SIMI 社会的インパクト・マネジメント・イニシアチブ

ABOUT SOCIAL IMPACT MANAGEMENT

WHAT IS SOCIAL IMPACT?

Social impact is the social and environmental outcomes that result from projects and activities, including short-term and long-term changes. At SIMI, the term “social impact” is used almost synonymously with “outcome” as used in program evaluation.*

* This is the definition by the Cabinet Office, Government of Japan in its report, “Promotion of Social Impact Measurement – Basic Concepts of Social Impact Measurement and Its Future Use for Solving Social Issues” (March 2016, Japanese only).

WHAT IS SOCIAL IMPACT MANAGEMENT?

Social impact management consists of management practices that make decisions based on information about the social impacts and value of projects generated through business operations. Improving social impact requires both increasing positive impacts and reducing negative impacts, which may be measured quantitatively as well as qualitatively.

WHY SOCIAL IMPACT MANAGEMENT?

The practice of social impact management has different implications for different stakeholders:

Corporate and nonprofit practitioners should learn from their own management practices and promote decision making and business improvement based on information about social impacts and values.
Other stakeholders should obtain information on the progress and social impact of projects and initiatives, and participate in decision-making and business improvement processes depending on their involvement.
Based on these efforts, the society as a whole will promote cooperation between stakeholders and recognize their respective contribution to the solution of social issues and the generation of social value. This will result in the accumulation and utilization of knowledge regarding social impact, not only for individual projects but also for diverse stakeholders working collectively for common goals.

PRACTICE OF SOCIAL IMPACT MANAGEMENT

Social impact management can be put into practice by going through the “impact management cycle” and incorporating various evaluation tasks into it.

THE IMPACT MANAGEMENT CYCLE

The “impact management cycle” is a management cycle for operating businesses and consists of the following four stages and one element that supports them.

Stage 1 : Plan

Stage 2 : Do

Stage 3 : Assess

Stage 4 : Report & Utilize

ELEMENT SUPPORTING ALL STAGES: Culture & Governance

The cornerstone of implementing social impact management is to effectively carry out the “impact management cycle.” Evaluation for social impact Social impact management involves different evaluation approaches depending on the phase of impact management. It highlights information about the outcome and/or value of a single or multiple projects or initiatives, and has the following two major characteristics. (1)Emphasis is placed on systematic investigation and evaluation of the effectiveness of projects and activities with a particular focus on “social impact”. (2)It is performed according to the “5 + 2 principles” of evaluation for social impact.