Measuring socio-economic impact A guide for business Overview - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Measuring socio-economic impact A guide for business

Overview presentation April 2013

Companies: increasingly interested in measuring socio- economic impact as part of:

• Maintaining their license to operate
• Improving the enabling environment
• Strengthening their value chains
• Fueling product and service innovation

Many tools available, however:

• Diversity in tools
• Based on different assumptions
• Offering different functionality
• Focusing on different types of impact
• Suiting different purposes

Context

About the guide

Measuring socio-economic impact: A guide for business Main aim: help companies navigate the complex landscape of socio-economic impact measurement.

The business case The essentials The tools The road ahead

Outlines business motivations for measuring socio- economic impact Introduces the terminology and basic theory used in this space for a business audience Profiles a selection of 10 publicly available tools tailored for business needs Suggests areas

• f focus to

accelerate business efforts to measure and manage socio- economic impact

Part 1: The business case

Part 2: The essentials

Input

• How do business activities translate into socio-

economic impacts? (“results chain”, “route to impact”)

• Measurement can happen anywhere with specific

metrics along the results chain

• Socio-economic impact is the “end goal” in terms of

change in assets, capabilities, opportunities, and standards of living – positive or negative, intended or unintended, temporary or sustainable over time

• Measuring “impact”, in the technical sense of the

word, is challenging to do (decreasing influence along the results chain – time lags, contribution vs. attribution, lack of baseline data)

• Prioritization needed; judicious use of proxies can

be key (ex. number of units of products sold, the

• utput, as good proxy for reduction in the incidence of

a disease)

Impact Outcome Output Activity

Part 3: 10 tools selected and analyzed along several dimensions

• Strategic fit (link to the business case)
• Applicable level(s) of analysis (site value chain, operations at

national level, etc.)

• Guidance included (setting scope, selecting indicators,

interpreting results)

• Metrics (input, activity, output, outcome, impact)
• Data requirements (internal company data, external data

collection)

• Key audiences (company managers, civil society,

governments, etc.)

• Level of effort to implement
• Developer services
• Practical examples of their application on the ground

The 10 tools profiled

Tools analysis overview

Part 4: Road ahead

Evolving landscape of tools – guide intended to be a living document, updated and improved as existing tools are updated and new ones emerge Advance the practice by:

• Integrating measurement into business performance

management and reporting, and driver of action

• Using measurement to drive more effective

collaboration between business, government, and civil society – data drives better understanding of roles and high-potential impacts

Access the guide and supporting materials www.wbcsd.org/impact.aspx