An outcome refers to the level of an aspect of social, environmental or economic well-being that results from an action or event. Outcomes can be intended or unintended, and positive or negative with regards to thresholds that define acceptable or sustainable performance.

Enterprises and investors are usually concerned with assessing intended outcomes. However, an enterprise’s activities often generate unintended positive or negative outcomes. For example, a healthy living program that intends to improve the health of the elderly (an intended positive outcome) may inadvertently reduce hospital admissions, leading to lower operating costs in public hospitals (an unintended positive outcome). Or, a large retailer selling environmentally friendly products (an intended positive outcome) may unintentionally facilitate child labor in its supply chain (an unintended negative outcome).

Enterprises should seek to understand all of the outcomes they generate, not just the intended ones. Overlooking an unintended negative outcome could raise fundamental questions about an enterprise’s business model, whereas failing to consider an unintended positive outcome could mean a lost opportunity to strengthen the enterprise’s value proposition.

By considering all outcomes, enterprises can:

1. Prioritize those outcomes that matter the most to the stakeholders experiencing them
2. Put policies and safeguards in place to identify and mitigate negative outcomes, including unintended ones
3. Better communicate their total impact to investors – recognizing that different investors may invest in the same enterprise for different reasons (i.e., a focus on different outcomes)