSIONS EMPLOYMENT ENERGY EFFICIENCY ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENTAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP EXPECTED RETURN EXPECTED RETURNS EXTERNALITIES FAIR TRADE FINANCIAL HEALTH FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE FINANCIAL SERVICES FLEXIBLE LABOR MARKETS FRAUD GLOBAL ECONOMY GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS GROWTH RATE HUMAN RESOURCE IMPACT ASSESSMENT INCOME INCOME TAX INNOVATION INTERNATIONAL BANK INTERNATIONAL FINANCE INVESTING JOB CREATION LABOR LAWS LABOR MARKETS LOAN MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS MARKET ECONOMIES MARKET PRICE MARKET PRICES MARKET RETURNS MARKET WAGES MARKETING MEDIUM ENTERPRISES MICRO FINANCE MICRO-FINANCE MICROFINANCE MOBILE PHONES MOTIVATION OIL OPEN ACCESS OUTPUTS OVERHEAD COSTS PERFORMANCE INDICATOR PERFORMANCE INDICATORS PERSONAL COMMUNICATION POLITICAL ECONOMY POLLUTION PORTFOLIO PORTFOLIO INVESTMENTS PRIVATE SECTOR PRODUCTIVITY PROTOCOLS PUBLIC GOODS PUBLIC SAVINGS PURCHASING POWER RESOURCE ALLOCATION RESULT RESULTS SAFETY SALES REPRESENTATIVE SHADOW PRICES SOCIAL BENEFITS SOCIAL COSTS SOCIAL NETWORKS SUPPLIERS SUPPLY CHAINS TAX TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TOTAL COSTS TRANSPARENCY UNEMPLOYED USES WAGES WELFARE SYSTEM Social impact investors, philanthropists, or corporations pursuing social responsibility try to demonstrate that they are indeed "doing good." This essay classifies the various types of measures that currently exist to capture social and environmental impact in a simple scheme. It argues that there is a basic "staircase of results measurement." A first level of measures captures some aspect of "organizational readiness." The next level describes some form of "result" that may or may not be attributable to the organization trying to do good. The third level gets at "impact" that can be attributed to an intervention. Beyond this, there are measures that assess the costs and benefits of interventions, allow aggregation of results from different interventions and comparison among them or across time. Finally, the essay discusses how measures are tied to incentives. It argues that the various approaches can produce more or less helpful measures but cannot be expected to yield anything approaching a true "double" or "triple" bottom line. A true "bottom line" involves aggregation and comparability of costs and benefits and provides incentives to perform. The multitude of social and environmental measurement schemes will by necessity remain a patchwork that can be thought of as describing the "product characteristics" of a company's output. Accounting profit remains the only measure that effectively aggregates costs and benefits and provides incentives. Profit itself is not just a necessity for organizational survival. It measures whether organizations meet client needs. It is thus an important measure of social impact in its own right. This may be unsurprising, but it sets expectations straight compared with currently widespread unrealistic hopes for the measurement of social and environmental impact and redirects attention to paying attention to profitability as part of impact measurement. 2014-05-15T18:26:59Z 2014-05-15T18:26:59Z 2014-02 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/02/18926100/firms-doing-good-know-firms-doing-good-know-measurement-social-environmental-results http://hdl.handle.net/10986/18357 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 6773 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research |