How to Measure Your Suppliers' Sustainability Efforts

Follow these four steps to launch a supplier viability initiative.

May 16, 2011

Doug Schrock, partner, and Gregg Anderson, director, with accounting and consulting firm Crowe Horwath, offer the following four steps manufacturers should take to launch a supplier-viability initiative, with the goal of improving sustainability throughout the supply chain.

1. Identify the subset of suppliers that are most critical to the company, and then identify those that you need more important information about, whether it be basic financial-viability metrics or longer-term corporate responsibility indicators.

2. Develop a credible set of supplier financial-viability metrics that reflect your company's specific supplier risk profile.

3. Concurrently, develop a comparable set of corporate responsibility metrics.

4. Develop and implement a program for timely and accurate reporting of all key metrics, employing third-party intermediaries as necessary to encourage supplier compliance and openness.

About the Author

Dave Blanchard

Senior Director of Content

Focus: Supply Chain

Call: (941) 208-4370

Follow on Twitter @SupplyChainDave

During his career Dave Blanchard has led the editorial management of many of Endeavor Business Media's best-known brands, including IndustryWeek, EHS Today, Material Handling & Logistics, Logistics Today, Supply Chain Technology News, and Business Finance. He also serves as senior content director of the annual Safety Leadership Conference. With over 30 years of B2B media experience, Dave literally wrote the book on supply chain management, Supply Chain Management Best Practices (John Wiley & Sons, 2010), which has been translated into several languages and is currently in its second edition. He is a frequent speaker and moderator at major trade shows and conferences, and has won numerous awards for writing and editing. He is a voting member of the jury of the Logistics Hall of Fame, and is a graduate of Northern Illinois University.