Procurement Sustainability

Nov 2, 2022

Consumer Pressure Is Key to Fixing Dire Labor Conditions in the Clothing Supply Chain

Originally published on November 02, 2022, in the Harvard Business Review – Operations And Supply Chain Management by Robert Handfield, Tim Kraft, and Marguerite Moore SUMMARY The plethora of different audit systems and standards for assessing labor practices in factories […]

Nov 20, 2020  |  Articles

Poole Graduate Joydeep Ganguly believes in a “Goodness Chain” at Gilead Science

We have a lot of remarkable graduates that come out of the halls of Nelson Hall from the Poole College of Management, and one of the ones I have the pleasure to stay in touch with is Joydeep Ganguly.  He […]

Dec 17, 2017  |  Director's Blog

SCRC Innovation and Social Responsibility Supply Index: A Critical Input to “Drucker Management Top 250 List”

Research by NC State Poole College Professor Robert Handfield, director of the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative based Poole College, and Yung-Yun Huang, a recent graduate of North Carolina State University’s interdisciplinary doctoral program in operations research, supplied two of the […]

Oct 3, 2016  |  Director's Blog

Biobased Economy Continues to Grow: USDA Secretary Announces NC State-Duke Study Results on Monday

I’m writing to share an exciting new report released today entitled “An Economic Impact Analysis of the U.S. Biobased Products Industry: 2016 Update.” This new report shows how the U.S. biobased industry continues to grow and generate substantial economic activity […]

Aug 23, 2016  |  Director's Blog

Sustainable Procurement Finally Getting Its Own Standard

A new post discussed the development of a sustainable procurement standard developed by the International Standards Organization.  ISO 20400, Sustainable procurement – Guidance, has just reached a second draft international standard stage, meaning interested parties can submit feedback via their ISO […]

Apr 15, 2016  |  Director's Blog

The Drive To 100% Bio-based Plastic Bottles

When Coca Cola set about thinking about how to drive sustainability into their supply chain, they recognized from the outset that the entire end to end life cycle of a bottle of Coke needed to be considered. Most people don’t […]

Feb 27, 2016  |  Director's Blog

Academics share insights about sustainable supply chains at NC State Workshop

I had the opportunity to sit in on a number of academic presentations today, as part of the Environmentally Sustainable Supply Chain Management Workshop for Early-Career Faculty.  During the morning, we heard from a number of individuals in a session […]

Sep 24, 2015  |  Director's Blog

A Diverse Supply Base Isn't About Procurement…It's A Leadership Issue!

I was recently involved in a survey of best practices in establishing a diverse supply base.  The most important and common method for driving diversity objectives in the survey (in 73% of firms)  involves explicitly building in diversity as an […]

Sep 18, 2015  |  Director's Blog

Sustainable Supply Chains Requires Effective Supply Management Capabilities!

Globalization has created the emergence of sophisticated supplier networks, creating management challenges as exposure to volatility and complexity of global sourcing has emerged.  While Western organizations have met short-term cost reduction and flexibility goals through outsourcing, it has been at […]

Mar 13, 2015  |  Director's Blog

Q: Food vs Fuel? A: Wrong question…We need more efficient markets!

I have been working with Jay Golden at Duke University on the biobased forecasting project for the USDA, seeking to understand the current scope of the biobased product market ( focused on non-fuel, non-food products).  I had the opportunity to […]