Case studies

The Oxford Initiative on Rethinking Performance works with member companies on specific research projects of mutual interest. Here are four examples of projects we are currently working on. 

Asahi Europe & International is the international branch of Asahi Group Holdings, a global beverage and food company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Japan. Asahi’s motivation to work with the Initiative is to achieve a strategic measurement of their corporate purpose that can aid its measurement. To do so, the collaboration particularly focuses on the environmental and social impact of alcoholic vs. non-alcoholic beverages in target markets such as the Czech Republic. Based on the insights generated, purpose is facilitating an evolution of the product portfolio in different markets and improved collaboration within the ecosystem. An innovative approach to incorporating carbon cost into profitability analysis piloted at Asahi complements this effort. 

Holcim is a Swiss multinational building solutions firm which has a strong commitment to driving sustainable innovation across their value chain. To achieve their purpose of decarbonising the building sector, Holcim understands and strategically drives the decarbonisation of their ecosystem, encompassing suppliers, customers and other stakeholders. The Initiative and Holcim collaborated for a detailed stakeholder mapping to identify collaboration partners, levers for systematic improvement, the barriers to be overcome and the roadmap to achieving these goals.

Novartis is a global medicines company, headquartered in Switzerland, that uses innovative science and digital technologies to create transformative treatments in areas of great medical need. The joint research with the Initiative is targeted towards a better understanding of the financial benefits of social impact. For this, the Initiative has analysed the scientific literature related to trust, social capital and stakeholder relationships to map value drivers in relation to social impact. Going forward, these insights may be used to feed into strategies of systematic alliance building, stakeholder engagement, as well as to risk management and resource allocation.

Schroders is an international asset manager, serving institutions, intermediaries and individuals at 32 locations worldwide. Schroders’ motivation to collaborate with the Initiative is to better understand human capital potential as a driver of value creation for investment assets through rethinking human capital as an element of asset analysis. Using metrics designed to assess factors such as investment in people, leadership and training, Schroders and the Initiative are developing an understanding of what drives human capital productivity. The aim is for this to be applied across businesses and investment to help foster long-term performance management, as well as enable more meaningful asset selection, portfolio analysis and engagement for investors.