I was talking to the COO of a small (but very interesting) not for profit organisation recently. Their work and mission absolutely means that they need to show they act with “purpose” in everything they do, but she admitted procurement was not something particularly considered in that context.
“But we don’t manufacture anything, our revenues and costs are only about £3 million and we have 40 staff, so what can we really do in terms of procurement with purpose?” she asked.
Good question. Starting with the negatives, at that size, it is probably wishful thinking to believe you could really influence your suppliers in terms of Scope 3 emissions. You can imagine the phone call to Microsoft, BA or Amazon. “You’ve never heard of us but you are one of our biggest suppliers – we spend £20K a year with you! We’d be grateful if you could reduce your emissions a bit faster, please, or we will drop you as a supplier”.
Not a lot of supply chain power there to leverage really. More positively, she could look at using “green” energy suppliers, but most small firms are in rented space where it is probably the landlord or owner who makes that decision. But for some, that would be a useful step.
However, I said, there are positive steps the organisation can take. Obviously, look at how you can reduce your own energy use. Turn the thermostats down a degree or two for a start! Don’t leave the lights burning or the computers switched on all night. Don’t boil a huge kettle of water every time one person wants a cuppa…
Then there are the other emissions that can be influenced – business travel for instance. Do what you can to minimise that, and also encourage staff to use public transport or cycle / walk to work. Of course, if events, meetings or conferences are essential to your work, then you must carry on doing those, but you should think about whether causing people to travel really is essential. (In fact, this organisation is making good use of “hybrid” events with in-person and virtual attendees simultaneously).
Another interesting area is “circularity”. I know one small procurement services firm that kitted out their new office quite recently almost entirely with recycled, refurbished and second hand furniture, equipment and most of the electronic and computer equipment too. The beauty of that is not only are you making a positive contribution to reducing emissions, but you will almost certainly save quite a lot of cash too! At a day to day level, don’t use single-use plastics or indeed other single-use items. Sort your rubbish. Compost your used tea bags and food waste.
The other suggestion I made was around the organisation’s supply base. It doesn’t matter what size you are, you will still have some suppliers who aren’t global giants. Look at spend categories such as distribution or shipping, stationery, catering and events, facilities management, maybe professional services, printing… even a £3 million revenue organisation will spend money on some or all of these items. So why not look to see if you can put more of your spend with organisations that have their own strong purpose or support purpose in some way?
That might mean supporting local businesses, minority owned firms of various types (women, veterans, ethnicity … etc), or social enterprises and charities. Some firms make a point of employing apprentices from disadvantaged backgrounds, or ex-offenders. There are pleny of options here. My new friend then asked another good question – “does that mean we should expect to pay more”?
Not necessarily, was my answer. In fact, in some cases, you might find you save money. In others, you might need to consider whether it is worth paying a touch more because you are supporting a good cause. But frankly, few businesses will pay much over the market price, so in turn most of those providers realise they have to be broadly competitive within their market.
Finally – and to be honest, I didn’t get onto this with the COO – some smaller organisations might even be able to support biodiversity. If you have your own premises, leave the grass around the car park to grow longer. Plant something. Maybe even put a beehive on the roof…
So a bit of creative thinking is useful when we look for opportunities. And I don’t believe any organisation really has the excuse to say, “there’s just nothing we can do to support procurement with purpose principles”.