The purpose of the taxonomy is to categorise the numerous initiatives in a way which is useful to interested parties. This is not easy given the diversity of issues and approaches to this subject matter. After exploring various ideas we settled on four key questions:
- Who? This identifies the sort of organisation behind the initiative
- What? This categorises the agenda, the subject matter of the initiative
- Why? This classifies the purpose
- How? This defines the sort of change envisaged
A more detailed description of the taxonomy can be found here.
Capturing and analysing the data
An excel spreadsheet captures for each initiative:
- The name and title
- In some cases the names of leading people or organisations
- The website address
The spreadsheet also:
- categorises each initiative using the taxonomy
- counts the number of initiatives in each category presenting the data in tables and charts
A copy of the spreadsheet can be found here.
For ease of reference we have created two extracts of the data in pdf format:
Using the taxonomy
One of the advantages of the taxonomy is that it can be used to summarise the essential features of any initiative. This will aid communication with interested parties by providing information in a common structured way. One initiative that has used the taxonomy in this way is Blueprint for Better Business which can be found here.
Cranfield thoughts and comments
Our discussions with a range of initiatives and our work in preparing the taxonomy led to a number of thoughts which we have recorded in a document entitled Renewing Capitalism Reflections.