2Sustain

by Jason Busch

Founder and Managing Director of Azul Partners and Editor of spend matters

Note from Tim:  Jason is guest blogging today and tomorrow on 2Sustain, and offers his own viewpoint on the intersection of sustainability and politics.  Welcome, Jason!

There are an awful lot of people like me in the world. I hope to meet more of them soon. Still, I find myself in a vocal minority at the moment in the United States – at least a public minority. You see, most people like me won’t speak up given the Pelosobama-esque Santa Ana winds which have swept left to right (with an emphasis on the former) across the entire country. People like us fear that if we voice our opinion (or take a forced TARP handout) that the government might try and attach a 90% marginal tax rate to our bonuses or give a tax break to bus companies that want to transport protesters to our front doors.

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Last week, Packworld  published a great recap of speakers at the Contract Packaging Association’s  annual meeting, which was held last month in Braselton, GA.

At the meeting, Sherilyn Brodersen, ethical sourcing manager for Cadbury, outlined how and why a company needs ethical sourcing and compliance practices throughout its supply chain. A successful program should include uniform standards (for workplace procedures, materials selection, and sourcing) and an open data exchange between companies and their suppliers, Brodersen explained.

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A new quarterly report from Boston-based AMR Research shows that the down economy, brand threats, and product quality failures continue to be the key challenges facing global supply chains today.

Specifically, lower consumer spending ranks as the number one supply chain risk this quarter, according to 37% of the companies that participated in the AMR Research survey. 35% of respondents identified product quality failures as the second top risk. Volatile energy prices came in at number three.

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The dictionary defines ethics as “the principles of conduct governing an individual or group; a set of moral issues or aspects (rightness).”

But, how does that definition translate into every day business practice? What role do ethics play in today’s ultra-competitive marketplace? Or, to put it a little more bluntly, does it pay for a company to be ethical?

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By Chris Hazen
Director for Asia of WSP Environment & Energy 

Everybody is looking to cut costs these days as economic uncertainty continues to loom.  At the same time, many conversations about Asia-Pacific supply chains will often link cost reductions to risk reductions, which can be a tough pair of objectives to marry.  Tainted milk and lead-paint toys are still fresh in people’s minds.  Yet to stay competitive at the cash register, brands and retailers can’t afford to ignore the need to lower prices.

How can these risks be better managed to the benefit of all parties without impacting the cost of getting the products to market?  If products aren’t competitive in the market, that can kill their profitability even more quickly than non-compliance.

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