Abstract

This article describes a conceptual framework of corporate performance that is sufficiently comprehensive and concise to provide a quantitative, operational approach to the social audit. This framework, the "return-on-resources" (ROR) model, views the corporation as a social institution comprised of various constituencies such as investors, employees, customers, and other involved groups. By quantifying various investments, benefits, and costs which the firm transacts with these groups, traditional method is extended which is normally used to evaluate the firm's financial performance vis-a-vis stockholders to include these "social" aspects of the firm's activities as well. In doing so, the return on human resources for employees, the return on purchases for customers is estimated, and so on, in a similar fashion to the manner in which return on investment has long been determined for investors. Data obtained from a computer simulation of business firms is also presented to illustrate the ROR concept as well as the. format of the resulting information, which is presented in an annual "Return-on-Resources Statement" for the firm.