Sticking your head in the sand about supply chain transparency is not only inefficient and ethically dubious—it’s simply not sound financial practice.
Rather than wasting time on developing individual specs that end up wasting time during production, as factories attempt to comply with a variety of competing mandates—like the varying rules on where the fire extinguisher must be mounted—companies that commit to a minimum standard of disclosure can reap the benefits in time, money and brand reputation.
Sourcing Journal founder and president Edward Hertzman sat down with Alison Kiehl Friedman, executive director International Corporate Accountability Roundtable (ICAR), to explore why being proactive about supply chain transparency is easier than you might think, how it can affect access to capital and why there’s safety in numbers.
For one thing, companies that are currently sharing data about their supply chains and where they’re sourcing have achieved immediate savings by agreeing to share monitoring costs in joint factories, she said. Also, shining a light on your supply chain can reveal other inefficiencies that had previously been hidden but had been having negative effects on profits and on-time deliveries.
“What we’ve seen in the industry is that the more companies are transparent about their supply chains and where they’re sourcing, the more common savings can be created and the more investments can go into either supply chain efficiency or the promotion of workers’ rights and human rights in ways that consumers are looking at more,” Friedman noted.
Listen to the podcast to learn:
- How being proactive can help a company be more profitable
- How transparency can help speed to market and reduce worker turnover
- Why it’s better that companies help shape government regulations (before it’s done for them)
- Why preconceived risks associated with transparency are outdated and irrelevant
- Why investors are paying attention
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Receive more insight about transparency and traceability with Sourcing Journal’s just-released 2019 Transparency Study.