Research Process
HowGood's proprietary research process has been developed over four years during which we have analyzed corporate social responsiblity, food production standards and research methodology. We analyze the history of corporate decision making as well as the impact of growing, processing and distributing each ingredient in every product we rate. Our research covers everything from carbon emissions to labor relations, and we investigate specific issues such as hazardous waste emissions as well as more general, but equally important, indicators of "goodness" like corporate governance.
- Industry specific indicators and ratings
- Clear, repeatable research process
- Simple explanations
The breadth of our indicators ensures consumers get an overall understanding of a company's behavior over time. There is no single element of good behavior that can be met without regard for industry. Every positive and negative aspect of a company's history is categorized and rated. If a company is in an industry with naturally low carbon emissions, then emissions policy will carry a lower weighting in the evaluation process. In an industry in which carbon emissions are a significant part of a company's responsibility signature, the actions taken to curb those emissions will be weighted heavily.
Process
We have three primary processes. The first and most complex is creating the ingredient and product manufacturing benchmarks. We classify the provenance of every common ingredient in widely available food products by best through worst practices. We then do the same for the manufacturing process by product type and calculate the product specific impact of different ingredients and their processing.
With benchmarks in hand, we move on to the companies. Step two is the most standard part of the process because there are many established and effective analyses of corporate record available, and we don't reinvent the wheel. Also, many American companies with supply chains that are largely inside the United States have corporate citizenry records to be proud of. If there are problems with their corporate record, those problems are easier to identify than the ingredient and product manufacturing benchmarks.
Third, with corporate record in hand, we investigate the ingredients of each product and the procurement and processing methods of each company.
Sources
Viable sources for company backround research include: recognized newspapers and magazines; company annual reports; industry publications; official labor union publications; watchdog organizations with sufficient evidence of their claims; legal records; government publications and data; and SEC records.
For product ingredients, we benchmark at the industry level. Our most valuable resources are the professors, growers and manufacturers that offer insight into the reality of a given ingredient's production. We utilize their experience in conjunction with the appropriate USDA documents, FDA documents, agricultural organization recommendations, and periodicals to establish the standard practices and long-standing issues with regards to each ingredient we research.
If you'd like to read more about the research, check out our blog.