The profit margin has been the major factor in supplier selection for businesses but the call for corporate environmental responsibility has a good number of companies making a rethink of their corporate policies.
Are they sustainable as they claim to be?
Where do NZ businesses stand in this equation?
Stuff reported that,
Whether outsourcing or not, fewer than a quarter of those surveyed for this year’s ShapeNZ Fairfax Business and Consumer Survey said their organisation actively bought goods and services from suppliers who acted sustainably.
Just 19 per cent included social or environmental criteria in their supplier terms and conditions, while 9 per cent had ditched a supplier in the last year for environmental, social or ethical reasons.
Business managers and executives were more likely to say their organisation had a sustainable supply chain – 34 per cent said they included social or environmental criteria and 26 per cent said their organisation had ditched a supplier for ethical reasons. (Gibson, Eloise, “Businesses ignoring supplier sustainability”, 01August 2011)
Sustainability reporting should come full circle and with full disclosure of their suppliers and business practices. But are businesses willing to do that at the thought of lesser profits? Well, that is the $64million dollar question.
Photo via Flickr Creative Commons: Dog reading Newspaper by Seng1011
