Oxford Initiative on Rethinking Performance

We invite your organisation to join a group of leading businesses to support and engage in an ambitious research programme around rethinking performance at Oxford. This is a unique approach to applied research that will create strong and lasting partnerships between academics and industry.

The Oxford Initiative on Rethinking Performance (ORP) aims to examine how existing performance definitions, analyses and measurement systems need to be reshaped to truthfully reflect a company’s performance in relation to its corporate purpose.

In the last 10 years, the role and purpose of companies have been redefined. Modern, prudent and long-term oriented companies now need to understand and demonstrate how they create (and destroy) value beyond financials. In other words, they need to consider how profit is earned, not just how much is earned. This requires taking account of the positive and negative social and environmental externalities, impacts and dependencies that are produced by a company’s operations. To unravel this, the initiative focuses on tensions that arise in relation to measurement and implementation at three levels, and will develop research, outreach and engagement activities in three dedicated workstreams:

1. Purpose and Performance at the Board Level
2. Performance Management and Management Accounting
3. Investment Decisions and Performance Analysis

By establishing an initiative dedicated to the study of long-term oriented and holistic performance, we aim to transform business practices and leadership to become more purposeful.

Born out of the Mutuality in Business project,  the initiative seeks to establish a global centre of knowledge to develop, support and host bold discussions, contemporary thought and innovative ideas around holistic performance measurement and valuation.

The initiative pursues the following objectives:

• Research: creating cutting-edge research to challenge conventional performance theory, measurement, and management.
• Engagement: evaluating and supporting performance practice and framework developments with our partners and a wide network of organisations and thought leaders through engagement and convening.
• Outreach: shaping thought and practice through novel teaching and outreach programmes on how to rethink performance.

• Neuberger Berman
• Asahi Breweries Europe
• Novartis AG

Relevant academic articles and working papers from our research team.

• Eccles, R.G. and Klimenko, S. (2019): The Investor Revolution. In: Harvard Business Review. 
• Mayer, C. (2019): Valuing the invaluable: how much is the planet worth? In: Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Vol 35(1): 101 – 119.
• Stroehle, J. C. and Rama Murthy, S. (2019): Integrating Frameworks for Multi-Capital Accounting, Reporting and Valuation. White Paper of the Oxford Impact Roundtable, University of Oxford. 
• Eccles, R.G.; Lee, L. and Stroehle, J.C. (2019) Social Origins of ESG? An Analysis of KLD and Innovest. In: Organization & Environment. 
• Stroehle, J.C.; Metzner, M. and Soonawalla, K. (2019) How to Measure Performance in a Purposeful Company? Analysing the Status Quo. British Academy, Future of the Corporation Working Paper. 
• Barker, R. and Mayer, C. (2017): How Should a ‘Sustainable Corporation’ Account for Natural Capital? SBS Research Paper 201715. 

If you are interested in partnering with us please get in touch with tom.childs@sbs.ox.ac.uk