Case
Fitz-Simmons Consultants
Fitz-Simmons Consultants is an international company that advises international corporations on ethical and sustainable sourcing. As the world matures in its view of how to treat people and the environment, more companies are focused on ethical and sustainable sourcing. It is evident in the international business community that this is an essential topic to address if one wants to be considered a world class organization.
Fitz-Simmons Consultants decided to develop guidelines for assessing a supplier’s ethical and sustainable credentials. They determined that the best source to utilize as a benchmark was the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The UNDP has established a set of goals for seventeen different areas, such as clear water and sanitation, climate actions, zero hunger, and others.
Reviewing its clientele list, Fitz-Simmons determined that they needed to divide their clientele’s suppliers into several groups. For the first grouping, they focused on responsible consumption and waste reduction. They developed a supplier certification program based on the following areas: decreasing waste through prevention, reduction, recycling, and reuse. Furthermore, they ascertained that a supplier should not only adopt these practices but also incorporate them into their annual reporting metrics.
The challenge Fitz-Simmons discovered as they developed the guidelines for their clients was that many had good supplier relationships, however, not all of these suppliers currently met the requirements Fitz-Simmons proposed. Fitz-Simmons realized that the supplier certification program was the end goal. What they also needed was a method to get the suppliers from their current state through the certification process. Otherwise, Fitz-Simmons’ clientele would see no value in the certification process if it upended their current supplier relationships.
Discussion Questions
1. Clearly, if Fitz-Simmons’ clientele have good supplier relationships, they have worked at supplier development. If they want to maintain those relationships with their suppliers, what are some critical first steps that must be taken to ensure suppliers buy-in to the new program? Ans
2. Once the new supplier certification program for ethical and sustainable sourcing is up and running, what would be the process to prune the number of suppliers? Recommend some criteria for enabling this step. Ans
3. Outside of the obvious benefit of a company continuing to do business with its suppliers, how can a company add value to the suppliers adhering to the certification program? Provide specific examples of what the company can do. Ans.
