How can you create more equitable supply chains through your CSR initiatives?

2 Why should you care about equitable supply chains?

Equitable supply chains are not only good for society, but also beneficial for your business. By creating more equitable supply chains, you can enhance your brand reputation and trustworthiness, attract and retain loyal customers, foster innovation and creativity, strengthen your competitive advantage and differentiation, and mitigate risks and costs associated with human rights violations, labor disputes, environmental damages, regulatory fines, and reputational crises. In the era of social media and transparency, customers value social and environmental commitments of responsible brands, so engaging with diverse and inclusive suppliers, workers, and communities who can offer new perspectives is key to meeting the needs of underserved markets.

3 How to assess your current supply chain equity?

Before you can improve your supply chain equity, you need to understand your current situation and identify the gaps and opportunities for improvement. You can start by conducting a supply chain equity assessment, which is a systematic process of collecting and analyzing data on the social and environmental performance of your suppliers, workers, communities, and customers. You can use various tools and frameworks to guide your assessment, such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards, or the B Impact Assessment. You can also consult with external experts, auditors, or stakeholders to validate your findings and gain feedback.

4 How to set your supply chain equity goals and strategies?

Once you have assessed your current supply chain equity, you can use the SMART framework to set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals and strategies to improve it. Additionally, you can align your goals and strategies with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which are a global agenda for achieving social, economic, and environmental sustainability by 2030. The SDGs that are relevant for supply chain equity include: No poverty (SDG 1), Gender equality (SDG 5), Decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), Reduced inequalities (SDG 10), Responsible consumption and production (SDG 12), Climate action (SDG 13), and Peace, justice, and strong institutions (SDG 16).

5 How to implement and monitor your supply chain equity initiatives?

After setting goals and strategies, you need to implement and monitor your supply chain equity initiatives. You can do this by developing and communicating clear policies and codes of conduct for suppliers, workers, communities, and customers; providing training and capacity building; establishing and supporting partnerships and collaborations; measuring and reporting performance and impact; and evaluating and reviewing initiatives. Additionally, you should use indicators, metrics, and standards that are relevant, reliable, and comparable. Through these methods, you can empower those involved to participate in decision-making processes, leverage their expertise, resources, and networks; report on supply chain equity performance; learn from successes and failures; and adapt accordingly.