Defining Sustainability

As our news section story on sustainability opines, research from West Monroe Partners finds that half of North American supply chain executives consider green supply chain a strategic priority. But there's a disconnect: how do these executives define it?

Supply Chain Management Review caught up with David South and Yves Leclerc to ask them a few questions.

Supply Chain Management Review: This was an intriguing study, gentlemen, and I know our readers are wondering if you were all surprised by the findings.

David South: No, we weren't surprised by the overall responses. Because there aren't regulations forcing action, so many organizations can't get the budget they need to take more meaningful action.

Yves Leclerc: I agree with David. There isn't enough perceived value of sustainability initiatives and there is little board representation among supply chain executives so their voice isn't necessarily being heard.

SCMR: So there were no unexpected responses?

Leclerc: Not exactly. What did surprise us is that there wasn't a more dramatic difference between our results in North America and the results our global alliance partner, BearingPoint, found in Europe. Even with more regulations, Europe is facing a lot of the same constraints as North America.

South: That's right, Yves. The state of the global economy is such that budget just isn't there to implement impactful sustainability programs. The focus on cost cutting outweighs the avoided risks addressed by sustainability actions.

SCMR: So, are there other questions you would pose in subsequent surveys?

South: In a future survey, we'd love to dig deeper into how companies are defining sustainability.

Leclerc: Yes. Responses were all over the board when it came to their interpretations – some considered basic recycling programs sufficient, others were looking at carbon footprint.

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