Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
There were two somewhat different reasons to analyse the supply chain in
detail. First, Spier was presenting itself as a business committed to a sustainable
future, keen to 'build innovative models of how business and development can
succeed in harmony with our ecology and society' (Spier, 2007). In order to do
this, it would be hypocritical should Spier present an image of what it is achieving
without understanding its supply chain, an area receiving as much as 40 per cent
of all revenues (second only to spending on employment). Understanding the
sustainability practices of the supply chain was therefore of critical importance.
Secondly, Spier needed to identify where in the supply chain significant
development and pro-poor impact could be achieved, and needed a tangible basis
for planning and measuring change. At the time Spier was disbursing ZAR5.7
million (US$0.54 million)
5
in philanthropy. In the same year, total procurement
spend for the Spier group amounted to ZAR272 million (US$25.83 million).
Thus it was realized that if just 10 per cent of procurement spend could be
channelled to local, small and emerging suppliers, the financial impact would far
outweigh philanthropy and would be a substantial boost to the local economy. A
review of the Spier supplier list provided little information that could be used to
inform proactive procurement shifts. So Spier Leisure embarked on an investiga-
tion of its supply chain so as to understand where impacts could be achieved, and
provide a benchmark against which management would be required to make
improvements.
Implementation of a supplier assessment
Starting in early 2004, a Spier-designed supplier survey questionnaire was sent to
all Spier Leisure suppliers. The topics integrated conventional criteria against
which any business would evaluate its suppliers (such as quality) and specific
criteria such as employment practice and environmental action. The 60 questions
were broadly categorized into 9 areas ranging from the degree of black ownership,
to treatment of staff, to environmental practices. The nine categories and
examples of what was scrutinized are shown in Table 6.2.
In addition to these questions, additional questions were asked pertaining to
location, revenue, business type, date registered, products and services offered,
whether the business operated under a franchise agreement and if the business
was certified by any industry or quality specific codes. It was particularly impor-
tant to establish the size, location and BEE status of the company, as Spier's new
procurement policy was to prioritize suppliers that were local, small and black-
owned (as outlined in Table 6.2).
Upon receipt of the initial replies from the suppliers, the first challenge
became immediately apparent: how could the answers to 60 questions be
processed so that suppliers would be uniformly scored and subsequently rated
against Spier priorities. Some information was merely statistical (such as size of
company), but much was needing to be scored and balanced against other
elements of sustainable development performance. As a practical example the
supplier needed to be rated on the level of compliance to broad based black
Search WWH ::
Custom Search