Research blog by Ricardo Sosa on innovation and design, societal factors of creativity, diffusion of innovations, creative destruction, resistance to change, systemic creativity, sustainability, etc...

Saturday, February 19, 2011

The infancy of social indicators...

Still very limited, but the social dimension of sustainability is gradually being included in product ratings, such as these by GoodGuide:

http://www.goodguide.com/about/ratings


Our Social score characterizes the social impact associated with the manufacture and sale of a product. GoodGuide uses a common assessment framework, pictured here, to organize the various indicators that are available to score products or companies on social performance.  There are four broad classes of indicators: Corporate Governanceindicators evaluate corporate ethics and reporting on environmental and social issues. Consumer indicators include company-level product quality and safety criteria, as well as information about customer satisfaction policies and programs.  Society indicators encompass company philanthropic programs, community engagement activities, community-related controversies, and involvement in countries with oppressive regimes. Worker indicators track company performance on diversity, working conditions and labor rights.  
Because the availability of product-level social data is limited and varies by product category, GoodGuide's Social scores are primarily based on company-level data.  The relative contribution of product- vs company-level data to Social scores varies by product category:
  • Social scores are based solely on company-level data for personal care, household chemicals, food, drinks, toys and paper.  
  • Product-level data contributes 50% of Social scores for bulk coffees and teas. 

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