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Ethicality is a top KPI for Supply Chain Sustainability.
Globalization, technology and the strife for competitive advantage have brought out the worst in several world-recognized organizations.
Profitability isn’t an indication of good quality or performance if it comes at the expense of people or planet.
This notion has become the rationale behind environmental action and sustainable development in the activities of business globally. Yet still, headlines pop-up — like mushrooms in the Swedish woods — every week, profiling organizations that have neglected unsustainable activities in their supply chain.
But, how?
How can companies be so conscious of the risks related with operating in unsustainable contexts, but continue to do so?
Of course, the complexities of today’s global supply chains would be impossible to manage with 100% transparency. That much, most can agree upon.
However, I have theorized why companies continue to place themselves in unhealthy collaborations with suppliers. Simply, because they aren’t focused on the correct criterion of sustainable development. I truly believe, the majority of globally operating businesses contain supply chains functioning in respect to widely accepted sustainability goals.
But, has ‘sustainability’s’ keyword voodoo become a boundary, to actually performing, on the KPI’s that drive sustainable development?
In specifics, I believe the ethicality of global supply chain operations is among the most commonly neglected/overlooked focus area for creating true sustainable development.
It ain’t easy being ethical.
Governmental and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been cracking down (building alliances, passing ethics acts, implementing sanctions, etc.) in the recent years to combat unethical activities, amidst the globalization of supply chain operations.
“The United Kingdom for example passed the Modern Slavery Act in March 2015, requiring organizations netting over $37.6 million a year to publish the steps they will take to root out slavery from their supply chains. In February 2016, the U.S. followed suit in enacting the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act, which includes a section (H.R. 644 Section 910) restricting the import of goods produced with forced labor” (Supply Chain Dive 2016).
Regulations, supported by politically backed movements, bode well for the ethical development in supply chain operations globally. But, without the compliance of instated regulations there is no true realization or action to monitor supply chain ethicality.
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