Once CR programs are put into motion, it is essential to monitor whether they are generating enough value to warrant the investment. It is also essential to understand how value is generated so that this knowledge can be disseminated throughout the company, improving other programs and enhancing stakeholder relationships in the process.

But many companies still concentrate primarily on the direct route to CR value; that is, the extent to which it is directly tied to an immediate financial gain in an obvious way, such as via cost savings (see Chapter 2). As a result, some managers lack the expertise to truly understand how stakeholders think and behave based on their exposure to CR activity.

This chapter, therefore, provides guidance on how to go about calibrating CR programs based on active and ongoing measurement of stakeholder reactions to CR. The following pages outline techniques for quantifying CR value and ways to turn these measurements into actionable knowledge that can be disseminated throughout the company.