Cost savings are crucial to any kind of business. Equally as important is brand reputation. The low-cost-at-all-cost business model is losing its place in today’s world. Above all, corporate social responsibility is gaining on importance in order to be more ethically responsible.

Consumers are becoming more and more aware of sustainability aspects and forced labor in the supply chain. That is driving different organisations to make the next step from business compliance to more sophisticated business ethics.

Now, let’s read about opinions of leading consultants in their field to enrich our understanding of the topic.All of us are consumers in one way or another and we should understand the impact we have. Maybe it is time to start being more ethically responsible. For all of us.

Zero waste is ethically responsible

Nowadays, if a company decides to ignore the problem with waste, they will be perceived as unethical. Their reputation will be put at risk.

Did you know that lately circular economy as a domain raised high expectations and excitement? It is a way of preventing the destruction of natural resources and winning the fight with the waste companies produce.

However, waste could be understood also as:

• firstly, waste of talent by not actively cultivating diversity and inclusion
• secondly, waste of data by not applying the gained data into driving better business decisions
• thirdly, waste of influence by not understanding the power decisions have on people, communities and environments

Every supply chain leader in a company can put these principles into practice to become more ethically responsible and achieve the wanted “zero waste”!

The power of managerial decision

Supply chain managers are responsible for plenty of key decisions. The regulatory requirements that apply in the jurisdictions where they operate are a minimum that they must comply with.

Should a manager decide to move goods more slowly if it reduces carbon footprint that is connected to the mode of shipping?

How does a manager deal with countries where procuring is connected with low cost of labor in production?

All of these decisions are part of broader strategy of a company and are at the forefront of supply manager’s job.

Therefore, a company should be challenging supply chain managers to operate at a higher standard. After that becoming more ethically responsible and fulfil more than what is legally required. We might be speaking about Co2 emissions, sustainable sourcing or fair-wage labor standards.

Ultimately the choice is up to the company. In the future, the supply chain manager may be able to help companies define new ethical and operational guidelines.

Trust, transparency & technology

As I already mentioned, customers, employees and business partners are more and more concerned about ethical behaviour. For a company, it is essential to build trust with all these stakeholders.

For instance Environmental, Social and Governance values are at the core of a supply chain.

As a key trust enabler is transparency. Supply chains are complex and multi-tiered. Transparency from companies is so important. The main areas of interest are following: supplier practices, working conditions, labor standards and environmental impact.

Technologies within supply chain might raise ethical questions. There might be also a certain risk connected. We are talking about technologies such as AI, big data, IoT, blockchain…

Many words we do not always understand, right?

With the rise of technologies we will need to consider new ethical measures. Such as data protection, privacy, traceability… Again, words we do not always fully understand?

So what?

In conclusion, ethics is not just some random exercise. Companies should keep it at the top of their priority list. Any supply manager should better ensure core ethical values are upheld. Across all, physical and digital supply chain.