Working in partnership with research organisation YouGov, Supply Chain Standard has just completed a major survey into ‘Future Global Sourcing Strategies’. The results reveal the impact of green issues, oil price rises, ethical concerns, and inflation in China on global sourcing practices.
Perhaps the most surprising finding was that despite the considerable pubic concern over ethical sourcing, only a third of respondents have mechanisms in place to monitor the ethical compliance of their suppliers. Surely this situation has to change.
When respondents were asked ‘Do you believe your brand is affected by ethical sourcing issues?‘ only 40 per cent thought they were, with 47 per cent believing their brand was not affected by ethical sourcing issues. However, looking at responses from supply chain directors, over 61 per cent agreed with the question. On asking all respondents ‘Does your company have a policy on ethical sourcing?’ the split was fairly even with 42 per cent saying ‘yes’, 37 per cent ‘no’ and 21 per cent ‘don’t know’.
Despite the fact that there is wide-spread public concern over ethical sourcing, only 33 per cent of respondents to the survey say they have mechanisms in place to monitor the ethical compliance of their suppliers. 45 per cent have no mechanisms in place and 22 per cent don’t know. However, the picture looks a little more reassuring when looking at the responses from supply chain directors: 52 per cent of supply chain directors surveyed said they have mechanisms in place to monitor the ethical compliance of suppliers.
Considering the importance placed on this issue by the consumer there appears to be ample room for improvement.
Full results from this revealing survey of 569 senior supply chain professionals will be published in the June issue of Supply Chain Standard. Full statistics from the survey can be purchased from Supply Chain Standard by emailing Johanna.parsons@centaur.co.uk
