Sustainability: not just a checklist

Supply Management's China special issue (10 April) highlights both the interest in and challenges of stainability and corporate responsibility. The topic has become multi-faceted and now covers corporate governance, ethical trading,

But many of the examples of sustainabte procurement are common to achieving competitive goals and are the essence of market economics.

There is also evidence of customer and more recently consumer pressure but this may be vulnerable to the "feel-good factor" and the impacts of an economic slowdown, which will increase the focus on costs/price.

In many organisations there exists almost a paranoia in respect of managing the risks of exploiting the global market, not the least of which is risk to reputation. This puts increased pressure on the buyer to meet what are frequently opposed objectives. Setting rules and ethical policies that are perhaps counter to the businesses' goals and incentives is not in itself sustainable. The problem in many cases appears to be that organisations do not have a clear perspective on CSR and sustainability and the complexity of the relationships it covers.

I recently helped an organisation draft a CSR policy, as a prospective client had included the requirement as part of its prequalification process. It probably makes the client's buyer feel more comfortable and ticks the box but are we simply seeing compliance? Self-certification may be a quick fix but is it addressing the core issues?

If there is to be a sustainability ethos it has to come from a more integrated corporate programme that allows buyers to balance the issues. A recent analysis of sustainability issues identified some 100 plus touch points, most of which can be evaluated as contributors to the bottom line, embedding sustainability in the business. The challenge is whether organisations can establish a more integrated internal perspective, which they are willing to make transparent, and then develop the external relationships that can migrate this through their supply chains.

Procurement is a process with links across the organisation and cannot be completed successfully in isolation. If we want a focus on sustainability organisations have to take a more inclusive view and provide buyers with a clear ethos and direction, and give them the investment to build the right relationships and harness the opportunities as well as manage the risks.

The alternative will be a procession of high-profile backlashes that will be blamed on poor buying.