Supply Chain Sustainability: Where’s Your Weakest Link?

When you’re developing a sustainability strategy, the tendency to look inward is strong. But the social and environmental impacts of your supply chain are even stronger. So how do you monitor actions that take place outside of your company’s walls?

Supply Chain Sustainability: A Worthy Challenge

Supply chain sustainability isn’t easy, but it is vitally important. When properly executed, a sustainable supply chain allows you to squeeze more efficiencies out of production, track the performance of hundreds of suppliers and make a social and environmental impact around the world.

Supply Chain Audit: A Competitive Advantage

Large corporations, such as Wal-Mart and IBM, have launched global initiatives to bring supply chain sustainability to scale. While their suppliers may complain about the new requirements, small and midsized companies should welcome the opportunity to differentiate themselves from the competition.

Getting Started: Key Resources for Launching your Effort

So, where do you get started? Before you make changes to such a critical part of your business, you need to gather as much information as possible. Here are some key resources that can show you how others are tackling the problem:

• Walmart: Supplier Sustainability Assessment (PDF)
• United Nations Global Compact Sustainable Supply Chains
• Supply Chain Sustainability: A Practical Guide for Continuous Improvement (PDF)
• Acceleration of ECO-Operation: Achieving Success & Sustainability in the Supply Chain

Act Now or Regret it Later

You may not like what you see when you hold a magnifying glass to your supply chain. However, you’re better off finding problems today than having someone else bring them to your attention tomorrow. Where do you think you’ll find the weakest link in your supply chain?