Responsible Sourcing
Companies operating in complex industries – with substantial contracting and multi-tier supply chains, in multinational environments – face a special set of challenges. For many, their most significant environmental, social, governance and business risks and opportunities lie outside their own corporate boundaries. Understanding and managing these dynamics helps you gain control and multiply your impact on sustainability.
In a world where companies are increasingly being held to account – legally and reputationally – sustainable supply chain management is proving critical to the success of your business, as well as society and the environment. Companies are moving beyond compliance to integrate these issues into the heart of the business strategy, driving opportunity creation.
Our Services
We help our clients engage with their supply chains to achieve significantly better performance. We do this through:
Materiality assessment and risk and opportunity analysis across the supply chain.
Through sound and tested methodologies, we help you identify the most significant social, economic and environmental challenges that affect your suppliers and your relationships with them. We examine regulatory requirements, operational demands, customer trends, business-to-business pressures, voluntary standards and best practices, global risk analysis and stakeholder expectations, to sketch a picture of the context in which your company operates and identify what matters most.
Supply Chain Mapping
Our bespoke supply chain mapping tools help companies understand their supply chain, supplier governance and associated risks. We use these tools to create visibility across all tiers of the supply chain, building an accurate map of your suppliers, where they are based, what they provide, how they are governed and, importantly, how to identify and prioritise the risks.
Prioritisation and optimisation
With greater visibility of the supply chain and its potential risks, we can help you identify the issues material to your business strategy, and help you determine how to respond to them. We look at peers and competitors to benchmark the state of play and help you understand where the gaps and opportunities are. We engage with suppliers, stakeholders and thought leaders to design a road map for meaningful improvements and help you set metrics, goals and targets to guide your actions and measure your progress.
Measurement and reporting
We develop practical, transparent and robust processes for you to measure your performance, guided by leading global frameworks – from the GRI to the SDGs and more. We support your efforts to strengthen communications with suppliers in the interests of improving sustainability performance right across the supply chain. We help you develop your reporting and communications systems, strategies, formats, concepts and documents from idea to final publication.
Thought leadership
We build and maintain our expertise on the issues that matter to you, and to sustainability outcomes. We have a leading seat at the table on topics including human rights, modern slavery, materials, waste and recycling, and sustainability reporting standards. We convene and facilitate multi-company, multi-stakeholder dialogues and collaboration to produce faster and more meaningful impact.
Benefits for your business
A sustainable supply chain delivers:
- New sources of revenue, through enhanced supplier relationships, increased innovation opportunities, entry into new markets and access to new capital from investors concerned about sustainability
- End-to-end traceability and visibility, enabling more effective and informed decision-making
- Cost reduction, through improved efficiencies and streamlining
- Increased brand value, through engagement of stakeholders, transparency and showcasing business responsibility
- Improved identification and management of risk, including operational, legal and reputational risks
