The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) field has been searching for simple ways to measure the social compliance of companies and their supply chains. The environmental side of CSR has come up with the “carbon-footprint.” Simple. Quantifiable. Memorable.
Social compliance in the supply chain is a highly complex issue. It is dealing with issues that are of grave importance to people’s lives. It is rooted in the ongoing struggle to bring fairness and dignity to workers.
The challenge is to communicate these highly complex, emotionally charged issues to people outside the CSR field. The communication needs to be simple, quantifiable and memorable. Plus, it needs to be credible.
I believe that one of the most important indicators is the degree to which a company has truly integrated their social compliance policy into the day-to-day activities of their merchandising and sourcing departments. Just as brands, retailers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have developed ways to measure the social performance of their suppliers, I propose that the brands, retailers and OEMs be measured based on the level of integration between sourcing and compliance.
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