News

03.23.2011 - In the News

"The Guardian" : Making sustainable supply chains

Supply chains can prove to be the weak spot for big brand companies like Apple but developing sustainable procurement practices can improve the process.

Each time I cycle in to work, I pass the huge statue of Achilles in Hyde Park – which my former London office looked out on – and often think of weak corporate heels. As today's globe-spanning supply chains become ever more complex, businesses are also exposed to risks of a completely different nature and scale. And the bigger the brand, the greater the vulnerability.
I was reminded of this as, suffering from what Wired magazine recently dubbed 'gadget guilt', I tried to hide my MacBook Air under a pile of papers at a meeting a week ago, because, like others people around the table, I was no longer totally comfortable with displaying the Apple logo.
The session brought together members of the advisory board of EcoVadis, an innovative, entrepreneurial supply chain management firm– and just as Achilles became a byword for flawed strength, so Steve Jobs and his insanely successful Apple brand have sadly become bywords for supply chain sloppiness.
(read the article)