Measuring business impact: the lessons from the business schools

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/CG-01-2020-0042
• Pages: 268-278
• Date: 24 December 2020
• Published date: 24 December 2020
• Subject Matter: Corporate governance,Strategy
• Author: Michel Kalika,Gordon Shenton

Measuring business impact: the lessons

from the business schools

Michel Kalika and Gordon Shenton

Abstract

Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to presentan example of a fully operational impact assessment

system called Business School Impact System (BSIS). It is designed specifically for business schools

with a particular emphasis on their localand regional impact. Since its creation, the process has been

adapted to schools of engineeringand indeed to entire universities. The question of its relevance to all

organisationsis on the table.

Design/methodology/approach –Talking about measurement raises methodological issues that are

common to all organisations. The methodology used in this chapter, particularly in its second part, is

mainly inductive, based on direct experience in interviewing 44 business schools in 15 countries. The

system was designed on the basis of a survey among around 20 actors of the education industries

(deans, journalists). First of all, the system involves an extensive self-assessment phase based on the

BSIS impact measurementframework consisting of 7 major impact dimensionsand about 100 indicators.

This is followed up by a two-day visit by two experienced experts (former deans) who engage in

challengingdiscussions with internal practitionersand external stakeholders.

Findings –The question of the relevanceof the dimensions used by business schools for companies is

systematically asked, and it is argued that the seven dimensions of impact can be applied to all

organisationswhatever their mission.

Research limitations/implications –The methodology has not yet been tested on private

organisations.

Practical implications –The process can be easily adapted to companies and could permit them to

assessin a shared framework their impact. So,the practical implications are potentiallylarge.

Social implications –One of the sevendimensions of impact is the socialimpact of the organisation and

indeedthe implicationsare significant in the social field.

Originality/value –To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the transfer of a process of impact

measurementfrom the educational sector to companiesis studied for the first time.

Keywords Stakeholders, Business education, Corporate social responsibility, Impact,

Business schools

Paper type Case study

1. Introduction

The question of the impact of businesses on the world around them is becoming

increasingly important. Pollution, global warming, poverty, etc. are all issues that will oblige

companies to analyse and measure their impact (Charles et al.,2017;Kolk, 2016). But as

easy as it is to talk about impact, at the same time it is equally difficult to measure and

evaluate it (Lejeune et al., 2018). Moreover, the question of impact is a complex one.

Complex because it is difficult to identify and to isolate the impact of one organization, one

project among numerous interrelated factors (Bayley and Phipps, 2019). Complex also

because the perspectives of the evaluation of impact are diverse in the literature

(Rawhouser et al., 2019). Even if the purpose of this article is not to make a literature review

on the concept of impact, impact evaluation, impact assessment, one must observe that

there is a huge number of approaches going from the evaluation of the economic impact of

Michel Kalika is based at

the BSIS, EFMD, Brussels,

Belgium, and Business

Science Institute,

Luxembourg, Luxembourg.

Gordon Shenton is based

at the EFMD, Brussels

Belgium.

Received 31 January 2020

Revised 3 August 2020

12 October 2020

Accepted 12 October 2020

The authors thank the reviewers

for their help and

encouragement to improve this

article as well as Griet

Houbrechts, EFMD Global, for

her support.

PAGE 268 jCORPORATE GOVERNANCE jVOL. 21 NO. 2 2021, pp. 268-278, ©Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1472-0701 DOI 10.1108/CG-01-2020-0042