BestPractices
Best practices for socially responsible sourcing that leads to sustainability
Best Practices in Global Sourcing: Creating Sustainable Business Practices
In the charter of the Global Sourcing Council it states that "The mission of the Global Sourcing Council is to promote an exchange of ideas and information among businesses, trade organizations, government agencies, non-profit organizations and academia; to discuss and define practices in global sourcing; and to encourage progressive economic growth leading to increased trade, investment and social good, all with an aim to increase knowledge, deepen trade relations and broaden commercial and cultural ties among nations." The following document address the mission of discussing and defining practices in global sourcing.
The motivation behind these practices is a desire to both encourage progressive economic growth and to protect the resources that contribute to that growth in the spirit of creating sustainable business practices in the global sourcing arena. We are in an era when social responsibility is again in fashion. Too many years of unethical and, at times, immoral business practices have brought about a renewed interest in conducting business in a socially responsible fashion. The GSC is dedicated to extending organizational interest in social responsibility to include the organization's probing the practices of those with whom it contracts for services.
The following practices reflect the work of the board members of the GSC, all of whom have experience in global sourcing and are committed to furthering socially responsible sourcing. The practices have been organized into four groups:
- Practices related to Human Resources
- Practices related to Environmental and "Green" issues
- Practices related to Sustainable Economic Success
- Additional desirable practices
Human Resource Related
1. Human capital development / training
a. Incentive programs
b. Career path development
2. Human capital diversity
3. Human rights in global sourcing: protection of individual privacy, individual rights of workers and mobility subject to enforceability of intellectual property rights and trade secrets (along the model of California law)
4. Protection of human capital
a. Reasonable total hours
b. Personal safety
c. Impact of work/hours on family and social structure
Environmental/Green
1. Energy conservation
2. Sustainable resource management
3. eWaste
4. Measuring carbon footprint
Economic Success
1. Promotion of free trade in services
2. Economic and political support for education for a globalized future of networked flat organizations and multi sourcing.
3. Promotion of global entrepreneurship
4. Financial viability for service providers and their subcontractors
5. Recognition of full costing (including transactions costs) of sourcing
Other
1. Education of the consuming public of the social impact of global services, including the costs of protectionism as a factor in the social costs of job mobility
2. Education re the cultural/societal impacts of sourcing on local culture and infrastructure
3. Public-private partnerships for social responsibility in global sourcing
Last updated on 1/14/2010