CIPS (the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply) held its annual conference last week – virtually, of course, and free for members. 4000 people registered and whilst not that many tuned in on the day, it does highlight a major positive of virtual rather than live events – the opportunity for more people to enjoy high quality content without paying a large fee!
A panel session titled “How taking ownership of sustainability can elevate procurement as a profession was very capably chaired by Oliver Hurrey, the founder of consulting firm Galvanised, and featured Emma Peacock, Global VP Sourcing, Mars; Tony Roy, Head of Governance and Sustainability at BT; Thomas Udessen, CPO for Bayer; and Virginie Vast, Head of Procurement Innovation and Sustainability at Amazon.
It was one of those discussions that could have run for much longer, but these are some of the key points made during the session.
· Procurement is well placed to drive this agenda – not just because of our relationship with the supply chain, but also because “we know how to bring people together”, which is a vital skill in driving sustainable business.
· If your business isn’t keen to follow this agenda, we need to articulate the risks to senior colleagues, but emphasise that staying ahead of the regulations can bring real advantage too. It’s also about attracting talent and of course there is increased pressure from customers and investors to follow this agenda.
· “Where do I start” - don’t feel overwhelmed by the scale of the challenge. Talk to your suppliers – some will already be doing good things, so find them and build on that. Also talk to your sales people and find out what customers are demanding. For instance, supermarkets are pushing their suppliers to use more recyclable packaging. If you are at an early stage of the journey, looking at carbon emissions in the supply chain is a good topic to consider as it is relevant to every organisation.
· There are many industry forums to which procurement can and should contribute e.g. Mars procurement executives are members of the rice industry forum and “every major rice buyer should have a voice in that”. Collaborative platforms such as Ecovadis provide another good opportunity to work together.
· In terms of practical advice, consider developing improvement plans with clear actions with your suppliers. Celebrate even small steps towards success and “don’t forget to say thank you to your supplier”, to recognise progress.
There was no real disagreement between the panellists, but there was one interesting nuance. There was much talk of collaboration, and the opportunity of obtaining support from peers (the Sustainable Procurement Pledge was mentioned). As one speaker said, “this is not a competition”.
However … Emma Peacock from Mars pointed out that there is the potential to gain competitive advantage from your sustainability / procurement with purpose activities. (I worked for Mars many years ago and it is a great firm with a very strong focus on both “doing the right thing” AND on gaining competitive advantage!)
So how do we reconcile that collaborative imperative with the competition angle? Peacock suggested that we should work together in terms of common standards, systems, reporting and other “basic” aspects of the sustainability task, but that firms can then think about how they build on those in terms of their own particular advantage.
That seems very much the right approach, and while it does require some carefully nuanced thinking, we’d suggest it is a good strategy to consider. As it can be challenging to balance these two angles, we’d also argue it is actually another opportunity for procurement leaders to demonstrate their skills to the Board!
This was an interesting discussion anyway, and we may in future come back here to some of the other CIPS conference sessions that covered similar issues.