A Study on the Methodology of Social Impact Measurement and its Business Model
Date Issued
2015
Date
2015
Author(s)
Lin, Yen-Ping
Abstract
The concept and development of impact investment has been quite popular in Europe and America, which refers to the type of investors who only consider the return on their investment but also care about the extent of social and environmental impact that the investee enterprises could generate. Due to the importance of impact investment, how to adequately measure the extent of social impact become a critical issue to the development of social enterprises and even the whole ecosystem. However, previous literature pays little attention to the methodology and diffusion of social impact measurement, especially in Taiwan, a gap that motivates the present research. Based on a thorough literature review on social enterprise, social impact measurement methodology and business model, we first confirm that an introduction of social impact measurement would exert positive influence on the eco-system of social entrepreneurship. We then conduct several field interviews with social entrepreneurs and impact investors on the development and diffusion of social impact measures in Taiwan. By integrating the development experience in the Western world and insights from local entrepreneurs and investors, we are able to propose a feasible model of diffusion in the local context. Below are our suggestions in terms of business model design for social impact measurements. We suggest “providing the method which could convey the social utility of an organization” and “a bridge to connect organizations that have same social purpose” be the value propositions for the platform of social impact measurement. The new platform has to be closely linked with and sourcing experiences from the existing organizations such as B Lab and The SROI Network. The target audience of the platform includes social enterprises, impact investors and companies involved in corporate social responsibility activities. Social enterprises can be treated as the subsidy side, while impact investors and companies with corporate social responsibility are considered to be the money side. With the expectation of increasing positive network effect between both sides, the extent of diffusion of social impact measurements would be enhanced. Implications of our research findings are also discussed.
Subjects
Social Enterprises
Impact Investment
Social Impact Measurement
Business Model
Type
thesis
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
Loading...
Name
ntu-104-R01724045-1.pdf
Size
23.32 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum
(MD5):f31fdd20e6e48604c008f13fd5fc2e0d