Procurement Sustainability

Apr 23, 2013

Moving beyond "minimally acceptable" sustainable supply chains…

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… 

Jan 30, 2013

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

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.  … 

Jan 26, 2013

The business case for extending sustainability in the supply chain: The Burt's Bees Story

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… 

Nov 29, 2012

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

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… 

Sep 13, 2012

Exploiting social media to drive sustainable supply market intelligence

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… 

Sep 4, 2012

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

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.… 

Aug 13, 2012

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

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… 

Jul 3, 2012

They're Posted! Latest Supply Chain Sustainability Benchmark Reports!

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,… 

May 17, 2012

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

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…