January 10, 2025

The Missing Link in Social Impact Reporting: Why Benchmarks Matter

 

The Problem with Current Reporting Practices

Taking Novartis as a case study, their approach to reporting "access to medicine" initiatives demonstrates common pitfalls in corporate social impact reporting. While they aim to "increase patient reach with therapies," such statements, though well-intentioned, often lack crucial context.

Why Current Metrics Fall Short

Several key issues emerge when examining these reporting practices:

• Lack of baseline metrics (Is it an increase from 10 to 20 patients, or 100,000 to 200,000?)
• Missing context about total need (Does reaching 200,000 patients represent 50% or 10% of those requiring treatment?)
• Absence of comparative benchmarks

 

The Need for Better Benchmarking

To make social impact reporting meaningful, companies need to include:

Clear baseline levels

Industry benchmarks

Specific, measurable targets

Context about the total scope of the issue being addressed

 

Moving Forward

For corporate social initiatives to be truly impactful and measurable, companies must move beyond blank statements of numbers and percentages. They need to establish clear targets or select transparent benchmarks that stakeholders can use to assess actual progress and hold organizations accountable.

Without such benchmarks and detailed targets, even the most well-intentioned corporate social initiatives risk becoming mere marketing speak rather than demonstrable social impact.