A Shift in Sourcing creates business Sustainability and Strategy

A story hits the press about child labor in Walmart’s supply chain, 1996, or the news breaks that McDonalds is using unpalatable bits of meat in their burgers, 2013 (Kim et. all 2016).

Supply chain operations and strategies are more visible, today, than ever before.

Whenever, or wherever the sourcing shift took place is a bit fuzzy, but the rather apparent bit is that a shift has indeed taken place.

Sourcing of goods and materials has done a complete 180 in the last 20 years.

The days of low-cost sourcing, pinching pennies on top-line revenue, are quickly disappearing. Consumerism has a new face, and it’s readily wearing a concerned expression. Internationally accepted quality standards have trumped the previous, quick fix, consensus of profitability through low-cost sourcing.

Sourcing, operating as a means to solely create financial gain and opportunity has shifted to a strategically imbedded corporate focus of great complexity.

“Now, globalization, aided by rapid technology innovation, is changing the basis of competition. It’s no longer a company’s ownership of capabilities that matters but rather its ability to control and make the most of critical capabilities, whether or not they reside on the company’s balance sheet” (hbr.org).

Dynamic supply chains, executing sourcing functionalities in a responsive and flexible manner will thrive in the new digital global marketplace (ISM).

Strategy and value creation are the new norms of sourcing, and from what I can tell, the shift in methodology is here to stay.

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