Excellence in Supply Chain Sustainability

The more companies engage in pollution prevention activities in production and in sustainable development, the better their economic performance is. The more companies pursue activities, such as switching modes of transportation or fleet modernisation, the more sustainable their competitive advantage is likely to be, compared to industry average.

Furthermore, the following key results were found in the study “Excellence in Supply Chain Sustainability” of May, 2011:
• Companies declare sustainability to be a high-priority objective
• Company management and customers push firms towards sustainability
• The lack of commitment is more obstructive than the cost of sustainability
• Companies start with their own production sites when it comes to practising sustainability
• Top performers pursue holistic integration of stakeholders in sustainability strategy formulation
• ISO certifications play the major role
• Survey data provides recommendations on how to become a sustainable corporation

The goal of the study “Excellence in Supply Chain Sustainability” was to investigate sustainability in today’s companies, determine its degree of implementation, and identify driving and impeding factors.
 
This study is based on the collaboration between the Supply Chain Management Institute of EBS Business School, which supplies the scientific capabilities, and Logica, a business and technology service company, which accompanied and supported the study with business insights required to accomplish such a project.

Over 100 companies from a variety of industries participated. The majority of operations are based in Europe but many of the participating companies are globally active. Data gathering took place between November 2010 and February 2011.
In the analysis, special focus was placed on the logistics and transportation sector, due to its importance as one of the three largest industries in Germany, and its large impact on the environment. Within the sample, 49% of the participants come from the logistics and transportation industries.