A preliminary framework for product impact-weighted accounts

George Serafeim, Katie Trinh, Rob Zochowski

While there has been significant progress in the measurement of an organization's environmental and social impacts from their operations, metrics to evaluate the impact of products once they come to market lag far behind. In this paper we provide a framework for systematic measurement of product impact in monetary terms and delve into the rationale for the framework's seven elements. We then apply the whole framework to two competitor companies to show the feasibility of measuring product impact and the actionability of the framework. We indicate the value of impact-weighted financial statement analysis with examples of insights enabled by industry-wide product impact measurement. We see our results as a first step, rather than a definitive answer, towards more systematic measurement of product impact in monetary terms that can then be reflected in financial statements with the purpose of creating impact-weighted financial accounts

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Year of publication:	[2020]
Authors:	Serafeim, George ; Trinh, Katie ; Zochowski, Rob
Publisher:	[Boston, MA] : Harvard Business School
Subject:	Social Impact \| Product Life Cycle \| Environment \| Sustainability \| Measurement \| Metrics \| Impact Investing \| ESG \| ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance \| ESG Reporting \| Product \| Environmental Sustainability \| Measurement and Metrics \| Framework \| Financial Statements \| Corporate Social Responsibility \| Corporate social responsibility \| Nachhaltige Entwicklung \| Sustainable development \| Nachhaltige Kapitalanlage \| Sustainable investment \| Produktlebenszyklus \| Product life cycle \| Performance-Messung \| Performance measurement \| Nachhaltigkeitsbericht \| Sustainability reporting \| Umweltmanagement \| Environmental management \| Nachhaltigkeit \| Messung \| Umweltbericht \| Environmental reporting