Methodological Proposals

Abstract

A number of prior assumptions are needed to develop and consolidate any method for monetizing social value. Those assumptions may be implicit or explicit. We believe that explicitly expressing the assumptions that underlie the proposal for monetization is an essential step in enabling discussion to take place on elements that will be determinant in the resulting model. The model proposed here is based generically on two major research frameworks: the analytic-synthetic method, which consists of splitting a problem into its elementary component parts, analyzing them separately and then integrating them into a relational model; and cost-benefit analysis, which entails analyzing the gap between the inputs used and the outputs obtained, which enables efficiency analysis to be incorporate in the form of a ratio which, in the case of multiple factors, is developed in a Data Envelopment Analyst (DEA) framework. Four assumptions are made here: first, action research as a methodological process, with a mixed working team comprising persons who are active as actors in the organization investigated, in progressive improvement cycles normally on an annual basis. The second assumption is stakeholder theory, so each firm is considered as a network of stakeholders who contribute resources and risks for the joint generation of value which is subsequently passed on to the stakeholders as a whole. Social value, strictly speaking, is the value generated for stakeholders. The third assumption is a phenomenological outlook, under which the value variables identified are quantified in line with the value perceived by stakeholders. The fourth and final assumption is fuzzy logic, i.e. the values identified are not exact scores but centroid guidelines in a set of fuzzy data, on which upper and lower bounds of belonging are imposed.