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Case Study

Impaakt: Harnessing collective intelligence to improve ESG ratings

By Benoit F. Leleux, Pablo Percelsi, René Rozendal, Pietro Valenzano Menada and Stefan Witschi

23 pages

December 2020

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Reference: IMD-7-2120

The global rise of responsible investing in the last decades (boosted by the increasing debates around climate change, business ethics and distribution of wealth) urged the development of coherent and reliable methodologies gauging the effect of business on Environmental, Societal and Governance (ESG) aspects. However, existing ESG rating methods not only differs greatly among themselves, but they are also typically based on companies’ own practices (outputs), not on the final impact (outcome). To measure the latter, a Geneva-based company called Impaakt developed a digital platform, using the 17 United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as benchmark, engaging the collective intelligence of the global community (on a Wikipedia-like model) to achieve this ambitious goal. This case explores the strategies behind the design of such a platform, investigates the importance of scale and sides, and analyses to what extent social and environmental impact can be measured objectively.

Learning Objective

The analysis of this case will enhance the understanding on the current state of the affairs of the sustainable investing metrics, particularly on the measurements on Environmental, Societal and Governance factors (ESGs).
Case readers should grasp how a digital platform could provide a different model of ESG measurements, by using few different perspectives. This should happen on the Strategic, the Digital Transformations, and the Critical Thinking level.

Keywords

Sustainability, Digital Transformation, Platform Strategy, Collective Intelligence, Strategy, Impact Measurement, Sustainable Development Goals, Environmental Social and Governance

Settings

World/global
Impaakt, Business Management Services, Business Services
2015 - 2019

Type

Field Research

Available Languages

English

Related material

Teaching note, Video

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2020 John Molson MBA International Case Writing Competition - 4th Prize

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Reference IMD-2736

Organization Slow Forest

Industry Food Production, Agriculture;Consumer Goods, Coffee

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