Promote companies' value and success through corporate responsibility practices across the value chain
21 AGO 2020

Promote companies' value and success through corporate responsibility practices across the value chain

We live in a period of instant access to information. Supply is vastly greater than demand and, therefore, competition between companies becomes fierce. Organizations need to enhance their responsiveness, but with calculated risks. Therefore, the management of resources must always be a theme foreseen by all organizations.

The contribution of the Procurement Department and the Procurement Management to promote and guarantee the competitive advantage of a company assumes today a redoubled and strategic importance for organizations. Due to increased competitiveness and globalization of markets, companies should conduct their operations in an extremely assertive way.

On the other hand, there has also been a growing concern among stakeholders about issues related to the environment. Consumers blame corporations for the negative impacts of their activities on the planet, making them a major focus of attention in debates on sustainability and thus influencing them to adopt so-called “environmentally friendly” policies. This fact is confirmed by the increasing number of companies that have voluntarily adopted environmental and social issues in their business strategies.

A study promoted by Harvard Business School concludes that companies that incorporate sustainability policies recognize the positive impact on their businesses and also on the entire value chain. The businesses that are managed by the perspective of sustainability are redefining the corporate ecosystem, creating value models for all stakeholders, including for employees, partners, shareholders, supply chain, society and, of course, for the planet.

A company's competitiveness is also associated with its efficiency in the supply chain. Today, companies are working towards obtaining partnerships that will allow them to develop and obtain a competitive advantage in the entire logistics chain in almost all sectors of activity, which is why this activity has become a relevant strategic and competitive variable. This is because it affects all the components of shareholder value: cost, customer service, the profitability of assets and income and, although their activities are difficult to track, they are part of a vital process that addresses important issues.

As a rule, a product aimed at the consumer goes through many phases, manufacturers and producers. It seeks to acquire products manufactured responsibly by suppliers endowed with ethical and certified values, which minimize the carbon footprint required to move, manage or process these products. This is true in our areas of activity - development, production and marketing of adhesives - applied to the different sectors of industrial activity and in which we observe the growing demand for biobased products.

In the supply chain, we also see the tendency of our suppliers to invest in their production processes and adopt the biomass concept, an environmentally friendly concept that allows companies to ensure their market competitiveness by reinforcing their activities based on a sustainability policy.

The organizations’ challenge is, now, to meet the needs of goods and services, maximizing benefits for their value chain and for the rest of the world, refining purchasing strategies, process preparation and complex decision making based on corporate sustainability criteria.

Today organizations must be aware that the integration of sustainable strategies in their business model should not be triggered only by the desire to transmit a positive image to achieve greater productive efficiency or to obtain a competitive advantage. Rather, keep in mind that this is a relevant condition for building a sustained, transparent and value-added business model.

 

Published by
Igor Encarnação
Procurement Manager