Eliminating modern slavery, safeguarding employee welfare and maintaining human rights within supply chains is more than a legal requirement, it’s a moral obligation. Using our supply chain transparency software, we work with businesses, suppliers, NGOs and leading certification bodies to build the foundation for ethical supply chains.
What is an ethical supply chain?
An ethical supply chain works to produce products and services in a way that treats the environment and all involved ethically.
An ethical supply chain will consider economic, environment and social responsibility factors, including:
- Eliminating child and slave labour
- Safe and hygienic working conditions
- Fair pay and working hours
- Anti-bribery and corruption
- Ethical sourcing and procurement
- Environmental awareness and sustainability
Benefits of an ethical supply chain for businesses
Improved ESG impact
One of the main reasons organisations pursue ethical supply chains is to improve ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) performance throughout the business. This may be to align with their company values, to improve reputation, or to support investments from stakeholders.
With growing investor and consumer demands for sustainable, ethically-sourced products, along with evolving regulations addressing climate change, businesses can no longer shy away from the ESG performance of its operations.
By completing the ESG maturity assessment, your organisation can see where it is leading the charge or falling behind against industry peers.
Better reputation and customer loyalty
According to research from Ipsos MORI, “more than 4 in 5 customers claim the ethical standards of retailers matter to them, with 38% also saying they will spend more on a product if a company acts in an ethical way.
This highlights how important it is to have an ethical supply chain if your business is going to retain and grow its customer base. ESG assessments are no longer a tool only for stakeholders, the results are increasingly important for consumers.
Higher efficiency and profits
While many think that ethical supply chains cost more – the opposite is more likely to be true. The inherent transparency that comes with an ethical supply chain means that managers at each stage of the supply chain can be more innovative and efficient with their time and help to lower costs and/or maximise profits. Combining this with the fact that consumers are more likely to pay more for ethically-sourced products – you’re likely to see an increase in revenue by becoming more ethical in your supply chain processes.
Learn more about supply chain transparency.
Talent acquisition and retention
Similarly to consumers, the ethical practices of businesses are becoming more important to employees. In fact, more than three-quarters of employees consider a company’s CSR agenda when deciding where to work.
By behaving in an ethical manner, you will be more likely to attract and retain the best talent in the industry which can ultimately lead to better long-term performance for your organisation.
Risk mitigation & accountability
Supply chains and risk go hand-in-hand. However, it can be easily argued that ethical supply chains carry far less risk than others as there should be greater transparency that enables you to act in a way that minimises delay, injury, damage, and liability.
The need to know more about suppliers and products grows every day for compliance, ethical or sustainability reasons. Built to digitise manual supply chain processes, deliver full transparency or understand performance, our platform helps businesses to collect, manage and analyse data efficiently.
Get in touch with the team to request a demo.