Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • January 2018
  • Technical Note
  • HBS Case Collection

Business at the Base of the Pyramid: Understanding Impact and Impact Evaluations

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Tricia Gregg
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:20
ShareBar

Abstract

Unlike financial success, there is no clear consensus regarding how best to define and measure social impact. This HBS Technical Note written for students of the HBS MBA course Business at the Base of the Pyramid (BBOP), offers readers pragmatic perspectives on how the framework of the Logic Model (Theory-of-Change) may be used by businesses, nonprofits, and impact investors to assess the social value they create for their customers/beneficiaries and society. The note concludes with a brief tour of a few impact evaluation methodologies and their applications in areas such as hunger, healthcare, education, and microfinance.

Keywords

Developing Countries And Economies; Social Issues; Value Creation; Human Needs; Performance Evaluation

Citation

Rangan, V. Kasturi, and Tricia Gregg. "Business at the Base of the Pyramid: Understanding Impact and Impact Evaluations." Harvard Business School Technical Note 518-057, January 2018.
  • Educators
  • Purchase

About The Author

V. Kasturi Rangan

Marketing
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • March 2021
    • Faculty Research

    Blue Meridian Partners (B): Pivoting in a Crisis

    By: V. Kasturi Rangan
    • March 2021
    • Faculty Research

    Blue Meridian Partners (A): Scaling for Impact

    By: V. Kasturi Rangan
    • March 2021
    • Faculty Research

    M-KOPA: Empowering Lives

    By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Wale Lawal and Pippa Tubman Armerding
More from the Authors
  • Blue Meridian Partners (B): Pivoting in a Crisis By: V. Kasturi Rangan
  • Blue Meridian Partners (A): Scaling for Impact By: V. Kasturi Rangan
  • M-KOPA: Empowering Lives By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Wale Lawal and Pippa Tubman Armerding
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College