Watch a 4-minute interview with Rob Klassen discussing how companies can improve the social and environmental performance within their supply chains.
On the heels of
recent scandals such as the Mattel lead paint
crisis, the public is increasingly holding
companies accountable for the social and
environmental outcomes throughout their global
supply chains.
And in addition to minimizing the risk of
disasters, companies that improve the
environmental and social performance within
their supply chains may also improve their
financial outcomes.
Rob Klassen, Professor of Operations Management
and Ivey’s Magna International Inc. Chair in
Business Administration, has been researching
what measures companies can take to improve
their supply chain management and how these
measures impact their performance.
“Whether there is an environmental issue, such
as a concern about oil spills or other sorts of
disaster, or whether it’s more subtle, like
managing customer reaction to products or
product safety issues, all of these things play
out in the marketplace, potentially harming a
company’s economic long-term viability,” said
Klassen. “The other side is that there can be
market opportunities in responding better to
such concerns.”
Klassen said managers sometimes trust their
suppliers are doing the right thing without
taking measures, such as auditing, to ensure
their suppliers are following environmentally
and socially responsible protocols.
According to Klassen, regardless of how large or
diverse a supply chain, increased monitoring
will pay off in the long run.
“Non-governmental organizations, customers and
government regulators are increasingly paying
attention to these (environmental and social)
issues so companies have to try and manage that
side of their business,” he said. “The way you
ultimately work with your stakeholders can
affect your economic performance as well.”
Klassen will
lend his expertise in this area to an upcoming
Ivey Idea Forum on October 27 with Ezra
Levant at Ivey's ING Direct Leadership Centre in
Toronto. Levant, best-selling author of Ethical Oil: The case for Canada's oilsands,
will discuss the financial, environmental and
ethical issues around the oil we use in our
daily lives, and why Canada’s oil sands are a
better choice than other oil sources.
(For more
information on the upcoming Ivey Idea Forum with
Ezra Levant and Rob Klassen, please visit Ivey Idea Forum.)
