BIA Benchmarking

BIA Benchmarking provides a high-level overview of how your scores compare to your peers.  

Who are included in benchmarks?

Each benchmark is calculated as the median of companies who have > 75% completion in that given section.  

A company's score for the Governance Impact Area will be included if that company has answered > 75% of the questions in Governance.  Similarly, company scores for Topics (i.e. Governance -> Mission & Engagement) are included in the median calculation only if the company has > 75% completion of questions within that Topic.

The scores contributing to benchmarking include companies regardless of regardless of whether they are a Certified B Corporation have completed verification.  

How are IBM scores benchmarked?

Because IBM Topics are only added to your assessment when you qualify for them, these are not benchmarked individually.  Benchmarking an IBM Topic would mean you're comparing yourself to other companies who have also qualified for that IBM, which would give artificially high, and confusing benchmarks.

While IBM's are not benchmarked at the Topic level, they are included in the calculation for your company's Impact Area score, and benchmarks for each Impact Area.  

What are N/A Points?

When the BIA determines that a question is Not Applicable to your situation, rather than penalize your company, the BIA assumes that, had the question be applicable, you would have received credit proportional to your score for that Impact Area.

If a question was worth 1 point in the Governance Impact Area, but it is not applicable to my company. If I had otherwise scored 10/20 on the Governance Ops section (50%), the BIA would then grant me another 0.5 N/A Points. N/A Point totals are visible at the Impact Areas level when taking the assessment.

It's not currently possible to see which questions you're receiving N/A Points from.

Why don't my Impact Topic scores add up to my Impact Area score?

This is due to N/A Points.  N/A Points get included directly into the Impact Area scores, and are not reflected in Topic scores.  To see your N/A Points for an Impact Area, open your Assessment and look at the Impact Area summary near the top.

Why do I see "insufficient data" for a benchmark?

Benchmarks are only included for sections where we have more than 30 samples.  If you see "insufficient data" for sector or country in an Impact Area or Topic, it means that 30 companies with your matching sector or country have not yet completed that section.

Why do two companies w/ the same Country or Sector see different benchmark scores for the same section?

One of the ways the BIA is tailored to different markets / sectors / company sizes is that it weighs topics differently.  The BIA places more emphasis on one section or another by setting a different maximum score for that section.  

A company with a Size of 0 may receive a max of 5 points for a topic, while a company with a Size of 50-249 may receive 10 points for that same topic.

If my company has a Size of 0, it wouldn't normally be fair to benchmark directly against a company of Size 50-249 scoring 7 out of 10 points (150% of the points I could possibly score).  Instead, benchmarking views the company as earning 70% of points available.  Viewing a benchmark as company would show this company as earning 3.5 points (70% of my 5 available points).

Allowing you to benchmark sections of your assessments against other companies that have differently weighted sections (due to different tracks) allows us include more company samples in your benchmark targets and give you more accurate median data.

What does Your County, Your Sector, Your Size Range mean?

Benchmarking provides separate benchmarks based on companies matching an aspect of your company.  

Your Country - includes only other companies in your country

Your Sector - includes only other companies in your sector.  Your sector is visible by clicking Assessments on the left hand nav.

Your Size Range - includes only companies w/ a comparable employee count.  Your size is visible by clicking Assessments on the left hand nav.