Frank-Martin Belz and Ken Peattie examine the role that online and social media play in sustainability marketing, and how they allow direct interactions between companies and consumers.
ISO 26000, the global Guidance on Social Responsibility was recently launched. Large to small organizations can strive to be ISO 26000-compliant, stay ahead of the curve and grab the “leader” advantage. Or conversely, companies can risk being a “laggard” and lose vital business opportunities.
Despite the enthusiasm regarding sustainability expressed by the global business community, these organizations have been slow to address these issues when it comes to sustainable supply chain management, says a new study by the Business Performance Management (BPM) Forum and E2open that was conducted in the second quarter of this year. Operations, logistics and supply chain executives also lack the understanding of how to go green and save green across complex, global, multi-tiered supply and distribution networks. The study, titled “Acceleration of ECO-Operation: Achieving Success & Sustainability in the Supply Chain,” gained insights from more than 125 supply chain, operations, finance, and executive professionals around the world across multiple industries. It set out to measure and quantify how companies are managing the complexities of supply chain demands, distribution costs and environmental concerns. The study has major implications for supply chain, finance, operations, logistics, and procurement professionals and underscores the need for better ECO-Operation, sustainability measurement, and operations insight into multi-tiered supply chain networks.
Claremont McKenna College’s Roberts Environmental Center recently released a detailed analysis of the social responsibility reporting efforts of the world’s top entertainment corporations that revealed that the entertainment sector lags behind most others in corporate environmental and sustainability reporting. The report scores companies based on the reporting, intent, and performance of their environmental and social sustainability efforts. The research, based entirely on material released on the firms’ Web sites, found that Bertelsmann, a German firm, and CBS, Viacom, and Walt Disney, outperformed the industry giants News Corp. and Time Warner. However, these firms scores were mediocre when compared to the scores of other industries.
