Who Made My Jacket?

Who Made My Jacket?

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a growing sector of our economy, and it’s not because environmentalists are buying more granola. It’s because, as one Harvard study found, “firms making investments and improving their performance on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues exhibit better stock market performance and profitability in the future.” It is possible for companies to care about their workers, the environment, and their bottom line.

Responsible supply chain management is the foundation of any CSR strategy. In 1991, Nike notoriously showed what happens to your brand image when you lack a full supply chain audit trail. Since then, Nike has become one of the leaders in CSR, and maintains rigorous standards. They are one of the nearly 70 Fortune 100 companies that track and report on their CSR practices, and this number is expected to increase.

When we talk about CSR many people think of corporate giving and carbon footprints. While those are key components, the supply chain is actually a bigger portion of a company’s overall CSR plan. You cannot have sustainability without a traceable product. That’s why the rigorous B Corporation certification allocates more than half of their assessment to supply chain and social issues. The Outdoor Industry Association developed a Sustainability Working Group because they recognized their customers’ desire to know where their products were coming from. Just like restaurant customers want to know where their animals were raised – Portlandia satires this phenomenon – consumers also want to know that the garment they are wearing and the gadget they are using were made in a sustainable way. Patagonia is another leader in this space and they go so far as to display the manufacturing country beside each item in their catalog. Having a traceable supply chain is no longer optional, it’s a necessity of 21st-century commerce.

TRACEABILITY IN THE SUPPLY CHAIN

While all of this transparency is a good thing for the world, it can be a headache for the average CSR executive. As your supply chain grows, so does your reporting and auditing. Many companies have supply chain goals – to increase the percent of Fair Trade certified materials, to increase the percent of woman-owned or co-op suppliers, or to increase the percent of American-made goods. It’s one thing to have aspirational goals and it is quite another thing to quantify these realities every year. Day-to-day operations tend to take precedence over annual CSR reporting. But that creates unnecessary vulnerability for your brand.

Full traceability can be a business opportunity, not a headache. RizePoint makes CSR reporting smooth. You can make supply chain reporting a priority, set quantifiable goals, and track them each year. In addition to streamlined auditing, we also provide corporate consulting, capacity building, training and eLearning, compliance and program assessments.

RESPONSIBLE SOURCING MANAGEMENT MODEL

Responsible sourcing is good for workers and is good for business. The supply chain should not be viewed as that “other” part of the business. By adopting a holistic Responsible Sourcing Management Model, you can ensure that all aspects of your supply chain will benefit your bottom line. This model trains your team members on everything from labor compliance to EHS. This model ensures that all of your facilities meet industry code of conduct. This model makes corrective action planning the norm. While these might not be glamorous topics, they do possess the highest risk potential for a PR nightmare. You do not want your business front-page because your sub-contractor was using slave labor. You do want your business on the front-page for your first-in-class supply chain reporting.

Before your next shareholder meeting, you can review reports to know about your facility standards. With RizePoint’s 21st-century solutions, you’ll welcome questions about worker safety or environmental quality. Your supply chain will become something to be proud of and shared with your consumer. Now that’s a win-win.

To learn how you can ensure CSR compliance, visit: rizepoint.com/csr

Corin O'Connell

GM, Storage & Server Partners - Hitachi Vantara, Fujitsu, NetApp, Business Units at Broadcom Inc.

7y

Great stuff Frank. Consumers and businesses alike vote with their dollars. Just as I'm willing to spend more for coffee beans that can be traced to a particular coop farm so too are business for sourcing everything from office equipment to heavy machinery.

JP Kuehlwein

Brand Elevation Architect

7y

Another example that illustrates why Patagonia is our favorite 'Ueber-Brand'. A brand that seduces, rather than sells and adds meaning to the material. It truly 'shines from the inside-out' and the transparent supply chain is 'just' one of many manifestations, granted, a central one. How about paid on-site child care or sabbaticals to join NGOs - and that for decades? Read the Ueber-Case study on Patagonia and other such brands here: https://masstoclass.wordpress.com/2016/07/25/patagonia-a-meaningful-exploration-of-nature/

Robert (Bob) Minshall

We Help Innovative Company Leaders Accelerate Growth and Valuation by providing Fractional Executive Suite Business Services.

7y

Very enlightening article on the ability (growing requirement?) to manage more than just "skew cost" and vendor credibility within the chain. Thanks Frank.

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