Calculating Social Value

This week was particularly interesting for me as through most of our education and work life, we have been asked to calculate value generated based of sales, revenues and costs. It is easy to come up with a number based on these parameters, but the discussions this week made me really think about the intangible aspects and effects my venture would have on the society.

An article on 'Measuring Social Impact' by London School of Economics  highlighted the importance of asking the right questions. Here are some questions that they enlisted:

Who are the people that matter to my business? 
This question takes into account the key stakeholders involved throughout the process, and not just the end users. In case of Clip, the key stakeholders are college students and high schools students in rural India. Other than that, the parents, the schools themselves and not for profit organizations are potential stakeholders.

What are their objectives? 
College Students need affordable furniture that looks good and characterizes them, and that they can get rid of once their program is over.
Students in rural schools need furniture that is affordable, ergonomic and durable.
The objective of parents, schools and NGO's is a balance between quality, safety and affordability.

How should I prioritize my stakeholders? 
Our stakeholders can be categorized based on who is using the product and who is paying for the product. The actual users are students where are people who pay can be college students, parents, rural schools (and govt) and not for profit organizations. I feel they are all equally important, and we need to gear different functionality of our design to fit these stakeholders. For example, the design, aesthetics and comfort are more important to the actual users, where are affordability and transportability is much more important to people who are paying for it.

Are their objectives aligned to mine?
My objective for this venture is to really understand the needs and aspirations of a user and create products adequately suited to those. I believe this need based design would help me align my objectives with the stakeholders.

What output indicators illustrate how well I achieve my objectives?
Here is a list of output indicators I came up with last week to help me assess the social value of my venture:
Customers:
- The savings in cost of buying furniture over time.
- Percentage reduction in back problems for students in rural areas.
- Increase in enrollment in schools in rural areas.
- Measuring the resources spent by customers on new vs up cycled furniture.
Resources:
- Cost of material saved due to recycling and up cycling
- Environmental Impact
- Cost and material savings due to the simplicity if design and manufacturing.
- Savings due to online marketing and selling

Can I measure the social return that results from our impact?
Some of the returns are quantifiable, and these can be easily measured by setting targets and measuring the results. In the next few weeks, I would like to identify more indicators to measure the value of social impact generated by Clip.