Let us face it: In the modern market, corporate social responsibility and aware consumerism have transferred out of a side dish to the main course – brand building-wise that is. The fact is that both consumers and employees expect firms to be agents of change and good in the world. According to data from EngageForGood.com:
- 86 percent of consumers believe that businesses should take a stand for social issues,
- 77 percent feel a stronger emotional connection to purpose-driven businesses over conventional businesses,
- 79 percent state they’re more faithful and 73 percent are willing to defend that company.
This and other similar research would suggest a dedication to social responsibility can pay huge gains in shareholder value, reliability, employee retention, and customer trust. Interestingly enough consumers today hold businesses accountable for this commitment beyond their particular businesses to the entire supply chain their companies utilize.
Here are 3 key considerations every small business should take into account when establishing a socially aware supply chain.
Go for sustainable practices with real impact, not merely show.
“Companies might think they understand the ecological impacts of their organization, but often they do not have all the facts,” says Irfan Khan, CEO of Bristlecone, a major global supply chain business. “To implement genuinely sustainable practices, a business needs to recognize the most significant environmental and social challenges they confront and prioritize efforts with suppliers to create a more sustainable supply chain.”
Join industry cooperation.
Becoming socially aware and sustainable may potentially be a costly undertaking, particularly for a small company. Working together can help stop audit exhaustion, coaching redundancy and mountains of paperwork to get providers working to fulfill similar conditions from their clients.
Be transparent
More than ever, the 1 crucial concern on all customers’ heads is transparency. Consumers want to know the origin of the merchandise and goods they’re purchasing. As a small company, having the ability to demonstrate transparency in the distribution chain could offer a competitive edge and become a positive branding stage.
By way of instance, in the current food industry, an increasing number of customers care that their food has been ethically grown or captured. Likewise from the coffee business, customers worldwide are interested in high quality, gourmet, artisanal legumes – but ones who are fair transaction sourced for example Equal Exhange, Stumptown Roasters and Allegro.
“The answer to being transparent is end-to-end distribution chain visibility,” state Khan.
Also read: How Supply Chain Logistics Can Enhance With Vehicle Tracking
Transparency through end-to-end visibility will enable businesses to instantly know the affected providers and customers in a region, perform impact evaluations, and pursue the right mitigation plan. While Khan states that this takes upfront investment by businesses, the alternative not to altering means allowing your distribution chain to be left vulnerable to fraud, human rights violations, environmental damage and major all-natural disasters. By knowing each step of the supply chain entirely — with complete expertise — a organization’s supply chain will absorb the shock instead of buckle.
Leave a comment