Supply Chain View from the Field

Category Archives: Procurement Sustainability

1. Do markets reward sustainable supply chains? The forces of social capital may change the rules…

   May 13, 2013
   by: handfield
   categories: Procurement Sustainability, Supply Chain Management, Sustainability

   In a recent dialogue with Barbara Grey, the author of new research on social capital today, we discovered an interesting anomaly.   It seems that companies who seek to identify problems and issues in their supply chain, and who intend to do the right thing, are not always rewarded by the markets for doing so. [...]

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2. So Your Supply Chain is Banning Bangladesh….and Going to Cambodia?: “The Ugliest Race to the Bottom”

   May 8, 2013
   by: handfield
   categories: Corporate Social Responsibility, Labor and Human Rights in the Supply Chain, Procurement Sustainability, Supply Chain Management, Sustainability

   In our ongoing discussion of labor and human rights violations in the supply chain, we’ve discussed in prior posts the problems that occurred in Bangladesh resulting in over 700 dead.  Companies like Nike and Disney have publicly stated that they are not going to Bangladesh for apparel sourcing in the future.  But that leaves these [...]

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3. 600 Dead in Bangladesh: Is there a soul to the enterprise?

   May 6, 2013
   by: handfield
   categories: Procurement Sustainability, Retail Logistics, Strategic Sourcing, Supplier Relationship Management, Supply Chain Management, Sustainability

   News of the increasing death toll in Bangladesh continues to pour in, with the latest at 600 found dead in the rubble of the Rama factory complex.  Demonstrators are protesting apparel offices (such as Gap’s offices in San Francisco) to demand better working conditions in Bangladesh factories.  But how easy is it for companies to [...]

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4. Moving beyond “minimally acceptable” sustainable supply chains…

   April 23, 2013
   by: handfield
   categories: Procurement Sustainability, Supplier Relationship Management, Supply Chain Management, Sustainability

   A lot of people are emphasizing the need to drive sustainable supply chains.  “If we have a more sustainable supply base”, we hear from advocates, “…it will cost less, and we will be better corporate citizens.” I’m not sure I buy this line of thought, although I would certainly put myself squarely in the camp [...]

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5. Bangladesh Working Conditions: A Human Rights Issue? Or a Supplier Capacity Issue?

   January 30, 2013
   by: handfield
   categories: BRIC Supply Chain, Global Distribution, Global Supply Chain, Procurement Sustainability, Sales and Operations Planning, Supply Chain Management, Supply chain Relationships, Supply Chain Strategy, Sustainability

   The recent press in the Wall Street Journal and other papers on Walmart’s fire in Bangladesh is raising the ire of corporate responsibility groups and human rights groups alike.   How can retailers like Walmart support buying clothing in factories that are treating workers with such disregard, not to mention exposing them to working conditions [...]

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6. The business case for extending sustainability in the supply chain: The Burt’s Bees Story

   January 26, 2013
   by: handfield
   categories: Procurement Sustainability, Supply Chain Strategy, Sustainability

   Jenny Sebley, former supplier sustainability manager at Burt’s Bees, spoke in my sustainable supply chain class today.  Sustainable supply chains was a key issue at Burt’s Bees, and continues to play an important role. There were several business drivers behind this.  The first focus was on reducing waste and leaning the supply chain.  The brand [...]

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7. Bio-based Feedstock Supply Chains: Subject Matter Experts Speak in Washington

   November 29, 2012
   by: handfield
   categories: Commodities forecasting, Procurement Sustainability, Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Risk, Supply Chain Strategy, Sustainability

   I attended a conference today in Washington DC hosted by Duke University and Yale University on Biobased Feedstocks. The discussion led to some interesting observations about the tradeoffs and opportunities between biobased and fossil based feedstocks. The bioeconomy is a large and rapidly growing segment that allows everyone to live longer, healthier lives, reduce dependence [...]

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8. Exploiting social media to drive sustainable supply market intelligence

   September 13, 2012
   by: handfield
   categories: Procurement Sustainability, Supplier Relationship Management, Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Risk, Supply Market Intelligence, Sustainability

   As organizations seek to become more sustainable, they are recognizing the limitations they face with current data systems that collect and consolidate technical information on your suppliers and their process inputs and outputs in the supply chain.  Such systems ideally need to be able to construct value stream maps, life cycle analysis, carbon footprints, and [...]

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9. Do Investors Really Reward Sustainable Enterprises? What do You think?…

   September 4, 2012
   by: handfield
   categories: Procurement Sustainability, Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Strategy, Sustainability

   The SCRC research team has recently been conducting a series of studies, whereby we try to link improvements in share price performance, with higher scores on sustainable supply chain performance.  In a series of research studies conducted by MB students, we set about developing a set of Sustainable and Labor/Human Rights Scores, to identify companies [...]

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10. Unilever’s End-to-End Sustainability Push: Hitting all elements of the supply chain…

    August 13, 2012
    by: handfield
    categories: Global Supply Chain, Procurement Sustainability, Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Strategy, Sustainability

    Unilever’s Corporate Sustainability Report came out in the last month, and was received with great fanfare.  Some of the highlights identified in the first year of its Sustainable Living Plan released to  media and partners at events in the UK, Netherlands, India, US and Brazil include: 24% of agricultural raw materials are now being sourced sustainably, [...]

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11. They’re Posted! Latest Supply Chain Sustainability Benchmark Reports!

    July 3, 2012
    by: handfield
    categories: Aerospace Supply Chain, MBA Supply Chain Programs, Procurement Sustainability, Strategic Sourcing, Supplier Relationship Management, Supply Chain Management, Sustainability

    Every other year, a team of MBA students from the Poole College of Management take a one credit class I teach on supply chain sustainability.  As part of this class, students are assigned to teams to study a group of companies within a particular industry, and by applying the Supply Chain Sustainability index developed through [...]

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12. The Paperless Office: Pipe Dream, Procurement Mandate, or Sustainability Boondoggle?

    May 17, 2012
    by: handfield
    categories: Category Management, Procurement Sustainability, Strategic Cost Management, Strategic Sourcing, Supply Chain Systems, Sustainability

    In today’s cost-cutting environment, many procurement and category management teams are sharpening their pencils and looking at ways to reduce indirect spend in areas such as printing, document management, and paper.  In addition, the push to become more sustainable is also driving people to think about printing less, and saving trees.  These two distinct elements [...]

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