TIP #4
START THE CONVERSATION WITH YOUR SUPPLIERS I don’t know where to start. We hear that from a lot of colleagues and clients when the topic of assessing supply chain comes up. In our experience, starting a conversation with a supplier or potential supplier doesn’t have to be a big deal. We’re surprised by what we find out. Call your suppliers and ask if they have a social compliance, environmental management or product safety program. Send your suppliers a simple survey so you can document your findings and be consistent in the questions you ask.
CASE IN POINT — You won’t know if you don’t ask. For example, after our first conver - sation with a new ceramic mug supplier, they sent through a laundry list of third party certi - fications on both the social and environmental performance of their factories (SA8000 and ISO 14,001) – something that was not publicly noted on their website.
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