Supply Chain Compliance & The Supply Chain of the 21st Century | #eBizSustainability| Podcast 1 GCX Africa

GCX Africa and eBizRadio bring you a new feature: eBizSustainability

We invite you to the inaugural Better Business Forum.

The conference recently occurred in Durban South Africa:
Both the Better Business Forum and the Durban Business Sustainability Forum are dedicated to bringing South African business leaders together to share practical solutions and insights on developing corporate sustainability leadership.

Shared knowledge will help better address some of the sustainability challenges faced by business and improve business communication and collaboration.
The subject of this inaugural event was:

Supply Chain Compliance – What are the rules, who is making them and how far are the big guys prepared to go?

Complying with standards and criteria such as Freetrade, Carbon Disclosure, FSC, SASSI, GlobalGap, ISO, BRC (the list of acronyms is literally endless), and the corresponding audits and red tape that goes with all of them, is fast becoming the new license to do business.
This discussion will be an interactive session where leading FMCG companies and industry experts will answer your pressing questions and share relevant insights that will provide some clarity to those companies that rely on big retail and/or FMCG customers for a big part of their business.

Panellists include:

• Kevin James: Head of Strategy, GCX Africa (moderator)
• Justin Smith: Head of Sustainability, Woolworths
• Elspeth Donovan: Deputy Director, Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, South Africa
• Quade Corder – Senior Manager: Quality, OHSE & Sustainability, Chep

The conference was 2 hours in length, we at eBizRadio cut the podcast into 5 more manageable sections (in the listening sense).

Part1:
Introduction

• Kevin James introduces the panel as well as the subject of ”The Supply Chain”.
• The discussion begins with a debate on the importance that both Corporates and SME’s are feeling pressure to review their supply chains, whether by public pressure (social media), legislation or simple economics.
• Points are raised over the concept of ”Greening” the Supply Chain…. How have companies especially corporates have embraced (or not embraced) the new innovations available to them. Followed on afterwards are the reasons (economic, social instances) as to why different companies hold such wide ranging policies as well as opinions.

Part 2:
Knowing where source materials originate and the means by which  raw products are extracted/grown/made… Why has this become so vital in the 21st Century? The pressures exerted by Social Media

• How social pressures as well as legislation has moved companies to accept responsibility for where they source their materials.
• Examples of above companies.
• Further examples of popular pressure are given on how ”sustainability” in Supply Chains is vital in todays modern world
• How can companies strike a balance between sustainability and economics.

Part 3:
Genetically Modified Foods (GM) as well  as the Supply Chain Carbon Foot Print globally

• The positive (economic) and negative (public perceptions/unknown long term affects, if any) aspects of GM Foods and how this relates to the Supply Chain.
• Legislation of the RSA government and general legislative ”ideas” the world over.
• A debate over the Carbon Footprint of the GLOBAL Supply Management Chain Industry.

Part 4:
The Nitty Gritty:

• Need for information to do independent audits of Supply Chains.
• Establishing credible systems of dialogue between the consumer, the supplier and all the intermediaries involved.
• Actual tips and examples: they differ from Industry to Industry.
• Debate on the Moral Issue that is Climate Change! It is no longer a debate that can be ignored… The Panelists discuss the rising concern and accepted fact among business’s that climate change and all its effects will need to be addressed in this century.

Part 5:
Last Points, Questions from the Audience and Conclusion

• Additional points are raised on using Foreign Direct Investment as a means of promoting sustainable development in Developing Countries
• Food waste and Food Packaging are discussed
• How to get government and especially the consumer more engaged to facilitate this needed transformation.
• Renewable Electricity in South Africa: Why is Eskom dragging its feet? What are the problems that this stonewalling causes.
• Effects of the new RSA Carbon Tax. See: http://www.africanbusinessreview.co.za/finance/1111/s-carbon-tax-may-affect-businesses for the basic rundown on the new law.

GCX Africa

Join us Next Time for another insightful and topical conference!