(CSR Digest, 8 May 2012) In Brief: Unilever recently entered its 30th strategic supplier partnership as part of an ambitious bid to double growth while halving environmental impact. Vendor ideas are responsible for about 50% of the innovations in Unilever’s pipeline, according to the company’s chief supply chain officer. Last year, the consumer goods manufacturer [...]
Read more(Green Biz, 3 May 2012) In Brief: To help reach ambitious environmental goals, such as completely eliminating the discharge of hazardous chemicals throughout its supply chain by 2020, Nike now rates material vendors for their practices as well as their products. Our View: Whether it is performance against cost targets or progress in meeting sustainability [...]
Read more(Supply Management, 4 May 2012) In Brief: Sports equipment and clothing retailer Adidas managed rapid improvement among its suppliers in India. In 2010, about 80% of the vendors didn’t meet the company’s social compliance standards; in 2011, more than 80% met those performance goals. The company says the achievement resulted from working directly with the [...]
Read more(Dayton Daily News, 28 April 2012) In Brief: Honda recently recognized nine suppliers, an unusually large number, with the company’s annual “Challenging Spirit” award honoring vendors for overcoming extraordinary obstacles. Last year’s earthquake, tsunami, and resulting nuclear meltdown in Japan, followed by floods in Thailand, forced Honda and its suppliers to revise production and sourcing [...]
Read more(Fibre2fashion, 16 April 2012) In Brief: The Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA) recently highlighted Nicaragua’s potential as a supplier for the industry because of labor shortages and rising compliance costs in China, which accounted for 85.3% of US footwear imports in 2011. Our View: As the complex supplier network grows into new international [...]
Read more(Construction News, 26 April 2012) In Brief: Every day, the procurement chiefs for Crossrail, a major railway being built under central London, are checking the financial health of their suppliers down to the third tier. Our View: We advise segmenting suppliers into groups with similar characteristics and building customized lists of distress signals. Standardized supplier [...]
Read more(Green Biz, 19 April 2012) In Brief: Walmart recently announced plans to customize its 15-question sustainability scorecards for suppliers in 100 categories by the end of the year and tailor more of them in 2013. The updated cards, which will apply to such categories as cereal and apparel, will contain questions that are relevant to [...]
Read more(Plastics News, 23 April 2012) In Brief: The Automotive Industry Action Group, a non-profit trade group that includes such auto companies as General Motors, Ford, Volkswagen, and Honda, has reached an agreement with their suppliers to speed up the process of testing alternatives for a resin that is critical to the production of brake and [...]
Read more(Supply Management, 23 April 2012) In Brief: At a recent supplier summit, Coca-Cola honored three vendors for their innovative sustainability ideas before announcing that all of the company’s suppliers must implement carbon-management plans. Our View: One of the best ways to motivate supplier self-management and improvement is to provide them with an understanding of how [...]
Read more(CFO Magazine, 15 April 2012) In Brief: Approximately 40% of CFOs in a recent survey said they expect to enter more partnerships with third-party suppliers in the next two years even though 65% of respondents said they have experienced quality and performance issues with a third party in the past. Our View: In today’s business [...]
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