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Sustainable Brands is planning a series ... How sustainable is your supply chain? The question of metrics!

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How sustainable is your supply chain? The question of metrics!
Peter Burgess Thu, Sep 5, 2013 at 10:55 PM
To: meyerd@eorm.com, tnorton@bsr.org, sam@purchasingcouncil.org, jelks@sustainablebrands.com

Dear Colleagues

I was a corporate CFO quite a long time ago. Subsequently I did a number of assignments for the World Bank Group, the UN and others internationally. I have seen a lot of the supply chain that most companies would prefer to keep hidden.

As an accountant, I see metrics as a way to solve important problems, but for the moment I am not convinced that the initiatives to establish better sustainability reporting will result in much that will be actionable.

What I want to see is a significant reform of accountancy so that there is impact accounting to complement money profit accounting and accounting that not only has the simple organization as the one and only reporting boundary, but also there are reporting boundaries around a place and around a product.

Inside these various boundaries the core analytical entity is an economic activity. Each economic activity is implemented by an organization, funded by an organization, located in a place and associated with one or more products.

Some of the data are located inside the corporate organization, but much of the data about impact should be inside and outside the organization. There will be tensions about what a corporation can reasonably keep secret and what should be known to the public.

In the context of the supply chain ... a product, by definition goes through a supply chain. In an era of complex globalization, the supply chain is a good thing for profit, but may or may not be a good thing for impact on people (in various places) and good for planet in terms of depletion of resources and the disposal of waste, solid, liquid and gaseous.

All of what I am describing will sooner or later be part of Big Data ... but that is not quite yet.

Does any of this interest you? Might it be of interest to your readers?

Peter Burgess TrueValueMetrics
____________
Peter Burgess
TrueValueMetrics ... Meaningful Metrics for a Smart Society
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• Dave Meyer: meyerd@eorm.com
• Tara Norton: tnorton@bsr.org
• Sam Hummel: sam@purchasingcouncil.org
• Jennifer Elks: jelks@sustainablebrands.com

How Sustainable Is Your Supply Chain?

Beginning this month, Sustainable Brands will launch a new Issues in Focus editorial channel examining sustainable supply chain management.

The SB editorial team — with the help of guest editors Dave Meyer of EORM, Tara Norton of BSR and Sam Hummel of the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council — are seeking articles, interviews and case studies for publication throughout the year.

The Issue in Focus

In today’s economy, there is increasing emphasis on supply chain management as being vital to a long-term, successful business strategy. Over the past decade, sustainable sourcing and procurement, environmentally responsible logistics, and ‘Green’ Supply Chain Management (GSCM) have increasingly gained traction as essential business management tools, directly linked to business value. We are seeing major shifts in business thinking to account for the environment, to create positive social impact and to drive innovation – from material sourcing through product design, manufacturing, distribution, delivery and end-of-life management.

Is your company part of this sweeping change? Sustainable Brands wants to hear your story! Please send content ideas to the email addresses below.

Content Guidelines

Our readers are business leaders and strategists seeking information about how others are innovating and improving business practices through embedding resilience and sustainability into business strategy and operational practices. Sustainable Brands is seeking contributors that can offer insights and ideas that might be applied across market sectors. Contributions should offer best practices, innovative approaches, case studies, tools and/or resources that offer our readers strategic and “boots on the ground” value.

We evaluate submissions based on currency and relevance of the examples or ideas presented, balance of perspective, strength and clarity of content and delivered principles. See our Writers’ Handbook for further guidelines.

What

Written, audio or video perspectives on management concepts and actions across any aspect of your supply chain. Certainly descriptions of measurable improvements are desired but equally important is the struggle with supply chains — planning, values, metrics, collaboration, progress and failures. At the heart of all work in our supply chains is our shared effort to manage what we don’t own and don’t fully control.

If written, please edit to 600 to 1000 words. Shorter submissions will also be considered.

Who

Supply chain managers, directors and VPs, CFOs, COOs and sustainability professionals at all levels in companies, governments, academic institutions and NGOs. Suppliers to western brands are especially encouraged to submit their experience and efforts in supply chain leadership.

How

Share a one-paragraph to one-page overview describing your insights, initiatives, case studies, etc.

When

Article ideas and submissions will be accepted on an ongoing basis throughout the year; email our editors at the addresses below.

Topics to Explore

All examples of supply chain management are welcome. The vast majority of these efforts contain an element of sustainability, so it is critical that it be highlighted in the submittal:

• Bettering People’s Lives: Efforts to improve the lives of people in the supply chain through more secure employment, better labor conditions or community actions
• Energy and Carbon Management: Programs and efforts to measure and reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions across, or in parts of, the supply chain
• Alignment with Sustainable Services, Raw Materials or Products: Supply chains supporting the creation of more sustainable products or services
• Supplier Collaboration and Scorecards: Efforts to align data and communication flows to support values or specific metrics in a supply chain
• Sourcing: Using sustainability to drive supply chain design and construction or highly innovative procurement programs
• Standards, Ecolabels, Certifications and Ratings: The benefits and challenges that come with using these to manage supply chain impacts and risks
• Holistic Sustainability: Examples of organizations integrating their environmental, supplier diversity, small-medium enterprise, and labor and human rights into their supply chain efforts
• Toxics, Water, Wastewater and Waste: Plans and efforts to reduce the environmental impacts of supply chains — including Lean Enterprise Systems in manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors
• Raw Material Traceability and Impacts: Efforts to define where raw materials, components and products originate
• Packaging: Successful implementation of efforts to reduce the life-cycle impacts of packaging
• Transportation and Logistics: Programs and experiments to increase effectiveness and also measurably reduce impact — such as cross-docking and shortened distribution legs
• Data Management: Successful data collection and its transformation into usable knowledge is at the heart of most successful supply chain and sustainability programs

Dave Meyer: meyerd@eorm.com

Tara Norton: tnorton@bsr.org

Sam Hummel: sam@purchasingcouncil.org

Jennifer Elks: jelks@sustainablebrands.com

Please feel free to contact guest editors in advance to discuss ideas for submissions.

Jennifer Elks is Managing Editor of Sustainable Brands. She is a writer, editor and foodie who is passionate about improving food systems, closing loops and creating more livable cities. She loves cooking, wine, cooking with wine, correcting spelling errors in… [Read more about Jennifer Elks]